BigbadB

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.

I don't think the staunchest supporter of this move wants Gathright to be given a chance to start. It's pretty much the last spot on the bench or bust. Even if the Cubs traded Pie in a mega deal for Peavy, I still don't see the need for Gathright. He'd essentially replace Pie, who didn't have a roster spot to speak of, either. And if the plan is to bring in someone to play RF, the logjam in the OF means one of Micah Hoffpauir or Joey Gathright is the 25th man. In the AL, you can hide a speedy, defensive OF with little bat on the end of your roster, because PH's aren't nearly as needed as in the NL. That you need a productive PH to bat for the pitcher generally two times a game should make the decision quite easy for the manager. Hoffpauir, to me, is way more valuable at the end of the bench than Joey Gathright.

You will know the day when advanced metrics have gone too far when Joey Gathright is considered a better RF option than Abreu. I have no stats to back this up, other than Gathright is really not a good player. In fact, I probably would have rather the Cubs brought back Josh Kroeger and given him the job over Gathright. And I still like Hoffpauir much more, also.

Yeah. But maybe he can get one of them work permits. :D

Sorry to be so late to this thread. Are we considering Justin Morneau for our LH RF?

Also, a full year for Longoria and Carlos Pena had a significant drop off from the previous year. i think it's highly unlikely that pena ever has a season like 2007 again That's fine. I didn't say he would. I just said he had a SIGNIFICANT drop off. Somewhere in between '07 and '08 would still be better than what he put up in '08. I don't see that as "unlikely".

How much salary flexibility did they have coming into the offseason? I'm guessing well more than enough for Peavy and Furcal. Don't forget Javier Vasquez.

Baltimore needed to make a splash after the Burnett and Sabathia signings in NY and the rumored Tex to Boston deal with one of their own. =D>

I'm a bit confused by this move. Already on the roster are: Soriano Johnson Fukudome Pie Hoffpauir And they are trying to get Bradley. Assuming Pie will be traded, that still leaves 5 guys for the outfield, and that still doesn't include DeRosa. I would value Hoffpauir's PH abilities way above anything Gathright can provide. If Gathright is just AAA filler, then whatever.

Also, a full year for Longoria and Carlos Pena had a significant drop off from the previous year.

http://cubtown.baseballtoaster.com/archives/1187307.html Just wow.