CubColtPacer

I don't mean to steal your thunder, but I'll convene with you, if you want. Not that I don't trust you, just that any discussion of Colts drafting is of great interest to me. I would love to have another person to discuss with. You're not stealing my thunder at all.

I don't understand the point of the trade either. Padilla isn't that much of a better bet in the rotation than Marquis. Most of the Cubs money in 2008 has already been spent, so the savings for this year won't help very much. There is a serious budget crunch in 09, and this trade would only make that worse. Plus, Dempster could have some positive value in a trade or as a reliever (it's small but it's there), and Cotts is at least depth that can be stashed away in AAA. Basically the only positive from this trade is 40 man space. I'd much rather have the extra money to spend in 09 than this year though especially when you see how many of the Cubs contracts escalate next year.

We're not exactly fielding the same team as last season. Pie will finally be given the chance to start everyday..he's a question mark on his production. Soto is the same way. Will the pitching be once again one of the best staffs in the National League, and if not, which pitcher is going to cause that? There are a lot of people on the Cubs roster that are currently slated to start that have potential for great upside, but also potential for great downside. By the deadline we'd have a better idea which ones became good everyday players and which ones need to be replaced.

I could be in a war room for the Colts. I don't know the prospects well, but I know what things the Colts are looking for. If I have to, I can also be the first person for this thing. I did research the prospects last year to make the picks. It just gets harder to research when it hits the third round.

To say up front, Sanders should not have done what he did whatsoever when he drew the taunting flag in the second quarter. It was an easy flag. I was glad to read this though: http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080114/SPORTS03/801140377&theme=

Or maybe we could get Marquis' contract off the books? Just a question here and its probably been talked about and thought of way before I did. But would Marquis be a decent middle innings guy? He's durable, throws hard and is an innings eater. Just thinking out loud!!! Any way to lessen Marquis innings would be a good thing, however Marquis isnt known to be a real accomadating guy. When things arent the way he wants them, he is usually pretty vocal about it, so I highly doubt he'd accept a bullpen role quietly. He does work for the Cubs, though, so if the Cubs say he's a middle reliever then he's a middle reliever. Let him pout and sulk all he wants. The more he pouts though the more he throws his fastball and his fastball only. He can't control his fastball on a regular basis though, so he'll walk more people and give up lots more runs if he doesn't mix up pitches. So in a desperate situation I'd make Marquis a middle reliever, but if you do that you might as well cut him. He's not going to be effective in that role.

Right, plus Sampson has a track record of having his teams play better in the postseason than they did in the regular season. Oh wait.... Is that the best you have? :wink: I didn't predict anything. Just mentioned that its foolish to saw how IU will do 2 months from now based on one game in the mid January. I honestly think you will win one game in the tournament. One. Oh and before you go there we won't make any tournament. None. Before the season, you thought it was "absurd" that Gordon would make first team all Big Ten, and that Sampson would "kill" Gordon like he does all his talented players (despite not having really coached any). I don't think IU is a top-5 team, but they're better than they showed today. I thought today would be tough. Regardless, I'm not putting much faith in your predictions regarding IU. Illinois once again proves a tough matchup for IU. I think it has a lot to do with Pruitt, who with his size matches up and basically neutralizes DJ White. Weber is also a very good coach. I think I said it was absurd to count on a freshman being an all big ten performer before he ever plays a college game. I still think it is. Gordon is going to be that though. If you think Sampson is doing his best to prepare EJ for the pros than your nuts. How many shots did he take today? Not nearly enough for a guy who was the best player on the floor. EJ should pretty much shoot 50 percent of your shots. He isn't, thus Sampson is in a sense sitting on him. Sampson has been pleading with Gordon to take a greater percentage of the teams shots the last few games. He even publicly stated that's what he wanted. Whatever is keeping Gordon from being more selfish with the ball (which would probably help IU), it isn't Sampson. As for the no zone thing, IU has looked absolutely awful with the zone this year. Last years team did pretty well with the zone, but this years team plays a very loose zone. The one zone play they did today looked a lot like the zone looks I've seen in other games, so I was glad to see them take it out again.

Awesome game Chargers. They deserve it. With all the injuries they suffered and the way they just kept fighting, there should be nothing but praise for their accomplishment for that game. They made the plays when they needed to, and that was enough to win the game.

That was a don't get fired drive by Turner. If your backup QB messes up on a pass, it's Turner's fault. If the defense gives it up, it's the defense's fault. That was an amazing punt btw, and the Chargers coverage unit seems pretty unbelievable right now. Peyton's looking everywhere and having trouble finding anybody.

You could say the same thing about the stats from both QB's last night though as well. No pass defense has been good this weekend in the AFC, and if NE has good weather next week the AFCCG will be a shootout.

Hasn't this been a very strange game? There have been a lot of big plays and a lot of very close calls. There's really only been two calls that I've seen that were absolutely awful that weren't reversed (illegal contact called on the Colts when it was actually PI on the Chargers in the first half, PI on the Chargers in the second half). The call near the end of the first half is probably somewhere in the middle. I'm hoping this game doesn't end on another close call though. Win or lose, I hope this last 9 minutes does not have the same sorts of close calls like most of the game has.

