apete6

Wow, that could be the worst possible lineup that we could use unless we just picked out of a hat. Apparently OBP doesn't matter. D-Lee better get used to batting with 2 out and nobody on. At least Lou will not hesitate to tinker with this, but if we're 3 games back 3 games into the season, I'm not going to be a happy camper.

NO. Why would you want Lieber/Demp/Marquis taking starts away from Zambrano or Lilly? Let the odd man out throw simulated games every 5 days or something if you don't end up actually using them in the games.

So...Fukudome comes to the Cubs because we were the only ones to guarantee him that he could play RF and we are going to play him in CF? Something tells me that this isn't going over too well in the Fukudome camp behind the scenes. Not that it should matter, the guy should do whatever the manager wants (like Sosa batting lower in the order, Soriano moving in the order and playing CF, etc...), but hopefully this doesn't create an "issue" between Fuku and Lou-san.

Dusty, is that you? "Gotta go with the experience, dude"

Good god, I couldn't care any less about ACC basketball, but this UNC vs. Clemson game couldn't be more entertaining. Granted, watching it on mute is much better because of Patrick & Vitale, but entertaining nonetheless

Actually, no it wasn't. I listen to them on a decent basis, and they were actually being pretty serious. Bad.

Last week, Terry Boers and Matt Abbatacola were talking about this and this exact quote was uttered: "Hey Giants, bring Tim Lincecum to the table and then we'll talk." :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: I honestly don't know how people have jobs in sports/sports radio.

we shouldn't laugh too hard; they got Rocky Cherry and Scott Moore from us for the great Steve Trashsel. True, but I think Hart will have twice the career of either of those guys. Although they will probably be laughing when Sean Gallagher is winning a Cy Young for them in about 5 years....or not.

You think the Orioles would like Hart back instead of Freddie Bynum? Good god, there's a reason they suck every year now.

either Corey or the Cubs couldn't decide what kind of hitter he was. he was probably Kenny Lofton but he thought he was Ken Griffey Jr. Fixed....but, ya, Dusty did pretty much ruin his career by batting him 1st.

Wouldn't we only have a 5 man bench to start the season? If there are no trades, I would imagine it looks something like this. Ward Blanco Cedeno Fontenot Murton If there are trades, this could all change. Or if Hendry is expecting a trade (of Cedeno, most likely), he might keep Cintron around so he doesn't sign with another team and send Fontenot to AAA.

DePaul puts forth a very DePaulian effort in a 98 :shock: to 79 LOSS to Pitt, eliminating them from the Big East tourney picture and their season is over. Good riddance Wes Green, Karron Clarke & Cliff Clinkscales. Bye to Draelon Burns, the only senior that is worth a damn. Hopefully Dar Tucker and Mac Koshwal stay to help rebuild this program and also hope that Jerry Wainwright is sleeping with the fishes in Lake Michigan soon.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/7883848/Cautious-optimism-is-best-when-discussing-Wood

Providence can go to hell! They are going to keep DePaul out of the Big East tourney. Not that it should have come to this in the first place, but still, they beat UCONN twice, really? Here's the BE tiebreaking scenario for any DePaul or Providence fan that cares: Providence wins vs. Villanova and they are in Providence loses and DePaul beats Pitt, DePaul is in (no tiebreaker needed) Providence, St. John's, and DePaul all lose, Providence is in via tiebreaker over DePaul St. Johns wins, Providence and DePaul lose, DePaul is in via 3-way tiebreaker

SOMEONE PLEASE EFFIN MOVE THIS TO SOCIAL OR JUST LOCK IT NOW THANKS

Campusano and Lahey doing their best Felix Heredia and Mel Rojas impressions I see.

He pitched a 1-2-3 inning today with 2Ks. The rumors of his demise have been greatly exaggerated. I'm hoping Howry can have a good season and the Cubs can let him ride off into the sunset of an overpaid contract w/the Yankees and Wuertz can take his place in 2009.

It is highly likely he'll make this team I think I want to pass on all of your inside information from now on. Please just lie to us to make us feel better about things. Thanks! :D :D you realize that if cedeno goes for BRob...then cintron will be severely needed right? Right now, that's a big if. True, but even if he doesn't, it's down to Cintron/Fontenot/Fuld for the last spot on the team. They already said that only one of Pie/Fuld will likely make the roster, so it's down to Cintron or Fontenot. Cintron probably takes it because of his flexibility. \ I am pretty much resigned to the fact that the Roberts thing won't happen. I would rather have Fontenot on the roster. He would seem to have more pop in his bat for PH appearances than Cintron. If you need a SS on the roster (w/Roberts), Cintron would be fine, but if Cedeno is already around, I would rather have Fontenot...or even someone else who can play CF decently.

