KingCubsFan

I don't suppose they are interested in aging outfielders... I read something about how they may be willing to move Kinsler to 1B/LF. In that case, maybe Barney and Garza could be used for Olt+something else. With Garza's injury, I'm not sure he gets Olt alone anymore.

I have a feeling this could be an overpay. Haven't heard any numbers yet Tim Brown @TBrownYahoo ·More Source: Pagan gets $40m over four years with Giants. If only Theo and Jed were trying to win as badly as Brian Sabean, we too could have Angel Pagan for 40 million.

Will Muschamp should be proof enough that a high-profile successful DC can do much better than the BC job. I've also heard reports linking him to Cal. Is BC really worth missing the national championship? Regardless of how ND's defense does next year (and they should still be good), I have to think this season has wrapped up a head coaching job for Diaco when he wants it.

Given the recent games against the Packers, I think it's fair to give the Packers a huge edge. For whatever reason, they have Cutler's number (and it's probably as simple as throwing Clay Matthews at Webb every play).

These are my favorite posts on this board. Walk into the cfb thread and what are people discussing? CFB?!?!?!?! Who cares about cfb in the cdb thread? You guys were arguing over which defense is the best defense and which is 2nd best or whatever. That's what I was referring to, not college football on the whole. Get a grip. You're surprised people are talking about the two defenses in the NC in the college football thread?

Rashad Crawford was an interesting add. I know next to nothing about him.

I love when Cubs fan talk about how great Dawson was, and don't realize they've been watching (and complaining about) Dawson's baseball twin since 2007: Soriano: .273/.323/.505 113 OPS+ Dawson: .279/.323/482 110 OPS +

Without the steroid allegations, that would have been a great class. Now it's just Biggio (I'm assuming Schilling won't get in on his first try).

I think it's multiple years before the Marlins actually trade him. They have way too much scrutiny on them this offseason to trade Stanton, and they've still got another year before he gets expensive. My guess is that they suck next year and then trade him "to improve other areas of the team" or some other stupid reason. I hope it's true, because the Cubs will be in a much better position to make a play for him next year.

That was a horrible article. There are many reasons he may not deserve to win, but the fact that some guy on a terrible team had more tacked than him and Suh finished fourth in a much better field are not among them.

I have to think a one-legged/one-armed Long is better than anything on the Bears' roster. This is a couple of weeks old but... That list just makes me mad we drafted Chris Williams one spot before Branden Albert.

I have to think a one-legged/one-armed Long is better than anything on the Bears' roster.

Also, Jimmy Hyams - a reporter who's got some connections - says there's little chance for Gruden, but insists Stoops is very much in the mix and has a good chance of coming to UT. I really hate the Al Golden rumors. Would like Jimbo, ok with Strong (best of the "second tier hires), would be intrigued by a guy like Art Briles who I've heard sporadically rumored. Really torn on Gruden - great in-game coach, but has a strong (earned) reputation of having no patience with developing young players. Could be a Weiss-like hire who brings in great talent but can't develop it. I can't think of a single good reason why Jimbo Fisher would leave FSU for Tenn.

He clearly didn't have any value, otherwise I'm sure they would have traded him.

Does it matter? We will lose our first playoff game anyway. At best we win one. This team has no chance of making it to the Super Bowl. That's ridiculous. Not really, this is a theme. Not one week. The issues (on O) that killed us this week have been issues all season and aren't going to change. We aren't winning the Super Bowl and it's about much more than just this game. You are the one who doesn't want to see that. I am usually as blindly optimistic as possible about the Bears, but it's time to accept the reality. All it takes is a playoff berth and 3-4 wins in a row (against varying types and quality of opponents - not necessarily linear) to win a Super Bowl. Nothing about last night changes that. The issues that killed us this week were an elite defense that had been putting up historic levels of performance underperformed massively and Jason Campbell was playing quarterback in an offense that (of the quarterbacks on this team) only Jay Cutler can make look halfway decent. Oh, and they were facing a really really good team while doing these awful things. Calling me delusional is [expletive] laughable. I don't think we're favorites to win anything and I never would've thought that meant much of anything. This is the NFL. All kinds of teams make and win Super Bowls, and it's rarely the best ones. You just need to be good enough to be in the mix. I don't think the baseball "playoffs are a crapshoot" argument really works as well in football. The Bears have some serious flaws that get uncovered whenever they play a good team and those aren't going away. They've played three legitimately good teams this year and gotten absolutely destroyed by two of them. I'd venture to guess teams with bad offensive lines and non-elite QB play don't fare well in the playoff.

I wouldn't necessarily say Bowden was "good" last year. Certainly lucky though.

I was at the Texans game and those comments were already being made in the stands.

Are we ignoring the offense?

Not really. Alabama was basically a better version of that LSU team, and Les Miles is by all accounts a terrible coach.

That's ugly. Shows how clueless the Dolphins are. Meanwhile, the Packers go from Favre to Rodgers, while developing Brunell, Hasslebeck and Flynn as backups.

And I think you have to be looking for reasons not to complain to say there's nothing wrong with paying that much for a completely, utterly fungible, replacement-level player. The extra $1 million will not hold them back from doing anything they want to do in the future. It won't keep them from signing any major league player or an amateur guy. Complaining about this price tag is looking for something to complain about. If you want to complain about the player, fine, but his cost will affect zero moves in the future. It is not your worry. But its a bad move and thats the point. You cant spout off about acquiring assets, utilizing funds better, and making moves for the future when you waste money on a player you dont need. Yeah its only 1.75mil but its moves like this one, resigning reed johnson, baker, etc. They add up to the amount that we could have paid a decent player at a position of need such as third base, pitcher, reliever, etc. If you don't consider Baker a "decent" player, these contracts would have to add up to about $12-15 million to get anything "decent" in free agency these days. There's absolutely no reason to get upset about this move, unless you're Dale Sveum and you're pissed you'll no longer have Clevenger's slump-proof bat.

That was my thought as well. I'm not a big fan of Barney long-term, but he seems like the type you'd want to hold onto with the hope that someone will offer something ridiculous at the trading deadline.

A 23 year old AL pitcher who had good peripherals last season...doesn't sound bad to me He's also a groundball pitcher and the Cubs' infield defense is a strength. His peripherals have been the same his whole career. 4.8-5.5 K/9, doesn't walk people, gives up a metric asston of hits. He was only at 1.2 GB/FB ratio last year, which is above his career average. He's a league average pitcher at best unless a huge light comes on for him. He's Travis Wood redux. Looking at the numbers, he's slowly improving. Plus the fastball velocity jumped up last year. I could see why the Cubs would be interested, but I wonder what it would take to get him, considering he's still young.

The difference is that Hendry would have given him multiple years. Plus Hendry signed these types of guys for more important roles on the team (utility infielder, fourth outfielder, etc.). A backup catcher doesn't play nearly as much.

They probably want a veteran backup for Castillo, and maybe they value Navarro's defense. Having a good relationship with Garza couldn't hurt considering we're going to be looking to trade him.