rawaction

What song?

Where the heck did that batting eye come from? Dude walked 18 times in 480 plate appearances last year. This year he's walking once every 10 PAs, which is pretty good.

7/23 and 7/24 gamethread, what the hell?

DeJesus may be out for the year. What happened to Gordon at 3B? Wasn't he a pretty good defensive 3B? Highly touted and has the tools, but UZR has him as a tick below average. Dayton Moore is such an idiot though. Gordon was sent down because of their "infield depth." That depth was Callaspo, Aviles, Yuniesky Betancourt, Chris Getz, Willie Bloomquist and Wilson Betemit. Tick below average, but he was 23-24, and in his 2nd season, the last time he played 3B on a regular basis (injuries). Definitely not Ryan Braun at 3B, where he had to be moved off the position. Makes no sense.

DeJesus may be out for the year. What happened to Gordon at 3B? Wasn't he a pretty good defensive 3B?

Freddie Barnes is going to make the team. You heard it hear first.

Man, he hits Brett Myers, harder than Brett Myers hits his wife. Maybe harder, but not as frequently. Lee only has had 35 plate appearances. Myers goes home every night and get an AB on his wife.

Man, he hits Brett Myers, harder than Brett Myers hits his wife.

Eat it, Josh Hamilton. I've seen him do it. It was in International waters so they couldn't prosecute him. LOL. Step Brothers reference!

Article says he will have an "increased" role with the Bulls? How is he supposed to get more than 27.5 minutes per game behind Rose? I hate to think that he will get PT alongside Rose as he's only 6'2". But they did pay him a decent amount. Don't know much about Watson, but he seems to be pretty good defensively, as he was only behind Tony Allen and Rondo as far as steals per 48 minutes. He was 13th in the league in SPG, despite playing at least 8 fewer minutes than everyone ahead of him on the list. Career 35% from 3, which is misleading, considering he has one poor season (31%), one great season (41%) and one season around his average in his 3 year career. Don't know how much money is left, but a shooter is still needed.

I love that Hester is doing everything he can to become a legit WR. He hasn't been bad, but this season could determine if he's going to ever be a legit #1 vs. a 3rd WR and kick returner.

Blanks is eligible for the minors because he doens't have a 200 AB season yet.

You do if your top player is LeBron, Kobe, or Wade. Rose is not the type of player who will be the man on a championship winning team. He is a great player, but not good enough to do that. you have no idea where Rose will go from here. He's shown great signs of continued development the short time he's played in the NBA. I think it's pretty clear he won't be a top 5 player like LBJ, Kobe and Wade. But I'm also pretty confident he will be good enough to be "the man" on a championship winning team. He's not loud, boistrous, or an egomaniacal jerk. He's also shown solid maturity for his age, unlike Lebron. You'll have to excuse me, but I'm not going to count those qualities against him at the ripe old age of 21 until I see what develops in the coming years. ?

You do if your top player is LeBron, Kobe, or Wade. Rose is not the type of player who will be the man on a championship winning team. He is a great player, but not good enough to do that. you have no idea where Rose will go from here. He's shown great signs of continued development the short time he's played in the NBA. I think it's pretty clear he won't be a top 5 player like LBJ, Kobe and Wade. But I'm also pretty confident he will be good enough to be "the man" on a championship winning team.

And Fukudome and Zambrano. But for some reason Theriot, Lee, Hill, Howry, and countless others are allowed to suck consistently with no recourse.

For what it's worth, Markakis' HR/FB ratio is at a career low 5.7%. His career average is 10.2%. With his LD% and BABIP hovering around normal (BABIP's a tad high), I think some of the power outage this year is due to some bad luck. Markakis definitely dropped off a bit last year, but his peripherals show he's bouncing back again this year. I think buying on him now would be a good idea. Oh I'd definitely be fine with getting him if the price was right. I'm just saying he hasn't turned into the stud that it looked like he was going to be. He's just pretty good. 10Mil isn't bad for a "pretty good" player. Nobody's calling him a stud. But he leads the league in doubles, that combined with the above stats shows to me that he has been unlucky. Because 26 year olds don't typically lose power as you suggested, especially if they haven't completely lost grasp of the strikezone. Still think he will be a 30 HR hitter by next year and going forward.

