USSoccer

Lofton seems like a logical fit, but I'm skeptical we do anything other than dump Jones or Izturis. One guy who might be available is Randy Winn.

If the Cubs are stupid enough to cut Prior loose after wasting money on Wade Miller then they deserve to lose.

There's nothing we have that could match what other clubs could throw at Purpura.

The question is, how are you defining overpaid? Yes, most to all of those players were overpaid-to get a single free agent in last years market, you had to overpay. Lilly has a good shot to be the best value free agent pitcher of the offseason. DeRosa will certainly be the best value second baseman. Ward was easily the best bench player available. The only alternative to not overpaying guys though was to simply not sign anybody in free agency. Considering the Cubs made the decision to enter free agency, Hendry signed most of the best contracts to come out of the 2006 offseason. At least for one offseason, he was better than pretty much all of his peers. But again, it had nothing to do with Hendry being especially clever. It had everything to do with him offering above market value for everyone except Lilly, who was paid pretty fairly, and Aramis, whom he nearly, stupidly lost.

Actually the Ted Lilly signing was by far his best signing and was known to be the best at the time, IMO. Given the price of pitching he didn't overpay once you factor in he's a guy who has always had good K rates and always played in the offense happy AL East. Soriano wasn't very good. Marquis was terrible. DeRosa was useless and overkill. Floyd was overkill. Ward was alright. wrong At the time he was signed, it was a completely correct statement. We overpaid a career utility guy coming off a contract year. He's exceeded expectations, and I've been pleased with his plate discipline, but I can see where Meph is coming from. He's a useful piece. I like that he's on the team, but I'll leave it at that.

Actually the Ted Lilly signing was by far his best signing and was known to be the best at the time, IMO. Given the price of pitching he didn't overpay once you factor in he's a guy who has always had good K rates and always played in the offense happy AL East. Soriano wasn't very good. Marquis was terrible. DeRosa was useless and overkill. Floyd was overkill. Ward was alright. Yeah, that's why I said probably. I suppose Hendry could have tried to get him a little cheaper, but his deal is probably pretty fair given the factors you list. Overall, other than Aramis, that's probably been the best pickup, as he's the most likely to live up to the value of his contract.

OK, I'll play the "let's ignore all of Hendry's horrible 2006 moves, his poor roster management and general incompetence when it comes to building a well balanced team" game. We'll just look at the offseason: I'll give him credit for properly targeting DeRosa, who has been very good, but I will not excuse the fact that they probably overpaid him. I'll give him credit for Ted Lilly, who has been pretty good, but they probably overpaid him, too. Jason Marquis will not end up being a good sign. I'm happy he's exceeded my lowest expectations, but all that means is that at some point, he's going to regress back to the mean. And we definetly overpaid him. Daryle Ward is fine for the bench, and Hendry managed not to overpay him. Good job. Cliff Floyd needs to start hitting for power. I'm not going to kill him for it on it's own, but he probably should have moved Jones before signing him. Henry Blanco shouldn't have been signed and was overpaid. Again. Aramis bailed Hendry out. I'm not going to ever give him credit for nearly losing our best player by being nonchalant about his extension, and subsequently nearly killing me, Tree and IMB! before Aramis decided to show his class and not chase dollar signs all the way to Disneyland. Which brings me to Soriano. His contract will play out like all of us groupthink skeptics think it will. He's producing this year. He'll probably continue his plateau for 2 years after this. And then, it's going to get ugly. Hendry overpaid him, but I sort of understand his motive there. So yeah, in almost all those cases, he targeted the right guy. But in almost all the cases, he overpaid these guys. He didn't show me anything more than the ability to throw money around like a drunken sailor in a strip club. Yeah, he stumbled onto the hotter strippers. But they're all still strippers, and sooner or later he's going to wish he had that money back.

For the 2nd time in my life the US should have won a quarterfinal match but lost. The good thing is that Adu and Jozy are ready, now. They should be on the field in Sweden next month.

I did. Vince is awesome.

Rogers was on ESPN Radio this morning, and assumed that Cuban plans to simply throw money at the Trib until he gets his way. Tribune's obligation to raise the most cash would theoretically trump other factors. I'm more hopeful than I was yesterday. If my logic is correct, Zell has to sell the Cubs before aquiring ownership of the Trib, because he can be invested in 2 teams, so MLB really can't block a Cuban bid if he's the highest bidder, right?

Yeti, is that you? :lol: How many beers do you think it takes CT to get fall-down drunk? I'm guessing 1. One wine cooler, maybe.

Reading is exercise for the mind. It will be good for you. The overall consensus is that you should read the data for yourself and make up your own mind. Relying on the summary of others is a sure way to have no intelligent thoughts of your own.

Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) and Kaka (AC Milan) are 1-2. There's a big gap after them. After that, you could order 3-5 like this: Thierry Henry (Barcelona) Ronaldinho (Barcelona) Leo Messi (Barcelona) All three on the same team. There are big gaps in talent between a player like Ronaldinho and a player like Steven Gerrard, who might be top 10, but nowhere near the top 5. You've got great goal scorers like Didier Drogba and Wayne Rooney, who probably aren't in the top 10. Ditto Robinho. You have defenders like Fabio Cannavaro and goalkeepers like Gianluigi Buffon, who are great at their position but couldn't be considered top 20. If you're only talking about field players, there isn't an American in the top 100, and I'd strain to put one in the top 200. Tim Howard is probably a top 50 keeper. Wow, I had e-mailed a friend in London asking the same question. He gave me the exact 5 that you did, in no particular order. Yeah, really those 5 are pretty much head and shoulders above anyone else. It's the list I would've given. Also, I don't have FSC, Goltv or ESPNU. I watched the first US game in the Gold Cup, but haven't seen any Copa America or U-20 World Cup games. :cry: go find a torrent of the US-Brazil U-20 game. Probably the best game a US side has played in 5 years.

What's funny is that Mexico and Portugal met last week in the U-20 WC, and the FSN guy who did the highlight went nuts. They played that intro prior to the highlight.

Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) and Kaka (AC Milan) are 1-2. There's a big gap after them. After that, you could order 3-5 like this: Thierry Henry (Barcelona) Ronaldinho (Barcelona) Leo Messi (Barcelona) All three on the same team. There are big gaps in talent between a player like Ronaldinho and a player like Steven Gerrard, who might be top 10, but nowhere near the top 5. You've got great goal scorers like Didier Drogba and Wayne Rooney, who probably aren't in the top 10. Ditto Robinho. You have defenders like Fabio Cannavaro and goalkeepers like Gianluigi Buffon, who are great at their position but couldn't be considered top 20. If you're only talking about field players, there isn't an American in the top 100, and I'd strain to put one in the top 200. Tim Howard is probably a top 50 keeper. Wow, I had e-mailed a friend in London asking the same question. He gave me the exact 5 that you did, in no particular order. Yeah, really those 5 are pretty much head and shoulders above anyone else.

Of course, I'm also forgetting Ariaga, Ariaga II, Bariaga, Aruglia, and Pizzoza.

Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) and Kaka (AC Milan) are 1-2. There's a big gap after them. After that, you could order 3-5 like this: Thierry Henry (Barcelona) Ronaldinho (Barcelona) Leo Messi (Barcelona) All three on the same team. There are big gaps in talent between a player like Ronaldinho and a player like Steven Gerrard, who might be top 10, but nowhere near the top 5. You've got great goal scorers like Didier Drogba and Wayne Rooney, who probably aren't in the top 10. Ditto Robinho. You have defenders like Fabio Cannavaro and goalkeepers like Gianluigi Buffon, who are great at their position but couldn't be considered top 20. If you're only talking about field players, there isn't an American in the top 100, and I'd strain to put one in the top 200. Tim Howard is probably a top 50 keeper.

Again, who other than Reinsdorf is going to oppose it? Is it MLB owners or just NL ones? It's all MLB ones. The only three I can think of who wouldn't support his bid would be Angelos, Glass and Reinsdorf. I understand Reinsdorf, and can MAYBE understand Glass, but why would Angelos care? Is Chicago infringing on Baltimore's territory like the Nats are? Because Angelos and Reinsdorf share the same brain. Aren't those the two idiots that brought us the work stoppage?

Again, who other than Reinsdorf is going to oppose it? Is it MLB owners or just NL ones? It's all MLB ones. The only three I can think of who wouldn't support his bid would be Angelos, Glass and Reinsdorf.

Again, who other than Reinsdorf is going to oppose it?

This is the best I got: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Major_League_Baseball_principal_owners EDIT: Wow! Steinbrenner paid only $8.7 million for the Yankees...nice return on investment! Thanks. So out of the crusty old owners, a dozen of them are new since 2000, and only 5(including the Tribune) have had their teams since the 80's. Of the owners that would vote no, you have to think that Reinsdorf would be leading the charge. Who else would say no?

When Didier Drogba scored for Chelsea at Paris SG, and leapt into the crowd shouting 'Allez l'OM' at them, it was as great a moment as you could wish to see. The Parisians were unamused, amusingly. Are Parisians amused by anything other than their smug sense of self satisfaction?

Aside from his considerable talent, that's what I think seperates Ronaldo from Messi, Kaka and the other great players. Ronaldo imposes his will on nearly every game he's in. He's so aggressive, and so confident that he's willing to take his game to an opponent. In the game where Man U dismantled Roma, he was the best player on the field by a wide, wide margin. His runs, and Roma's fear of his runs, let directly to about 5 goals.

They might as well trade him for something, since they aren't going to play him. At least they'd be dealing him for offensive help. I have fears of him being dealt for some middle reliever.

The adversity Ronaldo faces in England playing for a team everyone hates, in a country that nearly completely hates him, with a completely insane teamate that probably hates everyone around him, being hacked and beaten weekly by defenders and mids that hate him...let's just say that it's something Messi and Kaka don't have to deal with.