Soul

I guess any win on the road is good, but only 4 rebounds for Wallace against that team is disheartening. There's obviously something wrong with Wallace and the Bulls, and he doesn't look anywhere near the player he was in Detroit. We almost blew that game, against a team that right now is probably worse than the Knicks with all their injuries. Again----nothing but a couple passes and then a long-range jumper down the stretch. It's not going to work in the long term. It will be good to see an extended home stand. Maybe they can find themselves a little bit in terms of getting Ben Wallace going more, and finding out if Deng can make up some of that lack of inside scoring (as it looks like Skiles is going to try and push that role for Luol a little bit).

What the heck is so attractive about a Bears/Bucs game? Everyone knows that the Bucs haven't won a game in freezing weather in countless years. I doubt that's going to change in a few weeks. There has to be some other game that they can go to. Oh yeah, the Packers-49ers game :wink: Except for the fact that in 2002 they beat the Bucs in frozen Champaign and the Eagles in freezing Philly in the NFC championship game en route to the Super Bowl Does that actually count? They were playing a team that had Henry Burris as the quarterback. Henry Burris. Seriously though, that was a pretty special team that year and I did forget about that game against the Eagles. There's no way that this year's Bucs team will go into Soldier Field and win. I'd put a good chunk of money on it. Tampa might just cancel the trip. I don't think they have winter jackets, or a place in Tampa to buy them :wink:

I'd rather have Schmidt, but I'd be fine with getting both. Obviously its mroe realistic that we will have Lilly and maybe one other guy. Z Hill Lilly Miller Prior etc. Meh. Yes, and I like your slotting him #3 instead of the Trib who says #2. Mark me down as someone who believes Rich Hill has a shot at being a decent #2. Certainly much more potential than Lilly, who is a known quantity, a middle-of-the-rotation guy.

Because Jones is the new Walker. Nobody knows why he must go. But dammit to hell, he's got to GO!!

Yeah. I still have a favorable view of Sammy wooing Moises here. Alou was big in '03 and '04.

This is interesting because Marky Mark is a West Coast guy, so he might be able to offer some insight to Schmidt, who appears to have a hangup over leaving the West Coast. Probably not going to help much, but hey if Prior is trying then I think that's great.

I honestly think it's realistic for Woody to become the closer this year and thrive. Call me crazy, but I just think his arm will hold up much better when he stays in that 10-30 pitch count range, even if it means doing it more often. I really feel it was the 120 pitch counts that got him tired and started to wreak havoc on his arm. This is totally a hunch, nothing more. I just see Woody being the closer, and a damn fine one.

Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing. Grab the domain, post a terrible site with a 5-minute junk layout, then hope the Cubs tank so you can cash in. Heck, every year people just wait for the coach hirings to grab the "fireXX.com" URLs.

Tell the Soldier Field groundskeepers: NO SNOW REMOVAL UNTIL MONDAY!!! Woot! :P

I think he babies himself too much, and flinches at the first twinge he feels anywhere along his right arm. And this can indeed cause real problems down the road. It's a lot like a football player trying to play at less than full speed. You're trying to avoid injury, and in so doing.......you get injured.

LOL, page 27 of some PDF file posted in Toronto. Don't mean to disparage it, but I did get a laugh. I think it would be even funnier if it turned out to be true. Most likely it's bunk. Lilly's agent is probably hoping a few GM's think it's true so he can get better dollars for his guy. And I don't blame him for that, certainly.

Man seems like Lilly gives up a lot of dingers though. 28 last year in only 181 innings. Compare that to Jake Westbrook, who only gave up 15 in 211 innings. Even Meche, who I think is pretty marginal, gave up 24 in 186.

Well make damn sure you bring home the victory 8)

Oh man. Game's drawing nearer now. Getting excited! This is actually a very pivotal game for the Bears. Coming off the road trip, everyone in the league trying to smack you down in the media (like the wussies that they are). Can't lose on Sunday and give 'em ammunition. Gotta beat the Vikes, baby.

Hmmm....I understand your point, and I think it most applies to Marshall since he was the guy who actually showed some promise at times. Gooz, on the other hand, was a flaming disaster. I didn't see anything last year but a guy who has spent years & years in our system and still has no control over any of his pitches. To be fair to Guzman, his changeup was probably his best pitch, and that's a pitch that requires a lot of work to get a feel for how to throw it. His big problem was command. He walked way too many hitters, and that's a sign of rust from a guy who had really good command at every level in the minors. His stuff was great, and it he gets his command back, he's still the pitcher with the highest upside that's ML ready. I hope so, because he'll be 25 in a few days and has been with us for many years. He has yet to ROI in any meaningful way. I won't hide that I'm pretty disappointed in him. At times last year he even seemed a little lethargic or apathetic.

