Splendid Splinter

This is true of all professoinal gamblers, of which none are successful. Stu Ungar?

If he went to the Spurs he would rightly or wrongly (rightly) be considered one of the worst sellouts in sports. He already did that when he went to the Heat. It won't surprise anyone AGAIN if LeBron just goes to another good team so he can win instead of getting guys to come to play with him.

It's going to be interesting to see what LeBron does this offseason. He gotta be thinking that he can't be on the same team with Wade anymore. At least not with him being the #2 guy. He's only 32, but his body has been breaking down for a couple years now. Only got 2-3 years left IMO. Bosh for the most part was alright as #3, but he can't be #2. So what team have enough cap space he can go to and compete for a ring right away? 1. Mavs (31.9 mil under cap)- just have Ellis/Calderon on the books basically, have loads of $$$$, and Cuban is the owner 2. 76ers (30.6)- got a lot of young guys, but LeBron wants to win rings now 3. Lakers (25.9)- they got a chance cuz it's Lakers 4. Bobcats (18.3)- might be the most interesting team for LeBron if he decides to opt out, got Walker/Jefferson to help him out, but would take almost all the cap space unless he really takes a pay cut 5. Wizards (16.7)- just as interesting as Bobcats although he has to take a bigger pay cut (1.6 mil less cap space than Bobcats), but a team on the rise 6. Cavs (16)- make a great story 7. Spurs (9.3 if Duncan pick up his $10 mil player option)- why not? would only work if Duncan retires most likely 8. Celtics (6.9)- Ainge could possibly persuade LeBron to come IF he traded for Love and keep Rondo, but that's the only way IMO unless Ainge really shake things up 9. Pelicans (4.9)- Only thing going for them is Davis, but they're stuck with Gordon/Tyreke Evans/Holiday contracts 10. Heat (over the cap if Big 3 returns)- can offer most $ and 5th year plus Wade/Bosh could stay as well and 4 straight NBA Finals so far, but all 3 need to take a major pay cut so they can sign guys other than their MLE and min types Everyone else either sucks, crappy market, or have to get creative to get under the cap enough to sign him (Bulls if they amnesty Boozer for example). Props to Spurs though. That was one of the best Finals performance I've ever seen. Also a shout out to Tim Duncan. For him to get 5 titles over 15 years all for 1 team is just incredible.

[expletive] that, it wouldn't even be worth watching the NBA for the next 4-6 years if that happens. On the plus side ESPN may literally collapse on itself if this happens. I like how it talks about Heat would be like the Spurs because Duncan/Parker/Manu took pay cuts to be able to get players around them, but they never went after a guy like Carmelo [expletive] Anthony. If Wade/LeBron/Bosh all took pay cuts, they are better off getting solid role players (Spancer Hawes/Evan Turner/whoever else for example) than Melo and scrubs. Heat really need to hit on their draft pick this year IMO. That's how Spurs were able to be so good for so long.

I remember these 2 like it was yesterday.

freddy adu FUN GAME i am going to name all the american soccer players i can landon donovan clint dempsey tim howard freddy adu the end My list is those 4 then it's Cobi Jones, Alexi Lamas, Claudio Reyna, Tab Ramos, Eric Wynalda, and Brian McBride.

I'm sorry, I'm going to need documentation on this, as well as your claim that his lack of hustle is costing 2-3 runs on the year. You've asked for it from others. Thank you. Also, even if it's remotely true... are you really going to bitch and moan about 2-3 runs for an entire season for a team whose best case scenario is maybe a .500 season? If you are, you might as well bitch and moan about every other offensive Cubs player. Every player in MLB has done what Castro has. I've seen Trout not go from 1st to 3rd on a single when he easily could've made it. Maybe you should just not watch baseball.

There aren't any of these available through free agency. The OF crop of free agents is really weak after this year. You're right... Catchers John Buck (34) Ryan Doumit (34) Nick Hundley (31) – $5MM club option Gerald Laird (35) Russell Martin (32) Jeff Mathis (32) – $1.5MM club option Wil Nieves (36) Miguel Olivo (36) A.J. Pierzynski (38) David Ross (38) Geovany Soto (32) Kurt Suzuki (31) Left Fielders Melky Cabrera (30) Chris Denorfia (34) Jonny Gomes (34) Tony Gwynn Jr. (32) Scott Hairston (35) Reed Johnson (38) Ryan Ludwick (36) – $9MM mutual option with a $4.5MM buyout Darnell McDonald (35) Mike Morse (33) Seth Smith (32) Alfonso Soriano (39) Vernon Wells (36) Josh Willingham (36) Delmon Young (29) Center Fielders Emilio Bonifacio (30) Franklin Gutierrez (32) Colby Rasmus (28) Grady Sizemore (32) Denard Span (31) – $9MM club option with a $500K buyout Chris Young (31) Right Fielders Norichika Aoki (33) Tyler Colvin (29) Nelson Cruz (34) Michael Cuddyer (36) Chris Denorfia (34) Jeff Francoeur (31) Scott Hairston (35) Torii Hunter (39) Nick Markakis (31) – $17.5MM mutual option with a $2MM buyout Alex Rios (34) – $13.5MM club option with a $1MM buyout Nate Schierholtz (31) Ichiro Suzuki (41)

