jersey cubs fan

How does his speed compare to Thomas Jones and Matt Forte? The Bears need a complementary back.

He's probably about the least of mine as well, unless Soto gets hurt. But along with Miles and Gathwright, plus potentially Vizcaino, the Cubs have too many 25th men again.

I couldn't understand why Shonn Greene was never in the discussion for the Heisman and got zero draft talk. I looked at several mocks that didn't have him anywhere to be seen. If all sorts of QBs are putting up ridiculous spread offense numbers, maybe it isn't that much of an accomplishment. Is he going to fall to the 3rd?

My thoughts as well. which means they have nothing to do with Hendry, thus weakening your original argument Not really. Hendry is the one who built the inefficencies into the roster. He's the one who built a team that needed to overpay Soriano and Marquis just so they could have an outfield with some semblence of production and a rotation that could pitch. Hendry has been given the luxury of much greater resources than most other GMs. It's not like this team is cutting payroll. They are adjusting how much they will raise it. Hendry is hamstrung by his own previous decisions, not ownership.

The numbers aren't guaranteed, just the playing time. But I think you can assume pretty good numbers if he plays. It's 300 games over 3 years or whatever you can get.

At least five members have been incredibly rude to me from the get-go. I'm issued a warning for fighting fire with fire. It's beyond ridiculous. Guess if you're not in a clique or a longstanding member, you're not allowed to defend yourself. Oh, you must be talking about the clique of rude welcome party planners. Don't worry, their just messing around. The trick is to keep escalating the war of words, then you are accepted as one of them.

Backup catcher? Are you kidding me? No backup catchers are good hitters, because that's why they are backups. It's possible for a backup catcher to put up competent numbers. Of all the backups, they get the most playing time. Bako has averaged 226 plate appearances the last three year, and had an OPS+ of 28, 42 and 62. Blanco was at 83 last year. The overall catcher production is going to be determined primarily by Soto, but it can be significantly influenced by the backup, or god forbid if Soto gets injured, it will be primarily determined by that backup.

Disagree. It's the players responsibility to make sure what he's taking is legit. But if the supplement did not list an illegal substance and he did his due diligence prior to taking it, how is he supposed to know about it? How do we know he did his due diligence? How do we know he didn't take a supplement with andro so he could use it as an excuse to actually take andro? Players don't have to shop at GNC. It's an unregulated business and the labelling is completely unreliable. Every year we hear about guys being shocked about what was in there supplement. Jim Freaking Miller pulled that crap back in 1999. The bottom line is the players are responsible for what they put in their body. It's not hard to avoid the junk.

That's funny. March is thought of as the best month for sports because of the "interest" of college basketball (along with spring training). September/October are thought of as the best. March is good because NBA/NHL are in the stretch drive and March Madness. But March Madness is the only thing college basketball has going for it. And after week 2 it's anti-climactic and dull. College basketball is interesting for 8 days.

Okay, but would you take it if it was guaranteed to you? I think 100 games of his top level performance could be worth it to a team like the Cubs, with a very large payroll and reasonable depth. Earlier this decade, when the offense was Sammy and nobody else, you couldn't afford to have guys this brittle. But with Soriano, Ramirez, Lee and Soto, and potential for solid contributions from a few others, I think you could afford to get just 100 games (and postseason) from a guy like Bradley. The problem is, he might only give you 50-60 games, considering his past and the fact that he's on the wrong side of 30. I highly doubt he'll play much more than 300 in 3 years, so I think I'd lock that in if I could.

My thought is I hope something is done to fix up the final spots and trades are made so former assets don't just disappear for nothing.

Disagree. It's the players responsibility to make sure what he's taking is legit.

Bradley and Lee aren't HR hitters and we'll have Gathright, Miles, Theriot, Bako, Johnson playing prominent roles on the team. that's about the last thing i'm worried about. I honestly don't think Gathright and Bako will be playing prominent roles. Neither is going to play 100 games (hopefully), but they will both probably get significant time on the field, and, unfortunately, at the plate.

Draft Tex!

Oliver Perez? I doubt you'd get him for much less than what you'd save from Lilly, and I'd rather have Lilly.

18th in GAA, 22nd in save %. I wouldn't call that good, let alone pretty good. What was that before New Years? He had a bad start, but I thought he was playing well until the Winter Classic.

