jersey cubs fan

Football has so many more fast moving parts. Things like possession before a knee hits with three tacklers obscuring the camera makes it very difficult. But baseball replays are so cut and dry it's easy. Fair or foul, safe or out, catch or trap with nobody obstructing the view. Replay technology is so good with the HD picture that it lends itself to complete accuracy. It should work great and not hurt the timing at all, given the times that arguments and umpire huddles already take and how much time it takes between batters anyway. What I wouldn't want is the umpiring crew all leaving the field to watch. That is unnecessary.

Why only one of? You are talking about acquiring an ace.

If you have prolific base stealers (Crawford and Upton) you are going to stand out in the SB category. That's not exactly manager specific. They were really successful at those SB attempts in 2010 (79%). What you don't want is a lot of caught stealing.

probably not. Felix is guaranteed big money for a few years while Castro remains very cost efficient.

Sure. They also have a pathetic roster that could stand to lose just about anyone. So you swap a couple younger guys who don't need to be rostered for some of those older guys. But you could be talking about 4 guys on their active roster next season, plus a guy in Vitters whose best value may be in hiding him on an AL roster.

Fine with me. Add in couple more guys. The point is this system's strenght is its depth and the lower level people. Last year's influx of talent should help them in 2-4 years. The new guys they just hired should be overhauling the system immediately. I completely disagree about your "timing" comment, as the timing here is perfect for the Cubs. It is doubtful that the new braintrust is all that much in love with the Cubs best prospects. The Cubs just spend a boatload bringing in a new wave on talent. They finally have a GM who can make smart moves, and their owner is clearly willing to be creative and supportive of the team's efforts. Theo should finally be able to take advantage of the Cubs resource advantage that Hendry was never able to do, which means you can take advantage of a potential Pujols/Felix offseason haul and completely revamp the team.

Eh, you should be able to retain enough future bullpen arms and role players that you wouldn't overly burden the free agent demand. Jackson, McNutt, Vitters, Barney and Cashner still leaves you with internal options to handle 2B/3B in the short-term (Flaherty/Baker/LaMahieu/DeWitt), an OF of Byrd/Soriano/Colvin/Campana and somebody. Plus your catcher depth. Then you would have a actual ace and stud #2 in Garza. Completely overhauling what your rotation looks like. If you were to acquire him and sign Pujols you are looking at a potentially fantastic 2012 season with more money coming off the books to address 2013 needs.

I don't think you'd have to do Castro if you were willing to give up your best remaining prospects. MY recollection is that Seattle is somewhat defense-obsessed at the moment, which should make them less demanding of Castro.

I literally would not be the least bit annoyed. And if the Cubs ended up with Pujols while they got Sandberg, all the better.

But what is this system? A bunch of mediocre ceilings at the top and quantity over quality. I would be more than happy to let them take just about anything they want, and lots of it, then let Theo's boys bring in fresh meat next June.

Start with Jackson and McNutt. Add in Vitters if they'd take him. From the major league roster something like Barney and Cashner. Anything shy of Castro and Garza would be fine with me. Great chance for the new guys to completely overhaul the system.

Zambrano, Soriano, Byrd and a 3rd round draft pick. Or anything in the Cubs system.

This is expected to be about whether LaRussa will be back or not. unless it is not

cheers tony. have a drink on me

I don't get it

Who gives a [expletive] about experience, its about maximizing your revenue that can be put back into the team. With that said, I highly doubt they will replace the scoreboard, nor would I want that. But, the point of a jumbotron isn't replays or kiss cams, its about advertising dollars. Yeah, that's fine from a non-fan in attendance point of view. But while there the jumbotrons do try and distract to take away from the action on the field. I prefer to not have all that nonsense. What I prefer most is maximizing the Cubs chances, and if that means a jumbotron, so be it.

What's with some baseball fans inferiority complex about football? Why do you care that other people watch NFL coverage? In this day and age of information and entertainment everywhere, you have to compete for attention and expect it to be divided.

the Blackhawks had a longer streak that ended a couple years earlier.

I like replays. What does that have to do with a jumbotron? Jumbotrons are worthless from a fan in attendance perspective.

That would be very ugly, and not very jumbo. I think you need to keep the scoreboard and do the jumbotrons off to the side.

Yeah, it's the only way to go at this point. It's just stupid to give huge contracts to RBs this far into their career. It sucks, but it's smart.

really? how? In all honesty his leftiness is what sticks out most for me when picturing him (other than killing dogs that is)

Barely losing to New England is not something to prop up a team. New England absolutely sucks on defense and they've now lost to Buffalo and Pittsburgh. They also barely beat a horrible Miami team. They are not the superstar team many made them out to be. Dallas is pretty much the epitome of mediocrity in this league, and consistently overrated. That said, impressive win by the Eagles. They have a whole bunch of NFC losses already (3) and for wild card purposes they really need to beat the Bears. However, that division is probably still open to them with a loss. The Giants have a tough stretch coming up, the Eagles still face the Giants, and Philly still has Arizona, Seattle and Miami on their schedule. If they lose to the Bears then they'd only have one loss left to play with and still finish 10-6. Maybe that's New England, which along with the Giants game is probably their only two games left where they will be underdogs (depending on how their season goes). Anyway, after last night the line is 6.5. I view this one as more of a toss-up myself, which means I'd be happy to take those points. Philly hasn't beaten the Bears by more than 4 since 2004, and the Bears are 3-1 against them since that time. They match up well. The big concern is this defense has aged, while safety remains in flux, and Philly's offense is rolling. It could get ugly, but coming off the bye and with the matchup I think the Bears should do well.

Leery?

That answers that. Thanks Kyle! But is it a rule or just customary? Is there anything that forbids multiple payments?