UMFan83

This series has set up just like the Vancouver series, with the obvious difference that the Hawks have home ice advantage. In the Vancouver series, it's safe to say we surprised many by taking a critical game 5 in Vancouver. In this series, we only need to take one in Chicago. I just hope the Hawks are fully engaged after being slapped in the face twice, and they don't start getting the impression that because they found a way to dominate Nashville and they are coming home to play this game that they have taken control of the series. I don't think they will, and I'm not sure 100% if I buy into the overconfidence, less than 100% effort thing, but mentally feeling confident might take a slight mental edge that they need. Since Pred fans had fun saying this after game 2, this is now a 3 game series with Chicago having home ice advantage again.

He is having a good time. He doesn't do it in the face of anyone else. With the exceptions of a few stares at the Chicago bench, you hardly ever see LeBron taunt any player or team. And, Taj and LeBron were laughing when they were talking late in tonight's game, so obviously it is all in good fun. I could understand dislike for a guy like KG, but why for LeBron? It honestly makes no sense to me. Especially when you have a guy like Noah on your team. Somehow because he acts goofy off of the court that makes it OK? I thought his comments about Cleveland were pretty hysterical (and, for the most part, true). Also, the whole title argument is a bit of a stretch for a 25-year old kid. I mean, really? And, in case you haven't noticed over the past few years (and game two in this series) LeBron doesn't need someone else to take late game shots. People stopped trying to use that against LeBron about 3 years ago, so you should probably catch up. Again, the LeBron hate is ridiculous. He's cut down on the dancing and all of those shenanigans, but it was equally as ridiculous to see him pulling those stunts out. I like LBJ though. I'm praying that we have a fighter's chance at stealing him away from the hole known as Cleveland. I can understand why someone would think the dances are dumb. But, to dislike LeBron for it is pretty dumb. It's just good fun. I don't get why you are so surprised about this? If Dwyane Wade starting dancing all over the court after destroying the Cavs, you wouldn't resent that just a little? I can see why YOU would think it's in good fun, and it probably is, but when your team just got beat down the last thing you want to see is the opponent dancing and acting all jovial. He's already the damn most talented player in the league and now he has to essentially rub it in. It's one of those things that on paper it doesn't sound like a big deal, but when you are on the losing side of a game and you are already feeling upset by it and then you see the best player in the league dancing around laughing it up, you quickly develop hate.

It's too bad the Brewers have already won a series this year because this will break the string of Cubs series where one of the teams wins its first series. So far all 5 series have had this: -@ Braves (Braves won first series of year) -@ Reds (Reds won first series of year) -vs. Brewers (Cubs won first series of year) -vs. Astros (Astros won first series of year) -@ Mets (Mets won first series of year)

Really? I thought you thought hockey was spelled Hawky. :)

All you have to do is ground down our starters. Sounds simple enough

I hate hate hate hate this crap. Why do conference winners get penalized when (admittedly sometimes better) at large teams with .500 records in the conference get to start in the first round? What is the point of having conferences and championship tournaments? I am sure the teams that have been eliminated in the playin game the last few years will tell you that they didn't feel like they were in the tournament. The teams that won don't feel like they won a tournament game (although I'm sure coaches stress it to recruits). And furthermore, the casual basketball fan could care less about these play in games. I don't think I've watched more than 30 seconds total of play in games. I've never heard anyone talk about these games after the fact. Most people don't even know when the game is played. Wouldn't there be like 500 times more interest if the play in games were betweeen the last 8 at large teams in the field? I would watch that with avid interest. The idea is, yes you are a border line NCAA team, so prove it by beating another bubble team. Of course they don't do this because having more BCS at larges in the tourney means more exposure for them, more money for the schools and more viewers for the real NCAA tournament. But logically, this makes no sense. What if baseball added a second Wild Card team, but instead of having the 2 WCs play in a play in tournament, they chose the 85 win NL Central Cubs and 83 win West champ LA Dodgers to play into the playoffs? There would be outrage. Not entirely the same thing since D1 teams don't all compete on the same level, with the same resources, etc, but its a similar analogy.

And that Cubs win was an extra innings victory over the Cardinals.

They said Z won't pitch out of the pen until Friday though.

Willie Mays Hayes style

So you wish to base the decision on 4 starts rather than 7 years of data suggesting he's the worst option to be moved to the pen. I know you went on to talk about how the move is temporary, but honestly any decision to move your most talented starter to the pen is a bad discussion.

Batting Lenny Harris leadoff is not far worse. As has been proven many times, batting order means little statistically. If you are arguing playing Lenny Harris at all was worse than this, we can certainly have that discussion.

I doubt he's gonna hit .327 or put up a .977 OPS seeing as how he's never done that before in his career, but he might be up some good numbers this year. I think the common fan gave up on him too quickly this year. There was a legit excuse for his struggles last year (knee injury) and we should have owed it to him to at least give him a couple months before deciding he was finished. That said, Soriano definitely did not make it easy on himself by playing historically bad defense all season so far. Bottom line, I would be quite happy if Soriano could put up an .850 OPS for the season.

Thanks for breaking it down for us TT. NSBB needs a lot more of these types of posts on the board.

Hmmm maybe he wasn't finished just yet.

If it makes you feel better (or worse), Jason Marquis in 2007 and Carlos Silva in 2010 are eerily similar. Both had ERA's over 6 the previous season, both acquisitions were greatly panned by most, both times there were reports that Rothschild found some reason why that pitcher was so ineffective, and now both of them starting the season red hot and fans were unsure how to react. Of course, we all know how Marquis' season ended.

