Mark_R

I would just like to say that I'm envious that I can't watch any of this at all right now. No audio either. Stupid military slow internet connection.

Derrick Rose is my homeboy. Go Tigers.

I love my team. Strengthened my pitching staff greatly with the additions of Erik Bedard, Javier Vazquez and John Smoltz. My infield is easily the best in the league with Teixiera, Cano, Hanley, and Braun. Outfield is also really strong with Eric Byrnes, Delmon Young, Carlos Lee, and Lance Berkman. If JR Towles is pretty good for me, my offense will be putting up huge weeks all the time. This is also not to mention I have two of the best young outfielders in the game on my team as well with Justin Upton and Matt Kemp. I have a great surplus of talent all the way across the board.

Kevin Love has moved to the top of my most despised players list.

Or you could look at it from a standpoint of me having no use for Jeff Francoeur for the top hitting CATCHING prospect in baseball. The fifth round pick is a bit pricy, but I have ONE hole on offense and I need two starting pitchers which I will address. My team is loaded to the hilt offensively, and we just keep retooling the minors with top prospects.

Whoever plays me this year will be destroyed. I bring back the best offense in the game. Pitching is maturing AND I have two first round picks and a stocked farm system. Get ready for an annual beatdown.

Anybody else think that Wisconsin will shut down Curry almost completely and beat them by 20 or so?

After watching about 10 minutes of college basketball this entire season, I can't wait for an all day lazy fest of watching hoops. Bring it on.

Why was he allowed to be added? Did I miss something because that seems like BS to me...

1B: Mark Teixeira 2B: Robinson Cano 3B: Ryan Braun SS: Hanley Ramirez OF: Eric Byrnes OF: Delmon Young OF: Jeff Francoeur Util: Lance Berkman Reserve Outfielders: Matt Kemp Justin Upton Lastings Milledge Keeper Pitchers: Chris Carpenter Dustin McGowan Mike Pelfrey Chien Ming Wang Brad Lidge Jeff Francis Minors: Daric Barton Michael Moustakas Ian Stewart Colby Rasmus Cameron Maybin Homer Bailey Luke Hochevar Philip Humber Jeff Niemann Points Keepers are Teixeira, Byrnes, Berkman, Lidge, Carpenter Any issues on minors or points or whatever, let me know. I'll try to respond asap.

The obligatory all star for a team with Ryne Sandberg?

Not sure when I'll have computer access again, so I'll list all my keepers here now so its done and out of the way: Mark Teixeira (510) Robinson Cano Ryan Braun Hanley Ramirez Eric Byrnes (538 Points used) Delmon Young Jeff Francoeur Lance Berkman (537) Justin Upton Lastings Milledge Matt Kemp Adam Wainwright Dustin McGowan Chris Carpenter (11) Chien Ming Wang Phil Hughes Jeff Francis Brad Lidge (181) Mike Pelfrey Minors: Michael Moustakas Colby Rasmus Cameron Maybin Daric Barton Ian Stewart Luke Hochevar Jeff Niemann Philip Humber Homer Bailey

They sidestepped it and cited tampering, but had the idea of always looking for ways to make our club better. They never cited actively seeking other players, only saying the 7 for 2 was completely inaccurate.

