UMFan83

Well this should be expected. The Detroit offense was due to have a big game. We of course weren't because we don't have big offensive games.

W much you wanna bet we lost this like 5-3? This team looks like a bunch of idiots out there between Soriano not knowing how many outs to Fontenot stealing Theriots grounder.

Looks like Shaq is going to Cleveland. If so, he's in for a rude awakening. He's played in Orlando, Los Angeles, Miami, and Phoenix. Now he'd be playing in freaking cold boring Cleveland.

I think this season was given to us to teach us to appreciate a terrific regular season even if it results in a disappointing playoffs. I know I, for one, appreciate last season more now than I did 3 months ago.

LOL. I turned off the tv with the Cubs having runners at 1st and 2nd and no outs. I hop in the car to run errands and turn on WGN hoping to hear we scored. The first thing I hear from Pat is "when's the last time you've seen a fielders choice turn into a double play". And I thought to myself, "yep, these are my Cubs!"

Team just keeps getting more talented by the minute.

I think we do. But that's not saying much... being better than Kevin Gregg isn't much to brag about. My little brother closes for his little league team and I think I'd rather send him out there right now. Little league has closers now??

Hmm... I don't know. What I do know is that one game shouldn't change anyone's opinion on any player.

He's not an elite closer, but he's not paid like one either. He's a decent closer who will get the job done, but he'll make it tougher than you'd like sometimes. Inevitably, that type of closer will blow a few. He's better than a random middle relief pitcher, though. I guess. He doesn't really have closer stuff, he gets behind a lot of hitters and is good for a couple of meatballs in most appearances. Sounds like a middle reliever to me but I could be wrong. I'm going out on a limb here and could be wrong, but would much really be different this year if Aaron Heilman was our closer all year instead of Gregg? ERA+s of 122, 125 and 121 aren't random middle reliever numbers. Those were Gregg's last three season (2007-2009 so far). He had a 110 ERA+ the year before. His biggest problem is walks. Outside of 2004 and 2006 he's never had better than a 2:1 K:BB ratio. He's also had some bad WHIPs in recent years. He'll fall behind guys and he'll walk some guys, but in his time as a closer he's saved 89% of games, 76% of games (hampered by injury that year) and 85% of games. He's generally successful, which is what is to be expected from a non-elite closer. I don't think ERA+ is a good measure of a 1 inning reliever. The K:BB ratio and WHIP is more telling to me.

He's not an elite closer, but he's not paid like one either. He's a decent closer who will get the job done, but he'll make it tougher than you'd like sometimes. Inevitably, that type of closer will blow a few. He's better than a random middle relief pitcher, though. I guess. He doesn't really have closer stuff, he gets behind a lot of hitters and is good for a couple of meatballs in most appearances. Sounds like a middle reliever to me but I could be wrong. I'm going out on a limb here and could be wrong, but would much really be different this year if Aaron Heilman was our closer all year instead of Gregg?

The offense was ok today. At least they have the excuse that they were facing mostly good pitching. I've never heard of the guy that homered off Gregg.

BTW, Gregg did have 10 straight scoreless innings before this one. I guess he was due, if that makes anyone feel any better.

Yeah but Wood was pitching in the National League his whole career, he is adjusting to a new, and more superior league this year. Ignore the games against the Cubs, there was emotional stuff going on right there. Imagine if the Cubs didn't come back in those 3 games last week, we'd be looking at having lost 10 of our last 12 games. This is a game you have to get. And we gave it away. I wish Kevin Gregg would get DFAd. I wish hed be beaten senseless by a pissed off Z. Why beat up Gregg. It's not like he's some awesome pitcher that didn't do his job. He's a below average pitcher who is forced into the bullpen role because he's the best of a bunch of junk.

Dont' worry, they'll be back to full strength just in time to play us. Guess that would even us up for not playing the Rockies when they were playing well. What's our break even for them getting 6 with the Royals every year? Theres none...thats a complete screw job. I was looking the other day, this year the Cardinals took 5/6, outscoring Kansas City 41-13 (I think) in the process. Wow.

Yeah but Wood was pitching in the National League his whole career, he is adjusting to a new, and more superior league this year. Ignore the games against the Cubs, there was emotional stuff going on right there. Imagine if the Cubs didn't come back in those 3 games last week, we'd be looking at having lost 10 of our last 12 games. This is a game you have to get. And we gave it away. I wish Kevin Gregg would get DFAd. I agree this is a game we had to get, and I agree we gave it away. But unfortunately this is a game that is lost because our bullpen, more specifically the closer, simply isn't as talented as it was last year. That's on Hendry above anyone else. This loss made me upset a bit, but not as upset as some of those crappy offensive performances did. With those games, you know the offense should be better and is playing under potential. This game was simply lost because we aren't talented enough in certain departments. If we don't improve in those areas, we're not good enough to make the playoffs anyway and this game is a moot point.

