jersey cubs fan

The bigger shortstop has been a part of baseball for decades now. I'd hope he'd play in the majors at well over 170 at that height, because you don't get many skin and bones players like that doing much anymore.

Anyone? I know there are more Dunn lovers on this board than in Cinci. I like the guy, just think the hype is overblown and the OBP and OPS are not a strong indication of what kind of hitter he really is. I would love to have him as a run scorer, but would never count on him as a run producer. This is all nonsense. The OBP and OPS tell you exactly what type of hitter he is. And as somebody who gets on base a lot and hits for power, he absolutely is a run producer. If you don't want him because he hits for too low an average and strikes out too much, admit it. But don't make up all the rest of that nonsense.

What are those numbers supposed to represent? Those look like some insane SLG to me.

Really? Chad's been alright, but his success was moderate at best and very short lived. Rivers and Cutler may be good, but neither has done much, and neither has anybody else not bolded.

And Reed Johnson and Fukudome are each hitting .200 over their last 5 games. Let's bench them, too. Fukudome, no. Reed, sure, at least against RHP. Kosuke is a good bet to produce all year as an everyday player, the other two are not.

Potential statutory rape is not personal business, and suing somebody for defamation of character makes all this stuff fair game. McNamee's story has been supported by everybody but Roger and Canseco.

Perfect timing for a DVR fast forward game after softball.

I guess I just dont put much value into it (mock drafts this time of year). things change so much before the end of training camp let alone before the end of the college/nfl seasons. to me, its really an exercise in guess work. I don't think anybody puts much value in it. But I know I'm not alone in wondering what next year's draft will look like right after this draft was done. I'm not dying to know exactly how it will look, but getting an idea of who is around, and where teams are likely to pick is entertaining.

CNNSI has one too...Bears taking Dymetrius Byrd, WR, LSU. It's an exercise in ridiculousness. I don't see the problem. It's an early look at where these guys think the teams will be drafting (ie, how good or bad they will be in 2008), and what players people should keep an eye on this college football season. which is abit ridiculous consider noone has a crystal ball, but fun to do non-the-less Of course nobody has a crystal ball, which is why so many mocks made 2 days before the draft are inaccurate. But it covers two things that fans are always interested in, what players are going to be the best of the best next year, and how will NFL teams stack up against each other.

CNNSI has one too...Bears taking Dymetrius Byrd, WR, LSU. It's an exercise in ridiculousness. I don't see the problem. It's an early look at where these guys think the teams will be drafting (ie, how good or bad they will be in 2008), and what players people should keep an eye on this college football season.

Relievers aren't really good pitchers. They tend to be inconsistent and unreliable. The more of them you use in any given game, the more likely you are to get a horrible performance out of one of them. When you have to take out your bad starting pitcher early after surrendering a run an inning, perhaps you should consider putting your long relievers in early and let them go, you know, long. Or better yet, start them.

Is Ward considerably fatter this year? I don't remember him looking this soft.

That just strikes me as completely unnecessary. Although the situation may well be different behind the scenes. I would have preferred he just say something like no, I don't feel Brian is holding a gun to my head.

It makes plenty of sense. Both have shown they can have success if they have even halfway decent protection. With as weak and porous as the Bears line was, plugging almost any QB would lead to them facing the same damn glaring weakness. Shore up the line, strengthen the running game and Orton and especially Rex can succeed. Rex Grossman and Kyle Ortan are NOT the answer at quarterback. If you want to keep telling yourslef that, then cool. Quite frankly, one of the biggest problems I had with the Bears' draft was that they did not tab Brian Brohm in the second round and they did not draft a project type of QB like Josh Johnson, Kevin O'Connell, or someone else along those lines with one of their late round picks. They might get a passable backup with one of the two guys they tabbed as UDFAs, but there is no heir apparent at starter. I'm glad they passed on Henne and Booty, though. Yeah, I would be frustrated as a Bears fan as well. Even when Grossman has time, he is to inconsistent to be a above average in this league. Might as well try to find someone who can be consistent for when the line comes together, and get better WR's. Its like the are keeping Grossman around to get smoked next year. Rex has already shown he can take a team to the Super Bowl when that team is great on defense and decent at the rest of the offensive positions. He is most likely not the longterm answer at QB, and he's not going to lead a mediocre Bears team to teh promised land. However, he's clearly capable of winning with this team playing at its best.

How many is Theriot up to now?

That pretty much assures that Theriot is the SS tonight. My guess is that Fontenot gets another start at 2B, and Fontenot will be the leadoff batter and Theriot 2nd. I'm under the impression that Fontenot went into Lou's doghouse this weekend.

