rawaction

why anyone throws the Cubs fastballs at all is beyond me.

Problem isn't 9 games back or behind 4 teams. It's being not that good of a team.

Some people's memory isn't any longer than their whatdoyacallit. How could you forget this little 6 game gem just last season ??? Gm# Date Opponent Score Starter Opp Starter 144 Mon 09/13 @ St. Louis N 5- 1 Samardzija Garcia 145 Tue 09/14 @ St. Louis N 7- 2 Wells Wainright 146 Wed 09/15 @ St. Louis N 7- 3 Zambrano Carpenter 147 Fri 09/17 @ Florida N 2- 0 Dempster Sanabia 148 Sat 09/18 @ Florida N 5- 3 Coleman Sanchez 149 Sun 09/19 @ Florida 13- 3 Samardzija Miller Some (aka darn near all) stopped paying attention in July last year. Was Samardzija a starter last year in Sept? I didn't even know that.

Agree on Rhee and Lake being too raw. I'd take my chances that nobody would bite, and if they did either would be sent back at some point early in the year. If Jackson doesn't get a callup sometime in the next month or so, I think we can determine that he isn't going to be protected.

Yeah, behind home plate is pretty good. The sitting within earshot of the player charting pitches is usually pretty cool. I got to "chat" with Sean Marshall back in his Lugnut days, although he wasn't very talkative.

Drop: Morneau Add: McCutheon

Yeah, pretty much. Wade actually did a really good job on Deng when Lebron was shutting down Rose. But you give the Bulls another guy that can score off the dribble, and the Heat has to decide which 2 they want to guard of Rose, Deng, or the SG. I do worry though, that if you get a guy like Monta Ellis or Jamal Crawford then the Heat can just play them with James and Wade respectively and have a defensive advantage both places due to their size and the fact they don't lose the quickness battle by much. And then they focus their D on stopping Deng with the other 3. So, ideally, I'd like some size alongside DRose.

I'm not real excited facing 5 AL teams as often as the other 10 NL teams as long as the wild card is around. it's probably impossible to come up with the perfect schedule. but my line of thinking is that every 3 years, you'll get to see every team in your home park. and i like that it makes every team in a division play the same schedule. if you're going to do interleague play, then make it as fair as you can. otherwise, scrap it. I like this idea. I don't like playing say the Oakland As the same number of times the Cubs play the Mets, but it probably is the best way to do things so everyone in the division plays the same schedule. If you're going to keep IL play, at least make it interesting and like you said every team gets to see every team in their home park in a 3-year span. No reason the IL play has been going around for 15 years and the Cubs just went to Boston for the first time this year.

Markakis has a much better history of talking walks though. I understand the comparison. Markakis is a guy that does everything OK, but nothing as great as people thought he would. But unless he gets more patient, or extremely lucky, Vitters has a long way to go to get to Markakis' level.

While I agree with you and hate to nitpick... Noah is actually older than Deng. Feb 25, 1985; April 16, 1985. Also I think Deng is a pretty good finisher. He isn't explosive but he picks his spots very well and is effective. Ball handling, again he picks his spots well and although he looks akward as all hell, he was pretty effective this year. I do agree he can be more easily replaced though. Mostly because of position. Deng can be replaced easier because the league (and college) is full of guys 6'5"-6'9". But for a team that's on the verge of contending for a championship, it will be easier to get by without Noah than without Deng. The NBA is a wing oriented league. The only true dominant C in the league is Dwight Howard with Brook Lopez having an argument, but from the outside looking in at the league's elite. And Mr. Howard has 0 rings to show for his effort and only 1 legit shot at a ring. While Noah does several things to help this team, I think you can get similar defense, rebounding, blocks, and energy from guys who could realistically be available like Camby, Okafor, Nene, or Dalembert. I don't see any SFs realistically available that can replace Deng, even if it's just to make up the difference between what is lost from going from Deng to Ellis.

The crowd was laughing at quade I was laughing at Quade.

