rawaction

Agree.

It's borderline significantly better for Team A. Like others have said, if it's a keeper league then Team A has a great deal. If not, it's still a pretty good deal for Team A. Team A loses about 150 points in pitching, but gains 200 at C and gets a better prospect.

Still don't see the benefit in this. 3rd inning, the Pirates get a 1-out single by 9th hitter, Bobby Crosby. If he would have been hitting 8th, the P would have been able to bunt him over, and he would have had a chance to score when Iwamura singled right after him. Next inning, Pirates get the bases loaded, but with 2 outs, the 8th place hitting P is at the plate, killing any chance they had to score.

Not for everyone. :|

you obviously should be allowed to put him in somehow. think about it...if you couldn't put him in there, he would be literally unusable for the first 1/3 of the season since you can't stick him at RP because he is starting. that would make no sense. he should be made SP eligible too, so you don't have to bench one of your relievers to use him. that's what I was thinking but wanted to confirm before I did it.

So....am I allowed to put CJ Wilson in to get my 7th start this week even though he is only listed as a RP?

Trading Pujols ever, is a bad idea. I would have traded Morneau.

Campbell is a good QB. Not great but he was headed in that direction. McNabb is still a very good QB but likely headed down. He will have to learn a new system which I believe he hasn't had to do in a real long time plus won't have as good of a receiving core, not that Phily's is that great. If you look at the stats Campbell is close to as good as McNabb at this point. QB rating isn't the greatest but McNabb is only 3.9 better over the last two years than Campbell (89.2-85.3) and Campbell is the much more accurate QB. So basically they are giving up a 2nd rd pick in a loaded draft and a 3rd or 4th next year for a QB maybe a little better than their current one. Add in that McNabb is much older, likely to decline soon, a big salary and the fact that McNabb can walk next year leaving the Redskins with no QB and I say this trade was a bad one for the Redskins and it is not particularly close. A McNabb trade was going to be bad for anyone but the Eagles. The Eagles get a young QB on the field and presumably more Vick, since Reid won't have to worry about bruising McNabb's ego by putting Vick on the field more often. They have 5 picks in the top 90, which I would imagine they could turn into an earlier 1st and a 2nd. So, they can presumably bag Iupati/Pouncey and Allen/Burnett, or move around to get a guy Earl Thomas and still get a pretty good OG or CB.

We usually make our MLB picks in a thread, so I will start it out. NL East- Phillies NL Cent- Cardinals NL West- Rockies Wildcard- Brewers NL MVP- Pujols NL Cy Young- Halladay NL ROY- Alcides Escobar AL East- Yankees AL Cent- Twins AL West- Mariners Wildcard- TB Rays AL MVP- Miguel Cabrera AL Cy Young- Felix Hernandez AL ROY- Brian Matusz NL Wildcard- Brewers over Phillies, Rockies over Cards NLCS- Rockies over Brewers AL Wildcard- Rays over Mariners, Twins over Yankees NLCS- Twins over Rays World Series- Twins over Rockies

So, CJ Wilson is only eligible at RP. Can I put him in at RP on the day that he starts in order to get my 7? I'm fine if not. I'll still win w/ 6 starts. BOOK IT!

I like your pitching more than your offense. Wandy and Jurrjens will likely be top 10 in the NL in ERA. Gallardo will be top 5 in Ks, and his ERA will be very good also. Sabathia is a great source for wins, his ERA will be solid, and he is a good source for Ks. Qualls and Capps aren't great, but you can search the waiver wire for closers that pop up when someone gets demoted or injured. Or you can always punt the saves category and go after relievers like Wuertz, Guerrier, etc. who will rack up the Ks and do so with a low WHIP and ERA (what I would suggest). As for your offense; Fielder, Cabrera, Jeter, Lind, and Young all hit at least 20 points higher in 09 than they did in 08. To a man, I think their 2008 averages are more of what you can expect. Still, with Mauer and Jeter you should be able to hold your own in BA. Ibanez, I absolutely hate. Career year at 36, huge difference between 1st and 2nd half numbers, horrible spring at age 37. IF he doesn't hit 30+ HRs again, your power could be in trouble.

If would just trade me Brandon Wood, you wouldn't have to worry about it.

Yeah, that seems right. It doesn't hurt to remind people, especially the new managers, of the roster requirements, however. It really sucks that Texas appears to be going with Feliz in the bullpen again. He barely lost his minor league eligibility last year, so I had to waste the roster spot on my keeper list, and now I have to waste a reserve spot on him now. You should drop him.

Money is it. Of course, I would have rather used that money on Alex Brown than to sign a mediocre blocking TE. I can't fault them for signing Peppers. Understand why they brought in Chester Taylor. But Manumaleuna's deal sure looks pretty prohibitive right now.

Gallardo should be even better, and throw over 200 innings. Wolf looks like he is going to have a strong season. Escobar will be an improvement over Hardy. Weeks could break out any day now. Getting Kendall, Counsell, and Bill Hall out of the lineup so much should help as well as Suppan out of the rotation. Going from Cameron to Gomez will hurt though.

It takes a lot to justify a sucker punch in the face. But what I hear is that the dude just didn't like Clausen's general douchebaggery and decided to hit him. Not even remotely justified. But it supports the argument that he has issues w/ attitude.