I could see the PUP for Benson, not because of injuyr, but because no team has signed him after the Bears cut him. I'm leaning more and more toward the idea that they will be cutting Benson. Angelo went from talking about Cedric as needing to improve before the draft, to practically dismissing him after they got Forte. They like Peterson on ST and as a backup. They presumably like Wolfe for his change of pace situation. And considering the RB in the system that Forte is most similar to is Benson, I would think Cedric would be a good candidate to be cut. He probably will be given through training camp to prove he deserves more of a chance. But I could definitely see them cut him before even the first preseason game. I wouldn't like that at all. This is a great time to open this camp up with the position wide open and see some competition. I think we might see a new Benson with Forte pushing him. Or perhaps they both work out and we see what we did with Jones/Benson. At the very least you give him one last year here, I don't know how much lower his value can get. If Forte outright wins the position then great, then we send Benson packing. Lets not put all our eggs in one basket again with a new RB, at least not without a little caution. By the way, what kind of cap issue would we see if Benson was cut? I wouldn't like to see him cut either. But I would assume they would at least open camp up to big-time competition. I've heard people say Wolfe may be on the hot seat, but considering Forte and Wolfe aren't similar at all, I would think Benson would be as good a candidate to be cut as anybody. I can't see them keeping 4 guys, and if Forte looks good, and Benson does not, there's no reason not to cut him. But if this does push Benson to improve, that's a different story. Cedric is entering the 4th year of a 5-year contract, I would not think there would be significant salary cap ramifications to cutting him.

Proud of yourself? a little What about pointing out that if you do a google image search, there was never a time when this woman was attractive. Come on Roger, there had to be better options out there.

Do they hand out ballots at Wrigley? I thought I remember hearing that they haven't done that in the past few years, and if that's the case, that's likely a big reason why because they do it at other stadiums. I think fans at Wrigley aren't given the ballots quite as profusely as they are in other venues. I know when I was in Houston during the voting, they had a big thing on the jumbotron and then at one point in the game passed ballots out and then later collected them. Those pushes in other parks probably are what causes this. Or maybe the Cubs haven't had many good players.

I could see the PUP for Benson, not because of injuyr, but because no team has signed him after the Bears cut him. I'm leaning more and more toward the idea that they will be cutting Benson. Angelo went from talking about Cedric as needing to improve before the draft, to practically dismissing him after they got Forte. They like Peterson on ST and as a backup. They presumably like Wolfe for his change of pace situation. And considering the RB in the system that Forte is most similar to is Benson, I would think Cedric would be a good candidate to be cut. He probably will be given through training camp to prove he deserves more of a chance. But I could definitely see them cut him before even the first preseason game.

'Tis going to be mighty cold out there tonight.

Rosenbloom: I disagree with Rosenbloom. QB is the most important single position on the field. But, as a group, offensive line is more important. An all-time great like Manning is the exception, but more often than not, no matter how good your QB is, he can't do anything without a quality line. The difference between Tackle, and QB/RB/everything lese is simple. The Bears didn't even have a body to fill the tackle position. They actually do have guys who could fill QB/RB and everything else. Tackle was a blatantly obvious priority, and to criticize them for taking one first is asinine. Criticize them for being in a position where they had to take tackle first. But make no mistake, they had to take tackle first. Furthermore, I think it's much smarter to build everything first, and then install the QB. Finding a franchise QB with nothing around him could easily ruin that franchise QB. Teams can succeed, albeit for brief timeframes, with everything else being good and the QB being weak. But no team has gone far with a crappy team led by a great QB.

Angelo has mentioned 4 QBs on the roster on more than one occasion. It would be a waste, but could it happen?

I don't think it's really a crapshoot. It's not science, but some organizations and coaches/executives are better at finding and developing QB talent than others. The Bears, Angelo, Lovie, Turner and the gang are very bad at it. I'm not sure a QB has a higher chance of busting than any random player at any other position late in the draft.

A couple things. Rex is on a 1-year deal. If he reaches his potential, he could easily walk away. Granted, he's likely to give the Bears a discount for being the only people on Earth who believed in him, but it's not like he's locked up for years to come. Secondly, you rarely see an above average QB allowed to reach unrestricted free agency. Teams don't allow good QBs to leave unless they are well past their prime or coming off a major injury (Brees, Culpepper). So, how quick may Angelo's trigger finger be if he considers resigning Rex? If he has a decent training camp, and starts out playing fine (similar to his late season games and the Jets game in 2006), does he consider extending him before the end of the season? If he somehow catches fire I can only assume he'll get a big contract. And of course, if he stinks, he's not getting anything. It probably depends not just on Rex's play, but the team's record. If Rex is decent, but the team is losing, there won't be a rush. If Rex is decent and the Bears are in playoff contention, their will be some incentive to lock him up.