Yes! Cubs take the lead.....wait what? Zambrano stayed in to face Howard and Polanco when he already had thrown 120 pitches? DAmn.

Probably Deng or Noah. Deng would work salary-wise. Noah is probably who GS would want. He'd be a great fit for them. After July 1st, Noah matches up salary-wise. Yeah, I know. But I put Deng salary-wise because GS probably wouldn't take him if given a choice.

Probably Deng or Noah. Deng would work salary-wise. Noah is probably who GS would want. He'd be a great fit for them.

Why not bring in another midget receiver, he'll fit right in! I know. Can never be an elite offense with WRs 6' and under right? If you completely ignore the post-Moss Patriots, Steelers, 00's Rams, recent Colts teams, and current Eagles team. But Santana Moss is probably the best old stopgap WR out there. No baggage. Consistent recent history of actually performing. The Bears could do a lot worse. I'd rather them get someone that is younger and can grow with the rest of the WRs, yet already established as a NFL threat. But I'd be OK with Santana.

That's one ugly line-up! I'd be 100% fine with that lineup if this team didn't have a $125Mil payroll.

Absolutely dreaming. Bulls aren't too far from the Heat's level. Beat them by 20 one game. Lost in OT one game. Blew a flukey 12-point lead in the last 2 minutes in another. All with a star player who's just 22 years old. The Bulls probably would have won games 4 and 5 of the Heat series if there was someone else the Heat had to guard. LeBron and Wade can only guard 2 players (Rose and Deng, and Rose schooled Wade when given the chance in the series). Get another perimeter guy in there that can make plays and Miami has a decision to make. Miami is bound to get better, though. I think they need more than another perimeter player. Miami can't get significantly better though because they don't have the money to throw around. After the Big 3, the only players making more than 1.3Mil are Mike Miller ($5Mil), Haslem ($3.5Mil) and Joel Anthony at $3Mil. Any talent they get is going to be at a similar level of talent. Even if they get their old guys to retire/leave (Dampier, Howard, House, Magloire, Z) that's still only frees up 5MIl. Haslem isn't going anywhere. And sure they could dump Miller and Anthony and those 5 old guys and bring in another high priced player with the rest being roster filler, but that's not realistic. They are going to do the same as they did this year and try to piece together a couple shooters and some veteran bigs to field the rest of the team and hope the Big 3 carry them. The Bulls and Heat are basically in the same cap situation. Both are over the cap and will have to use their exceptions to add talent. The Bulls have more draft picks but that's the only significant difference. Miami will slowly get better though because they'll use their MLE to add talent if the new CBA stays the same. Their cap number will continue to go up but that won't matter to them as long as they're winning. Those picks are a huge difference though. As is the presence of young tradeable talent. Plus, it remains to be seen (IMO) who the Heat are able to get on the MLE. Does someone want to play 4th fiddle? And if they do, does that person have anything left in the tank? The best they could hope for is bringing in a guy like Mike Miller, around 30. I think the Bulls have enough room and tradeable parts to manuever a significant piece of the puzzle.

Absolutely dreaming. Bulls aren't too far from the Heat's level. Beat them by 20 one game. Lost in OT one game. Blew a flukey 12-point lead in the last 2 minutes in another. All with a star player who's just 22 years old. The Bulls probably would have won games 4 and 5 of the Heat series if there was someone else the Heat had to guard. LeBron and Wade can only guard 2 players (Rose and Deng, and Rose schooled Wade when given the chance in the series). Get another perimeter guy in there that can make plays and Miami has a decision to make. Miami is bound to get better, though. I think they need more than another perimeter player. Miami can't get significantly better though because they don't have the money to throw around. After the Big 3, the only players making more than 1.3Mil are Mike Miller ($5Mil), Haslem ($3.5Mil) and Joel Anthony at $3Mil. Any talent they get is going to be at a similar level of talent. Even if they get their old guys to retire/leave (Dampier, Howard, House, Magloire, Z) that's still only frees up 5MIl. Haslem isn't going anywhere. And sure they could dump Miller and Anthony and those 5 old guys and bring in another high priced player with the rest being roster filler, but that's not realistic. They are going to do the same as they did this year and try to piece together a couple shooters and some veteran bigs to field the rest of the team and hope the Big 3 carry them.