I did, but what's your point? I also read the rest of that post and your previous post, where you conclude that you wouldn't draft him in the top 10 b/c you don't think he can succeed in the NFL. If you didn't agree with it, why would you add that comment in implicit support of your ultimate conclusion? Obviously just so I could get your panties in a bunch. Seriously though, I've said nothing but good things about him in this thread. But since I wouldn't pick him in the top 10, I obviously agree with all the detractors who are clearly making things up. For what it's worth, I wouldn't take Bradford in the top 10 either. I would take him before Clausen though, but they are as close as any 2 QBs (IMO) in the last 10 years.

My teams are all interesting this year. My 2 head-to-head teams feature a mix studs and question marks or scrubs. One league have a team of Sizemore, Kemp, Adam Jones, Adrian Gonzalez, Tulowitzki, Wainwright, and Peavy. Then I have guys like Garrett Atkins, Polanco, Shoppach, and Zach Duke in my starting lineup. The other has Ryan Howard, Tulo, VMart, Markakis, Hamels, Ubaldo, Josh Johnson....but I am also counting on Josh Hamilton, Soriano, Kazmir, and Buchholz as starters. I'm pretty happy w/ my Roto (7 x 7- OBP, SLG, Holds, Quality Starts) team though: C- Posada 1B- Votto 2B- Figgins (after 5 games when he is eligible here) SS- H Ramirez 3B- Longoria OF- Kemp, BJ Upton, Holliday U- Dunn SP- Lester, Nolasco, Jurrjens, Oswalt, Price, Hughes RP- Broxton, B Wilson, Wuertz, Affeldt, Morales

The Astros are going to be starting Kaz Matsui, Geoff Blum, Pedro Feliz, and Tommy Manzella* in their IF on opening day. Matt Lindstrom is attempting to close games for them. And no rotation outside of Wandy and a now mediocre Roy Oswalt. Manzella is a rookie with amazing minor league stats such as a career line of .268/.321/.374 with average speed, no power, and a K rate like Ryan Howard. He came up last in 2009 and went 1 for 5 with 4 Ks. They could easily finish below the Pirates if Carlos Lee is hurt or regresses again like Berkman already has.

Did you read the part about where I said... "there are people"....obviously not.

There are also people complaining that even with all the weapons he had that he didn't win more games. Clausen is a better QB than Quinn was. I always like guys that are that highly regarded coming out of highschool, assuming they didn't fall flat on their faces academically, athletically, or character wise. If Clausen wasn't a QB, his maturity and attitude would not be in question at all. It's because he is going to be given charge of an NFL huddle with more experienced players (at some point) that every thing he does has been under scrutiny for 3 years. That being said, I wouldn't pick Clausen if I was in the top 10. I don't think he's anywhere near as good as I have seen at the college level. He can make all the throws, I just worry about his ability to do so against good NFL defenses.

I have a new Bears mock draft. 3rd- Lamarr Houston, DT Texas. 4th- Marshall Newhouse, OG TCU or Zane Beadles, OG Utah 5th- Robert Johnson, FS Utah 6th- Nolan Carroll, CB Maryland 7th- Keenan Clayton, LB Oklahoma Notes: -I hope Houston is there at #75. I've seen mocks w/ him going right before the Bears pick and right after. Had a really good pro day, so may slide into the 2nd round. There are plenty of teams that need DT help, but there may be 8 or 9 off the board before him. I know the Bears have Harris, Harrison, and Adams; and Gilbert and Melton are moving inside, but Houston will push all of these guys to perform or 1 will be off the roster or moved back to DE. -Newhouse and Beadles are interchangeable to me. Both were 3 year starters. Newhouse is more athletic, Beadles a little bigger/taller. -Johnson had a very good college career, but is this low because he's kinda tall and lanky and has questions about his strength. But is a classic CF (13 INTs in 3 years) who showed up big-time against top competition (at least 6 of his INTs against ranked teams). -Carroll is a big CB who was due for a breakout year, but broke his leg in the 2nd game. Bears don't shy away from injury risks, especially late in the draft if they can run this fast. Ran a sub 4.4 by some stopwatches, stands at 6'1", 202. -Clayton is another workout warrior that is one of the most athletic LBs in the draft. Former SS, who bulked up to play LB so still a work in progress at the position. Special teams guy that may have a future on the weak side and in the nickel D.

I don't think anyone with a national voice likes the guy except for Mel Kiper. I understand why teams are nervous about him, but for teams like Washington it would be hard to pass on him. He really must have sucked it up during the interview process. The problem is everyone that knew him at ND has mentioned issues with his maturity, leadership, and sense of entitlement. Whether it is true or not, what I am hearing is that he's a guy that came on campus as a freshman and acted like he owned the campus. I do know that he made his announcement he was attending ND after stepping out of a stretch Hummer, but that was 3-4 years ago. Also there are rumors of reasons that the guy punched him outside a restaurant late in the season.

FWIW, Nate Allen is my favorite prospect in this draft, that could reasonably be drafted by the Bears (reasonable trade to move up into 2nd). He's the purest FS in the draft to me. And that includes Berry and Thomas who can be elite FS based on their athletic ability and amazing set of skills, but I don't consider them "pure" FS because they can play anywhere in the defensive backfield. He actually reminds me of Darren Sharper. He's smart (team captain that set the defense at USF), always in the right position, not a huge hitter that will scare WRs from going across the middle, but a classic CF that will create turnovers and make a sound tackle as the last line of defense.

Good point. If someone gets tired, send them down. Only problem is that there isn't really another position player that this team just has to have on the roster. I would lean toward another IF, but just traded the only backup SS.