CuseCubFan69

I beg to differ with you on the notion that the O's are "pretty happy." Mora is going to be earning about $17.2M over the next 2 seasons, and he's coming off back-to-back seasons where his OPS was less than .760. If they are pretty happy with him, then they're probably pretty happy with 5th place. I'd swear he was a skinny average hitting kid when he came up, I wonder why the drop?

Is Richie better than Hill?

Doesn't USC have like 85 first round picks on defense?

The righties seem to struggle with the soft tossing guys, I wonder if they could find a guy, left or right, that could hit that type of pitcher? It would probably help to get some patient bats, who don't swing at everything close. Soft tossing lefties make their living getting guys to swing at their pitches, which is exactly the type of trap aggressive Cubs hitters get themselves into. Good point. Some guys are mainly a dead red type of hitter, even the patient ones and I'd like to see the numbers of pitchers the Cubs had problems with and look at who hit them well. Heck, Matsui might be one of those guys.

The righties seem to struggle with the soft tossing guys, I wonder if they could find a guy, left or right, that could hit that type of pitcher?

Lou sees Murton as nothing more than a bench player. At this point I don't think that's even debatable. If the Cubs had 3 OF's that were better I'd be pretty happy about the OF situation.

Bruce...who would you go after if you were Hendry?

I'd look to see who made money off that game. Nobody would, a game like that would have no line written all over it. I thought all NFL games had a line? If I'm not mistaken they took the eagles/pat's game off in Vegas last week because it was such a ridiculously one-sided prediction. I didn't know that, thanks.

Good question. I haven't heard his name much. They could trade him or use him as a fourth outfielder. I'll ask as I get set to go to Nashville. It's funny to me because of all the players the Cubs have on their team, Murton seems to be the most like Lou when he was a player, stat wise.

What does this do to Murton Bruce? It seems he's on the poopy list.

AP Preseason 1. USC (62) 0-0 1,622 2. LSU (2) 0-0 1,511 3. West Virginia (1) 0-0 1,396 4. Texas 0-0 1,375 5. Michigan 0-0 1,371 6. Florida 0-0 1,276 7. Wisconsin 0-0 1,192 8. Oklahoma 0-0 1,166 9. Virginia Tech 0-0 1,148 10. Louisville 0-0 1,031 11. Ohio State 0-0 876 12. California 0-0 790 13. Georgia 0-0 782 14. UCLA 0-0 605 15. Tennessee 0-0 571 16. Rutgers 0-0 560 17. Penn State 0-0 542 18. Auburn 0-0 519 19. Florida State 0-0 392 20. Nebraska 0-0 377 21. Arkansas 0-0 376 22. TCU 0-0 283 23. Hawaii 0-0 256 24. Boise State 0-0 187 25. Texas A&M 0-0 162 Others Receiving Votes Missouri 128, Georgia Tech 94, Boston College 75, Oregon 73, South Carolina 69, Miami (FL) 68, Alabama 66, Oregon State 42, Wake Forest 40, South Florida 28, Arizona State 17, Brigham Young 14, Southern Miss 12, Notre Dame 11, Virginia 7, Clemson 6, Oklahoma State 3, Texas Tech 2, Purdue 1, Houston 1, Kentucky 1, North Carolina State 1. Thanks Derwood.

I will be in attendence at this instant classic. I'm sorry. Please try not to gouge your eyes out. My prediction, Mr. Jersey isn't able to put 2 coherent sentences together by 11 AM.

Does anyone have the Preseason Poll? I'm curious on how they all did.

I'd look to see who made money off that game. Nobody would, a game like that would have no line written all over it. I thought all NFL games had a line?

The last news I saw said that he may not decide before the first of the year. If I were Fukudome's agent, I would make sure he makes a decision sooner than that. Some teams will drop out of the bidding because of trades or signings they make in the next week or two. Obviously, the more teams that are interested, the bigger the contract. Doesn't he already have the proverbial bird in the hand with the Giants offer? Maybe he's waiting for that to be topped and hoping the desperate will do just that.

