jersey cubs fan

I've heard that the Broncos don't want draft picks. Is that true? I think they want an actual NFL quarterback, but they'd also want picks to try and even out the trade. What I don't think they want is to essentially trade Cutler for Sanchez or Stafford.

No kidding, the inter webs are so much easier to use. Phone books make great door stops. It's so much more convenient to take the 30 seconds to open the book and find what you are looking for than going to the computer. I use whatever shows up at my door once a year, no idea what it is. But it has restaurant listings and liquor stores.

Let his record fall another night. I'm going to the Pru. If I were you I'd want to see it live. I want to see the Blackhawks win a hockey game. It's been several years since I've seen that live, and I don't really care about things like records.

Let his record fall another night. I'm going to the Pru.

When your last franchise QB is Sid Luckman you'd think a different tack might be in order. One would think we'd at least give something like this a try. Throw the house at a franchise calibre QB, just once. See what happens. But. It never goes down like that around here. Instead it's more of the "we need to fix the QB position" rhetoric from the GM, followed by the signing of Basanez-type junk. I agree. The lack of aggression on trying to improve this team at it's MOST IMPORTANT POSITION is quite disturbing. I get that Angelo wants to reward the players in-house, I get it, for the most part I agree with it. You should reward you own good players before going outside the org for players, but when you know for a fact that a QB upgrade is potentially available, I can't see how you let it pass, especially when you have guys like Kyle Orton and Basanez. If Cutler goes to another team for a package the Bears can beat, I would be pissed off. To be fair, this Cutler thing has more or less come out of nowhere, and it's quite recent. There was little to be gained by making offers for him all offseason. That being said, if Angelo isn't in on this, in an offseason where he ignored easy upgrades at receiver, and virtually ignored the offensive line, it will be incredibly disappointing.

Of course the Cubs should. Also make sure to turn off the trade reject option before creating your team.

I think it's rather ridiculous to dismiss the inordinately heavy workload and mistreatment of Prior simply because the evidence isn't conclusive. At his age, the amount of high pitch count games, back to back, and going back in after a shoulder injury, was bound to contribute to injury. It's not just three random games. It was something like a 20-game stretch of just ridiculous treatment. Ask yourself this: Why is a 120 pitch count a high pitch count? I'm not sure why you ask this random quesiton that doesn't address what I wrote in my post. I didn't say 120 was some magic cutoff point. It has to do with the fact that pitching is an inherently risky endeavor, the more you do it, the more you open yourself up to injury. It is unlike any other motion in major sports in that it, in and of itself, can end your career. Most major football injuries involve getting hit by somebody else, or trying to avoid getting hit. But pitching is just a guy injuring himself. Young pitchers are especially vulnerable. You can't just give a guy the ball and tell him to pitch his balls off to a modern major league lineup, where a mistake to the slightest hitter can be put in the stands, and ignore limits. 120 is high because it's more than most are used to throwing and more than most throw. 120 pitches means 120 high intensity pitches, but another 50-100 more warm up tosses in pregame and 10 or more in between innings. It is probably possible to build up stamina and avoid the pitfalls of too much work with time, and proper guidance. But jumping right into the big end of the pool, with a manager who routinely rides his pitchers harder than others, and continuing to have a guy throw after already sustaining a shoulder injury, is just asking for more trouble. Mark Prior was a 120-130 inning pitcher from age 19-21, then, at 22, threw 212 regular season innings, and another 23+ postseason innings, many of them in extremely high intensity situations. Absolutely no care was taken to try and limit the wear on his young arm early in that season, and quite obviously very little thought was put into trying to prevent or monitor injuries, considering he landed on his effing should in the middle of a game and was still thrown out there. Dusty Baker treated an extremely valuable organizational asset with absolute reckless abandon, trying to squeeze every possible pitch out of him early and often, and quite obviously contributing to the destruction of his career.

He's not exactly an ace.

Not really. He's basically in-line with Zambrano and Harden. And even if he doesn't get a lot of games, he can still work on the side in simulated games. We are 3 weeks away, and the USA could be eliminated soon. Plus, it's not like he has to pitch in game 3. Marshall could easily slot into one of those starts, and Lilly can go in game 4 or 5, which are 25/26 days away.

I was referring to fan bases crying out for management to make a trade. I'm sure some of those teams would be happy to trade their guy for Cutler, but I don't see an outcry coming from those towns. The most overwhelming thing I've heard about Jay Cutler from the general population is his sub .500 record.

I like Soto a little lower for a couple reasons. Aside from lessening the perceived dependence on his production, he's also a catcher, who doesn't play everyday. When you insert Bako/Hill into the lineup on his off days, it won't require a big overhaul of the lineup.

