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Best options I've come up with/seen so far: Adrian Beltre:.207/.242/.276 career: 105 OPS+ signed through 09 Melvin Mora: .245/.302/.367 career: 110 OPS+ signed through 09 plus club option for 10 Ty Wigginton: .208/.240/.260 career: 103 OPS+ signed through 10 at $3.5 mil Aubrey Huff: .274/.344/.451 career: 116 OPS+ signed through 09 Garrett Atkins: .224/.287/.367 career: 106 OPS+ signed through 09 Mark Loretta: .375/.483/.417 career: 100 OPS+ signed through 09 Jorge Cantu: .312/.385/.656 career: 105 OPS+ signed through 09 Mark DeRosa:.250/.311/.458 career: 97 OPS+ signed through 09 Hank Blalock:.245/.275/.520 career: 104 OPS+ signed through 09 Most likely option would probably be Huff given Hendry's history with MacPhail and their tendency to trade with each other. Rich Aurilia might be looked at by Hendry as well. Another option might be Ronnie Belliard. He's been terrible this season, but is unhappy and posted a 120 OPS+ last year. He's signed through 09. Ray Durham is still a free agent, but has never played 3B before. His offense would be very welcome, however, and he wouldn't cost us any players.

Interesting buy-low candidate: Rams cut LB Pisa Tinoisamoa.

National Football Post draft analyst Wes Bunting is posting his top 100 players for next year's draft. He's doing it in segments of 20 each and here's the first 20. Most interesting thing there: Jevan Snead is the top QB on his board.

Not to scare you again, but I wonder how much teams will demand from us. It'll be obvious we're desperate and I'd hate to see someone like Vitters, Colvin, etc. traded for a stopgap if ARam is out for a while. Hendry can't do much, but he can do trades. He's not going to get fleeced for a stopgap. Good point. And a little late, but that's awesome for Scales!

Not to scare you again, but I wonder how much teams will demand from us. It'll be obvious we're desperate and I'd hate to see someone like Vitters, Colvin, etc. traded for a stopgap if ARam is out for a while.

Aubrey Huff or Ty Wiggington? I know the O's just sent us a third baseman, but I figure they should be mathamatically eliminated by late next week, so maybe we have some of McPhails old guys that weve forgotten about that hed like back. I like those options, and we seem to make every other trade with Baltimore. I would say the odds we target one of those guys are decent. Id even take Melvin Mora if they perfered. Mora, Wiggington, and Huff are 3 guys who have no business on the same team. Also, Jorge Cantu can play 3rd base too. Hes arb eligible next year, and we know how much the Marlins hate having to actually pay guys. I'd like Cantu. He'll likely be pretty pricey, though.

I know he's not real popular on this board, but Adrian Beltre might be had for fairly cheap and could give us a high .700s, low .800s OPS.

Aubrey Huff or Ty Wiggington? I know the O's just sent us a third baseman, but I figure they should be mathamatically eliminated by late next week, so maybe we have some of McPhails old guys that weve forgotten about that hed like back. Wigginton wouldn't be bad and I'd love Huff. Melvin Mora wouldn't be a bad option if he could repeat last year's .826 OPS.

We'll need far more than Kouzmanoff if we lose ARam for a significant period. If we can start getting production from Bradley and Soto, we can pull through it. These guys have given us 0. They need to step up or ship out. He has a career 99 OPS+. He's OPSing .609 right now. I don't think Bradley and Soto will be enough if he's the best we have at third for an extended period. He was much better away from that cavern in PetCo last year. .802 OPS. Didn't realize that. He'd be a solid option, perhaps.

Mark DeRosa . . . . I'm sorry.

If he can keep up anywhere near his .899 OPS then he'd be a nice pickup. Not sure he can though. Low .700s OPS since 2004.

We'll need far more than Kouzmanoff if we lose ARam for a significant period. If we can start getting production from Bradley and Soto, we can pull through it. These guys have given us 0. They need to step up or ship out. He has a career 99 OPS+. He's OPSing .609 right now. I don't think Bradley and Soto will be enough if he's the best we have at third for an extended period.

We'll need far more than Kouzmanoff if we lose ARam for a significant period.

Len was saying day off since the team got back so late.

Sure, why wouldnt a 1st place team trade their starting 3rd baseman? I think he was referring to a shoulder injury that hurt Rolen's production and comparing it to this potential ARam injury.

You may be right on that. The number one change that needs to be made, though, is to quit deciding home field advantage through the All-Star Game.

