rawaction

I told you all in the gamethread that this would be the roster move. Thinking like the Cubs here. Patterson can hit lefty. He's versatile. And he has the ability to fill the leadoff position that Soriano vacated.

He admitted that he's used the green stuff. Talib is overrated. I still think the best CB in the draft will turn out to be Antoine Cason. He doesn't have the flash of Rodgers-Cromartie, didn't have the big game on the big stage like Talib, doesn't have the intrigue of McKelvin, doesn't have the speed of Jenkins....but he was, IMO, consistently the best CB playing college football week-to-week last year. (Granted never saw Mckelvin or DRC play).

FWIW, I love the last 4 picks in this mock. Think all are good picks for the teams they would be going to.

It's more than a pet peeve. It's stupid. And the only things that can possibly come out of it are a dropped catch or an injury. It's akin to an NFL player diving/flipping into the endzone when they could just walk in. It's akin to a player doing a 360 on a breakaway dunk when they could just 2 hand it in. It's still 2 points, 6 points, or 1 out.....no style points are given.

Pedroia hit 182/308/236 in the month of April last year. Chris Young through May 3rd: .202 .255 .383 Tulowitzki through April 25th: .185 .274 .246 Josh Fields through 23 games: .218 .274 .333 Each of these guys had cups of coffees (~80 PAS)the year before and were bad then as well. That's just from guys who got rookie of the year votes last year. The only ones to start well were Braun, Delmon Young, and Reggie Willits. Pie hit .362 .410 .563 in AAA last year. I'd say he has a clue. Are you telling me he has nothing left to work on at the plate? That is just ridiculous...the massive holes in his long swing are glaring and nevermind the fact he doesnt have a good idea of the strike zone at all He is talented but still very raw.....he knows what he needs to work on now, and if he doesnt he probably wont ever stick up here Where do you think Pie has a better chance of getting the coaching he needs to work on those things? In Iowa with minor league hitting coaches or in Chicago with Gerald Perry and Alan Trammell on the coaching staff? I could see if he had mediocre success or minimal time in AAA. But he has hit .306/.362/.484 in nearly 800 ABs in Iowa.

You guys know if Soriano goes on the DL, Eric Patterson gets called up. Murton's not lefty enough.

I hope Soriano dies. What an idiot.

That's a great pick for the Chargers, regardless of the fact that I think Baker will be a mediocre NFL lineman.

Yeah, that's the only thing that sucks about Pie in the lineup. Also, very minor but is there any reason for Derosa to be ahead of Soto at this point? If DeRo is not going to hit #2, he should be 7. Too bad Soto hasn't shown he's good enough to provide protection for Ramirez or the Cubs could move Fukudome to 2nd. Soriano Fukudome Lee Ramirez Soto Derosa Pie Theriot Do it now, Lou!

I wouldn't mind it as much if it was in the NL than I do that it's just in the AL. Nothing sucks more than having runners in scoring position or a situation where you could possibly score runs and your pitcher comes up to bat with either 2 outs or with less than 2 outs ands having to waste an out to sac bunt.

I've seen a lot of mock drafts with Seattle taking Stewart. Yeah, about 80% of them I've seen have had Seattle picking Stewart.

I've said this before, the NFL schedules aren't that hard to figure out. 2008 NFC North vs. AFC South NFC North vs. NFC South 2007 NFC North vs. NFC East NFC North vs. AFC West (if you remember, Bears played NYG, PHI, WAS, DAL, SD, DEN, OAK, KC last year) 2006 NFC North vs. NFC West NFC North vs. AFC East (if you remember the SB year, the Bears played SEA, ARZ, SF, STL, NE, MIA, BUF, NYJ) 2005 NFC North vs. NFC South NFC North vs. AFC North (if you remember this year, Bears played PIT, CLE, BAL, CIN, ATL, NO, CAR, TB) So, can you guess the 2009 schedule? Yes, you can. Bears (along with DET, MIN and GB) will play the normal rotation of the NFC West and AFC North (unless the rotation gets changed). Every team in every division does this with 2 other divisions every year. These 8 games are determined every year regardless of how each individual team finishes. 6 other games are 2 each vs. the division. That leaves 2 undetermined games per year. Whatever team each individual team finishes, they will play the other 2 teams in their conference that finished in the same place in their division standings. Keep in mind you already playing a complete other division in the same conference so you already play the team that finishes in the same place as you. That's how you have NE with an easy schedule (besides just their division) because they lucked out enough to play weak NFC West and mediocre AFC West. And how you have teams like Baltimore having a tough schedule because they get the misfortune of playing the 2 toughest divisions (AFC South, NFC East) in the same year.

2 away 2 home 2 away 3 home 3 away 3 home Interesting schedule.

The Sox are a decent team. You are fooling yourself if you think otherwise. Detroit doesn't have the pitching to be assumed so much better.

I don't think the plan was to focus on drafting and developing pitching. Granted, most of the scouting and money went that way. But the team has spent money and high picks on guys like Patterson, Bobby Hill, Kelton, Dopirak, Harvey, Montanez, etc. They went out and scouted guys like Pie, Choi, and Soto outside of the US (though Soto was in the US amateur draft).

Seems longer than 5 years ago to me. My life is so much different from that year.

