RichHillIsABeast

If Izturis is putting up the ol' .300 OBP line, I doubt he stays in the 2 hole. We have Lou, not Dusty. :D I'd be pretty bummed about Izzy in the 2 hole as well. Hopefully the Cubs scouts are right about DeRosa.

I heard conflicting reports about his velo - I think a lot of that had to do with his sporadic mechanics. He needs to stay consistant with them to keep his velocity up. I think it will help that Boise pitching coach is going to be at Peoria this coming season. Callis didn't answer my Petrick question in the chat. :( But he answered the Samardzija cap question. :D Come on, you can't tease us like that without giving a short explanation. :D Oh, and another waste of time question: And from someone who doesn't follow the Cubs closely but asks questions in a prospect chat: I wish Callis would have answered 3 serious current Cubs questions instead. At least he didn't go on about Jessica Alba. :evil:

A somewhat healthy Floyd really won't help all that much, because that would just be replacing Murton and not all that special. A very healthy Floyd could help a lot, but again, if that just puts Murton on the bench, it doesn't help a lot. But Lou said he's got Jones penciled in as his 5th hitter already. Hopefully that means Murton is the #2 Izturis or DeRosa is batting 2nd according to Lou.

The AFC section of that will defintely be the toughest part. We'll have to wait for the offseason to play itself out to see how tough the NFC will be. I think the Cowboys game could be really interesting depending on what Rivera does. At least we'll have a better idea of how good the Bears really are if they play more quality teams.

I heard conflicting reports about his velo - I think a lot of that had to do with his sporadic mechanics. He needs to stay consistant with them to keep his velocity up. I think it will help that Boise pitching coach is going to be at Peoria this coming season. Callis didn't answer my Petrick question in the chat. :( But he answered the Samardzija cap question. :D

Yup. So did Harris. Disagree. Harris made the pick but then blew his assignment and let the Colts get an easy score. Urlacher said that was a miscommunication that was his fault. Harris thought they were in a different coverage b/c of it.

Yup. So did Harris.

Pretty good article. I think we're in pretty good shape offensively, even if we aren't in the elite. Our pitching should be solid, but not spectacular. It might take another offseason to get this thing sorted out. We certainly won't be losing 90+ games this year.

Beast, i'm not sure I fully agree. Obviously a guy's actual ceiling, if there is any such thing, doesn't change. Whatever Pawelek's optimal potential is is what it was. Questions about whether he's maybe too dumb or too fat or too lazy or too irresponsible to ever approach his ceiling doesn't change what the physical max ceiling might be. So from that perspective, I agree that "Pawalek's ceiling didn't take a hit". But, I don't think that tells the whole story. "Ceiling" is not something exact and quantifiable. Scouts can say "Player X has Ceiling Y". But that is always a matter of perception. And perceptions can change. Rightfully. For either of at least two reasons. 1. The guy's physical capacity changes. Kelton has shoulder problems, so his throwing potential isn't as high as it was once perceived. 2. The physical capacity doesn't change. But the original ceiling perception may have been grossly exaggerated, and with further info you realize better. Examples: Mike Mallory seemed to have MVP Dave-Winfield ceiling when drafted. He's been a very dedicated, hard worker. In retrospect, it's evident that there were some vital capacities for hitting that Mallory never had. Grant Johnson seemed to have a high ceiling when signed. That doesn't seem true anymore. Perhaps injuries have diminished his phyiscal capacity. Perhaps he's just an underachiever, and he's a tinkering-of-delivery away from having the same high ceiling that we once perceived. But it may be that Stockstill simply perceived/projected a ceiling for him that post-surgery was never really there. BA's perception on Paw has changed. Assume that his ceiling is really the same now as it was before, if everything is optimized. It may well be that the updated perception of that ceiling is more accurate now. Perhaps the perception of his ceiling has changed for very good reason? I hope not, of course. I guess his ceiling did take a hit according to BA. If that's the case (they didn't mention it before when ragging on him) then their pessimism is warranted. I still think it's tough to come to camp out of shape and be expected to get your velo back by season's end. It's not just armstrength. It's core. No way you let yourself go and get it back in a couple months, so I'm not too concerned about his ceiling slipping. It seems BA (and Cubs scouts) are. I think Pawelek will come back in shape. His delivery needs to be cleaned up, but that was known back in HS.

I know that's going to be the official accepted story, but I refuse to believe that to be true. A 70+ completion percentage, a 68.3 rating. That's not taking a dump. That's not disaster Rex. That's better than what Roethlisberger did while winning last year's Super Bowl and he doesn't face anywhere near the scrutiny Grossman does. Rex did not have a good game, but he did not crap the bed either. How many turnovers did he have? His completions were largely trivial. How many 1st down throws did he have? 3 turnovers. One of his "trivial" completions was the only touchdown scored by someone not named Hester. How many 1st downs were they able to rush for? How many 3rd down completions did the defense allow? How many times did they just roll aside and let Manning either punch it short or somone run it right up the middle? Grossman looked pretty bad, but the rest of the team basically crapped the bed as well after the 1st quarter. 1 4-yard TD pass in the 1st quarter isn't enough to win a game. I guess he had one non-trivial throw. He certainly didn't allow the offense to move the sticks and eat time, keeping the defense off the field. Grossman isn't the only reason the Bears lost the game, but let's not sugarcoat it. Grossman sucked.

:(

Is it Kruetz or Turner that doesn't want the shotgun?

