WrigleyField 22

LA. Loss to OKlahoma City and Washington.

I hope that our starting RT will come within the first two rounds. Omilaye can compete with Garza and Beekman at G. Williams-Omilaye-Kruetz-Beekman-Loadholt(?) Garza, Buenning, and maybe one other on the bench.

I don't think its been mentioned: Bears scheduled private workout with Hakeem Nicks and Phil Loadholt.

Well they had in the past few years. Fred Miller, Ruben Brown, Muhsin Muhammed. Those players all were kept longer than their "useful life" but helped for at least a year or two. Not sure why they aren't now. My unrealistic theory is that the Bears realize they aren't that close and since the economy is bad anyways they will lay low until the potentially uncapped year in 2010 and then make a big splash. Like I said unrealistic, but I can hope, right? My pet theory is that they've pulled in the reins financially, but Angelo is doing his best to sign a cheap guy here, a mid-level guy there -- so that it doesn't look like they've pulled back. Thats probably a more accurate one. I'll still hope for mine though.

Well they had in the past few years. Fred Miller, Ruben Brown, Muhsin Muhammed. Those players all were kept longer than their "useful life" but helped for at least a year or two. Not sure why they aren't now. My unrealistic theory is that the Bears realize they aren't that close and since the economy is bad anyways they will lay low until the potentially uncapped year in 2010 and then make a big splash. Like I said unrealistic, but I can hope, right?

I like that pick for the Bears. If the first day shaped up like this for the Bears, I'd be pretty pleased (although I am interested in possibly moving down a little from 18, depending on who's there). I don't see Maclin actually being there.

With the 26th Pick in the 2009 NFL Draft, the Baltimore Ravens pick: DJ Moore, CB, Vanderbilt http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/photos/Full60232.jpg

I think this is more accurate.

Well I kind of liked Thabo, but he definitely was going to be blocked with Salmons. Also, this gives us a player who will be cheap in 2010, or another chip for a big trade with all of our expiring deals. Paxson is definitely setting us up for the big home run, whether it be through trade or free agency. Kirk needs to be moved, but if we haven't heard anything now, I don't think it will be until the off season. But thats okay, I'm pretty confident we will still be able to do it then.

Eh, I'll check it out just to give it a chance. Likely I'll be disappointed (well not exactly disappointed since I'm not expecting much, but ya know). It will probably suck.

Worth it, worth it, worth it. This will always be a sport where you do whatever you can to get elite players and worry about the dross later. No. Not at all. The Bulls lineup would have been something like Duhon, Hinrich, Nocioni, Garnett and Othella Harrington. Darius Songalia would have been the next-best player. As said, worth it.

This is days old, and I have no idea if anyone ever responded to it, but he never had a real shot at these guys. The Lakers weren't ever serious about trading Kobe; Memphis only wanted cap relief for Gasol, not talent; Minnesota wanted Chandler, Deng, Gordon and draft choices for Garnett, which would have crippled the Bulls. None of those three non-moves were Paxson's fault. Actually the Bulls did offer that package (or something really similar) It was: Chandler, Deng, maybe Noce, the picks that became Thomas and Noah, for Garnett and the Wolves weren't ready to trade him.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/basketball/bulls/chi090218-chicago-bulls-trade-kings-timberwolves,0,3854012.story Why would they reject that??? Hinrich has no place with Rose on this team. He's not worth what he's getting paid to back up Rose and play some 2. Even if he was still our starting PG, he's not worth what he's getting paid. We'd be going into luxury tax level this season, and only save about $2.5M next season. Yea, I'd like to shoot for 2010 as well, but I feel like we could do it more effectively than that. Theres been rumors circulating for a long time about Hinrich to Portland, and they have players who expire this year (LaFrentz) or players who expire by 2010 who could at least contribute next year. Kirk is definitely expandable, especially now that we have Salmons as Gordon insurance, but we can wait it out and acutally get some value for him if we wait it out I'm sure.

What happens to retired players and the salary cap?

More career tracks of prolific HR/Power hitters. This time without the pics, because thats too much work. I wont put the names to them, although I'm sure you'll be able to figure some out. Some have definitely been linked to roids. Others, not. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v313/snetsrak43/ARODROIDS.png http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v313/snetsrak43/BONDSROIDS.png http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v313/snetsrak43/GRIFFEYROIDS.png http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v313/snetsrak43/MCGWIREROIDS.png http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v313/snetsrak43/THOMEROIDS.png http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v313/snetsrak43/AARONROIDS.png http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v313/snetsrak43/sammyroids.png

Personally, I think he probably did steroids, but thats a pretty weak argument as to why. I'm not willing to definitively say ANYONE did steroids unless there is some hard evidence against them. Brian Roberts did steroids. Would anyone have ever expected that? No. You can't just look at stats and body size.

