LittleHurt05

One of these four teams will make the semi-finals: South Korea, Uruguay, USA, or Ghana Compare that to the four on the other side now: Argentina, Mexico, Germany, or England.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 03:12 PM) I don't think Ghana wants to tie/win and play England. They better be careful, if the Serbs can sneak in an injury time goal, Ghana won't be playing anyone for a while.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 03:04 PM) Yeah, which would suck. But I think Germany holds on. I hope so. Serbia cuts it to 2-1, if they can make it 2-2 and Ghana loses 1-0, Slav would get his wish.

Deuce!!! Come on Isner!!

Your team has one of the three lowest payrolls in the league, but its the managers fault he cant win a division against Philly & New York. Of course. I think he did a great job with what he was given, and if Atlanta does get him, should be a great hire for them.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 11:07 AM) Maybe I'm thinking ahead, but it'd be good to get rid of a really good team like Germany right now so they'd have a chance in the quarter finals. Yeah, but if Germany wins Group D, then the USA couldn't face them until the Finals. If the US wins in Round 2, their QF opponent will be Uruguay/S. Korea. Thats a pretty good draw.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 10:58 AM) Hopefully, Germany loses and we get to play Serbia or Australia. If Germany wins, don't we get to play Serbia or Australia anyway? Germany will have 6 points, and with their +3 goal differential, I doubt Serbia passes them up, they are at even 0. 1st tiebreaker is goal differential, not head-to-head (which is dumb if you ask me). I think the only way we face Germany is if they tie & SRB-AUS ends in a tie, or if AUS wins, or if Germany & Serbia both win, but Serbia drops a 5 or 6 spot on the Aussies.

INJURY TIME GOAL b****ES!!!!

QUOTE (chimpy2121 @ Jun 22, 2010 -> 05:30 PM) The Sharks are not going to offer Nabokov a contract when he becomes a UFA. I just saw that. The goalie market already has a lot of options already, but that makes it even more wide open. I think that helps the Hawks with Niemi, because it makes it less likely a team offers him a huge contract and risks giving up high draft picks, when there are so many UFAs out there. Hopefully that means he will accept a reasonable contract.

First two round of 16 matches set: Uruguay vs. S. Korea, Argentina vs. Mexico

To remind people that Damaso Marte wasn't actually all that bad.

Interesting stat from Buster Olney, think its a coincidence?

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Jun 22, 2010 -> 10:51 AM) The OBP is good, the other stuff isn't. But if that's the guy's floor then he's still better than Pierre. But like I said, just 2.5 seasons playing for the Cubs may not tell the whole story. Fukudome is a guy I'd go after because of what he can do on the baseball field, not because of his numbers. It would be a bad contract swap, nothing more. Ideally we'd have none of these players and their contracts on our roster. He's 33. It's not like hes gonna suddenly figure something out and improve on those last 2.5 seasons as he gets older.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jun 22, 2010 -> 11:03 AM) So yeah, Mexico and Uruguay in. Barring some crazy result this afternoon, looks like the win helped Uruguay avoid their continental counterpart Argentina in the 2nd round. Good luck with that Mexico.

In the last 4 months, been to Lawrence, Vegas, Cabo, and NOLA so I think its gonna have to be a summer & fall in Chicago, other than a wedding in LA next month. Nothing wrong with that.

