Soul

Really? Like what? Whenever I have a pot luck, Ryan always brings a hot side dish and a dessert. Ronny usually only brings a small bag of cookies. If it's a picnic, then Theriot brings the Ketchup, Cedeno maybe the Relish and Mustard. Neither brings the hot dogs & buns. ...only further confirming just how worthless Theriot is. You don't put ketchup on hot dogs. LOL, nice. 8-)

Really? Like what? Whenever I have a pot luck, Ryan always brings a hot side dish and a dessert. Ronny usually only brings a small bag of cookies. If it's a picnic, then Theriot brings the Ketchup, Cedeno maybe the Relish and Mustard. Neither brings the hot dogs & buns.

I find it mildly humorous how invested you are in defending these guys, david. Yeah, they are all making it up because it was so easy to declare the Tejada trade was official 6 hours before any media outlet reported it, including the exact players involved. This being about a week after it was first mentioned in any papers (that the Astros are interested). Or maybe the fact that the night before the draft signing deadline one of them declared the Weiters deal was done and named the exact $ amount. They surely have some info to share, but the medium makes it difficult to just trust out of hand. It's the very nature of message boards to be anonymous, it's not the best idea to just take stuff on a MB when there's no corroboration. Personally I never meant to call into question any intentions -- everyone wants to know what's going on and people everywhere want to share what they know, or think they know. I don't believe very many people are deliberately trying to lie, or hoax everyone. Maybe that's naive of me. Let's see what happens this week. It should be interesting.

Link Gallagher and Pie? That would be a terrible deal. Horrible beyond belief. In defense of Rosenthal though (which.....I really shouldn't be trying to defend him, but oh well), the entire quote is just throwing names out there, not suggesting it's going to be Gallagher and Pie together. I think I found the the place that originated this dreadful rumor: Hire Jim Essian Ugh.

I find it mildly humorous how invested you are in defending these guys, david. I point it out when I think people are way off base. Do you honestly think these guys are just making stuff up, got it right a couple times, gained a following, and then convinced the site admin (who went through his own "sources," whatever they may be) to post a BS story on the site's main page and completely risk the credibility of that website? Obviously, the site admin believed he had concrete info when they posted that report up (which had been confirmed independently of the inside posters). He didn't just put it on the front page of the site on a hunch. I just think it's [expletive] and far more far-fetched to think that it's some kind of elaborate hoax is all. Yeah, I don't think they were pulling a hoax. But they were crying all sorts of "deal done" and other crap while being directly contradicted by everyone else on the planet. You do that and you're wrong? You destroyed your own credibility and you've got no one to blame but yourself.

I find it mildly humorous how invested you are in defending these guys, david.

Link Gallagher and Pie? That would be a terrible deal. Horrible beyond belief. In defense of Rosenthal though (which.....I really shouldn't be trying to defend him, but oh well), the entire quote is just throwing names out there, not suggesting it's going to be Gallagher and Pie together.

As a Red Wings fan I have to tell you there was a very good reason that the Wings had absolutely no interest in resigning Lang after this season. Dave Tallon has done a terrible job signing free agents. Almost all of them if not all have been huge letdowns, especially Khabibulin. Instead of signing Lane and some other smalltimer centers they should have opened up the checkbook and signed one of the top 3 centers available this past offseason. it's not just about the checkbook. the free agents have to want to go there, and most don't want to go to places like chicago or los angeles because there is a losing atmosphere surrounding the team. the kings were going to open the checkbooks and pushed hard after drury and briere and ended up with handzus (who i like, but he isn't a top line center), stuart, preissing, and nagy. a bunch of projects/tier 2 guys at best. this isn't like baseball where you can just offer more than the othe rteam, most of the teams can compete with each other financially because of the salary cap (this isn't 100% true, but it generally fits). you have to do it like the blackhawks are trying to do it right now and build from the ground up. before the last off-season started, dean lombardi (kings GM) talked about his philosophy as a GM. he said you consider some guys bridges and some guys builders. what he means is that you have to start with the bridges (stuart, nagy) so the young guys will be ready to step in and be productive when they're ready. now it helps when you end up with stars in the making like toews or kane or kopitar and they can step in and immediately produce, but that isn't going to happen very often. so teams like the blackhawks are stuck with the lower end of the free agent market until they can compete in the standings or at least show that they might be able to in the near future. then they'll be able to bring in stars via free agency and trade. i would look to this off-season as a shot for the blackhawks to make a big splash in the FA market. I'm with you on that. I listened to that Savard press conference, it was quite refreshing. I came away thinking the Blackhawks will need to take this offseason, remove some of the lazy elements off the roster, and move forward from there. If it can't be done in one offseason, then the right thing to do is to get started in that direction and hope some of the other guys who aren't contributing come around. The one thing they need to do is to make sure they don't get into a situation where the inmates are running the asylum. I'm convinced Savard is the right man to pilot this ship back to respectability, but the club is going to have to back him up and give what he's saying some teeth. The right messages must be sent. This club has developed a culture of losing over the past decade -- that's not easy to change.

