rawaction

Damn, thought they weren't going to call that either.

Yeah, I'm loving the Chargers draft for them. I knew there was someone still on the board at CB when Josh Norman went.

Why Baker and not Mather?

WTF?

:-k

How the hell did the Hawks score first in a game like this?

Don't let the small school and lack of a combine invite fool you, Brooks isn't really a project. He can play pretty early on, IMO. But I also don't know that the Bears would go DL and OL with the first 3 picks in this or any draft.

Couldn't ask for better than a rookie QB in Soldier Field for the opener. The Bears are better teams than 4 of the 5 teams they start the season with. Then they have 2 home games after a bye. With a start like that, I expected the end of the season would be a lot worse, but it looks like the tough part of the schedule is dead center. @ Tennessee, vs. Houston and @ SF is a tough stretch, but then it presumably gets a little easier with 2 home games vs. inferior teams and then a road game against a weak team.

I do like Marvin Jones a lot. I think Brandon Brooks may be too good to pass up, if he's still on the board. Jones or Brooks. Fine with either.

Chargers select CB Jayron Hosley, Virginia Tech.

Jags select Mitchell Schwartz, OT CAL PM'd IMB!

I'll take IU as a 1 seed in Lexington and Indianapolis to get to the Final 4.

Acho was the more productive of the 2, but Robinson looks to be the much better athlete.

That would be amazing and I'm not a Reynolds fan.

Is he typically this much of a groundball pitcher?

I guess my question is, at what point are we comfortable saying LaHair will be capable of hitting at the MLB level? If he keeps up an .830+ OPS pace until the ASB, is that enough to say with any level of certainty that that's the type of player he'll be, or is there still too much doubt that he's just on a prolonged hot streak? I'd hate to see us pass on getting even just marginal value for LaHair if he reverts back to AAAA journeyman in the second half of the season, but at the same time, I'd hate to give up a cheap hitter who can give us an .830+ OPS with at least average defense for a DLee type deal. I do have to wonder, though, if three months of production is enough time to convince me that a guy who took 6 years to hit at a high level in AAA is now a good bet to hit at the major league level. Especially since his BABIPs as a Cub have been .375 last year and .556 so far this year. If you don't know that 3 months of good production means he's capable of hitting at the MLB level, then you are going to have a tough time convincing someone else that he is good enough to trade anyone of significance for. The DLee trade is interesting. Because on one hand, DLee was a shell of his former self by the time he got traded from the Cubs, then again from the O's. And LaHair would almost certainly be putting up better numbers than Lee did if any team was even willing to trade for him. However, part of Lee's value came from the fact that he did have sustained good-to-elite production at some point in his career. He had playoff experience, WS rings, and played Gold Glove defense at points in his career. It's a lot easier for a team to justify giving up prospects for a guy who's "done it before" than it is for them to give up something for a 29-year old who is doing it for the first time.

Exactly. Derrek Lee was traded for a 23-year old AA player who if he makes it to the majors expects to be a platoon player. The Cubs got a guy that's 24 in low A, a 25 year old in high A, and a guy that had promise but has been cut already, for Lee in 2010. Is that really worth giving up cheap production if LaHair continues to hit?

It's all fine and good to have value to an AL team. But what's the value the Cubs will get from trading him? Maybe getting another John Gaub? I just don't see anyway the Cubs get anything worth trading him for. Who? LaHair could play LF. Jackson can play CF. Rizzo 1B. Golden and Szczur are a ways away. And it's not like the Cubs would honestly let LaHair block one of these guys. If 32 year old LaHair is still on the team, it won't be much to cut his 750K salary or trade him then if he still has any value.

What's the chances of getting a "solid package" from him though? Contending teams typically don't need 1st basemen at the trade deadline, because they typically are getting above average production from the position in the first place. And I don't think there's even much of a chance for a Mark Derosa type package for him. Cheap production is valuable, but not as much from a 29-year old. I guess my point is I don't see anyway trading LaHair makes the Cubs any better in the short or long-term. The best case scenario in a trade is to get a very raw, high upside prospect who all of a sudden figures it out and becomes a productive player. But that's clearly a long-shot. He doesn't have a contract that is going to prevent the Cubs from spending money. He's not talented enough to block a prospect from a spot in the lineup. But for a team re-building the farm system and may not be willing or able to pay a big time hitter the money he wants, LaHair for 2-3 years at respectable numbers just gives the Cubs 1 less spot to worry about in the short-term. The Ryan Ludwick comparison is a good one. I think if LaHair can give you 3 years of Ludwick production from ages 29-31, then I'd be happy with that. And I think that's monumentally more than you can expect from anyone you get in a trade for him.

