MPrior

Two things: One - should we include GilesBros, but then cap it absolutely after that? I vote yes, given he just missed the cut and seems pretty excited. Everyone with an opinion chime in. Two - as far as all the stuff we've been considering, I'm all for a standard game, given that many of us are new to it - so standard 5x5, even though it's stupid from an actual baseball standpoint, is fine by me (it also minimizes debate about which stats to include, which is nice). I'm pretty much okay with anything, though, so if everyone thinks differently, I'm along for the ride. I like an IP cap, because I know I am NOT going to rotate pitchers in and out - I'd like a low-maintenance game, if at all possible, and the results should be about how your team does, not how much cheap micromanaging you're able to pull off. Again, if enough people disagree, no problemo, I'll be fine either way. I don't care much about H2H or Roto. Whatever you guys think is best. I'm all for commissioner review of trades - get it done quickly. As far as spots, whatever's the standard is fine for me. Bench spots I'm not too concerned about. I vote we have two DL spots, not one, if that's a debate, though. Having more than one guy hit the DL at once is bad enough as it is. There's no reason to make it worse by having to "play" one of them.

Unless it's been taken, I'll take 5/16 at Shea.

Awesome. This obviously means that Prior will be healthy for the rest of his career. Thanks be to Sullivan.

Awesome. Here's our final list of ten: MPrior Cheapseats Hawkcub BalsaWoodKeyBoard Karenmac Reggiemiller rules b_wiggy_66 GRCubsFan CT Cubs Fan tkenm356 With GRCubsFan as commissioner. So - GRCubsFan, let us know (via this thread or PM) what we need to do as far as helping you out being the commissioner and all, and basically anything else. Woohoo!

Whoops.

That's five! .... Uh, how many do we need?

Nice.

Dick Vitale has to be in the running for most obnoxious person ever. I watched the whole game, much of which pissed me off like nothing else (Reyshawn Terry and your ridiculous turnovers!), and I kept wanting to turn him off. Also, I'm glad that someone who's not a fan of either team feels this way about the games - they're SO intense every time.

I really hope you're right. Me too.

Probably true, although the margin is slim. At the same time, even though Carolina is favored significantly, I'm still terrified of this game. Duke will be playing its absolute best, due not only to the rivalry, but also to the fact that they're coming off two last-second losses to unranked teams - and they'll be at Cameron, which is a pretty huge advantage, especially against this young UNC team (we've played our worst games on the road this year). Maybe it's just that I've lived the rivalry for my whole life, but these games always seem to be closer than they should be, and upsets abound (see UNC-Duke at Cameron last year).

So that's three of us! Let's get some more, and we'll make a league (however you do that; I've never done fantasy anything, so it's all pretty new to me).

So is anyone else excited about the UNC-Duke game this wednesday, or do you guys all consider that to be kinda like Yankees-Red Sox? Cause I'm pumped. These games are ALWAYS high-emotion type things, and they tend to be good games, even when the teams are mismatched (prior to 2005, Duke was the dominant team for a few years, but Carolina almost always managed to keep it close, even when they had no business doing so). Duke's coming off back-to-back losses, and stand to lose three in a row for the first time since 99-00, and Carolina just suffered an embarrassing defeat at NC State. Both teams should be out for blood.

I know I'm just an observer, but I'm trying to learn a thing or two about fantasy baseball. And what I've learned is that not one, but TWO people can draft Scott Rolen (Truffle and KC, you both have him listed on your teams). I didn't look hard enough to figure out who actually has him, but I thought I'd point it out before it caused problems.

No Rich Hill? Is that because they think he'll have left for another team, or that he won't stay in the majors?

Freudian slip?

Those quotations seem right on, with the one exception that the health of Wood is not terribly essential to this team. Prior, on the other hand, is once again a huge factor.

Urgh.

The Superbowl will obviously be more entertaining/exciting than pitchers and catchers reporting, but as only a casual NFL fan, I'm more anxious about spring training - I'm perfectly content to just sit back and wait for the Superbowl to roll around. Baseball, on the other hand - I want it NOW.