Sure, but the Bulls only need to get 1. It's not like the Knicks have a higher max amount they can offer. Let's say Bosh is deciding between the Knicks and the Bulls: both teams can pay him the same. Sure, the Knicks may have also signed someone like a Joe Johnson, but the Bulls already have Rose and Noah. The Knicks aren't really going to blow away anyone in terms of being a destination unless that first max FA is LeBron. Well most likely if Bosh says that he's signing with Toronto unless another team works out a sign and trade for him so he can get his max money, the Bulls are obviously better of there too with actual pieces to offer. And yes the pieces probably matter on paper, but who knows if thats rock solid when FA actually occurs. It's always possible a FA would take the allure of NY over a better situation in Chicago. Not as likely but possible.

Not without a sign in trade in which Deng or Hinrich and some combination went out in exchange. I don't want Wade though to be perfectly honest. Him and Rose's skills will not compliment each other at all and each will be less effective. If the Bulls want the best bang for their buck this offseason (outside of Lebron of course) they should target Bosh as their main FA. Him and Ros playing pick and roll would be awesome. Just add some additional shooters and defenders. After signing Wade or Bosh by the way, we'd have roughly $4.3M to spend on another FA piece. Totally agree on hoping they end up with Bosh as opposed to Wade. Is that $4.3 million with the raised cap? Yes, it is based on a 56.1M cap figure. It also assumes that Chris Richard's salary next year is completely unguranteed, which I assume it is. At worst, you'd have to add an additional cap liability of $380,785, which is the difference of having Richard's salary as a cap hold, and having the minimum salary as a cap hold. Chris Bosh_________$16,568,908 Luol Deng__________$11,345,000 Kirk Hinrich_________$9,000,000 Derrick Rose________$5,546,160 Free Agent_________$4,483,100 Joakim Noah________$3,128,536 James Johnson______$1,713,600 #17 Pick____________$1,302,600 Taj Gibson__________$1,117,680 Min Cap Hold_________$473,604 Min Cap Hold_________$473,604 Min Cap Hold_________$473,604 Min Cap Hold_________$473,604 Total Salary_______$56,100,000 Thanks for that breakdown! Then all we have to do is convince Atlanta that they desperately need Luol Deng and pull off a sign and trade for Joe Johnson, or get a 3rd team involved. The thing that worries me about someone like Johnson is that with NYK out there and able to afford 2 max FAs, they will pretty much make every big name out there (including Johnson, Stoudemire, and maybe even Boozer) a max FA. Because if Miami resigns Wade, Cleveland keeps LeBron, NYK is pretty much going to throw money at people until they get 2 FAs

Every time I think it the organization has hit rock bottom, they manage to find another hole to fall into. Easily the worst decision I've ever seen - 14 games into the season. Arguably every day is a new rock bottom for the Cubs until they win a championship since every day that passes they lengthen the longest championship drought in the history of professional sports. It's just some days they manage to hit a lower rock bottom than other days.

I think if Z was in the bullpen all year and the Cubs made the playoffs, it would be even more insane if they just randomly moved him back into the rotation. The way Z and I guess Lou and Co. is framing this is "Z is a great pitcher, but we have a surplus of starting pitching and our pen is awful so moving him to the pen is the best move", which as we all know is completely horrible. They are framing this not as a demotion but as a shifting of resources. When as we all know, a top of the line starter is probably like (just throwing a random number out there) 5 times as valuable as a good reliever.

Good move. Carlos Silva has obviously proven enough in his 2 starts this year that his entire career to this point was a fluke. Also, it's pretty obviously that Gorzelanny getting drilled in the arm with a line drive will give him super powers. There was just no room for Z in this super rotation.

Anyone intersted in tickets for tomorrow? I bought 2 tickets in the 300 level for the game last week but I had an unexpected expense and now I can't afford them. The face with fees is $50 each, but at this point I'd consider going down to $40 to get rid of them ASAP.

The Reds are going to quickly learn to despise the Cubs if they don't already.

That brings some interesting questions. One of course is which team is supposedly considering, the second is which QB, if any, are the Steelers hoping to nab. I am assuming they aren't considering Leftwich for their long term answer and are interesting in a QB out there.

This is bad news let us die in peace. Our starting pitching is actually ok and doesn't need moves, so it has to be a pen arm and unless you are trading for Jonathan Broxton this is a horrible idea. It can't be for offense, unless its a 2B or SS because the rest of the spots are locked up. So what the hell are you going to trade for and how quickly should vitters pack his bags? If the trade is Heath Bell for Vitters, I will kill myself.

It's the best possible fit for Cromartie, I think he'll have a solid year. He's going to be lined up against all #2's/3's and with the pressure they get it's about as good of a spot as you can have. True, although teams will most certainly try to throw his way more. Looking at the schedule I'm not seeing the Bears having a much more successful year than 09, although it's too early for me to throw out a w/l prediction. To me, it really doesn't matter about the schedule. What matters is how well Cutler does in his 2nd year with the team, and first with Martz, and to a slightly lesser extent, how much of an impact Peppers and Urlacher will have on improving the defense. If Cutler is better, a lot of good things can happen. If not, very little good can happen. Yeah I'm not worried about the schedule....I mean if the Bears are legit good, they can get into the playoffs with a tough schedule. There are tons of winnable games there. Yes it sucks that they have to play both East divisions, which are amongst the toughest in football, but what can you do.