Fotop

Team 4 is the best, IMO. You can play the matchups w/Schaub and Palmer who should both put up decent #s against bad teams. Two #1 backs in Forte and Westbrook, and a #2 back w/upside in Lynch (whom you can wait out on the suspension due to having forte and westbrook). WRs are great too...Calvin is a beast. Bowe is a solid #2, and you have to think Marshall will be a good #3 for you if and when he plays. Walter is decent insurance for Bowe and Marshall.

Let's be clear on the media thing - there's only three ND homers on ESPN: Lou Holtz Mike Golic Dick Vitale (and that's a stretch) Some other guys like Herbstreit give ND some credit too, but I wouldn't call him a homer. The rest of their crew HATE ND. Desmond Howard? Lee Corso? Mark Freakin' May? Pat Forde? The list goes on. You can say they get a lot of coverage, but you can't say they get favorable treatment from ESPN. Most of the media are just like you and hate them for their own personal reasons. The reason they're on ESPN a lot is because ND = ratings. This is about money, it's not about favoritism. And for the person that says that ND didn't deserve to go the BCS bowl vs. OSU in 2005 - give me a break. That team was arguably two plays away from being undefeated (a fumble at the goaline vs. MSU and the infamous USC game). Surely they were terrible...

QUOTE (chw42 @ Aug 17, 2009 -> 02:21 PM) Strasburg's value declines if he doesn't sign. Can he still go back and pitch at SD State? Highly doubtful...unless I guess there's a loophole of Boras being his "advisor" and not his actual agent but I doubt the NCAA still considers him an amateur. He'd likely take the Aaron Crow route.

The guy that makes the biggest killing is the one who's willing to buy when everyone else is selling. Reinsdorf understands this probably better than all of us here combined. Hell, it's basically why he wants to buy the coyotes. Be flexible enough to buy something for 50 cents, resilient enough to watch it go to 25 cents, and then sell it for dollars later. Is there risk involved with this strategy? Of course, but I'm glad it's my team taking the risk and not watching other teams jump on these opportunities. I'd like to believe the Sox had the foresight to prepare themselves to be in this enviable position by hawking Swish and Vasquez and showing some restraint in the off-season. Reinsdorf is pretty damn savvy so I'll believe it. The upside here far outweighs the down - think about the economics in relation to the price paid for Peavy and Rios. 1 good prospect, 1 decent prospect, and 2 replaceable ones for Peavy and Rios for absolutely nothing. If the only downside in all of this is financial inflexibility 3 or so years down the road...that's a pretty manageable downside - especially when you consider you can't predict the economy at large at that point. The upside? You got a 27 year old cy young winner and a plus CENTER fielder that can actually hit a bit who's got a decent amount of years left in him. You've got to hope for a bounce back out of these guys, but we've seen they have the talent to accomplish that. I for one, love the fact that our Front Office has the balls to pull these types of moves - very thrilled about this.

QUOTE (Jenks Heat @ May 6, 2009 -> 11:08 AM) Was he even rated that highly of a baseball prospect? The whole thing seemed more of a PR thing at the time. He was certainly projectable as he had very good velocity in college (96-98 I think). Anytime you throw that hard, you have to be considered a prospect...his secondary stuff was, and still is very raw. The Cubs have treated this more like a PR move than anything. 1st, the signability thing is why he dropped so much and why such a big deal was made when he signed (as he could have gone to football). 2nd, to get an immediate return on him (since he's on a major league deal) and to appease their rabid, silly fanbase he was rushed. It would have been wise to develop him into a starter and let him work on his secondary pitches in the minors. Worst case, it doesn't work and they use him as a power reliever. However, this is the Cubs we're talking about and they're notoriously bad at developing young players...