For one, it may simply be a question of eligibility. The Big East doesn't have another team eligible for consideration (the only way the BE would have gotten 2 teams in is if UConn had beaten WV). The ACC won't have a great option after the championship game for an at-large spot. That leaves 3 at-large spots (after you give Hawaii it's spot) for 4 conferences. The SEC and Big 12 look like they'll get their maximum of 1 at-large spot. That leaves the Pac 10 and Big 10. The Pac 10 would have gotten 2 in if Dixon hadn't gotten hurt for Oregon. Since he did, Oregon is no longer a possibility. That only leaves Arizona State, and Illinois is simply a more attractive option for most of the bowls than a 2 loss Sun Devil team, and that's assuming ASU gets past Arizona this weekend. Plus, if Washington beats Hawaii, then suddenly there pretty much are no choices. A SEC team, a Big 12 team, Illinois, and Arizona State will be the 4 at-larges/ Why wouldn't the BE not have an eligible team? They have 3 9 win teams other than WV. You have to have a team that is in the top 14 of the BCS. Currently, the second best BE team is South Florida at 21. Even if the Orange bowl wanted to select them they couldn't unless they somehow made up 7 spots. So the coaches in their wisdom of not voting SFlor in the Top 25 burns them and the BE, how surprising.

For one, it may simply be a question of eligibility. The Big East doesn't have another team eligible for consideration (the only way the BE would have gotten 2 teams in is if UConn had beaten WV). The ACC won't have a great option after the championship game for an at-large spot. That leaves 3 at-large spots (after you give Hawaii it's spot) for 4 conferences. The SEC and Big 12 look like they'll get their maximum of 1 at-large spot. That leaves the Pac 10 and Big 10. The Pac 10 would have gotten 2 in if Dixon hadn't gotten hurt for Oregon. Since he did, Oregon is no longer a possibility. That only leaves Arizona State, and Illinois is simply a more attractive option for most of the bowls than a 2 loss Sun Devil team, and that's assuming ASU gets past Arizona this weekend. Plus, if Washington beats Hawaii, then suddenly there pretty much are no choices. A SEC team, a Big 12 team, Illinois, and Arizona State will be the 4 at-larges/ Why wouldn't the BE not have an eligible team? They have 3 9 win teams other than WV.

The only way Illinois goes to a BCS bowl game is if Ohio State reaches the championship game. In that event, the Rose Bowl will most likely select the 2nd place Big Ten team, Illinois. From what I gather the Rose Bowl doesn't have to pick a Big 10 team but will anyway?

I'd look to see who made money off that game.

Why not? A lot of posters here think he'll bounce back and do well, why wouldn't a GM think that too?

I'm curious on why Illinois would be the only 3 loss team that could go to a BCS game? The Big 10 was down but yet they get rewarded with 2 teams and a 3 loss team at that?

i think that's likely. there is going to be a whole lot of rage around here if Hendry comes up a few million dollars short on Fukudome because he feels the need to over-pay the likes of Infante and K. Matsui (if that happens). I understand the pessimism but don't forget that Hendry can always trade Infante. Yes, he CAN fix all the mistakes he's made over the years. The likelihood is extremely low, however. I agree. It's possible that the O's might desire Infante over Theriot or Cedeno if the Cubs go that route.

Why would Baltimore do that?? Unless you are talking about some fine prospects and a lot of money. Just thinking of a way that this would work. If the O's need a 3rd baseman and Rolen is healthy, they would get better defense and around the same numbers while getting cash and a couple of good prospects to boot.

i thought there was a rule forbidding two teams from the same conference playing in a bowl game, save the NC game. I can see a OU/Kansas and a Georgia/LSU bowl scenario since they never played each other in the regular season. I'd enjoy that as much as the Michigan/OSU thing many wanted last year.

Do the O's have a 3rd baseman? They can deal Rolen plus prospects and cash to the O's for Tejada.