Seriously? Hey they looked into the steroid thing. Duke wins at least two games a year because of terrible clock keeping, how does this happen we have replay to make sure this crap doesn't happen. By the way best avatar ever. No kidding... Congress can't fix real problems, might as well fix stuff like the gift they got last night. By the way, against Virginia Tech there was a similar clock situation (clock didn't start properly on an inbounds pass) and the refs stopped play and arguably took off too much time. Funny how they don't review a similar situation when it would hurt Duke. ACC admits to "timing error" I don't know about "fixed games," but Duke does get a lot of breaks. Coach K is very good at working the sidelines - I honestly believe refs are scared of him.

This thread eventually morphed into a signup for new fantasy baseball players. As of this edit, we have 7 players: MPrior Cheapseats Hawkcub BalsaWoodKeyBoard Karenmac Reggiemiller rules b_wiggy_66 You don't have to be new to fantasy baseball to sign up, but realize that at least a couple of us are - so you'll have to be nice. It looks like we'll probably use Yahoo, because it's free. Woohoo! Should we aim for 12 players (that's what they're doing in the mock draft thread)? ______________________________ So I've never done fantasy baseball before - and was wondering if you guys had any suggestions on how to start up. First off, are they pretty much all 5x5 leagues? Cause that's gonna drive me nuts, having to value things like SBs as highly as all that. Secondly, how much day-to-day maintenance do you really have to do? I don't want to get involved in a league and then let everyone down because I don't pay as much attention as I should. And lastly, do I just go to some fantasy site and join some random league, or do I have to assemble one myself? Does anyone want to start a league? If so, go easy on me. Occasionally, I see someone refer to "cost" or "dollar value" or stuff like that. What does that mean? Don't you just draft players? Or do they have dollar values assigned to them? Help me out here. Thanks.

Please let this be true.

It's obvious that it's either Marquis or Izturis - I voted Marquis, largely because Izturis is (thankfully) a huge injury risk, and might not play as much. Plus, when Marquis is off, he's gonna be REALLY off. We're gonna cringe with every pitch of every start.

This fact proves that these projections mean little in real life wow, you've been to the future? are there hoverboards? OBVIOUSLY there are hoverboards. Didn't you see Back to the Future Part II? Duh. I've been waiting around for those things to come out for a while now.

What do you guys think? Are the Cubs gonna pull any trades off before the season starts, or is our roster more or less set? I doubt Hendry does anything earth-shattering, but I'd like to see another minor trade or two. This is a thread for you to get creative - I'll say my piece, which is very broad and generally unhelpful, but I'd love for more people to be more specific with their ideas (or not). Post any last-second trade ideas/wishes/whatever here. We have a surplus in the bullpen, and Eyre is likely to be overvalued. I'd trade him now - he's a lefty setup man who is viewed by some to be dominant, and good ERA belied his poor performance. Plus, he's overpaid. So, if anything could be had for him, I'd trade him. Dempster is also a potential chip, but I'm not sure he'd net anything good, and he's no worse than Eyre. Jones could also still be traded, but only if we could acquire a decent CF (I'm assuming that if Jones is traded, Soriano plays RF). I would absolutely love to get rid of Izturis. He's the single biggest black hole on this team. However, I seriously doubt that a) Hendry would trade him and b) anyone would take him. So, here's who I would look to trade: Izturis Eyre Dempster (maybe) Jones (maybe) I'd be willing to trade many other players, but those are the ones I'd actively shop. As far as who to target, I think Ryan Church is still an excellent option, as he'll put up good numbers for a CF, likely match or surpass Jones' production, but wouldn't block Pie when the time came. More generally, I think we should target good CFers or RFers. I'd also try to find an at least servicable SS, as we certainly don't have one now. It's been suggested that Rollins is available, but I highly doubt it. Anyone capable of consistently putting up even a .700 OPS would be a major upgrade, especially if they get on base at all. Lastly, a decent prospect or two wouldn't hurt. I would trade, say, Eyre or Izturis for prospects even if it didn't offer our current team anything but salary relief.

Correction: there is no reason Murton should not be given the job. Period. If Floyd outdoes him in a few ST at-bats, it means nothing - Murton should have the job until he proves that he can't (which I find to be very unlikely).