jersey cubs fan

Dilfer sucks but complaining about him not being 100% positive is ridiculous. When Cutler has a 3 TD 0 INT game for 300 yards or even a game lesser then that but still effective, Dilfer at least in the past would find a way to nitpick him. (cue the part where Jay throws a near INT on a tipped ball "THESE ARE THE THROWS THAT GET HIM IN TROUBLE AND HURT HIS TEAM.") I dont think Jay until recently has had a fair shake in the media after his trade demand and first year with the Bears. The guy has done great with [expletive] parts around him. This is the first year that hes had big boy receivers to work with. that's all well and good, and I agree with a good part of it. But complaining about an analyst not being 100% positive about a player is ridiculous.

The Cubs also named minor league field coordinator Brandon Hyde as the new director of player development, replacing Oneri Fleita.

Dilfer sucks but complaining about him not being 100% positive is ridiculous.

The Yankees aren't in any danger of having the Dodgers overtake them.

Yes I'm sure the town is about to be overrun, never have they seen the influx of sports fans from distant locales such as Cedar Rapids' little sister.

And then..., what? He just disappeared. This is scary.

"just needs to be average" is hardly an easily achieved goal for this group. Above average is probably a bridge too far. The Bears are going to have to make do with a crap line, because a crap line is what they have.

I understand this line of thinking, as the scars from the Joe Carter Era still run deep. However, change "in the booth" to "on the field" and you could be talking about Joe Mather. Things can always be worse. That's no reason not to look for someone better. There's really no comparison to be made about players and announcers though. There's like 5 announcers that don't suck. It's hard to get better.

It may or may not carry over. Preseason record doesn't tell us one way or the other. And your example hardly applies considering the Bears are 2-1. That was just an example showing that preseason play doesnt mean anything. If you go off the assumption that you have to be playing "well" to go 4-0 in the preseason, it means nothing with regards to the regular season success of the team. As far as individual units, how much can you really take out of watching the defensive line going vanilla with no gameplan tailored to the opponent? No disguises, little blitzing, etc. Or the offensive line...are they coming up with a game plan to handle the other team's best pass rusher, or are they hiding that plan so that other teams with elite pass rushers don't have tape on it? And then you consider the fact that as much as the players want to to play as hard as they can, unless you are fighting for a spot on the team or a starting role the intensity is not 100%, not for the opponents, not for the Bears. So you have Bears players playing at 85% running very basic plays out of very basic formations going against a team that is also playing at 85% running very basic plays and this is supposed to tell you anything about the regular season? I think you are taking statements made the wrong way. They looked like crap and if they play like that in the regular season it will be trouble. I made no statement about the likelihood of that happening. The statement was about "if" they played the way they played against the Giants, not that they would.

It may or may not carry over. Preseason record doesn't tell us one way or the other. And your example hardly applies considering the Bears are 2-1.

ESPN signed new deal with MLB.

You question Baez? He's only had 300 PA this year and could use the work. He turns 20 this year and has barely played half a season of professional baseball.

I think your opinion might change with time. I enjoyed him long ago probably based on the fact that he's a former Cub. His biggest flaw is the insistence on describing everybody as being amazing at their jobs. Plus being an alcoholic without the charms of a harmless old man.

Keith Law posted his top 30 for the draft today. I haven't seen it (Insider) but supposedly 3 of the top 4 prospects are college pitchers. I assume that means his top 4 are some combination of Austin Meadows, Ryne Stanek, Sean Manaea and Mark Appel. 1. Mark Appel, RHP, Stanford 2. Ryne Stanek, RHP, Arkansas 3. Austin Wilson, OF, Stanford 4. Sean Manaea, LHP, Indiana State 5. Austin Meadows, CF, Grayson (Ga.) HS

or maybe take a flyer on Tropicana Field. Tampa doesn't seem to be happy with it and a change of scenery could help.

just put up a giant tarp for the rest of this season then build a new dome for next year.

OK but what does that have to do with last weeks preseaon game against the Giants? They looked really bad in that game and if such a thing carries over into the regular season the margin of errors disappears and Lovie is gone.

I was looking at this yesterday after enjoying the recent streak and it's kind of funny that even with the recent really terrific production his K rate is over 30%.

way to go rammy

http://deadspin.com/5938457/david-dejesus-drew-a-walk-and-got-hit-by-a-pitch-during-the-same-at+bat this team is all kinds of fun

Yeah, comparatively speaking this was front loaded. And I'm glad. They have excess cash now, nothing to spend it on and it allows them to keep the total down, plus the out year salaries.

Because he was demanding a [expletive] load of money and the team that took him would have had to commit a large amount of their draft budget to him and they would have had to draft a lot of slot or under slot guys the rest of the draft. I realize he wasn't worth taking later I mean if he was worth the money someone would have taken him where he would have fit into their budget. He just doesnt seem like a tor type to me. But his demands weren't fitting into people's budgets in the new system.

Backloading is good. That is a little bit of an oversimplification. Backloading is not inherently good or bad. My personal preference would be to minimize backloaded contracts on a rebuilding team, but that doesn't necessarily mean it is a bad thing. Either way, it really should not be much of a factor here. Why wouldn't you prefer for a rebuilding team to invest the extra couple million in those rebuilding years to pay for (1) the higher backloaded years, and (2) other stuff with the extra money from the investment. Because in the short-term, with payroll plummeting and no apparent intentions of signing guys now, you can pay guys a little more now, thus leaving more room at the back end when you do want to sign guys. Plus, "other stuff" isn't really a thing. That being said, this contract hardly looks backloaded at all. The climb is very gradual.

I think you've gone beyond splitting hairs there.

This appears to be a major flaw in the study. It's commonly accepted that the "can't walk off the island" mentality is real. So while a non-American born player may be more likely to be described as impatient or over-aggressive, there's a good chance that the description is accurate, which would negate any sort of theory that bias is the reason that description is used.