QUOTE (fathom @ May 6, 2009 -> 06:07 AM) It would shock me if Samardizjajajjaa isn't playing in the NFL in 3 years. He has absolutely no feel for pitching. I don't blame the kid for chasing the guaranteed money though. $10 mil guaranteed in baseball was better than what could have gotten in football (arguably, seeing as he was at best a late 1st rd pick). Using the 2008 NFL Draft (since I can't find the data for the 2006 one), he'd needed to be the 14th pick or higher to get that kind of guaranteed money. Assuming there's been some sort of inflation over the past couple years, I'd imagine he'd have to be very close to the top 10 in 2006 for that kind of money. Furthermore, there's options for his 6th and 7th year in baseball that could make the contract worth nearly $18 million. Who knows if these are ever exercised, but he's got that as well. Being a pitcher, I'm not sure the "well he'd get hurt easier in the NFL" argument holds up that well but I'd put that out there for discussion too. Football is a violent game, so he took the cash and the safety over taking a shot at a sport his talents may have been better suited for. Sounds like a smart decision to me. Agree with you about his pitching though. The Cubs really f'ed this one up by rushing him.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Apr 2, 2009 -> 11:19 AM) Well the Royals have Horacio Ramirez in their starting rotation. So they are last. Actually I think they have Ponson and Bannister as the #4/#5 at this point. However, replace Sidney Ponson with Horacio Ramirez in your statement, and you've got a point. Hochevar won't be in the minors for long, I'd imagine though. So by June, you have to think it'd be Greinke, Meche, Davies, Bannister, Hochevar. That's not too shabby.

Don't think we should be sleeping on the Royals here... Greinke and Meche are solid at the top, and they've got some upside in Davies and Hochevar. Their pen is likely the best in the division as long as the crazies don't flip out. Farnsworth, Cruz, and Soria is a pretty strong top 3 in the pen. I'm not going to say they've got the best pitching, but it's certainly not the worst. All things said I'd probably put it this way: 1. Twins 2. White Sox 3. Royals 4. Detroit 5. Cleveland

My guess is the Giants is where he'll land. Better suited to be a DH for an AL team to reduce risk of injury, but don't think there are many AL teams he fits with.

4 Lollapalooza Headliners leaked: Jane's Addiction Depeche Mode Beastie Boys Kings of Leon Likely 2 more big names yet to be leaked/announced (rumors abound about the last of the big names with Tool being the one that's most mentioned), but I can't say I'm terribly excited so far. Thoughts?

Rumor du jour: a trade between CLE/DEN centering around Brady Quinn and Cutler has been floated. I'm in agreement with most everyone here, if guys like Cutler are REALLY on the block (not sure that he his) the Bears must take their best shot. I'd also love to see Brady Quinn playing for the Bears, if Mangini is trying to get him out of town, but that's just my bias speaking.

Even though they pretty much blow, I wouldn't mind taking a crack at the Astros...if only to take out the Cubs at some point. Think I have a license for OOTP 6.5 somewhere...would have to search for it, but I'm interested. What's the details?

Anyone like Brandon Tate? If he's fully recovered from his injury (big if), he'd be a decent steal in maybe the 3rd or 4th. Thoughts?

I haven't seen many recent mocks (what's a good place for updated mock drafts, btw?) but I think one of the tackles will fall - call it a hunch I suppose. If one doesn't, the Bears are in trouble in my opinion. There's no lights out safety they can nab in this draft, due to Mays and Major Wright going back to school and 1st rd WRs are typically a losing proposition (Harvin being the most likely one to be picked here and he scares the bejesus out of me). Sanchez won't fall that far, so there goes the QB of the future pick. The BPA at that point will likely be an end, be it Tyson Jackson or Michael Johnson, which as you point out does not fit one of the Bears many needs. A Linebacker wouldn't be a terrible idea, but Cushing, Malaluga, Curry, and likely Laurinitis will all be gone by then. If one of the USCers drops (doubtful) I suppose I'd put them on the short list. Another RB? It's a thought, as many teams are showing you need 2 RBs these days (Moreno or Wells could be had), but again there are much larger needs for the Bears. So basically if the tackles are gone, you have to consider trading down, and I'd be ok with that.