f***, France with a goal to cut it to 2-1. The hosts would need a minor miracle now to advance.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Jun 22, 2010 -> 10:06 AM) I have no idea why the Cubs have not him lead-off. I'm not Lou Pinella. However, his overall numbers are very good for a lead-off hitter. And career-wise, his OBP is good enough for a lead-off hitter. But anyway, the cost of this move would basically be swapping Pierre with Fukudome (big improvement all around) and swapping Linebrink with Hudson (another big improvement) for about an extra $1-2M or so maybe this year (haven't checked but it wouldn't be much) plus another $3M next year. I think that would be a fantastic move actually, because it would be safe move as far as Fukudome being a better American League bet than Pierre, and it would also offer us the biggest potential payoff. The upside for the Cubs would just be a decent SU man and a nice bench player, but for us it's a very good all-around starting OF. Yeah, if I can I make this move yesterday. He's also 22 for 39 career in SB attempts, 10 for 23 the last year and a half. There is way more to a leadoff hitter than OBP. He was supposed to be a middle of the order hitter, but his power didn't carry over from Japan. He's now an OK #2 hitter, but thats about it. I'd personally much rather hold on to Pierre, DFA Linebrink to make room for Hudson, and save the extra $3 million instead of going after Kosuke. Plus, why would Cubs do this just to save that money? They already had Pierre once, hated him. They need to get rid of an old OF with the crowd they have out there, not swap one out for another. And Linebrink is not a decent SU man, he's bad, as you stated in your first paragraph.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jun 22, 2010 -> 09:27 AM) This is the best news I've heard in awhile. God, I hope so, although I won't believe til it gets done. From TSN's Bob McKenzie:

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jun 22, 2010 -> 09:34 AM) France already down 1-0. I would really like RSA to somehow advance. They would need 3-4 goals to have a chance at that though. Already up 2-0, & France is down to 10 men and seems to have given up. Uruguay just made it 1-0. Right now, RSA is only 2 down in the goal differential and is tied in goals scored. Anything can happen.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Jun 22, 2010 -> 09:33 AM) Because he's a left-handed, strong defensive RF who is currently hitting .281/.370/.449 which is much better than anyone on our team right now not named Konerko or Rios, and also because the Cubs will have to eat salary and move him for nothing, and furthermore it allows us to dump 2 bad contracts that extend beyond the year while improving the ballclub. Sounds like a great idea to me. Instead of having 2 bad contracts (Pierre/Linebrink) at $10.5 million, you would rather have one awful contract at $13.5 million??? I'd rather save the money or take a chance on an extra OF at $3 million or so. Fukudome is extremely overpaid and is nothing more than an average player. You also called him a legitimate leadoff hitter. If that was the case, why have the Cubs only hit him leadoff 68 times in 2.5 seasons? This year in 19 games in that spot he has a .194/.298/.278 line.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Jun 22, 2010 -> 09:12 AM) IMO: 1. Trade Pierre + Linebrink + prospects for Fukudome. Pierre makes a prorated $3M this year + $3.5M next year, Linebrink makes a prorated $5M this year + $5.5M in 2011, and Fukudome makes a prorated $13M this year and $13.5M next year. The Cubs save a bit of money this year, they save $4.5M next year, and they'd get some prospects plus a spot for Colvin. For us, we get Fukudome at a very good contract value ($4.5M above what we're flushing down the toilet in 2011 for Pierre and Linebrink), we improve our OBP and defense while adding a lefty bat and getting a legitimate lead-off hitter, and we get to screw the Cubs too. Great move. I don't even know where to start with this one.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Jun 22, 2010 -> 08:11 AM) Since I've been in London, all the girls here drink nothing but Pimms it seems. Basically it's gin, you mix it with lemonade and put all sorts of fruit into it. It's actually quite nice, quite sweet, but I'll stick to Beer I think going forward. Whenever I was in England before, it always seemed like everyone drank those fruity alco-pops, even guys. Those things are so sweet too, I can barely finish one. I'm a sucker for the Leinie's Summer Shandy.

Rios

Adam LaRoche has been known to be a way better 2nd-half player throughout his career. He has had a better than normal 1st half, but that is a good sign if we tried to grab him.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Jun 21, 2010 -> 11:34 AM) Luke Scott's probably the best cost effective player I've seen mentioned so far in this thread. Way to streaky for my taste. He'll get hot and hit you 12 homers in a month, then the following month you will be lucky to get 12 total hits out of him.