jersey cubs fan

Derrek Lee and Ryan Ludwick will lead them to the ring I at least hope they win 82 games this year. Of all pro sports franchises, the Pirates fans (both of them) deserve a winning season and some hope. Completely disagree. They've sucked for 20 years. Big deal. Pirates fans are Steelers and Penguins fans, and their teams have won multiple titles since that time.

It would be cold to send him to Iowa. They would have traded him because somebody wanted him to help them win a pennant.

It seems absolutely ridiculous, since the big name behind it seems to be Trent Dilfer, who is the douchiest douche of all ex-QB douches when it comes to evaluating others QBs.

Angelo madly scrambling to sign 8 more special teams players to 1-year, $3million deals I'm guessing they eat up a decent chunk of that with Forte's extension. Perhaps a good chunk, but not that much. I would like to see them front load the salary portion of his contract so a lot of his cap hit is early on, instead of spread out evenly via a signing bonus.

They said he'd be pitching from the pen when he comes back, so unless Quade pulls a Mateo/Stevens with him, it'll be fine. What are people's thoughts on him pitching in the winter leagues? If the idea is to get him back starting, I do not want to see him in the winter leagues. I feel like there's a greater risk of stupid use and poor monitoring. I'd rather see him work within the organization to strengthen his arm and be prepared to start fresh in the spring. Let him gradually expand his innings and then give him some extended spring training before starting the season in a piggyback situation in the minors. If he's going to be a reliever, go ahead and send him to the winter leagues to get some real work in and then maybe he's a go for the start of next season.

He's also been around long enough to watch the Cubs chew up and spit out those same men. I believe Gillick can see what a challenge this organization is and would want no part of it. Who are all these men? Dallas Green? He landed on his feet. Andy MacPhail went from GM prodigy to Cubs team president and is now Baltimore's boss. He hasn't exactly been ruined. The Cubs have given a former gym teacher, Jim Hendry, an opportunity for widespread respect in the baseball world that has seemingly been untarnished by his failures with the team. I can't imagine any self respecting baseball executive thinking the Cubs are too much of a challenge. They've had incredible front office stabilty for 2 decades and financially secure non-meddling owners.

He owned them in 2009. He could have fired him the day he took over. He should have fired him the first day of the offseason following that purchase and that fact that he didn't fire him last offseason raises huge doubts about his lack of dumbness.

feeling bad has nothing to do with it.

These aren't mutually exclusive statements. The point is Pena wasn't untouchable, it just wasn't worth giving him away.

Plus you know that will fool this [expletive] organization into believing we just got off to a poor start this year because of injuries, and we are so close to being awesome. Going even .500 over the rest of the season would be suicide for the 2012 season. If Ricketts is dumb enough to buy into a 70-92 finish as being close to awesome then the franchise is screwed regardless. The fact that Ricketts was dumb enough to keep Hendry through the first three seasons of his ownership is already a bad sign. 70-92 would mean a 27-27 finish to the season, which could be portrayed by some as vindication that the only thing wrong with the team were unforeseen injuries early on. If Hendry was a lock to be gone, he would already be gone.

I should try it, but they will be able to tell how half heartedly I'd be trying to dump it.

The venn diagram of first basemen who bat seventh and players who other teams have a lot of interest in trading for probably don't intersect either.

ah, sorry, forgot that one. Lose as many games as possible. This will improve the draft pick and maximize chances of a regime change. I feel it's pretty damn unlikely we win enough games to make this season respectable so that's not a concern. Regarding draft position, meh it's a terrible draft next year, and we're talking what a max of 5 spots? I'd rather not go to Albert Pujols to convince him to leave his 80 win team to come to a 60 win team. You have no concern about the potential for lack of regime change?

And my concern is that at this stage the Bears seem to think they can stand pat instead of taking advantage of the 2010 breaks to make a bit of a run in 2011. It's a lot like the 2007 offseason which was more about who they got rid of rather than who they acquired.

Supposedly the Giants want a 1st rounder. That won't happen, but that's what they want. What do the Bears currently have for 2012? All their picks plus the Carolina 3rd?

