rawaction

Well we get the NFC East and AFC South next year, the two divisions that are threatening to send a sub .500 team to the playoffs this season. So that's certainly good. Home Philadelphia Washington Jacksonville Tennessee NFC West Away Dallas NY Giants Houston Indianapolis NFC South The home game against the west would either be St Louis or San Francisco and the NFC South team would either be the Bucs, Falcons or Saints. While those are some bad teams this year, I could see several of those teams making huge jumps next year. Dallas and Indy are a season and a healthy Romo & Luck, respectively from 11 win teams. Still very talented teams that could easily be that good again if healthy next year. Houston is a QB away from being really good, and could present some problems with Watt and Hopkins regardless. Jacksonville and Tennessee appear to have their QBs in place, so they could really improve in a hurry if those guys are for real. The rest of those teams are not very good in recent history....of course, neither are the Bears. And I'd imagine all their fans are probably circling the Bears as a potential win on their 2016 schedule also.

No way Tunsil gets out of the top 5. I'm happy with picking 10th though. Really opens up more of a chance to get an elite talent. At 17, the Bears were probably looking at getting a 2nd tier OT (Conklin, Decker), a 3-4 OLB with questions (Floyd, Clemson's Lawson), or a DL pick....while still not being a playoff team. And I'm not all that fond of any of those guys except your boy, Kenny Clark. At 10, this brings back into play guys like Jaylon Smith, Myles Jack, DeForest Buckner, Ronnie Stanley, and maybe an outside shot at Jalen Ramsey.

He's the ultimate "needs perfection around him" guy. Tony Gonzalez retired. Roddy White got old. Unable to develop any other TEs, WRs, or an OL. And Ryan is proving he's not a guy that makes everyone better and wins in spite of them.

He was [expletive] terrible.

Down goes Golden State, to the Milwaukee Bucks as everyone predicted. 24-1

Baseball (and really any sports) jerseys are so damn expensive that I can't imagine buying one for a current player unless he's a slam dunk legend. I ended up just getting a Santo when I finally did get one because I wanted to make sure it would always be relevant. I don't think that really matters too much unless it's something really dumb like getting a Theriot or Barney or even Fukudome jersey. It's completely subjective, but those are the ones that stick out to me; if I see someone with a Soriano jersey, or Prior's, or Castro's in a few years it's just like, "oh, that's that player that was actually really awesome for the Cubs." yeah...if you have a guy who was a very good player for your team for at least 3 years (and doesn't necessarily need to be that long - you will never look stupid in a cubs jake arrieta jersey), i'd say you're in the clear. I think it depends on the situation. A Peyton Manning Colts jersey is fine now and forever (debatable if they're actually playing Denver). But a DeSean Jackson Eagles jersey (which I have) is not a great idea. I don't think it's really a case of "looking stupid", it's more of rooting for someone who doesn't play for your team anymore, and may not identify with it now or in the future. Basically, if that player built a legendary career on your team and goes to another, I think it's cool. Arrieta hasn't been legendary for a long period of time as a Cub. If he goes to the Angels in 2 years and continues to pitch there at a high level, I don't think I can identify him with the Cubs anymore.

I have 3 knockoff jerseys (football), and 1 authentic (baseball). 2 of the knockoffs, you can't even tell. But the other (Forte jersey), the orange trim fades out to or in from a pink color if you look closely. And the numbers are ironed on and not stitched which makes a huge difference. I don't think I'll ever buy another knockoff though. I don't wear jerseys as much as I did when I bought all of these (my job about 5-6 years ago, we'd all wear jerseys on casual Friday), and the girl who used to order them from one of the Chinese sites used to get things seized by the FBI more and more frequently when I stopped buying them. So, I will buy authentic if I want any more. I also hate that with free agency, jerseys can be obsolete in a hurry if that player gets cut, traded, or simply leaves for more money.

god I hope that second expletive was referring to fifes moms body parts. IDK. Is "[expletive]" filtered? Edit: I guess so.

So, what's the next move? Obviously as it stands, the Cubs could go into battle with this team and nobody would bat an eye. But how good COULD the Cubs get? How good SHOULD they get try to get? There are still out there for trades/signings the Cubs are still going after. Baez/Rays pitching, Soler/Indians pitching, still looking at CF options, outside chance still looking at Gordon. But my questions is what SHOULD the Cubs do? Option 1 example- trade Soler+ for Carrasco Option 2 example- Trade Baez+ for Cobb/McGee Option 3 example- Trade Hammel, Coghlan, Wood, prospects, and/or money for rotation, bullpen, bench depth Opt 1- Heyward, need CF, Schwarber, Russell, Bryant, Zobrist, Rizzo, Montero, Baez utility Arrieta, Lester, Lackey, Carrasco, Hendricks, Warren Opt 2- Soler, Heyward, Schwarber, Russell, Bryant, Zobrist, Rizzo, Montero Arrieta, Lester, Lackey, Hammel, Hendricks, Cobb, Warren McGee, Rondon, Strop, Grimm, Brothers, Cahill, etc. Opt 3- Soler, Heyward, Schwarber, Russell, Bryant, Zobrist, Rizzo, Montero, Baez utility Arrieta, Lester, Lackey, Hammel, Hendricks, Warren, similar SP to Warren Rondon, Strop, Grimm, Brothers, Cahill, RP similar to Brothers

That went so well last time.

[expletive]. Rogue.

His @ starts with Real POS? I haven't really dealt with a lot of the yelling, insane parents. What I see around here are parents, of very young kids, constantly nagging the coaches under their breath and saying how they could do a better job. Also, seem to be the parents that think their kids are "too good" for the other kids on the team and coach them quietly on the sideline/fence to go rouge and do whatever they want (blitz in football, go after a ball hit to 2B as the SS, guard the best player on defense even though not ordered to).

