thxfrthmmrs

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 04:00 PM) Gio Gonzalez - supplemental pick of the White Sox in 2004 having a very nice season for the A's. That's about it dating back to Kip Wells and Aaron Rowand in 1998. his numbers prior to this season was beyond terrible. Besides, I was more or less talking about a first round pick position players having success coming from a white sox farm system, gio has gone to the phillies and to the A's before reaching the majors. yes, beckham did have the highest batting average of all the recent sox first rounder last season, but that is his calling card. Fields had 23 hrs in 2007 and became totally irrelevant next season. We may be witnessing the same thing with becks now, and if he doesn't get demoted soon, it's really going to affect his success from now on.

hello brian anderson, joe borchard, josh fields. who was the last Sox first round pick to come through their farm system and have success in the majors? can't think of any recent ones if they don't send beckham down soon, I am afraid we will see his name in that infamous group soon.

lets hope Peavy feels alright after going the distance but you gotta respect the guy, sore shoulder and all, but he goes out and gives everything he's got. You can see while throwing the last few pitches and walking off the mound, his face is grimacing a bit. but i am glad that he's able to finish up what he started.

here is a genius idea for Bud Selig and other baseball people. Since we have the designated hitter, why don't we add the designated fielder as well, where a guy only plays defense and does not take swings. If we can combine Teahen's bat with Vizquel's defense, third base should not be much to concern with.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 5, 2010 -> 03:29 PM) First of all, this thread belongs in the Diamond club. Second of all...this strikes me as totally unusual for a winning team that just opened up a new ballpark. i didn't say this was unusual, but kind of unexpected for such a high attendance rate winning or not, they have sold out most of the home games this season. would say you expected them to have an attendance like this and sell out most of the home games before the season starts?

the minnesota twins, as we are speaking, are 18-9, tied for the third best record in the league, have the best 1-2 punch in the AL, morneau and mauer ,and they are both lefties. they also play in a lefty friendly ball park with a plethora with lefties in the lineup according to ESPN http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance they also happen to have the 3rd best attendance rate in baseball with close 98% full for their 12 home games thus far, and their attendance average of 38,600 really scares me. even the monday and tuesday game with the tigers had attendance over 38,000. i tried to look for their tickets online and most of their home games had already sold out this season. Their tickets are also some of the highest priced this year in baseball. while our attendance is averaging little bit over 23,000 thus far, and has declined each of the past 3 seasons. Now i know the twins have spent over 100 millions themselves to fund their new ballpark, but looking and their tickets sales and their payroll in the recent years, i think it's safe to say that they have moved out of the small market team label? could we see in the coming years that their payroll scorching up to 100 millions while we fall back to 75-80 millions? the twins' management has been known for being able to build a competitive team with a small payroll. just imagine what they can do with a higher payroll. as it stands now, in the next 5-10 years twins will be very, very, very competitive. that is something sox fans should be concerned about.

