jersey cubs fan

If the Blackhawks get an empty netter to take a 2 goal lead with a minute or more to go, I'd really like to see Foley hold off on calling it a Blackhawks victory. He did that earlier this year with like 2.5 minutes remaining. This game has all the makings of "a Chicago team lined up perfectly with everything on its side to win at home only to come out flat and lose", it scares me. But at lease the Blackhawks have managed to exceed expectations all year, so I'm hoping to see that again tonight.

I guess this definitely means there has to be another move to make room for Wells, which I assume is going to be Bobby Scales. Could they possibly dump Fox?

How was he better in 2008? His AVG, OBP, OPS, OPS+, wOBA, WPA, and most any other metric you can come up with were better than Miles' career numbers. Oh, better than his career, okay. But Miles was better in 2008, he was also better in 2007. Freel is hardly an upgrade to Miles. He's a very similar player who could easily be worse, again.

How was he better in 2008?

Yep. He's basically a crappier version of Mark DeRosa. Jack of all trades and master of none, right? He's not a good defender at any particular position. A moderate upgrade to Jose Macias.

His last two seasons have both been worse than Miles. Given that he is older, and only marginally better for their careers, I'm not so sure he's even an upgrade to Miles.

So the next question is, what is Baltimore's motivation for making this trade? Didn't they have a glut of OF? They don't save any money.

Not really. Being willing to consider joining another team drives up your asking price, that is all.

That article says it's a done deal, no? Might want to change the thread title. It does now, but it didn't before. Doesn't cost the Cubs any extra money. ByeByeBobbyScales.

Yeah, I wasn't directing that comment toward you. I have to believe NHLN is on just about the same number of televisions as Versus, and it's televised locally in both places, so how many people can possibly miss the game if they want to watch it. TSN is somehow affiliated with ESPN, right?

That's ridiculous. The NHL needs to get back to ESPN immediately. Not sure why you'd say it's "not on TV". The game will be broadcast on multiple networks: TSN (HD),RDS (HD),NHLN-US,FS-W (HD),FS-D (HD) That means it will be availabe on Center Ice like all other playoff games that have not been Versus or NBC games (which, strangely enough, has been a lot of Boston games). But it will also be available on NHL Network, which has got to be available on just about every system that provides Versus. That is not to say the NHL has done a good job televising games. ESPN would be most convenient, since it's everywhere, including every hotel and bar. But the game is definitely on television and available to most anybody that would want to watch it.

That's great and all, but we're still talking about 1st round pick superstars vs what the Bears have. Which is an undrafted free agent late bloomer who had a nice career, some middle round picks who are decent complementary players but not stars, and one star who hasn't been the same since a devestating injury a few years ago. Marinelli isn't working with Sapp and Rice. He's working with the Bears linemen.

I feel like Gathright was more or less a panic backup move in case they didn't get Bradley. With the theory being that if they couldn't find that upgrade in RF, they'd have Joey/Reed platoon in center and maybe something like Kosuke/DeRosa platoon in RF.

Please no. This is ridiculous. Trade away DeRosa and end up with Miles and Freel?

Marinelli's reputation goes beyond just what most of the defensive linemen on the team are saying about him right now. Sapp and Rice still rave about him. And you could say the defense in Tampa had some success there for quite a while, if that's what you want to base things on. I have to give more of that credit to Monte Kiffin and Tony Dungy rather than Marinelli. Sure they were good, but they also signed/drafted extremely talented defensive lineman. Marinelli didn't make Warren Sapp. Well-respected position coaches have a lot of say in who teams draft. I know there are multiple players the Titans have drafted because D-line coach Jim Washburn or O-line coach Mike Munchak have said they wanted a certain player and were sure they could mold said player into a star. Warren Sapp was worth the #1 pick in the draft and fell because of drugs. I don't think it takes a brilliant line coach to see that talent. And Rice was hardly a diamond in the rough when they got him either.

I'm glad he's here, but I think defensive improvements will come more from having an offense on the team than any magical techniques he will teach them.

