goonys evil twin

That's reasonable. I said throughout the whole will they or won't they situation with Floyd that it could turn out to be best for the team. The problem I'd have with a straight platoon is how few ABs Murton will get, and how much more likely it will be for Floyd to get hurt if he plays that often. I'd much rather go 50/50, or 70/30 in Murton's favor, than give Floyd almost every AB against RHP. And as you point out, they are still handicapped by having Jones in there against any LHP. They'd be much better off with a guy like Michaels as their 5th OF.

It would be harder for both teams. Signing bonuses are spread throughout the life of a contract. You take a cap hit whenever you trade or cut a player in the middle of a deal in which he received a large signing bonus (guaranteed money). The Bears and Eagles are typically two of the most healthy teams in terms of cap space. This could mean two things, 1) they could pull it off, 2) they aren't the type of teams that would pull it off.

Any relation to the golfer? That was a brain fart, his name is Jevan Snead. http://img.coxnewsweb.com/B/04/16/05/image_4705164.jpg Kind of looks like a female golfer from the 70's.

Any relation to the golfer?

If you're going to leave Izturis in the lineup, you might as well shift A-Rod to second and leave Izturis at his best defensive value at short-I would think trading for A-Rod would be to get Izturis out of the lineup. Yeah, one of the not so small benefits of ARod would be the complete removal of Izturis from the lineup.

I would say he was mostly healthy prior to the past 2 seasons, but he only played in 10 games in 2002 and broke an ankle. And any QB who relies so heavily on his legs is going to get hurt. So he's missed big chunks of 3 of the past 5 seasons with various lower body injuries, and is now 30. The cap hit to Philly puts a huge strain on any possible deal.

I'm not predicting that's what will happen, but I think 4-5 year windows for the great teams is the norm these days. They usually end up mixing in a 8-8 or sub .500 season after 4-5 good years. Indy could break the trend of course, especially with the greatest QB of this generation at the helm.

That was because they were willing to live through Rex's first full season. It really didn't make any sense to go with Griese this summer. But if Grossman fails to show improvement this offseason, then I think they would be much more willing to make the change.

I'd rather win. Me too. Just win bay-bay. Obviously I'd rather win. And if not playing Murton somehow increased their chances of winning, then I'd be all for it. I just don't see the correlation. And I am not certain that there is a correlation between Murton and winning. I like Murton more than I like Floyd and would prefer he get the lion's share of ABs, but I am not certain he holds the key to the season. No one player holds the key to the season. People always like to come up with their "this has to happen" scenario for winning and losing, but it's never up to one guy. But Murton is pretty good and could be very good. Plus, he provides something that most other Cubs hitters can't.

I'd rather win. Me too. Just win bay-bay. Obviously I'd rather win. And if not playing Murton somehow increased their chances of winning, then I'd be all for it. I just don't see the correlation.

He hardly ever gets a chance to do anything? That's blatant homeristic nonsense. Eli has had plenty of chances, and he's blown nearly all of them.

I think it's the one thing that could make this team fall apart next year and miss the playoffs. A banged up and/or ineffective offensive line could lead to some horrible losses against teams they should otherwise beat.

That's all well and good, and fine and dandy. Not to mention probably true. But the fact that we're 5 years into the Hendry regime and considering ourselves a possibility to contend due largely to a crap league is extremely frustrating to me. From where this team stood at the end of the 90's, the Cubs should have become near locks to win 90 games each season by now. I'm so pissed at how flagrantly Hendry pissed away that opportunity. And I don't buy for a minute that it was mostly due to luck and health. It's about his philosophies. Until and unless Hendry puts together something like back to back 90+ win playoff teams, I will carry a heavy dose of skepticism about his roster.

Prior in 2005 had an ERA+ of 116. In 2004, it was 113. So with the exception of last season (ERA+ 64), Prior is at least 13% above the average pitcher. What was his ERA+ after he came back from the elbow injury? Don't know, but he was quite good, and well above average.

