rawaction

I guess it went down to 5.5. I agree with the line. Minnesota has only lost at home to #2 Michigan and to Penn St., by 1 point. I said earlier they lost to NDSt, but they did win that 10-9. They are not as bad as their 3-6 (0-5 in conf) record looks. They've also lost games at Cal, Wisconsin, and Ohio St. Be interesting to see how Minnesota is on offense. They've scored 7 points/game the last 3, but those have been against the 1 and 8 scoring defenses in the country and a NDSt team that is giving up just 10/game.

Tough to win in the dome, but they can do it. Gophers favored by 6. But Minnesota is 0-5 in conference and haven't done much offensively most of the year and got beat by North Dakota St. at home. If IU can beat Minnesota and Purdue on the road, they have a good shot to tie Penn St. at 4th in the Big Ten, which would put them in the running for the Alamo Bowl, which would be a great accomplishment. Actually, it can be better than that. I heard that since it is likely that the Big 10 will send 2 teams to BCS Bowls, then that leaves Wisconsin for the Capital One Bowl, and if IU can win 2 games, they could be fighting with Penn State for the Outback Bowl. Wow. It probably will be more likely that they go to one of the next 3 bowls though (the Alamo, Champs Sports, Insight). Ah, good point. I was just basing it on the generic model. The Outback Bowl would bring me to tears! But yeah, I'd settle for any bowl game right now. And I'm definitely not counting wins against Minnesota and Purdue on the road yet. Both will be very tough games that can go either way.

For some reason, every small market team (except the A's with great scouting and the Marlins with spending sprees every 4 years) seems to have a player that they covet and hang on to as their "franchise" player, and seem to be willing to offer a decent amount of money to keep. Royals with Sweeney. Pirates with Kendall, now Bay. Colorado with Helton (though they've spent money in the past). I think TB sees Baldelli as that type of player. They've had several top draft picks, but Rocco is the only one to NOT completely flop, become addicted to drugs, consistently play 1 defensive positions well, or throw a bat at an umpire. BTW, we haven't even mentioned Wes Bankston who could take away the 5th option of 1B in the very near future for all those OFs.

I don't think Dukes is long for that club. My best guess is Crawford gets traded by this time next year. Baldelli in CF. Young in RF. Guzman at 1B. Upton in LF. Gomes DH. I'd really look at getting Gomes. Great patience. Great power. K's a ton, but with the right hitting coach, I still believe he can become a real good player. And the fact that he's been injured, is the oldest (at 26 in a few weeks), and is viewed as having the least upside of the group probably makes him the least expensive to obtain in a trade. In case you haven't noticed.....I'd take anyone in the D'Rays OF on the Cubs, and give up some good talent to do so.

Tough to win in the dome, but they can do it. Gophers favored by 6. But Minnesota is 0-5 in conference and haven't done much offensively most of the year and got beat by North Dakota St. at home. If IU can beat Minnesota and Purdue on the road, they have a good shot to tie Penn St. at 4th in the Big Ten, which would put them in the running for the Alamo Bowl, which would be a great accomplishment.

That's a huge price to pay for Sheffield. If that's what the Phillies are offering, I hope the Cubs don't try to come close to competing with it. Lilly and Batista have been nothing more than average pitchers in their career. Batista is about a lock to be nothing more in the near future either, considering he'll be 36 next season and coming off 3 straight years between a 101-109 ERA+. Lilly has actually been worse over the course of his career. It could be interesting to see what he could do in the NL for the first time, and at 31 next year, could still have a couple of seasons like 2004 in him (120 ERA+). Kuroda seems like easily the best option of the "2nd tier" pitchers the Cubs have been linked too. Padilla would also be, IMO, a very nice pickup, but could get paid like he's in the top tier.

I think that this will be 100% correct. Cubs won't sign any new big-named free agents. Of course, this doesn't take into account the big trade to get Miguel Cabrera (RF) and Dontrelle Willis (SP) from the Marlins. Or the trade to get ARod (SS) from the Yankees for Jones and others. Or the trade to get the resurgent (see 2004 versions of) Marcus Giles (2B) and Tim Hudson (SP) from Atlanta.

