Soul

I would think that what we see as the #1 priority will never be what Angelo sees. Didn't he have a reputation of ignoring O line in Tampa? First priority is extending Briggs, Vasher, and Tommie Harris. The D is the identity of the team, the strength of the team. They have to keep these guys to stay at such a dominant level. Even a minor drop off in defense could kill this team because the offense while improved, isn't near strong enough. Priority #2 is the O-Line. Hopefully one of these young receivers can establish themself as a big time player so priority #3 won't have to be a WR. i get the feeling that angelo isnt going to re-sign briggs. he's arrogant enough to think that he can replace briggs like he replaced colvin. You and me both. I don't think he'll be back after this year. I don't want to overpay Briggs if it means we can't resign someone like Tommy Harris. Tommy Harris > Briggs The contract that Briggs is asking for is absurd. I would tend to agree. Also, is Angelo really arrogant for thinking he can replace Briggs? He found Lance sitting at home in Arizona on draft day, expecting to be picked on the second day. Most "experts" thought he had reached badly. What makes everyone think this can't be done again? As for Urlacher money.......the market has gone up since Urlacher signed, but I still don't think Lance is worth that much, and I definitely don't want to break up this DLine in order to sign Urlacher's sidekick. Briggs wants a huge payday, and I don't blame him. But just like Wilbur Marshall a long time ago------when you go to play for another team, just remember you won't have that hall of fame MLB taking all the OLine chip shots for you so you can make plays.

You know, I played baseball for quite a few years in my youth. Beyond just being a fan, when I played I never considered it a terribly taxing sport, and of the hundreds of other guys I played with there were almost no injuries. Yes, I know you cannot compare this to major league baseball. But something just doesn't seem right. We shouldn't be suffering more injuries than the Bears under *any* circumstances. Something is just not right with this picture.

i think he is the best option in the system until ep is ready. alot of people on this board were stoked to get freel or loretta to play 2b and i think theriot can be at least as good as they are. i like what i've seen from theriot alot and think he can be better than just a utility player if given a shot. Based on what? His career numbers thus far aren't terribly better than Cedeno's. And who is to say that Patterson is even the answer down the line? Just because they're young doesn't automatically make them good. Yes, I always take these late-season performances from guys out of the minors with an enormous grain of salt. There are too many players who are capable of looking good in September for teams out of the playoff race. But when the following season starts and the games count again, they disappear. I suspect if Theriot is put into a starting role next year, this is exactly what will happen.

Is this good news though? My point being if he didn't hold up at that level, what hope is there that he will be able to string together 2 or 3 years of full time workhorse pitching? Fantastic arm. It would be a shame if he went the Wood route.

Without Kerry and a ? on Prior? Deffinatly. They (JH) know that we are in dire need of Picthing. If Miller imrpoves he might look good as a possible #4 #5 quality guy. JH still needs to out out there and get that bonified Ace like starter. . Or how about long relief? Surely he's an upgrade over someone like Rusch.

Thats what I'm rooting for...embarassment and overhaul. Sadly, I don't think anyone involved in this team feels any sense of shame except for Zambrano who's pissed off he isn't invulnerable. That works for me, except it sort of assumes Hendry just doesn't understand how bad it is.........ergo, if we simply get bad enough, then that little switch in his head will flip and he will do something about it. Trouble is, I'm starting to think Hendry knows very well how bad it is. He just doesn't have the ability to fix it.

I think the point, mg, is that you may be aiming a little low. Why try to force what could be a decent utility guy in Theriot into a starting role, when you would be better served just upgrading the position with an actual starting-quality 2B?

I think it's bit shortsighted to say Theriot has earned the 2B job next year. He's 2 years older than Ronny and has about the same OPS throughout his minor league career. I'm all for replacing Ronny with a better player, but Theriot has not earned the starting 2B job for next year. he fields well, runs well, hits well, bunts well, and has had some big clutch hits. i dont think cedeno's minor leauge #'s mean much the way he has played the past few months. aside from his very weak hitting, his supposedly very good defense has gone south and he's been brutal in the field. unless the cubs decide to go out and spend big $ on a free agent or make a trade for a 2b (which would make no sense imo with ep in iowa), i think theriot would be the best option (with perhaps fontent to compliment him) in 2007. But again, how does this mean anything whatsoever? This is garbage time. To me, making Theriot the standup favorite to start @ 2B has "rebuilding year" written all over it. And that's fine, I guess, but I certainly doubt the Cubs will admit it if they go that route.