I think Pie will be fine. He was 22 last year and posted a .973 OPS in AAA. Sure, he struggled at the MLB level. Not every prospect is Pujols. Here's what I would do with Pie: let him play. Let him learn. Don't platoon him. He's hit at every level, while being young for his level. He does need to work on his plate discipline and taking walks, but he's shown the capacity to improve. Bat him 7th and let him learn. I agree with everything you said except for not platooning him. Felix has learned to hit at every level against rightys, but has never hit lefties worth crap. I'd be alright with just letting him play no matter the pitcher, but it could also help alleviate some pressure from him to not have to face pitchers he's historically never been able to hit. I wouldn't give Murton for Byrd just to get him a platoon partner, but I think having one could help both Felix and the offensive production. Totally agree dew. If we were not a contender then I would let him play against LH & RH. But since we are, there's no reason not to platoon him, at least for the 1st half of the season. Yeah if we're going to play Pie full-time and let him learn, then I wonder how long he would be kept in if he doesn't produce anything. I'd rather put him in situations where he's more likely to succeed to build his confidence.

Why do people here keep slamming people on other team's boards as if they're saying these things just to mess wih us? Some of us are WAY too wound up over this. I'm agreeing with you a lot. Watch out, though. Someone is going to call you out for coming to the defense of the insiders. :roll: I have no knowledge of who is who on the Orioles board except for what was posted earlier in this thread. I will point out though, that the only labeled insider talking about the Cubs and Roberts during this whole thread on Bedard appears to be a new poster to the Orioles board with a supposed Cubs source whose veracity is openly questioned on the board. Link to Orioles Hangout Insider Re-cap. ...it was posted that the deal was finalized on the main page, so it definitely wasn't just one new guy. But who cares, it's just stupid rumor season anyway. This kind of stuff happens every year.

Dear Lord, who cares how long a thread is? Especially when they end up inflated due to people pointlessly commenting on how long the thread is? I feel bad for all the people who bravely come to these threads, even if multiple thread pages apparently crashes their computer or slashes their tires or gives them cancer. I had to have a tooth filled the other day for the first time in years. I believe my tooth decay is a result of the Brian Roberts thread. Get all your teeth replaced with implants. It will save you a lot of trouble.

I certainly wouldn't mind if they knocked down Mullens regardless of whether the construction extends that far. But that's just me. That would be the 7/11 gone on the one end, right? Good riddance to that. A couple sports shops gone on the other end, I think. Eh.....looks like it isn't in the area of any of the more well known clubs. I have no idea if this would be approved or not. Maybe Goose Island is given a good location inside the new complex.

If he puts up those averages, Wrigley is going to take the song "I'm turning Japanese" to a whole new level.

Despite Hendry saying "I wish I could be talking to you with us done, but unfortunately that's not the case"? He's been talking for months now though.

Just needed to re-up my commitment to the greatest thread ever. Seriously though, I'm thinking no more major moves before opening day. Would have probably happened by now. Pitchers & Catchers are about to report, everyone's getting ready for ST. Very little chatter out there other than the odd rumor here & there. I think this is it.

Mind boggling.

Perhaps not making the 2003 would have been the best thing for the Cubs, in retrospect. Exactly. I know this wasn't your point, but selfishly, I (and all the other fans) wouldn't have had to suffer through the tragedy of that playoff series. What? There were plenty of good times that year, don't let the loss to the Marlins destroy all the other stuff. The Braves series was some of the best times I've ever had as a Cub fan.

The Bears defense took that team to the Super Bowl in spite of Rex Grossman. Eh, don't agree. I understand he wasn't the greatest, but part of the Bears being the #1 seed that year was the bombastic games he had early, and that toss to Davis in OT to set up the winning FG vs. Seattle was pure magic. Any time you have a player who is providing the dagger in a playoff game, he's a contributor. Rex had his moments, no matter how much people bash him.

Is there really any truth to this Greene to Chicago rumor, or is it all based on our wants and desires to get it done? Didn't it start with a rumor that a Pie for Greene trade was turned down last year. Then that lead to everyone wanting Khalil Greene after Meph convinced a lot of people so (myself included). Then the Padres interested in Murton thing. I think that opened up Murton + Whoever else for Greene. Has there been any newspaper rumors about us actually going after Greene lately, or are we all just hoping for the best and making up our own scenarios that seem so obviously smart to do that we start to believe the Cubs will do it? I want Greene. So very very much. But is it really gonna happen? Probably not. It's a lot of fantasy, mixed with a few tidbits from the writers that may or may not indicate anything.

Does that mean Cotts lasted longer? We win!

Welcome back to trade rumor hell, my friend.

White Sox should be horrible this year. Therefore, they'll win 95 and compete for the WC/Div.

Please find a reasonable way to get Greene. I might not mind Theriot off the bench. Why do I get the feeling that all these trade rumors are going to blow away and we're ultimately going to be left with the team we've got right now?

Of course. I don't have any idea if that's what he's doing or not.

He'll play. and win super bowl mvp That leg contraption looked pretty big & ugly. I don't know, if Brady's really hobbled it could cause me to retract my "Pats by 20" prediction. All bets are off if Mr. GQ can't go 100%