UK1679666180

With better linemen on both sides of the ball, I think you'd see the rest of the roster suddenly look a lot better. Yes. Not going to make Kyle good enough to be a solid NFL starting QB. Not going to make those craptastic receivers passable. But yeah, if you replace what? 5-7 lineman out of 22 starters? Sure, the team would be better. The Bears always drafting 11-20 are never usually in a position to draft a franchise QB and don't have the development or scouting skills to find a diamond in the rough.

I would go Maclin-1 (WR-Mizzou) Herman Johnson-2 (OG-LSU) Phil Loadholt-3 (OT-Oklahoma)

If Maclin is there, it would be difficult for me to pass him up. I'm not that high on Johnson, he reminds of Anderson who is more able to use his speed and athletic ability rather than strength and pass rushing moves.

He's never had that deep ball even when he was on and healthy.

I would go WR with the 1st pick as of now, depending on how it plays out, but I can't see much of siatuation developing where it be anything but a WR or OL. They need a playmaker from the WR spot.

seriously...we need everything but rb. TE. I would include DT as well even with Dvorcek always getting hurt. Harrison, Harris, & Adams is a good 3/4ths the way done. Other than that, eh. OLB, S, DB (I'm on the fence with Vasher and Graham is ok, Tillman is still good, IMO), um.... How many rounds is the draft? :D I wouldn't mess with an OLB in the draft, at least not on day one. He won't beat out Briggs or Urlacher to get on the field in nickel situations. Agreed on DT. OL DE WR S I would look WR, OL on day 1 and go from there. There should be no reason that the top 3 picks are not a WR and 2 OL (G and T).

seriously...we need everything but rb. TE. I would include DT as well even with Dvorcek always getting hurt. Harrison, Harris, & Adams is a good 3/4ths the way done. Other than that, eh. OLB, S, DB (I'm on the fence with Vasher and Graham is ok, Tillman is still good, IMO), DE, OL (3 spots) WR, QB, FB. um.... How many rounds is the draft? :D

Anybody and Garza. He;'s getting his ass kicked. Kreutz is fine. He's not going to blow anyone off the ball, but he needs a G next to him that can do that. Tait is about done. Agreed, he's been a back-up G that has somehow managed to end up as a starting G as he was able to be better than Metcalf and before him my fav. Q. Mitchell while still only being worthy of an emergency type role.

Can we include Tait and Garza as well?

Guess that TO will allow them to get back into it. C'mon defense. The scary part was Grant is able to run on them again, not only can they have all day to throw it to open WRs, they can run it at will.

Orton has been bad for quite some time. Jaws is right as far as his eyes and he's throwing into triple coverage.

they won't play bennett or williams next week if they lose tonight. that's not the way lovie does things. Which is stupid, I'm not a big Lovie guy as I don't think he's a great in-game coach, but this team has crap for talent and they did as much as they could with what they had. But, his fear of putting a rookie out there unless there's no choice ala Forte is amazing. Sure Williams and Bennett might run the wrong route or drop some balls or not pick up the right blocking assignment, false starts, or be a revolving door, but who are they replacing? Players that should be non-starters.

GB's WRs aren't creating spit. Our DBs are giving them ridiculous cushions !! Sure they are, look at Bears DBs falling all over the field, instead of running straight line routes like the Bears WRs, they are actually cutting to get open.

If Tait or St. Clair are both in the game next week and Bennett doesn't see any time out there, my disappointment will cont. as far as their lack of willingness to play rookies even when games don't mean anything. The Bears showed nothing in the that 1st half that would say that they have a chance in the 2nd half.

Who should I be more mad at? Me for getting excited about the possibility of a mediocre team making the playoffs or the Bears for not showing up when it counts (again)? GB is dominating both sides of the line as well their WRs are creating space.

If you think Dunn's bat angle is nonsense, you really don't know much about hitting nor much about how it impacts the ability to make contact. There's nothing made up there, with his overly patient approach which gets him into too many two strike counts and his bat angle (uppercut swing), that shortening his swing isn't going to do much since his bat isn't in the hitting zone much to begin with. So instead of focusing the main problem Dunn, you want to focus on him shortening his swing with two strikes, what about the frequency he ends up in two strike counts? That's easier to improve than his K ratio with two strikes. As I said before, which appears to be something you can't grasp, show me where I was a jerk towards you that merits a pompous response? Fwiw, it doesn't appear you can debate in a civil tense, so I wish you would stick to that other board that you prefer (this doesn't ignore those who have responded to you in an equally arrogant manner, who I wish didn't post here either).

