dew1679666265

This is very early, I understand, but if this upset happens, is it a bigger upset than Boise over OU? I think it is because I thought that Boise team was close to as good as that OU team. I didn't think that (and still don't) with this game.

Same with me. I've got a ton of points on Bama, but I'm not going to win so screw it.

This is shocking, but awesome.

Alex Cintron had one season of a 112 OPS+ in 448 at bats - better than anything Miles has ever done. Tony Womack had a season of 91 OPS+ in 553 at bats - eight points worse than Miles' career year and better than any other year Miles has ever had. Damian Jackson had a season of 89 OPS+ in 470 at bats - 10 points worse than Miles' career year and better than any other year Miles has ever had. And in Miles' best year (2007) he had just 379 at bats. He's had two seasons over 400 at bats - a 74 OPS+ and a 76 OPS+. He looks very, very similar to those bad, replacement level (or worse) players. Miles is just some scrub. He's exactly the type of player the guys you listed are - scrubs grabbed off the scrap heap. And if the going rate for his type of player is $2.5 mil a year, I'd rather stick with Cedeno. And I don't really like Cedeno.

And that's apparently better than winning the "152 games of 130 ops+" sweepstakes.

Yay. :x

Players don't come cheaper at the deadline, they get more expensive because of higher demand. Need will be greater and more teams will be willing to take a chance on players - thus we'll have to pay more.

That's a pretty big deal when we're trying to win the World Series and we don't have a guy we're certain can perform behind DeRosa. We're hoping Mike Fontenot and Aaron Miles ( :banghead: ) can come somewhat close to replicating DeRo's production, but that's far from a sure thing. And when I thought about trading high on DeRosa, I didn't have three possible Jose Cedas in mind. It would have been far better to keep him and pursue Hermida, Scott, etc.

UK cornerback Trevard Lindley is out for the game now. That's gonna hurt that defense.

Good call by the voters. Manning flew under the radar until the last couple weeks because the Colts started 3-4 but he was just amazing over the last few weeks. Yeah, the only reason that team is in the playoffs is Peyton Manning. It's a pretty weak safe pick. Who would you have gone with though? I agree, I just don't know who had a typical MVP season. I'm pretty sure he was joking. My top three, though, would have been Peyton, Peterson and Rivers.

Yeah, that's the problem. Both the Colts and Chargers have similar talent levels and Peyton took the Colts to 12 wins, while Rivers took them to 8 wins. I give Rivers a bit more credit, though, because he had Norv Turner coaching him. Rivers and Peterson should have been 2 and 3 (in any order) though.

Good call by the voters. Manning flew under the radar until the last couple weeks because the Colts started 3-4 but he was just amazing over the last few weeks. Yeah, the only reason that team is in the playoffs is Peyton Manning. It's a pretty weak safe pick. should've been Paul Pierce The voters are just lazy.

Like...down to the #18 range? I'd hold out hope that he fell to #32, but it'd just make me commit suicide if he was available and the Titans didn't take him.

Good call by the voters. Manning flew under the radar until the last couple weeks because the Colts started 3-4 but he was just amazing over the last few weeks. Yeah, the only reason that team is in the playoffs is Peyton Manning.

I think the issue is that the Cubs are maxed out on payroll, under the current ownership (or lack thereof). The optimistic view would be that one of the reasons Hendry made the DeRosa trade was to stockpile pitching prospects that Towers' approved of, and once the ownership situation is squared away Hendry now has the pieces in place to pull the trigger on a Peavy deal. I find it hard to believe Towers likes these prospects, though, because he likes finesse type pitchers. These are hard throwing, high upside risks - Hendry's favorite type.

That role is fine, but with Bradley likely in the fold, Hoff will likely get far more playing time than a 4th OF should get. Hoff won't be a 4th OF and will have a hard time making the team. Soriano, Fukudome, Bradley, Johnson, and Gathwright would be the first 5 OFs with Pie likely to be traded. I'm not sure where Hoff would fit in. True, Johnson will be the 4th OF. I actually might prefer Hoff over Gathright, though.

I'm proud to say the Titans sold out all of their divisonal round tickets within three minutes of them going on sale.

Peyton has officially won the MVP. No real surprise and I think it's very well deserved.