QUOTE (soxfan-kwman @ May 5, 2010 -> 02:00 PM) he got a couple of walks last night & a nice hit later in the game last night but Beckham is hitting different...Beckham has widened his natural stance & swing. I'm not saying Greg Walker is to blame, but someone should tell him to start with his feet closer together. Watch tonight, he takes a practice cut with his regular swing & then he moves into the batters box with his legs bent & almost pigeon toed. Anyone else notice? his new 3/4th stance when he was doing the practice cuts and the regular swings reminds me of iguchi back in the days. perhaps they both took it from walker?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 3, 2010 -> 11:38 AM) Baseball is a different situation. It's really hard to compare total salary from 1 league to another. Baseball has 2x the number of games that the NBA has, baseball stadiums typically hold 2x the number of people of NBA stadiums, the NBA has a soft cap while MLB has none. One mistaken contract in baseball and you're in trouble, but you can get out of it if the owner is willing to pay more or if you can trade the guy to the Red Sox/Yankees/Cubs. One mistaken contract in basketball, and you've got no options. You try to spend around that contract and you wind up in tax territory. You can't trade that contract for salary relief except in very rare circumstances, and you often have to take on even worse contracts. It's really interesting to see how much a single bad contract does in each league. In the NFL, a single bad contract only really hurts you if you keep playing the guy. The Redskins and Raiders have handed out so much idiotic money it's not funny, but the Redskins look competitive every year and the Raiders might look competitive if Russel wasn't a tool, and then they hand out another large contract the next year. In MLB, a single bad contract can hurt a team, but they can still win with it if they develop guys around it, or they can find ways to dump other salaries around it (see; the Padres, Blue Jays, Pirates). In the NBA, it really is a killer, because that bad max deal eats up 1/3 of your salary. i think you're twisting the truth a bit here. since when do the yankees and the red sox take on players who are busts do not worth the money they make? had the tigers been successful in trading dontrelle willis, jeremy bonderman to them? did the braves trade mike hampton's 20 mil/year contract to them? would the yankees and red sox show any interest in alfonso soriano now for his contract? no. the yankees and red sox trade for productive players who are worth their contract 95% of the time. I am looking at the yankees and red sox roster right now, and i do not see that they have taken on anybody who makes big money and yet at the time the teams got them, they are already busts. the point is, no matter what the sport is, if the player signs a big contract, but turns out to be a bust and is no longer productive, teams aren't going to take them, unless you pay them extra money, give them your top prospect. it's the same in any in any sports, baseball is no exception. i am glad that you brought up jamarcus russel, the guy has done like 1% of what david lee did in the nba, and yet he already got 40 million in guaranteed money, and guess what? he sucked ass. there was a great article about him this weekend on ESPN of how the raider fans hated him by burning his jersey, creating hate groups on facebook, blogs, whatever, because he absolute stole money from the raiders!! do you see that in the nba? oh and by the way, he makes 1/10th of the teams salary cap, and the team still have to pay 52 other players, now isn't that more screwed up. you see big moneys thrown around more loosely in other sports, such as baseball and football, and teams always have to take repercussion for it. there is no way out. but u see money is thrown around more easily in baseball and football, so i am not sure why you call basketball screw up. baseball and football pays players for their potential, where a first round draft pick like stratsburg demands a certain amount of money, a unknown guys like viceido gets 10 million and haven't been to the U.S. yet, a guy like jeremy bonderman gets huge contract after one decent year because the teams thought he is finally scratching the surface of his potential. in the nfl, what happens if russels doesn't help the raiders out, and they end up having the 3rd overall pick next draft and have to pay another 40 million guaranteed to a rookie? that is 80 million guaranteed right there. but the NBA rarely pays for potential alone, but they pay for performance. a guy like kawame brown was the first overall pick, or darko a second overall pick, they didn't make much money their first couples years in the league, when he is a proven bust, people won't pay them. now i come to think of it, the nba salary system is actually pretty fair.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 3, 2010 -> 10:22 AM) Which says more about how screwed up the NBA's current system is than it does about either player. that's why he is not getting a max contract at 16 million a year maybe he would get a 5 year 55-60 million contract at least he is an all star, if you want to talk about screw up, then look at pitchers in mlb, like Jeremy Bonderman and Kris Benson, guys are not even all stars, but get 10-12 million a year. or look at nfl rookies, guys haven't even taken a snap but gets a 60 million contract and 40 million guaranteed. if you want to talk about screw sports. the nba is not on top of the list

