DBAHO

HELL of a win by the Magic in Utah tonight. Dwight Howard was Dwight Howard, and we continue to get excellent contributions from the likes of Arroyo off the bench. We should win in Portland, and if we can win 1 in Seattle, Los Angeles or Sacramento it'll be +.500 road trip in the West, which is well, extremely, extremely hard for an Eastern Conference team to do nowadays (unless you are real good).

QUOTE(Jimbo @ Nov 28, 2006 -> 03:15 PM) If deal is being discussed it wont happen. Weren't you the one who was saying we were being left behind this off-season cos we weren't doing anything? QUOTE(fathom @ Nov 28, 2006 -> 03:45 PM) A big concern for me with Figgins is that he's terrible against LHP. In our division, that's a pretty big issue with any offensive player that we bring in. Personally I don't think the hitting against LHP is such a huge issue. In 2005, we were better against LHP than against RHP (which was completely the opposite the next season). Of course it comes down to hitters like A.J improving their splits against LHP's. And I would expect someone like Brian Anderson to majorly improve his production against LHP's if he was kept in our lineup for 2007. EDIT: The space bar on my keyboard at work SUCKS.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Nov 28, 2006 -> 12:49 PM) Saunders for Garcia would be an absolutely brutal move by the Sox. You probably know him better than I do Jason. And he did take some lumps at the major league level last season. But he also had some very nice starts, and although I know he doesn't have the greatest stuff, a young lefty that you could control for about 5 season who could putup an ERA around the 4-4.5 mark for you, appeals to me. Of course I'd rather John Danks.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Nov 28, 2006 -> 12:23 PM) At least so far, his fielding numbers at 3rd don't look like anything to write home about. 31 errors in 123 games in A ball in 03, numbers get a little better as he moves up but it's hard to tell what numbers are statistically significant given him bouncing back and forth between different levels and being injured. Well he could be a future DH for us to replace Thome anyways if we acquired him.

QUOTE(southsida86 @ Nov 28, 2006 -> 11:46 AM) Do you honestly think that Crede and Garcia for Figgins and Santana is a fair deal? I don't. Give me those two and one of Wood/Saunders/Aybar/Kendrick and it is a bit lopsided in our favor, Saunders is ready to pitch in a rotation right now, for another 5 to 6 seasons under a team's control. That makes him more valuable than Freddy Garcia. Aybar is not in the class of Saunders, Wood or Kendrick IMHO. Aybar, Santana and Figgins for Crede and Garcia would probably be a fair deal. Adding Saunders to it certainly wouldn't be. Maybe, if you asked for McPherson instead of Saunders, but the Angels would still be giving up a lot there. Also on McPherson, how's his fielding at 3B? We'll need a power LHH to replace Thome in a year or 2, Dallas could certainly fit the bill.

QUOTE(greasywheels121 @ Nov 28, 2006 -> 09:51 AM) Vanderjagt gets the boot, heh. http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2677822 He was missing everything wide right, and Parcells claimed it was in his head. Should have signed Vinatieri instead. We should at least try to draft a kicker in the off-season (a good one around the 4th round). QUOTE(RockRaines @ Nov 28, 2006 -> 09:26 AM) You ARE aware that NE is the second best d in the league right? Colombo is a Bears cast-off, the guy couldnt even make it as a backup for the Bears. Also the Bears have shown they can run it against anyone in the league. That's because Colombo had a bad back. Didn't play in the league at all last season, and has come back rejunvenated and shown why he was a 1st round pick in the 1st place. If you saw the play of Rob Pettiti last season compared to Colombo, it's certainly an upgrade. On the Bears offense, they have been having success, but when it comes to the playoffs they'll be coming up against top notch D's, and I don't know if they can produce the same. You saw against the Panthers last season, the D can be exploited as well with the right matchups e.g if Tillman was matched up on Terry Glenn and Vasher on Owens.

QUOTE(southsida86 @ Nov 28, 2006 -> 11:05 AM) The Angels have to throw in at least Saunders along with Santana and Figgins. That's crazy. I'd take Saunders for Garcia straight up, and Santana is definitely more valuable than Garcia right now. Crede is better than Figgins, but there's no way you're getting 2 very good young pitchers (who you would control for 4-6 seasons) and a potential versatile stud leadoff hitter (if he rebounds), for a veteran SP with 1 year left on his deal, and a 3B with an iffy back.

