UMFan83

Yep. Good to see our old fan favorites like Grace, Maddux and Wood can go elsewhere and win rings.

Apparently the Rockies set a major league record by getting a hit 11 batters in a row. Glad we could take part in history tonight.

YES!!!! It's YOU! And you've put the blame on Dempster for 17 runs scored! If he isn't terrible there are a ton of players who ARE terrible who should be left in Colorado before Dempster

Sean Marshall cannot pitch in Colorado. Career numbers at Coors: 5 G, 2 GS, 8.1 IP, 16 H, 3 BB, 11 ER, 11.88 ERA, 2.28 WHIP He had a "meh" start in his first appearance at Coors (5 IP 3 R, 6 H, 2 BB), and since then his other 4 appearances (including another start last year) 3.1 IP 8 ER, 10 H, 1 BB, 21.60 ERA, 3.55 WHIP. His breaking ball just doesn't break here. No excuses for giving up 5 runs in an inning that eventually plated 12 but still.

I played the "Read the game thread and then try to guess the score of the game" game. I guessed the game was like 11-1. Surprised when I saw it was only 5-2.

Apparently Lilly would mind though. IIRC the Twins are on his NTC list. Yeah, I know. I always wonder though if they change their minds over time. A lot can change, the Twins are in the race and play in a new park. That might matter, then again it might not. Yeah thats what I was thinking with regards to Minnesota. I bet Lilly didn't want to play in the Metrodome.

If the Cubs keep him they WILL offer him arbitration and we'd at least get draft pick compensation. I know that hasn't been Hendry's MO in the past but I don't think even he is stupid enough to let Lilly go for absolutely no return. Hopefully Ricketts wouldn't even allow him to do that. Yeah absolutely. I think the difference between Lilly and Wood is that JH didn't want to pay Wood however much he was getting to close, plus with Wood's injury history and loyalty to the Cubs, there was actually a chance Wood could accept arbitration. In Lilly's case, Hendry doesn't have to have Lilly back next year but probably wouldn't complain if he did come back at all. There's no way Hendry declines to offer him arby.

Don't the Cubs have leverage to just keep Lilly and get Type A compensation for him in the offseason (assuming they offer him arby)? Or are the Cubs really desperately trying to shed some of Lilly's salary to offset the loss of attendance this season?

Hasn't DeWitt pretty much been a left handed Theriot clone?

Thanks guys, didn't realize you could listen to full shows on their site. This is awesome. Edit: "Well then you are fired from sports"

Jeez. If that is the kind of season that loses you money, with 41 sellouts of the biggest arena in the NHL (i think), ridiculous amounts of merchandise sales, 11 home playoff games and a Stanley Cup, then either the Hawks are greatly in trouble as an organization or the NHL CBA really really sucks.

I completely agree with the iffiest team designation. They Bears wouldn't surprise me if they went 12-4, but they wouldn't surprise me if they went 4-12 either. I lean more towards the latter than the former, but not by much...if I had to predict I'd say 8-8.

It only costs them 6 million to keep him next season. Shouldn't everyone not named Castro and maybe Pence be available off of that roster? The Astros don't rebuild. They probably think with Happ instead of Oswalt they save money, get a pitcher who can be decent and hopefully things fall into place and they can contend next year. No one else believes that but they've never had the guts to just dismantle their team. At this point though, I don't see many players outside of Myers that would give them much value. Berkman is old and not the player he was a couple of years ago so his value is much lower. Lee is having a horrific year and makes way too much money to get anything good for him. Pence has value but would you trade a cheap young asset like that? Maybe.

Didn't we do it for cap purposes? Oh well. I'm interested to see what Wootton can do, hopefully he'll get playing time behind Anderson. Last I checked there is no cap this year. That's what annoyed me about it. You make a big improvement in signing Peppers, and then you do away with a lot of your gain by getting rid of Brown. Brown was no star, but he was a really solid player who did good things. I do like Wootton a lot too...or at least am excited to see how he does. Hopefully he can make contributions this season. Just because there is no cap, doesn't mean there is a lack of financial responsibility. They got rid of Alex to save money. I dunno, the Bears have been called cheap for years, and it seems like they make more than enough money to handle Brown's contract, if they are really "going for it". But it's not my money so I guess I shouldn't hold it against them.

