Wednesday, June 30, 2010
What a sad story Prior has turned into
He is attempting another comeback. At 29, he is throwing for MLB scouts today in attempt to get a contract. Mark, I wish you the best but i think you need to hang them up. Saddest stat in this little article about him. He won 18 games for the cubs in 2003. He has only won 18 games since. Mark, if you put a hit out on Dusty Baker i think the world would understand.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Pending the Free Agent Bonzana
Look everyone has been awaiting the summer of 2010 for the last 2 years in the NBA and now its 2 days away. This blog will be following it closely and will be bulls heavy here for the next 10 days or so. So, everyone strap in and enjoy the ride.
There are rumors running wild about what will happen with the big 3, wade, bosh and Lebron. It sounds like wade is staying in Miami and bosh will go wherever bron does. So will it be to the bulls? i dont know. i'd put it at a 33% chance between the bulls and the heat and some other wildcard. There is no question that bosh and bron will be the bulls #1 targets and they are the best talents in free agency. But if the bulls whiff on those 2 which i say there will be 66% chance of that happening, who should the bulls look to next?
According to the link below, the bulls already have scheduled a meeting with carlos boozer. He would be a great fit for the bulls. He would not command the max salary which would save the bulls some money. He gives them a post presence and plays good defense. Also, rose would still be the superstar on the team. The bulls also are reported to have a meeting set up with joe johnson. He also is a great fit with the bulls. He is a shooter/score in the ben gordon mode who spaces the floor for Drose. He also isnt a superstar that would take the ball out of drose's hands. He probably doesnt command a max salary either. Bron and bosh are better players no doubt but boozer and johnson would be better fits for the bulls and allow Drose into the superstar that i think everyone believes he can become. Missing out on bron and bosh may not be the worst thing in the world. We will see what happens in 2 days.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Time to blow up the cubs!
Yep, after last night i have given up on the team this year. This team just can't win. They are too far back and havent shown that they have the right make up to win. I have given up on getting to the playoffs this year. Its time to decide who can help you win next year and get what you can for people that dont fall into that category. Because i do think this team with some tweaks could win next year.
(Note - I wrote this before Z's blow up this weekend. more to come on that)
1. D-Lee. I love him as a cubs player but he is about the best trade bait you have. Plus, the cubs have guys they could plug in at 1b, be it soriano, vitters or Aram. Lee is a free agent this year and the cubs shouldnt want to lock him up longer term. He has a great glove and a good team leader but his slow starts have killed the cubs in 2 out of the last 3 seasons and he cant carry a team offensively. He is a good player but he is presence in the lineup is not irreplaceable. See what you can get for him and pull the trigger.
2. Fukudome. He has to go. Not only is he overpaid but the cubs have better players that need to play over him. He has this year and next year left on his contract at $12 million. Yes, he is overpaid but he can help a team in contention with defense and OBP. Colvin needs to play everyday and the cubs wont be sitting the 18 million man or byrd.
3. Carlos Silva. Yes he has been the cubs best pitcher which is why he needs to go. No other cubs pitcher has a higher trade value and im not sure anyone believes that Silva can pitch like this past this year(he is signed through next year). Plus if you trade him whatever you get back is just another bonus from trading Milton Bradley. A contender would love a groundball innnings eater like Silva.
4. Small parts - Xavier Nady could be a good pitch hitter/4th outfielder on a contending team. John Grabow could maybe be a lefty arm out of a bullpen. Teams are always looking for lefties.
Ryan Theriot - He is a solid baseball player and my favorite cub but if you can get something for him the cubs have a few middle infielders in the minors. Randy Wells - He is still young but he will never be better than a 4th starter and there are a lot of those guys. If you can get value, pull the trigger.
