rawaction

Agreed. 3b is pretty darn deep. The deal is slightly better for the top guy until the last players. Ibanez is replacement level, Hill is most definitely much better than replacement level. Yeah, the team trading ARod would take a huge hit at 3B, but Encarnacion has some upside, and there could someone that can be picked up off of waivers (Reynolds, Fields, Crede) or can be traded for without giving up much. You get the 2 best OFs of the 5 involved in the trade, including the consensus #1 OF. And Rich Hill is far better than either Hamilton or Ibanez. The bottom team gets 3 of the top 5 players.

Julius Jones isn't as good as his brother, which means he'd possibly the 3rd best back on the Bears. Naeole would be a great pickup, but he's gonna be expensive, even with most of the FAs gone. As for the DT discussion. There's 0 chance that Dorsey falls to 14. There's maybe a fraction more that Ellis falls (for the record, I think Ellis is the better prospect). Balmer went from a possible mid-2nd rounder, to now probably mid-1st. At worst, Balmer goes to San Diego late 1st.

Would help if we knew what kind of league it is. I'd probably prefer the Holliday/Lee/Hill side of the deal more.

I don't believe Preston is an adequate CF anymore.

People who have drafted.....how close are you following Meph's list? My keepers are Hanley, VMart, Tulo, Beckett and Corey Hart. I just drafted 5th in a 10 team league (slow email draft until we go live next Sat.) and I picked Derrek Lee, the 2nd best remaining hitter on Meph's list (McCann was #1). But if he makes it back, do I go McCann? VMart could play 1B, but I have Lee. One could play U, but I have the 2 SS, so one will be there. I'd have to hope for a trade to start everybody. I like Smoltz, but I think I can get him in a couple rounds as Verlander, Sabathia, Harang, and Oswalt are all out there still, not to mention some good closers. So, my next 2 picks (if I go by Meph's rankings) will likely come down to guys like Chipper, Abreu, Arizona's Chris Young, Roberts, Pence, Atkins, Cano. What are the odds I can go: Abreu, Chipper, Smoltz with my next 3 picks?

Thank you, Dewayne White Jr. DJ White played his last game in Assembly Hall tonight, and went out with a win. He had a huge momentum changer in the game, as he hit about a 26ft 3-pointer, with a man in his face as the halftime buzzer went off to give the Hoosiers a 4-point lead. That was his first career 3. And for the first time under Dakich the Hoosiers looked like a team that bought in to their coach. 55 allowed to the 3rd highest scoring team in the conference, after giving up 86ppg since Sampson left. Let's go Penn St!

Best player available isn't the worst idea for this Bears team. The only positions the Bears won't take (at least early) are probably LB, DE, and CB. Everyone knows the Bears need OL in the worst way. A legit LT would be the way to go. However, if Otah is gone....do you take Williams at OT, who may be a bit of a reach (probably not in considering the players that project in the teens with him are WR or CBs) or Otah, who's stock is falling by the day just for the sake of taking a lineman? What if Kenny Phillips is on the board? What is Mendenhall is still on the board? If I had to guess the Bears draft board, right now, if they stay at #14. 1. Clady 2. Phillips 3. Mendenhall 4. Williams 5. Balmer Kentwan Balmer is my sleeper. Bears love their DTs, and really struggled there in 07. He seems to fit the Lovie mold of quick, athletic and strong DT. Seems similar to what they lost in Tank Johnson.

2 seed in the west? no thanks. First weekend in Omaha though. If KU doesn't get a 1 seed, that's most likely where they will be. KU in Omaha, Duke in Raleigh, Texas in Little Rock, Xavier in DC. Works out perfectly to have all the 1 and 2 seeds as close as possible to home.

Dude don't you know anything about baseball. CFs hit leadoff unless there is a skinny, fast, black dude at another position (very rare). Gotta have a guy that can handle the bat (i.e. sac bunt, hit and run, makes productive outs) batting 2nd. Gotta give that fast dude a chance to run. Corner OF and IF are the 3-6 spots, and mostly interchangeable. C is 7th. SS is 8th. These are both defense-first positions, so the offense you get from them is a bonus. Defense wins championships and you gotta be strong up the middle.