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 2, 2010 -> 05:35 PM) 1) Beckham has proven he can successfully adapt and transition defensively to 2B (his third position in a year), and only needs a few more weeks to get things straightened out mentally. If he's still struggling at the end of May, we can always send him to Charlotte and we have capable replacements in Nix and Vizquel to hold down the fort in the meantime. 2) Sergio Santos...watching him well up in THE CLUB preview is perhaps the coolest thing to happen this year, along with #5 and #8 on this list. 3) Alex Rios is the player who we're no longer worrying about carrying that long-term contract anymore. 4) Andruw Jones has been better than anyone could ever have expected in his role. 5) John Danks has become one of the two three lefty starters in baseball. 6) Matt Thornton, despite his occasional glitches, has been one of the top 2-3 lefty set-up guys in baseball, and would fetch us as much as any player on this team at the moment if KW placed him on the market. 7) Bobby Jenks has gotten the job done, just look at his Saves/SO stat, the back of his TOPPS baseball card begins and ends there. 8) Paul Konerko is the AL Offensive Player of the Month, giving KW flexibility to trade him if necessary in order to clear salary space. Even if traded, there's a better than 50/50 chance KW could bring him back to the White Sox for a 2-3 year extension if they decided Viciedo wasn't ready to go at season's end. 9) Pena and Putz have acquitted themselves well, and Putz will only get better (as he builds his fastball and splitter back up to previous "closer form" each day removed from surgery). Along with Andruw Jones and Konerko, Putz will be among the most sought-after pitchers on our roster due to KW's insightful contract. Pena's making the minor league guys forget about Brandon Allen. 10) We have immediate, impactful prospects at the AA/AAA level in D2, Flowers (murdering the ball), Viciedo, Hudson, Santeliz, Shelby and CJ Retherford. 11) Trayce Thompson has a better than 50/50 chance of becoming one of the Top 20 prospects in baseball, and a dominant offensive force that you build an organization around, to go along with Beckham, Danks and Quentin as franchise centerpieces. 12) Biting the bullet and trading Buehrle to the Cardinals nets us a boatload of prospects....and they'll be willing to pay a "premium" to acquire him. 13) We stayed afloat on this road trip and can start to do some damage in the standings to the Twins'/Tigers' hot starts with a good 5-2 or 6-1 streak, led by the starting pitching all winning and each performance building on the previous one like in 2005 and 2008. They're simply too talented to not get it figured out for at least a 2-3 month stretch in a season. Just like the 2001 team that started 14-29 only to get to 8 games over .500, or the 1983 team that stumbled to 16-24 and ended up winning the division going away, by 30 games. Shall I go on? some interesting points, but i strongly disagree with you on number 5 and 10. danks had a great april, but so did 11 other pitchers, he is only 12 in the ERA list, look at guys like zito, fister, silva, livan hernandez, cj wilson, jamie garcia, do you call them cy young candidates? if he has 16 wins, and a sub 3.00 ERA in september, then it's debatable whether he is a top 5 lefty starter. i can think of guys like lester, sabathia, santana, cliff lee, and even a renewed liriano off the top of my head as better lefties than danks most of the prospects we have down in AAA/AA are not ready, even D2, flowers, viciedo, just look at their K/AB, those are josh fields numbers in the majors, and i do not want to see 3 josh fields on the team right now. our team is the worse contact team in the league, and we do not need to rush guys up who will strike out twice every game. PK, danks, and jones has been sensational thus far, but expect them to come back to earth the next month or two. the only trends i see that could continue are Santos being a dominant reliever, and Rios continues to hit. Santos has really great stuff, reminds me of a young Bobby jenks or a poor man's jonathan broxton. If he continues to do well in the 7th or 8th inning, expect the Sox to trade jenks away at the deadline to avoid arbitration next year and put him or putz at closer spot. one thing that bothers me and hasn't really receive enough attention is buehrle's struggle. he has really gone down hill since the opening day, recording one 1 QS since, and opponents are just teeing off him like it's T ball. if not for that great opening day start, his ERA would be topping 6.00 now. Going back to last season, you can see his struggles really started after the perfect game, and he struggled to finish the season, and the trend continues now. perhaps the hitters are finally figuring out how to hit his soft stuff after all these year? i mean not even the cardinals would be into him now for that money and the mighty struggles.

QUOTE (knightni @ May 2, 2010 -> 06:07 PM) I think you're overvaluing the Bulls versus lower level teams. The Knicks only lost 12 more than the Bulls this year. Outside of Rose and maybe Noah, there's nothing that screams "Championship" about the Bulls that would make a free agent player accept a pay cut to join them. Sure, they could win 10 more games and get deeper into the playoffs maybe, but it's going to take more than Nowitzki, Boozer, or Lee to get anything more than that. They'd need a scoring threat from the guard position AND a power rebounder both to even sniff the Eastern Conference Finals. There's no way that Nowitzki leaves Dallas to #1 take a pay cut or #2 be part of a rebuild job. He'll want to go to a team that has more of a veteran presence where he can win it all sooner, rather than later. If the Bulls get Wade or LeBron PLUS one of Boozer/Bosh/A'mare, they can get there. Anyone less, doubtful. dude, knightni, i am in shock, i do not even know how to respond to that. how can you compare the bulls to the knicks talent. the best players suiting up for them is toney douglass and eddy curry? while we have d rose, noah, and deng? there is no guarantee that lebron would go to new york, and if he doesn't, no one in their right mind would go there to win a championship, and even if he does, the knicks were interested in pairing up lebron with bosh or dwade. miami could be a possible destination, but the bulls and heat has about the same record the past two years, and rose and noah is getting better, wade is in his prime, we have noah and gibson to take defensive assignments from dirk, the heat has beasley? and the pat riley has rumored to deal for boozer and amare before the trade deadline, and i assume they are more interested in them. the bulls, knicks, and heat are the only ones who can throw out big money and still offer a competitive team, given that knicks does sign lebron and heats keep wade. so am I making an overstatement to say the bulls are one of dirk's top choice if he opts out? and keep in mind, dirk is 31, he can still make a lot of money, you can't expect him to take a $10 mil pay cut to sign with a team like lakers, jazz, or nuggets for $8 million who are already true contenders. it's realistic to expect him to get a $18 mil contract if he wants to sign here. and i am not sure where you were during the bulls playoff run. derrick rose is still improving his perimeter game, yet he can already average 28 ppg against the Lebrons, noah avgs like 15 rpg, and gibson can easily get 7-8 rebounds, and we still need more scoring from the guard position, and rebounding from big men. if we do sign a big name free agent, we wont be stop there, we can still get a decent scoring guard for the right price. p.s. i was at game 3 at UC, the MVP chants were rose was pretty loud and sweet, that might be an overstatement right now, but ESPN already has him, along with durant and wade as challengers to lebron's reign next year.

