jersey cubs fan

Why can't you take into account where a guy plays his home games?

It's Minaya, so center all of your proposals around Latinos, or at the very least, Spanish speaking players. Marmol, Pie, Ceda could be a start. Theriot, DeRosa and Fontenot would be pointless, so Cedeno would be the only IF he'd have interest in. Wuertz and Marquis might be enticing, since they are pitchers and since Marquis is from Staten Island, he's at least not an English speaker. Okay, on a serious note, I think Marmol and Pie would have to be in any proposal. I think you'd have to include a MI and another arm. I don't see them taking Fukudome, as half the point would be to free up salary space. But the main incentive would be to "try something different" so you never know which way they'd go in that scenario.

Your poll question and the questions you inferred in the first post are very different.

I have large doubts that he'll ever be a solid starter and wouldn't mind if they just tried to get the most out of him as a reliever.

What were your expectations? I expected much worse. Now I expect 9 wins, and am hoping for 10. I expected offensive ineptitude and have been surprised by relatively decent play. They do need to get better line play though. Initially 7-9. How can you expect 9 wins, maybe 10 when the team blows a lead almost every time out? Especially now with the obligatory defensive injuries showing up? Because I thought there was a good chance they'd be 1-5 right now. They were 7-9 last year, and this year's team is better. They blow leads I never thought they would have had in the first place. Granted, my adjusted 9 win expectations included yesterday's game, but they can make up for it. They still play 2 against some of the worst teams to ever play football, Detroit and STL. GB and MN are not nearly as good as some made them out to be going into the season. If they beat STL and DET, and split with MN and GB, that's 7 wins already. Their toughest remaining AFC opponents are coming to Chicago, which makes me think they might actually win one against those two teams. They end in Houston, which is not a good football team and should be eliminated from contention by then. And they get New Orleans at home in December. Yes, a sub .500 record is still possible, especially with health involved. But I feel a heck of a lot better about their chances now than I did in August.

when i first saw the highlight of that play i almost fell off the couch laughing. so typically lions. I was at a bar where the Lions/Vikings game was on the TV next to the Bears game. I saw the previous play, and then the end of the safety play and assumed it was a punt gone bad, or maybe even a punter purposefully taking a safety to avoid a TD or something. Speaking of bars, I ended up going to a place called Miami Mike's out near Morristown, NJ. It's a bar attached to a Ramada Inn run by a crazy coked up Dolphins fan who actually wears one of those wristband playbook things QBs wear when they don't know the system very well. It was a good place to watch football, with tons of quality big screen tvs and fans of many teams. But it's packed with Dolphins fans, were challenge only Jets fans for entertainment value when watching games. Bears fans were probably the 2nd biggest group there, and the mood at the end of the early games was crazy, given how Miami and Chicago each snatched defeat out of the jaws of victory.

What were your expectations? I expected much worse. Now I expect 9 wins, and am hoping for 10. I expected offensive ineptitude and have been surprised by relatively decent play. They do need to get better line play though.

Playing on wild card weekend might be their only chance of actually winning a playoff game. The Bears still play New Orleans at home in December, have 5 games left vs their own division, and a game with STL. They can still go 9-3 against the NFC with wins against two playoff contenders in New Orleans and Philly (plus GB/MIN).

The Bears are early 3 point favorites, I would have thought this was closer to a pick-em. Coming into the season I would have been more than happy with a 3-3 record heading into the Vikings game. But with all three losses being nail-biters, I'm pissed this isn't at least a 4-2 team. I don't know there they stand with health. The overpaid corners who can't cover anybody keep dropping like flies. It would be nice if the offensive line could open a hole or two for Forte in the first half this year. They've been okay keeping guys off Orton for 3 seconds, but have done little else. Oh, and Toub, maybe you could figure out a way to keep returns from coming out to the 45 every freaking time.

How long until the Savard firing? He wasn't extended, and is in the last year of a deal, correct? He's never been an impressive coach, and seemed to be more of a name hiring than a real coach. I have to imagine a big part of Bowman's role is telling them whether or not Savard should be kept around. If they start off slowly, Savard is going to be bounced. How long will that take? If they don't start winning games soon, it could be before the end of the month.

If Matt Ryan could start every possession on 3rd and 11 and throw off his heals, he'll win every game. 11 freaking seconds, are you kidding me?

