BigSlick

Jesus, if Donte Stallworth can get 30 million on the free agent market, I can really understand why the Bears have no interest in overpaying for some players. Thats absurd, even given teh year he had.

Adam Everett is widely regarded as an amazing defensive SS. He got 688 chances last year in just under 1300 innings, about 4.7 chances per 9 innings. Or in other words, a little more than the number of plate appearances he'll receive. Now, consider that a very substantial number of those defensive chances are plays that anyone who's played high school baseball can and will make(pop-ups, sunday hops, easy force out throws, etc.), never mind a major league caliber defender. The sheer amount of chances that a defender gets to add value aren't near the amount of chances he gets at the plate. And even then, that ignores that defense is a 9 man affair, where you can bobble a ball and still flip to the guy at second for a forceout, or lose a ball in the lights/sun but the center fielder/second baseman comes in and grabs it. Offense has more of an impact than defense. There is no doubt of that, but defense can still add value. Plenty, actually. The thing is the ceilings we are talking about, and diminishing returns. The worst defender in the league can't really do that much damage. The best defender in the league...doesn't add that much value. Now the worst bat in the league can do plenty of damage, (and we may be talking about Izturis here if he puts up another .225/.275/.300 year) You get an average fielder and compare him with a fantastic fielder, there is improvement there, but it just isn't worth nearly as much as an average hitter compared to a fantastic hitter.

And whats stopping you? Fred McGriff?

Would Izturis (last year of contract), Cedeno (or Theriot), Jacque (to get rid of some salary), Guzman, and get it done for Tejada? :shock: :shock: :shock: Soriano Tejada Lee Ramirez Floyd/Pie Barrett Murton DeRosa Thats an awful trade. You're giving up 2 middling level middle infielders, a mediocre outfielder, a middling pitching prospect and another pitching prospect for a bona-fide star? What? How did that make sense in your head?

Don't worry, Angelo will have won come playoff time next season (and I agree with the rest of your post). Theres also the chance that Angelo can improve the team and it still fails to do better in the postseason. This has happened often in the past, and considering our schedule, its very likely.

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhhh Theres a poll on ESPN: "Are the Bears dismantling or building their NFC Championship team?" 80% said yes, 20% no. (At least the last I saw, I can't imagine its changed much) Jerry Angelo is in a lose-lose situation. There is no way he can come out of this looking good. (At least to the apparently incredibly ignorant public) Lets go over the 'losses' so far: Ron Rivera, Thomas Jones....Cameron Worrell? Ian Scott (Maybe?!) Ron Rivera is almost not like a loss at all. I don't think anyone really doubts that Bob Babich can come in and do just as well of a job. Apparently there was some personal tension between Lovie Smith and Ron. You know who wins that battle, the head coach. And yet, we still didn't fire him, we just failed to renew a contract that had ended. Unbelievable. If he was such a highly prized commodity why didn't he win at least a defensive coordinator spot? Thomas Jones? A back who is already 28, and blocking the 4th overall pick? How many times has this happened in history, and how many times have teams been praised for settling a situation similar to it? By all stats, (DVOA, ypc, total yardage, catching, ) he never really was any better than an average back. The bizarre thing is how much love this guy gets the second he leaves. Where was all this praise during the season? All I heard were fans and journalists cursing his dancing and cut-backs in the backfield. ARGH. I also think that ESPN is somehow implying the Lance Briggs situation is the Bears' front office's fault. They are trying their best to keep him at least one more year and they are trying to dismantle the team? They could have very easily just let him go to free agency, BUT THEY ARE TRYING TO KEEP HIM AND THAT IS WHAT IS STARTING ALL THE CONTROVERSY! ARGH At the moment the Bears are primed to keep 21 of 22 starters from the 2006 team. Thats unbelievable.

Huh? Vazquez went 11-12 last year with the same offense Garland had. Wins aren't everything but this guy is a 9 year veteran with a career 100-105 record. I think some conclusions can be drawn from that information. Don't get me wrong, wins can be misleading. I noticed, during the ST game with the Sox, that Garland had a .294 BAA last year. He wasn't fooling anyone yet he managed to pick up wins. Aaaaaaaaarrrrrrrgggggggggghhhhhhhh Just because you are on the same team doesn't mean you get the same run support. Logic would dictate that you do, but that is hardly ever the case. Because of the streaky nature of hitting and how random it is, many times there is a run support differential between pitchers.

Whats that now? EDIT: I will say this, why is Don Cooper so greatly rewarded for his pitching staff of 2005, but not admonished for how badly they pitched in 2006?

Not only are you in the mix, but you can inexplicably throw out 11 more wins in the playoffs and win it all! It's f'in great! yay luck Your team may have the best case for worst WS winning team of all time. And yet I'd kill to have that honor.

Yeah, and he never made it to a starting job in the Majors. Or bench really. Appears to be one of those guys that never quite made it and bounces around helping Minor League Clubs.

