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I don't know that I could ever bench Brees.

Top 2 on both lists.

Damn had a hunch with Moreno vs Oakland's D and didn't go with it because Ridley has been solid for me all year. Moreno put up 26.7 on my bench. But I hope I'll be ok as he had Janikowski and Thomas last night not get him much.

I think if it was a long-term think you'd see Thomas. Hayes gives them a vet for 3 weeks in the playoff hunt.

Johnson Vogelbach Paniagua

We've heard about the rumored young players for young players type deals being discussed, but I would think something would have happened on that front already. I'm guessing Bourn isn't an option anymore. 3B has nobody left to spend money on. I don't see any big moves coming, unless they can pull off another Rizzo/Cashner type trade.

Yeah, if he and DeJesus are in the same OF, the Cubs better keep Soriano and probably add some power at 3B.

I think it could reasonably happen. I think getting Schierholtz away from AT&T and all LH pitching can get him pretty close to an .800 OPS. Add Sappelt's ability against lefties and it's a possibility.

He's not that good of a player, but he ain't bad either. Appears to be setting up a potential Sappelt/Schierholtz platoon situation, my guess is in LF with Soriano gone. He has good numbers against RHP, but can't hit a LHP to save his life. Not a lot of power or speed. Actually him and Sappelt could be very similar players.

Candelario's a guy that should be added.

Very intrigued by Vogelbach, but he needs to hit in high A before I stop having flashbacks of Brian Dopirak.

Tim Jennings likely going to miss Sunday. Doesn't have full range of motion in his shoulder yet.

Melton too. Wootton and Collins have also shown flashes. Add a couple of young guys in the back 7 and you have a decent young core on D, if McClellin steps it up. BTW, blog has been updated. I think it's pretty good this week! http://www.mr-irrelevantpgh-chi.blogspot.com/

I think Free Agency this year is more important now then ever for this franchise. We have way too many needs to be filled by the draft. You need to get a quality Tackle in FA or a solid Tight End that will allow us more flexibility in the draft and properly fill out our needs. There are just too many critical positions on this team for the draft to keep us from going down next year with gaping holes. I think it gets overstated how many "holes" the Bears have on the team. At some point it's going to be a miserable number of holes, but this isn't a team that's far away from a Superbowl winner. It's not out of the question they could do it this year, despite obvious flaws on the OL, at WR, TE, and possibly DL and LB depending on the week. One really good lineman and 1 more playmaker on either side of the ball could realistically make the Bears the best of the best, provided no huge dropoffs elsewhere. But at some point the draft and player development is going to have to pay off in a major way. This team is where it is because of trades (Marshall, Cutler) and draft picks from 10 years ago (Tillman, Urlacher, Briggs). I wouldn't overdo it in free agency, that's not going to take care of the real issue with this organization. Give me a really good lineman in FA (LT or LG) and draft young players at TE, OL, CB, WR, LB, DL, whatever. Hopefully, a couple those guys step up along with guys like Jeffery, Carimi, Hardin, Rodriguez, etc. stepping up and all of a sudden you have 6-10 draft picks over the last 3 years contributing along with the core players like Cutler and Marshall.

Yeah, they've been adamant about Shea NOT being a future MLB, but they consistently play him....like a MLB. He plays standing up at least half the time. He could hold up much better vs. the run standing up. I think he has enough speed to play LB. I just don't know though.

For the record, I'm very interested to see how Roach does at MLB the next few weeks. I will go into more detail in my blog, but Urlacher has kind of been exploited a little in the run game.