A quick trip around the league shows A LOT of illegal rosters. Problem seems to be guys on DL who are no longer there and guys in the minors who are no longer eligible (200 ABs, 10 starts, 25 appearances in ANY single season) Alamo- Fowler and Smoak are NOT minor league eligible. Smoak has over 200ABs this year, Fowler over 200 in 2009 (3 away from 200 this year) Bazingas- LEGAL, but Colvin is 9 ABs away from 200 Fuzzy- LEGAL GHS- Porcello is in the majors now, and passed 10 starts each of the last 2 years. Not eligible for minors Linesteppers- Ianetta is not eligible for minors due to over 200ABs in 08 and 09. Jordan Schaefer and Franklin Morales are eligible for the minors, but are no longer on the DL. Both have to be on the majors roster as soon as they are called up by their ML team. Brignac only 6 ABs away from being ineligible for minors. HBC- Beltran and Heyward are no longer on the DL. Happ is not on the DL, but is in the minors. Also has to be on your ML roster as soon as he is called up by Phillies, lost eligibility last year. Rodelo- Posada is NOT on the DL. Chris Davis is not eligible for the minors as he passed 200 ABs last year. D-Block- LEGAL NC Cubs- Not bad. But Volquez came off the DL yesterday. NSBB- LEGAL Quakers- LEGAL Dealers- Ike Davis has over 200 ABs, needs to be on ML roster. Salty is not on the DL, but is minors eligible until he gets called up (lost eligibility). Saber- LEGAL Thome- LEGAL BEVO- LEGAL Tootie- Not sure of the ruling on this, but Westmoreland is on his major league DL, but is in the minors. Is it allowed for him to be on the ML DL, essentially taking away 1 DL spot but allowing an 11th minor leaguer? In the past, I believe this was allowed as long as the minor leaguer was legitimately injured. Westmoreland had brain surgery, I believe.

Hmm. Let's see: -26 years old -.897 OPS at age 24 -elite BB/K ratio with 50 walks to just 51 Ks -leads the league in doubles -power stroke is coming back as he had 24 doubles thru June 30, with only 3 HRs, but has hit 3 HRs since and only 4 doubles -baseball reference lists Carl Yaztremski as his 3rd best comparable thru age 25, who just happened to blow up and put it all together at age 27. There's a ton of appeal for Markakis and I think it's well worth paying $10Mil/year and trading prospects that may never make it for a LH hitting, plus defending, corner OF entering his prime year. Markakis is a bad defender. I'd take him, but he's not that great. It's hard to get too excited about a corner outfielder who doesn't hit for a lot of power, doesn't steal bases, and isn't a good defender. Where do you get he is a bad defender? And the Cubs are paying more for a corner OF that doesn't hit for a lot of power or steal bases. Markakis has shown the ability to hit 18+ HRs every year in his career. It's not inconceivable that he could add more at his age.

Not really about the Bears, per se....but I gotta make fun of ex-Bear, current rival Bernard Berrian. I just watched my DVR of Ochocinco's reality dating show and he has Berrian (B-Twice as he calls him) as his flunky! If anyone has ever seen "Rock of Love" he basically plays the same role as Bret Michaels roadie did. What a punk? Great show though. Ochocinco should always be on TV.

Soriano?

Hmm. Let's see: -26 years old -.897 OPS at age 24 -elite BB/K ratio with 50 walks to just 51 Ks -leads the league in doubles -power stroke is coming back as he had 24 doubles thru June 30, with only 3 HRs, but has hit 3 HRs since and only 4 doubles -baseball reference lists Carl Yaztremski as his 3rd best comparable thru age 25, who just happened to blow up and put it all together at age 27. There's a ton of appeal for Markakis and I think it's well worth paying $10Mil/year and trading prospects that may never make it for a LH hitting, plus defending, corner OF entering his prime year.

I agree. I think he was too timid to call up LeBron. It's just not his personality. I don't think he didn't want to give up the spotlight here in Chicago because he has never even sought to be the king of Chicago. How is Corey Brewer's defense? I don't know. But I know RONNIE Brewer (the newest Chicago Bull) plays wonderful defense.

Cole Hamels 7-7, 3.78 ERA, 1.33 WHIP. Randy Wells 4-7, 4.61 ERA, 1.40 WHIP

81 strikeouts in 42.2 innings now. :shock: Really want him to finish the year at 18Ks per 9 aka 2Ks per inning pitching.

I'm looking at the 3pt shooting rankings, and there's a lot of good young long-range shooters. Any chance any of these guys are available in a trade? Arron Afflalo- Denver Nick Young- Washington Brandon Rush- Indiana George Hill- San Antonio Does Joe Johnson's contract and drafting Jordan Crawford make Jamal Crawford expendable in ATL?