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dew1679666265

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Everything posted by dew1679666265

  1. I hate being this negative, but I see no way that this roster is better than last year's. I liked last year's going into the season and was proven mostly right (though I never thought we'd approach 97 wins, I thought low 90s or high 80s was far more likely). I just don't see any possible way the downgrades all across the bench, the downgrade in the bullpen, the downgrade at second and the improvement in the outfield could translate to a better team. I definitely think we have a better lineup than we did opening day 2008. Better rotation too, especially if Hardens in. Bullpen and Bench are a definite downgrade. That could be a proble, as our bench was such a huge asset last season. I just don't understand that. We upgraded in RF and downgraded in CF and second. I think the lineup is definitely worse. The rotation is certainly better than opening day 2008, though. The bench is quite a bit worse and the bullpen is a bit worse (and it could be even more if they dump Wuertz for nothing). Overall, we're still the best team in the Central by a long shot, but I'm not filled with confidence that we'll do any better than a first round whimper again this year. I pray I'm wrong though.
  2. I got to the point where I was just rooting for OT. Once the Steelers screwed that up, I didn't care that much about who won.
  3. This is pre-emptive, but I think warranted and, even, necessary at this point: I hate this offseason.
  4. I was pulling for the Steelers in the game (as much as I cared who won, that is). I just don't understand not reviewing that.
  5. Has Lou ever stuck to a very strict platoon (or even a strict platoon at all)? I really don't remember. And it's a sign of a bad move when you make one and end up hoping that - at best - you can match your production from last year. Didn't he stick pretty close to the platoon in CF last year with Edmonds and Johnson? So/so, I think. As the season progressed he began playing Reed against a decent number of righties, I'm pretty sure.
  6. I hate being this negative, but I see no way that this roster is better than last year's. I liked last year's going into the season and was proven mostly right (though I never thought we'd approach 97 wins, I thought low 90s or high 80s was far more likely). I just don't see any possible way the downgrades all across the bench, the downgrade in the bullpen, the downgrade at second and the improvement in the outfield could translate to a better team.
  7. Has Lou ever stuck to a very strict platoon (or even a strict platoon at all)? I really don't remember. And it's a sign of a bad move when you make one and end up hoping that - at best - you can match your production from last year. It's kind of inevitable for a team with 97-wins, a lot of top-notch seasons and a ton of backloaded contracts. I didn't expect the overall team to be as good this year as last, but the second base move in particular is still frustrating. DeRosa's likely production is probably the best we can hope for from the Fontenot/Miles platoon. Had we kept DeRo, we'd have a chance, at least, that he'd replicate last year. yes and no. Fontenot/Miles likely won't match DeRosa version 2008, but DeRosa 2009 won't match it either. 2009 DeRosa has a much, much better chance at replicating 2008 DeRosa than the Fontenot/Miles platoon however.
  8. This was ridiculous. what is? That they didn't review it. And that nobody even talked about it in the postgame. gotcha. i thought you meant my post for a second. i also was hoping it would be addressed by one of the 14 people on nbc's postgame show but i couldn't take too much of it and turned it off. I watched the entire postgame show and even ESPN for a few minutes after the game. No mention from anyone. The only half-hearted mention that it might be a fumble was from Chris Myers on Fox Sports Radio after the game. I was driving home and he mentioned (somewhat under his breath) that it was an incomplete pass and the Cardinals should have had another chance. With Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin on the field, that seems like a pretty huge gaffe to not rightfully give them one more shot at the end zone. Also, since the unsportsmanlike penalty was assessed on the Steelers, wouldn't it have been assessed if the Cards had gotten the ball back - thus giving Arizona one last crack from the Pittsburgh 29? That's no longer a hail mary and, with that offense, it's very possible to make it.
  9. This is almost like the Sara Lee question. It's "in line." "On line" doesn't even make sense.
  10. I'd love it if Fontenot does that. I kinda doubt it, but hope I'm very wrong. he was way better than those numbers last year, so i don't see why you'd be that skeptical. And he was worse than those numbers the year before. Last year he only had 243 ABs and I'm hoping he gets a lot more than that this year (since our only other option is Aaron Miles). The question is, where would 150 to 200+ more ABs put his numbers?
  11. I disagree about the lineup. We're downgrading at second and center, but upgrading in RF. If Miles doesn't replicate his career season and repeats what he's done most of his career, second could be a significant downgrade. I'd love Wigginton as well at this point, but I haven't heard a thing about him. Wigginton would be a great addition, but he's too expensive and probably would prefer to land a job where he might get more playing time. Whether we like it or not, Aurilia does the same for less. Wigginton may well be too expensive, but I'm hoping Hendry can pull him in. As for the comparison to Aurilia, he's less expensive than Wigginton, but he's also a whole lot worse. Wigginton had an .876 and .792 OPS the past two years. Aurilia had a .745 and .672 OPS the past two years.