You can still work on the QB position in the meantime, just don't go spending free agent money on old statues. Matt Cassel did well in New England, not because he was some superstar in hiding, but because the rest of the offense was in place. He had a line, he had weapons.

They are only hamstrung for this year, not going forward. It's really not a big deal, especially when they are getting high quality performance at that position. Right, but the problem is they are getting high-level performance from the guy whose contract is expiring. I'm not ready to write off Huet, and perhaps he'll get hot. But I just have no confidence in the guy. Yeah, well they weren't getting high level performance from Khabi until his contract was coming up. Huet has been pretty good.

They are only hamstrung for this year, not going forward. It's really not a big deal, especially when they are getting high quality performance at that position.

That's pretty much my point. While QB is the single most important position, offensive line is arguably the more important position group, as it's 5 players plus multiple backups. And no QB can thrive with a bad line. I think it's foolish to focus all of their attention on QB when the line is as shaky as it is. You've got a left tackle of the future who showed nothing this year despite being drafted because he was closest to ready (but not the one with highest ceiling). You've got very questionable guards, an aging center who hasn't played up to his reputation in 3-4 years and an about to become obsolete right tackle. There is very little youth on this line, and thus, very little hope of internal improvement. Any upgrades are going to have to come from outside the organization, via the draft or signings. I'd much rather keep improving that line and seeing what Orton can do, while developing Hanie and another draft pick, than sign a veteran to play with this same line and get killed.

The other thing is, with all these young guys, eventually (and not too long from now) they are going to have to let guys go because they won't be able to resign everybody. I would actually be fine with them trading some of the young talent. They can still keep the core. But you're probably going to see Havlat walk, and big extensions for both Toews and Kane soon. Then there's a question about Sharp and some of the defenseman, and they already have a big contract for Campbell. The new agreement makes it harder to keep young guys around at really cheap rates like in baseball. On the other hand, I didn't even know Billy Guerin was still in the league. I feel like guys that were veterans when I played NHL96 in college should be retired.

lines are made by professional gamblers who really, really know what they're doing. they also probably noticed that carolina won half of their games by 10 or more points. And Arizona can't win east of the desert.

If I remember correctly, Warner wasn't all that great in his one yr stint with the Giants. So I agree, unless the Bears bring Fitz and Bolden with Warner and perhaps the Vikings or Eagles OL, then making Warner a priority is like giving Verne Troyer keys to a HumVee. I think he was okay, when he played, but he only played like half a season.

Haugh wants Warner at QB next year. I think he's nuts. Warner did well playing with amazing receivers in a controlled climate against the worst division in football. He fell apart when playing at some tougher opponents. He's going to be 38 next season, and as has been often said this year, older QBs don't last in cold weather. Turnover prone older QBs tend to disappoint (Favre). I think Warner would get killed with this offensive line and these receivers. Orton had no time, but he was a young, relatively smart QB who did a fairly decent job protecting the ball and moving around. Warner is a statue who would not have time to wait for guys to get open, let alone the pro bowl caliber receivers he's had at his disposal.

Thanks. Looking at that, Ogun and Tait would cost us a little over $2M in cap space to cut. If we keep them on, it will cost us over $9M in cap space. Definitely cut them and put the $7M in cap room towards a big name FA. Peppers or Gross? The other position look at with a draft pick. Yeah, I cut Ogun because I want an DE in the 1st round. You don't have to start the drafted DE, but he can come in and compete with Anderson, Idonije, and a cheaper DE picked up this offseason. To me, there's no reason to keep Tait. He can only play 1 position at this point (RT), and can't play that too well. He will only get worse with age. I'd like Peppers, but it isn't the Bears M.O. to spend big on other teams' free agents, especially on defense. I'd spend the money on Gross or maybe even Antonio Bryant, but that's about it. The Bears have spent pretty darn big on free agents like Mush and Tait. They also traded for Ogunleye when he was a holdout and they were willing to give him the money Miami would not. They don't generally go for best in breed, but they spend. I think the reason you keep Tait is he's better than St. Clair at right tackle. JSC stinks. I don't care if he can play multiple positions, he's not good at them. I'd be fine with cutting Tait if they had a solid replacement, but I don't see that happening. And it's not like JSC is some young pup, he's only 2 years younger than Tait and will be 31 next season. He's been cut multiple times and the only team that has held onto him for a long time is the team that doesn't know crap about offensive players. I would definitely cut Ogunleye though.