goonys evil twin

Top 2000?!? Just how do they differentiate between numbers 1100 and 1101, I wonder? It's probably like that Who's Who book, where if you buy the book, they'll put your name in it. Of 2000 guys, there's probably about 1800 slots open for purchase. I definitely remember in high school seeing the emergence of services that would put your name out there for a fee.

Greenberg on ESPN Radio: Grossman had a good game but 1 good game in a month isn't going to get it done. He's also said Grossman has been awful for 2 months now. I'm so sick of this type of talk. Grossman has not had 1 good game in a month. He hasn't been awful for 2 months. He had 2 bad games in a row. He's had 4 legitimately bad games this season, with 7 good-to-great ones and 1 very solid game. The last game in the group is the first Vikings game, when, on the road, he drove the team to a winning TD late after throwing 2 picks. That's not necessarily bad, but it's not good either. It was a break even game in my book. But I'm getting sick of people continuing to ignore the NY trip, when Rex had back-to-back very good and solid games. It's absurd how little attention has been given to that trip, in comparison to the attention that has been paid to his bad games. Most of the time this year, Rex has been very good. Occasionally he's been just solid, and a few times he's sucked. Yes, that is inconsistent, but no, that is not a QB that is killing a team.

Tampa can't run the ball, they can't throw the ball, they can't score, and they turn it over. They also don't stop the run or the pass, or create many turnovers. I want a nice efficient ballgame out of the Bears this weekend, something like a 27-6 victory. Right now they are favored by 13.5.

Hrm.... Does he view him as a player who can play with the offense, or just as a scoring threat on special teams, therefore, like an offensive player. I'd think that would be a nice wrinkle to throw at the opposition with the playoffs coming.

Rowand isn't an FA. Fine, trade for him then. He's on the block according to a lot of reports. Rowand's career numbers against LHers is .289/.351/.494/.845. Its not a bad back-up idea to getting Church. I don't think it would impact the decision to get Floyd in that Rowand is a righty and Hendry feels he needs a lefty bat with power who can give the Cubs some added punch on days against those tough right-handed pitchers. Floyd would make a much better DH than either Ward or Rowand. So, if you got Rowand, Floyd would still be an almost necessary upgrade. But acquiring Ryan Church kills all those birds with one stone. If they use Rowand in a platoon, I am for it, but if they think he's an everday CF, I'd like to steer clear.

Why don't you just stop worrying about labelling other fans as pessimistic, and just take their predictions/assumptions for what they are worth? That is predictions/assumptions of other fans. Normally I agree with you but the title of this thread is optimism v. pessimism, if i didnt care I wouldnt write in the thread. If you dont care then dont comment. Its a discussion about the terms and I put my two cents in. Ok, you make a good point. I was under the impression that this thread came about from a split from another thread where this tired topic took hold. That being said, the whole debate is silly, and telling people they are pessimistic if they feel the current roster is no more than 10 games better than the roster on opening day 2006 is absurd. It's virtually the same roster with Lilly replacing Maddux, Marquis replacing Marshall and Soriano replacing Pierre. The only guaranteed improvement is with Soriano. And 10 games is a lot for any one man to make up.

While this might be true, I think they would have a pretty long leash on Marquis, enough to allow him to do great damage before being replaced. This is for 2 reasons, guys who sign deals like his get more chances than others, and the whole "Larry will fix him" theory is going to take time anyway. If he's putting up a 5.50 ERA, he'll be out there for most starts for a few months as they try and salvage what they can out of him.

Of all the likely scenarios, the most likely is that more than 5 guys will start for the Cubs next year.

I'm going to give this guy the benefit of the doubt and assume he's kidding.

That's absurd. Nobody has a clean sheet. Everybody's past matters. Asking people to not pre-judge a player is asking them to pretend that numbers and statistics don't matter, which is asking them to lie to themselves. If the Cubs signed me to be the SS next year, you would be darn well justified pre-judging me and being pissed that I was the Cubs SS next year. That is because I have not put up the numbers to justify such a role, not because I haven't done so in a Cubs uniform.

I really don't see how this makes any sense at all. There is nobody else bidding for his services, yet, because he hired Boras, they have to pay 12. If they go 5/50, it would be asinine to claim they did this just to stop the Yanks. He's not going to be a free agent for 2 years. He's not losing money. Non free agents with no MLB service time are guaranteed nothing but the major league minimum, if they come to the majors.

Alfonseca is proven

I don't see how anybody could justify claiming the player would be getting punished in this scenario. The fact is he is not a free agent. Any claims that he should get more based on the current free agent pitching market are absolutely without merit. He isn't a free agent. He is owed nothing. He deserves nothing. He needs to come down on his price or go back to Japan making comparitively nothing. Free agents are making lots of money. He is not a free agent. He knew the rules going in. As did Boston when they bid 51 for him. He has choices unlike an arby guy. Yes, and his choice is to make a lot of money in Boston for the next few years or make a lot less in Japan. Arbitration always have the choice of not playing, but that's not a smart choice either.

And what makies Duncan and Mazzone so special as PC? Mazzone lived off of Smoltz, Maddux, and Glavine for atleast 14 yrs. Outside of those three HOFers, Mazzone was pretty much an average pitching coach. And outside of Carpenter, Duncan hasn't done much in St. Lou. He has had more talented pitchers lost then pitchers he help. I mean Smith, Ankiel, Al. Benes, etc, etc. So again...why are Mazzone and Duncan the end all to all pitching coaches? Duncan repeatedly has turned mediocre journeymen into solid pitchers. And Mazzone has been the PC for an enormous number of pitchers' best seasons, including Kevin Millwood, Steve Avery, Kyle Farnsworth, Mark Wohlers, Ligtenberg and a host of other more or less mediocre middle relievers that he got the most out of. Both of their staffs have routinely been better than those of Larry Rothschild.

