Splendid Splinter

Nooo... What the problem is... Bears need "GOOD" WRs. Really doesn't matter how tall they are, they just need to be good. Some analyst are comparing Wright to Percy Harvin. I would take Harvin (minus the headaches/injuries- which is Wright upside) on the Bears in a heartbeat. Personally... I think he's this years Heywood-Bey, Troy Williamson, etc... I rather have Floyd or Jeffery over Wright at the moment.

And yet why do I sincerely doubt they'll take advantage of the opportunity. Don't worry. I was thinking the same thing, but then I realized, Angelo is gone... :yahoo:

So that's the 2nd relapse in 3-4 years??? I say he's doing quite well and eventually you make mistakes. There's good and bad things to come from this. Bad thing is he relapsed... Good thing is it's rare when it happens and it's an one night thing instead of going on a binge or worse, actually doing coke or drugs. It's a battle every day for someone like him. I know what it's like for him although I didn't have an addiction THAT bad like he did. I drink, but I've been clean for 2 1/2 years (drugs/pills) and every once in a while, you'll get a thought creep into your mind, "it's ok. One time won't hurt you." but you gotta overcome that.

Goldstein said #6...

Yeah... Tyrus Thomas had 9 blocks a few days ago as well.

Yes that's true. Brady always had good #s, but the year Moss came over... Brady threw 7% better, 1,300 yards more, 26 more TDs, 4 less INTs, +30 on his QB rating compared to the year before. Yes... Pats were very good to great before Moss. The first year he had Moss, they ended up with practically the best passing offense in history. What SpongeWorthy said wasn't wrong- if when talking about Moss. Now as far as with Pats this year with Gronkowski/Hernandez duo, Brady basically only threw 1,300 more yards compared to the year before. Everything else was close to the same or worse. You can say Pats went on a whole another level like they did with Moss the first year (Brady did end up throwing for 5,200+ yards this year which would've been the NFL record if it wasn't for Brees and is the new AFC record), but they were already great the year before so it's a little, if any, improvement. Basically Pats with Brady went from very good to great passing offense to AWESOME one year then great since.

Me either. Even Jermichael Finley. While having a Jimmy Graham or Rob Grontkowski would be very nice, it's not at all necessary. What people fail to mention about these great TEs is that they play along side 1000 yard WRs. How many TEs are putting up huge numbers with WRs like the Bears who can't put up 600 yards at any spot? Tony Gonzalez with the Chiefs??? I know he had Derrick Alexander early in his career and Eddie Kennison, but it seems like he was the main weapon on that team. Antonio Gates in his first 5-6 seasons??? I think you can find TEs putting up #s with "not-so-good" WRs...

I'm kinda up in the air about Stevie Johnson. He's gonna need someone else with him. If Bears just looking to add 1 WR then go after V Jax or Bowe instead, but if they're going after 2 WRs or a WR/TE combo in FA or getting a WR and TE in the draft with a WR in FA, I'm alright with Johnson as the WR. He's a bigger, more talented Knox IMO. He's gonna ask for #1 WR money and I don't think he's worth that. On the other side, he's better than what the Bears have right now (talent-wise). Yes he does drop balls and he's not exactly an efficient receiver either, but he also has made awesome CBs (Revis) look silly at times and really fight for the ball. None of Bears WR can do that IMO. It'll all come down to how much $$$ he wants and what other moves can the Bears make in FA...

Please.... Starrcade was way better than Royal Rumble/Westlemania.

That is weird. Are there any others out there that don't site an AP or yahoo.com report? No... the other one I saw (can't find it now for some reason) was from yahoo or AP as well. Those were the only 2 though that had 12.5 which I can see being that if they're "pretty far apart" like Heyman reported.

whoa there I don't think the 10.225 is right. I've seen in a couple articles where Garza actually asked for 12.5, not 10.225. That would make sense if it's true. I just Googled 'matt garza arbitration' and couldn't find any articles that said it was 12.5. That's weird... Here's one of them: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-cubsmoves

whoa there I don't think the 10.225 is right. I've seen in a couple articles where Garza actually asked for 12.5, not 10.225. That would make sense if it's true.

How in the world did Wells get 2.705??? Same with Volstad with 2.655??? Those 2 jumped big time...

I updated the post above and it should be VERY close at the moment... I checked on Cot's to make sure these numbers were right.

BJ Upton has posted 4 or more WAR 4 of the last 5 seasons (and 2 of the last 3). His 4.1 WAR last season would have ranked only behind Matt Garza on the Cubs. This myth that BJ Upton is some sort of bust is absurd. He may not have lived up to his considerable upside, but he's still a very good player. I didn't say he was a bust, but he's simply not an impact bat. I get his value as a center fielder, but if someone were to move him to a corner that what happens to his WAR? I'm far too lazy to run the numbers, but I don't think it would hurt him very much at all. It might even help him. Being a plus-plus defender in a corner would go a long way towards offsetting the slight increase in expected offensive production. Seriously though... how many starting CFers out there that would push BJ Upton to a corner? It's not like he's just an "average" CFer. He's a plus defender there already. It would take a guy like Bourjos to move him to the corner.

