Soul

Insane. Soriano may have been in line with the market after all. I still can't get my mind around 11 per for a guy like Matthews. I wonder how many million per year out of 11 would be directly attributable to that amazing catch he made, which was splashed all over ESPN and the ESPYs?

We're done. Guess so.

Yes, but this was the philosphy in the Clement/Willis deal as well. Not always the best move because that proven talent can end up washed out in no time while the young kid hits his stride and becomes an ace. Especially when we're talking pitchers. So the real question is, is Peavy a Clement or is he a Clemens? :) And is Gallagher a Angel Guzman, or is he a Dontrelle Willis, or something in between? That's why they pay Hendry the big bucks.

Hmmm....Lugo for CF over a just moving Jones there is stupid. Lugo '06 AVG OBP SLG TB HR RBI .278 .341 .421 183 12 37 Jones '06 AVG OBP SLG TB HR RBI .285 .334 .499 266 27 81 If that's the choice, I'd rather put Jones there. Actually, Jacque might even thrive in CF. I also don't want to remove power from our lineup since we play in Wrigley and any time I've seen an underpowered Cubs team over the last few decades it's almost always been a losing, bad baseball team.

It's likely Schmitty will have good offers out West, and that's where he has said he wants to be. Not saying this can't happen, but if Hendry draws Schmidt all the way to Chicago-----some 3,000 miles away from where the guy wants to live-----then that's one hell of an accomplishment.

Read that post right when Deng lost the ball. I blame you. I accept whatever punishment your modship decides. It really went downhill from there... Was a what, 13 point lead? Now they trail by 1 at the end of 3. I suppose why wait for the 4th quarter to grant the Nuggets the inevitable comeback, when you can just collapse in the 3rd quarter and get it over with?

Did you read that article or just look at the date? Never mind; it's not important. Panic away. What is it that you think is so evangelistic about that article? I've seen thousands written just like it when a team starts out bad. Some of them turn out to be correct, and sometimes the team just goes right on stinking. Please don't assume I didn't read something just because I'm not as swayed by it as you are.

I'd be surprised by the pronouncements in bold if they were made by anyone else this early. A recent article by Jim O'Brien seems a fitting reply, especially the condescending paragraph. That was before they lost by nearly 20 to the Spurs, and then stunk it up again against a real beatable LA team. We'll see. For now, I will only say this: I'm real glad I didn't spend that $180 buckeroonies on NBA League Pass.

Killing fan interest wouldn't be a real good plan to sell the team, true. We don't know what the profit layouts are on this club, because the Cubs don't give us the complete picture. It could very well be that the profit margins are good enough to support such a jump in payroll, and if that were the case many potential suitors might be expressing more concern over the empty seats that started showing up in August and September of last year than the increased layouts of a larger salary structure. That combined with the significantly increased popularity of the White Sox might make a big jump in payroll a necessary means towards an end.

They did what they had to do to win this game, without showing anything to the Patriots. This had classic letdown game potential, but the Bears methodically beat a good team on the road. If anything, this game showed teams that you can't go into the Bears game thinking, "stop Grossman, and we win". Everybody talked about beating the Bears by forcing Rex into mistakes. But they just showed it's not that simple. This defense made Brady look silly the week before. I think this was a play it close to the vest type of game. They held almost everything back, and did the bare minimum to win. If I'm a Bears opponent in the coming weeks, I'm thinking long and hard about how I'm going to beat them, because there is no simple plan. Rex and Turner said they had a very simple game plan for this game. It does look like they played it close to the vest. I wonder what would have happened if they got behind. Yes good analysis Goony Yes, it is a good analysis. And you touched on it too: what would have happened if we got behind? Because everyone's talking about how Grossman slings it deep if he gets behind, and Grossman can't handle pressure, and Grossman's an interception machine. That may be true, but people are forgetting Turner. He's calling plays as well. When the Bears get behind, it's also Turner who has seemed to panic, almost as much as Grossman, abandoning the run, calling alot of deep route passes, etc. Fortunately, there's no gameplan that says, "Get the Bears behind and you'll win." Well.....duh. Nobody goes into a game saying "I think we'll give them the first 10 points."