I've heard plenty of people say similar things. I don't think he's a complete idiot. I think he would be very difficult to have an interesting conversation with. In other words, he's more Eli than Peyton in the personality department. But again, that's more or less inconsequential, as I am only concerned about his play on the field.

I don't see how anybody could justify claiming the player would be getting punished in this scenario. The fact is he is not a free agent. Any claims that he should get more based on the current free agent pitching market are absolutely without merit. He isn't a free agent. He is owed nothing. He deserves nothing. He needs to come down on his price or go back to Japan making comparitively nothing. Free agents are making lots of money. He is not a free agent. He knew the rules going in.

So the Bears have tie-breakers over New Orleans? I didn't think that was the case.

Most of what you feel about Rex seems contrary to what every other person and teamate says about him. You could be right though. I just have a different impression. You are right about one thing though. Bears > Rex. If Rex bombs tonight, then, it's been real brother. His teammates have talked about how talented he is as a QB, and occasionally talk up his leadership ability. But I'm not certain that most of what I feel about him is contrary to every other person. Rex comes across as a dope. Listening to him speak, it's hard to be impressed. But like I said, I don't really care about that. I care about what he does on the field, and with that, I think I'm in aggreement with at least his teammates. I don't need a suave swash buckling GQ QB. I just want him to play the position well. I think his teammates are sick of all the no talent hacks who came before him, and are talking Rex up because of how much more physical talent he has compared to the guys from the past. And, similar to the fans, they want the carousel to end. But if he plays poorly enough to cause Lovie to make a change, I don't think his teammates would have a problem with that.

The best case scenario for the Bears is probably winning the Super Bowl with Brian Griese, and having Orton develop. That is because Griese is signed long-term and has little leverage to negotiate a franchise crippling contract that Rex might be able to get if he were to fix things and play well the rest of the way. I hate the big money deals some teams give their QB's, when those guys get hurt, the team is screwed, because so much of their cap strategy centers around that QB playing great. Even when that QB is healthy, the deal makes it much more difficult to keep the rest of the team at elite status. That being said, at this point I believe the Bears' best chance for success is with Grossman, so stick with him.

I'm nervous in the sense that I want him to shut the local and national media up for at least a week, and am not looking forward to the backpatting that will happen if he craps the bed and Griese comes in. I'm actually more concerned about the defense than Rex. I'm nervous for Rex only because I want him, specifically, to succeed. Generally, in football I don't pull for a specific Bear player to succeed -- but Rex is different. I like him, and I like his make-up. I think if he can get over this hump, we'll have a real by-God Quarterback we can count on. That's pretty much how I feel. I also heart sexy Rexy. My concern for Rex and hope for his success is only related to how it affects the team. If he bombs, I'd have no problem discarding him to the side. There's nothing about his makup, personality or anything else that makes him anymore intriguing than any other QB. In fact, I've always thought he's a little too Forrest Gump to be much of a leader. I believe any so-called self confidence comes across as forced at best. But I don't care about any of that, I only care about what he does on the field. He's done enough on the field to prove he's got the ability to do what no other Bears QB has done in the modern era, but he's also done enough to prove he's got a lot to prove. So, if he does well, I'll like that he's a good Bears QB, if he does poorly, I'd like to see somebody better brought in. He has more upside than most, and he is the current starter, so I'd prefer he does well.

If you can't get a really good stick, Cedeno should have this job. AAA will do him no good, and the typical cheap backup MI won't be any better.

That doesn't make any sense. There's no reasonable way to come to the conclusion that they are ten games better than last year's team, if you can't also come to a very specific assessment of what the 2006 was really capable of. What if I said last year's team should have won 85 games, but this team is only 5 games better, so they'll win 90. Under your rules, that's pessimism. Why don't you just stop worrying about labelling other fans as pessimistic, and just take their predictions/assumptions for what they are worth? That is predictions/assumptions of other fans. The Cubs suck and they have sucked for a very long time. To call fans of that team pessimistic because they aren't assuming a great turnaround is unfair and unjustified. If you think they are 10 wins better, good for you. But it's an arbitrary number and an arbitrary definition of pessimism and optimism.

*cough* craig wilson*cough* Considering how unlikely it is that Soriano is going to play CF, I don't see it happening. Piniella has more or less ruled out Soriano in center. So any Jones platoon partner will likely have to be a RH capable of playing CF. I say Jason Michaels fits the bill.

It was quite informal, as he was wearing jeans and a t-shirt and spoke in slang. In all honesty, I think this is a matter of semantics. I'm guessing a formal trade request involves a written letter from the player and the agent with lawyers involved (so as to avoid any possible breach of contract). I remain convinced that Jones let Hendry know he wants out, and Hendry let Jones know he was willing to try to oblige, if he just remained quiet on the matter. Nothing formal need be involved.

I believe the original discussion was with Floyd replacing Murton. And no, I haven't talked myself into Marquis. I still would not have done what they did. I am completely against a 3/30 deal for Floyd. But one year at $2-3m is a no-brainer to me, and one year with the potential for $4-5m is certainly worth consideration. Plus, it looks like the Cubs are willing to spend a lot more than I thought they were going to when the idea was first brought up.