Chocolate Milk

I really think Estes is stalling for the delay.

Thats what she said

You got us.

I like the "Highest Paid Kicker in NFL history" shtick. This is starting to lose it's edge when every new free agent signing makes that player the highest paid player at his position in the history of the NFL. The salary cap is going up significantly every year. This shouldn't be a surprise. It's not like the Bears think he's the best kicker in the history of the NFL.

Please stop playing Reed Johnson. 124 PA and a .295 SLG. Oof.

I remember seeing this play and thinking "this guy doesn't belong in the NFL." And now he's a Bear. Joy. I forsee much consternation from Bear fans over Lloyd. There is a decent chance he won't even make the team.

For an OPS+ of 85, still well below league average - "a lot better" is an exaggeration. Theriot's "neutral luck" batting line still isn't that good if you take into account park effect and extra base hits. Let's take a look at this real quick: League average, 2007: .266/.334/.423 League average w/ park effect for Wrigley: .278/.347/.444 So Theriot's "neutral luck" batting line would look like .283/.336/.358 in a neutral park. Any way you slice it, his power numbers are absolutely abysmal and he hasn't shown many signs of improving them. And before anyone says, "Well, shortstops don't have to hit for power," let's look at the average NL shortstop from last season: .279/.337/.420 That's still a damn sight better than our hypothetical "neutral luck" Ryan Theriot, even if we don't bother to park adjust. Great post.

To be honest, we don't know how much fault that is of Theriot's, and how much it is of Lou's. Is Lou giving him the general green light, or is Lou calling steal attempts from the dugout? We know for sure that Theriot is not going to add much positive value from his SB's this year because of the CS (even if he steals the next 15 in a row). Assigning blame for CS is tricky though because there has never been clarification on if Lou is the one who's telling him to run. Now his outs made at third base on general baserunning plays? Those are open season. I think it's pretty hard to place blame on Lou based on speculation alone. Lou was the manager last year as well. Maybe I'm wrong here, but I put more of the blame on Theriot. A player is mostly responsible for his production, imo.

Then at the same time you shouldn't look at his SLG in a vacuum considering he's stolen 7 bases. Exactly. You might want to look at EQA, which takes that into account. Theriot's EQA is .269, only marginally better than the .247 he put up a year ago. The CS's are killing him offensively. Cedeno, for a point of comparison, is sporting a .350 EQA.

We probably shouldn't be looking at Theriot's OBP in a vacuum considering he has been caught stealing 6 times.

Who should he start over? The guy who's been on base 7 times the last 3 games, or the guy who's been on base 8 times the last 3 games? How about the guy who has made numerous mental and physical errors possibly having cost the Cubs 2 or more games in the last week or so? What about the guy leading MLB in caught stealing?

He's going to blow out his o ring!

Nice spin move by Hart.

I'm going to pretend this never happened.

Junk.

take take take

Well, that sucks.

I could see the PUP for Benson, not because of injuyr, but because no team has signed him after the Bears cut him. I'm leaning more and more toward the idea that they will be cutting Benson. Angelo went from talking about Cedric as needing to improve before the draft, to practically dismissing him after they got Forte. They like Peterson on ST and as a backup. They presumably like Wolfe for his change of pace situation. And considering the RB in the system that Forte is most similar to is Benson, I would think Cedric would be a good candidate to be cut. He probably will be given through training camp to prove he deserves more of a chance. But I could definitely see them cut him before even the first preseason game. I wouldn't like that at all. This is a great time to open this camp up with the position wide open and see some competition. I think we might see a new Benson with Forte pushing him. Or perhaps they both work out and we see what we did with Jones/Benson. At the very least you give him one last year here, I don't know how much lower his value can get. If Forte outright wins the position then great, then we send Benson packing. Lets not put all our eggs in one basket again with a new RB, at least not without a little caution. By the way, what kind of cap issue would we see if Benson was cut? I wouldn't like to see him cut either. But I would assume they would at least open camp up to big-time competition. I've heard people say Wolfe may be on the hot seat, but considering Forte and Wolfe aren't similar at all, I would think Benson would be as good a candidate to be cut as anybody. I can't see them keeping 4 guys, and if Forte looks good, and Benson does not, there's no reason not to cut him. But if this does push Benson to improve, that's a different story. Cedric is entering the 4th year of a 5-year contract, I would not think there would be significant salary cap ramifications to cutting him. I was thinking Wolfe at first but I couldn't get around: Angelo mentioning Forte as an "every down back" and not having anything good to say about Cedric. I was thinking PUP list would be the easy way out considering the injury.

Found this video on another board and wanted to share: Forte: Every touch in the Senior Bowl

I think it is possible that both Williams (he's probably a lock) and Forte could be game one starters for us. I think it's possible that Ced Ben starts out the year on the PUP list.

You'd have to pay me to go to this one. Its going to be miserable out there.

The TE pick was a bit baffling, but he was a great value at that point. I'm all for anyone who can catch the ball at this point. Pretty sure this draft spells the end of Manning Jr. and AA in a Bears uniform. That is a good thing. I think the Bears are going to look to pick up a OG after June cuts, assuming they don't think Beekman can handle it.

who also plays on sundays and torched the bears for 100 yards rushing and receiving. we're all going to see why thomas and mendenhall shared carries at illinois. We probably won't. Peirre racked up the yards because the Bears were crushing the Saints and were content to let them dump the ball off all game. He's a solid player but he's probably not going to get a whole lot of playing time this year.

I am lurking on the KFFL boards and people are just embarrassing themselves there like they do every year. News Flash: The Bears probably aren't going to, nor should they, draft for need in the 5-7th rounds. Everyone is wetting their pants over not drafting a guard in the late rounds. Well, they drafted Beekman in 4th last year and people treat him like he isn't even on the team. Most of these late round guys are going to make absolutely no impact. They didn't draft Woodson because he sucks, gang. People are blowing their tops about drafting a DE in the 7th round? Fire Jerry! We need a guard! Every year it's the same reaction, it's great comedy, I'll tell you that.

Booty or Johnson, I hope we don't even touch Dixon or Brennan with a 10 foot pole. dixon, no. i wouldn't be upset with brennan, though. Reverse this for me. Brennan really brings nothing to the table. i think dixon's release is the worst thing i've ever seen. i don't think he projects as a qb at all. then again, brennan's release isn't a thing of beauty, either. I'd be worried about Brennan throwing a 10 yard cross in a 5 mph breeze.