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He was responding to my hypothetical situation where if both Pujols and Pena were available, I asked if he believed the Cubs would have pursued only Pena with the reasoning being that he's lefthanded and Pujols isn't.

If it's a small thing or something Demp does naturally he may not realize he's doing it again. It's unlikely, but possible.

Any reasoning behind you're assumption or is it just making an assumption for the sake of making an assumption? I haven't heard Hendry say a word about "getting more lefthanded" for at least a couple years now and probably more than that. Basically, you're saying that if Pujols and Pena were both available, the Cubs would only have pursued Pena? Do you have anything at all to back this up?

It's possible that there's some type of bad habit or something in Dempster's delivery that he's picked up again that Rothschild knew about but Riggins isn't aware of or hasn't noticed yet. I don't know how much Larry and Riggins would have discussed the specific deliveries of each pitcher while Larry was here, but that's a possibility, I would think. It's purely theoretical and hypothetical and no way I could make a statement with any certainty about it, but that's a possibility, at least.

Yep. LaHair is 28 (29 in November) and Pena is 32 (33 in May).

I did forget about Konerko, but again I don't recall them ignoring Konerko because he's not a lefty. It was likely much more because he had no real interest in leaving the White Sox and that he was 35 years old looking for a long term, big money deal - which he got. Mojo pretty much articulated my problems with both Konerko and Berkman. Pena was a better option - at the time certainly and I'd agree going forward still - than Konerko because of age and contract demands and the difference between Pena/Berkman were pretty slight. At the time Pena looked like a better option because he appeared to be more likely to bounce back than Berkman, but it'd be hard to fault management for preferring either to the other with the information available at the time. As for Bradley and Pena highlighting poor decisions by Cubs management, there are far better examples than them. If you use hindsight only, sure the Bradley deal looks horrid and the Pena signing looks pretty bad. However - and keep in mind I was no fan of the Bradley deal at the time - there was no possible way to expect it to be that bad. I didn't think he'd live up to the contract, but there was nothing to indicate he'd be downright horrid. With Pena, he's been very good more often than he's been bad and there was a ton of reason to believe he'd bounce back well this season - and as CCP showed, there's still plenty of reason to expect a bounce back.

You think that the Cubs should continue to start him regardless of production? Who do we have who is likely to be more productive than Pena potentially can be? In fact, I'm not sure we have anybody who, starting on a regular basis, is a good bet to outproduce what he's done so far. We simply don't have any good first base options outside of Pena and, with his history, he's our best bet to get good production.

I don't remember them signing Pena to "get more lefthanded." In fact, I don't recall any good right handed options at first base this offseason. You had Dunn, Adrian Gonzalez, Nick Johnson and Pena as the best options there (that I recall). All lefties. Assuming we couldn't/wouldn't match what the Red Sox gave up for Gonzalez, our best two options were Dunn and Pena. Dunn cost a ton and is unproductive so far, Pena cost a little and is unproductive so far.

Wes Bunting draft grades. Bears got a B+, Lions got the best grade with an A++. AFC draft grades NFC draft grades

I could see the Colts actually being aggressive moving up in the draft to try to snag Te'o next year. It'd be completely out of character for a Polian team to trade up that early in the draft (or so it seems, discounting this year) but Te'o profiles perfectly for what the Colts like to have - smallish but very fast and athletic LBs. He'd fit the Bears' defense quite well too.

Yeah, I think both the 49ers and Titans will be better than top 5 picks. The Bills may be as well if Gailey can keep Fitzpatrick good. They had a nice draft and should be able to get some early contributors.

UNC was hurt last year by the agent thing. Probably half their players drafted were suspended the entire season after that scandal and having them would have made them a much better team. Marvin Austin and Robert Quinn were both out all year and they're both top 10 talent.