Maybe if you just don't use the word [expletive].

Orton + first round pick? I'm awful at these proposals...I have no idea what market value is... It would be pretty high. The question would be, how much of a downgrade would Denver take? Because the teams that truly have franchise QBs for the long term would be the teams who aren't interested in trading. The Broncs would either need to take a lesser QB in return, or an older QB, or one who isn't signed long term anymore, etc. There would have to be a downgrade -- so probably a QB + a pick would be in the ballpark. I have no idea which QB, and what level draft pick. I think it would take Orton, plus this year's 1, plus more, maybe next year's 2. The Bears don't really have any positions where depth is a strength they could trade from, but presumably Denver would be interested in defensive players. Urlacher, Orton and a 2nd? I doubt they'd bite.

Let's take a look at who definitely isn't: Indy New England San Diego New Orleans Pittsburgh Arizona NY Giants Atlanta Kansas City Dallas Baltimore Most likely not: Philly Green Bay Tennessee Cleveland Cincy Washington Houston Might be, but they aren't going to get anywhere: Carolina Seattle Oakland Jacksonville Buffalo Unfortunately, Chicago Now teams that are, have a need and can realistically pull it off: Detroit Minnesota St. Louis NY Jets Tampa Miami San Fran Detroit is the most obvious candidate. With two 1s, they can afford to trade one of them plus more for Cutler. But would he whine about going there? The Bears should offer Urlacher + for Cutler.

Have they had this bad of a stretch yet this year? 1-4 in their past 5, 3-6-1 in their last 10. Losses to absolute crap teams. Their early success was shocking, but perhaps these struggles are more indicative of where this team actually belongs, in the bottom half of the playoff teams.

Jets go receiver, Louis Murphy, FLA

Are there any GM's available on the board?

Completely disagree. When people talk about a player's lack of power, they aren't saying they want everybody to be a 30 HR guy. When a player has such an extreme lack of power as Theriot has, it's a problem. But if all a guy has is some power, it's not like people are in love with him. There really aren't a lot of guys out there having nice careers with absolutely no power. Yes, there are backup catchers and utility players who make some nice coin for a while because they fill a specific niche, but a guy who brings no power and who's OBP relies so heavily on hitting singles just isn't going to hold up over time as a regular contributor. If Theriot has an OBP over .380 again, it would be nice, but just one year prior he was at .326 and one of the most useless regular players in baseball. Personally I don't expect him to repeat his 2008 season, and if he doesn't, he's going to be a drag on the team.

There was a story that he has a sore shoulder, so, yeah, people are talking about him. And while they saved some money, they got worse at the same time, that's just the fact, not complaining for the sake of complaining.

their payroll is around 138 million. and when you have 7 guys on your roster making 10 million and above, 3 million dollars is very significant when it comes to composing your 25 man roster. dude. Which is why it's a damn shame they are wasting nearly $3m on Aaron Miles this year.

Disagree. A guy making the $400,000 minimum is comparable to a guy making $800,000. The higher the payroll, the higher the discrepency of "comparable". For a team like the Cubs, that regularly throws significant amounts of money in the toilet, it's bigger than most. But $3.3m this year is probably beyond the furthest end. The fact that they are owed the same total is somewhat meaningful, especially when you consider the possibility that Miles could be a net negative to the team if they feel obliged to keep him there throughout his age 33 season.

I think it's rather ridiculous to dismiss the inordinately heavy workload and mistreatment of Prior simply because the evidence isn't conclusive. At his age, the amount of high pitch count games, back to back, and going back in after a shoulder injury, was bound to contribute to injury. It's not just three random games. It was something like a 20-game stretch of just ridiculous treatment.

what are you talking about? derosa makes more than two times what miles makes. if you're gonna bitch about trading derosa and signing miles (which is perfectly valid) in the offseason, at least have the facts straight. Jesus, dude - who peed in your cornflakes? Miles is making 2+million and DeRosa is making 5+ million this year. All he said is that the prices were comparable. Yes it's double his salary but in the grand scheme of things when you have players making 15-20 mil, the ~3M difference between the two players is certainly comparable. The Cubs also owe Miles $5m total over the two years. I'd rather pay DeRosa $5m for 1 year than Miles $5m for 2. Although comparable is still probably a stretch when talking solely about their current salaries, $3.3m is a pretty significant gap.

Not sure what's going to happen with the next couple picks, but I may or may not be able to make the Jets pick this weekend if they come back.

I'm assuming they don't even consider 11 pitchers. With Harden's health, Marshall's questionable ability to throw every 5th day, Zambrano's potential slow decline, Dempster's lack of conistent durability, and an overall questionable bullpen, I just don't see them going in with fewer than the "norm".