Since this is the prime game on Fox for the afternoon, we can all expect another hate-session from Joe Buck and Aikman, openly and shamelessly begging for the Pats to beat the Bears. Buck: "Grossman's having another terrible afternoon." Aikman: "The Patriots need to blitz more and rattle Grossman to win this game." Buck: "It would seem inevitable that if the Patriots blitz Grossman, he will throw an interception." Aikman: "Yes, that would probably be the case. If the Pats can stay with their game plan they have an excellent chance of coming out of here with the victory." Me: Vomit, barf, vomit.

How pathetic. Basically the #1 seed is sown up too. Giants, Seahawks: we have the tie breaker, a 6-4 record gives us a 4 game lead, so they have no shot. Anyone else: 6-4 records, 3 games back. Slight chance but it would take a complete collapse. Looking at the Bears schedule one would be hard pressed to find 3 more losses. And that would assume these clubs win out, which is highly unlikely. Even if the Bears lose at NE next week, where are the losses going to come from with the Bears D and Det,MN,GB,Stl, and TB on the schedule? It's likely a 13-3 ballclub, with 14-2 a real possibility.

A combo of 1 & 2. The Jets are a heavy-blitz team. The way to beat blitzes is to run the ball, and get the ball outside to receivers matched 1 on 1 with a CB. And that's what they did. Kudos to Cris Collinsworth. He called yesterday Grossman's best game of the year, because he proved he could manage the game when being blitzed and not turn it over. I just find it interesting that the Bears prove the pundits wrong about something each week, yet even after being proved wrong they just come up with something else to complain about. Meanwhile, all these other clubs with deficiencies are just great football clubs who will supposedly romp the Bears. It's always going to be something with these people. They just hate Chicago and are desperate for us to fail.

Ahhh, but did he really step aside because he's a great guy who just suddenly realized after years & years he wasn't getting the job done (as he wanted us to believe)? Or was it because the Trib needed to sell, and decided to start making some big acquisitions, and that's not in line with Mac's philosophy?

New liabilities have been introduced. But it sort of needed to happen because the team was so terrible. I wonder if the Trib discovered that all the suitors weren't as hot on the idea of a perennial loser as they have been for all these years. Another thing: I found it quite interesting that Girardi wasn't even really given serious consideration for the manager's job. It was going to be Piniella from the start, and that's it. Piniella has the name recognition, something potential buyers might be attracted to. Of course, that whole deal could really just be Hendry & Piniella are two old baseball guys, and Girardi's not.....

1) Hendry grabs a big FA for the first time in his career, at top money......without even allowing a bidding war to start in order to see where the price would settle. 2) He's been the most active GM in baseball, not even waiting for the GM meetings to conclude to get started on his acquistions. 3) This is a big departure from his previous M.O. as a GM. Even in 2004 he wasn't rolling out the dough like this for flat-out cream-of-the-crop FAs for Yankee-type money. So, is this being done to save Hendry's job? Unlikely. The Trib wouldn't suddenly loosen the purse strings for one man to save his employment. However, they might do it as a precursor to selling the team. I'm just trying to get a line on why this is happening. It sort of makes sense if the Trib wants to sell for the highest price, and sell quickly, to make a quick splash in the offseason with major improvements to the team.

I know it. It's Sammy money. At least Soriano is younger than that. Barring injury he should have at least 4 good years in him I would think. Maybe by the time 2010 rolls around $17 million won't seem so bad for a ballplayer. Probably not though. The consensus seems to be, like the player but the deal seems excessive. I'll go with that, keeping in mind that if another ballclub had signed AS for $17mil/yr, we probably wouldn't think quite as badly of it. If the Red Sox make that deal people go "oh well, it's the Sox they have the money." The Trib has it too, we just know they won't spend it without limit.

