jersey cubs fan

Greg Olsen has been a better blocker than Manu this year. Problem with that is Olsen is actually a decent receiver too and can't do both at the same time. I honestly think Manumaleuna could get cut this offseason, he's been that bad. I think he should. There is no reason to keep an expensive blocking tight end on the roster when he doesn't block at an elite level. He never should have been signed, or praised as a great signing, in the first place.

They beat the Jets in NY, which is good enough to be vaulted over one of those teams in the tougher conference with a better record. Additionally, the Jets have lucked out wins in three straight games now. Plus New England has not be that impressive to me, so why not? Really good teams win by large margins. Green Bay has won by 20+ on three occasions, and have outscored their opponents by 100+, the most in football. I see no problem whatsoever calling them the best in football. The storyline of the AFC being better than the NFC by a wide margin this season is just way overblown. Each conference has a very weak division out west, an overrated division out east and a strong mix of solid teams that can all beat each other on any given Sunday.

I think the game is currently off the boards in Vegas, but I did see there was an early line of Eagles -3, which is what I was guessing. But I think it could sway stronger toward Philly in the next coupld days. A 10 point win over NYG without playing all that well is going to impress people, and most still doubt the Bears big time. I think this is a game Philly could win fairly easily, but I also think the Bears have a legit shot, if the defense holds up against that all around attack. I think this is the first time all year they have faced a top RB who also had a very dangerous QB on his team. The Bears defense handled the Giants offense, and while the Giants are a quality running team, Manning is not that much of a challenge to defend. They can't afford to overload against the run and dare Vick to beat them, because he can. I will guess we will see a bunch of blitzes though, forcing Vick to make quick decisions instead of having time to scramble and run or throw deep. Huge game here. A win and they are in the driver's seat for at least the 5 seed. Lose, and they not only give GB a leg up for the division, but they will likely be trailing 2 or more wild card opponents.

I'm a big fan of your posts.

They said they couldn't and quite obviously they cannot since the game is tomorrow.

Has Maddux talked about pitching or is he more interested in the front office game? My impression is he would rather be a GM and/or run a team than be a pitching coach.

The Tampa thing is a convenient excuse for a guy who sees the writing on the wall with a team that may be taking a dive the next couple years.

See I dont know....as much as I ripped on Rothschild at times, you could certainly make a case that he did a good job in most cases. The Cubs have consistently had good pitching staffs almost every year he was the coach, and there has been a lot of turnover yearly on the staff. How he pulled an above average pitching staff last year out of Zambrano, Dempster, Lilly/Colemen, Wells, Gorzelanny/Silva I'll never know. I guess we'll know for sure how good he was next year. I think overall he did a good job, but not an irreplacable one. This team has been consistently on top of the strikeout category, but also the walk totals. They've had some great years, but most of the success came on the arms of some really terrific young arms that also happened to be shredded due at least in part to poor handling by the manager. They also poured the majority of their resources into the pitching side of the equation going back to the day MacPhail arrived. It's not like he's been working with garbage.

The staff could probably use a fresh approach. It's not like they've been trotting out the best pitching year after year. Yankees have confirmed the news.

November 19, 2010 Deadline day for clubs to file reserve lists for Major League club and all Minor League levels. Does this have something to do with them adding Archer to 40 man today?

nope.

Contracts have to be honored and deals in place already can't be up and changed that easily. The end of the European theatre was also six years after it began. And the Marshall plan lasted another four. It's a matter of motivation. As we have seen large mergers can be shotgunned in a weekend when people are motivated to do it. Look how fast the GM bankruptcy went through. I don't believe for one second that we couldn't have two more wildcard teams starting in 2011 if that's what they really wanted. They just want to market it. Mergers aren't shotgunned in a weekend. They are discussed over a long period of time and announced over a weekend, then take a year or more to be approved and another couple years to be fully implemented.

Contracts have to be honored and deals in place already can't be up and changed that easily. The end of the European theatre was also six years after it began. And the Marshall plan lasted another four.

I don't think it could be night and day and still not qualify as at least below average. Angelo was right, to an extent. Time was going to help. But he is wrong that you don't need talent, just time, to turn lines into positives for the team. They still can't run the ball and it's not like Cutler can drop back into the pocket and pick defenses apart. They have adapted, but that is it. As for question 2, I'm not sure he was going to improve it either way.

Miles was signed to play regularly and the plan changed only after he tanked.

