Jake

QUOTE (Baron @ Nov 16, 2014 -> 03:55 PM) Sure and obviously getting more than one reliever is probably in the works. I think if they dont sign Miller it wont be for a lack of trying. I just dont think they'll try what they did last year again. Yeah I think it will certainly look like we tried to address the pen by the end of the offseason, which likely means signing at least one recognizable name to a contract

All told, not a bad day for Bears. We still saw flashes of head-scratchingly bad play, but both sides of the ball can sleep well tonight. I assume special teams never sleeps at night

I love not being able to know how much time is left as we get under a minute

At this point, if Thompson makes it, it will likely be a deal where he's hitting pretty well in AAA - something like a 115wRC+ and gets called up due to injury. He then just hits in that limited trial and stays on. More likely, we never see any of that and he is a role player for a few years before he gets squeezed out of the 40-man. I still love his upside, though, and he's young.

You almost invariably overpay for the top guys in the reliever market, but there are always great values just after that first tier

For as good as the offense has looked much of the time today, it's baffling how infrequently they've been able to convert into points. That has been true throughout the year. No ability to close. Looks like we'll win this one, though

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 14, 2014 -> 02:25 PM) I have never gotten the impression that Kenny and Rick aren't of the same mind set when it comes to the direction of the club, so I am not even sure if a "veto" exists, if it would be all of that important anyway. I agree, that's how I assume things work. I collaborate with some people at work with whom I have a great rapport. We disagree sometimes, but never to the extent that I think a "veto" needs to exist. We just agree on a direction to go in and move on. I assume that's how things are in our FO. Everyone knows that their plan is laden with uncertainty so it is rarely going to be black and white.

I'm very happy that my parents are now paying less for their premiums and getting loads more stuff covered. They have no illnesses, but are growing older and are overweight, and they were constantly getting nickeled and dimed on everything to the extent that they were just avoiding the doctor. My poor mother had to pay around $2k for a colonoscopy. I can't remember what reason it wasn't covered, I think it was actually just built into the plan that way. They own a small business, so they're doing fairly well for themselves (relative to the average American, who is not doing well), but were still paying around 30% of their income for health insurance before the PPACA

QUOTE (greg775 @ Nov 16, 2014 -> 03:01 AM) Serious question. I know a lot of people without health insurance. They can't afford it or are unemployed. Let's say you have no health insurance and have the start of a heart attack and call 911. Take me through what happens to you in terms of getting treated then charged for services. Thank u p.s. read another good op/ed story today that said Obama flat out made his plan incomprehensible to get it passed and lied about certain things in Obamacare knowing full well they were lies to the public. A non-politician who was hired as a consultant for the creation of Romneycare and Obamacare commented that the law might have benefited from people not knowing exactly how it all worked - he was commenting on the fact that it used taxes to pay for poor people's health insurance. Of course, anyone with a head on their shoulders knows that all kinds of harmful rumors were spreading about the PPACA and therefore it's rather doubtful that they benefited at all from Dems not shouting from the rooftops that it involved taxes - especially since there was all kinds of huffing and puffing about "the biggest tax in US history" and all kinds of false garbage along those lines

How long does Jimmy have to play this good before we start to regard him as a breakout star?

I think he'd get a similar dollar figure for 9-10 years on the open market right now

It's worth bearing in mind that 13 years from now, $30 million per year is going to be the number that guys like Nick Swisher get

QUOTE (bmags @ Nov 12, 2014 -> 05:02 PM) Is that the phrase? I always that it was "I'll be damned" QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Nov 12, 2014 -> 05:06 PM) Gage has his own language. LOOOOOOOOL He writes like a CPA QUOTE (CrimsonWeltall @ Nov 14, 2014 -> 09:53 AM) You're being really selective with statistics to make him look bad. Why didn't you include some of these statistics? -- 6th cheapest defense in the league saves the Bears money so it can afford some weapons for Cutler, who has none -- #1 ranked practice defense in NFL for two years in a row -- Defense broke Aaron Rodgers' clavicle more times than any other defense in NFL history Keep pushing your agenda FWIW, that season where JAX had the 4th-ranked defense was the first season in which Mel Tucker was calling plays. Before that, Del Rio was doing the play calling.

