Outshined_One

...wait what?

Matt Flynn got in-game playoff experience yesterday. I don't see why not.

What in the hell. Olin made the tackle, to boot.

Awesome punt.

Was hoping for a safety there. Oh well.

We'd have played the Falcons I believe. Packers were the 6th seed.

Don't fair catch that crap, Hester.

That was one of the saddest QB sneaks I've ever seen. I loved every moment of it.

Olsen was wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide open.

Cutler's looking competent. I'm scared.

Sweet moves with that third leg, G-reg.

Good times. Good times.

Forte's not dead?

Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaantastic.

The freaking turf got him.

Just throw it away next time.

Johnny Knox ran the correct route? It's a miracle!

"What I Like About You" was also a nice touch.

I'm thinking catastrophic neck injury that will somehow be parlayed into a made for TV movie a few years from now.

I think he's dead.

About that... Garza falls into a similar category as Greinke and Gonzalez in terms of breaking the Cubs' budget. He might be under the Cubs' control over the next three years, but he doesn't come cheap.

Getting Greinke probably would have required a few tweaks to increase the quality, but nothing so substantial as to completely overhaul the deal. What pisses me off is that I think this is also the kind of package that could have netted Adrian Gonzalez. Maybe the Padres wanted the Red Sox prospects, I don't know. But, when you compare that package to what the Cubs gave up, again, I think a minor change or two to the Cubs' prospects to increase the overall quality would have been comparable to what the Red Sox traded for Gonzalez. Also, why do people think the NL Central will be weak this year? As far as I can tell, the Reds, Cardinals, and Brewers will all roughly be the same as or better than last year, while the Pirates (yeah, yeah) should start seeing dividends from bolstering their farm system. I get the feeling that this will be a difficult division to win, even with a good team.

Expanding on what I posted... I think Matt Garza will improve marginally in the NL. His peripherals the past three years seem to suggest he'll be reasonably good, but that's about the extent of it. He's not an ace. With some luck, he could produce somewhere along the lines of a Ryan Dempster or a Ted Lilly. Overall, I can't complain about him in a vacuum. Starting at the low end of the deal, Fuld and Chirinos are essentially throw-ins. We all know about Fuld. Chirinos is old for a catcher, good character guy, and maybe will be a good backup in the majors. I don't see Chirinos hitting in the majors like he did this past season. No hard loss. Guyer's one of those intriguing guys who might have some decent upside left in him. He's a tweener and probably a 4th OF if he doesn't continue to develop power. Still, he could be a useful role player. I'm unsurprised the Cubs had to give up value. Hak-Ju Lee is probably on the low end of the top prospects in the Cubs' system. He spent the whole season in Low A, hasn't shown a lick of usable power, and and still has work left to do. Still, his upside is incredibly tantalizing. Losing him hurts. If the Cubs gave up Lee and a comparable B-/B prospect, I'd be okay. But Archer? Egh. He's got Marmol-level stuff and could stick as a starter. Even if he doesn't, he could have tremendous value in relief. His control issues are well-known, but there's a reason he was the #1 prospect in the Cubs' system. There's enough of a chance that his production could meet Garza's over the next five years that I'm not happy with the Cubs giving Archer up in addition to this package. I don't know a whole lot about Perez other than he's a speedster who was injured. We'll see about the PTBNL. So, in short, considering there's a reasonable enough chance that this package of prospects outperforms Garza + prospects over the next five years...I'm not too happy.

Not a horrible deal, but considering how his peripherals stack up to Randy Wells, I can't say I'm enthused.

Those hats should have an asterisk on them. Only the asterisk, to be honest.