BigbadB

The Bears need help on both lines. They need to replace Rashied Davis and Marty Booker at WR, and they could probably use some help at safety now that Brown won't be back. Maybe Bennett can fill one of the holes, but they do need someone who can spread the field and make quality catches from poorly thrown balls. The Bears also need a franchise qb. This is nothing new. Realistically, they aren't going to get one this offseason, so the focus should be on all the other holes. Missing the playoffs, in the big picture, was probably for the best. Winning a playoff game or two would have just been enough to make people think they were among the elite teams in the league when they clearly weren't.

Who is their back up qb?

I'm going to the bar. I'll be there early to claim a seat where I can have the Vikings and Bears game side by side, while also peaking over at some of the other meaningful games on the other tv's. Go Giants!

I happened upon the MLB network while browsing channels last night.

I believe it's Jeremy Brown. Meh, must have been thinking of the former Gov. and Presidential candidate. That's closer, but there is no "e" at the end of Brown for the former California politician. Okay, now I'm just being argumentative for no apparent reason. :hello:

This will be a great week for me to get to the bar early so that I can watch the Vikings lose and the Bears win. Even if the Bears are one of my featured games, I don't think I could stand to not be able to watch both the Bears and Vikings games.

Definitely not. He's the definition of untouchable for the O's. If Tampa called and said they would trade David Price straight up for him I am sure the O's would do it. I doubt it. Seems like they severely overvalue their players. They'd probably ask for Upton too This may be true, but an argument can be made that Tampa overvalues theirs even more. And probably for good reason. This doesn't make sense. It's not an over-evaluation if it's justified. For the record, I think Hermida is overvalued and should be traded to us for spare parts :ninja: Sure it makes sense. It just depends on how you perceive it. The Cubs were interested in Carl Crawford at one point, but the asking price was ridiculous. I don't remember the specifics now, and maybe that asking price isn't nearly as ridiculous now as it seemed then. But, when the asking price is ridiculous, then you are still overvaluing your player even if they happen to be a good player that warrants a nice return. David Price would be a good example. Right now, he's worth a ton. If a team called Tampa for Price, the asking price would be ridiculous rather than fair, hence my inclusion of "and probably for good reason". While the OP did say that Baltimore would probably ask for Upton, too, in a deal between Price and Markakis, I'm sure Tampa would counter with something even more preposterous like Price for Markakis, Wieters and some other top Orioles prospect that I'm currently unfamiliar with.

Thayer was saying first round OL second or third round reciever I dont think we have to draft OL the 1st round, but one of 1-3 rds needs to be oline. I think we can be more selective then locking in @ 1st rd oline. Not to downplay the need, but the OL the Bears need would only be a RT. The guys w/ 1st round grades are typically LTs or stud guards. However, if the Bears can find a stud in the 20s, they should take him. Chris Williams hasn't exactly shown he can be a LT in the league yet. But I think the Bears should look at DE, FS, OL in that order. If you have 3 evenly graded players, go w/ defense. If you can get an OL that is graded higher, definitely pick him. LOL. You are fine with the group of WR's that are on the team now? I'm not. But, is TJ the only receiver that will be available this offseason? I think the Bears need to get a top tier free agent at that position. We have no idea if Bennett will be any good since the Bears decided to wait too long to get him some reps. I don't mind Lloyd and Hester. Booker can go away now. Rashied Davis will be the next former Bears receiver to wait until he leaves to actually be good. If they can get a good receiver, then the combination of Hester, Lloyd, Bennett and a decent undrafted receiver or two or six, that can fight it out in training camp, should be a fairly decent enough corps for next year. With the solid depth at TE and Forte's abilities to catch out of the backfield, I don't think the Bears need a HOF caliber receiver. But someone who can get open and make things happen enough to spread the field should improve the offense enough to allow the draft picks to be spent where it is much more needed.

Definitely not. He's the definition of untouchable for the O's. If Tampa called and said they would trade David Price straight up for him I am sure the O's would do it. I doubt it. Seems like they severely overvalue their players. They'd probably ask for Upton too This may be true, but an argument can be made that Tampa overvalues theirs even more. And probably for good reason.

Technically, I think there is a limit, and the Yankees have reached it, of 3 type A free agents. I can never remember this particular rule, so maybe someone else can chime in that actually does know it. But, I don't think there is a written rule of just 3. What if you lose 5 type "A" free agents? Maybe it's +3 type "A" free agents beyond however many you lose? Pettitte and Abreu are probably both type "A" free agents. Not sure where the others fall.

I believe it's Jeremy Brown.

I'll certainly admit that this yellow line invention gives me artificial comfort at times.

What about the horrible waste of a timeout towad the end. They were indecicive about going for it, then tried to change personel, then had to take a timeout when the play clock ran out. It was a sign of a poorly coached team, which the Bears are. I thought that was a GB timeout before the FG at the end. Or am I thinking of a different play? I could be wrong, but I think Goony is referring to the 4th down play that the Bears called time out.

What about the horrible waste of a timeout towad the end. They were indecicive about going for it, then tried to change personel, then had to take a timeout when the play clock ran out. It was a sign of a poorly coached team, which the Bears are. I thought that entire drive wasted too much time. Very poor clock management. In my mind, they had to either score on 4 plays or pin the Packers back and force a punt, while still having enough time left on the clock to make one last effort to get in. They got lucky and got into the endzone (they just barely got the first down, although I think if it was short, replay would have still given the Bears a first down), but if they didn't, I'm not sure they would have had enough time to stop the Packers for 3 plays and still have enough time for one more drive.

