Jake

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 13, 2013 -> 07:37 AM) He was a high ceiling guy that had a ton of growth needed. It never happened. He and Sale had some similarities on draft day. Then all the similarities stopped. Very surprising to me that no one could make Poreda a LOOGY at worst, though.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 13, 2013 -> 09:37 AM) If it really bothered Derrick, he'd threaten to cut Reggie's ass off, and we wouldn't hear from him again. Well we haven't heard from him. With that said, I'm sure Derrick loves and trusts his brother and probably doesn't have as much leverage as you would think since he is probably unwilling to actually cut off his own flesh and blood.

If Reggie was repeatedly going rogue and pissing Derrick off, Derrick would say he's entitled to his opinion and speaks for himself. If Derrick was having Reggie be his Obama-style anger translator, he'd say Reggie is entitled to his opinion and speak for himself. We don't learn anything on that topic from what Derrick says.

QUOTE (Boogua @ Mar 12, 2013 -> 10:04 PM) Well, we both use PFF so we know that Bushrod was still an overall positive player (higher rating than long and Webb, but a bad year in pass pro). The potential is there though. He also gave up a combined 4 hurries and 2 sacks in the games against SF and GB. I would have rather gotten loadholt, Winston, or smith, but I'm really not as unhappy with the signing as you. It really clearly upgrades the offensive line. It's just the money. I think our line has to be better with him in it, but he becomes one of our highest paid players. The fact that Kromer is here seems to make it more likely that it is hubris than good scouting...but I like Emery and I don't expect him to really f*** things up. I'm willing to be wrong, but I'll say he wouldn't have been my target for that dollar amount.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Mar 12, 2013 -> 07:02 AM) how f***ing awful is this magician movie gonna be? http://articles.latimes.com/2012/aug/11/en...-films-20120811 This article seems to explain this phenomenon. Our taste has gone against the star-powered comedy. Anchorman 2 will be an ultimate test of this idea.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 12, 2013 -> 06:22 PM) Link. I can pay by credit? I hope my credit limit will allow a transfer of about $20 trillion...I'll take the heat on this one, America

Yet people say we need WR help and the LT we signed is no good -- still lots of reasons we could not do well Also, this will be Forte's last season in Chicago. Book it.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 12, 2013 -> 07:20 PM) Cuts to come later. According to the site, we were at the cap at the beginning of the day. Look at our player salaries, cap numbers and tell me how you'd make room for both of these hefty new contracts. Now, I hear that we were about 7 under the cap which would make things more manageable -- but then I'm unsure where that website is inaccurate.

There is some chance that by some measure, Carlos Sanchez could produce more per dollar than Alexei. But that's not the question -- we need a certain level of production there and whether it costs $9M is not really very important. Alexei is signed at market value and has outproduced his contract significantly every year until last year (when he matched it) according to fangraphs. The value is of his year-to-year consistency is even harder to quantify. Alexei Ramirez is about our 9th biggest problem offensively and defensively.

Looking at that overthecap website...how can we possibly afford these signings?

Would sure be a buzzkill to get a G in the 1st round, but I won't be able to do too much b****ing. This Bushrod deal is all about $. At a fair price, it makes perfect sense for us. If we paid him like a top tier LT, I think it's terrible. I'd love to see us materialize some more cap room and pursue another FA game changer. EDIT: Deal will average 7M over 5 years, 17 guaranteed. Mehhhh

QUOTE (WHarris1 @ Mar 12, 2013 -> 06:15 PM) Very inconsistent yes, but was very good in 2011. And regardless of what PFF says he's night and day better than Webb, Webb forced the Bears to consistently chip/leave a TE in/run 2 man routes/etc... Kromer has had loads of success as OL coach in NO I'll give him the benefit of the doubt here as long as the price tag isn't outrageous. We almost never have adjusted our offense to help our tackles. QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Mar 12, 2013 -> 06:16 PM) WEbb isn't bad, he isn't great. What this does is allow Webb to go over to RT and as a result we have a RT and LT that are upgrades over the prior year. This. I suppose we are already better off because Carimi is out of the lineup. Though it can be argued that Carimi's play was very adversely affected by his helth -- then again, who is to say he can be healthy?

Bushrod = not very good, wildly inconsistent. Hope we didn't give him much $$ or are planning on ALSO bringing in another T

I'd really like to see us get a high profile lineman, but I have no idea what kind of cash we're working with.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Mar 12, 2013 -> 04:50 PM) This is the scoop Ive been waiting for: "Jake Long extremely interested in signing with Bears, wondering when they will offer, willing to give discount" Technically true! Yeah man, I'll take league minimum if they get me on the pension when I'm done.