Whatever happens, I'll be pretty upset if we trade him just to trade him and get less than we would if he signs elsewhere in the offseason. Not sure who is at fault for not getting a deal done sooner, as there were a lot of decent pitchers out there this deadline, but it would suck to see Hendry make an Izturis like trade at this point.

Didn't we do it for cap purposes? Oh well. I'm interested to see what Wootton can do, hopefully he'll get playing time behind Anderson. Last I checked there is no cap this year. That's what annoyed me about it. You make a big improvement in signing Peppers, and then you do away with a lot of your gain by getting rid of Brown. Brown was no star, but he was a really solid player who did good things. I do like Wootton a lot too...or at least am excited to see how he does. Hopefully he can make contributions this season.

http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2010/07/lovie-says-bears-will-blitz-more.html Wait he's saying that they will be able to blitz more because the front 4 will provide pressure? Shouldn't that mean you need to blitz less? I'd feel a lot better about the D-line had we kept Alex Brown. I'm still extremely disappointed that we cut him for basically no reason.

Wow...Jay Cutler looks surly in that photo. Who'd a thunk it?

I would pay money to hear a tape of this. When B+B find them selves on the right side of an argument with morons, it's just classic radio. It's pretty much the opposite of Dave Kaplan having an argumetn with callers. Because he's usally the one with the ridiculous argument.

Isn't it weird that within the last ~365 days the Phillies have been able to trade for Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay, and Roy Oswalt?

Did you know Cutler had 19 TDs and 3 INTs in games where he threw more TDs than INTs (7 games) and had 3 TDs and 18 INTs in games where he threw more INTs than TDs (6 games). Yeah, that stat is just as pointless as some of the others.

Here's what I think.... Valid points, but being the Bears best WR over the last 2 seasons isn't really saying much. That said, he's definitely been a better receiver than he is treated. I don't think he's a 1 or 2 receiver on a good offense but a pretty good number 3 would be fair. As a 1, he disappeared for long stretches of games, suggesting that he wasn't getting open/wasn't running his routes crisply. He did have some solid games at the beginning of the year last year where we was really making himself visable though. And not just as a deep threat, but over the middle as well. Still frustrates me to no end that he made that extra cut in the open field late in the Atlanta game that I am convinced if he doesn't make, he's gone for a game tying TD. Well I think that Cutler is the type of QB that has his spots and has to hit his spots to be the most effective QB he can be. Grossman was the same way. If you don't have Cutler throwing to spots on the field, he probably becomes extremely conservative dumping off to flats and trying to find the TE. You saw Cutler in some games trying to force everything to the TE because his receivers weren't getting open. But the lack of running game the Bears had last year killed them as well as the opponsing D would constantly only put 4 in the box and 7 out to defend the pass. Bottom line though, there has to be a trust between Cutler and his receivers, or the offense simply isn't going to work. And Martz is only going to make Cutler throw to spots on the field move, as his offense is predicated on making precise routes and throwing the ball before cuts are made. No but I think one thing that hurts the WRs on the Bears (in addition to no running game leaving 7 defenders out in the passing game), is the fact that they have no number 1 receiver to command extra attention out there. In fact they don't even have a receiver can get hot during a given game and demand attention.

Geez there is only around $1.5 million left on Lilly's deal. I can understand the Mets not wanting to do it because at present time they are 1 game over .500 and Lilly isn't going to push them over the edge to get back in the race. But the other teams should have no problem paying $1.5 m and give us a prospect of some sorts.

Yeah however they may be bad, but they've pushed Ethier, Kemp, Loney, Martin, Billingsley, Broxton, and Kershaw through their system over the last 5 years.