vance_the_cubs_fan

Blue alternate jersey in 2XL Link.

2XL road jersey. Link.

I think Weis is getting hit harder because he complained publicly, and he probably should be getting hit harder right now. Of course, the level of hatred being spewed right now is...puzzling, but Weis should be getting criticized the most right now. Weis is getting hit hardest because people love to hate Notre Dame. Its all part of being the greatest program in college football history. :lol:

As was said right above, the attacks on Weis are in regards to his hypocricy. He denounces recruits for backing out on verbal commitments when he is out trying to get recruits to do just that. I know it goes on. We all do. Almost every school continues to recruit the players they want even after verbal commitments. Everyone realizes that nothing is final until a name is signed on the LOI. What makes Weis a whiner and a hypocrite is he tries to act all wronged by these boys while at the same time, he's trying to get others just like them to back out of commitments. He should do what he does, fine...but quit bitching like a teenage girl when the same crap bites him on that rather large posterior.

1b Albert Puljos 2b Ian Kinsler 3b Chad Tracy SS Michael Young OF Jermaine Dye OF Corey Patterson OF Willy Taveras Util Adam LaRoche C Michael Barrett BN Hank Blalock SP Carlos Zambrano SP Jake Peavy RP Brad Lidge RP P John Smoltz P Chuck James P I like the look of my team.

1-1) Albert Pujols 1-2) Jose Reyes 1-3) Johan Santana 1-4) Alfonso Soriano 1-5) Alex Rodriguez 1-6) Carlos Beltran 1-7) Ryan Howard 1-8) Miguel Cabrera 1-9) Carl Crawford 1-10) Chase Utley 1-11) Derrek Lee 1-12) Chris Carpenter 2-1) David Wright 2-2) Lance Berkman 2-3) Grady Sizemore 2-4) David Ortiz 2-5) Vladimir Guerrero 2-6) Manny Ramirez 2-7) Mark Teixeira 2-8) Travis Hafner 2-9) Derek Jeter 2-10) Carlos Lee 2-11) Matt Holliday 2-12) Carlos Zambrano 3-1) Jake Peavy 3-2) Aramis Ramirez 3-3) Justin Morneau 3-4) Joe Mauer 3-5) Paul Konerko 3-6) Miguel Tejada 3-7) Jason Bay 3-8) Hanley Ramirez 3-9) Jimmy Rollins 3-10) Roy Halladay 3-11) Brandon Webb 3-12) Dan Haren 4-1) Garrett Atkins 4-2) Ichiro 4-3) Vernon Wells 4-4) Brian McCann 4-5) Roy Oswalt 4-6) Felix Hernandez 4-7) Ben Sheets 4-8) Bobby Abreu 4-9) Jeremy Bonderman 4-10) Andruw Jones 4-11) Victor Martinez 4-12) Jermaine Dye 5-1) Michael Young 5-2) Robby Cano 5-3) Rafael Furcal 5-4) Francisco Rodriguez 5-5) Bill Hall 5-6) Cole Hamels 5-7) Brian Roberts 5-8) Joe Nathan 5-9) Adam Dunn 5-10) Ryan Zimmerman 5-11) Carlos Guillen 5-12) Chone Figgins 6-1) Daisuke Matsuzaka 6-2) Jim Thome 6-3) John Lackey 6-4) B.J. Ryan 6-5) Carlos Delgado 6-6) Billy Wagner 6-7) Rocco Baldelli 6-8) Rich Hill 6-9) Troy Glaus 6-10) Justin Verlander 6-11) Aaron Harang 6-12) John Smoltz 7-1) Ian Kinsler 7-2) Johnny Damon 7-3) Mariano Rivera 7-4) Jered Weaver 7-5) Huston Street 7-6) Brett Myers 7-7) Matt Cain 7-8) Scott Kazmir 7-9) Curt Schilling 7-10) Felipe Lopez 7-11) Hideki Matsui 7-12) Nick Swisher 8-1) Bobby Jenks 8-2) Jason Schmidt 8-3) Rickie Weeks 8-4) C.C. Sabathia 8-5) Dan Uggla 8-6) Juan Pierre 8-7) JJ Putz 8-8) Randy Johnson 8-9) Howie Kendrick 8-10) Rich Harden 8-11) Prince Fielder 8-12) Michael Barrett 9-1) Brad Lidge 9-2) Chris Young 9-3) Chipper Jones 9-4) Jeff Francoeur 9-5) Pat Burrell 9-6) Scott Rolen 9-7) Erik Bedard 9-8) Gary Sheffield 9-9) Trevor Hoffman 9-10) Richie Sexson 9-11) Barry Zito 9-12) Dontrelle Willis 10-1) Todd Helton 10-2) Takashi Saito 10-3) Mike Piazza 10-4) Delmon Young 10-5) Chad Cordero 10-6) Josh Beckett 10-7) AJ Burnett 10-8) Jonathan Papelbon 10-9) Tom Gordon 10-10) Julio Lugo 10-11) Barry Bonds 10-12) Corey Patterson 11-1) Chad Tracy 11-2) JD Drew 11-3) Francisco Cordero 11-4) Ervin Santana 11-5) Chris Ray 11-6) Coco Crisp 11-7) Stephen Drew 11-8) Bronson Arroyo 11-9) Jason Giambi 11-10) Brian Fuentes 11-11) Brandon Phillips 11-12) Alex Rios 12-1) Michael Cuddyer 12-2) Jason Isringhausen 12-3) Chien-Ming Wang 12-4) John Patterson 12-5) Magglio Ordonez 12-6) Eric Gagne 12-7) Tadahito Iguchi 12-8) Ryan Freel 12-9) Torii Hunter 12-10) Frank Thomas 12-11) Kelvim Escobar 12-12) Adam LaRoche 13-1)Willy Taveras 13-2) Joel Zumaya 13-3) Raul Ibanez 13-4) Adrian Gonzalez 13-5) Scott Podsednik 13-6) Bob Wickman 13-7) Nick Markakis 13-8) Nomar Garciaparra 13-9) Mike Mussina 13-10) Brad Hawpe 13-11) Dave Bush 13-12) Russell Martin 14-1) Mark Prior 14-2) Eric Chavez 14-3) Kenji Johjima 14-4) Anthony Reyes 14-5) Ramon Hernandez 14-6) Roger Clemens 14-7) Lyle Overbay 14-8) Scott Olsen 14-9) Nate Robertson 14-10) Derek Lowe 14-11) Jonathon Broxton 14-12)Chuck James 15-1)Hank Blalock

