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In another league, which way do I go: Vincent Jackson v Cincy or Derrick Mason v Chicago

In a league where we do two weeks per playoff round, I'm down 20 points heading into the second week. My WRs are Reggie Wayne, Desean Jackson, Roddy White, Sidney Rice, Hakeem Nicks and Lee Evans. I figure Wayne and Jackson are sure-thing starts. I need a third receiver and my question is this: Sidney Rice @ Carolina or Hakeem Nicks @ Washington or Roddy White @ the Jets

That's the testimonial I'm looking for. I listened to at least parts of quite a few Smokies games as well and I noticed many of the things Raisin is talking about. He's extremely aggressive on the basepaths and likes to sac bunt quite often.

a lot of guys end up rising because they look great at the combine and do well in interviews. locker strikes me as a guy who would look awesome throwing to a bunch of uncovered receivers at the combine, then ace the interviews and have that "fierce competitor" label. Another year under Sarkisian should help him be more prepared for the NFL. I think it's a good decision from the standpoint of making the most of his potential.

It's an odd, obscure question.

Unknown whether Dan LeFevour left a team meeting early and popped off to the press about Jones 'leaving for the money'. I wonder who Central will get now. As somebody mentioned before, I wouldn't be surprised if whoever they got had a no-Cincinnati clause in his contract. If so, it would be the first-ever such clause in a CFB head coaching contract (b/c really, who would have ever thought?) Has it ever happened before that the same school supplied the same school with back to back head coaches?

I don't think the Titans-Rams Super Bowl is as good because of how boring it was for the first two and a half quarters. It was field goal try after field goal try and several of them weren't made. Plus the Rams were dominating on the scoreboard (16-0). The last 3 minutes were amazing, but it just doesn't match some of the other Super bowls in this decade. I wasn't the least bit bored the entire game. I don't know what you're talking about . . . .

Unknown whether Dan LeFevour left a team meeting early and popped off to the press about Jones 'leaving for the money'. I wonder who Central will get now. As somebody mentioned before, I wouldn't be surprised if whoever they got had a no-Cincinnati clause in his contract.

Here's the latest VY news for those interested:

It looks like the Central Michigan to Cincinnati pipeline will continue:

He got hurt every year and played on 21 games in 2001 due to a serious injury. I don't know what else you want me to say. He was a max effort middle infielder who was always dealing with health issues who was destined to decline quickly in his 30's. Oh and the answer to your question that you stopped asking, I assume because you realize it only proved the point further, is 129. 129 games per year in his pre-Cubs seasons not counting his first year. That's a guy who missed a lot of time. 129/yr is bad except when you realize that that number is severly suppressed by the one season where he played only 21 games. The two years after that (the two years before the trade) he played in 156 games each season, and in the 4 years before it was 143. While not great, its not the history you're making it out to be. So you have 1 season where a wrist injury sidelined him for a significant amount of time and... And a whole bunch of other minor nagging injuries that add up and lead to inevitable trouble for 30-something middle infielders. If you want to pretendthere weren't health issues with Nomar pre-Cubs, feel free. But it's a ridiculous sentiment. There were health issues, but you said he was very similar to Bradley in that respect. How can a guy who had 500+ ABs in 6 of 7 seasons be similar injury-wise to a guy who in a 10-season career has had more than 500 ABs 1 time? The injury issues were there, I just think you're exaggerating them.

Wrong. Nomar's health was becoming an issue before he became a Cub. I didn't say he had no injury issues, I said to describe his pre-Cub days as Bradley-esque in injuries was very incorrect. He had red flags, but never missed huge amounts of time (save for one year). Bradley has pretty close to always missed significant time.

This is all Cot's has on his 2011 option:

Nomar had an .867 OPS in 156 at bats with Boston the year Hendry acquired him. At SS, that's a very good OPS and is indicative of a big fish at the time he was acquired. He was only 30 years old when Hendry acquired him and ended up with an .819 OPS in his first year with us. He underperformed in Chicago, but nobody could have expected it when he was acquired. He was definitely a big fish. Nomar was clearly on the decline from when he was one of the best at his position. And Boston was itching to get rid of him. He was clearly very talented, but as injury prone as Milton Bradley and a defensive liability. From 2002 through 2004 he was solidly in the mid-.800s in OPS. That was a decline from the 1.000+ OPS he posted in two seasons, but I doubt anybody expected that out of a SS for all that long. And an .860-890 OPS from a shortstop is "big fish" numbers. As for the injuries, in his first 7 major league seasons (up through the 2003 season), Nomar had 6 seasons where he had more than 500 at bats. Through 10 major league seasons, Bradley has had more than 500 at bats once. Since being a Cub, Nomar has had Bradley-esque injury issues, but they were not there beforehand.

