rawaction

With Byrd and Fukudome, they have 2 OF'ers capable of playing CF so in that regard they don't need him as the back-up CF'er. With that said, they probably could use a late inning defensive replacement/pinch-runner but with the fact they have only 13 position guys and the 4 middle infielders, I agree they don't have room for Fuld. I say let Tracy, Hoffpauir, and Synder battle it out for the 25th roster spot. Of course, they could've never had this problem by having one legit starting 2B instead of trying to patch it with two utility guys and carrying 14 position guys. What about the insistance on carrying 12 pitchers at all times? Edit: I guess I should have kept reading the thread.

I think it's Fuld and Blanco's spots to lose.

Raw Dawgs select Starlin Castro- SS, Chicago Cubs.

I'm not sure if this would work, but I'd rather get Ray Allen than keep TMac. If we were to sign Bosh, a starting 5 of DRose, Allen, Deng, Bosh, Noah looks pretty damn tough to me. Allen would give us a shooter to keep the defense honest and open things up for Rose and Bosh. I agree with this. I'd rather get a guy that has a better track record health wise. Also rather have a guy that is familiar with being a role player and would be ok not being the star. I don't know that TMac could handle that role.

I don't think you should be able to grab more than 10 minor leaguers. I think the spirit of the rules is not to have an illegal lineup. You shouldn't be able to have more than 10 on your MLB lineup nor should you have 10 on your MiLB lineup.

My suggestion is to go to a top100 prospects list and do a player search on the league page to see if that player is on a roster.

You can't move players to your major league roster? Even if you have fewer than 10 major leaguers?

LB? Did you mean OL or is that an abbreviation I'm not familiar with? I meant OG. I was talking to a co-worker about Karlos Dansby while typing.

Damnit. I wanted Amano. He's a solid LB.

Eh. I wish somebody would trade with me so I don't have to keep agonizing over this. In light of recent events...I've changed again. Kinsler will be my keeper. What are the recent events? :) Ryan Howard not being selected as a keeper by roadster. I'm guessing he picks him back up with the 2nd pick in the draft. Either way, it gives me a better chance of a good 1B.

Need more like 174 points.

Eh. I wish somebody would trade with me so I don't have to keep agonizing over this. In light of recent events...I've changed again. Kinsler will be my keeper. What are the recent events? :) Ryan Howard not being selected as a keeper by roadster.

Eh. I wish somebody would trade with me so I don't have to keep agonizing over this. In light of recent events...I've changed again. Kinsler will be my keeper.

I've changed my mind. I'm keeping Adrian Gonzalez and putting Ian Kinsler into the draft.

I don't know if the defense or offense has more to worry about. The offense is young, and plenty of players may not develop like they should. The jury is still out on Williams at LT, Aromashodu as the top WR, Forte at RB and several other positions on the offense. Defensively, most of the guys have proven they can play. But it has been 2-3 years since they have played well as a unit and will never be at the top of their games again at most of the key positions. Even with all the questions about the defense, I personally don't care much what happens on that side of the ball. NO is getting fitted for rings with the 25th ranked defense in the league. Arizona lost the year before in the final seconds with a similar defense. Sure the Bears got blown out 4 times this year. But that means they DIDN'T get blown out 12 times. A strong offense (top 12 in the league) and they could have legitimately won 10 games. They finished a middle of the pack 17th in total defense, which is good enough and very repeatable. This team will go as far as the offense takes them, so I'd say the offense has more to worry about. I mentioned earlier that a top 12 offense would lead to a lot of wins. I know this will never be the Colts, Saints, or even the Vikes and Packers offense. However, this team has or can reasonably field enough talent to be on the level of the Giants, Ravens, Titans, and Steelers. Giants had similarly unproven WRs going into this year. The Ravens have no talent at WR, and had an unproven QB. The Titans were in a similar boat, and were a top offense because of an elite RB. The Steelers had a mediocre OL and a below average run game. So, in all, I think the Bears have a legit shot to be a playoff team next year. They were 17th in passing last year, and that's with arguably the worst OL, OC, and WRs in the game. OC is already improved. OL may be improved naturally by moving Williams to LT and Omiyale developing, but bringing in a guy could drastically change things. The WRs were probably the youngest in the league and should naturally improve also. Better OL would improve the run game. But even if it doesn't drastically improve, the Colts were great this year w/ the worst run game and #2 passing attack. They were 14th overall offensively. I think the Bears can do the same with a top 10 passing attack, even in the run game is in the bottom 10. And keep in mind, Mike Martz got Jon Kitna led offenses to be top 10 in passing for 2 years.

I'm a big fan of Harvin. I figured he would be the 2nd best WR in last year's class (after Maclin). People didn't think he was a good fit for the Bears because he was too similar to Hester. But I couldn't figure how that was a bad thing.

Oh, I thought that was just for the prospect draft.

That's because you're crazy. No offense.

Hester has about same number of catches and same number of yards (though 3 fewer td's) in 3 fewer games played last season. They each had one 100+ yard game, and about the same number of 75+ yard games. But it looks like Martz wants him in the slot now... Martz compared him to Az Hakim. Is Az Hakim a good comparison for Hester? Hakim's best year in the greatest show on turf was a 53 catch, 734 yard season in 2000. That's about Hester's average the last 2 years as a WR. Hakim had a few big plays once in a blue moon, but just a 13.3 yard per catch average. Hester's at 13.4. Hester's already a better WR than Hakim ever was.

Being worse than most #1s is pointless, becuase he's not a number 1, and it doesn't even matter. For what you are saying to be true, he would have to be the 49th best WR in the game, and I don't see anyway that is possible. There are not 48 better receivers. He fits combortably in with most #2 capable receivers, and is easily in the 30-40 range of best WR, which is a valuable thing. He was 46th in yards this year, with 9 TE's on that list. He was tied for 42nd in receptions, with 11 TE and RB on that list as well. Plus, Hester missed games to injury and he played on a team with an average passing game, and no complementary playmaker to make his job easier. If you can trade him for a 2nd round pick, go right ahead, but Devin Hester has handled the transition to WR well and is a perfectly acceptable option at the position. Wonderful post. I have been telling people the same since the season ended.

So, do I have the 4th pick even though I finished like 9th best in the league?

Apparently there is a rumor going around that the Giants will open their new stadium on the opening Sunday night vs. our Chicago Bears. Also, rumored is Steelers at New Orleans for the Thursday night opener. It would be the 6th straight year the Bears opened on the road and 3rd straight on Sunday night.

? Former Patriot and Jet? 5th all time leading rusher?

Yeah, you got Dent, Cris Carter, Tim Brown, and Shannon Sharpe who all need to be in next year. But then you have a class of 1st timers that include Deion, Marshall Faulk, Curtis Martin, and Bettis. Not to mention there will be coaches and owners that will be considered. Only 7 get in, so we might have the same discussion next year,.

Shannon Sharpe is not in either. Revolutionized the TE position. I think he's 2nd in all categories for TEs as he just recently got passed by Tony Gonzalez.