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I would agree..and out of those names, I guess I'll go with Arenas. The Colts are looking for depth not starters at CB and they want/need a return man (even though the blocking has been the main problem). So even though Arenas would likely remind me a lot of Tim Jennings on the field, he's the pick here.

I see positives and negatives to it. It's scary messing with such a great thing but it has the potential to be even better with this change. I'm with you in not being against it.

Exile, do you have any thoughts here at 94?

Samardzija does have an option left. They probably kept him both because he has some success in a major league bullpen and because they feel he has improved over the winter. Atkins was probably never an option after his disaster year in Iowa last year..there's probably 5-6 guys who would be a better long term option at this point. Gray had a groin injury and got started so late in the spring that he only got 1 inning before he was sent down. He'll probably have a good shot of coming up when he's ready as he was considered a favorite to win a bullpen spot before the injury.

Here's the follow up to why Kemp and Hernandez might have been released from Arizona Phil: from this link (also where the previous post came from): http://www.thecubreporter.com/2010/03/31/updated-minor-league-camp-rosters?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TCRfeed+%28The+Cub+Reporter%29

I didn't see this posted...this was from Arizona Phil about who got released last week. I highlighted a couple that I know will be of interest to some: CHUCK: The Grim Reaper tapped slick-fielding 21-year old Dominican SS Robert Bautista, 1B-C (ex-3B) John Contreras, 20-year old Dominican RHP Diego Encarnacion, 21-year old Venezuelan RHP Robert Hernandez (considered a fairly decent prospect a couple of years ago before a PED suspension sidetracked his career), 22-year old 5'8 Dutch 2B Dwayne Kemp, veteran AAA RHP Jeff Kennard (who got an NRI to big league camp but got cut early), RHRP Kevin Kreier (5-4 3.77 ERA at Peoria in 2009), RHP (ex-3B) Josh Lansford (son of ex-MLB 3B Carney Lansford), 21-year old Dominican RHP Dionis Nunez (3-3 2.84 ERA at Boise in 2009), 3B Jordan Petraitis (2009 28th round draft pick out of Miami of Ohio), Iowa Cubs RHP Gregory Reinhard (acquired from TB for RHP Jae-Kuk Ryu in 2007), 21-year old Venezuelan OF Kevin Soto, RHP Josh Whitlock (2008 26th round pick out of the U. of West Virginia), Australian OF Sean Williams, and RHP Hank Williamson (7-4 4.93 ERA with 87 K in 84 IP at Daytona in 2009, one of the two pitchers the Cubs got from Baltimore for Felix Pie prior to the 2009 season). The Cubs then re-signed John Contreras (who was converted to catcher a year ago) and it appears that he will be a player-coach with Peoria.

George Mason, maybe. It wouldn't have an impact on Butler this year or next year. They shouldn't really be mentioned with George Mason. Butler would have had a bye this year into the 64 anyways. As far as Sweet 16's it all depends on who they give the byes to and how they sort it out with the last 64. You're right, Butler is damn good and shouldn't be considered a surprise FF contestant, I was trying to get at the Cinderella factor a 96 team tournament is going to kill it. The Cinderellas will have to get through one more game but there will also be more of them. I don't think too many less will end up surviving to later rounds than currently do. Hopefully this also gives more incentive for Big 6 schools to schedule decent mid-majors as well which should give them more chances to get to those protected seeds.

Since Tracy is willing to go to AAA I voted Hoffpauir in the hopes that last year was just a big slump (since he was bad in both Iowa and Chicago) and that he can get closer to where he was in 2007/2008. I don't think it will really matter who gets it though. I bet Millar will have it at first. As soon as they need a backup 3B though, Tracy will come up. Or they might need a backup SS and Barney will come up. Or they may decide they need another OF if Nady can't play the field much and bring up Fuld. Unless Millar gets off to a hot start, that will likely be at the expense of his roster spot. This choice will really only affect the first few weeks.

From what I heard, when the Sweet 16 started here's what businesses wanted: Midwest: Michigan State or Ohio State (not Northern Iowa) West: Syracuse (not Xavier) South Duke (not Purdue or St. Mary's) East: Kentucky or West Virginia (not Cornell) Butler will hurt the receipts from this year's Final Four but many businesses are still ok with them going. They're hoping that the storyline that is being hammered all week about Butler playing in Indianapolis gives the city a higher profile than it otherwise would have in this process. That may lead to increased dollars in the future.

If the Cubs felt his shoulder was bad enough that they had to move him to 1st I doubt they would pick up his option for 2012. That gives you a lot more options only having to deal with that uncertainty for 1 year. As David said though, I'm not sure repeated throwing is going to cause as much of a problem as hitting with it being his non-throwing shoulder. Do the Cubs have an option? I thought it was Ramirez that had an opt out after this year. Ramirez has the option after this year. The Cubs have the option after 2011.