Yeah, they want him dead. Or at least they used to. I think he skipped trips to Chicago for a few years for fear of his safety. I didn't know about that. I know he's from Chicago and thought he'd be a good fit. OH well, he's not available anyway.

Absolutely dreaming. Bulls aren't too far from the Heat's level. Beat them by 20 one game. Lost in OT one game. Blew a flukey 12-point lead in the last 2 minutes in another. All with a star player who's just 22 years old. The Bulls probably would have won games 4 and 5 of the Heat series if there was someone else the Heat had to guard. LeBron and Wade can only guard 2 players (Rose and Deng, and Rose schooled Wade when given the chance in the series). Get another perimeter guy in there that can make plays and Miami has a decision to make.

Going by FTA per game (good off the top stat that shows if a player is good at creating for himself) then Stephen Jackson would be the best fit. Nick Young quietly may be able to take the next step to becoming a star type 2G. He's a really good shooter, very athletic defender with some potential on that end, and is becoming more capable creating his own shot. The guy I really wanted last offseason was Tony Allen, and he really played well in the playoffs for Memphis creating his shot and defensively.

I absolutely think it would go down with a legit #1. The only reason he was targeted so much was because he was practically the only option. Or more accurately there really wasn't a better option. Yes, but he was only targeted 100 times. Forte, Olsen, Hester, and Bennett were all targeted over 70 times. The legit #1s are targeted well over 125 times. And with an elite talent on the other side of him, even with fewer targets Knox could put up similar numbers because he won't be facing the team's #1 CB anymore. He won't have the safety rolling over the top to stop him from going deep if there's a legit threat on the other side. What I'd like to see is a legit #1 targeted 125 times. Knox's targets taken back to about 75-80. Bennett's targets in the slot remaining at 70-75. Forte and Olsen taken down to about 50-60 each (less need to use them with legit threat on outside). Hester as the #4 WR targeted about 40 times. And that still leaves 45 throws (based on last year's numbers) to backup TEs, RBs, 5th WR who comes in due to injury, etc. With 75-80 targets, Knox's numbers shouldn't suffer much, because they would presumably be higher percentage throws due to matchups, etc.

We really need both. Obviously a guy who excels at both is not going to be attainable, but they need to meet a minimum expectation in both. Throwing a number on it, 34% from 3 while equally adept from midrange is the minimum you'd want to see from a shooting perspective. Shot creator isn't something you can put a number on, but you'd hope he's at least Watson level shot creator. I don't think the need for another shooter is that great. Korver, Deng, Watson, and Rose (assuming more improvement) is enough along with another also ran like Bogans getting minutes here and there if necessary. I think you need a guy to create his shot more. So, if you run into the Heat Lebron can't take away the entire creativity of the offense by guarding Rose.

I'm not sure what makes that an entirely different issue. I have a tough time seeing Knox as a #2. If they had Andre Johnson I wouldn't worry about it. But they don't, so I have a hard time seeing Knox as a #2. You lost me. Do you have a hard time seeing Knox as a #2 on this team? A hypothetical team? In the general sense? Because he's a legit #2 WR today. Him being the 2nd best option that the Bears have doesn't making him a legit #2. Do you believe the Bears have a legit #1? No, the Bears clearly don't have a legit #1. But Knox putting up 51 catches for 900+ yards makes him a legit #2, especially considering it was his 2nd season (1st in a new offense). Not too many 2's with a legit #1 putting up better. I know he was the #1 last year, but there's no reason to think that would go down significantly with a legit 1 brought in.

Mayo would be ideal, IMO. He's also a really good defensive player. Afflalo would be very intriguing also. Really would like Alec Burks in the draft, but that's not happening. A lot of those guys are just shooters. If the goal is someone to create his own shot then the list is severely limited.