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HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Seriously, has the market come to this? I'm not shocked by that at all-Suppan has been better than pretty much all of the second-tier pitchers on the market, and if he signs for the same amount as the rest of them he may end up being the biggest bargain of them all.

Using an aburdity does not futher your positon. It only weakens it. A bench and platoon are not the same thing. The very idea of a platoon is that a player is going to be inefective for a certian portion of the season (N - 1/3 for a lefty and N - 2/3 for a righty). If one is in the game the other is not going to be effective. So having the inefective player on the bench is worthless. A bench is for scoring runs, primarily. Now, having two guys on the bench with some power that can hit either righty's or lefty's is a good idea. Pitchers don't stay the same through the game-the player who is on the bench can become an effective weapon with a pitching change.

I think they would contend, but I don't think you can go into the playoffs with that team and realistically think they could win it all. Of course, you could have said the same thing about the Cards this past season, and that Cubs team is better "on paper" than the 06 Cards. I would agree with that-I think that team is the best team at the division at this point although not by that much, and would be one of the lesser teams in the playoffs-they would have to get hot late.

Samardizja is also projected to go ahead of him-in fact, I hate this bitterly because most mock drafts have Samardizja going to the Patriots in the first round. :(

Interesting re Jason Jennings: The funny thing is there, that Guzman+Gallagher is one trade package for Jennings, and another Jennings trade is Jennings straight up for Taveras. I could just imagine the board's reaction if Hendry went past the middle man and offered up Guzman+Gallagher for Taveras. :D

Every mock draft I've seen have the Cardinals taking him with a top 5 pick.

The question I have for everybody is that if everyone expects ND to get blown out, if LSU wins the bowl game in a very close game, does that mean ND is better than you thought they were? The answer, of course, is no. And as much as I'd like to make some snarky comment about anti-ND drivel on this board, the fact is I won't be satisfied with anything but a win either. Oh, I won't be satistfied with a moral victory either personally, but I would hope it would at least convince people that the 2 teams deserved to step on the same field together.

The question I have for everybody is that if everyone expects ND to get blown out, if LSU wins the bowl game in a very close game, does that mean ND is better than you thought they were? Ummmm...was that directed to me? No, sort of an add-on to your comment that everyone is predicting a huge blowout-not directed at you whatsoever.

The question I have for everybody is that if everyone expects ND to get blown out, if LSU wins the bowl game in a very close game, does that mean ND is better than you thought they were?

Hey-you said yourself that they were all supposed to be non-BCS bowls-you had to slip one in there, didn't you :D

NO, NO, and NO. Rutgers clobbered by Cincy. Out. WVU lost at home to South Florida. Out. Both teams played schedules ridiculously easier than ND's. Out. Both teams actually beat a good team(Top 15), and I'm not so sure the schedules are that different, that's what I'd have to look into. Not to say that this would say that WVU or Rutgers got shafted, but simply that they were just as good an option. Rutgers was ineligible anyway-they were outside the top 14, which means they couldn't be picked even if the bowls wanted them. WV had an ok case (they beat Maryland non-conference plus their conference wins, but I think ND's schedule still stacks up favorably) while Rutgers would have no case, as they would only be looking at their conference wins, because their best non-conference wins were Illinois and Navy.

If Denver wins tonight, there will be a 4 way tie for the 6 spot in the AFC (Kansas City, Jacksonville, Cincinnati, Jets). If Denver loses, there will be a 5 way tie for both the 5 and 6 spots. This should really be an interesting race in the last 4 weeks. In the NFC, the wildcard spots are possibly even worse. The key to this is Carolina tomorrow night. If they win, they have the 5 spot for now at 7-5, and the Giants and Atlanta will be 6-6 tied for the 6 spot, followed closely by Philadelphia, Minnesota, San Fransisco, and St. Louis at 5-7. If Carolina loses tomorrow night? The 5 and 6 spots will be a 4 way tie between Carolina, Philadelphia, the Giants, Atlanta with Minnesota, San Fran, and St. Louis one game back. So-which 2 teams in each conference make it out if you had to predict today?