You can't use an average for a skewed distribution like playing time. Looking at the median is much more informative. Or just look at the number of players who actually reach some given portion of the tail (for instance, the 10 years required for HOF eligibility) and use that to estimate. Around 25 eligible members a year is pretty good though. That means 1/30th of the bare major league rosters are retiring with 10+ years of experience every single year. 1/3 of the overall major leagues on their way to at least 10 years of experience when looking at rosters on any given day is pretty good. I'm sure if you looked at every single player that appears during a season the percentage would be way down because of how many players get just a cup of coffee. But for those who can stick 1-2 years they've got a pretty good shot at staying for 8-10. Or we can take a look at the Cubs roster. Right now 7 have at least 8 years of MLB experience. 3 more have over 6 but less than 8. And then I bet at least 2 of Marmol, Marshall, Theriot, and Soto also make it with the possibility of another random 1-2 making it from the other 11 players.

Before last season, didn't pretty much everyone always say that Bradley was a good teammate and well liked in the clubhouse? Yes, but the media could have spun some of the details of the Jeff Kent-Bradley feud in 05 to make Bradley look pretty bad. Was that mostly Bradley's fault? Probably not, but the media could have made it out to be and many people would have bought it.

Like when Paul Sullivan went on a spring training broadcast and called him a crazy person. That's true (and kind was too strong of a word on my part). However, they still didn't go through his past. Can you imagine if someone had wrote an article just detailing every thing Bradley's been involved in during the last 7-8 years? Most of Chicago would have hated him from day one especially if they played up the possible domestic violence calls. And yet as far as I know an article like that never came out. Why are you making it sound like Bradley had this secret past that needed to be exposed by a writer for people to know about it? Everybody knew/knows about Bradley's past and what he's gotten into. Everyone knows about the bottle incident at Dodger Stadium. Everybody knows about the injury with Bud Black. Everybody knows about him going up to the press box. It probably wasn't written about because everybody was already very familiar with his past. Because most people don't follow other baseball teams that closely. They might remember Bradley's name associated with poor behavior and some of them might remember 1-2 of the more publicized incidents (and you probably mentioned the 3 most famous ones) but the most famous ones are not the most incriminating ones. The most famous incidents show that Bradley has a temper. People are willing to give a guy with a temper second chances. Even the use of crazy person is likely to be interpreted by people as referring to his temper because that's what they know about him. What if the media had tried to paint him as a possible abuser whose clubhouse antics already divided and brought down one team and who fought with managers? People are a lot less likely to forgive things like that. Don't get me wrong. The media could have left him alone and things might have gone a little differently last year. However, they really weren't that bad overall. When Bradley came to Chicago, I expected they would be a lot worse and that he'd have to win over the people who couldn't stand him in the beginning. That didn't happen which is why Bradley was well on his way to being liked in the city even after his long slump.

Like when Paul Sullivan went on a spring training broadcast and called him a crazy person. That's true (and kind was too strong of a word on my part). However, they still didn't go through his past. Can you imagine if someone had wrote an article just detailing every thing Bradley's been involved in during the last 7-8 years? Most of Chicago would have hated him from day one especially if they played up the possible domestic violence calls. And yet as far as I know an article like that never came out. There were plenty of ways to use Bradley's history to do hatchet jobs on him while having a thin layer of fact to go along with it. That would have been an easy thing to do if the job was truly to bury him. Why would they bypass golden opportunities like that?

i know you lovvvve to hate milton bradley, but it was obvious the media was out to get him from day 1. I actually thought it was pretty kind of the media to not bring up the details of many of his past transgressions. That could have poisoned many fans to Bradley right from the start who didn't pay attention to Bradley when he was causing trouble in Cleveland and LA both on and off the field and even at home (since a large percentage of fans care about players being model citizens). In other ways they made it more difficult for Bradley right from the beginning and they certainly didn't make it easy for him, but if they were actively trying to run him out of town they did a very poor job of it.

If the Cubs felt his shoulder was bad enough that they had to move him to 1st I doubt they would pick up his option for 2012. That gives you a lot more options only having to deal with that uncertainty for 1 year. As David said though, I'm not sure repeated throwing is going to cause as much of a problem as hitting with it being his non-throwing shoulder.

This. If this team somehow manages to stay in contention until August, at least there will be an obvious spot for them to improve. It really depends on the health of the other pitchers. If the other 4 are healthy, the Cubs are very likely to find a dependable starter out of the quartet of Gorzelanny/Silva/Marshall/Samardzija. Two of those are very good bets to be dependable IMO (Gorzelanny and Marshall) one is somewhat reasonable (Silva) and one is a longshot but still has the capability (Samardzija). If they are needed for 2 spots for most of the season it becomes a little more difficult, but for 1? Sure, an upgrade could always be a possibility but I really doubt it will be a major hole at the end of July.

