Soul

I'm having a hard time believing this club is catching anyone in the standings.

Same here. This offense is going to struggle unless our power hitters get it together and Hendry makes a move to get a decent hitting SS or RF. In other words, our offense is going to struggle. Hendry's not making any miracle moves to improve this team. He's a beaten GM. We should fire him now and save prospective buyers the trouble.

Looks like Hill/Blanco from now on, with Hill being the #1. lmao Bowen is a backup and maybe a fringe #1. Is there any chance Jake Fox or the guy from AAA will be called up? From what I've seen, Hill can't hit. Why did we trade Barrett for trash??? Because clearly we needed to improve our fielding, and trading Barrett cleared that right up. Koyie Hill leads the leagues in RGI. Cesar has the RGI, Hill leads in CERA. Based on the stats (and pretty much anything other than this game), we must have the best defense in the game. Yeap. 4th place 'cuz we'll hit like a AA club but great defense, dammit!

Let's talk about offense. You know, that precious commodity we are losing more & more of every day? Barrett last season: .307 .368 .517 OPS+ 121 He's had 3 straight years of OPS+ above 100, as a *catcher*, before this season. Now we lose his bat, in addition to losing Ramirez & Lee (at some point). This offense is very quickly becoming meek as a teenie bopper. Yes, Barrett was sucking this year, but his bat very likely would not have continued to. I sure hope Bowen can fill some of that gap -- I suppose he's not likely to be the kind of head case Barrett is. I'm not uncomfortable with trading Barrett. I'm just very skittish over what is happening to our hitting lineup over the past couple weeks.

don't mind if i do 8-) LOL, that right there is marketing genius in action. 8-)

He must have learned it on his own since he was in the Oriole organization the American League version of the Cubs. I think they tought good fundamentals @ LSU. Probably a good idea for us to draft more college players than high schoolers considering our lack of apparent developmental coaching ability in the minors (at least for positional talent).

Well, he won't get there but considering where Reggie's bust is now viewed by fans, I'd say it's not something that bothers the historians all that much.

Can't really afford to have him serve a suspension at any time. But --- if we can work it out so it happens when Pitt or Cincy is on the schedule, I'd prefer that to Milwaukee, yes. yeah...i mean you have washington and pitt the week before the all star break...ideal time Yeah that would be real good. Well, not 'real good' but you know what I mean 8-) NO NO NO. Selfishly, I have tickets to 2 of the 4 Cubs games in DC and want to see Lee play. Inconceivable!

We're all just spoiled with Steve Stone's awesomeness. I've grown to like our booth more & more. I don't remember Len being this good when he did games for other teams. I think he's raised his game. Brenly's easy to listen to, as XZero says. I'm still a Stoney fan though. But I like our new booth.

Can't really afford to have him serve a suspension at any time. But --- if we can work it out so it happens when Pitt or Cincy is on the schedule, I'd prefer that to Milwaukee, yes. yeah...i mean you have washington and pitt the week before the all star break...ideal time Yeah that would be real good. Well, not 'real good' but you know what I mean 8-)

Cubs are undefeated when Barrett duck snorts one into RF! We can't be beat!!!!

Can't really afford to have him serve a suspension at any time. But --- if we can work it out so it happens when Pitt or Cincy is on the schedule, I'd prefer that to Milwaukee, yes.

Josh Lewin? Didn't he used to fill in on Cub broadcasts? Sheesh.

Ouch. If the Yanks make it all the way back, it's going to really really suck. I hate the Yanks.

I'll cheer, but I hope it doesn't lose a game for us.

4th team might be getting someone almost as bad as Kwame? For LA, it isn't really about improving, right? Kobe wants out. It's not like they want to trade him. A lateral move in which they still have a superstar would be a good thing, because they most likely aren't going to get equal value for Kobe in any one on one deals. Yeah, from what I hear LA is interested in maintaining a star player on the roster. This would do that. Also, correct me if I'm missing something but I don't see how the 4th team is getting bamboozled -- they're getting nothing but the "unnamed player" could be anyone.

Damn straight. From now on we'd best get some boxing lessons for guys like Soriano and Lee. If we're going to get suspended for fighting, then we'd better get the most out of it.

