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From what I've heard, Jacque's throws have apparently gotten much better.

Can we get a video of that if it happens, because while less than 50 percent I think that has a decent chance of happening :D.

Or by continuing to develop with the bat like he was doing before the injuries :D -but you're right, any way he could do ok with the bat, and the Cubs offense will likely be very good. So far it seems like he's pretty healthy.

How is he unhappy in Denver already???? This part is speculation-I've heard that the Lions promised him that they'd trade him closer to his family who lives in Virginia, and he wasn't happy when he heard that he was traded a lot farther away.

I like Quinn and think he's the most sure thing of the QBs, but that blanket statement is a little too much in my opinion. I fully expect Quinn to have the better career. But he can't touch Russell talent wise. I see this as a situation similar to last year's with Leinart and Vince. Leinart was more of a sure thing, Vince had far more upside (but was less likely to be good). Except Young's upside came from unbelievable athleticism that Russel doesn't have at all. Russell is definitely very athletic, he just doesn't use it in the same way Vince does. Russell can be a very good thrower when he's on, Vince is frankly bad most of the time throwing the ball. Thus, Russell doesn't have the need to show his athleticism as often as Vince does. The #1 problem with Russell is his inconsistency and oftentimes poor decision-making. Vince, on the other hand, while a bad passer (though I've seen signs of him getting better slowly) makes the plays late in a game when he needs to. The run against the Texans in OT, the run against the Bills late in the fourth, multiple third down completions to keep drives alive. Russell is the better pure QB right now, but he's less consistent and falls apart when he struggles early. Agreed, Young has a ways to go in the professional passing game, while he developed a passing game in his senior year of college rather quickly, but that 6.7 YPC rushing will go a long way towards easing growing pains for the titans Oh yeah, he may be better at running the ball now than Steve McNair was in his first couple of years. Steve was a better passer though. Also, something that gives me more hope for Vince is that he struggled a year or two in college and then improved his junior year and broke out his senior year (technically beginning in the junior Rose Bowl visit). So it may take three to four years, but I am very confident he'll become at least another McNair. It wasn't until the Kansas game his junior year that it really began to click for him. Up until that point most NFL scouts were looking at him as a WR. Its really hard to imagine that now. Not really related, but more on the 1 game creating an image for players. I've been thinking that if JR has lost the sugar bowl and OSU had won the nat'l championship, Smith and Russell's current draft projections would be swapped. I don't think so-Russell would have been lower, but even when Smith was winning the Heisman in December people were saying he was a 2nd round pick because of how short he is-a great performance against Florida wouldn't have changed that significantly.

22% were 3's, and he took many, many 15-18 foot jumpers in that tournament. He was a wing player-he did not play inside very much at all. McNamara you're right was their best actual guard.

Big winner: Baltimore I'm not sure about that-I think that might be too high of a price for McGahee, but only time will tell that.

The problem is, half of those years had great guards as well. UConn relied about as much on Gordon as Okafor. Warrick was important, but Anthony on the perimeter was key during the tournament (he's not a big man really or a guard). Maryland got there in 2002, but it was not Baxter and Wilcox that was the difference-IU would have won without the 25-30 points scored by Juan Dixon. Guards get you deep in the tournament-a team with at least one great guard and a great big man wins the tournament.

An interesting article about working on new pitches from cubs.com-Marquis working on a splitter? And here is Marquis talking about what pitches will be his focus: http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070307&content_id=1832292&vkey=spt2007news&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc

wow...Cubs going easy on Maddux, eh? With the split squad games tomorrow, my guess is that Lou wanted to try to get as many people that played yesterday out as possible since everybody will probably play tomorrow-the only two that were in the lineup yesterday that are again are Murton and Theriot.

Lunardi and others have basically called that game an elimination game. They even go so far as to say that Clemson has to win that game AND the UNC game in the quarter finals That's a little much... but I do think Clemson has to beat UNC to feel secure about being in the field. Big 10 brickfest of the day: Michigan 20, Minnesota 16 :roll: I thought you'd feel right at home with that Big 10 game Truffle-it's like a Patriot League game :D

Given home court and health, I think the Bulls can beat any team in the East in a 7-game series. Agree. I fully expect them to win a minumum of 1 series. I guess I'd consider that "doing damage". They're sitting at 5 right now. I don't think it's reasonable to assume home court at this point. They have home court right now because they have a better record than the 4th seed Toronto, and they are closer to the 3 seed than losing that home court advantage over the Raptors. Perhaps, but there are still games left to be played. Like I said, home court can't be simply assumed right now. Well, if he thinks that they are going to win a playoff series, he probably thinks they will be good enough to not drop spots in the conference. The worst that I can possibly see the Bulls finish is 6th, and they'll probably be in the top 5.

BTW, the word is that Dre Bly is unhappy in Denver and that they are entertaining trade talks for him-reported by Michael Smith.

Given home court and health, I think the Bulls can beat any team in the East in a 7-game series. Agree. I fully expect them to win a minumum of 1 series. I guess I'd consider that "doing damage". They're sitting at 5 right now. I don't think it's reasonable to assume home court at this point. They have home court right now because they have a better record than the 4th seed Toronto, and they are closer to the 3 seed than losing that home court advantage over the Raptors.