Marinelli's reputation goes beyond just what most of the defensive linemen on the team are saying about him right now. Sapp and Rice still rave about him. And you could say the defense in Tampa had some success there for quite a while, if that's what you want to base things on. I have to give more of that credit to Monte Kiffin and Tony Dungy rather than Marinelli. Sure they were good, but they also signed/drafted extremely talented defensive lineman. Marinelli didn't make Warren Sapp.

Football has a much longer offseason than any of the four major sports, too long actually. It's a shame. It's completely disingenuous to whine about this when hockey and basketball go from October-June, baseball has a much more prominent "training season", everybody plays 6 months and the playoffs last into the beginning of November. You can pretend the media over emphasizes the NFL offseason, but baseball has its hot stove league, daily releases of multiple award winners, winter meetings, GM meetings, owners meetings, arbitration deadlines, first day of free agency, pitchers and catchers report, position players report and spring training. Baseball is discussed February-December every year. January is the only month without much discussion. Football is played September-December, with one month of playoffs and one week into February. The football hot stove league is much less a media infatuation. Most of February and March football is on the backburner. It heats up in April for the draft, but then goes away with only marginal local coverage on things like minicamps. It does not kick back up until July training camp. As a big Bears and Cubs fan, it's pretty clear to me that anybody who complains about an overemphasis on one sport or the other just has a biased dislike of that sport. They all get hyped and try and get as much media attention as possible. February and March are always the lowest traffic months for nsbb every year. It's weird to me, but it's a pattern over five years now. February drives people crazy and March is spring break time.

I'm very skeptical of Marinelli's ingenius schemes and technique. I like that he's the line coach, he adds some NFL coaching experience to a staff that was largely all college guys notwithstanding their time with the Bears. But I don't think Marinelli is going to make much of a difference.

Football has a much longer offseason than any of the four major sports, too long actually. It's a shame. It's completely disingenuous to whine about this when hockey and basketball go from October-June, baseball has a much more prominent "training season", everybody plays 6 months and the playoffs last into the beginning of November. You can pretend the media over emphasizes the NFL offseason, but baseball has its hot stove league, daily releases of multiple award winners, winter meetings, GM meetings, owners meetings, arbitration deadlines, first day of free agency, pitchers and catchers report, position players report and spring training. Baseball is discussed February-December every year. January is the only month without much discussion. Football is played September-December, with one month of playoffs and one week into February. The football hot stove league is much less a media infatuation. Most of February and March football is on the backburner. It heats up in April for the draft, but then goes away with only marginal local coverage on things like minicamps. It does not kick back up until July training camp. As a big Bears and Cubs fan, it's pretty clear to me that anybody who complains about an overemphasis on one sport or the other just has a biased dislike of that sport. They all get hyped and try and get as much media attention as possible.

How does his speed compare to Fukudome? Obviously you'd prefer a CF with top notch defense, but if he can be adequate, and produce something like an 850 OPS (not sure if he can even do that) in CF, he can be an asset, especially in his low compensation seasons.

I'm not bothered that they can't find them, the cheaters design 'em so they can't be detected. That's why masking agents are also on the banned list.

http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/huddleup/2009/05/michael-gaines-sees-great-opportunity-at-tight-end-fullback-with-chicago-bears.html Edited because full back is censored.

You probably have better odds guessing the the lottery numbers than trying to predict what a major league team's bullpen will look like in 3 seasons. And if Jim Hendry is here, you can pretty much guarantee he will trade for a veteran or two and sign a couple free agents as well.

Who cares if they love Manny? They haven't had a lot of big time players to glom onto on that team for a long time. It makes perfect sense why he'd be so popular there in such a short amount of time. I don't know why we're supposed to begrudge a fanbase for loving a superstar. Yeah, I don't get being upset at LA fans. I mean, hey, it's stupid to get emotionally attached to any player, especially a gun-for-hire type like Manny. But the guy was a force and singlehandedly renewed interest in what had been a rather boring and disappointing organization. If Jay Cutler gets caught on the roids and misses the middle of this upcoming season, I'm going to be really angry, and he's not even in Manny's stratosphere.