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Lee's throw was too high. Theriot probably could/should have jumped and gotten it, but then we have no outs in the inning anyway. The throw was high but it hit Theriots glove and it should have been caught plain and simple. It hit off the top of Theriot's glove and his arm was outstretched. The only way Theriot could have caught the ball was if he jumped - I can see the argument that he should have jumped, but if he does, we don't get any outs on the play.

I agree with that. I guess the issue should be the fact we spend as much money as we do and yet we do not have a backup third basemen. That really has nothing to do with the amount of money we're spending, though. It appears that Hendry and Lou felt that either Fontenot could do a good job at 3B when Aramis was out or that Gathright was more valuable than a backup third baseman (although they did bring in Corey Koskie apparently to fill that third base gap). I don't agree with them on either, but I don't think it has anything to do with the money we're spending.

According to nba.com, the game will also be on TNT. I think they're showing games nationally and regionally - I know they did that with the Hawks games.

I don't think Marvin is a fit with this team. I think he'd be a nice veteran to have if one of Bennett/Iglesias take a little while to perform well. That said, his best days are behind him. I just don't see it working out. He's played his entire career in the dome and his sort of aloofness worked with that team's structure. But the Bears are looking to establish an offense, and develop receivers. Marvin isn't going to be the type that helps the young guys. I feel like it will take a lot to convince him to play in Chicago, and that would be a poor use of cap space. They already had to overpay Pace. Had Orton remained at QB, perhaps he'd work as somebody to help him, but I'd rather Cutler just gain some sort of connection with the younger guys that are going to be the difference between this offense working or not. That's a valid argument. Bringing in Harrison would be a "win-now" move more than a move to help develop the young guys. The question teams are struggling with right now is whether he has enough left to truly help teams win now.

I wouldn't mind Harrison (tho I prefer Drew Bennett) and god knows I wouldn't mind Mike Brown back. I think Bennett would fit well with Cutler at QB. Of course, Bennett was terrific for the Titans, so I'm a little biased.

I don't think Marvin is a fit with this team. I think he'd be a nice veteran to have if one of Bennett/Iglesias take a little while to perform well. That said, his best days are behind him.

Matt Bowen of the National Football Post lists the Bears as possible destinations for Marvin Harrison and Mike Brown. Thought that news might be of interest.

Thats not really going out on a limb ;) http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f189/kctigers23/JapanTranslations1.gif That would be fantastic.

Very true.

Personally, I would expect something around .300/.400/.470, and I think there's room for growth in all three stats. I wouldn't be shocked if he hit .325 one year. I wouldn't be shocked if he slugged .500 one year. An .870 OPS this year would be terrific. I think his upside at some point is probably low .900s, but I don't know if he'll reach that this year.

That's very much to be determined. Dempster's last ERA in the neighborhood of 5 was in 2003 with Cincinnati. His highest since then has been 4.80. He may not be great this year, but he's also unlikely to be at a 5.50 ERA. Yeah, it's unlikely. I'm not predicting it's going to happen. But those other things are all far outside the norm. Dempster has been inconsistent throughout his career. He's also coming off a much higher workload than is typical. I have no idea how he's going to end. I don't either, but his worst ERA in 6 years is pretty unlikely. If I had to guess, I'd put him in the mid-4s.

That's an excellent sign. I know you expect him to do well this year, but how good do you expect?

I glanced over at Gameday and noticed a four-spot for the Cubs this inning. I then looked to see how that happened and saw a Theriot grand slam. Awesome. :D

Sounds about right.

I know his BABIP is 20 points lower so far this year. I'm thinking last year was more of a couple of incredible weeks in April and then not much, whereas this year he's been terrific all month. I'm not sure on that, though.

That's very much to be determined. Dempster's last ERA in the neighborhood of 5 was in 2003 with Cincinnati. His highest since then has been 4.80. He may not be great this year, but he's also unlikely to be at a 5.50 ERA.