Tampa might be there.

Huh?

First of all, none of those guys were unproven when the Cubs acquired them. They all had ML experience with no upside, and all were proven to suck. Hendry just didn't realize that they all sucked because he was enamored with their ability to play multiple positions, sometimes very poorly. Secondly, those guys were all intended to be bench players when they were acquired. Them getting as much playing time as they did was due to injuries and bad managers. Granted, Davis could continue to suck at the plate. He could also get a ton more ABs than he should if the Cubs signed someone else to start ahead of him. But Davis is an entirely different situation. Aaron Miles was acquired to start at 2B the majority of the time. Cesar Izturis was acquired to be the starting SS. Freddie Bynum had less playing time than Davis does already, and Macias was just a little more. It's not like Davis hasn't had significant major league experience. Parts of three seasons and 872 PA. He's not untested.

You mean the same Wildcat that's averaged something like 2 yards a play this year, almost entirely on the strength of last week? I'm a bit suprised they didn't pull it out a little bit, but it's not like it was especially effective or like they had a chance of winning without moving the ball in the air in the first place...which wasn't likely to happen without their best receiver and with the 3rd string center snapping to the 3rd string quarterback. It's still astounding to me that they ran the ball so few times period. I don't get it. I don't get what people don't get. They aren't that great of a running team (below average in yards per attempt and per game) and Chicago is great at stopping it. They were down by 2 scores early in the third and never had the ball. They ran early and got nothing out of it, plus they were sacked and had penalties putting them in long yardage. The only moderate success was short passing early and it was their only hope in winning the game. Some people said it was close late, but they were down by 2 scores before they touched the ball in the third quarter.

He started a season with Murton in LF and no safety net. He purposefully went into a season with Todd Hollandsworth and Burnitz as his corner outfielders. He handed the keys to Corey Patterson, Ryan Theriot and Felix Pie. And this is the first time in his tenure that he is not getting the benefit of an expanding payroll to fill holes. This is a guy with nearly 1000 major league PA, not some random kid. I have a feeling that the emphasis is on pitching this offseason and that he is going to go cheap at 1B. So if he trades for somebody with power and absolutely no patience he might be satisfied. That's my fear, and I really don't see it as unfounded. Jim Hendry sucks at being a GM and I fear what he will do with this team.

When the Bears win I tend to watch and read a lot more media than I normally do just to enjoy it a bit. I saw some Mike and Mike this morning for the first time in years and heard them talk about a rumor that everybody in football supposedly heard but has not be discussed publicly. And that was Cutler told the Bears to stay away from Brandon Marshall. Had people heard that before? I don't recall, but maybe I have. Kind of interesting. I think most of Jay's praise toward the receivers has been just good teammate type stuff and that he has wanted reinforcements. But that's kind of interesting.

What?

Really? I'm thinking I want NYG to win, because the Bears already lost to them and if they have to compete for a Wild Card spot they are screwed. Why? Sure if they tie each other the Giants will get the nod, but if they lose tomorrow the Bears will be a full game ahead of them. I rather fight the Giants for a Wildcard than the Eagles, one because I don't see us beating the Eagles next week, and two because the Eagles have a much easier remaining schedule than the Giants. Basically you root for the Giants if you have faith in the Bears next week, and the Eagles if you don't. Therefore I'm rooting for an Eagles win tomorrow, because I don't see us winning four in a row. Hope I'm wrong though. Why is because a tie is very realistic. Both teams could finish 10-6 or 9-7 and second place in their division and the Bears would be on the outside if it's the Giants. Plus I think the Bears have a realistic shot against Philly. They typically play them well and have won in upset fashion in 2 of the last 3 seasons. I'm not begging for a Giants win, but that is how I'm leaning. Part of that would also be about taking a little air out of Philly after their two recent big wins. Not that it would matter in the game itself but I'd like to see that Philly isn't as good as they were last week, because if they are, the Bears are toast.

I asked that kiddingly and I would hope most people would as well.

If the guy is strictly a bench player, fine with me. But I really fear that's how Hendry would go cheap at 1B for the starter. And that would be a bad idea. This is pretty much how I feel. I fear that Hendry's tunnel vision will prohibit him from seeing some of the other, better options out there and he'll pursue Davis at any cost. I doubt he will pursue him at any cost, my fear is he thinks he might be good enough to allow him to not worry anymore about 1B and just get more mediocre pitching.