Not really. Being willing to consider joining another team drives up your asking price, that is all. That's true.

Hard to belive that, but it is Brett The idea that he would consider joining another team kind of ends the thought that he's only coming out of retirement in order to get revenge on the Packers at least.

That's great and all, but we're still talking about 1st round pick superstars vs what the Bears have. Which is an undrafted free agent late bloomer who had a nice career, some middle round picks who are decent complementary players but not stars, and one star who hasn't been the same since a devestating injury a few years ago. Marinelli isn't working with Sapp and Rice. He's working with the Bears linemen. I don't know that anyone is arguing he'll get Sapp/Rice type performances out of any of the linemen (though I guess there's a possibility with Harris), but a great position coach is likely to get better performances out of his players than others would. Part of it is better technique, some of it is better training regimen and some of it is noticing weaknesses in a player's game that others haven't. All the evidence points to Marinelli being better at all of that than most defensive line coaches.

Marinelli's reputation goes beyond just what most of the defensive linemen on the team are saying about him right now. Sapp and Rice still rave about him. And you could say the defense in Tampa had some success there for quite a while, if that's what you want to base things on. I have to give more of that credit to Monte Kiffin and Tony Dungy rather than Marinelli. Sure they were good, but they also signed/drafted extremely talented defensive lineman. Marinelli didn't make Warren Sapp. Well-respected position coaches have a lot of say in who teams draft. I know there are multiple players the Titans have drafted because D-line coach Jim Washburn or O-line coach Mike Munchak have said they wanted a certain player and were sure they could mold said player into a star. Warren Sapp was worth the #1 pick in the draft and fell because of drugs. I don't think it takes a brilliant line coach to see that talent. And Rice was hardly a diamond in the rough when they got him either. Even talented linemen need a good coach to develop their talent, though. There are an abundant amount of highly drafted players who were incredibly talented, but just didn't develop. It speaks to the work ethic of the players at Tampa Bay and the quality of the coaching staff (including Marinelli) that they had few busts and the numerous players who developed give a lot of credit to Marinelli.

Marinelli's reputation goes beyond just what most of the defensive linemen on the team are saying about him right now. Sapp and Rice still rave about him. And you could say the defense in Tampa had some success there for quite a while, if that's what you want to base things on. I have to give more of that credit to Monte Kiffin and Tony Dungy rather than Marinelli. Sure they were good, but they also signed/drafted extremely talented defensive lineman. Marinelli didn't make Warren Sapp. Well-respected position coaches have a lot of say in who teams draft. I know there are multiple players the Titans have drafted because D-line coach Jim Washburn or O-line coach Mike Munchak have said they wanted a certain player and were sure they could mold said player into a star.

Whatever...the NL loses every year anyways. I'd rather just see it happen and see the MLB flip out about it. Hopefully it would bring about some sort of change to the systems. I don't get why everyone wants it changed. The players vote in the NFL and they are probably worse at picking the best players than the fans. The sportswriters are so on top of things that, for example, here in Tampa the local writers voted Jason Bartlett the team MVP of the Rays last year. Fans make some dumb picks but overall they do OK and from a standpoint of generating a lot of interest in the game the best way is by letting the customers decide who can play. All the starters are out after 3 innings anyway. The problem with the fans voting is that unlike with other sports' all-star games, the MLB All-Star game counts toward HFA in the World Series. Most fans just vote for players they recognize or players on their team.

Favre. :wink:

How do you come to that conclusion? If Cutler is a better QB than Favre, that means the Bears improved more than the Vikings in the offseason. There was only one game of difference between the two teams last year. Little separation between the teams plus the Bears being more improved than the Vikings leads to Minnesota being more likely to win this year? I don't understand. As hard as this is to believe though, the Bears probably had a better QB situation last year than the Vikings. So did they really improve more? As goony said, the Bears had an average QB and now have a top 5-8 QB in the league. The Vikings had a below average QB situation and (assuming they sign Favre) now have an average QB. Plus, Favre will likely lose a couple of games for the Vikings while Cutler likely won't.

Because you don't understand that Brett Favre isn't that good anymore. His stats last year before he got hurt would disagree. And for the 300th time, he would not be throwing the ball 30 times a game. He will get defenders out of the box and Peterson will rush for 1800 yards. He does'nt even have to have a better year then Cutler stat wise. Will he be healthy this year? Is he passed the strained biceps muscle? At 40 is he that unlikely to get hurt again? These are questions that must be taken into account.