Again, sounds like a case of a good end, despite the ridiculous means. He's not thinking of hitting him #2, because he gets on base a ton, but because he hasn't hit. That's how you end up with players like Corey Patterson hitting 2nd. "Well, since he's not hitting, might as well throw him in front of the team's best hitters hoping he sees better pitches to hit". Most MLB managers don't realize that a guy who can't hit won't get certain pitches, just because of his protection in the lineup. If a guy will get himself out on a head high fastball every time. You don't throw him a knee high fastball because Derrek Lee is next. You thank the opposing manager for giving you a break before you have to face the middle of the order and promptly throw 3 head high fastballs.

Best part. WOW. Felix Pie is doomed.

I still don't get this Reds bandwagon stuff. That pitching is still garbage. Their pitching isn't that bad. Harang is as good as anybody in the NL, outside of Peavy, Webb, and now Santana. Bailey and Volquez have a lot of talent. Fogg is bad. And I think a lot rides on Bronson Arroyo. But compare them w/ the Cubs. I'd take Harang over Zambrano in the #1 spot. The Reds have nobody that can matchup to Hill and Lilly. But I may take their 2-5 all over Dempster and Lieber, and that's for this year, not talking potential. Besides, Colorado and Philly showed last year, that you don't need even a good pitching staff to make a playoff run. In fact, I would expect the Reds to be very similar to the Phils rotation of Hamels, Eaton, Lieber, Moyer, and Kendrick; and they will probably have to piece together a bullpen all year too.

Reds are gonna be 2nd in the NL Central this year with 83-86 wins.

Probably because they felt he wasn't worth 2mil at his age and couldn't guarantee him playing time. Sucks to lose him but I'm sure someone will step up and pick up the slack. Isreal Idonje probably already did. IF Ayanbadejo was the best special teams player in the NFC (probowler), then Idonje may have been the 2nd best.

Changed the topic. I'll always remember the day that I contributed such to a truly epic thread. It's like having a line as an extra in Braveheart. Like getting your name in the credits of the "Thriller" album. Like catching a walkoff HR in the stands of game 7. I also have the distinction of being the 1st response in this thread.

I agree about Brohm as the top QB in the draft - I have yet to figure out why he's been forgotten about. Also, ya'll picked up Ben Hartsock today. Big time move for the Falcons. :D Brohm is not the top QB. Ryan is. Ryan's bigger, has a better arm, and is better in the pocket. Brohm only has a mobility advantage, but may be a system QB. Andre Woodson's stock is really dropping. He went from potential top 10 pick, to possibly 5th QB taken, and all the way down to the 3rd round.

LaDanian Tomlinson could be available and the Bears still shouldn't make that pick. With the passing game eroding and the offensive line coming off a relatively weak 2007 performance, defenses will be keying in on the Bears running game. The team should focus on solidifying the offensive line before any other offensive moves. I wouldn't go that far. You have to look at the value of the pick. I'm not convinced that with this OL fixed that Benson is the answer at RB. He has flashes where he looks, but the majority of the time he doesn't look good. There seems to be more depth in this draft at OL then play maker positions. If you have the opportunity to add a play maker to the offense and still add depth in later rounds I think you have to think about it. If McFadden's still sitting there at the Bears' pick, the best option for them might be to trade it. There are going to be teams lower down wanting McFadden and the Bears could fill a couple holes with that one pick. Jerry Jones might even hand over both firsts for McFadden. Those could turn into a solid O-lineman and a WR/RB/another OL. Raiders have already said if the Falcons don't take McFadden, they will. Even still, I think Atlanta trades out of the 3 spots to whoever wants DMC. I look for the Jets to make a strong push. The Falcons would only move down to 6, and could still take Matt Ryan. It's nearly impossible for a team outside of the top 10 to trade up that high. And ATL doesn't want to trade that far down. Either way, McFadden will be gone long before the Bears pick, and most likely be in the top 5 picks.

Exactly. But how much is his fault and how much is it the players stubborness? The Sampson "resignation" is one thing, but I think a lot of this has to do with them not wanting Dakich as much as they wanted McCallum. Clearly, the trust isn't there. They beat NW and OSU because of pure talent, and will beat Minnesota and Penn St, and win 2 games in the Big Ten and NCAA tourney's because of talent. But this team has a chance to do something special and is starting to give up.

