RynoRules

GM:the Packer's Director of Football Op's, McKenzie; hire Jay Gruden as offensive coordinator.

I agree that he's not incompetenent, but he's not good either.

No wonder the whole world seems to want Bynum and the Lakers steadfastly refuse to deal him. Also says a lot about how well Garnett and Duncan have aged. And Kevin Love might be the most underrated player in the Association. I was watching him the other night. He's in fantastic shape and is tireless. If the Wolves can get a scorer on the wing they are going to be a Top 5 team. They already have a ton of front court depth and a playmaker at PG who has been suprsingly efficient so far this season.

I think a team witha strong culture - like the Yankees - could be willing to roll the dice on Z, but that only happens (if at all) after the alleged better options find homes.

What's his name on ESPN (not Mortenson, the younger guy named Adam S...) metioned it this morning. It makes a ton of sense. Sheffter? Yes, thanks. I think Caldwell is pretty clueless, but not sure this was his fault either.

What's his name on ESPN (not Mortenson, the younger guy named Adam S...) metioned it this morning. It makes a ton of sense.

Come to think of it, Cowher to TB and Fisher to Miami, or vice versa? And who hates himself enough to want the Jacksonville gig?

I think we can book Fisher to Miami, unless Cowher has interest. I think Morris deserves another year, but looks like he won't get one.

Might as well get this party started. On the "to-do" list: Offense - OL depth. - Fix The Bear Jew's knee, because he looked really good when healthy. - Two WR's, one FA (Vicent Jackson? DeSean Jackson? Pierre Gracon?) and one draft pick (Michael Floyd? Dwight Jones (UNC)) to go with Earl Bennett. - Allow Roy Williams to transition to the gig he has long-coveted: lockeroom reporter for Longhorns football. - DO NOT count on a return by Johnn Knox. Even when he was healthy he should have been the third receiver, at best. - Re-sign McCown. He has a good arm, steps-up in the pocket, and makes some pretty good decisions. Sign another veteran back-up as well. (Shaun Hill?) - Re-sign Marion Barber and Khalil Bell. Consider adding a speedy, change of pace type RB in the 4th or 5th round of draft (Gray from TA&M? Pead from Cinci?) - And of course - bring back Forte. Defense - Time to draft some high-quality depth behind aging Briggs and aged Urlacher. (see below for a couple of ideas) - Re-sign Israel if possible, but if not (he may receive big money that I'd prefer to spend on a top-flight WR), may need to use the second round pick at DE (Andre Branch from Clemson jumps to mind). If you go this direction, you could still get a very talented LB in 3rd round (Trevathan from UK is highly thought of; Keenan Robinson of UT could be a value pick in 4th round). - Say goodbye to Zach Bowman. - Bring back Jennings, Steltz, and Graham. - Add secondary depth via FA class or draft in 4th, 5th and/or 6th rounds, depending on approach you take. Oh, and this just in! Cutler is really good! http://espn.go.com/chicago/nfl/story/_/id/7411736/chicago-bears-jay-cutler-really-good :roll:

Re the Tigers rumor, if you could only have one, would you take Turner or Castellanos. From a very simplistic point of view, aren't elite-potential 3B's harder to find?

Has there been any indication on the players being offered by the Yankees? I don't know whether there's been anything beyond educated speculation, but Montero's name has been floated several times. IMO, that alone makes their package preferable.

Sounds like we should know by today or tomorrow. I'd like them to get this done and focus on moving out some other pieces as the FA market begins to thin out. Also appears the Yanks' package is preferable in terms of talent, but I trust Thoyer to make that call.

Could the Phils be a fit? Oswalt off the books, they value pitching, prob want to get younger, etc. If we got Dominic Brown and Jonathon Pettibone in return I wouldn't complain.