Yes, yes, and yes... no, no and no. 1) You're essentially saying that Prior is better than Miller (when healthy). I agree. However, that should have no bearing on how he is treated. Why is it okay to give up on Prior and/or badmouth him because he is better (and/or more important to the team's success)? I don't get that. 2) I would think this should have the opposite effect. I think of Prior fondly because of what he did in 2003 (and 2004 which everyone seems to disregard). Therefore I'm almost inclined to give him more slack, not less. 3) Miller pitched better than Prior in one appearance. A Spring Training appearance at that. I have no idea why this should matter, at all. 1) Everything Prior does is magnified because he was so good. Miller is under the radar-if he's terrible, the club will quietly release him and nobody will care. Many people put the hopes of the club on Prior's shoulders, and unfair or not if he doesn't deliver he's going to be criticized for it. When Prior goes to the mound, it's big news-if he pitches well, then everyone will rejoice. If he pitches poorly, people look for something to blame. When you're a star, you get too much credit when things are going well and too much blame when things are going poorly-Prior got the credit, and now he's getting the blame. 2)I sort of covered it in 1-Prior's "star" status in the city of Chicago adds expectations that are not being met right now, and that leads to criticism. 3) It's not only one appearance-Miller showed signs at the end of last year, and then again the other day that he has a chance of being an effective major league pitcher again. Prior was worse last year than Miller, and he was worse the other day-when he does pitch effectively even for one appearance, public opinion will start to turn. 4)Here's a 4th point-Prior's injury status has been lied about so many times saying that he's healthy or day to day that nobody believes anything about his health anymore. When they have lied to you again and again, you start to believe that they are not telling the truth until you see the evidence for yourself-Prior hasn't shown that evidence yet. They may have lied about Miller as well last year, but nobody remembers that because by the time Miller was supposed to come back anyway the Cubs were so far out of it that nobody cared and many people were not watching the team.

Until Prior proves otherwise he's going to have his doubters. Which is pretty much everyone outside the org. And yet Miller doesn't get the same treatment, IMO. I certainly have my doubts about Prior's chances, but I'm not going to put much emphasis on one spring training appearance. Miller gets a little more of a free pass for 3 reasons 1) He's not as highly regarded as Prior is-so his gain or loss is not as much of a change to the Cubs season, therefore there is less intrigue about if he is healthy or not. 2)He didn't have his success with the Cubs, and didn't get hurt with the Cubs-Prior's injuries have put a lot of pain into Cubs fans who remember 03 and how well he pitched, and so there is an inherent emotional reaction at this point to think that he always will be hurt the way he has been. Miller is just a rehabbing pitcher who doesn't bring up those same sorts of emotional reactions. 3)Miller went out and pitched at least somewhat effectively his first appearance in ST-Prior didn't. Edit: BTW, I'm not writing Prior off yet-I'm just trying to explain why Miller gets a little more slack than Prior does with most people.

Yeah me too. But worry not, the weekend is coming, and as the season draws near, more games will be on TV. Not good enough. Basketball has soured on me over the past 5-10 years so I need a sports fix now. well, hockey is the best sport on ice. in a narrow decision over curling :D

Well, if Miller wants to be a starter only that only leaves 2 ways that Wuertz can be replaced in the bullpen 1) 11 pitchers-possible, but still unlikely even with Piniella's comments. The person who wins that 5th starters job will likely still be somewhat shaky on health, and so they'll want that 12th pitcher. 2)Another minor leaguer beats him out. This is possible, but probably only possible if Wuertz cannot get into many games in ST with the injury and another arm is impressing the coaches. If this happens, it could always be corrected pretty early in the season if that arm falters whatsoever and Wuertz is ready. I think the only thing holding Wuertz back is his own arm now-if he can't show what he can do during ST, another arm could step up and take the job for now.

Oh, it'd definitely true-Samardzija is not nearly ready yet. His offspeed stuff still has to be developed because he can't be a 1 pitch pitcher for long. There were just so many different stories about his fastball-I think the fastball that all of us are hearing now that he has is better than could ever be hoped for. Most of us thought that he'd average 92-93, and to hear that he's pitching over 95 with regularity is quite a good jump.

He struck 1 out today. He also has broken at least 4 bats already in 3 innings of work.

I wouldn't think Prior's done if he can't regain his velocity, but I do think he'd have to re-invent himself a little bit. Wade would be a little bit closer in this regard-Wade showed pitches (including his fastball) that had great lateral movement to them when he was up at the end of last season. That allowed him to fool hitters and get such a high strikeout total. Prior when he was dominant had a straighter fastball that the movement was really more of an explosion-that pop at the end that had people behind it. A loss in velocity would be much more devastating to a guy like that than one with lateral movement. I do think Prior could overcome that, but he would have to rework some of his pitches and really learn not to depend on his fastball as he did in the past. I think Prior could possibly have a future in the league without the velocity, but I think Miller would be a better ML pitcher this year throwing 90 or less than Prior would.

If you prorate 8 runs in 6 innings, you get 972 runs on the year. I'll take that in the NL. umm, that cant be right. ETA: 12 x 162 = how many runs cubs are on pace for = 1944 Yeah, but the original poster only wanted the offense to be half as good, which is why he divided the number in half :D

Our top 7 starting hitters have each been on base at least twice today now (and Theriot has been on once). Great job!

The 4th seed could end up playing the 3rd best team in the conference, actually. For instance, let's say the top eight records in the eastern conference end up in the following order, from best to worst: Pistons Cavs Bulls Wizards Heat Raptors Pacers Magic The seeds would looks like: 1. Pistons 2. Cavs 5. Bulls 3. Wizards 6. Heat 4. Raptors 7. Pacers 8. Magic That's true-that's usually a pretty unlikely scenario (that one division would have the best 3 teams in the conference) but I guess it could happen this year.

MLB's box score has Samardzija pitching both innings-it says that he is batting in the 7 slot, and that Perez is playing 2B batting in the 9 spot.