QUOTE(jackie hayes @ Nov 28, 2006 -> 10:08 AM) Crede's a lot less valued than Tejada, c'mon... Personally I think Tejada is overvalued and Crede is undervalued but that's just me, and I'm sure most baseball people probably wouldn't agree with that sentiment. But Joe will be in line for a Tejada like deal when he hits FA, if he keeps improving offensively.

QUOTE(jackie hayes @ Nov 28, 2006 -> 09:56 AM) You're expecting too much in each trade, imho. Both McPherson and Aybar? No way. I doubt you get even one. If you do (get one), you make that trade immediately. It depends how desperate Arte Moreno and Bill Stoneman are to make a deal here. I'd obviously prefer Aybar over McPherson because he could step in for Uribe after next season. Don't forget that the Halos desperately want to win now, and are willing to give up prospects (except for their elite ones like Wood) to do so. Remember that the Angels offered Santana, Aybar and Kotchman just for Miggy Tejada. Crede is a little less valued than Tejada (although he's better defensively) and the Angels are getting a veteran starter in Freddy Garcia who could easily rebound for them. And Figgins value is down from last season after a sub-parish year.

QUOTE(knightni @ Nov 28, 2006 -> 09:34 AM) Vaz to Texas for Young, Danks.. then Uribe to 3b? If we trade for Figgins to play CF, then the Garland and Anderson for Danks, Hurley and Masset deal could possibly be back on. But you could also not include BA, and just use Figgins at 3B or LF instead. But if we didn't do that, we'd probably still need upgrades at 3B and LF still. McPherson would be a good guy to buy low on (or even Kotchman). How would people feel about a Santana, Figgins, McPherson and Aybar for Crede and Garcia deal? Then after you do the deal above, you have 5 starters and some stud SP prospects.

QUOTE(SoxFan101 @ Nov 28, 2006 -> 04:43 AM) Romo is just as unproven if not moreso than Grossman, WR's ill give them the edge, we have a better OL, we have a better defensive front 7, I guess you give Parcells the nod over Lovie. The Boys OL has been playin very, very well since Romo took over. Julius Jones and Marion Barber are having great years rushing. Marc Colombo has solidified the RT position, and Kyle Kosier's been a good acquisition at LG. From what I saw of the Bears last night, they had problems stopping the rush getting to Grossman, and if you can take away the deep ball to Berrian, they could have problems moving the football (if they can't run it).

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Nov 28, 2006 -> 09:12 AM) Heres something to put in your brain for a second. We complete this deal. We sign Rich Aurilia for the next year or two while fields gets ready for the MLB level. Now are we a better team? Aurilla's got about a $3M (figure round that IIRC) deal for 2 or 3 years from the Giants waiting for him doesn't he? The Giants are waiting until after the arbitration deadline, so the Sox could conceiveably come in with a better offer if they traded Crede. Because I don't want Josh Fields as our 3B in 2007. He's not ready.

Interesting deal. It's almost a wash, but I'd like to get an additional prospect from the Angels included. Someone suggested Erick Aybar, which isn't a bad idea. Don't think the Angels would give up a Nick Adenhart. Who are their other pitching prospects besides Saunders and Adenhart? And then trading Vazquez to the Mets for a package built around Mike Pelfrey sounds pretty good. And the million dollar question is does Chone Figgins play at 3B or LF for you? If it's at 3B, does that mean Ryan Sweeney plays at LF, or do you keep Podsednik? Still a lot of questions to be answered here. That said, I think it's great we can get our hands on Santana, because all he needs is consistency and to pitch better away from home to become a topline starter.

QUOTE(SnB @ Nov 26, 2006 -> 03:32 AM) I'll be interning w/ the kane county cougars over the summer What kind of duties will you be performing (and can you get me a job like that)?

QUOTE(SnB @ Nov 27, 2006 -> 07:43 AM) #1 gift, shave your stache. But not until the end of Mo-Vember (which I am doing BTW). I'll say take her out for a nice dinner somewhere, just so you can spend some quality time with her.

