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QFT Whatever you guys want to believe, no team is gonna sign Bonds. I'm still a little surprised an AL team hasn't put their conscience on the back burner to sign him as a DH. I agree that no NL team would seriously consider him, though.

Monte Kiffin has confirmed he's leaving Tampa at the end of the season to join the Tennessee coaching staff as defensive coordinator. This was somewhat expected, but still awesome news.

Hey, Erik Ainge was a political science major at UT.

Do we know that Bradley will be that much better? He hasn't played 100 games in the field since 2004 and played a whole 20 last year. I realize most of it is because he'll hurt himself if he stands in the outfield, but is a player who will be injured if he plays the outfield any better than a poor defender? Yes. Everything I've seen points to Bradley being at least capable, if not above average defensively. With Dunn, we're talking about giving away a substantial portion of the offense he provides with his defense, especially in RF. But that was two years ago, at best, for Bradley. The sample size defensively for him is very small unless you go back to 2006. Defensive metrics are highly questionable at best with a large sample size. If you have to go back to when Bradley was 27 to have any sort of real sample size, are the metrics reliable enough to tell you how he'll be today when he's 31 and has a pitiful health record? For me I need more than "he's had injuries" to deduce that he's become a worse outfielder. And besides, even if he's been sapped of range by his injuries, he's still highly likely to be orders of magnitude better than Dunn in the OF. My point is that defensive metrics are, at best, less than reliable. In the last two years, we don't have 80 games with which to judge Bradley's defensive ability. Given his lengthy injury history and the fact that he's four years older than the last time he played 100 games in the outfield, there's a good chance he's regressed a bit defensively. He'll still be better than Dunn in the outfield, I guess. But will he be able to play it without getting hurt? He hasn't in a long time.

You're thinking completely in terms of scoring one run. If Dunn gets on base, then Aramis (a great hitter) will have the ability to drive in more than one run. With a limited amount of opportunities in a game, it's important to get as much out of each opportunity as possible. You also can't build your team around 25% of their ABs (at most). If you have a great offense, that offense is likely to do well with RISP. Dunn helps us to have a great offense.

The problem is, there simply aren't very many fast players who also can slug the way Dunn can. If a pitcher wants to walk Dunn in front of Aramis and set him up to drive in two players as opposed to one, he can be my guest. Dunn isn't nearly as good a hitter as Aramis, so the more often he's walked in front of Aramis, the better. Dunn, though, is not the type of player who is going to get a bunch of base hits in any situation. He's going to either walk or slug the ball (usually a home run). I'd love to have players who hit great with RISP every season. Problem is, we have a certain, small amount of options with which to improve our team. Of those options, Adam Dunn is the best. Dunn will get on base 38% of the time and will slug over .500. In the 25% of ABs that you're focusing on, he may not give the ideal result, but he'll give a positive result. He's certainly better than paying Bradley $10 million to sit on the DL for a little less than half the season (at best).

Shouldn't this be in green? That's the lamest excuse ever from universities. I guess the basketball players that play every weekday don't have finals. Or Division 2 football players. Division I-AA teams had playoff games yesterday. And I'm pretty sure they'll have more playoff games next Saturday. Finals truly are a pitifully lame excuse.

Do we know that Bradley will be that much better? He hasn't played 100 games in the field since 2004 and played a whole 20 last year. I realize most of it is because he'll hurt himself if he stands in the outfield, but is a player who will be injured if he plays the outfield any better than a poor defender? Yes. Everything I've seen points to Bradley being at least capable, if not above average defensively. With Dunn, we're talking about giving away a substantial portion of the offense he provides with his defense, especially in RF. But that was two years ago, at best, for Bradley. The sample size defensively for him is very small unless you go back to 2006. Defensive metrics are highly questionable at best with a large sample size. If you have to go back to when Bradley was 27 to have any sort of real sample size, are the metrics reliable enough to tell you how he'll be today when he's 31 and has a pitiful health record?

Not making an out is getting the job done. Welcome to the forum. While I thank you for the welcome (I have been lurking for years btw), I have to respectfully disagree. Also, I wish you would go into more details then just the one line answer, especially given the justifications for why it's not getting the job done I have given. The thinking behind "Not making an out is getting the job done" is that the more guys you get on base the more likely you are to not only score, but also have a big inning - i.e. "put up a crooked number." Each team has a limited number of outs with which to score more runs than the other team, so a player who doesn't use up a many of those outs is valuable. Also, most of a pitcher's desire to have Dunn on base is not because he's slow - it's because any pitch at all can end up in the seats. He doesn't hit for a very good average, but Dunn can slug with the best of hitters.

Do we know that Bradley will be that much better? He hasn't played 100 games in the field since 2004 and played a whole 20 last year. I realize most of it is because he'll hurt himself if he stands in the outfield, but is a player who will be injured if he plays the outfield any better than a poor defender?

Never use Dunn's name with the term "can move" in the same sentence. Well, Bradley can move at least. Problem is, every time he moves he hurts himself.

It's better than cheering for Florida.

