jersey cubs fan

The only reason it's not an F is because it hasn't ended yet. Those high risk high reward guys probably aren't nearly as high a reward as we hope they can be. The fact is they needed "known quantities" at a couple spots. The team doesn't suck, but this free agency period did. It reminds me of the post Super Bowl draft which was a disaster - a whole bunch of a cocky "yeah yeah yeah, we don't care what you think we know football players and how to coach them" that blew up in their faces. There's something to be said for finding steals, but those should be the icing on the cake, and the Bears didn't bother to bake a cake this summer.

If a 30 year old coming off TJS with expensive club options gets to be considered part of a team's core, then Dempster, Zambrano and Ramirez can as well.

Why is hitting the only one qualified with timely? Teams can go several entire innings with zero success in hitting and still have a very successful offensive game. Can't say the same for pitching or fielding. You can also have quality hitting without much success (this year's Cubs are probably a decent example). ETA - Not sticking up for clutchiness or whether or not such a thing should merit HOF consideration, just saying the wording isn't unreasonable. Really? You could go innings without any good defense. You could actually have bad defense and not suffer.

Sure, I could see a team like Winnipeg or some other organization looking for headlines (Stanley Cup winning goal scorer) signing him to such a contract, but they seem to have gotten zero "hometown discount" or "sign a year before you actually hit free agency discount". If that's what he could get on the market, let him go on the market.

Why is hitting the only one qualified with timely?

They'll also have lost Pujols. Right, but they'll still have Holliday and Wainwright, along with productive cheap players like Jaime Garcia, Jay and Frese and elite prospects in Shelby Miller and that other guy whose name I can't remember offhand. We have Starlin Castro and Brett Jackson. That's pretty much it. And Garza, Dempster and Zambrano. Soto and Ramirez possibly.

Well it's not just that though. Osi is holding out because he wants to rework his contract. Yeah I obviously understand that. I'm surprised the Bears were in on the discussions because I'd guess if we traded for him Osi would get a contract similar to what Peppers got, and I cant see the Bears committing that much to the defensive line. But seriously, if they had Peppers and Osi on the same line, it would set the entire defense up for awhile. They keep telling us the key to the system is getting pressure on the QB with their front 4. They don't have Harris anymore. Peppers is the only real big money guy. They just drafted a guy who is going to be locked into a rookie contract and have a couple other low income contributors. The secondary is cheap. They didn't spend money on the offense. The key defensive players are kind of old. It could make a lot of sense to spend big on both ends to try and capitalize on their opportunity.

Sharp's price would be diminished this season since he was a free agent to be. In truth, the time to have traded him was right after the Cup. This is a pretty good deal. Sharp can play just about anything the Hawks need him to play, and I think will serve just fine as the 2nd Center until Kruger can take it over (or Mike McNeill if he pans out the way everyone thinks he will). Yeah, he can play a few positions, but none of them at an elite level. He's an acceptable 2nd line center if you can't find a real one. He's a nice player, but a $6m cap hit for the guy as he enters his 30's is a bit much for what he offers.

Lawsuits? Like the one against his father's company? I doubt he's very busy with it. He hasn't had anything to say, but saying things doesn't really matter. He's apparently choosing to wait until the offseason to make any change, at which point we can only hope he cleans house. But there's been no indication that is his plan.

There was also the 1900 or so PA he had in the minors to that point where he wasn't good either. Looks relatively consistent to his 2010 performance to me. But anyway, I'm not even sure what you're arguing, aside from trying to make sure every negative aspect of this discussion is highlighted. No one thinks Colvin should have gotten more PT until now. No one thinks Colvin should be riding the bench right now. No one should think that 100 PA's of Colvin this year(or even the 500 PA's he's had in his MLB career thus far) are proof of anything conclusive about him as a player. So you give him the opportunity to fill in the blanks about his true talent level(whether that's star, scrub, or somewhere in between) that he hasn't had yet this season. What's the issue here? That's quite a little bitchy response from you. Crying about me highlighting negative aspects. Colvin was a 780 OPS hitters in the minors with a sub 200 IsoP, he had like a 950 OPS early in 2010 before fading, but he still ended up with an OPS well over his career minor league numbers due to a IsoP of 250. His total career numbers to date now are a little closer in line with what you could have reasonably expected such a player to do in the majors to this point. The 2010 numbers were inflated and did not earn him any short of extended look of playing like crap this year. He had a chance. He still has a chance. Claiming that Colvin hasn't had an opportunity is nonsense.

There was also the 1900 or so PA he had in the minors to that point where he wasn't good either.

That's a hefty price to pay for Sharp, whom I think I'd have rather traded then extended.

I'm not sure how the heck anybody can possibly think of a scenario in which we can go into 2012 knowing that Colvin is the guy.

Well, he hasn't gotten the chance to prove himself this year, and when he had the chance last year he did prove himself. Not that it's Quade's fault Colvin hasn't had that opportunity, but the fact remains he's had little chance to show his stuff this year. He sucked from day one this year, like over the top sucking.

Why is that? I think it's probably the case where Hendry overvalues him based on his "ability" to rack up saves. Given the unnecessary longterm extension last year I'd bet he just has little to no interest in listening to any offer.

What the hell is interesting about him?

There absolutely is a whole hell of a lot wrong with that.

Not just this season. It's the first 6-HR game since 2006. lol who would've thought that the 6-home run games would come in 2006 and 2011, our two worst offensive teams in the last 6 years. Well we already know that the number 1 problem with the Cubs offense is too many solo homeruns so it goes without saying they'd hit lots of homeruns in bad years.

Yeah I actually think at some point Webb will be decent. He is/was extremely raw last year and forced into a starting role because our GM didnt build a competent line. But putting him at LT is suicide. i would honestly put chris williams back at LT before webb. Tice sounded like his next project is Lance Louis, maybe he plays LG and bumps Williams back out there. But I've got zero confidence in Williams back at LT.

I like how he thinks a 3rd rounder for Olsen wasn't enough. That's a pretty good haul for a good but not great TE. They spent a first rounder on him. And spent a crapload of money on another TE last year. They are both gone because they've done a piss poor job of managing the situation. They spent heavily on Olsen, underutlized him and forced themselves to trade him for a lower return.

http://desmond.yfrog.com/Himg616/scaled.php?tn=0&server=616&filename=5y6ll.jpg&xsize=640&ysize=640 Biggs just tweeted some of what Martz said today about the offense, including praise for Garza, calling Williams elite and asking for more linemen.

What the hell for?

I think it's Angelo. He's generally cautious with a desire to build from within and develop his own picks, and on occasion make big splashes in free agency. The McCaskeys don't seem to get involved at all with the way the team is run on the field.

http://cdn.ksk.uproxx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/LOL-ROB-RYAN.jpg

I made that comment to a Pirates fan last week and they didn't appreciate it. Seriously, that has to be the purpose of the design.