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dew1679666265

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Everything posted by dew1679666265

  1. dew1679666265
    My point was that the defense isn't poor, so we don't need a "defensive specialist," so to speak, in there to help sure up our defense. In fact, because the defense around the infield is so good and the offense so questionable (could be really good, could be mediocre), we should favor the better bat (DeWitt) over the better glove (Barney) even if it's just a marginal difference or based on potential. Now, if the bats are similar enough that Barney's defense makes him more valuable than DeWitt, then I agree play Barney. Considering I believe DeWitt has a better bat now and has much more room for improvement than Barney, I don't think Barney will be the overall more valuable player - especially if DeWitt can improve his defense by playing exclusively at second.
  2. dew1679666265
    That'd be some amazing magic because Barney was never even a decent hitter in the minors. Barney has a career .708 minor league OPS and it was never higher than .758 (his first pro season, he's been worse than that every year since). His slugging was over .400 one time during a full season and his OBP was better than .340 once. DeWitt posted a .709 OPS last year in the majors - and both Barney and DeWitt are the same age (25). Even if Rudy worked some great magic on Barney, I don't see much of a chance Darwin is even mediocre offensively.
  3. dew1679666265
    The only positive I see to starting Barney is that he's a plus defender (from everything I've heard). At the same time, there is no plus part of DeWitt's game. He's better offensively overall than Barney, but isn't particularly good either. Thus, since you're going with a young guy anyway, the reasoning would be to go with the guy that already features a plus skill and hope the other side comes around enough. Barney, it sounds like, is Theriot with much better defense and a slightly worse bat. That said, I'd prefer to go with DeWitt. Both are young but DeWitt has shown more offensive potential. With Aramis, Starlin and Pena around the infield, we have good to very good defense at 3 of 4 positions and can afford to put up with poor 2B defense with the hopes that DeWitt's bat comes around.
  4. dew1679666265
    Figured you'd like that.
  5. dew1679666265
    The choice for the Giants here comes down to two players, really - Gabe Carimi or Akeem Ayers. The Giants are old at the tackle spots, however they may be able to squeeze some more life out of Diehl and McKenzie. They also have William Beatty and Jamon Meredith developing behind the two aged vets. At strongside linebacker, however, they have only Keith Bulluck - who is 34 years old, has battled some injuries and is a free agent. The pick could very easily be Carimi here as Ayers may not be the best fit and this may be a tad early for him. However, need takes precedence at this point and the Giants select Akeem Ayers, OLB, UCLA. Splendid Splinter and the Bucs are now on the clock, I'll PM him.
  6. dew1679666265
    I think he's probably worth the gamble, but will likely fall at least into the 20s. The Jags do need the help there, though.
  7. dew1679666265
    You're right, I forgot he was pretty good for Cleveland. I was taking his St Louis performance and crediting it to the whole season. I loved DeRo and hated to see him go, but that was a good trade. And too, he couldn't be the glue guy - he was too good. You have to be bad to be a glue guy or gritty.
  8. dew1679666265
    One of the most interesting players in the draft. All kinds of talent and ability, but the same amount of character concerns. I've heard people who think he'll be a first round pick and others who think he'll freefall.
  9. dew1679666265
    The Dolphins have a number of options here, but none are a good value at 15. Their biggest needs are at QB and RB, and while there's talent available at those spots, almost any pick is a bit of a reach. Mallett and Locker are the top QBs on the board, while Mark Ingram is probably the top tailback. Any of the three would be a good pick, but all three may well last into the 20s. So, the Dolphins go with the safest and the biggest need, taking Jake Locker, QB, Washington with the 15th pick. Raisin and the Jags are now on the clock. I'll PM him.
  10. dew1679666265
    How about first? It's unlikely that his bat will be good enough to play there every day, but we don't have anybody right now who's more likely to do that. I'd say stick Ramirez at first, let him catch on Castillo's days off and see what he does.
  11. dew1679666265
    I wasn't a fan of the move at the time (primarily because it resulted in us signing Aaron Miles), but there's no way to argue it wasn't a good move at this point. DeRo dropped off considerably in 2009, while Stevens and Gaub have shown potential and Archer was excellent (until we turned him and Lee into Garza). Keeping DeRo wouldn't have been a good idea.
  12. dew1679666265
    I'm going off memory here, so I could be wrong, but I thought the fans were good starting out the year but then began to turn on him late in the terrible start to the year. His rebound helped in May and June, but I was thinking the fans never truly bought into him because he wasn't giving us the power many fans expected. I thought that was the catalyst to him going off on the fans.
  13. dew1679666265
    Keep in mind that was the offseason we traded DeRosa for Archer/Gaub/Stevens, so you'd have to take into account the opening at second.