It was a good, crisp game. Gregg is no better than Howry. His pattern is so predictable. He tries to pitch backwards with offspeed stuff in fastball counts and vice versa. The league knows it, and they hit it. Exactly. When he comes through and saves a game, its as likely as your MRP pitching a scoreless 6th...you're probably getting a bit lucky because likely that pitcher is not skilled, the only difference is that with Gregg the game is on the line. Gregg is no closer, but like I said in the Game Thread, other than Guzman, I can't see anyone else to put there. Maybe Marmol but then you lose him in key late game situations so meh. Unfortunately we don't have better options, we're just not good enough in that department.

Dont' worry, they'll be back to full strength just in time to play us. Guess that would even us up for not playing the Rockies when they were playing well.

Yeah but Wood was pitching in the National League his whole career, he is adjusting to a new, and more superior league this year. Ignore the games against the Cubs, there was emotional stuff going on right there. Imagine if the Cubs didn't come back in those 3 games last week, we'd be looking at having lost 10 of our last 12 games.

I really enjoyed the way the game was played before that HR. If I was a fan of neither team I'd say this was a very nice game to watch. The Cubs can't seem to win on the road. 13-20 now. Brewers are losing big, Cardinals are winning 1-0 late.

Closers blow games. Bad closers blow games more often than good ones. Gregg is a bad closer. Can't get mad at Gregg...you know what you are getting from him at this point. He's gonna either walk one batter or take them to at least 3 balls in every appearance, and he tends to miss his spots quite often. Counting on Kevin Gregg to close is basically not a healthy way to be a competitive ballclub. That said, I can't see a better option than him on the team...maybe Guzman but he's disabled right now.

That kinda sucks. I was looking forward to calling this a good win. Get em tomorrow I guess....nothing else to say.

Yup, so the point is...why bother analyzing when you don't know what your talking about? It goes beyond bloggers and into mainstream media. I can't remember how many times the Bears were dismissed in 2006 simply because of the name Rex Grossman. Yes QB is very important and Grossman was a wild mistake prone gunslinger and a below average overall QB but there are 54 other players on a team. There are a few football Gus that know what their talking about and the rest are complete morons.

Were having the same road troubles that we had last year. Tons of close games lost by one or two mistakes. Oh well this isn't over yet.

I'm starting to see blogger predictions for the season popping up lately, and so far everyone seems to be down on the Bears. The thing is, knowing how we've followed the offseason up close, we probably will overrate the Bears, while fans of other teams will probably underrate the Bears. The people that are making these predictions seem to analyze the Bears thinking that they are 2008 Bears - 2008 luck and Kyle Orton + Jay Cutler. Then they say "Jay Cutler is an upgrade but he's not going to pass for as many yards in Chicago. Some of them follow up with a "if they can get Burress or Marshall they could make a playoff run. I swear people that claim to be knowledgeable football fans think that QB + RB + WR is how you judge an NFL team. NO FREAKING CRAP, Jay Culter isn't going to throw for as many yards as he did in Denver. We don't need him too, and that's not why we traded for him. First of all, there are a lot of things to like about the Bears offseason beyond Cutler. First of all, I like the moves that we made on the line and think that will be much better this year. Pace was a good acquisition although we'll be holding our breath on his injuries/age. We also basically have a first round pick in Chris Williams who people are ignoring. Second of all, If Kyle Orton could put up those numbers with those receivers, you have to think of how much better Cutler can do with them. How much better will our RBs do now that KJ is healthy and Forte won't have to run through 8 defenders every rush. Think of how much better we'd have have been last year if Orton could have hit Hester deep even half the time last year. And that's just talking about offense. Now the defense does worry me a bit, but there are also a lot of things to like there. First of all, the defensive line should be better...Marinelli is there, Tommie Harris seemed determined to prove all his doubters wrong (hopefully), Ogun is on a contract year. The LBs got better and deeper with Pisa signed. Also, while there are a lot of doubts about our secondary, there are also a lot of interesting options here. We all liked how Corey Graham improved last year, Vash will have something to prove, etc etc etc. Now I know I sound like a horrible homer here, and my post is full of coulds, woulds, shoulds, and mights. But the bottom line is, there is more to this team that 2008 Bears + Cutler. I relish being in the underdogs role and think it will help the Bears become playoff contenders next year.

I really liked WCF and I definitely think it got a really decent following in 2007. Instead of piling all the info into one thread like this one, I like the idea of seperate discussions in separate threads. Honestly I've looked around the web and I've never found a decent Bears message board that's worth posting at besides this forum, so the Bears should really at least get their own subforum. As for the Bulls, they do have a couple of good forums, and myself and several posters here post at RealGM so I'd be much less enthusiastic about that forum.