I went to the Convention Saturday morning. I took my friend, Eric, who had never been before (thanks for the tickets, Vance!). Our first means of business was bad mouthing the cold weather making us drive down (instead of taking the L, who wants to wait for a train in -10 wind chill weather?) and spend 28 dollars on parking. But I digress. I was decked out in the most creative piece of clothing that I saw the entire day: an authentic Jeff Samardzija Notre Dame jersey. Everybody is running around in Cubs garb. I received a few compliments for the subtlety by those who noticed the connection. One of my goals for the day was to get Shark to sign it for me. He was doing an autograph session as we arrived, however, it was kids only. In addition, the lines were so excessive that we both decided that it would be an enormous waste of time to stand in line all day for an autograph we may not want. We went to the Meet Cubs Management session where Lou talked about Fukudome possibly batting second to utilize his OBP if he feels that is the best place for him. He would later go back on that when Al from BCB asked him about that and Lou announced his opening day lineup (which is the same one in the thread started here). The entire crowd loved the mention of Mark DeRosa in the lineup. A majority of the questions from the crowd were standard questions (Mark Prior situation, omg are you getting erik bedard!?, lineup questions, will we steal more bases?, etc). I was in line to get a question in (was going to be about the center field position over the next couple years given that the two top prospects in the organization play center field, and with a huge financial/years commitment to the corner outfielders, what will be the organization's plan in getting them to either play, or to allocate them for other pieces (as I was pondering this question, I thought of Meph's plan about Pie for Greene and that's when it hit me that it would be a wise deal for the Cubs to make. Took me awhile. Sorry Meph.). Alas, they stopped taking questions and I was shutout. After that, we went to see the vendors downstairs. Our disdain for the autograph lines was a damper for Eric since he brought an authentic ball with case to get signed. I told him there's players walking around all the time and autograph opportunities happen after sessions with players all the time. While eating some overpriced pizza, I spotted a stand that was going to have Fergie Jenkins signing starting at 11. At this time, its about 10:15. The gentlemen running the stand told us to come back around 10:50 and get in line then. We agree this is a quality autograph to seek out and the lack of a wait is enticing. We look around some more and get back to the stand at 20 til 11 and are fourth in line. There's a sign saying there's a 20 dollar donation and its not a big deal to either of us. Fergie arrives 10 minutes early and within 5 minutes we are done. Eric got his ball signed and I ponied up 20 bucks to get a copy of Fergie's book, Like Nobody Else signed and personalized. Fergie was even gracious enough to take a quality picture with Eric. Afterwards, we went to the Lou's Crew session which was crowded even 20 minutes before start time. We pulled up a seat in the back and thought of questions to ask. As I approached the mic, I asked both Lou and Larry (who looks terrible, btw) about Shark's chances of reaching the big leagues this season and if his performance in spring training could get him a look as a darkhorse for the fifth starter spot. Larry shot down any possibility of that happening and said that Shark would only get a chance as a reliever, with an exceptional spring (given the crunch on relievers, he'd probably have to be totally lights out) and would likely only come up this season as a reliever. Eric asked Gerald Perry about plate discipline and GP gave the old "well you don't go up there looking for a walk," which, while true, is a bit disconcerting. The remainder of Gerald's answer was tough for me to hear at least. At noon, (this session started at 11:30) we notice that there is a session across the hotel with some of the minor leaguers (Sam Fuld, Billy Petrick, Rocky Roquet, Jeff Samardzija, Tyler Colvin, and Carmen Pignatiello) with Jody Davis and Oneri Fleita hosting the event. We grabbed a seat in the front row and my camera had died while taking some pictures of the setup in the room. I grabbed a sharpie and was hoping to get Shark to sign my jersey. I went outside for a second to see if there was a little shop where I could get some batteries, but didn't see anything but a jewelry store and Kitty O' Shea's. A bar and a jewelry store in a hotel is strange, to me at least. On the way up the stairs, I notice old nsbb member Mark Peel, who I joined at the Convention a few years back. We chatted for a couple of minutes and I returned to my seat, without batteries. The sessions itself was very interesting and Oneri had the guys go through a normal day on the road, as the guys maligned having 20 dollars a day to spend on meals (this is apparently across the board in majors and teams cannot adjust the amount for minor leaguers, something I did not know). While we heard the "what rituals do you guys have? what's the most disgusting town you've been to? (Sam Fuld alluded to Beloit as a dump, without naming it by name) what do you guys do to pass the time? etc, I was pondering what I wanted to ask. I got in line and was going to ask the players how they feel about the outfield situation at the big league level, considering there's realistically one spot open for four years with three guys (Fuld, Colvin, and Pie) all fighting for it (I throw Colvin into the mix, because he's what, maybe a year away from being major league ready, with a solid season at least...) but thought better of it. After grabbing a glass of water, I got back in line and asked both Jeff and Oneri about the organization's long term plans for Shark, whether it be as a reliever or as a front of the line starter. I lauded the organization's efforts to sign a guy who was admittedly contemplating another spot and noted that's how teams like Boston stack their farm system by going above slot to sign players. Oneri said they will definitely continue with Jeff in the organization as a starter since that is where his value lies and want to keep him stretched out and pitching on a schedule as much as possible. He also said that his first opportunity at the big league level will likely come as a reliever with the possibility to stretch him out to a starting role (ala Liriano and Santana). He said the same could possibly happen for a guy like Carlos Marmol. After the session, the players all stayed and signed autographs. We quickly got in line and thanked the guys for a fascinating session and I did get my Shark jersey signed. It was awesome. Satisfied with our progress, we left for the day (I was operating on 25 minutes of sleep the previous night). Definitely worth the money and we were both extremely glad to avoid the autograph lines as we got what we wanted in a much more timely fashion.

We could use this kind of trash talking in our roto money league. You might be worthy of an invite meph. Not 5 x 5 though.

Tejada's brother died in a motorcycle accident today :shock: ESPN Deportes

SB should be .75 and CS should be -.5

This should be addressed again. Decimal points are super lame. As are assists, put outs, etc.

Could anybody envision a scenario where the Lakers try and pry Ben Wallace from the Bulls? Sure, he can't score, but on a team that could do a lot of damage in the West, he could be a good fit to help keep them afloat in the front court until Bynum gets back. He'd be a nice fit for them come playoff time as well. Not sure who they could offer back to the Bulls in addition to Kwame though.

I thought the NFC championship was on Saturday. You thought wrong.

Wouldn't that be 450 points? And I'm not sure I understand the question. Give an example of what trade went down that was for "cap purposes."

I will be attending for Saturday for a majority of the day. Anybody wants to hang around, pm me, I don't want to be making fun of Hendry and Co. on my own.

That would be the most hyped Super Bowl of all time. Regardless of the talent discrepancy.

Suck it, Romo.