Rumor has it that Phillips will sign a 3-year deal. Press Conference for 5 PM. I'm eager to see the terms as I've heard rumors that Jones low-balled him in the negotiations knowing how badly he wanted the job. Garrett will be OC, but for next year Spano will call the plays. Bets are on that Bowles will be the DC, but there still is some talk that Phillips will bring in some of his own people.

I think you are right on the money. Also, I heard that Norv was the front-runner, but made some demands that negotiated himself out of the job. Norv didn't want to give much control on the offensive side to Garrett. Turner wanted to run things rather than be a mentor-HC to Garrett. Turner also said he wanted TO gone, and it appears Jerry would rather not part ways with Owens. Furthermore, Turner wanted some of the same controls over personell that Tuna had, but I don't think Jerry trusted Turner with that venue as much as he was willing to defer to Parcells. All in all, Turner made too many demands to be a good fit.

Your feelings on Wade being HC? I like him better than I'd like Turner as HC. My concern with Phillips has more to do with Garrett than Phillips. I figure that Phillips will do a good job working with the defense and that Dallas will find ways to bring pressure with his schemes. On the other hand, there's really no one there to mentor Garrett with the offense. Hoepfully he's ready, but he hasn't had a lot of experience. Who were you wanting in there? And what did you think of Ron Rivera as a candidate? Just curious for a Cowboy fan perspective. I had never settled on one candidate. I could see pros and cons of both. Of the people they interviewed, I think I like Phillips the best. I'm just nervous with Garrett and the offense. He may do great, but it's a huge unknown. I would have loved a situation where Norv returned as an OC as I like his play-calling. I'm just not sure he can be an effective HC. My concern with Rivera was that the Cowboys have spent the last three years making the switch to the 3-4. I'm not sure we have the personell to go to the 4-3, cover-2 scheme right now. Rivera likely would have made that switch, and I'm not sure that would be a good thing right now. One thing I like about Phillips is that with his age, it will be easy to hand the job over to Garrett when (or if) he proves he's ready. I was intriqued by the idea of Singletary as HC.

I think Rivera said he didn't want to just coach the defense and then Jerry made his move towards Phillips. Hey, maybe Coach P will be the head guy on D! If anyone is promoted from within to DC, it will be Bowles. I wouldn't know like you would, I was just rooting for Coach P. Who was the D guy in 2006? Zimmer who left to join the Falcon's staff. He was a hold-over and never felt really comfortable with Parcell's switch to the 3-4.

Your feelings on Wade being HC? I like him better than I'd like Turner as HC. My concern with Phillips has more to do with Garrett than Phillips. I figure that Phillips will do a good job working with the defense and that Dallas will find ways to bring pressure with his schemes. On the other hand, there's really no one there to mentor Garrett with the offense. Hoepfully he's ready, but he hasn't had a lot of experience.

I think Rivera said he didn't want to just coach the defense and then Jerry made his move towards Phillips. Hey, maybe Coach P will be the head guy on D! If anyone is promoted from within to DC, it will be Bowles.