Crawfords OPS + last year 111 Baldellis OPS +last year 119 Both were their age 24 seasons Assuming all options are picked up Crawford is signed 4 years 27.5M - 29M Assuming all options are picked up Baldelli is signed 5 years 28 +unnamed performance bonuses since Baldelli did not reach 600 PAs in 2006, which would have guaranteed him 4M more. So basically 4 years of Crawford is the same as 5 years of Baldelli. Baldelli has always played center, while Crawford has mainly played left. Even when Baldelli was out in 05, they played Damon Hollins in CF, not Crawford. I know hes a good athelete, but who knows how well he will fair in CF. I'm not so much concerned with his defense, just simply pointing that out. With Crawford having much more perceived value in the marketplace due to his steals, is it really a wonder which one is being heavily shopped by the DRays? They would much rather get rid of Crawford. I'd prefer Baldelli...afterall, we aren't creating a fantasy baseball team here. I think potentially, Baldelli and Crawford are pretty much neck and neck. Almost the exact same walk rate in their careers. But both have been inconsistent. Crawford posted a career best BB/PA this year, while Baldelli was at a career worst. Baldelli has shown (and will continue to have) more power, but both project to be 30 HR hitters, maybe even as early as 2007. They are about a month apart in age, but Crawford has 1200 more ML at bats. Defensively, there probably isn't much difference. Crawford has more speed, but Baldelli is no slouch, having stolen 27 as a rookie, in his only full season. Baldelli strikes out more, but the power difference should negate whatever value that has. It's really a coin-flip, to me. Career: Crawford- .292 .326 .434 .760 Baldelli- .289 .329 .451 .780 And that's with Baldelli having a huge power showing last year, and Crawford has had 3 straight improving seasons all which have been a pretty decent amount better than his career average.

Surprised Eckstein didn't win. He was almost as good as Vizquel statistically, and America loves Eck!

Don't have too much problem with the IF. Teixeira is easily the best full-time defensive 1B in the AL. Travis Lee is better, but logged 500 fewer innings. Grudz had a terrific season defensively. Chavez is amazing at 3B, and is the best there is, but Lowell had a nice season. Michael Young was better in every category than Jeter at SS, but I think Jeter is the better fielder regardless, though I probably could have given the award to Young. The OF was a mess. Hunter is an above average CF, who makes flashy plays. Sizemore and Granderson are better defenders. Ibanez should have been the 3rd GG with those 2. For the record, I have never been that impressed by Wells or Ichiro defensively, other than Ichiro's arm. Oh yeah, be prepared for Pujols, Rolen, and Eckstein to win GG's in the NL. I'll go on record to say Edmonds WON'T win for a change. I'm going with Beltran, A. Jones, and Dave Roberts in the NL.

I remember the Cubs passing on Jim Thome because Hee Seop Choi was waiting in the wings. Perhaps they remember that as well. In that case, it was a good idea. Thome was aging. In hindsight, it might look like a bad move, but the Cubs had one of the top 20 prospects in the game, and Thome was a 32-year old, seeking a 5-6 year deal in the double digit millions.

I hope these teams don't have their punters on scholarship.

You do know they played together before and won a title with Anaheim right?

Meh to Figgins. If he's playing 2B or SS and hitting 7th or 8th, he's not a bad player to have. He's just not productive enough to be the everyday CF between Murton and Jones, who aren't big producers themselves. That makes it mandatory for the Cubs to get big-time production at 2B/SS, which is much harder. I'd really hate to trade much for him. A reliever sounds good. Hopefully a guy like Dempster or Eyre, I wouldn't want to give up a good reliever like Howry or a cheap/good one like Wuertz. I guess I could live with Chone (heh) at 2B and leading off, if the Cubs got a big time OF bat and put a .360-.370 OBP in the 2-hole (Murton).

If the Cubs could get Garcia cheap (prospects wise) and only have to pay him 6-8M/year, that wouldn't be horrible.

eh. Don't really want to trade prospects for Heilman. But if he comes cheaply, wouldn't be a bad deal. If he fails as a starter, you could throw him in the pen and get rid of all the salary in Howry, Dempster, and Eyre and still have a pretty good looking pen for cheap.

No way the Braves trade Hudson for Jones straight up. I'd do it in a heartbeat, but the Braves aren't dumb. Why not? Jones would instantly become the Braves 3rd best hitter. If you factor in contracts, the Braves would be dumb not to trade Jones for Hudson straight up.

Duhon is a monster tonight. What the heck?

No. Because if a player like Cabrera is available, Ramirez shouldn't hinder them from going after him. I know you were getting at that the Cubs aren't dead if they lose out of Ramirez, Arod and Tejada....but the bottom line is you sign Ramirez first and you still have the money for the 2 at SS and Cabrera in the OF.

Booing their own team the day of the ring ceremony is precious. Philly fans would be proud. That's great. Miami is supposed to be laid back.

Burrell would be stupid to NOT leave Philly. They don't want him there. If it becomes public that he vetoed a trade that could have made the team better, he will be hated more. I don't blame him for not wanting to go to Baltimore, but I would guess he wouldn't mind playing for the Cubs.

how is he half a player? He's the offensive half.

Switch Cabrera and ARod. I'd much rather have Cabrera. I'd rather have Cabrera too, but I figured the Cubs would be better equipped to take ARod's salary, and more likely to be the agreed to destination by ARod, since he does have a no trade clause.

That's a ripoff for Dye, if he's gonna continue his current rate of production. Even if he goes back to career norms, that's probably right below market value.

How about this deal, off the top of my crazy head? Detroit gets: Miguel Cabrera and Eric Patterson Yankees get: Willis, Inge, and Prior Cubs get: Alex Rodriguez and Bonderman Marlins get: Eric Duncan, Sean Gallagher, Felix Pie, and Humberto Sanchez