rawaction

mind telling us what crap school they played? North Alabama. (I only know this because of the incessant BTN ads they showed in the press box yesterday during Ball State v. IU.) Ball State handled DIII Anderson in an exhibition today. Butler, on Friday, should pose something of a bigger test. So a DII school, thats kind of what I figured. Color me unimpressed that IU was only up 14 midway thru the 2nd half. Color me unsurprised that you picked out a single moment in a 40-pt win to be unimpressed with. FWIW, during the 14-2 run or so that UNA was on to cut the lead to 14, IU had a team on the floor of 4 newcomers (3 frosh) and a sophomore.

IU looked like an offensive juggernaut today. Scored 121, shot 60% from the field. The Fab 4 Freshmen scored 71 of those points and shot an amazing 25-38 from the field. The JUCO transfers combined for 9 steals! And DJ was amazing. 13 points, 11 rebs, 6 assists (0 TOs), 3 blocks. IU could be 10-deep this season.

I voted for Arod, but I could go any possible way. Arod's the best player in baseball. And he possibly fills a need at SS. But what if he can't play SS? He hasn't played there in 4 full seasons, and 27 (the age he was the 1st half 03) is a lot different from 33 (the age he'll be in the 2nd half of 08). If he can't play SS for 3-4 years, he becomes redundant to another really good player, Ramirez. But he's shown no signs of losing his bat anytime soon and recent history has shown great offensive players can be great into their late 30s-early 40s. He's probably easily got 6 years of top 10 in the game production. Santana is the best pitcher in the game, maybe by more of a margin than ARod is over the next best hitter. He is in the midst of his prime at 28. No position change is ever likely to be in his future. As good of a bet as anybody to maintain his level of dominance for the foreseeable future. At first glance, I couldn't see why anyone could pick Cabrera. He's probably the 3rd best player of the three. He has clear defensive deficiencies. He is not nearly in the shape as his competition in this group. But, he is 23. He is the most versatile. He has played 3B, SS, both corner OF positions and could play at least an adequate 1B from all accounts. If Arod easily has 6 great years left, then Cabrera probably has 10 even with his weight. And something that may be lost in all of this is the fact that Cabrera has outproduced Arod as recently as 2006, and matched him stat for stat in his first full season in 2004. Granted, he's had 0 seasons up to par with Arod's top 5.

Man, that's a tough one. Probably a fair deal if Murton isn't gonna start and Gallagher stays blocked by a solid rotation. Peralta's last 3 years have been 1 great, 1 bad, and 1 decent. This past season was pretty much right down the middle of his good and bad years. Still a 100 point OPS increase over Theriot at SS. I guess, I'd probably take the deal if the alternative for improving SS was to trade more than this to get Tejada and take on 10-12M more in salary. Peralta's number were pretty comparable to Tejada's in 2007 (Peralta showed more power), and actually his great 2005 year is pretty much in line with Tejada's prime years. Peralta's better defensively, and he's cheaper. Peralta's arbitration eligible, so will probably get about $3-4M compared to 13M+ for Tejada. Peralta allows you to still go out and add salary to get a legit RF.

I cannot imagine this as being true. Cavs + Bibby < Bulls + Kobe I don't see how Bibby would go from the Kings to Cavs. It only would make sense if the Cavs or Kings had something of interest for the Lakers. I don't see anybody on either roster who would be available that would be of interest to the Lakers. Isn't it not allowed to trade a guy when he's injured anyway? Bibby's out 6-10 weeks right now. I don't think there are rules against it. Most teams don't trade for damaged goods, though, for obvious reasons.

I cannot imagine this as being true. Cavs + Bibby < Bulls + Kobe I don't see how Bibby would go from the Kings to Cavs. It only would make sense if the Cavs or Kings had something of interest for the Lakers. I don't see anybody on either roster who would be available that would be of interest to the Lakers.

I thought I was the only one who hated the Mets more as a kid. I didn't hate the Cards til Larussa.

What a joke. IU routinely plays the toughest schedule in the Big Ten outside of Michigan St. This year is an anomaly.

Fixed. I agree 100%. That really is a move that needs to be explored. If Colletti is serious about adding veterans, then we need to assist him in adding them, especially if he's willing to dump on Kemp and Loney. I'd trade Lee and Marmol for both, honestly. no chance the Cubs trade their team captain. It honestly would be a great move. I'd do Lee for Loney straight up. They'll be pretty close to the same offensive player in 2008.