It came from the DeRosa savings, and they think he can contribute positively. If they were financially strapped, they had no business offering 10m a year for Bradley. How much savings is there from removing Marquis and DeRosa's contract, only to add Bradley, Miles, Gathright and Vizcaino? The Cubs had players to trade to get a lefty bat. Luke Scott, Hermida, Hawpe, Kubel, etc... And they could have made those trades without having to give up DeRosa. Unfortunately it's become painfully obvious they didn't want a lefty bat. They wanted multiple lefty bats at every position. They are going to struggle all year looking for right handed help. I like Bradley a lot when he is actually playing. I'm utterly shocked, however, that a guy who played a total of 21 games in the outfield last year has gotten a 30m contract to play the outfield. And that the Cubs traded their depth at that position to get him. And the Cubs have payroll issues as well. I wasn't the biggest Bradley fan before, now I'm really not liking him.

Making all those moves and then hoping that new ownership - that isn't even in place yet - will agree to increase the budget immediately is pretty poor planning. Even if it ultimately works out.

But Aaron Miles makes that less pathetic? DeRosa is much better at hitting RHP than Miles. But this isn't about Miles, it's about acquiring Milton Bradley. Look, I hate losing DeRosa, never said I didn't, but as Hendry said, they couldn't move Ramirez, Soriano, Fukudome, or Lee, so DeRosa was the next name on the list that Hendry considered expendable to make salary room for a Milton Bradley contract. 3yrs of Milton Bradley + the 3 prospects from the Indians V.S. 1 more year of DeRosa...I don't like it necessarily, but I understand it. There are ways to get a left handed bat into the lineup without moving DeRosa. Jeremy Hermida and Luke Scott are both available through trades - and with either we wouldn't have to downgrade from DeRosa to Aaron Miles. I don't have a problem with trading DeRosa - I'd have been in favor of it if it improved the team. This trade did not improve the team, all it did was allow Milton Bradley to play 90 games for us and give us Aaron Miles for second base. I'm hoping that the DeRosa trade is a precursor to a Peavy trade. I agree that making the DeRosa trade to free up money for Bradley without the Peavy deal doesn't make a lot of sense. As for your suggestions about Hermida and Scott, everything I have read sounds like the Marlins are asking a ton for Hermida. I have been advocating a trade for Scott (here and at OH), who could produce great numbers in a platoon. I would have traded Marquis (plus cash), Pie, and Hill for Scott and most of the posters were very receptive to the deal (unfortunately I didn't hear from AM :mrgreen: ). Splitting playing time in CF/RF/2B between Fukudome, Johnson, Gathwright, Scott, DeRosa, and Fontenot seems to cover all aspects of lefty/righty, speed, decent power, and defense while saving money. The only way this trade isn't terrible is if it ultimately nets us Peavy. As for Hermida, I'd rather give up an arm and a leg in the future than sell off valuable pieces of the current team for risky prospects when the goal of the team is a championship. I'd greatly prefer Hermida over Scott mainly because Hermida would be a serious candidate long term in RF. But, if we had gotten Scott, I'd probably have stuck mainly with DeRo/Fontenot at 2B and Reed filling in against lefties between RF and CF. Keep Cedeno as well and play him at 2B some with DeRosa going to RF and Reed in CF.

Very average at extreme best. Most of what I've heard is that he's below average.

Not even close. It's going to take a very good bat to replace the dropoff from DeRosa to Aaron Miles. If Hermida plays at the highest level I could realistically hope for he might make up that difference. I'd feel a lot better if Adam Dunn were being brought in. The dropoff is most likely going to be from DeRosa to Fontenot. I don't think Miles will start over Mike. And I don't think the dropoff between DeRosa and Fontenot next year is that huge. Miles will play, though, and he'll likely be bad in those at bats he gets. There will also be the at bats Hoffpauir, Reed and Gathright get that DeRosa would have gotten. You've also got the opportunity cost of no longer having DeRosa around if Fontenot struggles. I don't think it'll be that bad if he's playing against LHP. He and Fontenot wouldn't make a bad platoon, which I think would be the greatest extent of Miles getting starting time. The platoon likely won't be as good as DeRosa on his own. Miles isn't productive against pitchers no matter what hand they throw with and what hand he hits with.

:cry: For good humor, go back and read what this board was saying about DeRosa when he signed his deal. Rotoworld even compared DeRosa to Neifi Perez. :-)) I can only hope Aaron Miles turns into DeRosa. It's insanely unlikely, though. And for the record, I was not one of those opposed to the DeRosa signing.

Escalating contracts are coming back to bite them The crappy economy is probably hurting worse right now. And also the Tribune declaring bankuptcy. That has a way of changing everything. I'm starting to think Hendry just got cut off at the knees. If that's the case, though, where is the $5 million for Aaron Miles coming from? And why wasn't it used for somebody who could contribute positively?