rawaction

I'd keep Soriano and try to move Mench for a LH bat. (Floyd, package for Abreu) Why do the Cubs seem to be targeting exactly the kind of players they don't need? If that deal is made, I'm going to freak out. If rumors are true that the Cubs want a LH bat badly for RF, they can move Mench for one. Soriano isn't the type of player they need, but accompanying a move for top of the order hitters he would be a productive addition that will help the lineup.

Please Jim, not again... Not another season of watching meaningless solo homers day after day... I don't see too many solo HRs if Soriano is hitting in his rightful spot behind both Lee and Ramirez. If he's hitting 1st or 2nd.

I'd keep Soriano and try to move Mench for a LH bat. (Floyd, package for Abreu)

For the same reason the Mets didn't-worries about his hip. Can someone tell me what is wrong with Cedeno's play at SS? I don't understand why the cubs are in such a hurry to get another SS? Is his defense that bad? Exact opposite. He's a solid defender with the potential to be really good. I think the Cubs want a leadoff hitter no matter the position. Furcal was the best on the market. And Cedeno has the flexibility to play 2B very well also.

Patterson, Hill and Nolasco to Dodgers for Bradley and Lowe. Walker, Pinto, and Williams to Texas for Soriano and Mench Mench and Wuertz to NYM for Floyd Cedeno Bradley Lee Ramirez Floyd Soriano Murton Barrett Prior Zambrano Lowe Maddux Wood/Rusch or Patterson, Hill and Nolasco to Dodgers for Bradley and Lowe Pinto, Williams, and Dopirak for Huff and Lugo Lugo Bradley Lee Ramirez Huff Murton Barrett Cedeno

Nor would he go to Philly, I suppose. I read in the Sun-Times that Mench isn't a target and the Cubs have decided to get a LH bat in the OF, and I can't think of anyone on the Rangers squad who fits the bill. Perhaps Walker to the Mets for Floyd? I think that would be worth exploring, I think you'd have to have a quality 4th OF'er given Floyd's injury history. I'm not sure how eager they'd be willing to give floyd up now that they unloaded Cameron, depending on how they feel about Nady. What about a 3-way deal? Texas gets- Patterson, Walker, Heilman, Hill Mets get- Mench and Wuertz Cubs get- Soriano and Floyd

We're top 5 in payroll and I'm sure Hendry is going to get someone on the cheap like Huff to play RF. Complete joke. How about making a splash by trading for a big bat, Mr. Hendry??? The thing about Huff is that he has been labled as "lazy" by sweet Lou. He had a very down year, but is a very good player (potentially). He can play a number of positions and is "getable". This would be a good example of buying low. In other words low risk high reward. If the Cubs can get him for one of the surplus arms in the pen I'd be real happy. I could handle Huff. I don't think he's as bad as the player he was last year. Getting Huff and Lugo would be nice, again killing 2 birds with a minimal increase in payroll over Furcal alone. But if I'm going with unsure production in RF, I'd like more than a slap hitter in CF (Pierre). If the Cubs get Pierre, I'd want one of the more productive bats in RF (Abreu, Dunn, Floyd). If not, I'll take any combination of Bradley in CF and a similarly productive RF. How about trading for Huff and Lugo, and trading for Wilkerson? 1.Wilkerson CF 2.Lugo SS 3.Lee 1B 4.Ramirez 3B 5.Huff LF 6.Murton RF 7.Barrett C 8.Neifi 2B The only problem I see with that is neither Huff or Murton have the defensive skillset for RF. I could handle that, except for that last guy. Cedeno should start, whether it's 2B or SS.

We're top 5 in payroll and I'm sure Hendry is going to get someone on the cheap like Huff to play RF. Complete joke. How about making a splash by trading for a big bat, Mr. Hendry??? The thing about Huff is that he has been labled as "lazy" by sweet Lou. He had a very down year, but is a very good player (potentially). He can play a number of positions and is "getable". This would be a good example of buying low. In other words low risk high reward. If the Cubs can get him for one of the surplus arms in the pen I'd be real happy. I could handle Huff. I don't think he's as bad as the player he was last year. Getting Huff and Lugo would be nice, again killing 2 birds with a minimal increase in payroll over Furcal alone. But if I'm going with unsure production in RF, I'd like more than a slap hitter in CF (Pierre). If the Cubs get Pierre, I'd want one of the more productive bats in RF (Abreu, Dunn, Floyd). If not, I'll take any combination of Bradley in CF and a similarly productive RF.