Guys who shouldnt be traded
Starlin Castro - the future, Ryan Dempster - great cub and man, heart of the team, Geo Soto - his a young catcher who is having a comeback year, hard to find, Alfonso Soriano - who would take his salary?, Marlon Byrd - Hard nosed player who is needed to win, Carlos Marmol - he has the best stuff in the majors not named Stratsburg, Sean Marshall - is there anything situation in which this guy cant pitch?, Ted Lilly - I know he is a free agent but he is a winner and the cubs need to resign him to win next year, Aramis Ramirez - Here's why you keep him and not DLee. He plays a tougher position to find a good player, 3B. He also could be moved to 1B very easily. The cubs also dont have any 3b in the pipeline besides Vitters and he is atleast a year away.
If the cubs can move these guys, they would free up money and hopefully get some value/prospects back. This could set up the cubs for a winning year next year by getting some young guys experience and let them sign some players in the offseason.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Reason 899 to hate Farve and the Vikings.......
So, the vikings were wondering why their best player wasnt at the voluntary offseason workouts last weekend. Well, he wasnt resting his just operated on ankle because their best player isnt named Brett Farve. But that is why Farve wasnt at the offseason workouts and because he "hasnt made up his mind about retiring yet/i just dont want to go to training camp". Their best player, Adrian Peterson, the arguably the best RB in the NFL was at a parade. Yep, his hometown was having a parade and party in the town to celebrate Peterson so he went to that. I mean why would he think that he has to show up to mini-camp?? If brett doesnt, why should he? And what is Brad Childress going to say to AP if he brings that up? Brett plays by rules and they dont apply to you! This is the problem with letting Brett Farve do whatever he wants to. Suddenly, the coach loses all his authority. He says its ok to his team to treat players differently which players will start to take advantage of. I understand that star players get treated different to a certain degree but the Farve treatment is on a whole different level. I think this is very clearly the beginning of unrest on the vikings and the reason why they will be a worst team this year. How can you win with a coach that the player's dont respect his authority. They cant which is great for Bears fans!!!
Friday, June 11, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Definitely not Vinny
The bulls have a new coach. His name is Tom Thibodeau. I will take to take to calling him Thbow because he is cooler than tim tebow and his last name is too long. Thbow was the hot coaching candidate of this offseason. He has 30 some years of assistant coaching in basketball, most of it in the NBA. I mean this guy is the anti-Vinny. He doesnt have any head coaching experience but he is known around the nba as a defensive guru and hopefully creative on offense. People know him around the nba and respect him which is more than could be said for Vinny when he came in and probably when he left too. This is a very solid hire and one respected around the league.
I'm happy with the hire because there was no one i really wanted to coach the bulls. There were no big name coaches out there available. No D'Antoi or other proven nba head coaches. Plus unless you have Phil Jackson or someone, in the nba, i dont think a coach makes much of a difference to the players or on the scoreboard. thbow would seem to be a solid coach already who can maybe improve into an elite coach in this league that does make a difference. but still players and talent wins in the nba. thats the bottom line.
so,the big question remains tho: does thbow bring lebron to chicago? The answer is no. i dont think the coach really matters to lebron. i think lebron will go where he thinks he will have the best chance to win a championship. And talent wins championship. If he comes to chicago, its because he believes that the talent of the bulls (rose, noah and crew) can win a championship with him. Thbow wont help bring bron to the bulls and wont stop bron coming either. good start to the offseason, pax and gar. now bring the talent so we can win.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Trade Winds a blowing...
The trib is reporting that the cubs have had talks with the angels about DLee or Nady. The angels have a huge hole at 1B after the Morales disaster (so glad i kept him in my other fantasy league and built my team around him). Both DLee and Nady will be free agents after this year which is exactly the short term solution that the Angels would be looking for at 1b. The question is which one do the cubs trade? The cubs have too many OFs including Nady and he doesnt really take away from their current team. In fact, it might help the team because Colvin could get more playing time. But, the return on Nady is probably minimal. DLee is another story. He has historically gotten hot beginning in June and is a proven slugger in the middle of the lineup. He would bring more in return from the angels as well. But trading DLee would be giving up on this year. The cubs dont have another 1B or more importantly someone who can hit 3rd in their lineup. The fact that DLee is even being discussed is interesting and may signal that the cubs' management thinks this team cant get it done. Watch closely......
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