The bears clearly need another tackle with Tait considering retirement and St. Clair (good riddance) likely leaving via FA. One of Jason Smith, Eugene Monroe, Andre Smith, or Michael Oher will be available when the Bears pick (one of the latter two most likely). They should take one of them if they're on the board.

As for the XM radio stuff, I read that on an ND message board (typically for football but it has open sports forums like here). No idea if it's true, just saying I read it elsewhere. As for thoughts about this, it's all starting to make sense when you look at the contracts. Abreu for $8 mil + Figgins for $4.75 mil is roughly the same as one Dye at $12 mil. I personally don't like Figgins, but the writing seems to be on the wall here. KW is never this obvious though, so I'll believe it all when I see it.

Read elsewhere that XM radio is reporting this as a done deal. Kind of a third hand confirmation, but if true that was a quick sign.

Not sure if this has been discussed before (assuming it likely has but I can't find the thread) but does anyone know the easiest way to transfer my music from my 2G Ipod Touch to a new PC? My last PC died, and the only way I can get all of my music back is to find a way to get it off the ipod. Thanks in advance for your help.

Agree, the answer is Beckham. Quality up the middle prospects are much harder to find than 1B/DH types. Vitters would have to have a huge talent advantage over Beckham to make up for the position scarcity issue, which I don't believe he has.

I'm surprised people aren't all over this one, considering this is a baseball board, but I picked up MLB Front Office Manager yesterday for XBOX 360. I've only played a couple hours, but it's interesting to say the least. I love the concept, but my early opinion is that it could have been executed better. The layout/screens/navigation is awkward and I can see it getting annoying in the future (lots of popping in and out of screens to get things done). What I do like is that it seemingly has EVERYTHING. Arbitration, Rule 5 Draft, International Scouting (even Japanese posting) all minor league affiliates (although the only real prospects in the game are the ones at ML level or close to it) its all pretty much here. Not sure how the player development works, but I'm very interested to see if it works well and is intuitive. I also like the fact that you "build up" your GM like an RPG character - using attribute points to become a better scout, negotiator, etc. Going to give it a whirl again tonight, but last night I didn't even make it past re-signing players/free agency/trades!

QUOTE (SOXOBAMA @ Jan 5, 2009 -> 03:18 PM) Source Bruce Levine I think this is not a very good signing for the Flubs Do the Cubs now have the worst defensive outfield in baseball? Soriano LF, Black Hole CF, Bradley RF? That's God awful. 3/30 for a glorified DH when you're a NL team is a bit outlandish. Lucky for Bradley (and the Cubs), Wrigley is almost as much of a bandbox as Texas was. He's a lefty though, so at least they have that going for them.

QUOTE (Flash Tizzle @ Dec 24, 2008 -> 11:44 PM) LOLacaust at the bottom of the GRIT list for 2008. That's how you know this metric is valuable. Albert Pujols has no heart! He's not a GRINDER! What a chump! Hopefully you didn't think I actually believed this was a decent statistic...it is funny stuff though.

Thought this was kind of funny...trying to put a number to "grinder" ability. Where's Aaron Rowand though? Or maybe Darin Erstad? This is outrageous! Full Details of GRIT Here

QUOTE (KevinM @ Dec 12, 2008 -> 08:10 AM) First Edwin Jackson, and now Nick Adenhart?! What is with this overvaluing of downright putrid pitchers? The guy put up a 1.71 WHIP this season. He had a 110/75 K/BB ratio. Hell, he wasn't very good in 2007 either. I'd be kinda surprised if he sniffs any top 100 lists. He's 21 years old. He certainly has time to figure it out, especially considering his stuff. Think it's pretty unfair you're writing a kid his age, with his raw ability, off as "putrid" so early. Ultimately, this discussion is likely pointless as Adenhart is most likely untouchable - as he should be.

Stern, M&H, or Mike and Mike. Whichever is the most interesting/not at commercial.