Behind OL and next to TE followed by WR/CB. MLB is an interesting position to have to fill in Chicago. Not only is this the Bears, Middle LB capital of the NFL. But this is Lovie's defense. The MLB is pretty important in what Lovie likes to do. Granted, the Bears play more and more man coverage every year, but I think he would go back to mixing more coverages if he had Urlacher's old athleticism to play with again. If you replace Urlacher, you might have to do it with an early pick. That's the only way you're going to come close to possibly replacing Urlacher's ability. Manti Te'o will probably be long gone by the time the Bears pick. Possible replacements in the draft would be (that I like): - Alec Ogletree, UGA. I like him more at SLB (Bears could use one of those too as Roach is a FA), but he looks like a late 1, early 2nd round pick. Looks like a potentially excellent pass defender and potential blitzer. - Kevin Minter, LSU. Good tackler, good instincts, decent speed. Not sure how he is in pass coverage. Leadership. Might be there late 2nd. - Kevin Reddick, UNC. Super athlete. Never has made the big splash plays at UNC that his talent dictates he should. But he could be as good as any LB in this draft, and could probably be had for a 3rd-4th rounder at this point. If he tests out of the gym at the combine, may be a late 2nd rounder. - Jonathan Bostic, FLA. Really stepped up into a leadership role on a very good Gators D this year. Can run, can hit, leadership ability. Decent coverage skills in zone. Probably a 3rd-4th round pick. - Nico Johnson, Bama. May be drafting him more on potential than production. Never has really taken on a leadership role or been a 3-down player consistently. But he looks the part. Don't know that I'd trust him calling the defense in the 4-3. Probably better as a 3-4 ILB. Could go 2nd-4th round. Unless Urlacher comes back in the playoffs and looks like a new man, the Bears can't risk bringing him back for anything resembling big money. Best case scenario, Roach looks good the next 3-4 weeks at MLB. Urlacher comes back in the playoffs, gives everything he has, looks good doing it, Bears win the SB and he retires on top (hinted at retiring if he gets a ring). Re-sign Roach. Draft a LB in the 4th round or so to either compete with JT Thomas at SLB or potentially play MLB with Roach moving back to SLB.

Do u think the Cubs won the Rizzo, Maholm, and Dempster trades? I don't think any of those are lopsided.

Don't take "no tools that standout" to mean "average in everything". Almora looks to be ABOVE average everywhere, with potential to be great defensively. This isn't Ronny Cedeno we're talking about here. While he projects as a ML regular, he has the upside to be a top 50 player in baseball, if you ask me.

Yes to all. Gotta balance it all. I think I start with highest ceiling. And then likelihood to obtain that ceiling, which is largely influenced on how well a player has performed and how close to the majors he has performed.

Martin has been mediocre. Dolphins fans think he can really improve and are excited about him taking over LT now that Long is out. Reiff has been a 6th lineman for the most part. But he did start on Thanksgiving and didn't allow a sack to Houston.

I was just about to come here and ask if anyone listened. I'm downloading it now and listening while I walk my dogs. I'm glad he will take a hometown discount. I'm interested to see how this offseason goes. If Cutler takes a hometown discount, I'd imagine he'd take it in exchange for getting some of what he wants (OL, TE). Emery is a new GM, and his future will be closely tied to Cutler's moreso than anyone else's if he signs him long-term. Emery will probably survive a coaching change at some point, but he won't survive if a Cutler led team doesn't seriously contend in the life of his next contract.

Might as well get this started. The only "locks" in my lineup are Ray Rice and AJ Green. I guess Hernandez at TE, Dallas D, and Tynes are locks too, because I don't really have backups there. QB- Kaepernick vs. Miami or Schaub vs. NE RB - Forte vs. Minn, Ridley vs. Houston, Moreno vs. Raiders. WR- TY Hilton vs. Tenn, Antonio Brown vs. SD, Sidney Rice vs. Arizona, Harvin (if he plays) vs. Bears Need 3 players out of RB/WR. Can be all WRs if necessary, but only 2 RBs at most.

Ok, just to have fun with some of these rumors. Sign Michael Bourn Sign Jeff Keppinger Sign Grilli Trade Brett Jackson, Travis Wood, and Christian Villanueva to Cleveland for Shin Soo Choo Trade Barney, Matt Szczur, and Starling Peralta to SD for Jedd Gyorko and Casey Kelly Trade DeJesus and Josh Vitters to Atlanta for Sean Gilmartin and a low level arm. Trade Marmol for a prospect CF- Bourn SS- Castro 1B- Rizzo LF- Soriano RF- Choo C- Castillo 3B- Gyorko 2B- Valbuena /Keppinger SP- Garza, Samardzija, Baker, Feldman, Kelly/Gilmartin/Vizcaino/etc RP- Fujikawa, Grilli, Camp, Russell, Dolis, Cabrera, Fields- Rule 5 That's a pretty interesting team that could be pretty decent with a little health from the pitching staff.

I had Murray on the bench in favor of Rashad Jennings who put up a goose egg. So I need RG3 to put up like 54 points to make the playoffs. Have to win and beat the guy I'd be tied with record-wise by 20.