Was Texas even considered a player then? I remember the Mets as being the leaders but the details are fuzzy regarding the other "leading" teams. I actually think it would work best for a team that has a really low payroll. Florida has been raking in the profit sharing dough for a few years. I think they should seriously consider giving ARod the money to bring their payroll from $20-50m, still low. Trade Dontrelle and Miggy, and that should bring in 3-5 solid major leaguers. I really don't see ARod bringing in added revenue to a team like LA or LAA. But a team like Florida might actually benefit financially. Texas didn't falter because of ARod's contract. They struggled because they were paying big bucks to old and crappy players, like Juan Gone and Chan Ho. If a team avoids the mega millions busts, they can deal with ARod's contract. I actually think the Marlins make a lot of sense. They don't have a high payroll, but still have a lot of talent. Ramirez, Uggla, Arod, Cabrera, Hermida, Willingham is a great offense. Assuming they could get a cheap young pitcher and guys like Sanchez and Johnson turn it around, they could have just enough pitching to make it in a weak NL. They could possibly get another ring and then pawn Arod, pending FA Cabrera, and high priced arbitration player Ramirez off and firesale all over again.

I wanted Roy, which would have made a trade for a big man that much easier. I wanted Aldridge 2nd most. I'm not disappointed with Tyrus though. More disappointed in his lack of PT.

I've slipped off the back of a Uhaul with a desk in my hands and landed on one foot and didn't get hurt....nor the desk ever touch the ground. Sucks for Zumaya.

I think Kirk could be the difference between the Bulls being a championship team w/ Kobe or not. Hinrich's defense is pretty valuable. Kobe coming in would take him off the big guards and make him that much better on D. Also, if Gordon is not involved, I think he can play a decent point. Heck, he'd be as good at the point (ball handling wise) than BJ Armstrong, John Paxson, Steve Kerr, or Craig Hodges, but a much better scorer/creator. I know Pippen took some of the ball handling load off those guys, but Kobe can do that. It's not like the ball will be taken from Gordon in the backcourt or anything. But again, Gordon doesn't measure up defensively.

I hope not on Schilling. I agree that I'd much rather gamble on Colon, even though Schilling is likely to be better in 2008.

Anybody hear the Kobe for Gilbert Arenas talks coming out recently? Meets the Lakers "need" for star power, and Arenas is from the LA area. Don't know why Washington would do it, though, Arenas can opt out after this year.

Patriots are gonna win. Because I don't want them to.

I don't see why they would pick up that option. Milwaukee has all kinds of cheaper options to stick in their outfield that make WAY less than Jenkins. Tony Gwynn Jr., Corey Hart, Bill Hall, Gabe Gross, Kevin Mench, Joe Dillon, Matt LaPorta and Laynce Nix are plenty of options to fill the void. I'm curious whether they'd like to go with Gwynn in CF and lead him off to move Weeks in to the 2nd spot in the order. Hall and Hart play the corners. Hart and Hall are already starters. Mench and Nix both stink. LaPorta's probably not ready yet. Dillon and Gross are journeymen who don't have much upside. I don't think Gwynn Jr is anything special either. I don't think he's any better of an option than Dillon or Gross.

Much MUCH rather have Andruw. Torii Hunter is a RH version of Jacque Jones with a girl's name.

I think IU leaves Indiana/Illinois only 5 or 6 times all season. Almost all their games will be within a 3 and 1/2 hour drive from the Bloomington campus. That could be nice.

I thought they would actually pick up Jenkins' option. Don't have anything else there. Of course, they will have money to spend.

Considering Jurrjens >>>> Sean Marshall...probably not. I like Jurrjens a lot, but Marshall is more advanced and had better numbers through the minors. Gorkys Hernandez, on the other hand, put up pretty good numbers (aside from power) in the MWL for a 19 year old. It would have taken more than Marshall and a throw in to get Renteria. Marshall and Colvin? I can see why they wanted Jurrjens though, even moreso than Marshall.

Coco is as good as gone. I think he'll be a Marlin. No reason for the Cubs to go after him. He offers nothing that Pie doesn't.

I'm told they "still have some work to do" on that. I don't know why. I don't understand how the team can pay Dempster and Wade Miller to rehab when they had about 1/200 of the upside that Prior has.

PECOTA? I'm sure a lot of teams have their own proprietary systems, which isn't news. There are plenty of statistically savvy teams that might see a bit of a bounce-back and good defense for next year. He's owed, what, $5M and that's it? I don't watch the Cubs enough to say whether he looks lost at the plate, and I'm not scout, but he had a similar year in 2004 and it hasn't deterred him from hanging around the 100 OPS+ mark since. Jones' 2nd half leads me to believe he can at least be a league average hitter in 2008. The lack of power is disturbing, and I have no idea what to expect in the HR department, though. If the Cubs must trade Pie to get a huge upgrade in RF (would include SS, but none of the available ones are worth trading Pie for), then I'd have no problem with Jones playing out his last year in CF, where he was probably slightly above average defensively. Then turn it over to Colvin/Eric Patterson in 2009.

I don't see a deal working without one of Wallace, Hinrich, Deng, or a 3rd team. I wouldn't trade Hinrich or Deng, especially considering Gordon would probably go in addition. Be nice if the Bulls could trade Noc or Joe Smith.