Gaub was in the last series of cuts. He'd probably be one of the first potential call ups if he gets off to a good start in Iowa. Stevens was sent down in the group before that but will likely be back for at least part of the year. Archer is still a couple of years away.

Caridad, Berg, and Grabow.

Interesting. I like Elston, but I definitely see Watford as the better player both now and in terms of potential. I think the only advantage Elston has over Watford is range. ETA: Elston is also stronger right now, but I expect Watford to bulk up. Elston is way, WAY more athletic than Watford. He's quicker and much springier off the floor. Elston was, however, completely lost on defense this year and methinks he may not be terribly bright (or at least not yet much of a basketball mind). I think the main difference between the two was playing time/opportunity, which I believe Elston's lack of minutes to have been a grievous error on Crean's part. Elston was more effective while on the court than Watford (and arguably moreso than anyone not named Maurice Creek). Pomeroy's advanced stats comport with this opinion: offensive rating (98.0-92.3), effective field goal percentage (50.0-39.8), true shot percentage (52.4-47.7), offensive rebound percentage (13.1-7.7), defensive rebound percentage (18.2-16.5), block percentage (2.8-2.3), and steal percentage (2.6-1.1). (To say nothing of Watford leading the history of the world in getting his shot blocked.) Elston's athleticism -- coupled with a very minimal distinction in skill level, if at all, between the two -- give him the higher upside, and he was actually the more productive player when on the court this year. I would definitely agree that Elston was more effective on the court than Watford this year. But I would say that that was due to how they were used and how they were looked at. Elston is a slightly undersized power forward while Watford is a big small forward. But Watford had to play a lot of power foward this year while Elston rarely ever was forced to play small forward. Also, Watford was seen as one of the big scorers on the court so the team passed it down to him a lot (especially in the middle of the year) when the shot clock was going down and asked him to create tough shots. I like Watford a lot better for a few reasons. One is that he can defend on the court while I don't think Elston ever will be able to. Elston is too small to defend most big men and will get beat off the dribble by wing players. Watford can guard many of those wing players right now and might be able to get stronger to guard those in the post. Second, Watford has much more of a post up game than Elston and I believe that's a tough thing to teach a player. Watford is also an asset on the free throw line which is a big thing when talking about players his size who will probably never be strong enough to finish a ton of plays but will get fouled a lot. Elston did have a strong end of the year at the line but is still unknown on what he can do there. Watford is also better at shooting contested shots than Elston is. The only advantages I can give Elston are 3 point shooting, straight line explosion (Elston is definitely quicker but Watford is much more fluid moving his feet), and Elston showed a good awareness of how to time offensive rebounds. Elston should have gotten more minutes this year and is an asset but I can't see his upside being anywhere near Watford's. Elston is never going to be one of the top two offensive options on the court. He's likely always going to be a stretch the court/energy guy. Watford can be an excellent second scorer on a team while also picking up a good amount of rebounds.

Most of the time, both teams get possession in OT, going by these figures. Hooray for "most of the time"! So, 27% of the time the team that won the flip, went down and scored a FG on the first posession and won the game in OT. That sucks. That's a huge number of times that the other teams offense isn't even getting on the field for an overtime game. And don't forget, the defense is already gimped in OT thanks to the kickoffs being at the 30 instead of the 35. So the team that wins the flip doesn't even have to go as far to get a FG in OT as they would in regulation. The kickoff is at the 30 in regulation as well.

Kind of busy right now and not a whole lot to say anyway. The player at LB I liked is long gone (Daryl Washington) as are most the CB's I'd want to take in the second. All three DT's I mentioned are available, but seems like one would be left in third. Unless I'm missing someone obvious, I'm not much help. I don't see anyone obvious. The Colts love Big 10 players, they aren't afraid of players coming off injuries, and they love players who can be versatile on the line. This player will play on some run downs at DE, possibly some passing downs at DT, and also be a backup in case one of Freeney or Mathis gets hurt. He's not a Colts type of defensive end from the past, but he'll be a nice complement. The Colts select Corey Wootton out of Northwestern.

I have seen it's our turn. I'll wait until afternoon for Exile to chime in and then I'll make the pick.

Interesting. The article says 18 pitchers are left. The active roster though only has 17. Two of those are Guzman and Lilly who aren't opening the season on the active roster. That only leaves 3 pitchers who need to be cut/sent down. One of those will be Mateo. Will they keep Parisi even with a mediocre spring? And is Gray very likely to be ready for the start of the season? Unless there is a supposed 18th pitcher that isn't on the roster, it looks like there is a pretty good idea of how the pitching staff will shake out. Now it's pretty much just who will be in the rotation and who will be in the bullpen.

That article is about Brendan Ryan. Theriot was only used as an example and it didn't say anything about Theriot's performance at SS. That's unless there was something that you didn't quote that was in the article.