OPS is a nice statistic, it helps me predict how many runs the player will be worth. Except it seems to suggest that Alexei wouldn't drive in >70 RBIs every year when he always does just that. There seems to be wide disagreement about whether Sanchez can play SS defensively at all at the MLB level, nor is there agreement that he's even anything better than average at 2B. If he is just a singles hitter (all he's ever been), I'm not about to displace a guy that will always outvalue him on defense alone and has been one of the most consistent and durable players in the game at the position.

So Jake Long and I share a name...should I start trolling the beat writers and announce my signing with the Bears?

QUOTE (Boogua @ Mar 12, 2013 -> 09:29 AM) I just use pro football focus. I wouldn't call the rankings gospel, but the people that do the rankings probably know more than either of us, so it's a decent tool to use. Oh, and Andre Smith wants 9 mil a year at RT and is regarded as one of the best (if not the best) RT in the league, so we don't have to use the grading thing with him too much. PFF looks at every single player on every single play and assigns him a rating based on objective criteria that they have created. May not be perfect, but beats our ability to eyeball.

QUOTE (PlaySumFnJurny @ Mar 12, 2013 -> 11:04 AM) Cool!

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Mar 12, 2013 -> 09:53 AM) So you expect a player turning 37 (Konerko) to do better than last year? You expect a player who's declined 4 straight seasons to do better (Ramirez)? You expect Adam Dunn to do better than 40 jacks hitting .204? Honestly, I don't expect anything out of the lot. I've given up on thinking that age matters for PK. I expect him not to be worthless for half the season and spend virtually the whole season approaching at bats like Juan Pierre. What he might lose to age (get slower?), I think he gains with a fancy new wrist. He'll also be seeing more time at DH this year which would help ameliorate some concerns about his age. Dunn may not drop 40 bombs, though he may since that is something he does far more often than not, but I doubt he has such a low BA/OBP again. At worst, I expect a wash and 40/96 out of your 5 hitter ain't so bad. Alexei Ramirez RBI's by season: 77, 68, 70, 70, 73. Until further notice, I say the drop in peripherals last year was a blip on the map -- for whatever reason, his early season slump lasted almost a month longer than normal. I expect a similar or better season because that's what he always does. There are plenty of reasons the team might not do well, offense included and especially, but there are just as many reasons they may do very well. In the end, we produced ENOUGH but not consistently to win last year. Spread out some of that run scoring into the last two weeks of the season and we look at this completely differently. I'll take my chances with this team and if it doesn't work out I see a ton of ways we can keep improving in the next season or two as well.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Mar 12, 2013 -> 09:15 AM) So you see Alex Rios playing well again, Tyler Flowers matching AJ's 2012 output, Paul Konerko staying healthy, and Adam Dunn hitting 40 jacks? This offense is going to be horrific. Pretty much everything went right last year and they were still painful. I would say not everything went right last year. I would expect upticks in production from Viciedo, Ramirez, Konerko, and possibly Dunn and Beckham as well. Not counting on anything with Gordon, though. 3B will be far better than last year. Rios had a real nice year, but he really didn't drive in very many runs so it would not shock me if he improves in that regard from the 3 spot.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Mar 10, 2013 -> 10:49 PM) Congrats on winning the Big Ten Indiana, you earned the toughest draw in the tourney. Seriously, that sucks for them. QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Mar 11, 2013 -> 07:14 PM) All Big Ten teams: http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/big10/...13AllBigTen.pdf TYLER GRIFFEY WAS ROBBED

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 11, 2013 -> 07:03 PM) Gimenez has been hitting the crap out of the ball so far. Last I saw his average was over .500 QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Mar 11, 2013 -> 07:34 PM) Yep, so we'll have to hope he clears waivers, which I'd say is 50/50. I know some people on this site hate him, but the kid has nasty stuff and would at least be welcome AAA depth. Meant Sanchez, sorry

I'm predicting Gimenez gets cut and they keep Morel as super-utility.

QUOTE (zenryan @ Mar 10, 2013 -> 06:41 PM) I wish I followed the advice of some Vegas "insider" who was doing a betting segment 2 Friday's ago on the radio. He said once the Blackhawks lose, bet against them the following game because he anticipates a big letdown. Edmonton was +200 tonight. Not over yet...