Why would the first guy knock it back in to down it? It was going out of bounds at the 2? It was pretty obvious that both thought it was a live ball and were trying to score with it. I personally think the ruling should be, if not a live ball, the ball is downed at the exact spot the first defensive player touches it. It's stupid that it counts as a touchback when the team honestly thought it was a live ball and was attempting to score. It's stupid that you think that. Who cares what they honestly thought? The ball isn't downed when you touch it, you have to stop the ball. It counts as a touchback because they took the ball into the end zone, and it should count that way. Down the ball at the 1, it's either Bears ball at the 1 or Packers ball at the 1. The stupid thing is assuming it touched the playerl when nobody on the field made any sort of motion indicating that it did touch the player. I understand what you are saying here, Goony. But, we can't hear what the players are saying on the field. I'm guessing that the closest Bear to the Green Bay receiver was probably yelling "it touched him, it touched him", which could have inspired Jones to take the ball in. I agree that the best case scenario would have been to take possession and down it at the one, but Jones' momentum would have made that pretty difficult to do. If it had touched him and the ball went out of bounds, the ball would have been placed at the 2 and it would have been Green Bay's ball. If that happened and the ball really did touch him, we'd be pissed that someone didn't take it into the endzone. The absolute perfect scenario would be to take possession and down it at the 1, but that's asking an awful lot.

Yeah I forgot to mention about that punt replay...So for the first 10 replays they showed I thought it didn't touch him, but for some reason they decided to show another angle which they hadn't show yet. That was the only angle that showed it touching him...why didn't they show that until the last second!!!!!!! I thought I saw every replay several times. You can just barely make out the football changing its momentum and spin after it passes his foot. There is no angle that CLEARLY showed it touching, but the ball did make that slight adjustment, which is how I could tell it touched him.

Wow. What a game! I thought the officials botched that first kick call. May I suggest NFL invest in some high def replay tv's? It sure looked like the ball touched the return man's foot to me. Orton was really bad last night. I guess I'll blame it on the extreme cold, because I can't think of anything else to blame. He's certainly not a great QB, but I certainly expect more from a QB than the effort we watched last night. The defense was actually pretty good last night. If it weren't for special teams, we certainly would be out of the playoff picture at this point. I was happy to not see Rashied Davis drop any passes last night. Was he officially benched on offense? He did make one nice special teams play that helped the Bears recover a fumbled punt. Really should have lost that game. I was actually impressed with how Rodgers could put the ball in a spot where only his receiver had a chance to catch the ball time and time again, but also in a spot where his receiver WOULD catch the ball. The Packers looked like a better team than the Bears in both games this year, which makes it a real head scratcher that the Bears have a better overall record.

Yep. Dusty's aggressive approach meant less guys on base. Lou has emphasized a much better plate approach, and it is no coincidence that the Cubs have gone from being the worst team in the league at scoring runs to one of the best. While the batting average is not really that much different than when Dusty was here, the incredible improvement in drawing walks is the most accountable thing to the run scoring improvement. I'm not a huge Adam Dunn fan, but I'd be happy to have him on this team. His OBP and power combination makes him valuable. The only thing that would result in Adam Dunn shortening his swing is 300 foot fly outs rather than 400 foot home runs. I think the key to having Dunn in the line up would be to keep Lee in front of him, since his ground ball tendencies could result in an even worse GIDP ratio than he already has. You want an XBH guy or two hitting behind Dunn like Ramirez, Soto and DeRosa. Base runners create big innings. Big innings create wins.

The wifebeater isn't going anywhere. He has an NTC. But, you are right that they could trade Chris Young and/or Adrian Gonzalez.

Except they aren't trading him for %&its and giggles, they can't afford to pay him. They won't be able to hold him hostage much past the time paychecks start going out. That might not be true any longer. I don't know if it's official at this point, but it sounds like Moores has caved and is putting the team up for sale. That's what I heard, but is that going to be resolved in three months? The only way he sells quickly is if he takes a lowball offer. It probably won't be resolved in 3 months and I doubt he takes a lowball offer. But, it is California, where spouses generally get half of the worth. Is the wife going to finish the divorce prior to the sale, where she stands to lose millions, or will she hold off on her demands knowing she will cash in big time once a sale is complete?

He was already out the door. Which is the same place Myers punched his wife, correct? Oh. I thought he took her to an adjacent room rather than outside. That video is pretty hard to tell much of anything.

Except they aren't trading him for %&its and giggles, they can't afford to pay him. They won't be able to hold him hostage much past the time paychecks start going out. That might not be true any longer. I don't know if it's official at this point, but it sounds like Moores has caved and is putting the team up for sale.

The Padres are looking at Omar Vizquel as a SS option for '09. Peavy should be demanding a trade at this point.

Most of the bars I've ever been in, you knock a woman to the floor, you best be running for the door.

Rafael Palmeiro won a GG at 1b in 1999. That he won this award with a grand total of 28 games logged in at 1b is further proof that defense has very little to do with who wins Gold Gloves.