I agree with this, the marginal drop off losing Berrian is more than Briggs. Briggs is good, but his impact in 2007 was nothing comared to his 2006 (although you can say that for just about every bears player). I think the Bears felt them had to do it though because of Urlachers back. Yeah, hopefully they use this signing to get a little more aggressive on defense. At least switch it up with Briggs in the middle and Urlacher on the outside. Briggs is better at shedding blockers, Urlacher is better at rushing the passer from the outside. Not much dropoff in pass coverage either way.

I was starting to get against the idea of bringing Briggs back. Can't be disappointed though. He's a very good player, and did not get overpaid. If the Bears could have paid market value though, I'd rather have Berrian and Ayanbadejo. I really like Williams, maybe he can overtake Hillenmeyer this year.

yeah the philly papers reported this as well. with sheldon brown as the other corner, there's no need to keep lito around any more. he's a good player (2 pro bowls) but has some injury problems. given the demand for quality cb's in the league, i'd think he'll fetch a pretty good return. Eagles would have been better served spending that money on a DE and keeping Lito. Of course, there is a decent class of DEs in the draft.

I get the opposite feeling. My sense is that the Cubs don't want to have to count on Pie to have a good season in order to win. While many have argued that Roberts isn't that big of an upgrade over Derosa, he is a different type of player. The Cubs clearly value Roberts ability to steal bases and be a consistent bat at the top of the order, and probably wrongly don't see Derosa that way despite his numbers. Getting Roberts does either 1 of 2 things for the Cubs. If Roberts/Theriot are 1-2, it gets Soriano out of the leadoff spot and pushes one of he, Lee, Fukudome, or Ramirez to the 6th spot, making the bottom half of the lineup stronger, as Soto now is one of the league's most dangerous 7-hitters. If Soriano/Roberts are 1-2, it takes Pie out of what could be a tough 8-spot and puts in Theriot, whose presence would potentially give Soriano more RBI chances out of the leadoff spot, due to his ability to get on base and steal bases much better than what the Cubs had last year.

Yeah, everyone needs to stop sleeping on the greatness of PAC 10 RBs.

I think it is a little much as well. I do, too. I think Gallagher is going to be good. Cedeno, who knows. It really depends on who the other players in the trade are. If the Cubs are giving up somebody like Veal, then definitely not. If its Patterson or Fontenot, cool. If they give up Murton, it would be nice to get Sherrill coming back. If the Cubs do go through with this, it is definitely a trade to win now which always means giving up more long term value. I'm okay with that so long as it isn't done too often. The question remains, however, will Roberts make enough of an impact to justify the deal. He might. It all depends on the difference having a more balanced line-up will make. Does getting better match-ups against relievers noticeably impact a team's ability to win games? Will having three lefties in the line-up mean that the Cubs will get deeper into their opponents bullpen and face less talented pitchers late in the game? Will Soriano actually be moved to the middle of the order and if he does, will that result in more runs being scored? How big of an impact will DeRosa coming off the bench and filling in for injured players really make? We've seen the stat lines of DeRosa and Roberts being compared a lot in this thread, and they aren't that different, but it is these other more subtle advantages that will make this deal worth doing or not. I think Soriano leads off regardless. No Roberts means Theriot hits 2nd, Fukudome 3rd. Roberts means Roberts hits 2nd, Fukudome 5th, Theriot 8th. This is why I want Roberts. If there was any chance they'd bat DeRosa 2nd, I wouldn't. I know batting order "doesn't really matter", but I just want the top of the Cubs lineup to not suck for once. I definitely want Theriot nowhere near the top of the order either, but him and Pie in some combination of 7/8 is going to make for a brutal last 3rd of the lineup. If Roberts ends up coming, I'd probably do this- Soriano Roberts Lee Ramirez Fukudome Soto Pie Theriot The top 6 looks really good, but the last 3 look brutal. I think the lineup will wind up that way, if Roberts is a Cub. But I'd also like to see: Roberts Lee Fukudome Ramirez Soriano Soto Pie Theriot And we'll probably see Lou experiment with: Roberts Theriot Lee Ramirez Fukudome Soriano Soto Pie

It's pretty clear to me that Felix slid his barehand on the grass and right underneath the ball in time to snag it before it hit the ground.