It's looking like Wade Phillips will be named the HC of the Dallas Cowboys. Garrett will be OC. It's not clear who will be named the DC.

I read it and was responding to the first part, which is why I said "almost always". If you want to say that you can't have morals, fine. But don't go on national TV and drag the two kids who left through the mud. I really wouldn't care if it weren't for that. But don't act like committments are some principle to be honored and then try to steal away commits from other schools in the last two weeks. You can't have it both ways. I agree with this sentiment.

Rivals has LSU at five, ESPN at seven, and Scout.com at #2. Not too bad. It would have been nice to get McKnight, but it's still a good class.

1-1) Albert Pujols 1-2) Jose Reyes 1-3) Johan Santana 1-4) Alfonso Soriano 1-5) Alex Rodriguez 1-6) Carlos Beltran 1-7) Ryan Howard 1-8) Miguel Cabrera 1-9) Carl Crawford 1-10) Chase Utley 1-11) Derrek Lee 1-12) Chris Carpenter 2-1) David Wright 2-2) Lance Berkman 2-3) Grady Sizemore 2-4) David Ortiz 2-5) Vladimir Guerrero 2-6) Manny Ramirez 2-7) Mark Teixeira 2-8) Travis Hafner 2-9) Derek Jeter 2-10) Carlos Lee 2-11) Matt Holliday 2-12) Carlos Zambrano 3-1) Jake Peavy 3-2) Aramis Ramirez 3-3) Justin Morneau 3-4) Joe Mauer 3-5) Paul Konerko 3-6) Miguel Tejada 3-7) Jason Bay 3-8) Hanley Ramirez 3-9) Jimmy Rollins 3-10) Roy Halladay 3-11) Brandon Webb 3-12) Dan Haren 4-1) Garrett Atkins 4-2) Ichiro 4-3) Vernon Wells 4-4) Brian McCann 4-5) Roy Oswalt 4-6) Felix Hernandez 4-7) Ben Sheets 4-8) Bobby Abreu 4-9) Jeremy Bonderman 4-10) Andruw Jones 4-11) Victor Martinez 4-12) Jermaine Dye 5-1) Michael Young 5-2) Robby Cano 5-3) Rafael Furcal 5-4) Francisco Rodriguez 5-5) Bill Hall 5-6) Cole Hamels 5-7) Brian Roberts 5-8) Joe Nathan 5-9) Adam Dunn 5-10) Ryan Zimmerman 5-11) Carlos Guillen 5-12) Chone Figgins 6-1) Daisuke Matsuzaka 6-2) Jim Thome 6-3) John Lackey 6-4) B.J. Ryan 6-5) Carlos Delgado 6-6) Billy Wagner 6-7) Rocco Baldelli 6-8) Rich Hill 6-9) Troy Glaus 6-10) Justin Verlander 6-11) Aaron Harang 6-12) John Smoltz 7-1) Ian Kinsler 7-2) Johnny Damon 7-3) Mariano Rivera 7-4) Jered Weaver 7-5) Huston Street 7-6) Brett Myers 7-7) Matt Cain 7-8) Scott Kazmir 7-9) Curt Schilling 7-10) Felipe Lopez 7-11) Hideki Matsui 7-12) Nick Swisher 8-1) Bobby Jenks 8-2) Jason Schmidt 8-3) Rickie Weeks 8-4) C.C. Sabathia 8-5) Dan Uggla 8-6) Juan Pierre 8-7) JJ Putz 8-8) Randy Johnson 8-9) Howie Kendrick 8-10) Rich Harden 8-11) Prince Fielder 8-12) Michael Barrett 9-1) Brad Lidge 9-2) Chris Young 9-3) Chipper Jones 9-4) Jeff Francoeur 9-5) Pat Burrell 9-6) Scott Rolen 9-7) Erik Bedard 9-8) Gary Sheffield 9-9) Trevor Hoffman 9-10) Richie Sexson 9-11) Barry Zito 9-12) Dontrelle Willis 10-1) Todd Helton 10-2) Takashi Saito 10-3) Mike Piazza 10-4) Delmon Young 10-5) Chad Cordero 10-6) Josh Beckett 10-7) AJ Burnett 10-8) Jonathan Papelbon 10-9) Tom Gordon 10-10) Julio Lugo 10-11) Barry Bonds 10-12) Corey Patterson 11-1) Chad Tracy 11-2) JD Drew 11-3) Francisco Cordero 11-4) Ervin Santana 11-5) Chris Ray 11-6) Coco Crisp 11-7) Stephen Drew 11-8) Bronson Arroyo 11-9) Jason Giambi 11-10) Brian Fuentes 11-11) Brandon Phillips 11-12) Alex Rios 12-1) Michael Cuddyer 12-2) Jason Isringhausen 12-3) Chien-Ming Wang 12-4) John Patterson 12-5) Magglio Ordonez 12-6) Eric Gagne 12-7) Tadahito Iguchi 12-8) Ryan Freel 12-9) Torii Hunter 12-10) Frank Thomas 12-11) Kelvim Escobar 12-12) Adam LaRoche 13-1)Willy Taveras

At the Convention Wilken said the Cubs had the 3rd and the 31st pick. If this was on XM with Dibble and Kennedy, you can pretty much bet Dibble and Kennedy are wrong.

