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It appears Allen Iverson is going to be a Memphis Grizzly. For a $3.5 million, 1-year deal, I see little downside in signing Iverson. And he may just be productive for a season for us.

I've said this before but I think Fox likely has a similar career to Russell Branyan. Both can hit well and both struggle in the field. I'm not necessarily comparing pure production, though, so much as type of player each is. AAA is full of guys in their late 20s who can hit the hell out of the ball and cant field, but the fact is, there are only 14 teams in the American League, and the rest of these guys are to get a cup of coffee every September or whenever a replacement player is needed. Jake Fox may have a leg up because he is capable of playing multple postions, though poorly and I hop he can put together a solid career somewhere. I don't think there are that many guys who can crush the ball just sitting around in the minors. Most who are crushing AAA also struggle hitting breaking pitches of any type and, thus, would struggle in the majors. Fox struggles with breaking pitches, but to this point has put up good ML numbers and there's reason to believe he can excel at the plate in the majors.

I've said this before but I think Fox likely has a similar career to Russell Branyan. Both can hit well and both struggle in the field. I'm not necessarily comparing pure production, though, so much as type of player each is. Amazingly, the only position that Fox can play with any sort of adequacy seems to be 3b. I think he can end up filling in ok at the corner outfield spots and at first base. Not to the point that you'd want him to play extended innings at any of those, but well enough to fill in for a game or two here and there.

It's not specifically seeking out only a shortstop. It's not limiting your options. My argument is that moving Theriot to second if we can find a good upgrade at SS should not be ruled out. The goal, however, is not to move Theriot to second. The goal is to upgrade SS and then keep Theriot in the lineup by moving him to second. We can also platoon Theriot and Fontenot at second and then either use Baker as a super-sub, trade him or let him walk and save some money. In his career, Theriot has OPSd .824 against lefties. Baker has done better, but with his terrific numbers as a Cub this year, he might have more trade value than Theriot (though neither would have a lot). There's also the option of finding a SS upgrade, platooning Baker/Fontenot and trading Theriot. It's all about having as many options as possible when our overall options are limited as it is. Refusing to move Theriot to second further limits our options needlessly. I don't really think there should be any sort of goal involving keeping Theriot in the lineup. In 2 of his 3 full seasons, he has been a rather lackluster hitter, he's not a good fielder and he turns 30 in a couple months, which indicates his usefulness as a middle infielder may be dwindling soon as he loses whatever step he had on the competition. If you can't find a better replacement, so be it, but they should try. I guess I should have clarified that even more. The goal isn't to keep Theriot in the lineup, the goal is to be able to upgrade the team and keeping SS as an option. Once a SS upgrade is acquired, moving Theriot to second should be an option. His bat might be a little below average at second, but his defense - which is anywhere from slightly below average to slightly above average at short - would become an asset at second. Moving Theriot to second shouldn't be a goal, but it should be an option.

I've said this before but I think Fox likely has a similar career to Russell Branyan. Both can hit well and both struggle in the field. I'm not necessarily comparing pure production, though, so much as type of player each is.

It's not specifically seeking out only a shortstop. It's not limiting your options. My argument is that moving Theriot to second if we can find a good upgrade at SS should not be ruled out. The goal, however, is not to move Theriot to second. The goal is to upgrade SS and then keep Theriot in the lineup by moving him to second. We can also platoon Theriot and Fontenot at second and then either use Baker as a super-sub, trade him or let him walk and save some money. In his career, Theriot has OPSd .824 against lefties. Baker has done better, but with his terrific numbers as a Cub this year, he might have more trade value than Theriot (though neither would have a lot). There's also the option of finding a SS upgrade, platooning Baker/Fontenot and trading Theriot. It's all about having as many options as possible when our overall options are limited as it is. Refusing to move Theriot to second further limits our options needlessly.

I think Tennessee/UCLA could be competitive for that title as well. But yeah, those matchups should not be 2-3 in biggest games of the weekend. Houston at Oklahoma State. That'll be a really good game (has similar upset potential to OU/BYU), but I don't think it has the national draw that UT/UCLA or ND/Michigan have. It's one of the top games this weekend though.

it's not, really. 13 points of OBP and 16 points of SLG. there's certainly a difference and theriot's bat doesn't play quite as well at 2B as SS, but it's not like you're trying to stick him at 1B or corner OF. It's more than I thought, but it's also not enough of a difference to completely rule out moving him if there's a superior player who can be acquired who plays a better SS.