We're top 5 in payroll and I'm sure Hendry is going to get someone on the cheap like Huff to play RF. Complete joke. How about making a splash by trading for a big bat, Mr. Hendry??? He has to have the trading chips. I don't see anyway for the Cubs to trade for Abreu or Manny without a 3rd team getting involved. Philly wants a front-line starter. Boston wants to replace production, they aren't a salary dumping type of team.

Maybe all the rumors we heard about will now come to fruition? Lowe and Bradley to the Cubs (with Patterson going to LA) would take up about the same amount of payroll as Furcal would have (with Patterson staying). Plus, it kills 2 birds, with an OF and a pretty decent innings eating pitcher. Then Hendry still has the money to go out and do the trade with Texas for Soriano and Mench, go harder after Pierre, or try to go after a big OF bat in Abreu and Dunn. I did want Furcal as a Cub, but I think the accompanying moves may have been going cheap at SP, CF, and RF.

Take Eric Milton off their hands, and I think the Reds are more willing to deal Dunn. I think they will take every chance to deal Kearns, Pena, Casey and Griffey first though.

Yesterday I posted that I'd trade Hill and Patterson for those two, and I think the Dodgers might take that. They free up a bunch of money in Lowe, and get a cheap, LH, rotation replacement in Hill, whose FB tendencies will be helped some by Chavez Ravine. They also get a similar cost, talented CF to replace Bradley, who they apparently really want to get rid of. I'd trade Hill, Patterson, and any non-Pie/Guzman prospect for those 2.

I don't see a problem with this trade from the Marlins end. What the heck are they gonna do with all this pitching?

Weren't we talking about this in another thread? I can't remember if I gave my opinion or not :P. Anyway, I think Killingsworth will have no problem getting 20-30/10 against us. I won't be surprised at all if UK loses this game. We were indeed. It was the "2005-2006 Indiana Hoosiers" thread, but the thread disappeared yesterday somehow in the aftermath of the site's recent problems. I've been unable to relocate it again w/o the use of the search function, but this thread will be serviceable for such discussion. I haven't stayed abreast of the situation at UK....what is the name of the really tall guy that I remember from last year? How is he defensively? That's Shagari Alleyne, I believe. He punked DJ last year. I'm sure White would love another shot at him. Speaking of DJ, can you imagine him as help defender in the post? Can you imagine him as #2 option? What is anyone gonna do when you have a 6'10" athletic C slashing down the lane? Killer can pass the ball too. I would have loved to sit in on a practice with them 2 playing on the same side of a scrimmage.

Why don't we wait and see what the Twins gave up before we start ripping Hendry again. You know it is possible that Minnesota could put together a better package than us. Why don't you stop reading things in my post that I didn't write? Where did I rip or even mention Hendry's name? Who were you referring to that dropped the ball? Dusty? I was just assuming since the ball is in Hendry's court, he must have been the one who dropped it. Did I assume wrong? YES

Why don't we wait and see what the Twins gave up before we start ripping Hendry again. You know it is possible that Minnesota could put together a better package than us. Why don't you stop reading things in my post that I didn't write? Where did I rip or even mention Hendry's name?

Pittsburgh's still a football and hockey town. The Pirates will never be as popular as those teams. Even in the "We Are Family" days, the Steelers took their glory by winning 4 titles in the 70s. Sure, winning would help out a ton, but I think they have been too bad for too long, in a city that doesn't live and die with baseball for them to ever perrennially sell out.

ball = dropped.

The Falcons lost by 3 in Seattle, in the game Vick got hurt. They do have a bad run defense, but they completely shut down Seattle in the 2nd half (100 yards, 4 3-and-outs, 0 points). They lost on the last play to TB, IIRC. They do have 4 potential playoff teams in their last 5 games, but they control their own fate with 3 against the top of the division (tied with TB actually).

