jersey cubs fan

I think it has to do with the Palace being occupied on Sunday. IIRC, there's a WNBA game scheduled. Gee, what should take priority?? EDIT - Concert Sunday, WNBA Saturday Yeah, that's not a big surprise. While the playoffs would take priority if scheduling all 3 of those together, the arena already scheduled the other two, and to cancel them or move them would be a big headache for them-so the arena isn't going to want to do that without a big fight. what doesn't make sense is the NBA not scheduling their entire playoff schedule into every arena ahead of time That wouldn't work. To beat events like this, the NBA would have had to block out time on every arena months ago. They wouldn't have known who had HCA or who would even be in the playoffs-so they would have to block out just about every day from an arena for a 1 1/2 month period (even if they know the dates the playoffs start, they have no idea if the team will host game 1/2 or games 3/4, and then the second round simply starts when the first round ends, so that is variable as well). The arenas would never allow that much of the year to be blocked out for only the NBA-they make too much money from too many other things. right I understand the logistics, but the NBA HAS to have some sort of pull with these arenas. What other sport has their playoff schedule dictated by whether or not the Fergie World Tour is in town? Do you think the NBA minds pushing a game to a weeknight?

They can, from time to time, they just have a bad approach at the plate that causes them to look completely impotent.

So it's going to be one of those getaway day games, huh.

Are you in Shea, or watching on TV? I'm in midtown and it's partly cloudy with no rain in sight.

Where's the, "I'm currently sleeping with my boss" or "I'm in the middle of a lawsuit and cannot comment" options?

JC got started on the three martini lunch a little early today.

Did Lou just realize it was a LHP or did DeRosa take that long to convince him he's healthy? He had to already know it was a lefty...Jones was out and Pagan was in. I was kidding.

Did Lou just realize it was a LHP or did DeRosa take that long to convince him he's healthy?

Until they pinch hit.

Can't answer that, but I've never seen him play and he's never been asked to play a position other than catcher and pitcher. He'd have to flop at catcher before he was moved, though. Not really sure how to answer this. Obviously college numbers are better than pro numbers, but he's had the best OPS every year on what is normally a very good Ga Tech team. The ACC is one of the top baseball conferences in the country. He was first-team ACC and ACC rookie of the year his frosh year, and first/second-team All-American his soph year (depending on which publication you read - though inexplicably he was second-team ACC to a Miami catcher with an OPS that was 200 points lower) and this year he's likely to be first-team All American. Last year he was 2nd in OBP and 7th in SLG in the ACC. This year he's 5th in OBP and 4th in SLG. For conference games, he has the best OBP and second best SLG. That's about the best I can do in terms of putting his numbers in the context of his competition. I know I certainly wouldn't be upset if they take him. I go back and forth on draft philosophy. I think it's a huge mistake to always go for the high risk high reward pick early. I think you have to strongly consider both options. If a college hitter truly is a great hitter with a very good shot of being a very good major league hitter, that's hardly a cop-out type of pick. Even if he fails to turn into a hall of fame super star, a perennial all star caliber player still has tremendous value and is more than worthy of an early pick and big financial commitment.

Generally 1 hour, unless Bruce comes on early.

I definitely sympathize with your argument. But one thing to consider is he really does have to have a position in the NL. Is there a real good fallback position that he is expected to play at a good level? Also, while those are great numbers on the surface, what do they look like in the context of his competition?

Psh, nah. Ask any superficial Yankee fan and they will say A-Rod sucks because he hasn't homered in a week. I'm actually surprised we haven't heard anything out of New York about ARod yet. He has 1 home run and 5 RBI's in 3 1/2 weeks. In May he's got a line of .236/.354/.327/.681. The talk has started. Speculation has the boo birds coming out in full force if he doesn't pick it back up against the Mets this weekend. The Boston series Monday-Wednesday could see the resumption of hostilities.

That's funny. How about the guy who played for the Bulls part-time last year and then got traded to Phoenix? What about Vince Carter tanking in Toronto? It happens all the time.

no she's some high school girl from california Wow, how creepy can some people get. For the record, I wouldn't do this trade. We don't need to dump Jones for a prospect and have Pie man CF for the rest of the year. If we want to win this year, Jones needs to be in CF over Pie. I don't get how Jones over Pie is the difference between wanting to win or not this year. Jones is no guarantee to do anything.

Wow, Jacque has really faded fast after that brief hot streak. Sub 700 OPS right now as he's just 5 for his last 32.