I'm pretty much with this. I'll take Olsen, but after that I wouldn't waste a decently high pick on anyone. Maybe we can pick someone up that was undrafted thats just as good as Gabe Reid. That shouldn't be too difficult. I think this would require a change in philosophy. Clark's weakness comes from poor blocking for the most part, poor route running and poor YAC and often poor hands. The tight end in the sytem acts like a safety valve and YAC ability and route running are the most important. I think the "burner" tight ends are overrated and will be drafted high, too high to get enough value out of these types in the Bears offense to justify a higher pick. Not to argue with you Kaiser, we have done that enough, but actually Clark is regarded as one of the best blocking tight ends in the NFL. I think the whole burner thing is just to have another viable weapon on offense, which is what they need. I think you could have both Clark and Olsen on the field and would create alot of matchup problems. I would be annoyed if they drafted another WR, you dont need a high round runningback, plus you dont get much more useless than john gilmore and gabe reid. You would be annoyed if they picked another WR? We have an aging Moose (who has been actually dissapointing to his contract, not that I expected anything different, he was a need-based sign), a fairly one-dimensional Berrian, a constantly injured Mark Bradley that seems to be more prospect than reality, and Rashied Davis...who's merely O.K. If we drafted someone like Anthony Gonzalez I wouldn't complain. Great route runner, great attitude, great hands.

I'm pretty much with this. I'll take Olsen, but after that I wouldn't waste a decently high pick on anyone. Maybe we can pick someone up that was undrafted thats just as good as Gabe Reid. That shouldn't be too difficult.

Prove it! How is Benson a step up from Jones? Success rates were similar last year, but Benson had higher DVOA. I also think Benson is in the "improving" category while Jones' production may be stagnant or declining. http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/rb.php Football sabermetrics for the win! Benson had a higher DVOA then these running backs as well: Larry Johnson, Tiki Barber, Steven Jackson, and Frank Gore. You think Kansas City will trade LJ for Ced Benson. Maybe we can get a pick from them also? DVOA only tells part of the story, albeit a compelling one. BTW I Love them both, and im excited for Benson to get 260 plus carries. Way to miss the entire point. Albert Pujols is slightly better than Derrek Lee, should we trade for Albert Pujols immediately? Just because someone is marginally better than someone else doesn't mean they need to be replaced immediately. All KaiserCesar was saying was that the loss of Thomas Jones wasn't a big deal because Benson is more than capable of playing just as well, if not better. Benson certainly didn't get as many carries as those other backs, so he might be suffering from "low sample size syndrome" Another recent sufferer is Matt Murton from 2005.

The part about Dominicans and what they do to their children is horrifying. thats awful.

Prove it! How is Benson a step up from Jones? Success rates were similar last year, but Benson had higher DVOA. I also think Benson is in the "improving" category while Jones' production may be stagnant or declining. http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/rb.php Football sabermetrics for the win!

Agreed, lets all tip our cap to him. He's been a huge part of our club the last 3 years, and by far the offensive MVP over that period of time. (Well, excluding Brad Maynard) Still, its time for him to go. Benson has got the shot he's waited for, lets see him deliver. (I'm hoping for a 1500+ yard season out of him)

Originally my friend said we got a 2nd rounder for him, and I was fairly pleased...but learning that we basically just moved up in the draft I'm kinda dissapointed. Maybe they are targetting someone early round for this. At least it makes me know when to turn on the draft for the Bears- Right between 31 and 37 :lol: After that I can turn off the draft and wait till the end of the 3rd round.

Thompson misses out on another RB...now there's rumors that we're talking to Detroit for Tatum Bell. Ugh. Supposedly we asked if the Bears were trading Thomas Jones, but he's reportedly "off-limits." Of course, that's probably only because Angelo doesn't want to trade him to a team within the division. And it looks like the Patriots are interested in the Moss bidding now as well. Ted needs to get off his ass and start making some moves. Heck, I'd love to see Thomas Jones on the Packers. With his stuttering step and constant looking for cut-backs, the Bears speedy defense would eat him up for dinner.

Whoever gets Paul Poszlusny is going to be really really dissapointed. I really feel like the knee injury will haunt him for the rest of his career. He was a heck of a ballplayer in college, but considering the move to the middle and how they coddled him this year and tried to hide him, I really don't think he's the same player. I know the Penn State fellas will come and defend him, but as a Bears fan first, I'd stay away from him. (Don't take offense to what I said about Poszlusny, but I'm really fearful of his bust factor. We need an impact player and a safe player with the first pick)

Matt Murton -Greek God of Awesomeness and even more Awesome

It wasn't an analysis-it was just an informal poll of people in baseball-that was just how they ranked them. BATTING AVERAGE BATTING AVERAGE

As flattering as that article is for a Cubs fan, I don't think I saw one statistic (other than total runs) that told me...well anything. Batting average, RBIs, batting average, steals steals team speed team speed fielding percentage fielding percentage STEALS STEAL STEALS STEALS What the crap? This doesn't tell me anything.

If Ozzie Guillen actually gives Darin Erstad 400 at bats, he really will have his job in jeopardy.

Oh My god, I'm rolling on the floor over the Marquis picture. Does he try to look goofy? :lol:

What the hell? That was way out of line. Consider this a warning. The next time you say anything like that, you've got a temporary ban. My bad. I wasn't being serious.