  12. Has Lou ever stuck to a very strict platoon (or even a strict platoon at all)? I really don't remember. And it's a sign of a bad move when you make one and end up hoping that - at best - you can match your production from last year. It's kind of inevitable for a team with 97-wins, a lot of top-notch seasons and a ton of backloaded contracts. I didn't expect the overall team to be as good this year as last, but the second base move in particular is still frustrating. DeRosa's likely production is probably the best we can hope for from the Fontenot/Miles platoon. Had we kept DeRo, we'd have a chance, at least, that he'd replicate last year.
  13. I'd love it if Fontenot does that. I kinda doubt it, but hope I'm very wrong. And I laugh that Cedeno, who we just traded, projects to be better than the guy we just gave a 2 year/4.5 million dollar deal to. Not a Cedeno fan at all, but I'd have preferred him to overpaying Miles. Yeah, PECOTA just underscores what I think so many of us here think. As frustrating as they have been at times, the odds are good that we could have got as much or more from Cedeno and Pie than we will get from their more expensive replacements, Miles and Gathright. Maybe that savings would have been enought that Hendry could have kept DeRosa around, which would have given us much bBraetter insurance against an injury to Bradley/Ramirez/Soriano thna we currently have. Hopefully Hendry will end up knowing better than us and the projection systems do, or getting lucky. Either one is fine with me. Yeah, that's what I'm hoping. After the playoff collapse last year, though, and the Peavy rumors swirling throughout the offseason, it's a really bitter pill to swallow that all Hendry did was make us worse entering this year.
  14. Has Lou ever stuck to a very strict platoon (or even a strict platoon at all)? I really don't remember. And it's a sign of a bad move when you make one and end up hoping that - at best - you can match your production from last year.
  15. With our awful looking bench, I think this is a pretty significant issue for this team. I think Hendry will sign one more IF backup, and I'm hoping that backup can actually hit.
  16. I don't buy that Fontenot is that much better than DeRosa and Fuku is that much better than Edmonds defensively. I'm hoping Fuku can make some big strides this year (and generally like him), but I don't see any way we match the overall production at second that we had last year (or likely would have had this year had we been smart and kept DeRo). I don't buy that a Fontenot/Miles platoon is that much worse than DeRosa offensively, and *I* am worth half a win in CF over Edmonds. If Miles continues his career year into this one and what Fontenot has done in limited time is what he'll do as a starter, it won't be much of a downgrade. I don't like those chances, though. I'll agree that the downgrade in center is much, much less, however.
  17. I'd love it if Fontenot does that. I kinda doubt it, but hope I'm very wrong. And I laugh that Cedeno, who we just traded, projects to be better than the guy we just gave a 2 year/4.5 million dollar deal to. Not a Cedeno fan at all, but I'd have preferred him to overpaying Miles.
  18. I don't buy that Fontenot is that much better than DeRosa and Fuku is that much better than Edmonds defensively. I'm hoping Fuku can make some big strides this year (and generally like him), but I don't see any way we match the overall production at second that we had last year (or likely would have had this year had we been smart and kept DeRo).
  19. I disagree about the lineup. We're downgrading at second and center, but upgrading in RF. If Miles doesn't replicate his career season and repeats what he's done most of his career, second could be a significant downgrade. I'd love Wigginton as well at this point, but I haven't heard a thing about him.
  20. I don't really mind this signing, simply because we were going to get crap anyway. The problem is, the rest of the offseason's downgrading makes this signing worse. If we had even a decent bench right now (like we did last year), then the backup catcher would be fairly irrelevant. Problem is, when the rest of the bench sucks, it highlights the fact that the backup catcher sucks.
  21. Really? Rivals and Scout have him as a 4-star running back. Also hearing that Marsalis Teague is a likely get for UT. Florida commit, but it's my understanding that this is a UT/Bama battle. I heard Brent Hubbs saying he thought Teague had a good shot of coming here (and that it was between us and Bama). I like that a lot. Have you heard anything new on Marlon Brown? Hubbs seemed to think there was a chance we'd get him, but that UGA was still in the running. Not sure if you've heard anything else, but I'd love to get the top two players in Tennessee this year (Eric Gordon and Marlon Brown).
  22. From what I understand, Kiffin pulled a Tajh Boyd on him and told him he could come here but he wouldn't play. So now it sounds like Charlie Weiss and ND are hard after him. Hosak probably has more details, though.
  23. Stewart Mandel of SI is whining about Tennessee's spending on assistant coaches - saying it's not fair to schools that don't have the money Tennessee does. He also went on, however, to say that Tennessee will likely profit from this and that they can afford it. So basically, it's just not fair that Tennessee has more money than other schools and should spend according to what FAU and MTSU can afford.
  24. I went with Joey Gathright, simply because this entire offseason the Cubs have done pretty much the opposite of what I could have wanted. Thus, I expect them to start the worst player possible out there. Since Aaron Miles wasn't on the list, I went with Gathright. It wouldn't shock me to see Miles in right, however.
  25. Problem is, only one of those final six guys you listed has a good chance to even be decent as a major league starter this year. If Hill could find his control he could be #2, but I'm not betting on it. And then we have a pretty major injury risk in Harden to worry about as well. I don't like Looper much at all, but I wouldn't be opposed to some more 5th spot insurance.
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