rawaction

In Kane County, Paniagua sucks again. Gave up 3 ER and 3 hits in a first but did work around a leadoff single and his own throwing error in the 2nd. Amaya and Almora got out first time thru but both just walked. Vogelbach walked in the 1st but just Kd with the bases loaded.

Even without the PTBNL, I think it's pretty comparable. I didn't think Segura was that special but he's probably better than Olt is going to be. I like Edwards better than Ariel Pena and Grimm and Hellweg are similar I guess with the edge going to Grimm due to being more ML ready than Hellweg at this time last year.

Yep. Russell, Gregg and possibly Soriano and Schierholz still to go.

Woah. Are they aware Dalton is their QB? Bengals are a trendy pick this year. Dalton/Green in their 3rd year (year everyone thinks players take off, but it's not necessarily true). Really good defensive line. Pretty decent secondary. LBs are solid. A lot of people feel that Eifert will be a great #2 receiving threat to Green. They've been on the cusp of playoff wins each of the last 2 seasons. It makes sense. Patriots may be without their top 4 targets from last year. GB lost Jennings and Driver. I wouldn't have them that high, but I can see a worthwhile argument being made.

17 for his last 33 with 7 bbs over the last 9 games. Only 6 ks too. His bb/k was 23/74 before this recent stretch, so he's really locked in right now.

http://www.chicagonow.com/cubs-den/2013/07/pirates-enter-the-garza-derby/ Don't know if that's him throwing names out that might be involved or actual sourced rumor. Would be an excellent trade and better than Texas' deal.

Its interesting that the Cubs are interested in 3B prospects from these deals. I know I said that no prospect is redundant, but Baez, Villanueva and Bryant aren't super far away and Valbuena is fine holding down the fort until one of those guys takes over. Olt may or may not have been the primary target but Chisenhall certainly would be. I wonder if this says something about the long term future of those players or if it is just a case of getting a ML ready bat. You'd think they would just as soon put Lake at 3b and go after an OF bat.

So I watched South Carolina twice last season so I may not be the best guy to judge. I saw them play early in the year and almost lose to Vanderbilt I think and I watched them play Michigan in whatever bowl. Except for the "play" where the Michigan rb gets de-helmeted, I barely noticed him in those games. Lewan really had Clowney under control most of the game. Clowney was left un-blocked on the "play". Couple that with a player with too-much hair for his helmet and it looks great, but was not really that great of an individual play. Is he really this clear cut number one without any doubt talent or is it somewhat over-hyped? Ask Tajh Boyd and Aaron Murray if Clowney is overrated. I watched every single South Carolina game last year specifically because of Clowney. He's the best defensive player I've seen in college football in the past decade; Suh and Peppers are the closest I can think of. 100% dead on. I didn't see every SC game last year, but I think I saw them all in 2011 and saw quite a few in 2012. He doesn't take plays off as much as teams completely scheme against him. Teams run away from him. They double and triple team him on pass plays. It's pretty much impossible to completely show up on every play on the DL. Kinda gotta pick your spots. And Clowney consistently makes big plays on 3rd downs, momentum changing plays in the run game, etc. Suh and Peppers are in the conversation for best defensive player of the 2000s, but I think Clowney is on another level. His potential is Lawrence Taylor/Reggie White esque. Not saying that it will happen, and I'd almost guarantee it doesn't happen....but Clowney has the talent and upside to be in the conversation for best defensive player in NFL history when his playing career is done. He's legitimately that good.

No. If one starts makes them significantly up the ante, they are a terrible organization.

Yeah, you jinxed it. Alcantara got out. Baez K'd in their next ABs.

Ironically, would be teammate, Mike Olt started the 5-4-3 triple play. Then for good measure, he hit a 3-run HR in the next half inning,

I have to agree with one minor change. Jagr winning a cup on the Blackhawks would be one of the coolest things ever, if just to piss off Pittsburgh fans. I can get on board with that. They were all rooting for the Hawks because he was in Boston this year. Didn't that have more to do with Boston pantsing them than Jagr being a Bruin? Jagr won a cup as a Penguin so it's not like he's Lebron or anything. Yeah it probably did, but they really can't stand Jagr. Winning with him and Hossa would kill people.

Give up Perez and/or Profar and its done Texas. Garza and Russell.

I have to agree with one minor change. Jagr winning a cup on the Blackhawks would be one of the coolest things ever, if just to piss off Pittsburgh fans. I can get on board with that. They were all rooting for the Hawks because he was in Boston this year.

From a Sacremento Bee writer. I took that to mean that the Cubs are picking from a pool of 6 players...due to "in the mix". If it said "involved" I'd think 6 player deal.