QUOTE (knightni @ May 2, 2010 -> 05:45 PM) I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but rebounding is a skill that is primarily affected by who you play against, not what team you play for. This is why Rodman could rebound, not because he was on a good or bad team, but because his technique was better than anyone else's. Rodman was on the same team as David Robinson - a top rebounder himself - yet he out-rebounded him. He also out rebounded Rick Mahorn with the Pistons and anyone on the Bulls when he was in Chicago. Troy Murphy gets double-doubles with Danny Granger in Indiana, the same way he did with the guys in Golden State. David Lee and Carlos Boozer can get similar levels of rebounds and points with any team in the league just by playing the same way they always do. Ten to 12 rebounds and 12-15 points in garbage scoring is available to any big player with good technique that will put in the work on the court. i was not talking about his rebounding, i know that he is one of the top rebounders in the league. i was talking about his passing and scoring. he does not have a great post game, though he has developed a 18-20 foot jumper this season, and gets alot of baskets from offensive putbacks, ala noah. if he was to play for any team other than the knicks, he would not get 21-11-4 per game, i see more of a 14-9-2.5 for the bulls. he is not a true low post scorer like boozer, and if you are talking about defense, he might actually make boozer look like a dennis rodman. the bulls do not need a big man who has no post game, and get 12-14 points from garbage baskets, they already have noah, and to some extent taj gibson, boozer is the true low post scorer they are looking for.

QUOTE (WilliamTell @ May 2, 2010 -> 05:29 PM) I don't think Nowtizki leaves Dallas this offseason. Who's going to turn down 21 million if he's not getting 21 million from someone else? he has made plenty of $$ over his career, he is at the stage where he wants to win, and he wants to be at a place where he can have the best chance to win, yet still pays him a decent amount of money, dallas has proven not to be that place, and the bulls is one of the few teams that fits the bill. you can plenty of veterans taking a pay cut just to be on a championship caliber team, and with dirk, the bulls would be one. there is a chance he stays put, but according to his post game interview, he is really giving a though about leaving dallas.

QUOTE (knightni @ May 2, 2010 -> 05:25 PM) So, you'd be happy with 20 and 8 from a 35-36 year old guy making 20 mil a year and taking up cap space that could keep the Bulls from extending Noah and/or Rose? He'll be 32 this summer and 37 at the end of a 5 year deal. i am just speculating on his contract, he will probably get 18-20 mil a year the first year, with declining salary each salary, to like 15 mil a year in the final year. Why would the celtics take on garnett's contract for 15 mil a year for 14 and 8? and 15 mil for paul pierce for 18 and 4? if they play individually, they can get way better numbers, but they are surrounded by talents in which they dont have to do it all, but can get it done when call upon. as a bull, dirk would play with a perennial 22 ppg pg in rose, and 12 rpg center in noah, so he doesn't need to put up big numbers, in fact, anybody's number would be reduced if they are paired up with great players, look at kobe himself and kobe with shaq or gasol. plus, he fits the bill for what the bulls are looking for, so what is not to like about him?

but lee plays for the knicks, the east coast version of the warriors, it not hard to put up big numbers for them, look at monte ellis or al harrington for example. boozer may suck as D against a bynum or gasol, but that's because the jazz center is okur, who is equally as awful on defense, if boozer comes to the bulls, he doesn't need to take on the toughest big man assignment, we got noah and taj who are very solid big men defender in their own rite. reduced defensive assignment can also increase his offensive efficiency. this is a guy who shoots 52-53% regularly in his career, the bulls need a player who can get easy baskets, what is not to like about boozer.