Isn't Pittsburgh actually on the upswing? Everything I heard about their young players, and what I saw from their young pitchers, leans toward the postion that the Pirates may have a shot a renewed respectability. With a productive farm system, good things can happen. Look no further than Milwaukee. I wouldn't consider Nomar washed up anyway. There is no arguing that his injuries over the last two years have made him a risky bet, but his bat is still potent. If he is resigned to the fact that SS is no longer in his future, at least on a full time basis, Nomar still can have tremendous value. I don't think washed up fits for either entitiy. Pittsburgh has a lot of young talent, and they already have one of the top 10 players in baseball locked up for a bunch of years. They are a team on the rise. If they can get anything from Wells, Wilson, Redman, Mesa, they will have a good team. Heck, as it stands right now, the Pirates have a better team than the Cubs for 06.

Tillman is a pretty good CB. He's in the top 1/2 of the league's #1 CBs (i.e. the guys who cover the #1 WR primarily). In the NFL everyone gets beat. He's not giving up TDs, and he's been there in coverage most of the time, just catches have been made.

It's not a pure trap game, nor is it all that similar to the Cleveland game. The Bears didn't really arrive until after the Car/TB wins, which means there wasn't a ton of buildup to those game, which lessens the whole letdown factor. Trap games usually come after a highly touted team plays an emotional game against a bigtime opponent at home, then goes on the road to face a feisty decent, but underrated team. That TB game wasn't all that emotional. If this game was in GB, I'd smell a trap. The Cleveland game was on the road. They also played somewhat sloppily in TB, which may have been more of a trap game, since it was on the road. I also don't think there's a lot of build-up for that Pittsburgh game next week. If next week was the ATL game, I could see it. But it's a non-conference road game. The thing they'll have to watch out for is the X-mas game in GB, the week before a potentially huge matchup against MINN and the week after a potentially huge prime time game against ATL. tomato/tomatoe. We define trap game differently. The point is, this isn't gonna be a cakewalk for the Bears.

Word around here is that he will play, which I think is huge. As long as the IU big men can avoid foul trouble, I think they have a real chance here. Davis has always been a good defensive coach. With the way they are scoring, they can be a real good team. The only thing that worries me is them relying on hitting 50%+ from 3. Hopefully Killingsworth will be a man again tonight. I've finally gotten around to posting my feelings on this game. I'm not much for moral victories so I'm not really all about the rah-rah IU is back junk I'm reading in the papers. I hope that's true, but let's not get ahead of ourselves here. I will say that I'm more optimistic about their potential this season then I was before the game though. They played well outside of the first five minutes and the last five minutes. They need to work on that if they're going to be able to play in "big games". Not much big game experience on this team, so hopefully there is room for improvement in that area. I was disapointed in Strickland offensively. He played respectable defense (being matched up with Reddick often) but didn't do a darn thing offensively until the last few minutes. I'd like to see Vaden more involved in the offense. He seems to know what to do with the ball in key situations moreso than Strickland (and maybe even Monroe). I'd really like to see Ratliff out there much more once he's back into shape. I think Monroe/Ratliff/Vaden/White/Killingsworth is going to be their best lineup. Also, I'm not sure why Allen didn't get more minutes (especially in the 2nd half). Having Kline as the only big man on the floor at any time is pretty much unacceptable IMO. I don't mind moral victories, but this wasn't one. IU was back last year, just didn't have the experience to make it matter down the stretch. This game was winnable. Missed layups, lapses on defense (Melchionne and Paulus beat us), and unforced turnovers were the difference. The team played nervous and it showed at the beginning and the end, where it typically shows. Still, I do like the Strick tried to take over near the end. He is taking on a leadership role. Vaden needs to stop settling for the jumper and drive and look to score instead of dishing. Not too worried about that though. Allen is bad. He doesn't need more minutes. He's gonna develop, but he's a defensive liability right now with no inside game. I agree on Kline, wonder what he could have been without the knee issues.

That's exactly how I feel. This is a trap game. Carolina and TB before, Pittsburgh and Atlanta after. This game is too easy on paper to end up that way. With the way the Bears played against Cleveland, anything can happen in this one. It won't. But it could.

HEHEHEHE. BDP!