You mean "I love the Bears, and want to finish my career here, so I'm seeking a trade" doesn't make total sense to you? this points to another problem with the NFL salary system, which is it fosters a complete lack of team loyalty (on both sides of the equation) with owners constantly cutting vets to try to get cheaper production and players constantly chasing the next big paycheck Unlike the MLB and NBA that's all about team loyalty. There's nobody in the NBA who purposefully tanks a season so they can leave and go somewhere else. Yeah, that's a great system. name me the last player in the NBA who tanked a season to go somewhere else Chris Webber.

Besides last night he's been fine. Besides the final score and Rich Hills pitching line, I have no idea what happened last night...way too late. I fell asleep listening to Ron Darling tell Keith Hernandez the benefits of pitching limp wristed. I remember some futile swings and what looked to be the proverbial "pitcher fighting himself" outing from Hill. But that's about it. Oh, and Ramirez making some nice plays.

You mean "I love the Bears, and want to finish my career here, so I'm seeking a trade" doesn't make total sense to you? this points to another problem with the NFL salary system, which is it fosters a complete lack of team loyalty (on both sides of the equation) with owners constantly cutting vets to try to get cheaper production and players constantly chasing the next big paycheck Unlike the MLB and NBA that's all about team loyalty. There's nobody in the NBA who purposefully tanks a season so they can leave and go somewhere else. Yeah, that's a great system.

This is such a one sided blind view of the story. Owners can't just cut on a whim. If they do, most players are just going to sign another bigger deal. The only guys who might lose out in this system are the guys that aren't worth what they are being paid. Being cut in the NFL is not necessarily a bad thing. You can get cut by one team and sign an even bigger deal with another, as long as you are good. But why should a player have to go through that? why sign a 7 year deal if you're going to get cut after 2? Go through what? Free agency? Players love free agency. What are they going through? They should "have to go through that" because the concept of a 7-year contract in anything is absolutely ridiculous. The NFL is a meritocracy, unlike baseball, which is a ageitocracy, or the NBA, which is a hypeitocracy. The fact of the matter is if you play well in the NFL, you get paid. Guys like Lance Briggs choose to gamble and wait for an even bigger payday, and I say good for them. But don't come crying about unfairness in the contract structure. These guys aren't "going through" anything unfair. Even though contracts aren't guaranteed, the fact is owners can't just cut anybody whenever they want, competition from the other teams would destroy them. We're talking about a 52 man roster in a sport that plays 16 regular season games a year, that's twice as many players as baseball and more than 3 times as many as the NBA, and 10% and 19% of the number of games, yet there's still plenty of room for 20-30 guys per team to make millions every year and the sport is run in such a way that unlike the NBA and MLB, they've had no work stoppages or threat of a work stoppage for two decades, plus they have had nothing but constant growth. The pie just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

This is such a one sided blind view of the story. Owners can't just cut on a whim. If they do, most players are just going to sign another bigger deal. The only guys who might lose out in this system are the guys that aren't worth what they are being paid. Being cut in the NFL is not necessarily a bad thing. You can get cut by one team and sign an even bigger deal with another, as long as you are good.

The NFL salary system is the best in sports, by an extremely wide margin. It's not very often that guys pull this with 3 years remaining on a deal. Occasionally you'll get a former superstar like Ray Lewis who is trying to negotiate one last signing bonus early. If you're an NFL owner yes. It's the easiest sport to make huge up front money as a rookie. No other sports allows you to make as much money as soon as they do. The best players get paid the most. It's the fairest system for all. Baseball requires 3 years of service at minimum wage before you even sniff arbitration, and 6 years before free agency. NBA has slotted contracts that don't stack up to NFL contracts, and then it's filled with a bunch of guys making a ton of guaranteed money who aren't any good. Every sports fan complains about athletes who get paid a lot when they aren't any good anymore, yet the NFL actually has a system that takes care of that problem and people pretend it's unfair to the player.

The NFL salary system is the best in sports, by an extremely wide margin. It's not very often that guys pull this with 3 years remaining on a deal. Occasionally you'll get a former superstar like Ray Lewis who is trying to negotiate one last signing bonus early.

Mazzone and Duncan couldn't straighten out Marquis. Didn't he pitch well at the beginning for both and then unravel?

i don't care. the bears overpaid him in the first place based on 2 or 3 games. he should feel lucky that he's starting, i doubt anyone would give us anything for him. Is he playing the Giants this year? No? Oh, so he wont have his usual 4 sack game against them? The Bears are playing the Giants. This story pisses me off. He's got 3 years on a contract and he's looking to get an extension or find a trade? I completely understand doing this stuff with 1 year remaining, but this is just nonsense. He's basically trying to be a free agent, getting permission to talk to every team so he can find one that will overpay him and give the Bears something in return. This can't sit well with Angelo.