....then we start '07 with the worst outfield in the NL, just as we did this season. I'm not convinced Theriot is a long-term answer @ 2B. Didn't we go down this road with Cedeno last year? You certainly can't take what a young player does in garbage time and extrapolate that into some kind of permanent forecast.

Jim, I think its time to look at door #2. I agree that, if Prior was healthy, he could be better than Zambrano. I think some people have forgotten his comeback in 2005, before he was hit by that line drive. He hasn't been the same since, but if he starts next season healthy, he could be. Still, I don't think anyone is going to guarantee Prior will be productive next year. The problem is, at this point, that argument is academic. Whether or not you believe Prior is coming back, we still could use a good front of the rotation starter. If you write off Prior, we'd need someone to be the number two. We might need a number three also, but since there really aren't enough available impact pitchers to restock our rotation from the market, it doesn't make a difference. I say, they should see what Prior can do next year, and try to improve the rotation regardless. Hendry had better come up with 2 or 3 starters if he's going to fulfill his promise to "fix this thing" in the offseason.

They must have more speed and clog the bases less. They can really catch the ball. I saw John Kruk saying they "know" how to play the "game" today. Good pitching, fielding, and running the bases plus timely hitting. And if John Kruk says it you know it has to be true :lol: You're damn right it has to be. Why don't we just get it over with and hire him as gm and Darren Daulton as manager? Might be good to hire Dutchie because he'll have incentive to win the Cubs a World Series before the world ends in 2012 That would be great. We could put Mayan calendars all around Wrigley field. "Countdown to Doomsday." Hey, if you're going to lose 100 games, may as well go completely over the edge 8)

Come on man is that really needed? He has a serious health problem. All he has done is try to get a spot on a big league team, he hasn't hurt anyone. Get Well Glendon. Save it. If your gonna spew venom do it towards everyone making comments like this. Soccer10k said pretty much the same thing I did. Furthermore, Im pretty sure those who have been around here a while know im not the type of person to try to slam someone when they're down. It was nothing more than a light-hearted comment. Dont get your undies in a bunch. Frankly, I don't see a problem with either of our comments. I said I hoped he got better (which was sincere even though I said for the 2008 season) and expressed my desire to never throw another pitch for the Cubs again. I was not being sarcastic and did not imply that I didn't want him to get healthy again. For yours, I'm sure you meant no ill will towards Glendon and were just trying to make a joke. I laughed. We didn't say we hope this forces him to retire. We didn't wish serious physical harm upon Glendon. I don't really see the big deal with this. Other people besides myself and Roast said things along the same lines. Someone will pick him up. He's a lefty with experience. Sometimes I think GMs just ignore the stats when it comes to those guys. "Lefty? Experienced? Sign him!!" "But sir, his WHIP is 2.5 and his ERA last year was 10.50...." "Sign him!"

:oops: brain fart. But how about those Falcons?? :D Several underdogs took it to the favorites last week. It was good to see. For a moment there, I even thought good old Dick Jauron was going to upset the Pats. But alas, no..... Let's see how Detroit plays away from the turf----away from their home crowd. I've seen the Lions play well at home many times, but on the road they have generally been a junk team. They'll have to stick it to the beloved on our turf before I concede they have improved. *KNOCK ON WOOD* here's hoping they don't.

I'm not a doctor, but I think a blood clot in the lung can flat out kill you. Glad they caught it, and hope Glendon is O.K.

I still can't understand why people bring up the idea of priorities when it comes to letting Pierre go. Pierre is not productive. Pierre costs a lot of money. Letting him walk is the smart thing to do. It's not a matter of moving CF up the list of priorities. There's about 5 quality consistent closers in baseball, and none of them are available. The Cubs need to stop putting money into the bullpen, they've got more than enough dedicated to that department, and plenty of arms to shuffle in and out of there. Starting pitching is a priority, yes. And it will be all the more easier if the Cubs let Pierre walk, and save that money to spend on a better pitcher. You think Hendry has enough bandwidth to search for a Pierre replacement, plus take care of the starting pitching? Alright, if that's the case, then I won't mind. Like I said, I'm not happy with Pierre either. It seems like Hendry's been unable to get a whole lot done in the past couple offseasons. Maybe that's not indicative of what will happen this offseason.