Man, F that. Completely ridiculous. If he's worth 8/200. Heyward's getting 10/350

Yogi and Troy Williams went for respective Crean tenure single-game highs with 38 points and 19 rebounds tonight.

He's the Pirates version of Starlin Castro. Except he's white and all the beat guys like him. But he was the original of all the guys that came up in that organization and was on some bad teams.

Yeah, it was always a case where the Bears had to win at least 4 of 5...but couldn't lose a division game (Det, Min) or vs. Tampa for tiebreaker reasons. The loss had to be either SF or Washington. The SF loss sucks, because that was probably the easiest win they projected to have all year.

Can probably get him for a meal at Mendy's. #seinfeldreference

Wait, they traded the #1 pick of the most recent draft? This is about the equivalent of the Cubs trade Castro, Bryant, and Edwards 2 years ago,

Eh. He missed 36 games this year, and was on the DL for a month exactly. Javy is almost in the same boat as he was an hour ago. Fighting for playing time for those same reasons. But the biggest factor in him getting PT was if Castro was one of the worst hitters in baseball again next year. Zobrist isn't going to be bad enough to sit. And I realize this sounds stupid, because I'm basically complaining about a player being too good. But my gripe is more based on the fact the Cubs paid more money to get 10 years older and possibly only marginally better (depending on Castro and Baez's performance), when they have other needs.

Well, the fact that we would still have Rizzo, Bryant, Russell and Schwarber is kinda big in this scenario. If we trade Castro and Soler, then they are simply trading the two worst guys of our "core," depending on if you consider Javy a part of the core. They aren't trading away the cheap, young stars. In fact, Starlin isn't really any of those things. His salary isn't really cheap anymore. It's not prohibitive or expensive really. But, he isn't pre-arb, like those other guys. And he is what he is now. He's just a guy that happens to be kinda young and under contract for awhile. Trading a guy like Soler might bite us. But, he's like our fourth or fifth best pre-arb guy, anyway. And he hasn't done anything to prove that he is anywhere near the level of the guys we are actually keeping. That's not how it works though. Zobrist isn't that much better than good Castro. He's not that much better than bad Castro and Baez (who would presumably take over for bad Castro at 2B), that you pay him 19Mil more over the next 4 years with 10 years of age on his side. And there's no law that you can only have 4 good pre-arb players. And if I'm trading a good pre-arb player, I want a similarly good pre-arb player at a bigger position of need. It's swapping out Starlin for Zobrist for $15 million more over the next four years + whatever we get back in a Starlin trade. I think it is brilliant. Depends on what they get for Castro. Also, gotta figure Baez into this somehow. Unless he really takes to CF, then the collateral damage of Zobrist at 2B is not only Castro being traded, but likely Baez being traded. Zobrist has too big of a contract and leash to put Baez in there everyday if he's struggling. Zobrist is already your super-utility guy. Going to be hard to get Javy ABs in the lineup as constructed, and that's before the Cubs have a CF.

That's actually a really well structured contract.

Still not worth it. Unless someone signs Heyward for 14M more per year than the Cubs should pay (thinking 38-40Mil aav), then I'd still take 1 Heyward over Zobrist and whoever else they get. I am stupid, but isn't there a big difference in total commitment? Meaning they might not be willing to shell out a financial commitment of $250 million and are comfortable with smaller deals that help now but don't effect the long-term window when trying to sign our own in a few years. I mean, yeah there is a big difference. But almost 100M for two 36 year olds vs. 250M for one guy better and 10 years younger? And they just made a 155Mil commitment to a pitcher. Not sure why a 100M more commitment (which they basically threw around in the last 2 days) for again a much younger, hitter would scare them all of a sudden.

Well, the fact that we would still have Rizzo, Bryant, Russell and Schwarber is kinda big in this scenario. If we trade Castro and Soler, then they are simply trading the two worst guys of our "core," depending on if you consider Javy a part of the core. They aren't trading away the cheap, young stars. In fact, Starlin isn't really any of those things. His salary isn't really cheap anymore. It's not prohibitive or expensive really. But, he isn't pre-arb, like those other guys. And he is what he is now. He's just a guy that happens to be kinda young and under contract for awhile. Trading a guy like Soler might bite us. But, he's like our fourth or fifth best pre-arb guy, anyway. And he hasn't done anything to prove that he is anywhere near the level of the guys we are actually keeping. That's not how it works though. Zobrist isn't that much better than good Castro. He's not that much better than bad Castro and Baez (who would presumably take over for bad Castro at 2B), that you pay him 19Mil more over the next 4 years with 10 years of age on his side. And there's no law that you can only have 4 good pre-arb players. And if I'm trading a good pre-arb player, I want a similarly good pre-arb player at a bigger position of need.

Still not worth it. Unless someone signs Heyward for 14M more per year than the Cubs should pay (thinking 38-40Mil aav), then I'd still take 1 Heyward over Zobrist and whoever else they get.

It would be extremely odd (and honestly, somewhat of a letdown from a personal standpoint) to go from Castro, Soler and/or Baez to Zobrist, Heyward and/or random CF. I understand, still have Rizzo, Bryant, Russell and Schwarber....but jettisoning young, cheap, under long-term control talent to pay older guys for a potential shorter term (if Heyward has an opt out, this is possible), doesn't seem like something a great front office should do. And I kinda feel that they won't do that (trade Castro, then trade Soler and sign Heyward) so I'm not a fan of this potential move for if nothing else but that reason.