It is highly likely he'll make this team I think I want to pass on all of your inside information from now on. Please just lie to us to make us feel better about things. Thanks! :D :D

Cintron having a pretty good Spring. Something tells me that he has a very good chance of making this team. :x

He's mostly played 1B in his career, and is viewed as a *very* good defensive 1B. But he has played some OF and my understanding is that while inexperienced, that he looks pretty natural out there. Not sure about his RF arm. But I think he could sell as a 1B/corner OF utility guy. You guys think a guy like Hoffpauir is bitter that he's not in a crap organization like the Pirates or Giants where he would actually have a chance to play meaningful time at a younger age?

I couldn't disagree more. You can't take deep routes out of the play book and turn Grossman into and dinker and dunker. Grossman's biggest strength is the 15-20 yard pass. And he needs to throw the occasional deep ball as well. What they need is to do a better job blocking. I think the problem is the Bears idea of a passing game was often either throw a bomb or dump it off. They need to work on that intermediate game, but keep the deep game as a threat as well. Agreed on part. Like you say, Rex is actually a very good deep passer. He hit Berrian in stride several times over the past few years. He has a strong arm and knows when to air it out. However, I think the 15-20 yard pass is where a lot of his INTs come. He has the arm strength to make the pass and when he is in rhythm, he is very good at hitting the open guy. But when he has to change off of his primary receiver on those medium-distance throws, he is putrid. Generally you can get away with gambling on a very deep throw and flat passes are usually not too much trouble (save the Dolphins game 2 years ago), but that 15-20 yard area is a busy place to throw and Rex can get eaten up back there. I would say that they should go deep to Hester/Bradley a lot, run a lot of screens to the backs, short to the TEs, and occasionally the deep outs/reverse posts to the TE/WR. The deep ins/posts will only work if his primary guy is open, and that scares me.

I think you'll see some 2 TE sets, but more than that, you'll see a lot of Olsen in the slot and working the middle because he can get off the line well and has solid speed. Plus, he's not much of a blocker from what I've seen/heard so having him on the end of the line isn't a real big benefit. This is more along the lines of what I was thinking. So, essentially they will use Olsen as the 2nd WR and maybe run a "heavy" or "overload" formation to 1 side with Clark, Olsen, and the WR. They can still have 2 backs in the game and really vary who goes into the flat (Clark, FB, or RB). Now let's just hope Turner can come up with some creative plays out of this package. Maybe a weakside screen to Wolfe or a strongside screen to WR (Hester). Maybe a fly route to Olsen while they are expecting Hester to be the one going long. Or let Olsen & Hester both go deep and have Clark fill in the sideline on an out/reverse post.

Do you guys think Turner will actually utilize the 2 TE set a lot this year? It almost seems like he has to considering that at the time, his 2 best pass catchers will be Olsen and Clark. The main questions are: Can Benson/Peterson/Mendenhall handle being in a 1 back set? Will Hester or Bradley be able to be useful in a 1 WR set?

I actually had more or less the same problem, if anyone's interested. It took a few weeks to get this screen-name activated after a few other unsuccessful attempts, not that it really matters. Anyway that gave me an excuse follow in the footsteps of the many brave souls who made their first post in this absolutely epic thread. As for the actual subject matter of this thread (if it can even be said to have a "subject" in the normal sense of the word), I have my doubts. It's been suggested that adding Roberts helps the bench by moving DeRosa too it, but I'm not convinced. The bench w/o Roberts (assuming no other trades) looks like this along w/ the roles each player backs-up: Murton (LF & RF) Ward (1B & RF in a pinch) Fuld (OF) Cedeno (SS, 2B) Blanco © w/ DeRosa @ 3B, RF, LF, and SS when needed. W/ Roberts it looks like this (I'm assuming Payton comes over, and Cedeno is gone) Payton (OF) Ward (1B & RF) DeRosa (IF, LF, and RF) Cintron (SS, since DeRosa really can't) Blanco © If they don't get stuck with Payton, they still have to carry Fuld over Murton or they have no CF back-up for Pie. The latter bench has less Right-handed pinch hitting potential as far as I can tell (I prefer Murton to DeRosa and Payton, whom we might not get anyway), and a lesser back-up at Short (I'll take Cedeno over Cintron). And even without Roberts, DeRosa can still function asa super-sub. Also in the latter case Murton simply doesn't have a job, though he may end up elsewhere regardless. Of course, If he is traded, I suppose I have no case, but still. That said I still think Roberts is enough of an upgrade to make it worth it, but I really don't think it helps the bench at all, at least not without some other trades (like a SS who can move Theriot to the bench... if only...) I think the Cubs are hoping to God that Cedeno is serviceable as a CF so they can let Fuld/Pie play full time at AAA to get at bats and build trade value. If not, wtf are they going to do, keep Fuld AND Pie on the big league roster and option Murton?