I don't see him putting up Deron's numbers. I think deron is the better player. What makes Deron better? Rose is quicker at the same size (6'3" 205 vs. 6'3" 210). Rose is a better finisher. Rose has better court vision. Rose is being compared favorably to Kidd. While Deron is a good passer, he's not Kidd in his prime. I think Deron has a slightly better jumpshot, but I think if you put Rose on this year's Utah Jazz, you probably can't tell them apart aside from "possibly" turnovers in favor of Williams. You think Rose is averaging 19 and 10.5 on 51% from the floor and 39% from three in his rookie season in the nba, even though he averaged 14 and 4.7 on 48% and 37% in college? That's essentially my question. I think it's quite possible Rose will end up better than Deron eventually. But that's quite the leap you're suggesting he'll make. Maybe he'll prove me wrong, but until he's excelled night in and night out against top competition, I'm reluctant to say he'll be immediately as good as Williams. I mean, he had trouble in the half court against Sherron Collins. And while SC is very good, an NBA superstar PG with Rose's size shouldn't have quite as much trouble with him. 1 game sample

I don't see him putting up Deron's numbers. I think deron is the better player. What makes Deron better? Rose is quicker at the same size (6'3" 205 vs. 6'3" 210). Rose is a better finisher. Rose has better court vision. Rose is being compared favorably to Kidd. While Deron is a good passer, he's not Kidd in his prime. I think Deron has a slightly better jumpshot, but I think if you put Rose on this year's Utah Jazz, you probably can't tell them apart aside from "possibly" turnovers in favor of Williams. You think Rose is averaging 19 and 10.5 on 51% from the floor and 39% from three in his rookie season in the nba, even though he averaged 14 and 4.7 on 48% and 37% in college? What did Deron average in college? 11 and 5.8 on 42 and 37%. Yeah I think Rose can do that. Give him 8 more minutes per game in the NBA and better teammates, like an actual big man who has offensive moves, and he can certainly do that.

I like Hardy's natural abilities more than Sweed's. Along with being 2 inches (roughly) taller, he's got a slightly better vertical than Sweed. Also, Hardy's 40 time was actually slightly better than Sweed's. Also - and I don't think this can be overlooked - he was basically Indiana's only offensive threat (save QB Kellen Lewis), therefore he's shown he can be the only weapon and still perform at a very high level. This situation is far more comparable to what he'll face in Tennessee than anything Sweed or Kelly have dealt with. I don't think Hardy plays as fast as Sweed, of course, I haven't seen Sweed play in 2 years. I'm trying not to be an IU homer really. Plus, I don't like Hardy's ability to separate from CBs. But it will be interesting to see how that develops as his route running gets better. Also, being the only weapon on the offense also means the playcalling is more geared to get that player the ball. So, as much credit as you give a player for shining as the only star in an offense. You have to take away some for his team forcing the ball to him, skewing his numbers upward.

I like how Davis, Bradley and Hass have played for 1 team in their very short careers yet are considered journeymen. Is good to hear that they seem confident in Beekman. BTW, did I hear correctly that Branden Albert is good enough to play Left Tackle in the NFL? If so, makes him an easy pick over Williams/Otah to me.

I think he can be a factor if used correctly. He would be a great addition to the Bears RB core as the rest of them run as if they are stuck in waist deep mud. Not a fan of Charles on the Bears. A change of pace back isn't good when you don't have a RB to change the pace from.

Jae Kuk Ryu comparisons are going to be prevalent with Rhee. Hopefully, he stays away from osprey.

Could Berg be a poor man's Derek Lowe? He obviously doesn't have the stuff of a Webb or even Carmona, but he seems very similar to Lowe, IMO. 11 hits and 7 ERs stand out as being a horrible outing, but looking at the box score, NONE of those 11 hits went for extra bases. That says to me that a lot of those GBs found holes. My quick math shows that with 0 HRs and 0 strikeouts in the game, the opponent hit .440 on balls in play tonight against Berg. In his 15.2 innings, Berg has given up 23 hits, but a grand total of 2 have gone for extra bases (1 HR, 1 double, both in his 2nd start). Opponents are hitting .329 against him, but are slugging just .385. Again with quick, sloppy math, I count a .338 BABIP against him. As for the Derek Lowe comparison. I never thought Lowe had anything special other than his sinker. Look at the career minor league numbers: Lowe 9.39 H/9, 0.54 HR/9, 3.01 BB/9, 5.51 K/9 Berg 9.74 H/9, 0.36 HR/9, 4.18 BB/9, 6.03 K/9. The concerning thing is the K rate has gone down in the last year and 3 starts in AA. The walk rate is not good enough right now to be acceptable with his lack of Ks, but that rate looks to be getting better with just 3 walks so far on this season.

I don't see him putting up Deron's numbers. I think deron is the better player. What makes Deron better? Rose is quicker at the same size (6'3" 205 vs. 6'3" 210). Rose is a better finisher. Rose has better court vision. Rose is being compared favorably to Kidd. While Deron is a good passer, he's not Kidd in his prime. I think Deron has a slightly better jumpshot, but I think if you put Rose on this year's Utah Jazz, you probably can't tell them apart aside from "possibly" turnovers in favor of Williams.

I too have made an offer for Haren.