The AFC section of that will defintely be the toughest part. We'll have to wait for the offseason to play itself out to see how tough the NFC will be. I think the Cowboys game could be really interesting depending on what Rivera does. The Chargers part is tough, akin to going to New England, but I'm not sure Broncos, Chiefs, Raiders is going to pose any more of a threat than Jets, Dolphins, Bills. Broncos might be tough. Cutler is going to be bad to the bone when he gets more experience and confidence. Be nice if the Bears had him instead of Rexy. I think they'll be tough, but no more than most NFL teams. That's a strange team in salary cap mediocrity hell. They don't really do anything all that well. I'd be much more afraid of a team that was great at something (ie. Ravens, Patriots - defense; Colts, Saints, Chargers - offense). I think Miami was similar to Denver in the yards allowed vs yards gained and points scored vs points allowed departments. Middle of the pack. The truly crap teams the Bears played this year were what, Detroit and maybe Arizona? Replace Zona with the Raiders next year, and we have similar "cakewalks". Replace road games at the Giants, Jets, Patriots and Rams with Eagles, Seahawks, Chargers and Redskins. I think we're talking relatively comparable teams here. Sure, it's going to be a little tougher, but they are still playing the NFC North 6 times, and playing a few teams that left the playoffs in disappointing fashion.

A somewhat healthy Floyd really won't help all that much, because that would just be replacing Murton and not all that special. A very healthy Floyd could help a lot, but again, if that just puts Murton on the bench, it doesn't help a lot. But Lou said he's got Jones penciled in as his 5th hitter already.

The AFC section of that will defintely be the toughest part. We'll have to wait for the offseason to play itself out to see how tough the NFC will be. I think the Cowboys game could be really interesting depending on what Rivera does. The Chargers part is tough, akin to going to New England, but I'm not sure Broncos, Chiefs, Raiders is going to pose any more of a threat than Jets, Dolphins, Bills.

Saying he still had a 97 ops+ makes it sound like that is a good thing. Well considering that a 97 OPS+ tied him for 9th out of 30 in terms of all starting MLB second basemen, I'd say it sort of is a good thing. Would you like to reconsider your sarcastic response? How was it sarcastic, Truffle? There was zero irony to what I was saying. Also, no, I would not like to reconsider it. A 97 ops + is above average for a second basemen, but it is not a huge strength to their team. Since he will likely improve this year, it will be, but that wasn't what I was pointing out. I don't think he was calling it a huge strength to their team, more like a decent enough option to hold down the position without killing them offensively.

Not that much better actually. Giants are only averaging 15yds per game more than the Bears. 4.7 YPA, good enough for top 6 in the league, compared to 3.8 YPA, which is bottom 3rd of the league. It's a significant difference. Bottom line is that Grossman is getting extra criticism for losing a game that Eli couldn't even sniff. He'd have been better off if the Bears missed the playoffs.

Not a fair assessment because Giants fans hate everybody on their team. Typical New York sports fans. Everybody on that team hates everyone else on the team. That's just a messed up franchise. They desperately need a new Head Coach. That's not true. NY fans worship at the alter of good players and good teams. Eli just isn't that good. He's got all the bad aspects of Rex without the success of making it to the Super Bowl to soften the blow. He's clearly had better weapons at his disposal but hasn't done anymore with them than Rex has done with the Bears minimal options. I dunno, he was basically stuck with only one WR for half the season after Toomer got DL'd, and I'd much rather have someone like Berrian than Plaxico, who's just an ass who quits on his routes. But no doubt, he's definitely got the best, or one of the best TE's in the game today. And a much better running game.

I don't get why you'd think that. I think this team is in a better position to sustain success than any super bowl loser in several years. Maybe they won't make it back for a long time, but they've got as good a chance as anybody in the NFC for the time being.

Not a fair assessment because Giants fans hate everybody on their team. Typical New York sports fans. Everybody on that team hates everyone else on the team. That's just a messed up franchise. They desperately need a new Head Coach. That's not true. NY fans worship at the alter of good players and good teams. Eli just isn't that good. He's got all the bad aspects of Rex without the success of making it to the Super Bowl to soften the blow. He's clearly had better weapons at his disposal but hasn't done anymore with them than Rex has done with the Bears minimal options.

I have no problem with a Grossman/Griese competition in camp next year. I can't imagine any Bear fans would. Basically there should be competition at every position no matter what. Why not? Your stars should be able to win their jobs easily, and any marginal players need the motivation to get better. I think Grossman should get the upper hand, but there should be some level of competition for the job. I like how the coaching staff stuck with Rex this entire year. That was probably essential for his development. But now it's time for that development to turn into results.

he seemed to be in position, alot better then before What happened with the early wide open TD? I forget who was in coverage.

My opinion is that not losing 90 games took priority over trying to win a World Series. Maybe it's a subtle difference, but it's an issue I have with this management group's philosophy. The whole contend within the division thing, coupled with all the talk of not having a repeat of 2006, makes me question their determination to actually be a great team.