Hell CCP, he didnt even touch the reciever to impede him. He ran directly into his path (I just looked at the replay, and he ran straight into him). If the ball had gotten there later, it would have made more sense. But it didn't, and it was an absolutely awful call. The contact didn't come until after the ball passed.

Now that's a pretty terrible call. Impeding the progress of a receiver is interference, but the ball was already there. It shouldn't have been called whatsoever.

It was honestly a terrible thing for the Colts when LT left the game. They've always done a good job of containing LT, but have had trouble with all his backups. That was a very good play..this one will go right down to the wire.

And San Diego is lucky to have given up only 10 points. It goes both ways. Yeah, I'm just saying the Colts secondary is having a pretty crappy game. There's just no real place to hide Jennings against such a tall wide receiver core. When they spread it out 3 wide, you have to put 5 foot 7 Jennings somewhere and it's causing serious matchup problems.

Did you see the announcers explanation right after halftime? They froze it at exactly the right time, and the announcer explained it perfectly. Addai was turning to go to run to the outside, and the SD player grabbed him and turned him around a second before they went down. That's what they called. I'm sure that play will be on the NFL Replay show on Wednesday night where the head of officiating comes on. They do a pretty good job of admitting any mistakes on there, so I'll wait for final judgment on that play until then. And you're right, I shouldn't have given such credibility to Dierdorf before halftime with very little evidence. After halftime, they provided the evidence.

You mean the Colt dragged down in the middle of the field wasn't a penalty in your eyes? Even the announcer said that Norv Turner had no room to complain after seeing the replay. Well Boomer Esisason just said he thought it was a terrible call as well. They 2 guys were blocking each other and took each other down, its not as clear cut as you think it was. Why would Addai possibly want to go down to the ground? He's the best tackler on the offense the Colts have. For him to tie up a Chargers defender and try to take him to the ground would be absolutely idiotic and not very logical. It makes much more sense that the Chargers guy grabbed him (the cause of the holding call), Addai grabbed back to pull his arms off of him so he could go run down Cromartie, and they both tumbled.

You mean the Colt dragged down in the middle of the field wasn't a penalty in your eyes? Even the announcer said that Norv Turner had no room to complain after seeing the replay.

I don't think that deal would even be enough. The Orioles wouldn't really want both Pie and Colvin because they would have to put one of them in LF, which wouldn't maximize their talents. They'd probably want Pie, Marmol, Gallagher, Ceda, Murton, Patterson, and Cedeno. It simply wouldn't be worth it. The Cubs don't have enough high end talent in their minors to risk it all on an injury prone pitcher for the most part. If Bedard goes down for a significant amount of time next year, the Cubs would probably be in organizational trouble for the next 5 years.

Lofton would be a terrible platoon partner for Pie. Neither of them can hit left-handers whatsoever.

I feel compelled to pick an upset, if only to differentiate from the crowd slightly. Seattle, New England, Indy, Dallas

As for these two points, I am not so sure I am liking either one. Byrd had a very solid year last year (.307/.355/.459), but he has only had 2 previous seasons with an OPS above .700. I guess I could live with him as a backup getting the occasional start, but he had better not take much PT from Pie. Honestly I would rather have a cheaper in-house option. Does anyone think Leiber is much better than Dempster or Marquis? Well, I am not a fan of either potential move. I think Lieber would be a lot better than Dempster when you consider how much going back to Chicago is going to help his numbers. Is he better than Marquis? It's hard to tell. Marquis has the better chance of being an above average pitcher this year, but he also has a much better chance of being terrible as well. Lieber will most likely be around average and doesn't have that much variability. I would love to have a cheaper in-house option than Byrd as well, but who is there? The Cubs traded their only possible option in Pagan, and he wasn't a great option. The Cubs don't have anybody in the minors who can both play center and hit against left-handers.

Thank God, hopefully this is finally over and Cedeno gets a shot at short!!! Sean Gallagher, too. I'm of the opinion that Gallagher might be better served getting some time in at AAA first. He might do fine at the major league level, but he's only had 40 innings at AAA. Give him some more time to dominate down there and maybe we won't have the Ronny Cedeno story with Gallagher where he was rushed up, struggled, and then banished.

Byrd's about as inconsistent as they come. Looking over his numbers, his overall numbers and his left/right splits jump all over the place. He wouldn't be a terrible option though if the Cubs don't give up all that much. If the Cubs sign Lieber, I think that pretty much shuts the door for Dempster going to the rotation. I still think they would look to trade for somebody else at that point. That's a lot of competition at the end of the 25 man roster, and at least 1 pitcher would need to be traded.

Nah, he's a little too old..instead, they just got the younger version instead. First Tiller: http://graphics.jsonline.com/graphics/badger/mugs/2006/joetiller.jpg Now Brimley: http://www.nndb.com/people/593/000022527/wilford-brimley-crop.jpg Now Hope: http://www.ekusports.com/stats/Rosters_Images/Hope_Danny.jpg How does Purdue find all these guys?