Here's my effort to try and track Sammy's size vs. production vs. age. For HR I did it as a percentage of ABs to account for short seasons. SLG wasn't changed. They are both graphed against his age. Pictures are mostly baseball cards. I figure they could be slightly off. Most likely in any given year, the picture is from the previous year (such as 2005, where he's wearing a Cubs uniform, but he was on the Orioles). It's not exact, but should provide for a decent look at progression, as opposed to just looking at 20 year old Sammy vs. 30 year old Sammy. I don't think this proves anything one way or the other, but it is interesting to look at. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v313/snetsrak43/steroidsammy.png Edit- the most telling one for me is to look at two pictures from 1989 and 1990. Here they are in full size. http://passtheword.files.wordpress.com/2007/01/sosa-89donrussbest.JPGhttp://www.basehit.net/CatImages/90Donruss489.jpg The one on the right is one you'd typically see from someone trying to say Sammy was just some skinny kid. But he looks pretty big in the first one. Also his head seems pretty large, which is something people will typically point to. Now like I said, nothing can be proven with these. The things with pictures is that angles and poses can create many different "tricks". We'd have to have a constant angle/pose year to year to make any significant conclusions. Still interesting to try and compare though.

None ever came up about Arod until recently, either. At this point, I think it's safe to assume they nearly all were using and that tons still are, but are being more judicious about their use. But did anyone really want to find info on ARod? I think Andy's point is that hypothetically people are compelled to actively look for dirt on Sosa and haven't come up with anything.

I'll do Baltimore. My friend is a Ravens fan, so he can help me with some input.

I wonder what Kerry's legacy will be in 10-20 years. At his best he was absolutely dominant. Injuries took out a pretty decent chunk of his career. He left on a good note and is well liked by most, and the feeling seems to be mutual. But was he great enough to be mentioned in the same conversation when the Cub greats come up, such as Sanburg, Santo, Williams, and Banks?

He does kind of have a point about being a fan can't be all based on objective things and what not. But then you remember he's talking about So Taguchi. I'd feel pretty crappy seeing Kerry Wood in a Cardinals jersey. This would be like if I had been upset about Grudzilanek being on the Cardinals.

Thanks. Looking at that, Ogun and Tait would cost us a little over $2M in cap space to cut. If we keep them on, it will cost us over $9M in cap space. Definitely cut them and put the $7M in cap room towards a big name FA. Peppers or Gross? The other position look at with a draft pick.

Just curious, is there any one place that you've pulled some of this contract information from? I'd really like to see some numbers attached, but so far, nothing I've found comes close that some NBA or MLB sites have. Overall I'd agree with your assessment. I wouldn't be really quick to cut Tait or Ogunleye until I see what we do with free agency and the draft, and I'd at least talk with Mike Brown. I'd like to see a safety early in the draft, but Brown could still compete with Payne and be a good mentor (if he's willing to play that kind of role). He's the guy I'd most like to see retire a Bear, and then I'd give him a job offer right away. He's kind of like Wood with the Cubs, you just want to see him around.

from the Trib..... Hmmm very interesting. I wonder if he could get our pass rushing to improve.

the rest of the team isn't good enough to win now with the offensive line they have. We nearly did it this year, without Williams playing a role. Now if Williams doesn't step up, I'd agree, but if the Bears are confident he'll contribute, you're already talking about adding a first round talent. We certainly could upgrade the offensive line if the right player is available, but its far from a necessity. A stacked offensive line isn't going to open up the passing game all by itself. It will help, but as I said, we're already hoping to get one upgrade. Any other upgrades should only be done if the value is the best available. Tentatively, I'd put the draft wish list looking something like this: Rd1: BPA, except RB Rd2: WR/S (hopefully the other adressed via FA) Rd3: DL,OL,DB,QB (BPA) Rd4: DL,OL,DB,QB (BPA) Rd5-7: BPA, regardless of position Based on that, within the first four rounds, I'd like to see one of saftey or wide reciever, and three out of DL,OL,QB, DB. LB is another I'd consider putting with that group, but either way, there will be a few positions that will have to be left up to later rounds or FA stop gaps. I'd like to see BPA though. I don't see more than one major FA acquisition, nor do I think teams should do too much in FA, since the draft is the best long term strategy for building a team. Some starting spots will have to be below average or passable. Right now I really don't see even a below average WR or FS (since I won't count on Mike Brown). Therefore those two spots should get the main attention in free agency. Maybe we can get an uprgade at a position like Guard as well, but I don't see us going after any top players at other positions, instead getting second tier guys. If we can get a second tier FA who is an upgrade, that's fine, but I don't like seeing teams blow too much money on free agency, and you can't count on getting more than a couple main contributors in the first year after a draft.