RynoRules

Yeah, that was noticeable. Could it have to do with the pitchers he was working with and their reps rather than a simple Yankee bias? I'm with TT and company here re Martin. If its a choice between him and getting one of Lester / Scherzer, I choose the later and an OF upgrade.

Would you be comfortable with Trestman/Kroemer - Rex Ryan next season?

Rob Rang's mock has them going Shane Ray at 8 (Thompson gone at 7, Collins picked 9). Ray has been amazing this year, but I don't know that he fits. He's smaller than Shea was at DE, much more athletic, but you'd be taking a top 10 pick as a guy you can't put on the field for 3 downs.....unless he can play the Von Miller role at SLB in the base D and DE in nickel. Might work if we go 3-4, otherwise I'd want Collins. He's a beast.

MLBTR says we have kicked the tires on Tori Hunter.

Gasol and Dunleavy both played 35 minutes tonight. Would it kill Thibs to give a few extra minutes to McDermott and Mirotic? They played 5 minutes each. Snell didn't play at all. Hell, Taj only played 24. EDIT: I realize he was playing the match-up tonight and was concerned with the size of the Pistons' front line, but he does this a lot.

Quinn or Bowles. I like Bowles a lot. Quinn would be interesting. Gase is probably overrated because of Peyton. You might be correct about Gase, but again I like who he has been working under. I feel like so much of what is lacking in this team is solid professional coaching. Fox is a good pro coach and Gase is running a dynamic offense that makes great use of its weapons. That said, Bowles is clearly an excellent coach in his own right and I'd be happy to have him.

Nobody should be surprised by this. Annoyed? I guess. But surprised? No. No kidding. I don't understand how anyone could think any firings right now would do anything besides just making meatballs feel better. I would be fine with being treated like a meatball that needs some soothing. What would actually be soothed? You're just going to slide a placeholder from the same incompetent system into the job. It's not like they'd hire anyone worth a damn halfway through the season. Not really. Pasqualoni was a good pro D coordinator during his career, sent a bunch of good defensive prospects to the NFL from 'Cuse, and could be kept on if he performs well.

Potential HC's (obviously not all of them, but to make it easy): Quinn (Seattle) Roman (San Fran) Gase (Denver) Horton (Cleveland) Bowles (Arizona) Your preference? I'd roll the dice on Gase. He'd need a strong DC, but I love his pedigree coaching under McCoy and Fox.

I'd also like the people who are so sure that assistants don't get fired mid-season to show me the proof. That kind of things happens every season, IIRC. The fact that the Bears don't do it doesn't mean its necessarily a bad idea. The inverse may true.

Yeah, they could easily replace Tucker and one his assistants can run the defense for the last 7 games to see if that makes a difference. I get that you probably can't fire Trestman or Kromer at this juncture, but Pasqualoni knows the system and could call the plays.

What circumstances are those?

Well played

How can the Bears be favored against anyone right now? That seems like an attempt to scare up gambling interest in an otherwise unwatchable game. I'd take the Vikes and lay that 5 in a second. How could you not?

From the comments section under Greenberg's (halfway decent) column this morning: That should probably go in someone's sig, or at least become part of the "meatball fan" lexicon.

Trestman took a definite stand of support for his staff. Unless it comes from above him I'd be shocked any change is made. And I joked about it, but I'm still about 70% sure Williams return was related only to exhaustion and disinterest. I don't think Trestman will be given a choice. My guess is ownership will be leaning fairly hard on Emery, and as we know, isht runs down hill. This isn't a Jerry Jones ownership. They're extremely hands off. Based solely on NFL precedent week 15 or so would seem to be the sweet spot to expect change. Just because they are quitter than the Jones' and Snyders' of the world doesn't mean they don't share their opinions and send messages to certain members of their staff. The truth is that no one knows for sure how much involvement they have there.

Trestman took a definite stand of support for his staff. Unless it comes from above him I'd be shocked any change is made. And I joked about it, but I'm still about 70% sure Williams return was related only to exhaustion and disinterest. I don't think Trestman will be given a choice. My guess is ownership will be leaning fairly hard on Emery, and as we know, isht runs down hill.