This. The pitch counts are a little high, but it's not like Dusty Baker high. I mean just look at this... 131, 129, 109 (in 5.2 IP), 124, 131, 133 (Out of 30 starts that year, only had 4 starts under 100 pitches and 3 of those were 95, 95, and 97) 125, 120, 122, 114 (6 IP), 125, 122 118, 113, 119, 129, 91 (4.2 IP), 96 (5 IP) The last 6 starts for Prior, Wood, and Zambrano (in that order) in 2003. Pretty much the only way you had less than 90 pitches with Baker as your coach were either you had your 1st start coming from injury or you didn't make it out of the 3rd.

I spent about 10 seconds wondering how that would affect Albert Almora. FTFY

Sucks for him. Not a big blow to the team. Exactly...still, 3 blown ACL's should never happen to anyone. Terrible luck. Even Robbie Hummel is impressed. Oh man... you should've seen Hummel on Grand Prix weekend a month ago. Dude had to be carried out of Harry's pretty much at like 11:30ish that Saturday. LOL Also has anybody heard why DJ wasn't there yet?

Seriously... what is Beltre's problem? Did he have a traumatic experience with someone touching his head as a kid or something?

Same here and I'm somewhat convinced that if Cubs do win it all one day, there won't be a Chicago the next day. It's just gonna be one giant burning city.

So, is he young Maddux minus 3-4 mph on his FB? I know people always make that comparison even though Maddux threw a decent amount harder, but there isn't really an effective guy that comes to mind. Maybe right handed Ted Lilly? I don't know why, but Mark Buehrle keeps popping in my head.

http://i.imgur.com/m297qaY.gif

You're not the only one.

What the hell? He got caught trying to go to second and instead of attempting to beat the throw or get caught in a pickle or try and get back to first, he just stood there and gave up. I understand conceding the out, but that was some grade A level laziness on his part. It was 2 outs and the runners scored. Plus it ended up being 6-1. That being said, he still should've attempted to do SOMETHING. You never know. There could be a bad throw and you're safe.

This. I might take a flyer on him with the last 6th round pick, but I would rather see if he makes it to UDFA. If he does, he would be #1 on my list. With how deep this draft is and the record number underclassmen who turned pro, there are going to be some fine UDFAs out there for the taking. Probably will be a few we prefer to Seantrel in the end. That's true. I would've never thought James Brown would've made it UDFA in 2012.

This. I might take a flyer on him with the last 6th round pick, but I would rather see if he makes it to UDFA. If he does, he would be #1 on my list.

There's rumors about him possibly moving to FS so I can see teams put him through workouts to see if he can play there.

I got this when he came to Northwest Arkansas Naturals (Royals AA team) in 2011. Got to chat with him for a few minutes. Really cool kid. Sucks that my marker kinda crapped out that he signed it twice so you can see it better.

I totally forgot about Sprewell - what a nut job! Gotta feed your family somehow right?

Here's the thing for me... It's just basically 1 day. You're bringing him back for 1 very important day. It's not like you're promoting him for a week/month/year. I think you can let whatever beef that you have between slide for a freakin' day. Granted I'm sure it's longer because you have to plan it and everything (PR stuff mostly), but it's not like you have to see him, talk to him, and hang out for a long time. Who knows? Maybe it's Sosa that wants nothing to do with the Cubs (regardless of what he says to the media), but I doubt it.

I'm still trying to figure out why Dempster was there over guys like Maddux/Wood or heck... even Zambrano. Was Don Kessinger or Rick Reuschel there? I didn't get to watch the game until the 7th inning so I don't know who was all there. I'm sure a couple of these guys declined the invitation or just couldn't make it. But seriously, Sammy should've been there even if Sammy/Cubs/Ricketts aren't on good terms.