gorbs27

Sorry for the delay. Going to take a chance on a player I was hoping would still be on the board. Cleveland will select CB D.J. Hayden from Houston.

After a little heavy thinking, and a certain amount of back and forth, I will take Oregon's Dion Jordan for the Browns.

Had fun doing it last year, so I'm up for it again. I'll take Cleveland again.

Well I had been looking at defensive help for the Browns with this pick, but the value is simply too much to pass at this point. The Cleveland Browns select Oklahoma State QB Brandon Weeden.

This was a bit of a tough one. There are definitely a few ways to go with this pick, but I will go with Mississippi T Bobby Massie. The Browns badly need a RT and I think Massie would be a nice fit in Cleveland.

With the lack of play makers on the offensive side of the ball, the Cleveland Browns will gladly select Baylor WR Kendall Wright.

It may be tempting to go with Justin Blackmon or Ryan Tannehill, but for my money this is a fairly easy decision. Knee injuries are always a concern, but the young man has too much talent to pass on. With the fourth selection the Cleveland Browns select Alabama RB Trent Richardson.

I'm very interested if there is still an opening!

You bring up a good point with the Trop. It's not the greatest of places, but it's not nearly as bad as people make it out to be. You would HAVE to have a retractable roof stadium in Tampa though. It rains just about every day in the summer. A retractable roof stadium would be great. I think it's a shame the politicians there care more about the Yankees than they do the Rays though. The new owners have given nice contracts to Crawford and Baldelli, and had one lined up for Cantu before he forgot how to play baseball. You can do a lot of damage to a team like the Rays have by spending a lot of money on mediocre free agents (although the "Hit Show" was mildly amusing). I actually like the way they are doing things right now. They have a massive surplus of position player talent, and if they use those resources properly they will put themselves in a nice situation. Good enough to compete in that division? I still love the Rays, but I'm not sure that will ever happen. They really need to move to the NL to have a real chance in my humble opinion. They do seem to have a stable front office now with solid "baseball people". I would expect them to make serious strides in the next couple years.

As a former resident of the Tampa area, I can tell you Vince Naimoli single-handedly ruined whatever fan base the DRays could have built up before the new administration took over. He not only alienated the fans, but he also destroyed just about ever relationship with corporate sponsors as well. Tampa can surely support professional franchises, as seen with their patience with the Bucs and Lightning. The Rays have spent a ton of money on the minor league system and are also getting more involved on the international scene. If they can keep Kaz and Niemann healthy, and make a smart trade to bring in another starting pitcher to go along with the emergence of James Shields, they have a chance to be a pretty damn good team in the next couple years. As for the Marlins, no one gives a rats ass about them. It's sad, but it's true.

For all those who are pissed about the words on the cover...I think they are referring to having Lou as the manager, not taking a shot at the Cubs. At least that's how I took it. Of course, having seen only the cover I could be way off. It's good to see Lou and Soriano in uniform though.

Well if you believe what management says, the Rays did have Longoria as their BPA. It's not like the Rays have no pitching prospects to speak of. Jeff Niemann, Jacob McGee, Wade Davis, Matt Walker, Jeremy Hellickson, Andrew Sonnanstine, etc isn't a terrible group. They did draft Miller in '03, albeit in the 3rd round. I think it was pretty clear at that time he was headed to UNC. I would think the Rays will do what they always do and go with whoever they think is the best overall player. Should they feel that way about Price, he will be the pick. Just my opinion though. Who knows what could happen between now and June.

Well the Rays haven't spent much on major league talent, but they haven't ever been shy about paying their draft picks. Assuming everything stays where it is now (which is never the case) I don't see the Rays passing on Price.

The Rays aren't going to trade Crawford. If they move an outfielder, it's going to be Baldelli. If they really want to move Upton to the outfield, it would make more sense to put him in left and move Crawford to center. Crawford can (and has) play center, although I'm sure Upton could handle it. As it is, I don't see trading Rich Hill as a good idea for the Cubs. I wouldn't object to moving guys like Marshall, Guzman, Marmol, etc. I'm not sure whether that would tempt the Rays to move Baldelli, but I don't see Crawford being moved.

Career Numbers (admittedly, just basic stats here) Roy Oswalt 93-47, 3.09 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, .255 BAA, 1157.2 IP, 255 BB, 977 K Carlos Zambrano 62-40, 3.27 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, .224 BAA, 954.2 IP, 432 BB, 842 K Carlos does have Oswalt in age, being 4 years younger. Carlos is obviously in a pretty good position to get a very nice deal. In Oswalt's case, I don't think it's a bad deal at all. When you have proven #1 or #2 pitchers in their prime (which I would think Oswalt, at 29, would be in) you normally don't let them get away. I think this was a deal the Astros had to make, especially considering what else they have in the rotation there. I do, however, agree with you Cheapseats that the Astros don't have the team around him to be real contenders. However, with the current state of the national league, it certainly wouldn't take much to get to that level. They are still in the race this year, being three games out of the wild card right now. The NL is a fickle beast right now. One week you think you're done, the next you are talking playoffs (for most of the league anyway). Bottom line here, I don't think this was a bad deal at all for Oswalt or the Astros. I would expect Z to get something similar, but certainly not more than that. I could be wrong though.

Henderson in CF eh? I know I'm a very young 23, but I'd have a hard time putting anyone other than Junior in CF for those that have played in my lifetime. Obviously more stat work would be needed on my part, but an "in the prime" Junior is pretty damn good. Not taking anything away from Henderson though.

Thanks for the welcomes :) . Any time I can talk Cubs, or baseball in general, is a good time. I've been a huge fan of the boards here for a long time, and I figured now would be a good time to jump in. Hopefully I'll be back home in DeKalb in the very near future. Can't wait to get OUT of Florida. How weird is that?

Tough subject for my debut post on the board. For some reason, I have a hard time believing that the Dodgers would trade a Joel Guzman or Matt Kemp for Maddux. In fact, that would be among the dumber things the Dodgers could do IMO. Ronnie, as for Guzman joining the "Terrible Trio" as you call them, one of them won't be there. B.J. Upton has been called up and will be in the lineup tonight for the Rays. The Rays also called up Ben Zobrist, and along with J.P. Howell making his debut with the Rays tonight, I just might have to make another appearance at the Trop this evening. The Rays are going to have to do something with this group, and me thinks that Elijah Dukes' days with the Rays are numbered. Clearly he is very talented. Equally clear are the issues the young man has. The Rays outfield will be crowded enough as it is, and it appears that Guzman is going to get time at 1B and 3B in Durham (I would be willing to bet he ends up playing in Tampa at 1B next season, or at the very least warranting a serious look in the Spring). Just thought I'd toss in a thought or two as I now, along with being a die-hard Cubs fan, consider myself a pretty big Rays fan. Living around Tampa for the better part of my young 23 years will do that to a kid. IF the Dodgers had Guzman or something similar on the table for Maddux, then I can't see how passing that up would be wise for the Cubs. However, as I said earlier, I just can't bring myself to believe the Dodgers would part with prospects of this nature for Maddux. I'm not sure why Mr. Izturis is a Cub now (well, actually, I think most of us ARE sure why he is) and I'm not very happy with this deal. I can understand moving Maddux to a contender if he so desired, but for a guy that I'm sure a few on this board could out-produce with the bat? Just doesn't make much sense to me at this time. On the Walker front, as much as I like guy, I don't have any issues with the move. You never know with young kids, and Ceda has a pretty good arm from the sounds of things. Next year doesn't look very good at the moment, but I can't really complain about the Walker deal.