Just to have the chance to go to MSG for either a Rangers or Knicks game would be good enough for me. But you're spoiled I guess. I wish the United Center was built somewhere downtown instead of a place that is essentially devoid of any sort of neighborhood feel. It doesn't have to be trendy or upscale like Wrigleyville, but it would be nice to have some sort of buildup to the game atmosphere. The West Loop is the best option but its still about 1.5 miles from the arena. The free shuttles help though. MSG isn't exactly in a great neighborhood. It's somewhat built up in recent years, but it's kind of dead. It's also nowhere near Madison Square, and is the 4th building with that name. Even moreso than Yankee Stadium - which was at least essentially rebuilt on top of the old grounds, I don't get the infatuation with its history. It's a late 60's building that's really ugly. But the hockey crowds are great. Basketball crowds are a joke.

Not that anybody cares, but with NLCS game 2 potentially being played tonight, I didn't commit to going to this game when I had the chance. Now it's up in the air whether or not I'll be able to go. Usually I attend 2-3 Rangers games a year (free tickets, not free beer - always go with the Molson with the pretzel rod sticking out of the mug handle, just great). It's a good hockey crowd.

You thought there was a letdown after week 1? I respectfully disagree. I thought the Bears played really well and looked focused in that game. I thought the defense was sloppy, maybe lackadaisical. They came out fired up, but way too confident in their ability to just turn it up whenever it mattered. They had a chance to put Carolina away, and just didn't come up with the plays.

Page 2 people, come on. Bears need this game. 4-2 would be a nice cushion if they are going to fight for a playoff spot. Even if they come up short of the division, a wild card slot might open up with the NFC East teams knocking each other around. My only concern with this game is whatever mentality they have going into it. There was clearly a letdown after week 1. They got a little lucky against Philly, and thankfully did not let up against Detroit. They should beat Atlanta, even if the Falcons are fairly decent.

I think we should have a new thread, or change the title. The call to arms thing looks so dorky.

Get used to it. This is the 2nd year, right? I think they were going to get anywhere from 6-8 teams opening in Europe soon.

Dunn is overrated. There's alot of people who consider him to be just a small step behind Pujols as an elite hitter, when he's not even close. He is very good, but calling him great is probably stretching it too much. He's slow, he's one of the greatest defensive liabilities in the NL, and I'd put the over/under on his OPS+ next year at 125, which is very good, but not great. Everyone acts like he's a guy who traditionally puts up OPS+s over 150 or higher every year, when his career high OPS+ is 146, his career average is 130, and his 3 year average is about 127. That's very good, that's not great, and it doesn't consider his other liabilities. He's regarded as comparable in value to players like Berkman, Utley, H Ramirez, Chipper Jones, etc. Some people seem to think of him as highly as Manny (not many, but a few) as a hitter, and he's not even close. I think most people think he's a better hitter than Aramis, who has just as good of a 3 year average OPS+ wise (and, ironically, the exact same OPS+ this year). Aramis is comparable offensively, plays a tougher defensive position and is much better at it. Dunn is likely to get at least 15 mil a year this year, which is about what Aramis gets now. He's not worth Aramis money, not with the other holes in his game. I don't think it's a stretch at all to say that he's overrated. lol...nobody thinks any of those things. Many people act like it. The respect Dunn gets is comparable to those guys. Show me his respect average then. No seriously, you're making crap up.

Wow, dude, sorry no one liked yours. Cause I know mine was OUTSTANDING. I'll have you know I'm a nine year old girl from Zimbabwe Thank you

it never ends

gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Strikeouts are not the issue.

For the record, no, I wouldn't.

Is there anyone against Cuban at this point? MLB owners? With the market the way it is, do they become more willing to accept him? It's easy to be picky when everybody is throwing money at you.

hyperbole galore here. Where? The word many? The fact is he had some horrible caught stealing numbers and other situations where he took himself off the basepaths, far more than should be acceptable. I think he's implying that Theriot's base running gaffes do not take away enough of his OBP for it to be a relevant point. I don't agree with him, but I think that's his line of thinking. correct. Trying to insinuate that he had so many "baserunning gaffes" that it erased a .390 OBP is hyperbole. Hey, I am all for upgrading ss, Cedeno would be a significant downgrade, not an upgrade. First of all, he didn't insinuate that it erased a .390 OBP. He was saying it was a negative effect, which it did. The word hyperbole has no place in the discussion.

And you never said it "erased" his OBP. It affects it negatively.