CubColtPacer

I thought Marshall was hurt? Would he be ready if Guzman and Prior can't go on Opening Day? Remember to include Wade Miller in there as well-it seems unlikely that Prior/Miller/Guzman would all be unavailable opening day, and then Cotts would probably get the next chance to start after that anyway. Marshall might not be ready opening day (although there is a decent chance he will be) but he should be available for sure soon after that.

Moving up the equivalent number of spots that the Bears moved would essentially cost a late 2nd or early 3rd round pick. The Bears basically traded Benson for a late 2nd or early 3rd, and then traded that pick and their 2nd to move up. I don't think he got hosed. 2nd round draft picks are extremely valuable trade chips. I guess this is where I would make a lousy NFL GM, I woulda helpd out and made the Jets pay more, if not, make Jones play angry. Whattya think we can get for Briggs now that he is pissed off? I don't know, but if it's just exchanging a pick? I'd let Briggs sit. All year if necessary. Hell, I'd franchise him over & over and let him sit forever if all I'm going to get for him is an exchange of 15 draft positions. can you actually do that? franchise a player year after year? not a bad option here. I am abit pissed w/Briggs. The offer the Bears gave him last year was a fair offer I think. Maybe the Bears new 2nd rd pick will be one to replace Briggs... I believe there is no limit for non-QBs, but obviously the player's salary will increase exponentially based on the avg of the top 5 salaries at his position. Yeah, if you franchise him again he gets either the average of the top 5 salaries or a 20% increase in pay, whichever is higher. So if you franchised him for the next few years (I'm starting with a base of 7.5-I can't remember the exact number, it was over 7 but I think 7.5 was a little high, but it will be close enough). 2007-7.5 million 2008-9 million 2009-10.8 million 2010-12.96 million 2011-15.552 million You can see why teams don't like to franchise their players for multiple years if possible. It gets way too expensive to have all that money going against the cap every season. It's even worse if you have one of the more expensive positions like QB or defensive end as well.

Moving up the equivalent number of spots that the Bears moved would essentially cost a late 2nd or early 3rd round pick. The Bears basically traded Benson for a late 2nd or early 3rd, and then traded that pick and their 2nd to move up. I don't think he got hosed. 2nd round draft picks are extremely valuable trade chips. I guess this is where I would make a lousy NFL GM, I woulda helpd out and made the Jets pay more, if not, make Jones play angry. Whattya think we can get for Briggs now that he is pissed off? I don't know, but if it's just exchanging a pick? I'd let Briggs sit. All year if necessary. Hell, I'd franchise him over & over and let him sit forever if all I'm going to get for him is an exchange of 15 draft positions. can you actually do that? franchise a player year after year? not a bad option here. I am abit pissed w/Briggs. The offer the Bears gave him last year was a fair offer I think. Maybe the Bears new 2nd rd pick will be one to replace Briggs... Well, you can do that-but if he plays and you franchise him year after year, the amount of money he costs against the cap goes up by 20% every season-it gets too expensive very, very quickly. If he holds out the entire season-well, then you're just wasting your franchise tag and ability to sign free agents (because he could sign that tag at any moment-so you have to keep 7-8 million dollars of cap room just in case he signs). It's usually never good business to be that stubborn about a situation.

Here's another example-it's doing it to me on this topic.

In the past day, I can't seem to finish reading certain topics. When I go to the thread and read through it, then when I look at it again it still says I have new posts in that thread when it clearly doesn't. It started with just the transactions forum that it did that but this morning it spread to a thread or two in baseball discussions. Is anybody else having this problem? The only way I can make it marked read is to actually manually click to mark all topics read. Again, this is only on certain threads-the one about the Angels trying to look at the contract of Matthews in Transactions, for example.

Some of the other big news of the day: Wes Welker is a Patriot. He got traded from the Dolphins for a 2nd and a 7th round pick, and then the Patriots signed him to a 5 year, 18.5 million dollar deal. Speculation is rampant that the league quietly told the Patriots and Dolphins to "work something out" rather than have the Patriots use the poison pill in the contract, which the league is trying to get rid of. Patrick Kerney signs a 6 year, 39.5 million dollar deal with the Seahawks=19.5 guaranteed. He chose the Seahawks narrowly over the Broncos.

