jersey cubs fan

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.

Bill Freaking Simmons among many others do not get that very simple point. It is the same rules, it's the punishment that has increased.

It is pretty crazy but it's funny that people are acting as though teams are going to randomly be switching sides right in the middle of play. It's going to happen on change of possession, which already involves timeouts most of the time and a complete overhaul of personel coming onto and getting off the field. If one team drives from the 20 to the other side and goes 4 and out on the 1 or something, it will be weird. But most possession changes won't be that dramatic.

Texas is much better at execution.

http://www.312sports.com/images/stories/Bears/ManningHit.jpg Look at that form! Everybody that was whining about how don't lead with your head rules takes away hitting in football need to look at that form. He led with the shoulder, his arms are wrapped. If that was a cheapshot the arms would be tucked in and/or down by the side and his helmet would be in the guy's chest, not off to the side. This is football 101, yet people don't understand what actual tackling is.

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.

Yeah, I just read that. Gene's always like that though. ESPN takes the worst two writers in Chicago (Woj and Rogers...I guess Sullivan could make a case) and lets them be the "Chicago" writers for the national site. Wonderful. They let Morrisey alone.

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.

wild and wacky stuff. Are you not allowed to return picks for TD?

I would probably classify him as high risk, low reward. If Johnson could actually stay healthy (the risk), he's likely to approach a .400 OBP. He won't slug a ton, but a .400 OBP is a pretty good reward if we can get him on a one-year deal. If it's either Davis or Johnson, though, I'd go with Davis for the upside. I'd actually like to see us add both, though, and Davis can fill in when Johnson gets hurt. He was a 4.7 and 5.4 WAR player in 2005/2006. That was a pretty long time ago now, but I would think that is around his potential high reward, probably a tick below. I'd take that. Lee was below 4 in 5 of his 7 seasons with the Cubs.

Why wouldn't you want potential high reward players? This teams needs to take some chances to get better. The other option is locking in mediocrity which is never a good idea. Where did I say I don't want potential high-reward players? I said I don't want Nick Johnson because he's an injury-prone player with a history of wrist injuries that could bring our offense down further if he's not on the field. You said you didn't want a high risk high reward player.

Like I said, if he wants to offer an insane discount, go ahead. That's a $5m average, and he is going to get $5m this year alone. Crap I didnt realize that. I figured it was somewhere around $3 mil. I was thinking 3, 5, 8, 10. in the 4 years or something. So I guess 4, $26m, so maybe 4 $30 mil or 5, 7, 8, 10 each year I think he made like 2.5 this year and would guess he makes in excess of 4.5 next year just through arbitration. Then next offseason will be his last arbitration year, and he will get around $9m if you comp him up against closers.

Why wouldn't you want potential high reward players? This teams needs to take some chances to get better. The other option is locking in mediocrity which is never a good idea.

Like I said, if he wants to offer an insane discount, go ahead. That's a $5m average, and he is going to get $5m this year alone.

Well what do we have here? A contending Bears team in late November. They look pretty pretty pretty good. So do the Eagles. That's why this game is going to be played in the late afternoon slot toward the end of a very lovely and long weekend of football. The playoff picture might look a little clearer by gametime as NYG/PHI, GB/ATL will have happened by then. If GB loses either in Minnesota or Atlanta, the Bears could be in a fantastic position to put themselves in the divisional driver's seat. Gobble gobble. Hmmmm, turkey. Sorry, I was distracted. The running game has managed to improve a little during this winning streak, but they still only managed 3.4 yards per attempt in Miami. Getting out of a road night game on short rest is almost like stealing a win, because they can go into Philly like they are coming off a virtual bye, with more time to rest and prepare. A few years ago I would have expected Urlacher to shutdown Vick fairly easily. They are going to need their linebackers to move all over the field to contain him and they will probably have to hit him hard to really shut him down. If Vick comes out of the Giants game healthy and the Eagles don't lay an egg, I think they will be favored in Chicago. But I do think it is somewhat favorable that Philly plays a Sunday night rivalry game the week before, Chicago gets a little more rest and Philly has to play the Thursday after this Bears game. If they go into December already with 8 wins, I think Chicago will have a chance to at least host a first round playoff game, and maybe fight for a bye.

That's because they were crappy against the pass for years and at the beginning of this year until turning it around of late. It helps when you don't face any good QBs outside of Rogers.

Wilson, that's a really stupid thing to even attempt to say.

He was gone? Yes, he missed a field goal in the three previous games that he attempted one, and some were not tough.

Three words: Thorough butt whooping

I have no idea what your first sentence means. As for the rest, he isn't relatively consistent from year to year. He was very pedestrian in 2009. He is coming off a career year. The vast majority of these guys are not consistent every year, and that is the reason you don't sign him. Plus, the consistent ones don't walk a million people a year. If Marmol does what he did this year for the next two years, then go ahead and think about a longer term deal. But there is just no reason you sign him now unless he is offering an insance discount just for the security. It has nothing to do with taking line drives off the elbow, it's all about the inconsistency of relievers and his ridiculously injury inviting motion.