Have these talking heads SEEN some of the deals which were used to acquire stars of Kobe's level? The most recent one was the Shaq deal and we all saw how that turned out! Kobe's got the Lakers over a barrel and the Bulls don't even need to trade for him. If the Lakers want a deal like Deng, Gordon, Tyrus Thomas, PJ Brown S&T, and the #9 for Kobe, the Bulls could tell them to buzz off without losing anything in the process. Actually the talking heads are using the Shaq deal as the reason why the Lakers won't do the same thing with Kobe. They think the Lakers would have to get star power in the trade because they failed to do that in the Shaq deal. A star swap then? I fail to see how that helps anyone, really. You get Kobe but lose your existing star. Same for the Lakers. Sounds like a wash, not worth doing for either side.

Who said focus primarily on passing? The OLine isn't particularly good at power running. They haven't been pounding teams with the ball, and probably won't be able to this year. They will need to both run and pass. They will need to throw on first down occasionally and send it deep often. They will need to probably throw for 20+ TDs and run for 15+. The Bears were bottom half of the league in yards per rush last year, if they try and go further away from a passing game and concentrate more on rushing that will just go down. I think we got into some trouble last year trying to force the passing game. In those games (Arizona comes to mind), it was too many INTs that didn't need to happen, and wouldn't have happened with better gameplanning. Yes, I believe that would have involved more running. When you look at the draft, the Bears didn't pick up a single WR. Instead they drafted a pass catching TE, and a good pass catching back out of the backfield. That doesn't scream pass-happy to me. It suggests the Bears will work in a more medium-range passing game, and could equal more of what Rex really excels at: the medium-range seam route. When you said we need to throw lots of TDs, but then set the bar at 20, that's not all that many--the top passing offenses had around 30 last year. You are the one who is insisting on calling it pass happy. The Bears threw a lot last year and they need to throw a lot this year in order to win. Calling for them to focus more on power running is just cliche nonsense that isn't going to lead to more wins. I notice everything you disagree with becomes 'nonsense' It's not, and it certainly will lead to a better chance to win than just letting Grossman throw 5 INTs when the pass game isn't working. We're not good enough protecting the QB, and with our WRs to just drop back 7 steps all the time when the other team knows it's coming. If you can't accept that about this team, then I don't know what else to say other than you are wrong. But, it's all about opinions so feel free to think what you wish.

I'd rather keep Thomas than Hinrich. Me too. I think that if there's a time to move Hinrich, its now. I hate to say it, but he's overrated. A great role player, but he is no star. I'd also move Deng, if that's what it takes. Deng has the most trade value on the team, and he's a rock solid player. That said, I'd give him up yesterday if that's what it took to get Kobe Bryant. Kobe is the best player in the NBA, period. If the Bulls had some team left- ie Wallace, TT or Nocioni, BG or Hinrich, they'd be clear contenders. There are few people in the league that can create their own shot and score, even when everyone on the floor knows they are going to get the ball. You can barely count them on 1 hand, and Kobe is the best there is right now. And anyone who thinks the deal can possibly be done by keeping Deng + Gordon or Hinrich is crazy. At least I'll be super impressed if Paxson manages to pull that one off. Wouldn't need to do that. It's really about keeping Deng to pair with Kobe. From that point you've got 2 stars, the rest can be considered role players and picked up in the draft or with normal transactions -- whatever is needed. Kobe + Deng + role players is plenty enough to win the East. Kobe + role players? Iffy.

I agree. Listening to media assessments of what should be done is the quickest ticket to last place I can think of.

Brewers/Giants is on in HD here. I'll be rooting for the Giants tonight, but not for a Bonds homer.

If Young appeals, it should be raised to 15.

That's what I fear. Kobe, like other superstars, still needs to be paired with at least one other very good player. If we gave them Deng/Gordon then we'd have to hope TT comes through. I'd take Kobe if it meant we could somehow keep Deng too, but that might be real hard to convince the Lakers to do.

This is from Peter King. The SI-Rex Grossman Hatred Parade Continues. I dont care that Grossman is a bear. I want him to piss all over the league, next year. I want him to go bananas. I never personally rooted for another player in any sport like I do for him now. We got to the Super Bowl by proving all these so-called 'experts' wrong. I couldn't care less if they hate on Grossman. I hope Rex sticks to the gameplan, uses his running game, limits the turnovers, and puts up more QB ratings that are in line with a controlled QB in charge of a primarily power-running attack. To hell with these 100+ QB rating obsessive bozos. Win the football games, let them whine like little girls. Most of all, be in touch with the team's identity. For the Bears, that's power running, an occasional well-placed pass, and rock-solid D. Actually, for those QB rating obsessive bozos, maybe they'll notice Rex had 7 games with a 100+ QB rating and an 8th that was 98.6 Trouble is, they don't notice. They only see the poor games. A QB has to do it every week or else they say he's junk