I'm not arguing that Theriot is hurting the team defensively, just that his deficiencies (range, arm) are better hidden at second. As a SS he's anywhere from slightly below average to slightly above average. Because of his skillset, as a second baseman he'd likely be that much better defensively. Offensively, I actually didn't realize the difference between second basemen and shortstops was that dramatic this year. My main reason for considering moving Theriot to second, though, is that it allows you to go after an upgrade at shortstop. If the right player comes along and is available (Jose Reyes for instance), I'd move Theriot to second. I'm just trying not to further limit the already limited options this team has to rebuild.

Titans/Steelers is going to be tough. The Titans won fairly easily last year, but I don't think that will mean all that much going into this game. I'm not entirely sure what to expect - outside of physical run games and great defenses - but I'm looking forward to seeing the slimmed down LenDale and how Kenny Britt does in his first real NFL game. I think the Titans win, but it'll be really close.

Quite a deserving call-up. Might as well let him keep pitching.

The problem with DeRosa at this point is that he'll likely command a 2-3 year deal and he's just too old for that. If we could get him on a 1-year, fairly cheap deal I might be in favor of it. But that's unlikely. And Theriot is solid enough offensively that if you can minimize his defensive deficiencies (as moving him to second would) he becomes even more valuable. I wouldn't give him a long term deal for big money, but while he's cheap he's providing solid production.

I think Tennessee/UCLA could be competitive for that title as well. But yeah, those matchups should not be 2-3 in biggest games of the weekend.

I think Tennessee by 10-20; not sure if that's considered a smashing. A young but talented OL and QB in their first road game (and in a hostile environment) should be too much. I'm hoping that Crompton struggles again...UCLA will need some turnovers if they want a chance. I'm not really sure what to predict. The offense executed great last week and if they do that again Saturday, we should win without too much trouble. No offense Raisin, but I think Tennessee is (and was last year) the more talented team. But, they've played to that talent level once since the first game of 2008, so it's tough to rely on the talent differential in predicting the outcome. I think ultimately the difference is going to be that the game is being played in Knoxville. I think Tennessee would have won last year if the game was in Knoxville and I think this year the cross-country trip for UCLA and the home fans for Tennessee will tip the scales. How much they win by depends on how indicative last week was of how the Vols will play this year. If they execute the offense and do the simple things (catch the ball, hit the holes and throw accurately), I think they'll win by 10-14. If they don't, UCLA will have a good chance of pulling out the win similarly to how they did last year.

Navy might win 10 games this year. maybe, but they wont. and uni might win 15, against an only slightly weaker schedule. Navy won 8 games last year and I can easily see 9 wins for them this year - and that's without any real upsets. Ten wins is a real possibility if they play well. And Navy's schedule is much tougher. Ohio State, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, Wake Forest and maybe Louisiana Tech are better than anybody on NIU's schedule except Iowa. And Ohio State and Notre Dame are both better than Iowa.

Sounds like hes either hinting that he wants to be a Cub or trying to coax the Astros into giving him a big deal. If his interest was enough that he'd take a major discount (in the $5-7 million range tops), sure. That's very unlikely, though, and otherwise he'll be too expensive. The only free agent "closers" I'd be in any way interested in would be Soriano and Wagner - and that's only because they may come cheap enough to be of interest. He really doesnt sound like he has any interest in giving anyone a disconunt. he sounds like hes tryign to bait both teams into giving him a K Rod, or at least a Fuentes type deal. IMHO, Valverde deserves as much if not more than Fuentes, but I dont know if a closer is our main focus. It would be nice to have him though. Him and Z together would be all kinds of entertaining. Yeah, his likely demands are pretty much why I'd have no interest in him. I'm ok with spending some money on the bullpen, but not $10 million for one pitcher (or, perhaps, even the whole thing).

Go Vols. Beat UCLA.

Of course, Iowa drops 15 spots, and Ohio State drops 2 spots after barely beating an arguably worse team. Navy's a solid team. Yeah, Navy's got some good talent and that triple option can be a difficult offense to defend. There's no comparison to Northern Iowa.

I do.

There should be 1 second left on the clock, I think. Awesome game, though.

The secondaries look really weak. That could be because both offenses are really good, but I don't know.

Sounds like hes either hinting that he wants to be a Cub or trying to coax the Astros into giving him a big deal. If his interest was enough that he'd take a major discount (in the $5-7 million range tops), sure. That's very unlikely, though, and otherwise he'll be too expensive. The only free agent "closers" I'd be in any way interested in would be Soriano and Wagner - and that's only because they may come cheap enough to be of interest.

This is a really good game.

The FSU kicking game is struggling tonight.

As long as whoever the GM is trades him at his highest value since 05 this offseason, it's fine with me. I like Lee but he needs to be one of the guys moved in the offseason. Why? And who do you suggest taking over at 1st? And due to 10/5 rights and an NTC, there's no trading Lee without his consent.