BigbadB

I believe the plan is to move Lowell in the deal so that they can put Youkilis back at 3b. I read a report somewhere that said Helton is feeling better than he has in years. Granted, it is the offseason, but moving from Colorado to Boston isn't that much of a drop off in offensive production, since both are very good hitter's parks.

I think I'll wait for a more official announcement. "Some guy" on XM Radio who may or may not know what he's talking about isn't going to cut it for me. No offense, Laura. :wink:

Going through past rosters, they really haven't had that many older players on the roster. In some instances, the long time guys like Grace, Sandberg and Sosa were the oldest players on the team. Sprinkle a Lance Johnson or a Gary Gaetti in there, and they were still pretty young as a whole. They just weren't very good.

The 2b in that Boston line up will be Dustin Pedroia. He'll probably bat 9th in the Boston line up, which just gives them another on base machine ahead of the big boppers. He's been averaging close to .400 OBP throughout the minors.

Hendry did rebuild without trading away young talent, but it is a bit early in the ball game to call it a success. I can grade his moves this offseason, and I do give him a good grade for the combined efforts of those moves, but how improved this team will be is still up in the air.

Right now, I'd say the Bears have a 50/50 chance to win the Super Bowl. I like those odds better.

I wouldn't have a problem with worst to first, but how often does it happen? I'll go into it with an open mind because he did do some good this offseason, but something does need to happen this year for him to retain his job.

It's also mind numbingly boring to not compete against an opponent all year. That's what I don't like about Roto. I like head to head match ups. It's more realistic to actual baseball in that you build your team, the rest of the leagues build their teams, and you play a full week series against the opponent. Whoever can win the most categories for that week wins. Have a bad week, and you can make up for it next week.

Eeeeeeeeeek! No problem scoring 1000 runs in Boston if they get Helton.

Last time I looked, the Cubs were tied for 1st. Or last, whichever way you like to look at a glass of water. The Cubs don't have any games to make up. It's a good thing, too.

I don't play in Rotoleagues. I prefer the H2H leagues. That's short for head to head, which is somewhat the same type of thing as regular baseball schedules. Your team gets scheduled against another team from Monday to Sunday. The commissioner of the league generally picks the different categories that score points, such as OBP, AVG, HR, RBI, R, SB and IP, W, ERA, WHIP, SO and saves. Those are all pretty popular scoring categories. At the end of a week, the team with the most points gets 1 win in the standings. Towards the end of the season, they set up playing seeded by position in the standings. It's fun. As far as setting line ups, many H2H leagues allow daily roster and line up changes. But, it also allows you to set line ups days in advance. Basically, on Sunday night, you can set your line up each day for the entire week if you want. It's really nice for those weeks you are on vacation. I disagree with Vance as far as starting out. Check back in this forum in a few more weeks and many of the NSBBers will probably start a private league of just NSBB faithfuls. The public leagues always have a few jerks in there that don't play fantasy baseball the way it should be played. I played in a public league last year and one of the guys made over 400 free agent pickups and drops. Ridiculous. Basically, the guy kept rotating in just about every free agent pitcher who was about to get a start. By default, the guy easily won the wins and strike out categories by having so many guys pitch for him each week. It's legal, but I really despise that type of league play. For the record, that guy ended up losing to my team in the playoffs and I couldn't have been happier. In the Yahoo leagues, there is no dollar amount or team strength restrictions. You draft who you draft. You can do an auto draft or find a league that allows you to actively draft your team. The head to head leagues do have some of the same similarities to Roto, but not to such extent. For example, SB will likely be a scoring category in Roto and in H2H. If you only have 4 offensive scoring categories in h2h, it will be important to get a few guys that can steal bases, because you don't want to start out the week 0-1 in the stolen bases category, as that one point might mean the difference in a win or a loss for the week. You basically have to know what the scoring points are prior to the draft and rank your players based on the scoring categories. Carlos Beltran and Alfonso Soriano are guys with power that steal bases, so they can be beneficial to you in multiple categories. Jose Reyes is really going to be hot property this coming season if his power continues to develop. If I were you, I'd wait and join one of the many leagues that will be forming right here.

Actually, I won't need one for the office if I can't get MLB EI.

Ah. You really should check into it. Buy one HD set and you'll forget all about the other six plain TVs in the house. I know I'll like it. I've seen it in local bars. But, I'll wait until I can go pick up 3 at the same time. One for the office, one for the family room and one for the bedroom. The kids won't be getting one. The prices are coming down quite nicely everyday. So, it probably won't be much longer before I make that investment. I thought it was more important to buy a house first. :wink:

If Cub fans are willing to absorb ticket price increases each and every year like they have been, maybe 90m for 7 players won't really be that hard to work around. :wink:

I don't agree with you on much, but I think I'll have to agree with you here. :P

None of my tv's are HD, so I don't order HD service. I didn't word it very good. When I do buy some HD tv's, then I'll order HD service. The point was that all cable companies are gearing up for HD, and I'm not aware one will be better than another. But, I haven't really spent much time educating myself on HD.

Admittedly, that was the part that struck me as odd. I don't disagree with some of your points, but the 4 game edge when Lee was struck down is a very meaningless stat. Yours and mine. Therefore, I feel it has to be dismissed as part of the argument.

Agreed. It's fun having someone to argue with.

I go to the local bar for Sunday Ticket. How much does it cost to have it in a residential setting? I think it cost me around $200 this year. I figure I'd easily spend more than that over the course of the season if I went to a bar every game. Oh, I can guarantee you I'd save money by not going to the bar. My last bar bill was $52.00 between the wife and I for the Bears/Saints, and that was a game I didn't have to go to the bar to see. But, we've met a lot of Bears fans by going to the bar. The bar setting is more fun. The bar provides free Chorizo and eggs, also.

I go to the local bar for Sunday Ticket. How much does it cost to have it in a residential setting?

If Pujols was in the Cubs organization, I'm not so sure we'd even be talking about this today. He probably would have faded to oblivion in Doube A ball.

As of right now, all Comcast games are on EI. I'm not sure how the arrangement works though. That's not the question. I knew that. Did or could DirecTV customers in the Chicago area get Comcast Cub games on DirecTV? Will they still be able to if MLB EI goes exclusive on DirecTV? Shouldn't Comcast have a little say in that? Wouldn't that be sort of a conflict of interest?

Actually, that raises a really interesting question for Cubs fans on DirecTV. If Comcast airs most Cub games, wouldn't DirecTV have to purchase the right to air games on Comcast? They don't purchase Padres games and they've never aired any that aired on Cox Cable. This could make things a little more interesting.

You'll have to ask Chicagoans whether they get black out games or not. If Comcast has the rights to most Cub games, I'm not sure how that fits in with DirecTV. I'm guessing they'll be blacked out locally, but I don't know for sure. EI does not feature any post game. The games usually cut off faster than it takes to make the last out of a ball game.

Is that 100% accurate, though, Vance? DirecTV subscribers with MLB EI in San Diego will not get the Padres games. It's blacked out here on MLB EI. The only way to get Padres games in San Diego is through the cable company. Now, the Padres are different than most other teams, as they broadcast on a cable owned channel, Cox Cable. Most bars in San Diego are not able to broadcast the Padres games because they are DirecTV subscribers. It really hurts their business. Being fair, most bars cannot get regular cable service. I've heard the pricing to run cable to "businesses", and it's not cheap. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 20K just to run the lines.