if the bolded section implies "ineffective in later innings" I'd disagree. If it means "became susceptible to arm pain if overused" then its worded poorly. Its not that Wood can't be an effective starter, its that his arm won't hold up to 150+ innings. edit: I also agree that after a couple effective years in the pen, it might be wise to stretch him out. Of course that bridge isn't crossable yet. I was saying that every time he was injured in the last couple years, it's because his arm gave out after 3-4 innings. He would walk off the mound suddenly in the 3rd of a game he was pitching well in. He couldn't take the strain of pitching that many pitches at a time-that's exactly why they moved him to the bullpen in the first place, hoping that if he doesn't go past that pitch mark his arm and shoulder will be able to handle the stress easier. wow. Not sure I agree. I think it was definitely cumulative. And your conclusion makes a jump without a bridge. Even if it was a threshold of pitches per start, its very possible that would change if the workload was lessened and his arm actually got a chance to heal completely. Well, I would agree. Give the chance for the arm to heal longer, and the ability to stretch out and become a starter might be possible-but that's a ways down the road I think.

if the bolded section implies "ineffective in later innings" I'd disagree. If it means "became susceptible to arm pain if overused" then its worded poorly. Its not that Wood can't be an effective starter, its that his arm won't hold up to 150+ innings. edit: I also agree that after a couple effective years in the pen, it might be wise to stretch him out. Of course that bridge isn't crossable yet. I was saying that every time he was injured in the last couple years, it's because his arm gave out after 3-4 innings. He would walk off the mound suddenly in the 3rd of a game he was pitching well in. He couldn't take the strain of pitching that many pitches at a time-that's exactly why they moved him to the bullpen in the first place, hoping that if he doesn't go past that pitch mark his arm and shoulder will be able to handle the stress easier.

Check the Bears thread-the Bears only moved up in the second round from #63 to #37, they didn't actually get an extra second rounder.

According to draft value charts, moving up in the 2nd is probably more valuable. I'd take the 3rd though, but of course it's hard to know if the Jets would offer a 3rd or not.

Actually, they are saying it's Jones/Bears 2nd rd for the Jets 2nd rd pick. If the Bears had to thrown in their 2nd rd, plus Jones to move up 5 spots int eh 2nd rd, then this deal SUCKS for Bears. The Jets get a proven RB, plus only lose 5 spots in the 2nd rd. The Bears have to get a 3rd rd pick this yr or next, to make this a "fair deal." Yeah, I saw that and put an edit on my post-just a little too late :D This is a bad deal for the Bears, but like I thought originally (before I was shocked by this trade), the market for running backs is just not that good-it hasn't been for years. I thought the Bears could get a 4th for him-it seems they didn't even get that.

Wow-good job predicting it Bears fans. Another board is reporting that this deal was for the Jets second rounder-they must have seen the money that the running backs were getting on the free agent market and gotten desperate. This is a good deal for the Bears. Edit: Wait a minute on that, there are conflicting reports on what has been traded. Another source is claiming that the Bears only moved up in the second round by making this trade-I'm going to wait to figure out what it actually is.

Not sure. I don't think LT was a consensus #1 last season... Larry Johnson probably went #1 in more leagues, and Shawn Alexander was also in the mix. That was my point. LJ was the #1 last year (and then it was a fight between Tomlinson and Alexander for #2). In all my years of fantasy, the somewhat consensus #1 draft pick in football never ends up being the #1 fantasy scorer.

His only hit given up in 2 innings was a bunt single, so he had to have looked pretty good.

it's sad that the AP needed to run this... talk about pressure What do you mean? It seems like a pretty standard report of his outing. Will the AP be releasing info about Lilly's first outing? Maybe, but it will be included in the game report. A possible star who has his first outing coming back from injury? That's news that many people who may not follow the games as closely will want to know, and a different story is deserved for that.

it's sad that the AP needed to run this... talk about pressure What do you mean? It seems like a pretty standard report of his outing.

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

Bruce said there is no gun up on the board at the stadium-I'm sure there are some guns actually there, and the question is if Sullivan could get access to interview one of those people during the game. Or just has to be sitting near someone with a gun. There you go-looking for the easy and logical answer again :D You're right of course, Sullivan was probably just sitting in a little different place than Bruce and could see a gun from where he was.

Bruce said there is no gun up on the board at the stadium-I'm sure there are some guns actually there, and the question is if Sullivan could get access to interview one of those people during the game.

The reason he went to the bullpen in the first place was because he gave out after a certain number of pitches. He was always dominant before that point-for him to be dominant for a few pitches here doesn't change the point that lengthening him out might do the same thing as before. Let's keep him throwing well in the bullpen for now.

DeRosa is doing very well so far-he's another one to watch with the uncertainty if last year was a career year or not.

That's what happens when you win 66 games the previous year and half the team is either new or coming off injuries-people want to see how they look early, even in meaningless spring training games.

Hmmm-Randy Johnson maybe? :D

Yeah, I've heard they have one great announcer who is slowly retiring and everyone else is terrible. That one announcer must not be doing any part of ST games anymore.

I hope this isn't Lilly. I thought he was to follow Prior? It's ben Howard Since they had to bring Prior out in the middle of the inning, that changed their plans-they are not going to put Lilly in during the middle of an inning.