jersey cubs fan

Not everybody shares that opinion. Dempster didn't pitch particularly well last year, but he was fine in the closer role. Wood has pitched well this year, and will be fine in the closer role as well.

I decided about a year ago to no longer read any of his columns that had anything to do with anything OTHER then Mark Cuban. my hope is his readership will drop soooo low that the Trib will only print his Cuban stuff one can dream. You talking about Mariotti or somebody else now?

He was probably lucky to face the two least patient hitters in the lineup right there.

Seriously. I'd be pissed. It's like Prior after the Giles collision. Sure it may not be a shoulder injury. But if he injures his knee there's no telling how that will affect his motion.

back on the mound? From the sounds of things this was bad. Now it may turn into the best comeback since Pie returned to the field after looking like he lost his nut running to 2nd.

But that can't be true, Jayson Stark said the DBacks led the league in runs. Not only does Stark make his living off listing random pointless stats, but he gets them wrong.

Just making the playoffs isn't the same as winning the NLDS, NLCS and 2 World Series games.

I'm not even sure what this is supposed to mean. Are you making steroid allegations again? No. He's just that hot. My goodness David, how did you not get that joke? Well played Cuse, well played.

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.