:yahoo: I'd take a 3-13 record or whatever it is we'd have to do to be able to draft Jeffery next year. If Kenny Britt can shape up, we'd have a terrific receiver group with Britt, Jeffery, Nate Washington and Jared Cook. They could stick me at QB in that scenario and be at least moderately productive through the air (not really, but almost).

Overall I'm pretty happy with the Titans' draft. Not much upside in the picks, which I don't like, but a lot of guys who profile well to the NFL and are probably going to contribute. My favorite pick is definitely the Akeem Ayers pick while my least favorite is the Locker pick. McCarthy is a nice addition - probably won't be a starter at any point, but will see plenty of time backing up all three LB spots. I have no idea why we drafted Jamie Harper. He doesn't appear to profile all that differently than Javon Ringer, so either it was purely a BPA pick or the Munchak/Palmer duo are less enthused with Ringer than the Fisher/Dinger duo were. Either way, it's probably my second least favorite pick of the draft. I like the Casey pick pretty well and will trust Munchak and Bruce Matthews to evaluate offensive linemen well, so I like the Byron Stingily pick. Karl Klug sounds interesting as a guy who could fill in just about anywhere on the D-line but not start anywhere - a little like McCarthy. I know nothing about Zack Clayton and Tommie Campbell. It looks like the Titans (at least this season) are focusing more on getting guys they know will contribute something and avoiding the high upside/high risk type players. Not a strategy I'm a big fan of because I think it limits how good the team can be - it ensures nothing worse than mediocrity, but also almost ensures you'll never be a great team. Hopefully they were just looking for solid, steady talent in year one and will start looking more at upside in the next few drafts.

Hendry has actually gotten a bit better at this in the past couple of years. Just looking at this past offseason, the bullpen was terrible but he didn't go out and hand out big, multi-year contracts to mediocre relievers (even though a number of them were out there), he didn't give huge money/long years to aging veterans in hopes of marginal improvement and he didn't block kids like Cashner and Wells by signing mediocre veteran pitchers. Hendry has shown a bit more patient approach and has relied on the minors more recently. He's paved the way for Cashner to pitch consistently, for Jackson to take over in the outfield, for Vitters to take over either first or third within a year or two and he's given opportunities to young, cheap relievers like Mateo, Russell and others rather than giving out contracts to guys like Grabow. And whether you like them or not, he's given opportunities to young guys like Barney and Colvin - whose spots would have been filled by Luis Castillo and Rick Ankiel in the past. It's a step in the right direction, if nothing else.

When did the Vikings acquire Chris Johnson? :wink:

Yeah too bad they didn't have this last night. Faulk and Irvin add nothing and just detract from actual analysis. Davis and Mayock are probably my two favorite TV analysts out there.

I don't know anything about him, but Mike Mayock loves him. I have a 2 set up thing going right now so I have the Brewer game on the big screen and the draft on another tv on mute. And I only have cable on the other TV so I had it on ESPN. I will have to search NFL.com for what Mayock said about him. Thank you! What Mayock said in a nutshell: He's a downhill back - what he does as well as any other back in this draft is catch the football. He's going to be an impact player this year for the Packers. Charles Davis and Brian Billick talked a little about his versatility between running and catching as well.

Good value there though. That's good to hear. He seems to have the penetration ability we've been missing since Albert left town. Seems like he'll mix in nicely with Jason Jones and Sen'Derrick Marks.

I don't know anything about him, but Mike Mayock loves him.

I really like the Curtis Marsh pick by the Eagles. Lots of potential.

When reading up on Nevis before the draft the first word I saw was "undersized." When I saw that, I knew the Colts would have interest.

Did this speedster come with hands? He's a corner, so it's not that big a deal. He's a nice player, though I think a little early.

DeMarcus Van Dy-ke, the newest Oakland Raider, posted the fastest 40 time at the combine.

I'm lukewarm on Jurrell Casey. Definitely a need pick and I like the comparisons to Mike Patterson. Still wish we had gone Fairley in the first, though.