Jazz

YES! my bracket is saved

wow and sosa was really tearing it up today

i'm not feeling to good about A&M going to the final four right now

"Rick Pitino is going to jump out of his Armani!" haha i heard that

2 of 2 so far for the swet 16 with all of my teams still in it.

Don't worry, aTm will take them down. I have them losing to Tennesee

Ohio St. looks very beatable next round after this game.

NO WAY!!!!

I am so glad right now i picked Ohio St. to not make it out of the sweet 16. Avoided a bracket buster

CMON ILLINI

The mere speculation at acquiring a long coveted superstar will do that to this board. Just look at the Dunn threads. Except to me, barring a Yankee WS and a horrible A-Rod year, it is inevitable that he leaves the Yankees. Then there are pretty good odds he joins the cubs.

this sounds more and more like a-rod is destined for chitown. What are the chances we swing a midseason deal?

Easy now, IU is not crappy. Also, Illinois has a great chance to lose to Kansas in the sweet sixteen. They have a better chance to lose to Virginia Tech in the first round though or SIU in the second. IU lost to Illinois therefore they are crappy. UCLA is crappy because they lost to Cal. :D sadly, I didn't even know there were games here until I saw the goodyear blimp (why send a blimp to an indoor event?). Anyway, I can get tickets if you want 'em Raisin (or anyone else) - six hours of driving and $61 a ticket. I can't make it, sadly (heck, UCLA played 2 hours away in San Diego last year and I couldn't go). Thanks for the offer. And screw Cal. :P heyy be nice I got UCLA taking this thing over UNC

I'm really impressed with Guz so far, and I think indeed he has returned to that blue chip prospect ability he had at one point. But we now have a problem with too many pitchers. Right now, i have us going into the season with 1 - Zambrano 2 - Lilly 3 - Hill 4 - Marquis 5 - Guzman 6 - Prior 7 - Miller 8 - Marshall 9 - Wood? Where do Prior/Miller/Marshall go?

Here's a hypothetical. Say prior is very medicore-to average this year. or worse. if he gets injured, but shows flashes of brilliances. After this year, if I'm correct, it will be his 6th year on the ML roster, and he will be able to test free agency. What kind of contract would he demand, and would you let him go, if say you could find in house solutions to replace him. The thing with prior is that his 2003 season was the best pitching single season the cubs have had in a long time, especially that second half. He is, however, 3 years removed from that season, and it is time for him to now prove he is that pitcher. I just don't like getting hung up on what he could be, and we end up throwing a contract just to keep him when he hasn't proved himself.

Good read Tim. I like that these are on the front page, well at least a link to them.

Maybe they wouldn't be interested in what the Cubs are offering and would be interested in somebody else's offer. I was just pointing out that opting out of his deal gives ARod the biggest freedom, without too much of a risk of throwing away money. That's true, but he'd have to take a discount to play for the Cubs. I can't imagine our budget could handle a 20M dollar player, not at least without trading one or more of Lee, Ramirez, Soriano, Marquis, Lilly and not re-upping Z. If he wants to play for the Cubs as this rumor suggests, his best shot to do so without giving up much cash is to get the Yanks to eat part of his remaining contract in some trade scenario. If he cares more about the money, he should opt out and sign with Boston, who would love the opportunity to pay back the Yanks for Clemens. I obviously don't know Arod, but I'd think after being the highest paid player and being unhappy for so many years, taking 15-17 per for 4 years or something like that and playing in a town that will worship you and a manager that you respect would be something he could swallow. Yes, but the Cubs couldn't. At least not if they resign Zambrano, who will very likely make about 15-18 per season. Now, if the Yankees were to pick up about 4-6M per year of ARod's remaining 3 years, that, combined with what Texas is paying, puts him down into the 12-15M area, and the Cubs might be able to afford that and Z also. If the Cubs don't resign Z, it becomes easier to sign ARod at the price you mentioned. That's really a difficult choice. It's hard to stomach paying any pitcher what Zito got, even one who's young and effective. If the Cubs let Z go, ARod would be a great alternative this offseason, if he indeed does opt out. I don't see the Cubs getting both barring an absolutely brilliant trade, and even then, it would probably mean putting the Cubs into the 110M range with payroll in a couple of years, and I doubt the Trib is going to go that high. How do you know how much more the Cubs could spend? You keep saying they "can't" as if it's a known absolute. I obviously don't know for sure they can't. I'm just basing that opinion on their past behavior. I may be dead wrong about spending and frankly hope I am. Having ARod and Zambrano next season would be great. I personally believe there's no reason a franchise as popular as the Cubs can't have payroll at a level close to Boston, but I don't run the team. i think they can and will. This new regime did not hesitate for a second after MacPhail left to give out the fattest contract of the offseason. The payroll waas raised by almost 20 mil from this year to last, so there is reason to belive we can make room for both Z and AROD

i'm not sure what exactly you mean by score meph

ive seen this two terms used alot, what do they mean?

How is he unhappy in Denver already???? he isn't, just stupid rampant uninformed speculation by the media and irresponsible journalism. http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_5375358

I saw some speculation from a Washington Post writer on a redskins forum that mentioned a possible deal where Denver sends Bly their #1, #2/3 for the #6 pick overall. Washington would then send Springs to the Lions for something like a 2nd rounder and use their picks (they have none of their own at the moment besides the #6 until the 5th round I believe) to trade up high enough to get Okoye. The reported hitch in the deal may be that Denver wants Ladell Betts.....for some reason. How is sean springs worth a 2nd rounder???

If A-Rod wants to get out of NY, then the Yanks have no leverage, especially not when his contract is as much as it is.

that salary is exaggerated greatly. If graham played for 3 years and we cut/traded him after, it would be 3 years/18 mil + 6 mil in bonus to pay. Not that bad. Not great either.

IMO, i think we're going to get a laugh out of this thread in a month or so when Prior is dealing. less than 2 innings of his first crack at ML opposition in a long time is hardly enough to be basing the future of his career around. Now a few more outings like that with that weak of stuff and I'll worry. I aslo try not to get to worried when the reports of his velocity are as varied as they have been. This is typical us speculating to no end about stuff that usually ends up as nothing (see 100s of pages of Dunn threads). Oh well, where were we. CLUCK CLUCK, THE SKY IS FALLING

In the past 3 years there have been exceedingly more insane contracts being doled out to mediocre players. Its not like years past where the TOP playerss are getting the big bucks, but they are being followed by players like lily, meche, and pierre commanding 10 mil a year when they should no way do so. Can anyone simplify this for my uneducated mind and tell me what to expect in the coming years (and whether or not our payroll will increase accordingly?)