Palehosefan

QUOTE (danman31 @ May 18, 2010 -> 10:48 PM) Viciedo .303 overall. OPS .873. K rate still falling (like I said it would). He's outperforming the preseason top 2 (Hudson/Flowers) while being 2 years younger than both (technically a day short of 2 years younger than Hudson, but whatever). He's my vote for top prospect. With Mitchell out, Viciedo seems to be sitting in the #1 spot by a decent margin right now.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ May 17, 2010 -> 11:15 AM) I'd be suprised if Lee doesn't end up with New Jersey myself. They get him, draft Wall and trade Harris for say Beasley and picks which you mooted a few days ago, that should be a playoff team in the East (Wall, C Lee, Beasley, D Lee and Lopez is a pretty nice young core). Bosh back to Texas is interesting, don't think he'll go to Dallas, not while Dirk is still holding down the PF spot, but if Houston was willing to do a sign and trade with Brooks and Scola, well I'm sure Colangelo would be happy to do that for sure. Boozer to NY would be hilarious, considering they traded pretty much the same sort of player in Zach Randolph a while back. 1 guy who you haven't mentioned in that list, Rudy Gay I think will end up with a max offer from the Clippers. They need a SF desperately, and they'll overpay to get a good one. Don't see Michael Heisley matching that, considering the financial mess the Grizzlies are in Memphis. I wouldn't be surprised if Lee re-signs with the Knicks and the Heat get stuck with Boozer. The Beasley, Jones, + pick trade for Harris would make sense, but I'm not sure how much cap room it leaves Miami for the 3rd max free agent position. Hell, I'm not even sold that 3 max free agents should be the way to go for Miami, unless it involves any three of Wade, Lebron, Bosh, and Amare.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ May 17, 2010 -> 10:15 AM) I heard on the drive to work that James and Calipari are currently being shopped as a combo deal. A source is denying it, but I would bet Calipari and his "group" are part of the package with Lebron. I'm betting the Bulls end up with Cal as coach and Lebron on the roster. If the Bulls sign and trade Deng, I think Miami and Chicago will be fighting for Joe Johnson as their SG. As for Spoelstra, he is basically a 16 year old kid that was given a Ferrari as his first car. He is a good defensive coach, but he has no clue on the offensive end, and is having trouble in the leadership and in-game strategies roles so far. He will eventually grow into a good NBA coach, but you just can't pair him with 3 max free-agents next year. I hated when Riley stepped in for Van Gundy a few years ago, but I acknowledge the Heat need him as coach for a few years. I think both Miami and Chicago will end up as major contenders next year when the dust settles. My guesses... Lebron to Chicago Bosh to Houston/Dallas Wade stays in Miami Lee to Miami Johnson to Miami A'mare stays in Phoenix Boozer to Knicks Haywood to Knicks for way too much money. I could see Ray Allen signing with Chicago for 2-3 years.

Miami's version, http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/05/15/1630....html#storyBody

QUOTE (kapkomet @ May 15, 2010 -> 09:18 PM) Me likely my widget. I hope you do too. Nice widget. But you might style the top links similar to the bottom links.

Lebron and Calipari will be a package deal this offseason. Those two along with John Wall, their agent Rose, and Worldwide Wes will all be going on a free agent tour this offseason together. I'm sure it will be slimy as hell.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ May 14, 2010 -> 01:27 PM) Would be amazing if he could develop a better eye. 3 walks in 34 games won't cut it. I am no expert on K-rates, but his doesn't seem that bad to me. I mean, it's obviously high, but nothing like Josh Fields was, yes? Short's K-rate is perfectly fine. Anytime you have more RBI's than strikeouts, you can't complain. I would like to see more walks and steals from Short, but I can't complain too much. He was my second favorite OF prospect in our system coming into this year, but Thompson's earlier fast start made me re-think myself.