Wright is gifted in every aspect of the game, I don't know Vitters has the same bat control as Wright even at 18. After Wright signed his contact, he had worked out but didn't take any live hitting for a couple of weeks, his 1st BP he was hitting line drives off the wall that major leaguers would be proud of. Also, in Rookie-Ball he would talk about advanced strategy with their coach (David Howard) that was too advanced for therm to trya nd execute let alone know beforehand.

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/dec/21/cubs-set-carrer-path-for-sandberg/

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/dec/21/cubs-set-carrer-path-for-sandberg/

I'm mostly a lurker now. I come on here for information, but I rarely post. Most of the posters from the old cubs espn boards have new names. I barely know who's who anymore. Eh, post more instead of just lurking, I need someone here who agrees with me on everything.... stitch=BRS jerseycubfan= goony membersonlyjacket=cubbyrage "Koncak"(should make more of an occasional appearance once in awhile) delroy lindo= V "Rumeal Robinson" (same rule to V as cubbyrage) me=UK

How do you sacrifice walks by shortening your swing? :-k :-k Although I disagree that it does in Dunn's case, if you make weaker contact and put the ball in play more you reducing the opportunities to work into a deeper count. Let's say it's 0-1 and Dunn doesn't want to fall behind 0-2 and he decides it would be more important to make contact than working to get a pitch he can drive. The numerous slap hitters the Cubs have had over the last 5-10 years were notorious for doing this. I never said I wanted him to shorten his swing completely. I think it would just be beneficial in a two strike count. So, let's move on here. I'm sick of arguing about Dunn's ability on this Cubs team. In the case of the extremely long shot they do sign him, where does that leave our batting order? Does Dunn bat 3 with Lee moving up to 2? Also, as limited as Soriano in the outfield, they would have to consider moving him to right and Dunn to left, right? It's not his low swing that is the problem, it is his uppercut swing that leads to his high strikeouts and lower batting avg., the less time your bat is is in the hitting zone, the less likely you are going to make contact, Dunn has an extreme bat angle that leads to high HRs, high fly balls, and high Ks and shortening his swing will not keep the bat in the hitting zone longer. Soriano would prob. have to play right. If Dunn was in the line-up I would guess that you see. Soriano Theriot Lee Dunn Ramirez Soto Derosa Fukudome or Soriano Theriot Lee Ramirez Dunn Soto Fukudome Derosa if Lou wants to play L/R with the btm of the order. How I would do it... Soriano Derosa Ramirez Dunn Lee Soto Fukudome Pitcher Theriot.

How do you sacrifice walks by shortening your swing? :-k :-k Although I disagree that it does in Dunn's case, if you make weaker contact and put the ball in play more you reducing the opportunities to work into a deeper count. Let's say it's 0-1 and Dunn doesn't want to fall behind 0-2 and he decides it would be more important to make contact than working to get a pitch he can drive. The numerous slap hitters the Cubs have had over the last 5-10 years were notorious for doing this.

Adam Dunn has hit roughly one-third of his career homeruns with two strikes. I don't think you want him shortening up. Last time I checked, homeruns drive in more runs than singles. Players similar to Dunn seem to drop off a cliff at about 34 years old so I wouldn't go longer than 3 or 4 years with him. You don't him to shorten his swing b/c his long swing doesn't impact his bat control as much as is bat angle dictates how many swing and misses he has with two strikes. But, him having 89 HRs in 2214 ABs with two strikes doesn't look as good when he has had 189 HRs in 1657 ABs in non-two strike ABs. I definitely don't want him to shorten his swing as will very little regardless if it's with two strike and do more harm than good, but I do want him to be more aggressive earlier in the count with pitches in the zone.

Depends on what they do the rest of the off-season. They need a DH like Giambi or Burrell and at worst a RH'ed platoon partner in RF. If they can get those two things, their offense will be one of the best in MLB espec. with Upton, Crawford performing below expectation and those potential upgrades at DH and RF. They would still need a closer IMO and keep Balfour, Howell, and Wheeler in set-up type roles and whatever Percival gives them is icing on the cake. They very well could be the favorites if they sign a could of FAs or trade for an OF bat (Hermida would look great in RF).

Right now, the Cubs are closer to an 87 win team than a 97 win team.