davell

I didn't take into account we added him to the 40 man when I said that. I'll retract, unless he actually regresses in 2012. Personally, I hope he becomes a super utility type. Someone that can fill in at 2B, SS, #B. And the corner OF spots, if needed. The low OBP he'll most likely always have should be negated by above average power and speed, if all turns out decently for him.

I bet this is it for Lake: he either makes huge strides this season, or he's converted next offseason.

According to Wikipedia, his birthday is October 10th, 1985. So, he's 26.

I still would prefer Soler. Age and cost being the 2 main reasons. Be awesome to get both though.

It's not about franchising Flynn for the sake of keeping him. With as bad as our defense is, it's a gamble that should be made to get some extra picks instead of just holding out for the conditional 3rd or 4th round pick the following year. I've done a complete 180 on who the Packers should franchise. I thought Finley should have received the tag, but there are five gigantic black spots on our defense right now. We need as many draft picks as possible to shore that up and trading Flynn to a team that actually needs a QB probably makes the most sense. It's a gamble but some team will trade for Flynn, whether it be Seattle, Washington, Cleveland, etc. OK, hey what do I know? I sure wouldn't want to be stuck with the bill if the suitors don't come calling. I hope they do get stuck with him. But, whether he's the real deal or not, I figure some QB desperate team will convince themselves he is and help the Packers out bigtime in the process.

Cassel. Granted, it didn't turn out well for KC.

If Peyton proves he's healthy, he's certainly the top guy likely available. I can't see him and Luck together for even a year. Too much of a distraction. Around here, there's lots of Peyton to the Redskins talk already. But I could see Oakland giving up on Palmer for Flynn, Jax giving up on Gabbert already, Miami wanting him, Kansas City, Arizona, Seattle, Cleveland, maybe even the Jets.......At any rate, there's plenty of teams out there looking for a QB on SOME level. All it's going to take is one of them to think Flynn is elite. With as important as QB's are, I'm pretty sure one of those teams would talk themselves into thinking he's the future for them.

I think Bowe will be franchised. I don't see Marshall going anywhere as the Dolphins will be big players to trade up for RG3 or to trade for Matt Flynn. I also can't see Colston leaving NO. They do have Brees and Nicks ahead of him as priorities, but whichever one they can't workout a long term deal with will be franchised, and I think Colston will take a discount to stay with a team that's going to pass for 5000 yards again. Despite the stuff that went on in Philly, I think they want DeSean Jackson back. Andy Reid still loves the guy. I will concede Vincent Jackson as a possibility, but I think that's it of the big named WRs. I kind of agree that's a possibility, other than Colston, who I figure New Orleans let's go of, to try to add a little D. I doubt Buffalo keeps Stevie Johnson, who may not be elite, but he's definitely better than what we've got. Is Reggie Wayne too old at this point? What about Garcon? One or the other of them, maybe both, will be gone from Indy as well. I think both will be gone. Wayne is too old. Garcon would be Ok, but I don't think he makes the WR corps much better. Stevie Johnson, I don't know what to think about him. I think he leaves, but I don't know what he will get paid or if he's good enough to justify it either way. I'd be OK with Wayne, if we took a WR very early in the draft. I think we'd need something in addition to Garcon too, for that matter. I'm with you on Stevie. I figure he'd be our clear cut top guy, but I'm not sure how good he is either. I think he'll get "difference maker" money from someone and he may not be THAT good.

I think they'll franchise Flynn to try and trade him. They'd get a pretty high comp pick if Finley leaves anyway. What? They'd franchise a backup QB for top-dollar money? What if he isn't traded? I don't think they're taking that risk. If they can train Flynn to be a decent QB, they can train up any number of others to fill that role. Green Bay knows how to develop QBs. They aren't pining for QB talent. They create it. I'm just repeating what's being speculated. I'm not sure how much of a risk it'd wind up being honestly. There's quite a few teams looking for a QB. I doubt a team would give up more than a 1st for him, but I think it's a possibility some teams would do that, especially since Barkley and Jones stayed in school.

I think Bowe will be franchised. I don't see Marshall going anywhere as the Dolphins will be big players to trade up for RG3 or to trade for Matt Flynn. I also can't see Colston leaving NO. They do have Brees and Nicks ahead of him as priorities, but whichever one they can't workout a long term deal with will be franchised, and I think Colston will take a discount to stay with a team that's going to pass for 5000 yards again. Despite the stuff that went on in Philly, I think they want DeSean Jackson back. Andy Reid still loves the guy. I will concede Vincent Jackson as a possibility, but I think that's it of the big named WRs. I kind of agree that's a possibility, other than Colston, who I figure New Orleans let's go of, to try to add a little D. I doubt Buffalo keeps Stevie Johnson, who may not be elite, but he's definitely better than what we've got. Is Reggie Wayne too old at this point? What about Garcon? One or the other of them, maybe both, will be gone from Indy as well.

I think they'll franchise Flynn to try and trade him. They'd get a pretty high comp pick if Finley leaves anyway.