QUOTE (knightni @ May 2, 2010 -> 04:59 PM) Productive, possibly. All-Star salary level? No. If he goes to free agency, some team is going to be on the hook for a 5 year deal worth so much that Hinrich and Deng will look like steals. If he's even averaging 20 points a game when he enters the 4th year of his deal, I'd be surprised. what would change if he is 34 years old? he is still 7 footer who plays the perimeter, a matchup nightmare for most teams, he can still shoot 90% from the foul line and 40% from threes, his game does not require him to outquick anybody, but use a variety of moves and pump fakes to get his shot off. look at his pal steve nash at age 36 still flying high with phoenix, larry bird still averages 20 and 10 at age 36, those are the types of player that ages well. if the bulls indeed gets dirk, all we need from him is 20 and 8 a night, hit some threes and get to the foul line. think about it, if the bulls had dirk in this playoffs, the cavs can not afford double rose and leave dirk open at the perimeter, or have no one to box out noah in the paint who eats the glass like a cookie monster, their only option is to run lebron at rose all game, which would definitely fatigue him and affect his efficiency on the offensive end. if dirk opts out this summer, he is the first player i will call up this summer if i were paxson, forget the wade, bosh (maybe not bron), and joe johnson is the second player i am after. give me dirk, and a player like matt barnes or martell webster who has the length and size to bang with lebron and can also shoot from distance, i really like our chances of knocking the cavs off in the playoffs.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 2, 2010 -> 04:36 PM) Here's my biggest worry with everyone other than Bosh, Lebron, and maybe maybe Wade (although he's already taken a beating) or Amare... "The team might not win championships immediately" If you sign Nowitzki, Boozer, the soon to be 29 year old Joe Johnson...then if your team doesn't win championships immediately...how long until they're on the road down hill? It's a couple years before Rose, Noah, Gibson are approaching/at "Peak Age" in the 25-27 range. Ditto Deng, who we're flat-out stuck with for now. by immediately i meant not immediately next year, but perhaps the season after the next. it takes time to develop chemistry, unless your the boston celtics. and rose and noah still needs a year to mature. dirk is a player whose skill set ages well, same goes for a shooter like JJ. because he relies on finesse not athleticism, there is no reason that dirk, noah, rose and deng can not win in 2012. but wade on the other hand turns 29 next season, relies much on athleticism and is and injury waiting to happen. so if i am the bulls, wade would not be my primary target, because he doesn't not fit in better than JJ or dirk does, and i wouldn't be discouraged at all if he stays put.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 2, 2010 -> 04:15 PM) If I added Duncan, Jordan, Shaq, and Hakeem to that list, from their primes...and then Isiah, Bird, Magic, and Dr. J, I think the only counter-example you can give me from the last 30 years...where a team won a title without a guy who legitimately should have been paid a max deal and more, without a guy you could consider in the top 10 in the league, is the 2004 Pistons. hat is not the point. I am just referring to your previous post that teams should not spend big money on second or even third options. i am not saying that teams don't need superstars to win, but superstars can't do it themselves, jordan needed pippen, duncan first won in 1999 when david robinson still makes tons of money, shaq had kobe then wade, bird had a great core around him, and you need to pay for for those players. of course d rose and lebron together will win a couple of titles, but if lebron is not available, then should the bulls really stop pursuing other players like you said because they can't win on their own, like JJ, amare, boozer, dirk? no. you still take your chance with a guy like JJ because he is a great player, perennial all star, he doesn't need to be a superstar, derrick rose is the face of the franchise. a team of rose, noah, and dirk or joe johnson will help the bull make a deep run every year. there is nothing wrong with paying JJ $15 mil a year and dirk $18-20 mil a year.

QUOTE (Palehosefan @ May 2, 2010 -> 03:50 PM) I don't know if you are talking about Stockton-Malone, or Payton-Malone joining the Lakers during their final days. If you are talking about Stockton-Malone, Michael Jordan was the only reason that Stockton-Malone didn't have mutiple championships. i was referring to payton and malone and the fact that couldn't do it on their own and and joining the lakers in 04 to get the rings. and yes, jordan was the reason why they didn't win anything, but their success can be attributed to the help of sidekicks, john stockton and shawn kemp, who are great second option players, and good investment for the money balta was arguing that teams should not overpay for second or third option players to put their teams over the luxury tax threshold. but superstars can't win on their own, that's why kobe needs gasol, pierce needed kg and ray, who all makes tons of money. there is nothing wrong with paying $14-$16 mil to joe johnson, boozer, and amare, and $20 mil to dirk, because they are worth it. what do you think upsets the fans more, the owner being cheap with the money and not willing invest in big name free agents, resulting in .500 teams every season, or the team sign a big name free agent or two, but the team might not win championships immediately, yet makes them a threat to do so every year. the bulls had sold out every game in the past couple of years, it would really upset the fans if JR is unwilling to go after anyone after lebron, wade and bosh gets signed.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 2, 2010 -> 02:16 PM) What winds up happening is...the teams which don't land a top level guy wind up giving big contracts to the next 2 levels down. Then...you wind up in the ultimate crap scenario, which is where so many NBA teams have spent time...as somewhere between poor and good teams, but with salaries so high that they can't afford to add another piece. lebron, wade, bosh don't win championship every season. there is only one of each of them in the league. teams has won in the past without those players, but with a solid core of players. so why only target lebron, wade and bosh, and if they are gone, then don't sign the so call "second tier players". there is a risk that a team signs lebron, wade or bosh will not win too. it all depends on fit and chemistry. i guarantee you wade will not put the bulls over the top. you can compare wade and bosh to payton and malone because supposedly they are the top level, but having payton and malone didn't help their team win either.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 2, 2010 -> 02:16 PM) There is a level of talent in the NBA where, if the guy gets a max contract, he's not a liability under any circumstances. James, Wade, Bosh, Bryant, Rose, Durant, Anthony, Howard, Williams, Paul if he's healthy, probably a handful of others. Then, there's a tier of guys who aren't liabilities...if your owner is willing to go way over the Tax to pay for them. They can't carry a team on their own, but if you give them a max deal, the only way they kill you is if you won't go over the Tax. Gasol, Nowitzki, I'd put Amare, Johnson at this level, and a lot of others. Then, there's a tier of guys who are solid players, but if you give them a big deal, even if you're way over the tax, you're happy to move them. You know a lot of these guys. Gordon, Deng, Hinrich...these are great examples. Here's the biggest problem. If you sign any of the top tier guys to a max contract, you've probably underpaid per win. But there are 30 teams in the NBA competing for 10 guys, and each team can afford 2-3 max contracts without hitting the cap level. What winds up happening is...the teams which don't land a top level guy wind up giving big contracts to the next 2 levels down. Then...you wind up in the ultimate crap scenario, which is where so many NBA teams have spent time...as somewhere between poor and good teams, but with salaries so high that they can't afford to add another piece. It's those 2nd and 3rd tier players that are killing NBA owners right now. Teams can't commit to fully rebuilding without having the stadium empty and revenue disappear, so if they have cap space, they feel compelled to use it. On the other hand...if they're going out and signing a guy who can't on his own put them over the top, they're almost always overpaying these days, and that's how a team winds up in trouble. there is no formula or statistics to prove your point. of all the guys you mentioned who are second tiers who can't win on their own, gasol won a championship with kobe, dirk has reach the playoffs 10 years in a row, been to the finals, and he was the best player on every of those teams. Amare and JJ are regular playoff participants. maybe they are a derrick rose and joakim noah away from winning a championship? Meanwhile, of the guys you mentioned who are "no liabilities," melo has never done well in the playoffs, dwill been to conference finals once, bosh only been to playoffs once, CP3's team had been mediocre the past two years. there is no clear line drawn that states this guy is worth signing because he will win you the title while this guy is not. No single player is talented enough to win a championship on their own, not even the great lebron james, or kobe bryant, that's why they need shaq, jamision, gasol, who are great second options and are well deserved of the money they make. even jordan needed a sidekick to win 6 titles. great examples are celtics and pistons. KG, ray allen, PP has not done well in the playoffs on their own, and prior to their tenure with the C's, KG had terrible success in the post season, and coming off a injury plagued season, ray hasn't done well either, and pierce is coming off a season in which he played only half of it, i assume they could be deemed as liabilities too due to their injuries, and not being about to carry a team on his own, yet they all make $14-16 million a year. if you put all of them together, they final got their rings. Now i know you would say KG is a liability to his team because he had been bother by knee troubles last two years, but to be fair, he had played 14-15 season already, a lot of mileage on his legs, but that is not the case for JJ, lee, boozer, amare, and even dirk. the piston's run a couple years ago were full of second and third tier players who has proven they can't do anything on their own, yet billups, sheed, rip, and big ben all make around $12 million. Yet they find a right chemistry to win. Point is, you do not need a player who can "carry a team on his own" to win. There is nothing wrong in paying big money to them if you feel they are the right players. If you say that "guys are killing the NBA because