Myth. How do you figure? A 23 year old has more of a change to progress than a 40 year old does. Guzman, Miller, and Marshall are all decent bets to put up at least a 4.50 ERA. And it's not like 4.50 is good. It's not. 4.50 is alot better than your making it out to be. This is the same statement that was been thrown around when Glendon Rusch was signed to his extention. If last year proved anything, it was that young players don't necessarily translate into an improvement. In fact, the Rusch of 2005 was quite a bit better than any of the 2006 rookie starters. (Its too bad the Rusch of 2006 was horrible.) Another example was Niefi Perez last year. He was widely considered the worst hitter in all of baseball, it turned out that Ronnie Cedeno may be throwing his hat in the competition. 4.50 sucks. It's nothing worth paying a guy millions for. I'd rather have a 5.00 ERA at league minimum. Young players won't necessarily improve, but 41 year olds never do. That's my point. Guzman (for example) is as likely to blow up as Maddux, but the odds of Maddux having a sub-4 ERA as a Cub next season are longer than Guzman's given that last season was his first full season in a while. One is signifigantly cheaper than the other. One is signifigantly younger that the other. Save the money. Hmmm....I understand your point, and I think it most applies to Marshall since he was the guy who actually showed some promise at times. Gooz, on the other hand, was a flaming disaster. I didn't see anything last year but a guy who has spent years & years in our system and still has no control over any of his pitches.

That's what the Cubs offered him. Even if he is a player who absolutely does not care about money, no one is going to turn that down. If it's not about the money, then what is it about? I would assume it's about winning----in which case, much as it hurts me to say it, the Cubs would not be the place to come. I don't want to rain on the parade too much, because I like the signing and everything, but it's clear that it IS about the money. And I have a hard time believing Soriano doesn't realize he's about to drop quite a few games if the Cubs don't acquire some pitching. It's a 90+ loss ballclub that hasn't addressed its glaring pitching problems. He knew this coming in.

Let the bashing of a somewhat fragile sports personality by a hostile baseball fan base begin. Ascribing an actual personality to Drew might be going a bit too far.

Nice pix, thx for those of us at work :) He's an interesting guy---all smiles, ready to go. He does know we lost nearly 100 games last year, right? Or maybe the Trib advanced him his first paycheck :wink:

It matters, because stuff matters, and when your stuff lessens, your effectiveness lessens. Guys can still be relatively effective with less stuff, but they won't be as effective. And less MPH can also suggest some sort of health issue, which could lead to much worse things in the near or long-term. Probably just indicates age in Schmidt's case. He's 33 and pitched effectively last year for 200+ innings at that velocity. He's just getting old, but there's no reason he won't age gracefully.

Schmidt's velocity may be tailing off, but that's what happens to most pitchers at some point. He's been through some tough seasons already, and pitched a heck of a lot. My guess is, he'll do a slow burn down until he isn't effective anymore---and that point won't likely be reached until maybe 3 years from now. He pitched another 200+ innings last year, and he was supposed to be broken down *then*. Had another 180 K's, went to the All-Star game again (yeah, yeah---means nothing, except it actually does). I don't see him falling off the cliff like a Wood or Prior. I'd sign Schmitty to up to 4 years.

It's an improved offense, but not one I see bringing the team from worst in the league to top 5. And without a top 5 offense, I think they need at least a top 5 pitching staff, and right now, the staff is nowhere near that. Adding a couple innings eating mediocrities won't improve them enough. Agreed. Yeah, probably not enough. But then again, you never know --- could only take 83 wins to make the playoffs like last year.

I totally agree. Which is why I would prefer to target one of the AL SP's, in the hopes that moving to NL-style baseball will give their numbers a nudge in the right direction. I might sign Batista as a #5 -- but I thought we already had plenty of 5 hole starters, including Prior if you believe the Cubs.

So hard to say with Woody.

I wonder if he will still be able to throw as hard as before? My money is on him dropping 2 to 5 MPH's off his fastball. All depends on the shoulder, physically there wasn't much potential of velocity growth given how perfect he was physically. If he can get feel of his breaking pitch(es) again, he might end up being a similar version to the good Matt Morris (except diff. breaks on the curve). He has long ways to go before we see anything like we did in '03. Ability to pitch a full season, 65-70 FB, 65-70 curve, and 70 command. I'm just worried since he had a tie to House that steroids were involved and it wasn't just his shoulder. I really hope I'm wrong. Wow, really? That would really suck. I always just thought Prior was ultra-paranoid about his "golden arm" and babied it to the point where it eventually starting dipping down towards the mean.