QUOTE (zenryan @ May 14, 2010 -> 12:51 PM) Anywhere in the East that Lebron lands will make them an instant contender. New York is going from a payroll of 85M this year to having only 17M on the books going into the 10-11 season. The Knicks could sign a James/Bosh combo this year and then go after another all-star type player in 2011 when Curry's 11M comes off the books. Miami already has 2+ max free agent space this year. If they can deal Beasley or James Jones then they will have room for 3 max free agent's. They also have three 2nd round picks to fill out the roster cheaply. My ideal Heat offseason. Trade James Jones, Michael Beasley, and #18 pick for Devin Harris. Re-sign Wade, and Haslem. Sign A'mare. Sign Haywood, Raja Bell. PG: Harris, Chalmers, Beverly SG. Wade, Cook, 2nd round pick SF. Bell, Cook, 2nd round pick PF. Stoudemire, Haslem C. Haywood, 2nd round pick Not much on the bench, but Haslem, Chalmers, Cook etc are solid. That should be a 2-3 seed in the East at worst.

It's almost impossible to argue Chris Paul vs. Deron Williams. They are almost identical in production. But I give Paul the slight edge in defense and shooting. Deron Williams is definitely a top 10 candidate though, as is Carmelo if I expanded my list.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 13, 2010 -> 02:40 PM) Well, I also would include "likelihood of missing an entire season due to injury" in my thinking in those rankings. So Wade would have to be at the bottom of your list. But how would you go about calculating your list? Chris Paul averaged 75 games a season coming into this season, and still played over half his teams games this season while dealing with his torn middle finger. Athletes like Lebron, Wade, Howard, Kobe etc would seem to be more likely to blow something out. Chris Bosh is the only guy I have heard rumored to have a degenerative condition, but who knows if that's a NBA GM inspired rumor or not.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 13, 2010 -> 02:18 PM) CP3 still up there? Great shooter, great passer, great defender. Seems to get overlooked because he's in NO and not a high flyer.

QUOTE (MHizzle85 @ May 13, 2010 -> 01:30 PM) Over Durant? Yes. Durant's a great scorer, but he needs to develop the rest of his game. Carmelo is my favorite player in the league & IMO the best pure scorer in the league but yeah Lebron's better all-around. Kobe's a great player. But I believe Lebron is better. Did you watch Durant this year? He has turned himself into a very good defender and did as good of a job on Kobe as anyone has in a while. If I had to rank players at this point... 1. Lebron 2a. Durant 2b. Kobe 2c. Wade 5. Howard 6. Paul Carmelo is a great offensive player, but he has to buy into defense like his peers have. I think Rose has a chance to enter the top 5 in the next two years if he keeps improving as a player. If he gets an elite SG next season he will be a leading candidate for the MVP race automatically.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ May 12, 2010 -> 10:27 PM) Not for $3800 a year and relocating to Pennsylvania. 38,000?

Brandon Short 3-3 again today with a SB. Short is on fire, but Greene really needs to be in Birmingham. Short now 4-4. My goodness. FutureSox needs to talk with him and find out if something clicked for him, or it's a new hitting approach, or just ridiculously on fire. :-)

Looks like the Big 10 offered Mizzou, Nebraska, ND, Rutgers, and Syracuse. I would bet Syracuse and Rutgers will jump on the offer, and possibly Mizzou and Nebraska. It would set up a nice 10 and 10 merger for the Big 12 and Pac 10 if they chose to join forces.

Great story, former Texas Tech ace and #3 hitter as well, awesome to see.

There would be nothing wrong with letting Gordon play in Charlotte until at least June and get his head on straight.

Gordon needs some AAA at-bats. At least he can get a hitting coach that can help him ;-).

QUOTE (fathom @ May 9, 2010 -> 02:11 PM) Toronto fans have to be amazed they're winning this game right now. A healthy offense would have 15+ runs these past two days.

QUOTE (jphat007 @ May 9, 2010 -> 02:10 PM) What was the bad luck? I was in the bathroom real quick. The bad luck was Alexei at the plate there. All kidding aside, Alexei is usually fantastic with the bases loaded, you can clearly see how much he's struggling at the plate.

Pretty clear Gavin is a mental midget.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ May 9, 2010 -> 02:28 AM) The Red Sox still have Ortiz and Lowell. And if they were going to trade for Konerko, why wouldn't they just trade for Adrian Gonzalez? If they have unlimited funds and prospects, then Adrian would make sense. If they want to give up half the prospects, and re-sign a guy for about half the salary, then Konerko would be their man.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ May 9, 2010 -> 12:36 AM) Where are you seeing this? Not seeing it in print yet, just someone with a "source". We will see how it turns out.

Looks like MSU @Duke and UNC @Illinois next year for the challenge.

It's really time for Greene to be with Birmingham.