And yet, despite the fact that Gardenhire doesn't have "all his horses," the Twinkies continue to put up wins. :-k

3 starting pitchers isn't going to happen. 2 at most. Closer isn't going to happen. Another reliever isn't going to happen. RF is most likely not going to happen, and there's no way that LF and RF is going to be replaced. There's nothing unrealistic about letting Pierre walk. It blows my mind how many people think that would be a bad move. 2B, or at least a middle infielder of some sort, is the biggest need, aside from a solid starting pitcher. CF probably ranks 2nd on that list. The Cubs are getting the 12th highest OPS out of CF among all NL teams. CF is a problem on the team. Letting Pierre walk is not creating a new hole, CF already is a hole. And since the only way to keep Pierre is to overpay him, you'd simply be maintaining a hole at a higher cost, probably longterm. LF has let the team down, but Murton should outproduce what the Cubs have gotten this year from that position. Pierre, on the other hand, can only be expected to maintain his poor production next year, and maybe even take a step back. I'm not saying it's a bad move to replace Pierre with something better. Please don't lump me into that category.... I'm talking priorities. I think the pitching is a higher priority than CF, that's all. If we can't come up with some serious starting pitching this offseason, then IMO this team will be bad again in '07. Maybe that's just the way it's going to be. No closer either? Dempster's not going to go back to what he was during his little run. He is what he is. Not much starting help and Dempster again next year? Look for a long season if that's the case.

It's not his fault he's not good. But that doesn't mean the Cubs should compound the problem by bringing him back. What are the other viable/better options for CF and/or leadoff next year? Leadoff is not a position, and does not need to be addressed specifically. The Cubs need to find the 8 best position players they can get. There are several non-Pierre options out there. We've got a TON of holes to fill on this club. How many acquisitions do you think Hendry can realistically make? We need 3 starting pitchers, a closer, and another reliever. Then we need a LF, RF, 2B. That's 7 players. Now we should add CF into that mix? Sure, I'd like to overhaul the entire team with a million FA's too, but it's not realistic.

No, but I heard some others will be coming back from injury, most notably Mark Bradley.

I'd rather be cursed. At least there's hope of it being lifted one day. Being dumb is forever.

Bobby Wade. Bobble Wade had a good game for the Titans yesterday: 5 rec/76 yards. Didn't know he was even playing... Yeah, Titans picked him up. Good for Bobby. Too bad it took getting fired for him to learn it's important to, you know, actually hold on to the ball occasionally.

No offense but you had the 10 years prior to last. We sat there and listened to people say how the rivalry didn't mean anything anymore because only one side was keeping up their end of it. We listened to all the Packer love from the national media and took it. We watched Chicagoans like Mark R grow up and become Packers fans (in our own territory!). Even if this reversal is only temporary, it was worth the wait. EXACTLY No offense erik, but we've had to put up with obnoxious Packer fans and their "Bears still suck" song over & over again for over 10 years. It's about time the shoe was on the other foot. The shock and awe in Lambeau yesterday was a thing of beauty. It's ok. For 12 years the Bears were like a pesky fly. They would come around every so often, but would be easily squashed until the next time they showed up. The Packers had an unusual string of seasons at or above .500. It finally caught up to them. They'll be bad for a few years, then hopefully all the high draft picks will pan out and mature and we'll be contenders again. Enjoy it while it lasts. And even though you're the better team, I still hate the Vikings infinately more than I hate the Bears. I intend to, but my optimism is of the cautious variety. I still see problems on the Bears; problems that can be exploited fairly easily. Nothing can be determined from one game. The Packers continued having good seasons because Favre was holding that team together with Mississippi chicken wire. Most folks have realized the Pack were fielding teams that didn't match up to the records that were being produced. It's a testament to Brett Favre -- he's been amazing. What's really caught up to the Packers is just the fact that Favre is older now, and can't produce all those amazing comebacks any more. AJ Hawk is a good start to the rebuilding plan, IMHO. The next logical step is to trade Favre, or politely ask him to retire. Aaron Rodgers has been wasting away on that bench for far too long already.

Lions D looked very good against Seattle. Alexander couldn't run and neither could we, so needless to say the Bears will need to overcome that and establish the run game. On the other side of the ball: the Lions offense looked really mediocre for the most part. Could be a defensive struggle? Lions are always tougher @ home, so hopefully that holds up and they aren't quite as good in Chicago.

That works too. I just have Sunday Ticket and watch them at home. The way I am watching Bear games, they'd probably throw me out of most bars 8)

Wait. Is this the same team Favre just said was "the best I've ever played on?" :wink: