hawkeyecub

I may be wrong but I don't think a USC loss will help ND. It will take up another at large. Also if they do lose, will they move down any furthur than 2? It's a nonconference game, so as long as USC beats UCLA next week they will still win the Pac 10 and get the automatic bid. Exactly. They could drop to 3rd in the BCS and with Miami's loss, it opens the door for Penn State to get to the National Championship.

Update? They dropped FSN here in Iowa when they picked up Comcast SportsNet Chicago and it's not available on GamePlan.

Yeah I'm pretty sure Miami is out of at-large consideration after tonight's loss. That most likely leaves ND and OSU as your two BCS at-large selections. Even better (for me) it's likely that today's results will get Iowa to a New Year's game for the 4th straight year.

That Georgia Tech win is huge. That takes away an at-large possibility for the ACC (winner of Va Tech/FSU will go BCS) and probably puts Ohio State and Notre Dame in as the at-larges. Then I think you're looking at Michigan to the Cap One and Iowa picked over Wisconsin for the Outback Bowl.

I agree, but I definitely think OSU deserves it. There simply aren't enough 1-loss teams to take all of the at-larges are there? OSU's 9-2 is much more impressive than ND's in my opinion. OSU lost to two top 5 teams with one of them coming on the road. ND lost to the #1 team at home, but also lost to a 5-6 team at home. Oregon's only loss came to USC. Virgina Tech's only loss is to the #3 team.

Depending on the pitcher I don't see anything ridiculous for wanting a #2 starter in exchange for Abreu. He's a career .303/.411/.512 hitter. There have only been two years since '98 where his OPS hasn't been above .900 and those were .877 and .879. In 2004 he hit .301/.428/.544 and was an incredible 40/45 on stolen bases. Now that he's 31 I wouldn't give up Zambrano for him, but there are probably a lot of #2 pitchers who I would give up for him. He's been one of the most underrated players in baseball for a long time now.

You should post more often so you'll get banned sooner and we can be rid of you. Ah, the things some regular posters can get away with...

Agreed.

Scott Eyre is "crappy"? Last year he had a 2.63 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and a .200/.282/.288 line against. Lefties hit .182/.270/.242 against him last year. In the last three years they've hit .200/.264/.302 against him. Yeah those numbers are really "crappy."

The whole thread is about a report in the paper that Cubs are not going to pursue Giles. Should we not talk about it? Or should we not talk about it and hope it is wrong? No. Speculation is wonderful and that's what keeps boards like this going. I think the point is just that it's premature to call them inept and saying they have no clue, when this report is simply speculation that the Cubs "won't get into a bidding war" for Giles. First of all that could have many meanings, and you also have to consider the source.

If they start it at 3/33, it wouldn't be surprising if it ends up at 4/42. I agree though. As much as I like Giles and I agree that he is a much better offensive player than Furcal, that's irrelevant when you're looking at the current market. Furcal is probably worth 4/36 compared to what other SS's have gotten. At least with Furcal you're looking at a player who will be 31-32 at the end of his deal, as opposed to 38. There's a decent chance that Furcal could improve slightly this year and maintain that production for a few years, whereas Giles' decline is inevitable. It just depends on how steep it is.

Is there any way we can wait on the signing of Giles, wherever it may be, before we begin thumping the Cubs for their ineptitude? No. If you want to do that fine, refrain from posting. But why ask other to do it? If this is how you feel I'd suggest you avoid the whole transactions topic all together. That way you will not have to needlessly make such posts. EDIT: I don't know that anybody has ever said that Sullivan doesn't have information correct. What people have complianed about is his gossip mongering, and foolish ideas. But I think he is the mouth piece of the Chicago Cubs. Huh? I don't think he asked anyone to stop posting or talking about transactions. He was just pointing out that it seems pointless to talk about how inept the Cubs were for not pursuing Giles seriously, when we really have no idea yet what's going on. He's probably not going to sign until January and I expect this to be a very slow process. It just seems to make sense to let some things happen. It's like people asking for Hendry's head on a platter (yes those were exact words) for not signing Ramirez on time. After all that uproar, Aramis was still signed and delivered before the season began.

"Be careful, don't trip while you're backtracking." sounds fairly offensive to me. I think the mods will back me up on this one. If not you'll have my full appologies. How in the world is that offensive? I've seen much worse from more of the regular posters and it's not been called out. Good Lord, I think the sensitivity meter needs to be turned down a notch around here sometimes. Things don't need to always be taken so seriously.

Oh, poor Quin.

I never said it was a joke. But it was weaker than most BCS conference teams who are solid. Yeah most everyone had a couple cupcakes, but they also had 3-4 quality opponents. ND didn't and much of that was due to not being in a conference. It was your spinning of Tennessee as a decent team that was close to being 6-4 that was a joke.

Tennessee, BYU, or Pitt would be ND's second best win. You could debate on which one is exactly second, but they're similar. How are Pitt and Tennesse similiar? Every game Tennessee lost was to a top 25 team. A few of those games could have gone either way. Pitt is just bad. If Tennessee doesn't fumble the ball against Bama, they're 6-4 with a win over a very good team. And they should have beaten Florida and South Carolina too. That team is an 8-2 team that ran into a bunch of bad breaks, like Charlie Weis said in the presser the week before the game. Come on man, that's one of the biggest spin jobs I've seen in a long time. They're 4-5 and they could be 1-8 just as easily as they could be 6-3. They barely survived UAB at home 17-10 (UAB had a chance to tie it inside UT's 10 at the end of the game). The LSU game was a mircale win in which LSU completely fell apart in the second half, and UT pulled it out in overtime. Then last weekend they trailed Memphis heading into the 4th quarter at home. They've had as many good breaks as they have bad ones. They really aren't a good team and are just as close to 1-8 as they are to 6-3. The only game they've won handily was Ole Miss. Even their close losses weren't games they were really ever in control of. Their offense is absolutely atrocious. Just admit that Notre Dame's schedule hasn't been half as tough as most thought it would be. It's not your fault that teams haven't met expectations, it's just a fact that Michigan is really your only decent win.

Very disappointing? That seems a little harsh. I'm not a huge Pierre fan either and have my doubts if it would be the right move. But depending upon the players we would have to give up, it could be a good move. If nothing else it would stop the organization from rushing Pie too fast, and if Pie is successful we would probably have plenty of takers for a so-called "true leadoff man" in Pierre. Goony summed up the way I would feel about it. I have my doubts but if he produces the way he did in '03 (.361 OBP) or '04 (.374 OBP/.407 SLG) it would be a big boost. If he produces the way he did last year, it doesn't help so much. With the options on the CF market this year, I think Pierre is a good choice if we aren't giving up too much. We wouldn't have to be stuck with him long-term, but he could be a great stop-gap. It's awful early to be settling for someone like Pierre when there are some other quality CF's possibly on the trade market(Bradley, Wilkerson, Michaels, etc.) Rightly or wrongly I just don't see anything happening with Milton. He has too many character issues and I can't see them taking a chance with him. We know that Hendry has at least reportedly inquired about Wilkerson. We have no idea how much they're asking for, but it could be much more than the Marlins want for Pierre. Michaels I'm rather indifferent on. He's put up some real solid numbers but will be 30 next May and has never had 300 AB's. This could also give us some extra leverage in the Furcal negotiations. If it's clear that we don't need a leadoff man and we have a couple options at SS, his price could really come down.

Very disappointing? That seems a little harsh. I'm not a huge Pierre fan either and have my doubts if it would be the right move. But depending upon the players we would have to give up, it could be a good move. If nothing else it would stop the organization from rushing Pie too fast, and if Pie is successful we would probably have plenty of takers for a so-called "true leadoff man" in Pierre. Goony summed up the way I would feel about it. I have my doubts but if he produces the way he did in '03 (.361 OBP 65 SB) or '04 (.374 OBP/.407 SLG) it would be a big boost. If he produces the way he did last year, it doesn't help so much. With the options on the CF market this year, I think Pierre is a good choice if we aren't giving up too much. We wouldn't have to be stuck with him long-term, but he could be a great stop-gap.

worst tournament ever What do you have against Maui? It's usually one of the best preseason tournaments in college basketball. Plus it gives us all an opportunity to see Chaminade in action.

We should have a good Kentucky vs. Iowa matchup in the Guardian's classic next Monday. Has UK figured out their frontcourt situation yet?

Smoke Em? I admire you confidence but thats pretty strong. Both of OSU's losses were to top 5 teams and games they could have won. Its not like they got blown out verse texas or penn state. When was the last time OSU got smoked, probably not since Cooper was coach, it just doesnt happen. 33-7 at Kinnick last October. OSU's only score came on a meaningless touchdown against the 2nd string with 2 minutes left after Iowa resisted an opportunity to make it 40-0. What a glorious day that was.

Big win for the Hawkeyes in Alvarez' last home game. The defense was just dominant and held Calhoun to 18 yards on 15 carries. Wisconsin only had about 60 yards in the second half until that final drive when the game was decided and the offense made some plays in the second half. With a win next week over Minnesota we have a shot at playing in January in the Outback Bowl. In order for that to happen we would need Penn State and Ohio State to both win and go to BCS games. Michigan would then go to the Cap One and the Hawkeyes would likely be picked over Wisconsin (having the tiebreaker also helps) and Northwestern even though they beat us last week. Damn this team is so close to being 8-2, 6-1 another share (at least) of the Big Ten Championship, a possible BCS game and a guaranteed New Year's bowl. I'm still trying to figure out how we lost that Northwestern game last week, ugh.

And ignore the fact that Furcal is 5 years younger, can play a good SS and is a very good base stealer. Walker meanwhile will be 33 on opening day, and is at best an average second baseman. Also the last two seasons where Walker has had over 500 plate appearances his OPS has been .784 and .761. In 2003 Furcal put up a .795 OPS while stealing 25 bases (in 27 attempts) while Walker put up a .761 OPS in Boston. I don't like the fact that they're booting an inexpensive Walker either, but it's ridiculous to compare their salaries based solely on last year's OPS.

You can't compare baseball to football though. I agree that you can't just judge a QB by their W/L record, but it is something that holds some merit when you look at the other factors. Some QB's are much better at controlling a game and doing what they have to do to win. Others make mistakes in critical times and do just enough to lose games. A pitcher's W/L record is almost totally meaningless. It's like chemistry and playing as a team. It doesn't mean much in baseball, but has it's place in football and basketball.

Again, he's 20 and those numbers are from AA. A .304/.349/.554 line from a 20 year old center fielder in AA is impressive. He's very good defensively and a great athlete. He's only been playing organized baseball for what, 5 years? He's definitely not a finished product, but he has a ton of upside and has already produced at a very high level.