We don't have 37 million left, we have 15-20 million. I wouldn't expect anything more for the offense through free agency except for one 4th outfielder. It looks like they are going after pitching now. I'm assuming the offense is done. On to the pitching. Are you kidding me? This offense is still only half baked. DeRosa, Izturis, and who in CF? All signs point to Jacque being traded. As of right now, we've got five guys with above average production for their positions in Lee, Aramis, Soriano, Barrett, and Murton... DeRosa is going to be slightly below average... Izturis is an offensive black hole... there's nobody in CF... and we have the pitcher's slot. I wouldn't exactly call us an offensive juggernaunt. We might not even end up being above average... No I'm not kidding you. It may be "Half Baked" but whose isn't in the NL? Get pitching! I'd go for pitching now too. Hope that DeRosa comes through. Hope Izzy can just be a defensive gem and hit above .230 in the 8-hole. The Cards went into '06 hoping these sorts of things about a ton of positions. So did the Tiggers. It's about damn time this club started getting a few positive suprises from players, instead of the other way around. Get pitching.

The rest of the teams in the NL Central are probably doing exactly what they did in '04: hoping the Cubs moves won't matter due to a rash of injuries or just bad Cub baseball. Why would they think anything else? It's happened before.

The only game the Bulls have lost so far that I didn't think they were going to lose this month is the Kings game, which they gave away. I was hoping for 7-7. 6-8 or 5-9 look more likely now. Meh, it's November. When they're 3-11, we'll touch base. This is an amazingly bad basketball team right now. It's not just the west coast road trip. Like when they started 1-11 in Nov 04 and finished the season with 47 wins? Way too early -- even pointless -- to panic. But I'll stop arguing with you about it if you stop insisting I should be panicking now. :D Alright.

Joe Buck was an embarrassment to football yesterday. That was the most ridiculous anti-Chicago job of broadcasting I've ever seen. He ought to be ashamed. Please don't let that guy announce another Chicago game. He isn't wanted. Stop the presses. Grossman beats the blitz for the game-ending TD pass to Mark Bradley. I find it interesting that nobody is noting this little factoid.

The only game the Bulls have lost so far that I didn't think they were going to lose this month is the Kings game, which they gave away. I was hoping for 7-7. 6-8 or 5-9 look more likely now. Meh, it's November. When they're 3-11, we'll touch base. This is an amazingly bad basketball team right now. It's not just the west coast road trip.

You should meet my friend, Mr. Facts. Hmmm, Mr. Facts shows that out of 8 seasons for Drew, 4 of them were seriously hampered due to injury and 2 others were less than 140 games. That's what is known in the real universe as a player with injury problems. Minus breaking his wrist last year due to being HBP -- which can't really be attributed to being injury prone, I think -- he's been fairly healthy the last three years. He played 72 games in 2005. Was that because he was on his Mormon holiday? Sorry, I'm being really sarcastic. I like Drew, I really do. But the fact is, chances are better with him he won't be taking the field very often than it is with Soriano. Ahhh....to me "last year" was 2006 :) My bad.

You should meet my friend, Mr. Facts. Hmmm, Mr. Facts shows that out of 8 seasons for Drew, 4 of them were seriously hampered due to injury and 2 others were less than 140 games. That's what is known in the real universe as a player with injury problems. Minus breaking his wrist last year due to being HBP -- which can't really be attributed to being injury prone, I think -- he's been fairly healthy the last three years. He played 72 games in 2005. Was that because he was on his Mormon holiday? Sorry, I'm being really sarcastic. I like Drew, I really do. But the fact is, chances are better with him he won't be taking the field very often than it is with Soriano.

You should meet my friend, Mr. Facts. Hmmm, Mr. Facts shows that out of 8 seasons for Drew, 4 of them were seriously hampered due to injury and 2 others were less than 140 games. That's what is known in the real universe as a player with injury problems.