YearofDaCubs

I do believe our bullpen will be very solid especially if Williamson reverts to form you can make a case he might be our best RP. I'll give props to Hendry for strengthening our BP but man our SP have huge ? marks and so does our offense.

If healthy Williamson is a very good reliever.

You forget, at the end of 2004 he opted not to get the surgery, and just rest and recovery. But in at the end of 2005 he opted for the surgery which other pitchers like Morris had and bounced back. It is very realistic to assume we may get 2 MONTHS of quality starts from this guy in months like August/September when it can REALLY make a difference. Thumbs up on this signing. I don't know. Morris came back and was really effective in the beginning but there is no denying the loss of velocity on his pitches as well as the decline towards the end of the year. It was brought to my attention that Morris has had problems with dead arm but still. Adjustments for a pitcher is necessary when he loses 4-5mph on his fastball. I would love to have a healthy Wade Miller here but I'm pretty sketpical on what we will be getting.

He sure does and I personally feel Wade Miller will not help out this team but the risk is low.

I think he'd easily be worth it for the first four years or so of the deal. There are lots and lots of max contract players in the NBA out there that are less deserving of the money. The only thing I worry about at his age is a contract similar to AD.

Wallace is probably looking to get a max-deal type contract do you guys think he is worth that? I personally feel it might be a better idea to draft and hold on to the money until the right deal comes along or just wait for the other FA period.

Wow for Arthur Rhodes? A steal for the Indians.

Put me in for fantasy baseball.

For what we are paying Miller it is worth it but I am skeptical that he will ever be as good as he was when he played for the Astros. Low risk though so I like this move.

Have the Cubs really screwed Walker? I know picking up his option was a security blanket, for the team, but in doing so he has been guaranteed a job next season at 2.5M. Had he been forced into FA, he might have been relegated to NRI status or to take a million or more dollar paycut as a backup. Teams don't seem to be very interested in his services. I agree with you. Financially speaking, I think Hendry did Walker a favor by picking up his option. I didn't see any team giving Walker $2.5M. I think Hendry assessed that while Walker is a fine hitter, his fielding and mouth would not get him more than $2.0M from most teams. Hendry did himself a favor with picking up that option too - the last thing Hendry wants to see is Walker go to St. Louis or the Mets, two post-season threats. By locking his rights for 2006, Hendry can now trade him safely to an AL team or a non-NL contender. It's a good financial and baseball move to pick up his option. I just don't buy that there was any handshake deal. What I buy is that by Walker agreeing to the option clause in the agreement he signed before the 2005 season, he was basically giving the Cubs the right to choose his fate for 2006. They did (or better put, they will soon). Sound reasoning. My problem with this whole deal isn't the notion that Walker is a good hitter (he is) or that he is our best option at 2B (likely he is, but I think Hairson deserves a shot now that he is healthy again), its that if Walker is so undervalued by the Cubs relative to his salary, how come people aren't lining up with a nice deal to take him off of our hands? It just does not make sense. EDIT: And I don't see how Hendry "screwed" him over. He signed the deal; he knew this was a possibility; he's clearly an intelligent guy; now live with it. I will say this about Hairston. I will really excited when he came over through trade to us and I thought he would be a perfect fit. His base-running is terrible and I don't know why his defense was so bad but to me at least he was a dissapoinment. I would rather have Walker at 2B over Hairston.

Agreed. Walker for Nick Markakis? Come on.

It's pretty obvious that without Steve Smith Carolina is nothing. Too bad for us Bears fans that our coaching staff was so incompetent.

TMac attack, and Howard fouled Hinrich at the top of the key on that last play. Agreed. TMac is a superstar and he showed why last night. At the same time Hinrich was tripped, touched, and pushed yet they didn't call it once. This situation with the refs is bad. At the same time I questioned why Hinrich had the ball and not Gordon.

I think he has an interview with the Bills and Raiders as well. I'm not 100% sure though.

Disagree. It appears she a little too impressed with herself and the fact the she was "skilled" enough to marry a man that gets paid millions to play a kid's game. Per WGN sports central last night, this wasn't the first time she has acted up at a game. Even stooping to calling people "White trash" and to "Go shop at Walmart" for having the audacity to cheer for her son's (grade school basketball" opponents. Besides, I don't think she's the least bit attractive. Wow, what a classy woman.

Any way you look at it our OF is pathetic. JJones..what a joke.

Too bad they can't properly scheme a plan to get us into the playoffs.

Well that could be.......interesting. You haven't heard it yourself, so is this coming from another message board? I dont know if it's true or not but I just cant see the Bears making this move.

There was a fan who supposedly was there close to the incident on the radio yesterday and he said that all the guy did was to ask the kid to sit down because he kept getting up and it escalated from there. Davis' wife has been known to start things like this. Davis deserves the suspension because he did indeed go into the seats. It's only 5 games so I think that's fair.

The big picture for me is Hendry hasn't built a great team yet, and he's been awful the past two offseasons. Unlike some fans, and apparantly the Cubs management, I'm not satisfied with mediocrity. It's hard to have a great team when you build the team around dominant pitching only to have your dominant pitchers not stay healthy. Not to mention when two of your middle of the order guys can't stay on the field consistently. If Wood, Prior, and Z each make 30 starts this year and we don't win 90 games then Hendry is to blame. But until we can keep our best players on the field I don't think Hendry is entirely at fault. well maybe if hendry relied a little bit more on building a team with a top 5 OBP, we wouldn't have to rely so much on pitching. I'll take dominant pitching over top 5 OBP always. Dominant pitching wins championships not top 5 OBP. Not if it can't stay healthy.

I'd be quite happy with Pope. The Bears need to add another dimension to the offense. Clark was a huge non factor all year. I think the biggest reason he caught that touchdown pass against Carolina was because he was such a non factor all year, Carolina paid him no attention. A good hands TE for those 3rd and longs can sustain more drives rather than turn them into punts. 5 or 6 throws to the TE will also open those receivers up a little more. Now, if the good hands, good blocking TE is available via free agency or via trade, then I could see going after something other than a TE in the draft. Or if the top 2 or 3 TE's are off the board (unlikely) by the time the Bears draft. So which other teams do you think might be drafting a TE?

That sounds about right.

Which teams ahead of us do you see drafting a TE? I hear Vernon Davis won't will that far but from what I read he is the best TE in this draft. I think we can look to draft a CB in the 3rd round or 4th maybe similar to what we did with Vasher. Drafting a OT would be agood considering we have age on the line right now. Azumah won't be back. These are the WRs we have on our roster: Bradley Moose Berrian Gage Airesse Currie Berlin I don't think we will be drafting another WR unless it is very low round or FA pickup for KR and PR duties. At the same time Gould hasn't been bad but getting a kicker with more leg for kickoffs wouldn't be a bad ida.

All this talk about Delhomme just reminded me of Brad Johnson on week 17 acting the fool when he was cutting up our 2nd-3rd tier players. I never liked Brad Johnson and was so glad when we didn't sign him. I hope he starts for Minn next year so we can see how good he does against our 1st tier D.

And at times the 40 yard line which is totally unacceptable.