WrigleyField 22

Hypothetical. I assume we will talk to Pujols and Fielder. If your second choice is ready to sign a deal do you take it and give up a shot at getting your first choice. So say Fielder is ready to sign at 6/150 but your still in talks with Pujols. Do you give up the shot at Pujols (or turn it around if you prefer Fielder).

They are much more intertwined than you think. The basic fundamentals can be applied to both. Its just a matter of what your league rewards you with. In actual baseball its runs. In fantasy it is stats. I mean didn't Bill James start a lot of his prediction stuff in order to help him with fantasy baseball? Someone with a deep understanding of Sabermetrics will do quite well in a fantasy league. I do agree, though, that Alomar probably doesn't know what he's talking about in regards to both.

Maybe Maddux just decided he'd rather not manage in the AL East. He did spend 6 years in the NL Central and maybe he feels more comfortable going ther if he's gonna leave a gig he likes.

Probably nothing we could get. We need pitching. He isnt that expensive yet and he's young enough to grow with the team. We'd have to get at least one top notcj pitching prospect that could start this year as well as a couple other prospects.

Like I said, it's probably just because I eat and breathe baseball from April-October, not because I'm an idiot savant. I'm kinda surprised most people can't, given that most of us play fantasy baseball and at least glance over all these names more than a few times a year. What kind of fantasy leagues do you play in? 60 team leagues? Fantasy pool isnt that deep. Besides looking over the roster hardly means committing every name to memory. Taking the bare minimum of the 25 men on a roster at any given time, you will fail to name 8 off the top of your head.

What will Betemitt cost? Looks like the only decent FA 3B to replace Ramirez. Otherwise we'll have to fill it internally. Something like 3/12?

http://twitter.com/#!/cst_cubs/status/13085130176765132 Wouldn't they still have to offer arbitration to get the compensation? Merely exercising the option isn't enough. That would be my understanding, but its also kind of a no brainer to do so. Writer is probably making the short/quick assumption there. I'd rather have him back than a pick, though it ultimately come down to cost.

I wouldnt be totally surprised to see a video board, but i dont think its related to Epstien. That will be a Ricketts/Kenney thing. Epstien's job is to work with what revenue he's given.

http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/oracle/discussion/2011_zips_projections_-_chicago_cubs/ A least for the cubs.

I unfortunately (or fortunately?) misse large chunks of the GB game. So I realize it may not be all on Martz. Part of it is our already below average OL losing our best Lineman. It also has to od with falling behind. Both of those reflect just as poorly on our team though. And Martz is still the biggest problem.

Will be hard to do if he doesn't even get double digit rush attempts.

Its not too late to enter the Luck sweepstakes!

I hate the Packers, but the idea that they are lucky is silly. How many starters were injured for them last year? They were so lucky to have all those injuries.

Who would it be? Kansas Kansas St Iowa St Baylor Louisville Cincinatti UConn USF Rutgers TCU WVU I'd call it a slightly better Conference-USA.

Very interesting article. There is quite a bit of guesswork and I think it fails to emphasize the importance of access to markets even if a particular school isn't great, but interesting either way. http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/19/the-geography-of-college-football-fans-and-realignment-chaos/?hp

I hope that means squatting as in lifting weights...?

Does the fact that the MWC has its own T.V. network already keep it relevant in trying to attract schools left out and gaining AQ status (rather than their current top teams just bolting for a new conference).

Baylor, Iowa State, and Kansas State jump out right away as teams that could end up screwed. I have to wonder if a scenario happens with only 12 and 14 team leagues, leaving enough for some Big 12 and MWC teams to band-aid together an AQ conference, with the Big East no longer sponsoring football.

Was Googling news about all of this and learned something. Nothing has really changed in the past 20 years: http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=_1pPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GwMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6783,2458508&dq=big+ten+expansion&hl=en

One thing that could help Urlacher in a HOF bid is how much he changed the idea on what a MLB was. Yes there were certainly athletic MLB before, but he brought it to a whole new level.

He's pretty cool. I like that the cheering during the anthem has caught on when he sings for other Chicago sports teams besides the Blackhawks. The fact that people from other cities don't like it and think its disrespectful only makes me like it more. I'm not sure how cheering with excitement while your national anthem is sung could be considered disrespectful but whatever. Cheering for the national anthem is great, as long as its not being sung for a solemn event. Like cheering for it yesterday at ground zero or at the pentagon, would be weird. At a sporting event, even marking the 10 year anniversary of 9/11- totally cool. My problem was with the USA! chant afterwards. Unless its at an Olympic sporting event, its lame and tacky.

Ha. "Coach, if Soldier Field works out do you still need a new stadium?" "Yes" Oopps.

I don't mind the frat boyish atmosphere because I feel the workers do a good job of controlling and kicking out the people that really disturb the game.

And as a smaller market, its possible the Daily Herald is just doomed. So the solution is to become more like the free content providers from an expense side. Would yield a better result than trying to compete on a subscription-pay level.

I'll chip in with an idea or two, even though I wasn't prompted. Advertisers want customers who opt in and are loyal to the product (paper) or to the advertisements. Not sure if Daily Herald has a Sunday Select product, but offer Sunday Select product. Quick lesson for others: Sunday Select is a free subscription to just receive advertising inserts. The advertisers take on the second largest cost, paper, and will pay a rate competitive (in some cases better) than normal newspaper advertising. Its a growing trend in newspapers as they have the existing infrastructure to deliver the content that advertisers don't. You could even possibly tie access to online content with this although you have to be careful the motivation is for the ads and not the online content. Also you can't marginalize paying customers. Even just making a free subscription to view certain content online would be a positive to retailers because someone seeking out a site specifically is a better bet for marketers than someone who followed the link from NSBB and has no loyalty to that publication. This would take some innovation and investment with the different tech aspects, but could yield a stronger value to advertisers. And the simplest fix is to just let paper subscribers get online access for free. If I was paying for the Daily Herald and they told me I couldn't get it online as well without further charges, I'd drop them. Whatever cost it takes to run the website is not worth the circulation losses they'll suffer from people who would have the same mindset as me. Also having certain pay/free content. Maybe some people will pay a smaller fee for special articles, but not for Bruce's daily write ups and blogs. But if you get them hooked on Bruces blogs on a daily basis and then periodically offer pay-only content that is more in depth someone may take the plunge. Just some ideas. I don't work on the newspaper side, but just looking at it from what advertisers look for and how to leverage your products to maximize that since that is a bulk of the revenue.