bukie

Correct, it'll be a separate draw.

Cubs non-tender relievers Daniel Bard and Chang-Yong Lim and infielder Mat Gamel. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article/chc/chicago-cubs-sign-donnie-murphy-george-kottaras-tender-contracts-to-seven-players?ymd=20131203&content_id=64348092&vkey=news_chc 40 man roster is at 37.

Oh, a Brazil-Italy-Netherlands-USA group would be fun.

How do you have a league that allows this? Both of those teams should be kicked out of the playoffs and let the next batch in. One of the teams is the commish. I finally talked him into at least putting it to a league vote...so hopefully integrity prevails. Just realized my opponent has Romo, Witten, Murray and Dez Bryant. I'm not winning anyway.

How do you have a league that allows this? Both of those teams should be kicked out of the playoffs and let the next batch in. One of the teams is the commish. I finally talked him into at least putting it to a league vote...so hopefully integrity prevails.

We only have 4 teams make the playoffs, so we have one more week. I'm currently sitting 5th at 7-6, with the highest point total in the league. The current 3rd and 4th place teams in the league are 8-5 play each other next week, and have already agreed to bench their entire lineups and tie, so both make the playoffs over me. I'd mind less if that wasn't going to cost me $50. Oh well, maybe I'll lose anyway and it'd be moot.

Oddly enough, six of them are in the B1G/ACC, and none of them are playing each other.

As of this morning, there are just 21 undefeated teams in Division 1: Ohio State, Pitt, Michigan State, Arizona, Wichita State, Syracuse, Villanova, Wisconsin, Connecticut, UCLA, Iowa State, Massachusetts, Oregon, Cincinnati, St. Mary's, Illinois, Missouri, Mississippi, Boise St., Toledo, and Utah.

First time Kansas and Duke have lost on the same day since March 6, 2005.

Illinois misses 3 of 4 FTs in the final minute to keep this terrible game interesting.

IPFW began 1-8 from the free throw line, or else this would be embarrassing. As is, it looks like Illinois finally woke up.

In other B1G news, Minnesota trails Chaminade at the half in the Maui invitational, after losing their first two games.

Abrams wasn't a good shooter his freshman year, and as his shot rate has gone up, the shooting number have actually gotten worse. Tate can't shoot from range, but at least to this point he knows that and isn't taking those shots (6 shots on the year over 15 feet).

He plays good defense without fouling, but he's not the offensive threat he thinks he is, unless he's facilitating for others, who can actually shoot.

Some other early Illinois stats (against the 320th ranked schedule, so take them with several grains of salt): - Rice has a usage of 25.6% and an Offensive rating of 129.9 (average is about 100), good for 19th in the nation among players with at least 24% usage. - Abrams has a usage of 25.4% and an offensive rating of 94.4, which is...outside the top 250 players with at least 24% usage (considering there are usually 2 or fewer per team, that is not good) - Both Ekey and Egwu are among the top 200 players in the country in offensive rebounding percentage, and both are very efficient offensive options, though each has a usage of about 16% (role players). Egwu is 43rd in the nation in block rate. - Tate leads the team in assist rate at 32.5%, good for 69th in the nation. Abrams isn't bad at 22.5%, still among the top 500 assist rates in the nation. - Tate also among the team leaders in turnover rate at 17.4%, the only players on the team worse being Bertrand at 22.7%, Morgan at 27.5%, and Nunn at 29.3%. Rice and Egwu are among the lowest turnover rates in the nation at 8.2% and 7.5%, respectively. - Abrams is the best on the team at avoiding committing fouls, at an average of 1.7 per 40 minutes. Nunn averages 5.1 fouls per 40 minutes. - Everyone on the team has been 75% or better from the foul line except Nunn (who is 1 for 2 on the year).

Abrams actually has the lowest true shooting % on the team, at 40 (which is really bad), with a 33.3 eFG%. Rice has the same usage rate as Abrams, takes a slightly higher % of the shots than Abrams, and has an eFG% of 52.6, with a true shooting % of 57.

Ray Rice is better than I expected him to be to this point. I like Hill and Nunn, but when they're on the floor they really drag the offense down. Abrams has a little too much Brandon Paul shot selection in him as well.

One other quick stat comparison: Career numbers compared... George Kottaras: .214/.324/.406, OPS+ 96 Dioner Navarro: .251/.313/.371, OPS+ 82

Kottaras' career numbers at Wrigley: .364/.417/.909

Ugh to all the morons on twitter making cracks about this being the move to win the world series. Double ugh to all the morons on twitter going off batting average.

Cubs acquire C George Kottaras from the Royals for cash considerations. 40 man roster is at 40. Kansas City Royals ‏@Royals 48s #Royals trade C George Kottaras to the Chicago Cubs for cash considerations. Kottaras was designated for assignment on November 22.

Kottaras, 30, hit .180/.349/.370 in 126 plate appearances for the Royals in 2013. Kottaras has outstanding plate discipline and power for a catcher, as evidenced by his career 14 percent walk rate and .192 isolated power mark. He struck out in 33.3 percent of his plate appearances in 2013, however, and has whiffed at nearly a 23 percent clip throughout his career.

Rany Jazayerli ‏@jazayerli 2m Makes sense. The Cubs value OBP. The Royals value money. RT @Royals_Report #Royals trade C George Kottaras to Cubs for cash considerations.

I'd assume he's taking up a major league roster spot as well since it doesn't appear he cleared waivers for the Royals before being traded. Waiting to update the Cubs' transaction thread until I get the $ details.

The Royals just DFA'd him in an effort to save $300k, so I would imagine the cash is right around that.