Revising what he's done for the offenses, I'd go in a different route. Barrett/Blanco > Estrada/Miller. The defense that Estrada may give over Barrett doesn't make up for the huge advantage Barrett has offensively. Lee> Fielder. If Fielder keeps improving and Lee declines, this one could swing the other way. DeRosa = Weeks. Even calling it a push assumes a DeRosa decline while Weeks improves. If both repeated their most recent seasons, then DeRosa would move ahead. I assume a slight decline from DeRosa and I do think Weeks will get much better. How much better next season? I don't know. Hardy > Izturis. Defensively, they are equal. Hardy is no great shakes with the bat, but Izturis sucks. If Theriot could unseat Izturis, it might equal things up here a bit. Ramirez > Koskie/Whoeverthehelltheyuse Murton/Floyd > Mench/Jenkins I haven't talked the Hall/Soriano comparison, so I guess I'll touch on it here. Hall has a career OPS+ of 105. His last three seasons were 126, 117, and 70. He definitely seems to be improving as he's entering his prime. Soriano has a career OPS+ of 115. His last three years have been 98, 110, 132. Just as good if not better than Hall over the same span. He credits Hall for being younger and detracts Soriano for age. I'm not sure that Soriano is about to leave his productive years just yet. I also find it amusing that he takes away from Soriano's defense in CF which has yet to be proven while saying he "thinks" Hall will be pretty good, even though Hall has only played 7 games in CF thus far. Both are athletic enough to handle it, so I don't detract either. Maybe this is my homer pick, but I'm taking Soriano here as well. Soriano > Hall Jones > Hart So, offensively, the Cubs hold the edge almost everywhere. I may look at the pitching later.

He says that Mench/Jenkins = Murton/Floyd. Mench has a career OPS+ of 101, but was horrible after leaving Texas last year. His OPS+ over the last three seasons has been 85, 106, and 113. Murton has an career OPS+ of 111. His past two seasons have been 103 and 135. I'd give Murton the edge on the RH side of the LF platoons. Jenkins has a 117 career OPS+ to Floyd's 120. Jenkins past three seasons, he's posted 102, 131, and 108 OPS+ while Floyd has been 91, 125, and 110. They look to be comparable players. I think it's ok to call this position a push, since if healthy Floyd and Jenkins are comparable, Murton is better than Mench and so I'd make this a slight edge to the Cubs.

I've already debunked his ranking of catchers. I'll agree that Lee is better than Fielder, though that one could get close if Lee returns to career norms and Fielder keeps improving. Now, I don't think it's a given that Weeks is better than DeRosa either. He admits he doesn't know much about DeRosa, so I'd reccomend him doing a little research before trying to rank players. After looking at the numbers, I'd probably rank them about even, though over the past two seasons DeRosa has outperformed Weeks. Weeks' OPS+ in his two seasons is 97 and 90 respectively. Over those same two seasons, DeRosa has posted a 106 and 98 OPS+ respectively. For their offensive performance to be equal, Weeks will have to continue to improve (which at 24 is likely) while DeRosa declines. My guess is that both will be right around 100 OPS+. Both are adequate defensively, so I really have trouble seeing where either one is a value over the other. Weeks certainly has more hype than DeRosa, but that hype and sixty cents will get a coke most places around here.

I'd want to look at the data before getting into too many specifics, but just beginning with the catchers, he seems a little off. While I realize he's taking defense into account, Barrett's last three seasons of OPS+ are 121,113, and 105 respectively. He's improving as an offensive force and even with some regression should post an OPS+ above 110. Estrada's OPS+ the last three years is 91,71, 114. Estrada has one good year and then falls into the below average category. At best, Estrada likely produces a 100 OPS+ and that's being optimistic. Blanco's defense is as strong as Miller and I don't see the difference in offensive contributions being masked by the differences in the defense from the two primary catchers. So, right there I think the edge would go to the Cubs on that position. I may look at the others later.

I'm not so certain Marmol won't be in Iowa during most of the season though.

I'll check on what may be available for game 2. I have to buy a block to get them this early. Game 3 is an afternoon game, so demand should be as high on that one. Single game seats go on sale March 2, I think. I'll see what I can get for the Wed. night game and send you a PM.

Who was that White Sox fan that started a new thread for EVERY transaction on rotoworld? Jabroni.

Damn, I thought I could end up picking him later on in the draft. Me too.