PJ Brown got a T for that? What about Kirilenko and Williams earlier in this game? Technical fouls in this league are ridiculous and called at such idiotic whims.
Jeez, they hand those things out like candy these days. Meh. It's not like we have much to lose if we can't trade him. If he's good, we won't want to trade him. If he struggles, we're just paying him a couple mil/year. I've seen the Cubs waste much more money than that. It's sort of like Prior now, actually. He's not making much, and with the uncertainty, he's not worth all that much, yet some people want to get rid of him at all costs, for whatever reason. Makes no sense to me. Exactly. It seems like he wants certainty that he'll close to Valpo as one of the conditions for dropping football. If he's not good, his trade value won't be that high and another minor leaguer/young pitcher can be subbed for him. If he turns into a top prospect, he can help out and the Cub would want to keep hold of him (if they need to trade a big-name prospect for a veteran, there should be other prospects out there).
IIRC, according to some reports that was the off-season where he made some adjustments and got his velo up to where he could touch 99. (I'll look it up to make sure) Correct.
UCLA (17-1) beats Arizona 73-69...fourth Bruin victory in a row against the Wildcats. Arizona has now lost 3 in a row and 4 of its last 5 since Marcus Williams said this about UCLA: "We're the standard. I don't think they are the standard." And it doesn't matter if it's Farmar, Collison or Westbrook guarding Mustafa Shakur...he just can't do crap against UCLA. :)
I would disagree on this. I agree on putting him behind Gallagher, who has shown that he has a major league fastball (speed/movement/command factored), has a shot at some good breaking pitch(es), and has already had success in AA. But I think a $10 guarantee and Wilken saying that he ranked Sam as the #1 guy tells you something about how the Cub scouts rank Sam for talent. Very high. They may be wrong, of course. But since we're basically projecting Sam, Huseby, and Pawelek on scouting opinions rather than on demonstrated results (Huseby has hardly any, and Pawelek showed neither exceptional velocity or command this past summer), I don't see why the default wouldn't be to go with the guy Wilken seems to strongly prefer. I think the Cubs have invested quite a bit of scouting time on Sam. It's at least possible that their high opinion of his potential is reasonably informed. I think there is a difference between having your own opinion and regurgitating the cub's opinion. But he (and others) are basing their opinions on both Cubs' actions and opinions. That's different.
UCLA up 35-29 on Arizona at the half, thanks in part to Darren Collison going coast-to-coast in the final 5 seconds to score a la Tyus Edney vs. Mizzou. :)
Again, UCLA looks hopeless against a zone defense. Shocking that passing around the perimter for 30 seconds and trying to throw up a 3 doesn't work against the zone.