As is the put an inferior team in the title game argument. Inferior by what criteria? records? game resumes? Florida's terrible play 6 of the last 7 games? They played terribly last night? Did you watch the game last night? They looked pretty awful until Fish for Arkansas decided to be a bonehead and muff the punt at his own 3-yard line. Yet they beat a top 10 team by 10 points. Funny how easy it is to write that off. Hey, here are some close games against mediocre competition: at Cincinnati (7-7) W 23-19 at Northwestern (3-9, 1-7 conference) W 27-16 at Wisconsin (8-6, 2-6 conference) W 19-14 Penn State (8-4, 5-3 conference) W 13-7 at Purdue (4-4, 7-6 conference) W 10-6 at Illinois (5-7, 4-4 conference) W 23-16 Michigan (10-3, 6-2 conference) W 14-9 A lot of close games against some not-so-great competition. Maybe this team shouldn't have been allowed to play for a championship either. True, but that team was behind every team with a similar record to them all season (of the major conference teams) and only got into the title game because all of the other teams lost a game. If they had 1 loss that year along with some of the other teams (or if one of those other teams went undefeated), they would not have made the title game. There wasn't anybody else to pick at the end though that year.

Well, if he gets that, he won't be coming to the Cubs. It seems like the Cubs are firmly set on having Pie in the Cubs lineup for Opening Day 2008. That's why they are looking at Lugo (who they can move to SS in 08) and Lofton for a 1 year deal. That would really be nice if Pie can then be productive and the Cubs can have two productive mininum salary outfielders.

While I would agree that the SEC does not have as tough of a non-conference schedule, you forgot some good opponents in there. Tennessee played California for example, Mississippi State played West Virginia, LSU played Arizona (an ok team), Georgia played Colorado (who is awful this year, but is still better than Duke who you listed) and so on. The Pac 10 is really the only major conference this year that has really done a very good job of playing OOC opponents this year-everybody else has been close to the same strength. Look at one computer's strength of schedule non-conference for the 6 major conferences: Pac 10: .530 ACC: .456 Big East: .427 Big 10: .415 SEC: .410 Big 12: .410 2nd is closer to 6th then it is to first, and the last 4 conferences are very, very close, I only ranked the road games that they played. These were ALL the non-conference road games that the SEC played. With only Florida being an elite team that played a quality non-conference road game. Yes they did have some better home games. Still Tennessee was the only Elite SEC team to play a Top 25 non-conference game. I do know that some Elite Big Ten schools have offered home and home series with some Elite SEC schools and have been denied. I am just saying that the SEC is considered the best because of perception. They will have success in Bowl games because they are mostly quasi home games for them. I would just like to see some of these schools play some good teams on the road some. I am not saying everyteam everyyear but in a year like this you really dont have much to go on on how good the SEC is. As opposed to the Big Ten which had at least 5 non-conference road games against Top 25 teams. I didnt look it up yet I just thought of 5 off the top of my head. If an elite SEC school had played at Notre Dame or Texas or someone similar than we could at least get a feel for how good the conference really is. I would agree with that completely, I mean completely. I will tell you though, there are plenty of SEC people (I hear it from Georgia a great deal) that say the exact opposite and say that they have tried to get a home and home with teams like Ohio State and Michigan and have been refused, along with teams like Oklahoma. It's hard to figure out who to believe sometimes, but it is certainly true that the SEC does not like to go to other stadiums very often, and that makes the strength of the teams in their conference hard to evaluate at times.

I have a feeling that the Brewers are asking too much for him, only because Bruce has said several times that Jim Hendry loves Bill Hall. If he loves him like that but hasn't traded for him, then it must be the price that's the problem.

I thought there was an easier answer for his home run totals going way up-he could have easily pointed back to 1996 when he would have had 50+ home runs if he hadn't broken his hand in August. I liked the interview overall-I can understand why he wanted an interpreter now, as he was worried they might trick him with some fancy language (maybe he's been watching too many law shows!) Also, the fact that he said that he would be happy playing, or would be perfectly happy if he didn't get a call and playing with his kids impressed me. I wasn't going to watch this interview because I thought Sosa would look silly in it-he acquitted himself much better than I expected.

