Cubswin11

Or if the refs will call, you know, fouls Low seeds don't usually get calls in the tournament. I know, but there were clearly fouls that were missed there. Kansas will probably come out on a 15-2 run in the 2nd half and put them away. Hopefully Lehigh is summoning their inner Bucknell's in the locker room.

Or if the refs will call, you know, fouls

They still have the talent to give Duke a challenge if things go right. However they could end up losing to Cal by double digits very unpredictable team IMO, which most are in agreement with. How the [expletive] wasn't that a foul on Kansas there under the hoop?

kind of OT, but i cant believe how low hamels is going this season. he's going to be an absolute steal. same with beckett and lilly. Yeah I am in 6 leagues and everyone of them Hamels has gone somewhere in the 9-12 rounds I took him in about half of them, could be a monster steal as his peripherals were better or in line with what he was the year before last he just got a little unlucky last year. Billingsly (sp?) could also be steals he was going 15 round or later in most of my leagues. People are overblowing Hamel's year last year like they are overblowing how "bad" the Cubs were last year when they still won 83 games but the media has made it out to be like we were a 100 loss team last year. Also Soriano in some of my leagues was going near the last rounds, yeah he was out a good chunk and struggled after the knee/leg injury and was bad but he was having a very good start of the year last year and if he can stay mostly healthy this year the production you are going to get out of him for a very late round OF could make him one of the better value picks. Not to mention his lower spot in the order (5-7) which should help him accumulate more RBI's than most years in his career, even though he could see a drop off in runs.

LET'S GO LEHIGH!!! :clapping:

Wouldn't mind that at all, UCSB, Ok St. and San Diego State winning would be great.

I know Soto lost a lot of weight, but dear lord he is [expletive] skinny. This is the first time I have seen a game/video of him in uniform.

I had Northwestern St. over Iowa in 2006. Beat that bro! My brother picked Hampton over Iowa State the year Iowa st. was a 2 and Hampton was 15, he ended up winning the pool and $2000. Still hear about it from him to this day, not that I blame him.

Absolutely correct. Testing is only allowed if there is suspicion. This is pulled directly from the Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program (page 9). mlbplayers.mlb.com/pa/pdf/jda.pdf "B. Drugs of Abuse Except as set forth in Section 3.A or Section 5.B (as to Stimulants) or Section 3.C or Section 4.E, Players shall not be subject to testing for the use of any Drug of Abuse. C. Reasonable Cause Testing In the event that either Party has information that gives it reasonable cause to believe that a Player has, in the previous 12-month period, engaged in the use, possession, sale or distribution of a Prohibited Substance, the Party shall provide the other Party, either orally or in writing, with a description of its information (“Reasonable Cause Notification”), and the Player will be subject to immediate testing or a program of testing, as determined by the IPA, to commence no later than 48 hours after the Reasonable Cause Notification was provided. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if a Party receiving Reasonable Cause Notification disputes the existence of reasonable cause, that Party shall have the right to commence a proceeding before the Panel Chair, as defined in Article XI(A)(9), within 48 hours after receipt of the Reasonable Cause Notification, and the Panel Chair will determine whether reasonable cause exists to subject the Player to testing. No reasonable cause testing of the Player will occur until the completion of the proceeding before the Panel Chair. The proceeding before the Panel Chair may be conducted by conference call at the request of either Party, and shall be completed within 48 hours from the time the Panel Chair was notified of the existence of the dispute. The Panel Chair shall issue his decision within 24 hours of the completion of the proceeding, and if the Panel Chair finds reasonable cause to exist, the testing or testing program, as determined by the IPA, shall commence within 48 hours of his decision. " I did not know that. Would say that the recreational drug usage is relatively high among players in MLB, knowing that they aren't tested for it without suspicion/prior positive tests? I would.

:-s :-k I mean that the Cubs are paying 8 figures to a guy who will likely not be very productive. Imagine if the Cubs offered $20 million for the 2010 version of Pavano. There would be a riot on Addison. Got it

This can't be right. Karl Ravech just said on BBTN that players aren't tested for recreational drugs like marijuana and cocaine per the current collective bargaining agreement. That seems a bit odd to me, no?

:-s :-k

I have a feeling that will be a pick-em game come tip off

Except his contract runs out the same time Pujols's does. I was reading a article about this "rumor" and the author brought up the thinking on the Cardinals side that, yes their contracts go up at the same time, they would presumably sign Howard to an extension, while Pujols will be looking for a Arod type deal (10 years $200m+) while Howard will likely get half of that (4-5 years 75-100m). He was saying it's the Cardinals conceding the fact that they can't afford Pujols, but they could trade for Howard and spin it as they got a hometown guy as well as a proven star for Pujols. Don't know if I agree with that line of thinking, but I can understand it I guess...

I think he was yelling at the refs to count it. Obviously the refs are going to the monitors and make the right call. Thad's such an ass. Yeah I don't know what the eff he's doing there. Probably yelling at the ref on the scores table telling him to count it. What an [expletive]

So the Harangody lovevest can end any time now ESPN. ND can clearly compete with and/or without him.

2-2 with a Single, HR, BB, 2 R and 2 RBI :oldbluekoolaid:

Probably drops them to a 5-6 seed? Maybe a 4 if the rest of the tournaments play out without many upsets?

I wouldn't go as far as to say Castro would have better defense than Fontenot immediately and Castro's speed isn't the greatest. Considering his prior experience at the upper levels, he needs to start in the minors, but be a possible promotion candidate come June if he's doing really well. With Castro there would be better defense at SS and I would think Theriot is pretty much equal to Fontenot at 2B. I don't see how Castro breaks camp on the 25-man without injuries. If the Fonenot/Baker platoon is scuffling then I could see a call up in mid May or early June. I don't have much faith in Fontenot to even be a average part of a platoon and think at best he is a 24/25 type player on a roster who starts maybe once a week. Castro made 39 errors last year in 119 games. He will probably be a very good defender, but he is by no means a sure thing to be an improvement over Theriot. That is true, but we all know how many errors Lee can save at 1B. I have asked this before on here, and never received an answer, what is the breakdown of fielding/throwing errors for Castro last year?

[expletive] I have never rooted for a Cubs player to fail, but I want Silva to fail so badly just so he doesn't even get near the starting rotation.

I wouldn't go as far as to say Castro would have better defense than Fontenot immediately and Castro's speed isn't the greatest. Considering his prior experience at the upper levels, he needs to start in the minors, but be a possible promotion candidate come June if he's doing really well. With Castro there would be better defense at SS and I would think Theriot is pretty much equal to Fontenot at 2B. I don't see how Castro breaks camp on the 25-man without injuries. If the Fonenot/Baker platoon is scuffling then I could see a call up in mid May or early June. I don't have much faith in Fontenot to even be a average part of a platoon and think at best he is a 24/25 type player on a roster who starts maybe once a week.

I wouldn't mind it at all, is Colvin really that much worse than Fuld in the OF? I mean Fuld is probably a better CF, but we have Kosuke to back up there and I would think Fuld/Colvin are pretty even in LF and RF on defense.

If Silva gives up 6 runs against this sad excuse for a MLB lineup he should be cut no questions asked.

That's virtually the Padres opening day lineup, sub out Gonzalez for Stairs, if anyone is questioning what it means for a team to plan on not competing in a season under Selig's new realignment idea see Padres, San Diego 2010.

Ravens resign Mason, Flacco could be a sleeper option for fantasy QB's this year. Not that he was bad last year, but he could end up a top 5-7 with their receiving core.