I'll be mildly surprised if Tucker isn't fired tomorrow. Williams may have saved DeCamillis. Losing like this coming off a bye, which followed an absolute ass kicking in New England is....disturbing. Trestman deserves to lose his job. Emery as well, but that won't happen.

I really think this comes down to whether Q will let young guys get minutes. Don't be surprised if he unexpectedly departs after next season.

http://www.hockeysfuture.com/team-rankings The bigger question facing the Hawks is whether there are any true first / second line and first pairing players there. When Hossa goes he will probably be backfilled by a FA, as he essentially replaced Havlat. The bigger question is Sharp and whether Saad steps into that role or Teuvo is so good at C that Saad doesn't have to score that much. The Hawks should be fine for a very long time. Stan drafts well (though he's not setting the world on fire at goalie or wing) and he's generally done a nice job in making trades that yield good results (including Versteeg, by the way). The brewing problem is Q's reliance on veterans and seeming unwillingness to let young guys get the minutes they need to develop (TVR, Morin, Leddy (when he was here), Rundbland, etc.). We'll see. Other than TT, they don't have much top end talent. 2016 and 2017 might look a bit like 2011 and 2012, due to the cap problem next year, that's assuming it goes up 5 million. It might go up more but this year its increase was less than expected. Hawks will lose Oduyla, Sharp, and maybe even Seabrook. Will the drop off be that great? In addition to TT, they have top end talent at the blue line. Johns, Clendening, and the kid they drafted this year all have ceilings on the 1st or 2nd pairing. McNeil could be a Bickell-like player. The rest are probably 3rd and 4th liners and 2nd-3rd pairing guys. So do they have a bunch of sure-fire Kane and Toews types running around at Rockford or in the Juniors? No, but how many teams do? You don't win as much as this team does and wind up drafting those types. You love LA a lot, but you forget that much of their current lineup was not homegrown, especially down the middle (Richards, Carter, Stoll; Williams and Gaborik on the outside, as examples). Once LA turned the corner and started winning they weren't in a position to draft high enough to get the Doughty's of the world so they made trades and built depth through the draft (Toffoli, King, Pearson, etc.). When you win a lot you build quality depth through the draft (the Hawks have done this without question) and now and then make trades that bring solid or better pro contributors (Versteeg and Oduya) and hit home runs or one or two prospects every year or two (Saad, TT, etc.). The idea is that your core is already there and working. In the Hawks case the core probably consists of Toews, Kane, Keith, Hossa, and arguably Seabrook and Sharp, only one of whom is anywhere near the end of his run.

Depth isn't a problem for the Hawks. They are the envy of the league in terms of having young guys who can easily fill 3rd and 4th line and at least 3rd pairing rolls (Johns, for example, projects higher). They are a bit thin at wing, but centers can (and have - Mark McNeil) be converted. The list is very long, but you can start with this as a primer: http://www.hockeysfuture.com/team-rankings The bigger question facing the Hawks is whether there are any true first / second line and first pairing players there. When Hossa goes he will probably be backfilled by a FA, as he essentially replaced Havlat. The bigger question is Sharp and whether Saad steps into that role or Teuvo is so good at C that Saad doesn't have to score that much. The Hawks should be fine for a very long time. Stan drafts well (though he's not setting the world on fire at goalie or wing) and he's generally done a nice job in making trades that yield good results (including Versteeg, by the way). The brewing problem is Q's reliance on veterans and seeming unwillingness to let young guys get the minutes they need to develop (TVR, Morin, Leddy (when he was here), Rundbland, etc.). We'll see.

Sharp is playing with the elite thus far this season: http://thecommittedindian.com/wonder-twins-hawkeye-mr-fantastic/

If its anything more than 3 years I wouldn't do it. I am not sure I love the idea even at 3 years. He's not going to age well.

Hopefully Joe made this contingent on pursuing both Lester and Scherzer. Sign em' both and print the playoff tickets.

Agreed. If a team is good then their fans should show. Shea Stadium was a repulsive monstrosity that no human should have had to endure (old Yankee Stadium wasn't much better), but when those teams won they drew huge.