I'm just gonna throw this out there....maybe each year is different. Maybe each year requires a different approach based on the free agent market, the demand for those players, the salaries being bandied about, the perceived quality of the players you currently have under contract, the number of holes you need to fill, and the moves that your division rivals are making. Maybe. Obviously. Given the totality of circumstances, I'd love to hear the rationale for why moving swiftly was the wrong approach last year, but conversely playing wait-and-see is the wrong approach this year. I think it has more to do with why he's waiting - the insistence to trade Bradley - than anything else. Also, this year's free agent pool is not very deep at all, while last year's was.

Nomar had an .867 OPS in 156 at bats with Boston the year Hendry acquired him. At SS, that's a very good OPS and is indicative of a big fish at the time he was acquired. He was only 30 years old when Hendry acquired him and ended up with an .819 OPS in his first year with us. He underperformed in Chicago, but nobody could have expected it when he was acquired. He was definitely a big fish.

Well, the CJ-2,000 yard countdown has gotten the slightest bit closer: With three games left in the regular season, Chris Johnson has gained 1,626 yards. He needs 374 yards in those three games -- an average of 124 per game. Still possible, but getting tougher. As for the game Sunday, the Dolphins will be tough. The good news is, they're a running team and the strength of the Titans' defense is still stopping the run. It'll be interesting to see how the D fares against a rejuvenated Ricky Williams. I think the secondary will do well against Henne and the passing game. Offensively, CJ will obviously be fine, but there's still some question as to whether Vince will play. If he doesn't, points will be hard to come by. If he does, I feel fairly confident about this game. It certainly helps that it will be at home.

They do have a phenomenal defense. They'll have to score at some point, though, and Ichiro and Griffey are getting older.

Maybe I'll start Young instead of Manning and beat you with your own favorite team's QB. :D Probably not, though, since Caldwell said that the healthy regulars will play this week. Go ahead and start Vince, there's a decent chance Kerry will start Sunday anyway. :D

If Cameron signs I would hope we just keep Bradley. Bradley is better than Cameron and keeping Bradley wasn't an option then, so I don't know why it would be an option now. I don't know I would say that Bradley is a better player than Cameron. Bradley has the better upside while Cameron is more consistent. It's pretty close on who is more valuable overall. I would agree that the free agent options have little to no bearing on their decision to trade Bradley though. Yeah, if Bradley's better, it's not by much (unless he reverts to his Texas offensive days).

Why is it weird for Seattle? They were marginally competitive without him, and now they can say they added a Cy Young winner. They still have to work to sell tickets. They signed away a bat from one rival that also lost a big pitcher while the other rival acquired a pretty good one. I forgot they won 85 games. I knew they got off to a competitive start, but thought they tailed off a bit more at the end of the year. Even with another big bat like Bay, do they have the offense to contend? I thought of Lee as a ticket-seller, but depending on who they gave up to get him, will he sell enough tickets to be worth it? Considering they won 85 games last year, adding Lee might be enough to keep them as contenders, I'm just not that impressed with their offense. Again, though, maybe I'm underrating them. That makes sense.

What do the Mariners really get out of this deal? I realize they picked up Lee, but I've got to figure they gave up some nice prospects and is acquiring Lee worth that for a team like Seattle? Maybe I'm underrating them, but I don't see Cliff Lee as the difference between them competing and not competing. Odd for the Phillies too, I think. As others have asked, is the upgrade from Lee to Halladay worth giving up top prospects?

The Bears beating the Ravens would help the Titans as well, so I'm also a Bear fan this week.

Worst winner since the last Bama guy to win the award. You may know this and I just missed the joke, but Bama's never had a Heisman winner before. Yep. When in doubt about joke posts, I should just wait til the afternoon when I'm awake, I guess.

Looks like I'm moving on to face NCCubFan for the right to go to the championship game. It'll be the epic struggle of Peyton vs CJ.