they make big money and can't carry a team on his own", then you are mistaken my friend. Look at the great Karl Malone and Gary Payton, they are 2 of the top 50 players in the history of the league, yet at the end of their career, they joined the Lakers in hopes of winning a championship. would you say they were overpaid and they killed the league because they can't carry a team on their own? i dont think so. what about KG, pierce, and allen? the pistons core? they all deserved their salary even if they proved in the past they can't win on their own. sure there are guys like T-mac, marbury, francis, allan houston, who made big money, and hasn't done a crap for their team, but how do you distinguish them from the likes of gasol, jamsion, billlups, shaq, JJ, kg, ray allen, etc who has proven they can win with the right players around them? Their is a great disparity, however, between the aforementioned players and guys like gordon and charlie V. there is a big difference in paying $10-12 million to those players who are not even all stars and their games is full of flaws, and paying $14-$16 to JJ, amare, and boozer. all in all, my point is there is little disparity between the so call players who aren't liabilities and can win on their own and the players who earn big money and can't win on their own. no player is good enough to win on their own. that's why teams target big names in the free agent market or in trades in hopes of pairing up the right players to win a championship. The bulls should not be hesitant to go after players this off season, but they are not complete, and the players available are proven allstars, not in the same level of ben gordon or charlie V. there is definitely a risk pertained to it, but so is anything in sport, even if you have lebron or kobe on your team, you are not guaranteed to win. but you never know if the bulls are indeed a bosh, a dirk , amare, or a joe johnson away from winning a championship.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 2, 2010 -> 12:56 PM) There's still a possible issue even if you're wrong. The Bulls have landed a "big name Free Agent" when they've had the money to offer a max deal before. But not every big name free agent winds up being worth their money. Assuming Wade stays healthy, Lebron, Wade, and Bosh are almost certain to be worth their contract. But if you whiff on those 3...then you wind up giving a ton of money to what is likely going to be a 2nd tier guy because you're out of a job if you don't land a free agent addition. So, you dump a $16 million deal on Amare and he spends 1/2 of the deal hurt. Ditto Boozer. Or Joe Johnson, and he's decent but in general overpaid for the production you get out of him. What happens? Your team is suddenly up against the luxury tax once it has to sign Noah next year, and JR looks and sees a team that isn't good enough to get past the #4 spot in the East so why should he go into tax territory? Great example of this effect is the Pistons last year. They had money to spend so they signed 2 of the better FA's on the market to big deals. Both deals looked awful at the time and look worse now. even if i am right or even if i am wrong? I am just saying the bulls will for sure sign a big name free agent, whether it be the big 3, or other players like boozers, JJ, amare, dirk if he opts out. In any off season other than this one, those four players can easily be the best players available, and there are other solid second tier players available like lee, ray allen, and shaq. all i am saying is the bulls are not guaranteed to sign either one of the big 3, but they would for sure sign one or two of the other big names available, and/or another solid second tier players or some solid role players. btw, i disagree with you on Joe Johnson. if you talk to scouts and GMs around the league, and ask them to name 2 most underrated players in the league, i am sure JJ would be mentioned 95% of the time. the guy just does not get enough credit for what he does, probably because he plays for a small market team. the guy can handle, shoot at a high percentage, score, pass, solid defender at the 2 guard, and is quick enough to guard the point as well. he would fit in nicely with the bulls in that the bulls need a big 2 guard, need someone who can shoot and defend, and take the scoring load away from d rose, and a guy who doesn't need the ball in his hand all the time to play well. I would say after dirk, bosh, and lebron, he is the best fit player for the bulls, even better than wade, because wade and rose are similar players, both need the ball in their hands most of the time to play well, wade is not the threat from the perimeter like JJ is. i would not complain at all if the bulls end up signing JJ and boozer or david lee. injuries can happen to anyone in the league. the big name players the bulls are after are not particularly injury prones. it's not like the bulls are going after T-mac, yao ming, michael redd, or kenyon martin who can only stay healthy for half a season. oh yea, boozer played 78 games, amare play 82 games, wade played 77, so i am sure the bulls or any other team would not shy away from going after them despite their injuries a couple years ago. lastly, i dont know if you can justify a comparison of the pistons situation last season with the bulls situation this season. the pistons had money to spend last year, but the free agent class was so weak, they end up paying for two 1 dimensional players who are shot happy and do not fit in well their defensive mindset. they made some very bad moves last year, but you can't compare Charlie V and ben gordon to david lee and joe johnson. This free agent class is much better than last year's. I can't remember who the best free agent available was last off season, but whoever that was, he was wise enough not to sign with the pistons knowing they were only a shell of their past glories, with couple of players whose best days are behind them, and the rest are underachievers. but the bulls are a very young and up and coming team, with a future superstar point guard and a future all star center. if i was the pistons, i would be wise enough to know that they were in rebuilding mode and trade rip hamilton and prince for young players or draft picks, develop them, and make a run at the free agent class this summer.