While I would agree that the SEC does not have as tough of a non-conference schedule, you forgot some good opponents in there. Tennessee played California for example, Mississippi State played West Virginia, LSU played Arizona (an ok team), Georgia played Colorado (who is awful this year, but is still better than Duke who you listed) and so on. The Pac 10 is really the only major conference this year that has really done a very good job of playing OOC opponents this year-everybody else has been close to the same strength. Look at one computer's strength of schedule non-conference for the 6 major conferences: Pac 10: .530 ACC: .456 Big East: .427 Big 10: .415 SEC: .410 Big 12: .410 2nd is closer to 6th then it is to first, and the last 4 conferences are very, very close,

Let me address this Big East thing real quickly: Louisville should be in the conversation. It doesn't help anything if teams start just dismissing teams without looking at their overall resume. However, once looking at their resume, they are probably still behind both Michigan and Florida. A big part of the reason why is their non-conference schedule. Louisville tried to get good teams, but it didn't work out this year. The teams they played were down, and they only beat 1 of the 2 very good teams in their conference, so that means they only have 1 very good win, and 1 loss to a very good team. Michigan has a better loss than Louisville, and they have two of those types of wins (Wisconsin and ND). Florida? Their loss is similar to Louisville's (I think Florida's is a little better, but I'm willing to say they are similar enough to be very close to equal, so we'll assume they are equal for now). They have 3 other very good wins: LSU, Tennessee, Arkansas. I'd definitely put Louisville in the discussion, but I just don't see how they can be put ahead of the two other teams right now. It's simply too bad about a couple of their non-conference wins-if those teams could have been great otherwise, it would have been a completely different discussion.

I think that second line sums up Georgia Tech's last 4 seasons.

Payton is Juan Pierre with a little less OBP, slightly better SLG, and less speed. I wouldn't want him.

I'll do you one better. If USC loses it would guarantee the rematch. It shouldn't but it would. ND should leapfrog eight teams and get it. I'm just kidding, but I can't say I agree. why shouldn't it? I'm thinking he's saying that Florida would have a legitimate case to be in the NC if they win today, but that they won't probably have a chance to pass Michigan whatever they do. I think Michigan is better, but I can see how some people would think that Florida was better.

I'm sorry, Zelda is one of the greatest franchises of all time. Ocarina of Time is easily my favorite game of all-time. How many versions of GTA, Sonic, Halo, DOA, etc. do we need? You can say that about any of the three companies. Zelda is indeed great. I've been playing them since the NES As for your other questions: Versions of Halo: 2 GTA: 4 (on this generation of consoles) Sonic: Only one or two, and they've sucked since Dreamcast DOA: no idea Now I'm pretty sure that they had like 8 MarioParty's for the N64 alone, so.... Well, close enough. Mario Party 8 will come out for the Wii sometime next year. At the same time though, there have been 2 Smash Brothers games, and only 3 Mario Kart games, and probably only 2 or 3 of the golf and tennis games as well. There haven't been that many-they just seem like it.

This is the point that I think is most interesting. The indications are that Lugo is not going to be picked up as a SS-not for this year anyway. If you don't pick up Lugo now though, then they probably let Izturis play SS in 2008 as well, while the indications are that they would move Lugo from CF to SS in 2008 if he were acquired. So would you rather have Jones and Izturis for 2 years (plus a FA pitcher), or Jennings, Lugo+Izturis for 1 year, and then Lugo+New CF for the second year. I like the second option much better. I know that there are other options that people on here would love to do, but from all indications, those options are not going to happen, and Izturis will be the starting SS come Opening Day 07. So I see these options as the only two real viable ones, and I think the second one is definitely better.

I think that's exactly it. Boston's been after Lugo for quite a while. If we sign him, we may well be able to send Izturis there, which would be EXCELLENT. Problem is Hendry: Izturis = Dusty: Neifi. Izturis isn't going anywhere. Yeah, I can't see Izturis going anywhere this year either. His option might not be picked up though, so it might just be one more year of him. Even with Lugo being signed for CF though, this offense will be decent. They will slug better, and the OBP will be improved as well. Murton will have less at-bats taken away from poor offensive players, and that will increase production in LF. Lugo would be a better OBP Juan Pierre type, so that is an upgrade. Soriano is going to probably be a little better in OBP and SLG than Jones was last year. Izturis will actually be a slight upgrade at SS from the production last year. Lee will be a huge improvement at 1B. The only 2 positions to probably stay about the same are 3B and 2B, and the only one likely to drop is C. If they get a better bench, this offense will probably be in the middle of the league-and if they get Schmidt and Jennings, that could be enough.