Well... It eventually got the Mets Ryan Chruch/Brian Schneider and Johan Santana from 2 of those 3 guys in trades. I say that wasn't too shabby.

He must be stellar defensively because I can't think of another reason he was on it to begin with. I saw Bianchi last year at Northwest Arkansas and he is awesome defensively IMO at 2B. He can play SS as well (not everyday, but decent enough if your SS was injured for a short time). Honestly I don't think I've ever seen a better defensive 2B (whether that's in person or on TV- that I've seen several times or more) than him. With Theo and Hoyer looking at getting better defensively, I can see why they claimed him. On the flip side though, his ceiling is probably what Barney is right now offensively (or could be worse) with slightly better defense and SBs. Barney already shown us what he can do in the majors so I thought it was kinda pointless to claim Bianchi as I figured nobody else would claim him and Cubs could get after he clear waivers.

Speaking of which, do we know what will become of that buyout, because adding that to the money already coming off the books pre 2013 would be a fairly big deal. Wow... really???

the prospect the Padres get would have to be pretty good, which means the Tigers are giving up quite a bit here. Also there's should be a Cubs prospect (for compensation of getting Hoyer) that should be going to the Padres.

No it wasn't a mistake. It probably is being put back into the team. He didn't say it would go to "only" MLB payroll. When he said it, I took it as he was putting it back into anything that's Cubs related. It could be towards the maintenance of the stadium, hiring more employees in the organization, IFA/draft budget, international development/buildings, etc.... When he says things about the "team", I'm thinking he actually means the whole Cubs organization (like a businessman would say about a "team") instead of something specific/literal like the actual MLB team that most people would think of.

I've read this now about both San Diego and Texas (quantity over quality). Is there a "centerpiece" player anywhere in baseball that might match up well with Garza, or are the Cubs going to be forced (if they decide to trade Garza this offseason) to go quantity over singular quality? I mean, Martin Perez and Jurickson Profar were both BA top 12 midseason prospects. I can't imagine anyone who has been rumored to be engaged with the Cubs would have a more highly regarded prospect to deal. Yeah Perez is highly regarded, but after this year, there's a couple question marks about him IMO. That alone takes him out of the "centerpiece" of a package that I'm looking for, but he's borderline. The "centerpiece" type guys I'm looking are Jacob Turner/Tyler Skaggs/Julio Teheran/Matt Moore/Drew Pomeranz. That's just talking about pitching prospects. Perez and Manny Banuelos are at the top of the next group for me. I would ask for more in a package with Perez than the pitchers I've mentioned. Of course, this is just my opinion on it while other people think he is a "centerpiece" guy. I've seen Perez pitched this year. The dude has TONS of talent/potential. His stuff is great, but it's the control and inconsistency I'm worried about. Also as a guy with great stuff, he's still hittable (more than I like to see). Now I'm not saying I wouldn't want him cuz I would love to have him, but I think he's a "tad" overrated than what a lot of people say about him. The great thing about him is that he's still extremely young. I think Cubs will be going with the "quantity over quality" package for Garza IMO. The quality overall is still going to be good though. You could say it's the same as the singular quality. It's just be with like 3-5 prospects instead of 2. For example: offers for Garza (I could be WAAAAYYY off here on what a realistic package for Garza is) Which one would you want? I'll put Sickels grade (he has 2012 grades for some teams so far) next to the offers as well. Yankees: Jesus Montero or Gary Sanchez and Manny Banuelos.... A/B+ (last years grade) Rangers: Martin Perez/1 of Leonys Martin/Mike Olt/Cody Buckel and either Christian Villanueva (if you don't pick Olt) or Jorge Alfaro and Miguel De Los Santos B+/B/B- or C+/C+ Padres: 2 of Anthony Rizzo/Jedd Gyorko/Robert Erlin and Jonathan Galvez B+/B+/B- Just to give you an idea...

I like how this package is for BOTH Garza and Marshall. Of course they would survive at both major and minor league level. The only one they would miss having or wish they kept is Martin (and that's a maybe) while they gain a #2 SP at worst AND a great set up man. The rest are throw-ins or expendable for the Rangers. I'm not sure why you have both Martin and Akins in a package like this. Replace Akins with Perez then we're getting somewhere. That's 3 SPs who are all MLB ready this year or next year at the latest plus a 1B and CF. I still think Rangers system is a "quantity over quality" type system where there's really no "centerpiece" prospect/player beside Profar or Holland and I seriously doubt Rangers would trade either one in a package for Garza. Yeah... it's pretty bad. It's as bad as Garza or Castro to Red Sox for Theo's compensation.

Neil Ramirez

Shots shots shots shots shots shots Shots shots shots shots shots Shots shots shots shots shots EVERYBODY!!!!!

Because he's still on the A's unless they decide they don't want to offer him a contract. Oops... I was thinking that list was of guys who were actually non-tender today. Not as possible candidates.