They may, and if any of those three are out all or most of the year then this team has problems. Bradley should play around 100 games, though, and ARam and Soriano have all had histories of minor injuries, but nothing long-lasting. So season enders are unlikely with them. I don't think Kosuke is going to continue to OPS 1.052 through the season. But, he's made some adjustments with his workout schedule so that he's likely to not be as tired later this year. The MLB season is longer and more taxing than a season in Japan and it takes some getting used to. And I've already said that DLee is likely regressing. Will he stick around a .537 OPS all year? Incredibly unlikely. He should improve - I'm expecting somewhere in the .780-.815 range - but I honestly don't know how much he will. As for Soto, he too probably won't hit like he did last year, but again he's not likely at all to OPS .398 all year. If he can get into the mid .700s (.750-.770) then that's decent enough. That's all very conservative expectations and there's a decent chance they're exceeded. Whether they are or not, this team is much better than 75 wins. Keep in mind, with players playing as awfully as they are now, if we keep winning at the pace we are, we'll finish right around 80 wins. That means you're prediction is assuming absolutely no improvement from Soto's .398 OPS, Lee's .537 OPS and Bradley's .627 OPS.

Wishful thinking. Bradley has played in 15 of 22 games Lee has played in 20 of 22 games Soriano in 22 of 22 Soto in 17 of 22 Aram in 13 of 22 and Fuku in 20 of 22. How is that 'we have only had our horses in 2 or 3 games at the beginning of the year'? And if the pitching keeps giving up 8-10 runs a game, we WILL NOT be alright. The team is downright awful right now, and it's not going to improve that much when the only player who has lost significant playing time to injury returns in Aram. You're ignoring the numerous ice cold starts a lot of guys with great proven track records have experienced. Lee may well be falling off, but ARam and Bradley are almost guaranteed to be far better than they have been and Soto and Fontenot are likely to be better than they have been. Even DLee is highly likely to improve - though I'm not sure how much. The pitching is a concern and if Dempster doesn't revert back to last year, we're in a bit of trouble there. But Z, Harden and Lilly are still a very strong top three and Marshall looked great last night.

Fukudome nearly had that ball. Bradley did a good job of backing him up there - with Amezaga's speed, I suspect it wouldn't have made a difference if Fukudome dove or not.

In order to obtain an .830 ops this year, what ops would he have to put up the rest of the way? Depends on how many at-bats he gets this year. If he has 400, my calculations would have him needing an .857 OPS the rest of the year to get to .830 overall. But I'm not very confident about that answer although it should be in the ballpark of what is needed. So essentially, we resigned Jacque Jones. Yay. Jacque's career OPS is .775, Bradley's is .824. Bradley's had four offensive seasons far better than Jones' best.

Lee's throw was too high. Theriot probably could/should have jumped and gotten it, but then we have no outs in the inning anyway.

The 4th round makes sense. That is where Jerry likes to target off the radar guys. Before that he may have a tendency to overdraft, but in the middle of the draft it's not at all unusual to think of him taking a guy that many people had going undrafted. The Melton guy is an example. When he was selected NFL.com didn't even have his basic measurements available, which tells me he was on very few people's radars for even getting drafted. That could have been Mitchell. That's the way it appears. He'd have been a really interesting pick in the 4th round. He was a huge reach in the 2nd, however.

There was some question about the Mike Mitchell situation and where the Bears were going to draft him. Brad Biggs seems to know where Angelo was targeting him.

Kouzmanoff wouldn't be any worse than our other options offensively (maybe better), but I wouldn't want to give much up for him. A career 101 OPS+ with 263 career Ks to 63 BBs. He'd be able to fill in at 3rd and maybe even 2B. He's got a bit of a platoon split(but not drastic, which is a good thing), and he's a career .813 OPS away from Petco. We could do a lot worse with a bench spot. Oh I wouldn't be against acquiring him at all. I'm just saying don't give up too much for him.

Kouzmanoff wouldn't be any worse than our other options offensively (maybe better), but I wouldn't want to give much up for him. A career 101 OPS+ with 263 career Ks to 63 BBs.