Is SDSU really that much better of a job than Ball State? I'd view the schools on a fairly similar level. Or at least close enough that it wouldn't be worth Hoke leaving for it.

Obviously not, because if we were watching the first round of the playoffs today then the first week of the season (y'know, with games like Appy St v LSU and Youngstown St v OSU) wouldn't have meant nearly as much. Or something like that. . . True, today's matchups would've sucked. Who would've wanted to see OU vs. VT, UF vs. CIN, UT vs. Utah and USC vs. PSU? Not if it cost some meaning to the colossal matchup of Coastal Carolina v Penn State (no offense to your boys) or Georgia Southern v Georgia. Gotta keep those regular season games meaning something.

Obviously not, because if we were watching the first round of the playoffs today then the first week of the season (y'know, with games like Appy St v LSU and Youngstown St v OSU) wouldn't have meant nearly as much. Or something like that. . .

There are now reports that Muschamp hasn't interviewed and isn't interested in the Auburn job. Who knows there. And that's great news for Clawson. I'm surprised that he was able to get a 1A coaching job, I figured he'd have to take a 1AA job for a couple of years.

Kiffin better know what he's doing or he's going to piss me off with this running off quarterbacks business. It doesn't matter that he loves a QB that can enroll in 2010, we kind of need one now. I just hope he's right about Coleman, or else we'll likely suck for the next couple of years (and Kiffin will then be on the hot seat).

Boyd was still strongly committed to Tennessee. It was Kiffin who said he wouldn't fit the system.

Maybin will be a top 10 pick when he turns pro next season. Interesting. I think I remember seeing him on a couple of mock drafts for 2010 that I've looked at. Haven't paid that much attention to them yet, though.

New Orleans Saints offensive coordinator - and former Tennessee assistant - Doug Marone has been named Syracuse's head coach, according to ESPN sources. Interesting move. A bit risky and I think I would have liked the Holtz hire better. This could work out well, though.

I bow to the expertise of the posters more knowledgable in the quality of each defensive player, re: Laurinaitis. And Maybin definitely sounds like a beast. He should be fun to watch.

The bad part is that there isn't much in the way of top QBs uncommitted right now. Devlin picked a horrible time to decide to transfer as most all of the good QBs are mostly locked up. If JoPa wants one in this class, he'll likely have to steal one away from another team. which he may be able to do, since they won't be buried in the depth chart for 2 years anymore Don't know if I agree with this, the top two QBs left on PSU's board are Newsome and Boyd, and both are uncommitted (although they lead the country in previous commitments...). Not saying we land either of them, but you'd have to assume one is a possibility. I work in the PSU A.D. and I have some contacts who are convinced that Newsome will announce for PSU at the Army game because he's already told staff as much. TFWIW. I don't know about Newsome, but Tajh Boyd only wants to play in a pro-style offense. What Jay Paterno did this year may scare Boyd away. Galen Hall scripted his offense for the personnel he had. The top 3 WR's are graduating, and by the time Boyd slotted in at QB (2010), the makeup of the team will be entirely different. One thing PSU has not been the past decade or so is a "system" school. The offense they've run with Clark/Robinson is very different than the one they ran with Morelli That's a good point. JoPa should make sure Boyd understands that though. He decommitted from WVU because he doesn't want to run the spread or any version of it.

His stats are better than Maualuga. Who should have gotten it over Laurinaitis?

I'd think defensive players of the year would be a good place to start: ACC - Mark Herzlich, LB BC - 105 tackles, 11 TFL, 3 sacks, 6 INT for 121 yds B12 - Brian Orakpo, DE Texas - 40 tackles, 18 TFL, 10.5 sacks, 0 INT SEC - Eric Berry, S Tennessee - 72 tackles, 2.5 TFL, 3 sacks, 7 INT for 265 yds BE - Scott McKillop, LB Pitt - 126 tackles, 16.5 TFL, 4 sacks, 1 INT for 18 yds P10 - Rey Maualuga, LB USC - 73 tackles, 2.5 TFL, 2 INT for 48 yds B10 - James Laurinaitis, LB Ohio St - 121 tackles, 5.5 TFL, 4 sacks, 2 INT for 0 yds Obviously not all of them would be invited. If any were to go this year, I'd probably be in favor of one or two of Berry, Herzlich and McKillop. None should win it this year, though. Eric Berry is probably the best defensive player in the country. And he's still a sophomore. You're probably right - and he's a true sophomore, so Tennessee gets him for one more year (at least ). He might be deserving to be invited next year (assuming he progresses) and if by some longshot prayer he's here his senior year, he should be the first defensive player since Charles Woodson to get serious consideration.

If Bradford does bolt (and Stafford as well), it'll be interesting to see who the Lions take. I have to think Detroit (even being Detroit) will have to take a QB. If Bradford and Stafford are both available, it'd be interesting to see their choice. I think you take Stafford, no doubt. That's what I would think since he has the better NFL tools than Bradford (thicker, stronger arm). I just wondered if Bradford's superior production this year might sway a team. Interestingly, Stafford is 6'3 and Bradford is 6'4. I thought Stafford was taller by an inch or two.