My feeling on that is they were always going to give him the benefit of the doubt at the outset. They really had no choice. The question comes when there are struggles, how will they react. Lovie seemingly got his veterans on defense to go out and win a game or two on their own most years with the occasional halftime diatribe. I think that was partially related to the fact that those defensive players were his guys, and partly about his demeanor. Trestman isn't going to be able to fallback on that. He is going to need to win games with his offense and he will have to do it early. If they start out 4-2 a lot of this probably subsides. But if there are early struggles, it is going to be hard for them to prevent a death spiral in my opinion. The defense carried this franchise during Lovie's era. But I don't see that continuing with the leadership changes that have occurred, and lack of young studs moving up. The onus has shifted to the offense, Trestman's offense. If it lays a couple eggs, there will be problems. Also, words are wind. Agree with everything you are saying, and something I didn't take into account. A good start is imperative, probably moreso for the defense because there isn't much room for growth there. They aren't going to all of a sudden get better on defense if they start out rough. But they are going to have to win games til the offense gets going.

There's plenty of reason for people to be optimistic. Nothing crazy about that. I have very big doubts, but remain hopeful he can get the job done. obviously, we know very little about the man in terms of contemporary, 11-man football. it could really go either way, and drastically. See, I don't think it will be that drastic either way. I think in the NFL games are won by players, schemes, and playcalling. Most of the players from a 10-win team are back. Granted, the guys on D are a year older, but they actually got younger (going away from Urlacher and Idonije) and guys like Tillman, Jennings, and Briggs are coming off at or near the best seasons of their careers. The dropoff doesn't happen that fast without injury (which obviously could happen). As for schemes and playcalling, that's supposedly where Trestman excels. Granted that's in question because it has been 10 years since he has done either at the NFL level, but it's going to be hard NOT to improve over the last 3 years in both of those aspects. The key will be how much better the playcalling and schemes are on the offensive side of the ball vs. how much worse they are on the defensive side. But the defense is where the "players" still are for this team.

Check your initials.

I think that is insane. If Trestman is a disaster, this team is going to fall apart in a hurry. They were held together by a defense that relied heavily on a system that is no longer being run by the people who implemented and ran the system. And all its best players are old. This team could be drafting at the top within a year or two if Trestman is a disaster. And a CFL coach who hasn't been in the league for a decade and is a weirdo has greater than a 0% chance of being a disaster. Maybe the word "disaster" was wrong to use. I think the defense can still hold it together because of those older players. And I don't see Trestman being a disaster offensively. Disaster was the last several years. At worse, the offense is status quo because of the similar talent level to last year. At worse, the defense is still slightly above average. Still don't think that's a team that more than 1/2 the league will be better than.

Stan is Moses except instead of water to wine he turns crap into 5th round draft picks. Next step is to unload Stanley Cup winning defenseman Sheldon Brookbank on some defenisvely challenged team. Stan is Noah except instead of parting the Red Sea, he adds parts to a championship team. Stan is Judas except instead of building an ark, he builds a championship team. Stan is like the Germans, instead of bombing Pearl Harbor, he's bombing the NHL.

Jesus. That seems a tad harsh. I think it's probably on the low end of a reasonable range. There's a lot of volatility in reasonable expectations. I guess I get the logic. Lost 5 of 8 to end the season. Offense got predictable with Cutler to Marshall and the Bears didn't really do anything to address the offensive weapons other than getting a TE (though the perception is that they didn't use the TE much anyway, which maybe they didn't because they sucked). New coach. Losing a coach that everyone liked to play for. Losing the face of the franchise (despite the fact he wasn't very good last year). But still, only 8 teams won more games than this Bears team which either brought back or upgraded every starter except maybe MLB. Given that the Bears didn't lose much and conceivably upgraded its biggest weakness of the OL, and finished at worst 13th (if u consider they were the best team that didn't make the playoffs, though they 4 other teams also won 10 games)....the worst possible scenario if the rest of the league greatly improved and Trestman is a disaster would be 18th best for the Bears.

I'm probably the wrong person to ask because I hate QBs early. Plus, I'd imagine the big names (Rodgers, Brees, Peyton, Brady, Stafford) will all be kept. I'd go best RB, WR or TE first 2 picks at least then think QB if one falls. If not, go for a similar player to Kap and play the hot hand/matchup.

I would go with redundant there. Duh. Damn I'm stupid.

Isn't "injury prone pitcher" an oxymoron?

My God they need to find a nickel back. Wish they would have kept Carimi thru camp for a better potential trade than a 6th round pick. As of now looks like Hester/Weems are the trade chips they have.