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ May 2, 2010 -> 01:04 AM) Doesn't Jack basically give you what Kirk Hinrich gives you though (for about $4M less also)? Jack - 11.4PPG, 5 ASS's, 48% FG%, 2 TO's. Hinrich - 10.9PPG, 4.5 ASS's, 40.9% FG%, 1.5 TO's. If I'm Colangelo, if Bosh goes to Chicago and they do a sign and trade, I'd ask for Deng instead of Hinrich. Yes they already have Hedo, but they could move him back to a 6th man, or move to him to PF and Bargnani to C. Deng gets criticized on here like Juan Pierre hitting leadoff, but he's a 25 year old player who still probably hasn't hit his best, and he's a scorer. I don't think Wade is going to leave Miami this off-season, and I think Amare or Bosh ends up joining him in Miami for sure. And instead of using their cap savings in Deng or Hinrich in that scenario, Pat Riley may decide to just keep his cap space for 2011, put another season into Beasley to see if he improves and try to get another superstar to replace Wade. Adding Deng or Hinrich to that team doesn't turn them into a contender. They may as well rebuild. if i was Colangelo, i would take kirk over jack in a heartbeat despite a $4 million salary difference. You can see kirk was an above average point guard before rose arrived, and being a point guard most of his career, he had trouble adjusting to the 2 guard position. if kirk was to be traded to the raptors, i can see him starting with derozan, with calderon coming off the bench (he is too much of a defensive liability, more suitable as a 6th man), and shift him to the 2 guard position when calderon comes in. plus, he is a much better defender than jack, can defend both guard positions well, and that is what the raptors are lacking. I can see kirk geting 15 and 6 per game nightly, while shooting 40% from behind the arc for them. Jack is really a bench player for even a bad team, and kirk has proven he can play at a high level before. P.S. depends on if the bulls had already sign a big name free agent, i.e. JJ or wade, they wouldn't have cap space to take on bosh, so a trade of deng would require hinrich in the deal also, just to match the salary. and you mentioned deng's fit with the raptors, and i believe he fits in quite well with the raptors if they lose bosh. the raptors are full of white players with no athleticism, i.e bargnani, turk, calderon, nesterovic. if they get deng, he could be a poor man's shawn marion for colangelo, running the floor well, and rebounding well for a small or power forward. i really see a deal of deng and hinrich for bosh working well for both teams if bosh wants to come to chicago. as for wade, i agree with you, he's probably not leaving miami. but if he does, i can't imagine anyone wanting to go there since lebron won't be there for sure, and their best player is michael beasley. hinrich probably don't fit them as much as he fits toronto (and cp3 is available next summer), but deng and a 1st rounder and perhaps a three way trade including kirk to another team for a couple of young players or expiring contracts to the heat is a pretty good return for wade if he wants to come here. These are all speculations on my part. there are thousands of possibilities that could take place this summer. the point is, if the bulls can get rid of either deng or hinrich, preferably hinrich, and get a big man like dirk or bosh, and/or wade, and add a couple of nice pieces with the MLE, i really like our chances going into next year. one thing is for sure, THE BULLS WILL ADD A BIG NAME FREE AGENT THIS SUMMER. the organization basically wasted this season by not resigning Gordon and trading away salmons mid season to make a run at a big name player this off season, if Paxon and Forman fails to come away with a big name, it would really upset the fans and Jerry Reinsdorf and would really guarantee them a one way ticket out of Chicago, and most importantly, it would be humiliating to the great city of Chicago. so expect a great player to team up with Noah and Rose next season, and there is definitely something to be excited about this summer.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ May 1, 2010 -> 11:24 PM) Out of those that you've mentioned, I think Fernandez is the one they'd move, because he's complaining that he should be a starter, Webster is quite happy to be a role player for them. I just don't see the Bulls being able to move Hinrich because; 1 - They'll want value for him, as they have shown that they won't deal him for expiring contracts. 2 - There are a lot better or even comparable players to Hinrich that you can just sign in FA (for the MLE for teams over the cap also). The Raptors already have Calderon and Jack at the PG spots, so can't see them having any interest in Hinrich. Dallas should give the keys to Beaubois from next season onwards. again, i am just throwing out examples, dallas might not be a suitable team for either deng or jj and kirk, but i disagree with you on the raptors. Calderon has fallen out of favor in toronto this season, much of it due to his terrible defense, and jack is not an option to start for the long term. With kirk, you get a versatile pg/sg who can check either guard position for them, i bet their goal heading toward this offseason is to look for a defensive specialist, especially at the guard position while kirk is a bit more expensive, he fits the bill perfectly for them. a backcourt trio calderon, kirk, and derozan would be more ideal than jack, calderon and derozan. i can see them trading jack away if the trade for kirk does take place. think about it, if bosh says he wants to play for chicago (could be his top preference along with miami or okc), and he wants max money, toronto has no chance to keep him and the only way is to do a sign and trade, since they don't want to lose him for nothing, and lets be honest, no free agent player would want to sign with them, and they have no cap space, so they would look to recover as many pieces and value as they could. another potential trade partner for deng and hinrich is miami, IF wade chooses to leave miami. who has no depth whatsoever at small forward and point guard, and can use players like deng and hinrich. If wade wants to leave miami, i have a hard time imagining two superstars, lets say joe johnson and amare wants to sign with them, i would say they only have chance to sign one good player like amare, boozer, or lee. doing a sign and trade of wade for kirk and deng is ideal for them, since deng is easily the second most talented SF they can get this summer besides lebron, and it doesn't hurt to have kirk if they can't get a point guard this summer. a trio of amare, deng and kirk plus another 8-10 million salary guy is a pretty good return for them this summer IF they failed to resign wade.

dont think so, according to fangraph, his fast ball averages a tick below 92 mph this season, however i do remember his fastball topping out at 94 mph when he was in his second year with the sox. on a second thought, jenks fast ball has be topping 95, 96 consistently this year, if the reading is correct for jenks, it couldn't go wrong for logan.