The Killers - This River is Wild Incubus - Rogues Sarah Blasko - Perfect Now Jet - Put your Money where your Mouth Is Pearl Jam - Given to Fly Josh Ritter - Thin Blue Flame Jane's Addiction - Superhero Franz Ferdinand - This Fire Fall Out Boy - Tell that Mick he just made my list of things to do Today The Shins - We will become Silhouettes

QUOTE(greasywheels121 @ Nov 27, 2006 -> 03:08 PM) Joseph Addai is okay, I guess. He's no Marion Barber though. Oh and I'm confident the Boys can beat the Bears now. We might finish up 12-4, since we have 5 very winnable games for the rest of our schedule, although the Bears should certainly hang onto Home Field advantage.

Just 1 thing on Iguchi, the Sox tried to move him down the order in ST last season and he struggled. If they tried to move him into the leadoff spot, and he struggled majorly again, what do you do then?

I'd be looking at prospects like these for Freddy; Carlos Gonzalez (Toolsy OF) - Hit .300/.356/.563 in the CAL league (think that's high A ball). Micah Owings (RHSP) - 6-2, 2.91 ERA, 69/17 K/BB ratio in AA, 10-0, 3.70 ERA, 61/34 K/BB ratio in AAA in the PCL. Ross Ohlendorf (RHSP) - 10-8, 3.29 ERA, 125 / 29 K/BB ratio in AA. Greg Smith (LHSP) - 9-0, 1.63 ERA, 71/31 K/BB ratio in high A, 5-4, 3.90 ERA, 38/23 K/BB ratio in AA. Matt Torra (RHSP who missed time this season with an arm injury, but highly rated) - 0-1, 1.80 ERA with 20/5 K/BB ratio in low A ball I think.

Nice deal by Josh Byrnes here. If Davis rebounds, they majorly win this trade, and Estrada was always going to be traded with Snyder and Montero splitting the duties at catcher. The D-Backs are my major sleeper team next season. Here's what their lineup and rotation looks like; Rotation: Webb - 3.10 ERA Davis - 4.91 ERA Hernandez - 3.76 ERA in 10GS for the D-Backs Cruz - 4.18 ERA Edgar Gonzalez - 4.22 ERA Lineup: Drew - SS Hudson - 2B Quentin - RF Byrnes (if he's re-signed) - CF Tracy - 3B Jackson - 1B LF - (Could be Hairston, Gonzales or a FA) C - Snyder on Montero

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Nov 25, 2006 -> 04:17 PM) What exactly is going to be harder to accomplish? Trading him at the end, or winning? Because even if Ben slides down hill, this team still has a very very solid, young core, almost none of which is at NBA Prime age, or even close to it. TT, Thabo, Kirk, Deng, Duhon, Gordon, whoever we draft this year...we still have a ton of talent that is on its way up and getting better every single year. Hopefully this year's team will turn it around at some point. It'd really be frustrating if it didn't, because BWall should fit in damn well with them. But all is not lost if they don't...this team still has a ton of room for improvement with the guys they already have. The thing is that young core of Deng and Gordon and also Noc (although he ain't young), are gonna have top be re-signed soon. And the Bulls probably won't want to go into Luxury Tax territory.

Here it is;

QUOTE(WHarris1 @ Nov 25, 2006 -> 03:17 PM) Ya if you only judge a game by a box score. Ben Wallace is the least of our problems. He wasn't good tonight but he has been pretty solid this year. Our perimeter defenders are doing an awful job of stopping penetration. If you look at his stats so far, everything is down. Points - 7.3 to 6. Boards - 11.3 to 10.3 FG% - 51% to 43.6% Blocks - 2.2 to 1.7 Here's an article on him; The whole point in acquiring Big Ben was to try and win now. Because in a year or 2, when he gets worse and he gets older, and with that contract, that's going to be harder to accomplish.

Ben Wallace. 19 mins, 0 points, 0 rebounds, 1 assist. I hate to say it, but that contract ain't lookin good for you guys right now.

Well I could see Chone Figgins being an acquisition perhaps, don't think we'll be trading for Crawford or signing a Dave Roberts. When Pods is 100% healthy, he can contribute, unfortunately for the last season and a half that hasn't been the case very much.