Sappelt is better than Campana. Campana has more speed, but Sappelt has a more rounded offensive game, which is more valuable unless your sole goal is speed. Sappelt is one year removed from hitting 53 XBH in a season at AA and AAA. Tony Campana has exactly 53 XBH in his entire professional career spanning more than 400 games. I guess if we stipulate that "More power" means "A whole lot more power" then I can see the comparison. Yeah, I don't see how he is comparable to Campana in at all. Looks to me like his ceiling is more like Fukudome's (at least at the plate).

That's what I was just thinking. I've also been wondering to myself whether we shouldn't offload as many veterans as possible, but extend Garza and build the rotation around him.

Agreed. At first blush this reminds me of Slocumb for Lowe and Varitek, or Anderson for Bagwell.

The real upside of this trade is that its possible we will have more Wood than any other team in baseball.

The only way I see it being necessary is if the Ricketts value the renovations and more peripheral improvements right now more than putting a good product on the field. If they're pouring enough money into all of that, it may sap enough of the available funds that they can't put a $130 million payroll on the field in the short term. If that's the case, I'll begrudgingly be ok with it because I do have faith in Ricketts/Theo, but if that's not the case then there's absolutely no reason why we should be in complete rebuild mode. It seems to me that a far more likely (and obvious) reason to enter a rebuild mode is because the talent on the roster is not very good. So let's not try and improve the major league roster, let's try to improve the low minors. That's a good point if the return includes guys who are at least 2-3 years away, but if they are at a Brett Jackson-level in terms of readiness, it will make a lot more sense.

That's a bit premature. I realize Hoyer has said a lot about improving the defense, but I think that's relative to how bad last year's team was. I'm not predicting it or anything, I just think it would fit their gameplan. They have been all about pitching and defense, and problematic SS defense can really put a hole in plans to be defensively solid. They traded Hanley for pitching. It wouldn't surprise me if they traded Castro for a similarly cost-controlled stud pitcher, even after talking about building around a guy like that. Yeesh, I hope not.

That's a bit premature. I realize Hoyer has said a lot about improving the defense, but I think that's relative to how bad last year's team was.

Who cares about pitching depth when your team isn't going to be any good? Who cares about one year of a relief pitcher when your team isn't going to be any good? You can absurdly reduce any move down to "why? the team isn't going to be any good." That doesn't mean the Cubs shouldn't make moves; especially moves for young, cost-controlled starting pitchers. Maybe you weren't serious. If so, yeesh. Nobody complaining about the Marshall trade is saying we should've kept him in order to win 61 games instead of 59 next year. They're saying they should've traded him for something better than "5 cost-controlled years" of a back of the rotation starter. Ok, but that wasn't the trade. They also are receiving two prospects. So why don't we wait and see who the two prospects are and then you, me and whoever can go nuclear over the trade if we don't like them. EDIT: Also, I know many here are peeved that we appear to be punting 2012. I am not one of those. I'm fine with it so long as moves we make actually further the apparent goal of a tear-down/re-build.

And here we........... Go.

And by using those players in those spots, we can use our leftover money to sign really, really good players. I said "can," though, not "will." Yup - I'd much rather have Travis Wood as my 5th starter than Jeff Francis and whoever else we could pluck off the heap for the next several years at bad value.

Yeah, I think I do too. Odds are, the prospects aren't going to be just filler. Getting 3 players for a short reliever with 1 year left on his contract is probably going to be a good deal regardless of the players. Getting a back of the rotation starter for 4 years is not a horrible return by itself. I'll throw in my guess that Wood is the centerpiece and that the other two prospects are a decent position player and a minor league reliever with potential. The position player will come in between 10 and 30 on the Cubs system and the reliever won't be in the top 30. This was pretty much my guess earlier today, except that I was thinking (hoping?) that the position player would be in the low-end of the Cubs top 20. If it is Hamilton as rumored, that's probably closer to top 10, no?

If we're going to do it, I hope we just *really* do it. Garza, Marshall, Byrd should all be gone by next trading deadline. Yup...unless you try to buold a rotation around Garza. Get rid of everyone except him and lock Matt up with an extension for the next five years. That puts your no. 2 starter in place for when you are ready to win.