  14. dew1679666265
    You don't think the fans jumping all over him and booing him, given the issues he already has, had any effect on him? I think the fan negativity was a huge factor in him blowing up. And a lot of that negative fan backlash was due to the preseason expectations that he would be a middle of the order type slugger who would be an "RBI machine." Maybe he still blows up even with the proper preseason hype, but the booing and criticizing likely would have been lessened if Bradley hadn't been signed with the intent of being the missing power piece we needed.
  15. dew1679666265
    Purely on finances only, Tennessee could afford to pay Stevens in the $4-5 million range. Mike Hamilton has shown he doesn't have an interest in paying a new coach that type of money and it'd be incredibly awkward having the basketball coach making more than the football coach, but Tennessee's boosters were paying upwards of $5-6 million a year for Fulmer and the carousel of basketball coaches just a few years ago. Now, I don't think offering that type of money would have made any difference whatsoever in Stevens' interest in Tennessee, but having the money to pay him shouldn't have been an issue.
  16. dew1679666265
    I think this is the spot where Cam Newton finally goes. The Redskins have McNabb, Rex Grossman and John Beck at quarterback, Cam is a big name and Daniel Snyder loves his big names. With two decent veterans on the roster, even if McNabb is cut or traded, Newton will have a veteran QB to learn behind. Thus, the selection with the 10th pick of the draft is Cam Newton, QB, Auburn. Lo_Pan_Fan is now on the clock for the Texans. I'll PM him.
  17. dew1679666265
    The Redskins are now on the clock. I'll PM me.
  18. dew1679666265
    Thanks. That's pretty much what I've heard of Martin to this point, especially the defensive emphasis his teams have. That'll be nice to see, as Pearl's biggest weakness at UT was that his teams would get fairly lax on defense at times. That was a big problem this season - along with players being content to shoot well-defended threes instead of getting to the basket.
  19. dew1679666265
    As much against the Bradley signing as I was, probably the worst thing that could have happened to Bradley was him being hyped as a big-time power hitting "RBI machine" who would slug like crazy in the middle of our lineup. When healthy he's generally been a very productive player, but more in the Fukudome way and not in the Adam Dunn way. People probably would have been more accepting of him had they expected a better (though less healthy) version of Kosuke rather than the next Sammy Sosa.
  20. dew1679666265
    It's going to be weird cheering for Tennessee basketball. I'll admit, it'll be kinda nice to have fans of another team rooting for us instead of against us. Still hate to see Pearl gone, however. Do you have any thoughts on Martin as a head coach? I realize he wasn't a HC at Purdue, but you'll likely have more insight than I do anyway.
  21. dew1679666265
    Probably yeah. Can't hurt to hold the blank check out and see if he surprises you, though.
  22. dew1679666265
    A little late here, but I'm pretty happy with the Cuonzo Martin hire at Tennessee. He was one of the coaches I wanted Tennessee to look at early on, so I guess I was predisposed to like him anyway. He'll run a different style than Pearl did, but Vol fans will learn to love it if we win. Him being a Gene Keady protege is pretty nice as well. I don't know how much coaching trees really mean, but Keady has a pretty nice one. Still wish we had backed up the Brinks truck to Brad Stevens' house, but he probably still wouldn't have taken the job even then. Considering everything, this is a solid hire with the potential to be really, really good.
  23. dew1679666265
    He was about as fragile as they come, however, which was my primary concern about the signing. I wasn't in favor of the Bradley signing and it had little to do with team chemistry - it was mostly due to the very high risk of injury and the possibility that his production when healthy would drop considerably from the amazing numbers he had in Texas. I wasn't big on Ibanez or Abreu either (age for both of them), but Adam Dunn was available that offseason and he's who I wanted. I knew the defense would be atrocious in right, but I felt like he'd play much more than Bradley and be roughly as productive offensively. Less upside to a Dunn signing, but much less risk - and I still think it would have been the better signing.
  24. dew1679666265
    While I think this was the "get more left handed" offseason, it was irrelevant to the Bradley signing. We needed a big bat in the outfield that offseason and our options were Bradley, Raul Ibanez, Bobby Abreu and Adam Dunn. All sluggers, all left handed. So even if that was the focus of the offsesaon, Bradley wasn't chosen over other options because he was left handed, because all of the options were lefties.
  25. dew1679666265
    It's a choice between Tigers here and the Titans choose to go with the super athletic defensive tackle who could play anywhere on the line for Munchak. Perhaps the next Albert Haynesworth - both in talent and attitude. The eighth selection is Nick Fairley, defensive tackle, Auburn. Cam Newton was hard to pass up here, but the hope is that one of Kaepernick or Ponder are there in the 2nd round and Fairley+Kaepernick is better than Newton+anybody. vance and the Cowboys are on the clock, I'll PM him.
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