See, the thing is, Briggs has still played well. That's why there hasn't been much huffing and puffing at this point. The problem is that he is clearly sabotaging the unity and leadership of the defense. Releasing him would be a bold move that I could get behind, though - especially since we are all but eliminated from playoff contention.

When I played HS basketball, we quit buying Nikes. We couldn't get a pair that cost ~$150 at group pricing to last an entire season for around a quarter of the team. They did stuff like Manu's, though a bit more gradual

The circumstances of Kenny's "promotion" - that is, his stated desire to be less involved in day-to-day management - leads me to believe his role isn't comparable to Epstein/Friedman. I think he has a lot of sway, but Hahn is the GM. My guess is that when push comes to shove, which may never occur, KW defers to Hahn (even if he might technically possess some sort of veto power).

DeRozan 3/17 against Jimmy/Bulls D

Derrick can't take days off for his sore ankles, that would make him a giant p**** that doesn't care about winning! You saw him walking, he should be playing!

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Nov 13, 2014 -> 11:37 AM) Why do they always come out and say "alcohol wasnt involved" right away, only to have that proven wrong shortly afterwards? They did the same thing with Rob Bironas, its just weird. I'm guessing there is some sort of clerical explanation, but I'd rather them be wrong that way than the other way. You'd just assume not slander the dead, knowing that many people will never see the correction. Plus, it feeds the conspiracy theorists when the story is revised to sound not as bad rather than the other way around

Derrick wishes not to bring more catastrophic injuries upon himself by pushing it when dealing with minor injuries in the first week of the season, everyone loses their minds

Yeah, I'll go ahead and celebrate even less salary flexibility for the Tigs

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Nov 11, 2014 -> 04:22 PM) I think it has a lot more to do with the league figuring Trestman and this offense out. It is entirely too simple and too predictable and opposing defenses know exactly what is coming. I think a lot of our offensive problems are scheme. I also think Jay is just not cut out to be an elite QB but this scheme doesn't exactly do him favors. It essentially plays up his weaknesses and when you watch our offense more and more you see that the vast majority of the plays are set from the start (on where ball is going, etc). That doesn't play well into the strength of a QB who can buy time and make big plays with his feet and arm. Right now we really don't allow our offense to break down opposition defenses. We also really miss having a receiver who has speed who can create seperation and stretch the seams. Jay and his fumbles are to be frank, probably his biggest problem. His picks really haven't been that bad, especially when you adjust for some of those throws where the wideouts were awful. This stuff is a total team collapse though but the biggest reason I want Trestman out (in addition to his inability to be an overall leader of this team) is the fact that we seem to be getting pantsed on our offensive scheme and everyone appears to know what is coming, etc. That is an awful sign when you are supposed to be an offensive guru. Having plays that don't require reads is playing to Jay's strength (or, put better, playing away from his weaknesses). He has the huge limitation of constantly locking onto a receiver pre-snap and not knowing how to find anyone else. If a scheme is giving him a clearer pre-snap read, it's probably better.

I don't hate Hillary, but she's toward the bottom of the list of Dems that may or may not be contemplating a presidential run. What she is though is tough, experienced, and probably the most thoroughly vetted candidate to ever run. I don't expect any big surprises or mistakes. I do wonder if Dem voters, particularly the sort that vote in primaries, may be tired of her by then. The left has been growing more and more worried about her whole not-really-being-all-that-much-of-a-leftist thing. They were worried about that with Obama too, though, and he still won - of course, I don't think people knew that much about where he fit into the spectrum when he was getting elected.

I still haven't heard/can't come up with a great explanation for why the offense has regressed so drastically since last season. McCown's run certainly propped up the season numbers to an extent, but that was only ~6 games. Cutler played much better than he has this year. The main change is that Cutler got a contract - do you think that explains it?

And - triple post - Pau looked loads better last night. I think Thibs might make a decent defender out of him yet. Offensively, he's good regardless. I love that he can make you pay when Rose drives but you can also dump it to him late in the shot clock and he can back somebody down and make his own post move.