BigSlick

I think I've found my new Facebook profile picture.

The irony here is that he'd still probably get a Super Bowl ring.

The only problem with that is we take a pay cut whether or not he plays, so although he wont be paid his 7 million, it WILL be deducted from the salary cap.

Let me say that I think the Illini are going to lose in the first round. :cry: i think it's more than a winnable game for them. with the defense that the illini play, VT is not unbeatable. however, with the offense that they play, it's not super-likely that they'll make it out of the first round. The Illini are so poor offensively its hard to pencil them in for a win even against another 12 seed. They...just...can't score well enough. Its very painful watching this team while I rooted for the powerhouse, juggernaut that was the 2005 Illini.

Monday, for one reason: Heroes.

God some of you just don't get it. I'm not one to name a starting pitcher's role. The simple fact (FACT, NOT OPINION) is that every single starter in baseball has the same damn job. What difference is there between an "ace" and a "5th starter" when it comes to baseball? Are the Cubs spotted a run when their ace goes? No, they have the same job. Naming them means absolutely nothing and is a waste of time. When I say dominance, I don't mean going out there and pitching like an "ace." K:BB dominance is no more than being the best pitcher you can be. There's maybe one or two other factors, but K:BB is one of the most important if not the most important thing when evaluating how good a pitcher is. Quite frankly, Marquis is not very good at it, never has been and never will be. The ability to strikeout guys without walking them is by far the most important skill a pitcher can possess. It has nothing to do with his "role" it has everything to do with his job - getting people out. Capable to living up to his contract? Come on, let's not be naive, I'm not looking at his contract and saying he sucks. I'm looking at him and saying he sucks. It doesn't make a difference if he's making seven million or 1/7th of a million. At the end of the day he's the same pitchers so I am going to evaluate his pitching looking at that, not the number of zeroes on his paycheck. Does it really make a difference? For the love of God it's nine innings. We all saw what Ryan O'Malley could do for about the same time. :lol:

Let me say that I think the Illini are going to lose in the first round. :cry:

Bizarro Izturis batted 1-1 with 2 walks today. Why is he taking pitches? I have no idea what is going on. If Bizarro Izturis lasts throughout the regular season, we'd have the best 8 hitter ever. (He wont, and we wont)

Why do we care if they are unhappy? The more talented players should play. Which means for the moment Pie should sit.

That's all that's guaranteed. Link. this is why the pats are always there. what a great deal for them. Based on their offseason, the Patriots right now are my early pick to win the SuperBowl in 2008. Its still early yet, I'd wait until at least the draft to make a pick like that. And the Pats have 2 first round picks :oops: You can definitely pencil in another AFC East title. That would make, what, 5 in a row now?

They could still theoretically get to 50 wins, they only need to go 13-4 in their final games. As impressive a stretch that would be, its not undoable, considering how well the Bulls, for the most part, have played since the All-Star break. Gotta get that 3 seed. Playing in the first round without homecourt advantage can't happen.

You're right. He's a crappy baseball player who happens to be in the Major Leagues (much like Neifi Perez, Rey Rnez, and many others before them). And there's a reason why those men are playing "slow pitch" softball. Fixed. Well the arguement was he wouldn't belong in a line-up of a "slow pitch softball team". However I beleive none of those "slow pitch softball" players, could even break .050 in the majors. So I beg to differ. 8-) If that. Most of them probably couldn't make contact in 10 at bats. One of my friends said he could get a hit off of a major league quality pitcher if given enough pitches (he played 2 years of Baseball in highschool), but I even doubt that. Or maybe not. Perhaps I've giving too much credit to Major League players? I bet around pitch 180 I could start getting some contact. Someone get carpenter ready, he's gonna throw until I hit something But seriously, I assume that pitchers represent the best that someone who is a decent athlete but not gifted in hitting could do against ML pitching. They're not selected for their ability to hit but they get a lot of practice (compared to a regular person) at it. I don't think it's unreasonable to claim that a lot of people could hit .100 if they practiced for years. Pitch 180 is where you start making contact? What if they start mixing in curveballs and change ups? (Assuming this is some hypothetical pitcher that isn't suject to fatigue) Then you can't just sit and time your swing for a fastball. Honestly people really don't understand how daunting a task of getting a hit in the majors is. EDIT: Yeah, someone said that above. A lot of these hitters put up absurd numbers in High School, like batting .700 and stuff. Could you imagine someone like Albert Pujols against High School or even College pitchers?

You're right. He's a crappy baseball player who happens to be in the Major Leagues (much like Neifi Perez, Rey Rnez, and many others before them). And there's a reason why those men are playing "slow pitch" softball. Fixed. Well the arguement was he wouldn't belong in a line-up of a "slow pitch softball team". However I beleive none of those "slow pitch softball" players, could even break .050 in the majors. So I beg to differ. 8-) If that. Most of them probably couldn't make contact in 10 at bats. One of my friends said he could get a hit off of a major league quality pitcher if given enough pitches (he played 2 years of Baseball in highschool), but I even doubt that. Or maybe not. Perhaps I've giving too much credit to Major League players?

I'm going to be the first one to say that Anorexic-Wood scares me a little.

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.