The rumor mentioned 2 receivers, whether it's a WR and a TE or 2 WR's. I don't think height matters all that much either personally. Just guys that constantly get open. It mentioned an aging defense and wanting to capitalize before it's too late and I agree with that. Fred Davis is another TE available, but he's one strike away from a season long suspension. V-Jax may be the same actually. Bowe could get franchised. We may and probably will have less options than what it looks like right now. I'd be OK with a Marques Colston/WR in the 1st or 2nd round combo if it comes down to it. But adding a bigtime guy like a Bowe/V-Jax/Marshall would immediately make our other WR's better just by being on the field.

I hope Marshall gets pouty and we give up a 3rd or something for him. To me, that's our best case scenario. Jay and him are BFF's and have a proven track record together. I was all for Desean, but WalterFootball brings up an excellent point about him; His production hasn't been the same since his concussion. Bowe and V-Jax are the 2 FA guys I'd really want one of.

I disagree on Jeffrey. I think he's the next Mike Williams(USC one) and he'll eat himself out of being a WR. Moving up 15 spots or so to get Blackmon versus going after Bowe, Desean, or V-Jax is an interesting debate. Blackmon's cost would allow for other FA signings, while costing us a future 1st and possibly one of our 3rds. Signing an established guy would push us to HAVE to draft very well obviously. And could mean Finley isn't possible.

I think for most though, that it goes hand in hand. If you lay off enough pitcher's pitches, it should lead to walks for most guys. Vitters could be an exception, same with Castro and Torreyes, for that matter, as their contact ability is phenomenal. But if it helps those guys swing at pitches they can drive, it's still much better for us.

Read under draft rumor mill on WalterFootball the Bears plan on being extremely aggessive, because quite a few may be on the hot seat. One rumor is Bears making a Falcon type move up(giving up 2013 1st) to grab Justin Blackmon. AND pursuing Jermichael Finley as well. Good lord, I think I'd be speechless.

With the draft seemingly being stronger in position players than pitching, even though it's extraodinarily rare, I wonder if we could make straight minor leagues for minor leagues trades? The Dodgers, Padres, Braves, Rangers, Phils, Tigers, Diamondbacks, Rays, Blue Jays, A's, and even the Brewers and Cards are pitching heavy, to some extent. We could dangle guys like Szczur, Golden, Vogelbach(in a few months)Watkins, Vitters, and Ha to see what kind of pitching we could acquire anyway.

Brett seems to be a future leader. I hope we get him and Rizzo to the majors for good by midseason.

Great stuff. Hopefully, some pitching falls into our lap somehow in the draft.

Or anything else from Wilken, McLeod, Bohringer from the convention? I hope we get as detailed reports as we did last year, which were awesome. Only thing I've heard that was interesting so far is it looks like Robert Whitenack will begin 2012 on a full season team. Which is great news obviously.

Nah, I think you have to make sure you sign ALL of your top 10 round picks. If not, you lose whatever money was allotted for that pick. I'd maybe go with 3 to 5 big money guys and the rest, I'd take org guys I knew I could sign for 25,000 or so. Any money left over att that point can be left to some guys drafted later on.

If you add Soler, the hitting looks that much better too. He'd immediately slot in as our top prospect. Callis says he'll be in the 11 to 20 range in their overall top 100. The vast majority of IFA's I've heard about, outside of Soler, are pitchers, for what it's worth. No top 100 guys though. Still, it's a way to beef up the ppitching side for sure.

There's more hitting throughout though. Once you get outside of Maples and Wells, it's hard to see any other pitcher in our lower levels developing into anything more than serviceable. Yeah, there's guys like Peralta, Liria, Rosario that you can dream on, but they've done very little to this point to make you think they'll successfully make that jump. Hitting-wise, the lower levels are stacked with big upside guys: Baez, Vogelbach, Hernandez, Candelario, Golden, Amaya, Torreyes, Dunston Jr, even Easterling. Almost all of our big bonus guys lately have been hitters. There's no doubt we're much stronger there than pitching currently, from the top with Jackson, Rizzo, and Szczur as legit starter types versus McNutt as far as pitching goes, all the way to the very bottom. Even the DSL saw us sign 3 bigtime bonuses this past season, all of which were hitters.

First off, draft has been cut back to 40 rounds from 50. But any bonuses outside the top 10 rounds exceeding 100,000 count towards your top 10 round allotment.

I thought there was no way to put a guy on the 40 man? But, I have't seen the language. I have a feeling it's pretty ironclad most likely. But, if we've got 8.5 mill allotted, you could do something like this: 4 mill, 1.5 mill, 1.5 mill, 800,000. Then, you've got 700,000 plus the overage of 425,000 to spend on 7 other top 10 round guys. Then, you've got the ability to spend 3 mill on the rest of the draft, but there's no way to do it unless you literally sign everyone else for exactly 100,000. My guess is you leave the overage penalty money for that part of the draft, to maybe give out a couple of 300,000 bonuses. But yeah, if there is any language in the CBA that can be exploited, I feel very confident our guys will use it to their advantage. If you can renegotiate somehow with guys afterwards, that would be awesome. Because I honestly think if given the chance, we would have been throwing around 15 to 20 mill on the draft. I was in favor of just spending completely crazy and losing a 1st the following year, but it'd be 2, back to back, and since we'll have a high pick next year, it doesn't make sense to do immediately. But, a good team, who's going to have low picks anyway? It makes sense to me to work it like that. One crazy spending year, 2 penalized years, where you can probably still sign a pair of 1 mill guys, then back to crazy spending again.