I wonder what the Giants are going to want for Osi and what Osi would sign for as a Bear. He and Peppers could go ballistic as pass rushers the next 3-4 years.

Yeah, I'm not even sure what the heck he's trying to claim here. That would be more appropriate for Soriano, or maybe Pena, but Ramirez has never been a HR or bust player and he's nothing like that this year.

I [expletive] hate everyone. Who said this? Jayson Stark I was thinking this had something to do with csn chicago or other local outlet. Not surprising from a 30,000 foot national perspective to describe Ramirez that way. Pretty dumb statement nonetheless.

However any Bears fans may feel about that game, from a national perspective most people don't think the Bears belonged on the field and believe they barely showed up until the prevent defense let them back in a little. Most people think the Bears were lucky to win the division and lucky to face Seattle at home in their only win. I don't necessarily agree with the overall sentiment, but I do believe there is something to be said about all the breaks the Bears did get last year and probably won't get this year. I think it's going to be very difficult to repeat an 11 win season and 10 wins remains very much in doubt. If they go back to 9-7, or even 10 wins and miss the playoffs, that's a step back and we are probably looking going into next offseason needing a huge influx of talent on defense, while still having an unsettled offense. My feeling is the Bears needed to utilize this offseason to make great strides on offense so that the pending decline of the defense is more manageable. And barring that, then they needed to add another potential fresh body to help with the coming need for defensive upgrades.

At least the production and/or the weapons. I'd be willing to accept one or the other. But neither shouldn't be an option, and right now we have neither. The notion that they are going to utilize blocking tight ends with reqularity just means even fewer receivers in the pattern. Makes it even easier on the defense. Great pass rushes won't be stopped by a tight end chipping. Your blocking needs to come from your 5 linemen.

I [expletive] hate everyone. Who said this?

Gholston is a good pickup, in theory. It makes sense that a disappointing OLB from a 3-4 could do better as a straight up end in a 4-3 scheme. But if that was the case, he would have showed something as a pass rusher with the Jets. And he showed nothing. Marinelli has been given lots of credit as a guy who can get the most out of players. I think that reputation has taken a hit with the Bears but he's going to have to work all his magic to get anything out of Gholston this year..

They were down 14-0 early and for most of the game, as soon as they made it somewhat interesting they were down by 14 points again.

Chris Williams will need to be resigned this year if that is the case, which means they are going to be paying significantly more for mediocrity. Webb signed a cheap 4-year contract, but if he starts for 1.5 straight years, there's no way he goes into year 3 at the rate he's making. 2011 is probably the worst year ever to be relying on a rookie to have an immediate stable impact, unless you are talking about something like a dominant defensive lineman or talented RB.

Angelo has been so schizo with the way he runs the line. His first ever draft pick was a tackle. Disappointing to some but arguably the right move (even though the actual player never panned out). Then he ignored linemen in the draft for half a decade but kept signing old guys to fairly big offers, which worked in 1-2 year spurts. Now he's spent 2 #1 picks in 4 years on tackles and spent a fair amount on intermediate type free agents prior to this offseason. This year, with half the league being free agents and no big money guys left working on the line, he only replaces one expensive free agent with a less expensive free agent. If you aren't going to spend money on the line and only rely on your internal players, then spend something on a real #1 receiver to help your QB (especially when you trade away such a big time target in Olsen). The only net upgrade to offense appears to be at backup running back. So, if you aren't going to focus on your disappointing offense, go get a big time pass rusher or tackle to boost your defensive line play, purportedly the key to your scheme. If you aren't going to do that, then upgrade your secondary. The Bears have done nothing. They've moderately upgraded backup RB and punter. They replaced their somewhat disappointing but still productive pass catching TE with a really disappointing receiver and they've acquired nothing but gambles on defense. How is this team any better? By most accounts Chicago was fairly lucky to finish with 11 wins last year. They made it to the NFC championship game but were embarrassed there at home. They've been 34-30 over the past four years, 18-14 in the Cutler era. They need to get better, but they haven't, and the problem with that is both the aging core of the defense which can easily fall apart in a hurry, and the need to succeed early in the Cutler era before the push to replace him and start again at the QB position becomes too big to ignore.