He only has 79 ABs in a Cubs uniform, and is 29 years old. But is it possible the Cubs can continue to get something of substance out of him for a few years? David Ortiz is a guy that didn't really take off as a player until his late 20s, and I'm sure there are plenty other examples. But that's not to say LaHair will or even needs to become Ortiz. But can he continue to produce 30 HR power and walk at a respectable rate? His career line is .272/.342/.428, which is largely influenced by 136 ABs in Seattle 4 years ago. If he can be counted on to produce an .830+ OPS, he could be a valuable piece to the Cubs for a handful of years, even if he moves to a corner OF spot for Rizzo. I think he's clearly more valuable to the Cubs (in LF after Soriano is gone) than he would be in a trade when Rizzo comes up. If he's truly capable, he'd give the Cubs solid production whereas they'd just be trading a 29-year old journeyman and wouldn't get very much in return, no matter how well he hits.

Agreed. But it's a lot easier to do so when your hero is 6'6" - 6'9", can outjump everyone on the floor and is quicker than anyone that could possibly be guarding him. If Rose has the ball, it's going to be a contested jumper. If LBJ or 90s Jordan have the ball, it can be a jumpshot against someone that's either smaller, less athletic, or can't jump high enough to contest (or all of the above in most cases) or its a drive to the hoop against a player only 3-6 inches taller instead of 6 to 9 inches.

A friend of mine made an interesting comparison to me a few months ago. After Sunday's Knicks game and last night's game, it got me thinking if there may be something to it. He compared DRose to Allen Iverson from his days in Philly. MVP caliber player, who's undersized. His point was that he doesn't think a team can win championships running all it's offense thru the PG. Case in point, in the Knicks game, DRose, despite not being 100% was taking every big shot. I don't know that anyone else took a shot in the last 3 minutes of that game besides Rose. While Rose is fully capable, it's a lot different than someone like Lebron or Melo who have the height to shoot over defenders or drive to the hoop and score. When everyone knows Rose is going to take the shot, defenses can either put a bigger man on him (can't shoot over) or put a similar sized player on him and help with any of 4 players who are all going to have 4-10 inches on him. Last night, in regulation, Rose was taking shots down the stretch again, and they weren't falling. Rust or not, he wasn't and doesn't typically take very makeable shots late in games when the defense is keyed on him. He simply is not given those shots. But in OT, with Watson out there, the Bulls moved the ball around in OT. Nobody was sitting around watching Derrick. 4 players were legit options to take a shot each time down the court (Asik was in there). Needless to say, the end result was a lot better than the Knicks game was. I know the Bulls can't win games consistently in the first place without Rose, but could they close out close games better without him? Or at least not running the offense exclusively thru him? And if the answer to the previous question is YES (and I know DRose is a humble superstar) but is he OK with not taking the late shots? It's not like he has a DWade with him, the player taking the shot, if not him, will be a much lesser player. How would it look if he's not the one taking the shots down the stretch?

I like Orson Charles more than most on here, it seems. I think he'd be a good value here. I like Charles too. He's one of the few TEs in this draft class to actually play on the LOS, run block at the POA, and actually has the ability to make plays down the field. A lot of the other TEs lined up more in the slot, didn't run block much, or are just blockers and short yardage options in the pass game.

I'd take Marvin Jones over Criner. Take Philip Blake over Kelemete. Rather take a project TE like Chase Ford or Adrien Robinson over Peterson (who's a project himself but has less size).

I can't imagine any good reason to think about what is essentially a random trivia point. Unless you are talking about something like drafting QBs in the first round in back to back seasons, this is largely meaningless. My point was more about drafting another DT early when the previous year's early DT pick didn't really get a chance to play a full season. I agree though, it's not really a big deal as both can/will see plenty of time on the field. So, yeah my comment was probably a little stupid.