He was very very bad last night. That's just simply not true. He played well enough to win if the rest of the team wasn't so intent on turning the ball over and if the defense did anything. The defense was ho-hum, Benson didn't show up. No, Rex didn't have a good game, I'd call it below average. But he wasn't very very bad. I know people will push that as the official story, but it's just not the case. 3 turnovers. how many 1st down passes? Completion percentages and QB ratings don't mean a whole lot when your throws don't move the chains.

I know that's going to be the official accepted story, but I refuse to believe that to be true. A 70+ completion percentage, a 68.3 rating. That's not taking a dump. That's not disaster Rex. That's better than what Roethlisberger did while winning last year's Super Bowl and he doesn't face anywhere near the scrutiny Grossman does. Rex did not have a good game, but he did not crap the bed either. How many turnovers did he have? His completions were largely trivial. How many 1st down throws did he have?

I pretty much agree with the above, but a CB should be on our shopping list. Tillman is great at stripping the ball, and super poor in coverage. In any case, it wouldn't hurt to have a little depth in case of injury. It's a little late to start a QB search. Grossman is the man come hell or high water. This team doesn't have a huge window for success. We're not going to be able to draft a QB and waste a season developing him. The vet QB (Griese or other) may be the way to go.

I'm tempted to feel bad for Grossman, but I don't. Dude is in for a rough time. If you're going to call out the media before a game, you'd better deliver.

Is that an accurate statement? I could've sworn that Cooper was the oldest. Nah. He's just the pampered middle son. Poor widdle Peyton.

Maybe, but he's damn good during the game, and that's all I'd really care about. He's an ass Dude's an [expletive] whiner. After every play. Wah wah wah. Great football player. Huge whiner. It was pretty funny when they showed some of his home movies with Eli playing football. He was whining back then too. lmao.

They're the best team in the world. No, they're the winner of the SB, not the best team in football, much less the best team in the world. If that game is played on grass, Bears win. That may sound like sour grapes, but it's true. How about we actually have the SB in football conditions instead of a vacation destination. You don't think playing in sunny conditions without rain wouldn't have helped the Colts either? Both teams had to play in the same conditions out there. And? Some teams are built to compete on tuff and others on grass. Same conditions my hiney. The Bears are a cold weather grass team. The Colts are a turf team. You do know that the Colts play their home games in a DOME right? And like CCP said, this game was on grass, not turf. Meh. I'm talking out my ass. My Bears lost and I'm not feeling too rational at the moment. :(

They're the best team in the world. No, they're the winner of the SB, not the best team in football, much less the best team in the world. If that game is played on grass, Bears win. That may sound like sour grapes, but it's true. How about we actually have the SB in football conditions instead of a vacation destination. You don't think playing in sunny conditions without rain wouldn't have helped the Colts either? Both teams had to play in the same conditions out there. And? Some teams are built to compete on tuff and others on grass. Same conditions my hiney. The Bears are a cold weather grass team. The Colts are a turf team.

They're the best team in the world. No, they're the winner of the SB, not the best team in football, much less the best team in the world. If that game is played on grass, Bears win. That may sound like sour grapes, but it's true. How about we actually have the SB in football conditions instead of a vacation destination.

Well. We prepared for this game like crap. All week long I got the impression the Bears were just glad to be here. Grossman played like *&^#. Two botched snaps? That should never happen. Ever. Much less in the SB. The OL blocked like crap for 90% of the game. Benson getting hurt killed our running game, but that's just how it goes. Hester is the man. Good game dude. Sorry your teammates were too busy dinking around in the media circus to prepare for this game. We blew assignment after assignment and tackle after tackle. Indy is good, but they're not that good.

I took a nap and woke up with butterflies in my stomach. :? Let's go Bears!!

Just like BA hopped off Dopirak and Harvey's bandwagons after multiple struggling seasons? Oh wait. BA is one of the last to ever hop off a bandwagon. They admitted they made a mistake in rating Colvin before the draft (as did just about everyone else). They're off the Pawelek bandwagon b/c of showing up for camp out of shape. Dope and Harvey barely make the list these days. Dope was our #1 prospect back in 2005 (Harvey 3). I think the bloom is off the rose. Not the best guys to back your bandwagon argument. You do realize that BA listens to the Cubs when they create their lists? And it wasn't like Pawelek wasn't demoted to the bullpen during the Boise season after showing up out of shape and not making the Peoria team. The fact that Dope is still at #12 after barely doing anything in 05 and 06 is a good example. What about Mark Rogers with the Brewers? David Kelton in the past? BA always takes a long time to drop the high-ceiling guys (especially if they have a lot of hype or were drafted high), they even admits to it. Pawelek's ceiling didn't take a hit. He only has a makeup issue and was taught a harsh lesson by the Cubs org. Tough love. Callis and the others make it sound like Pawelek no longer has the stuff to be a front of the rotation starter. Bunk. Didn't take them long to drop that high ceiling guy. Pawelek below Harvey? Oh please. One notch above Mateo? lol Dope was also injured, was he not? It's not like he just sucked b/c he couldn't hack it. Some guys BA does stick with far too long. Out of the thousands of minor league players, I'm sure you can find a few of their favs that didn't merit the love.

Just like BA hopped off Dopirak and Harvey's bandwagons after multiple struggling seasons? Oh wait. BA is one of the last to ever hop off a bandwagon. They admitted they made a mistake in rating Colvin before the draft (as did just about everyone else). They're off the Pawelek bandwagon b/c of showing up for camp out of shape. Dope and Harvey barely make the list these days. Dope was our #1 prospect back in 2005 (Harvey 3). I think the bloom is off the rose. Not the best guys to back your bandwagon argument.