The Cubbies struck out with Rafael Furcal, who got a phat deal to go to L.A., but fans will be pleased to learn Juan Pierre will be our new lead-off hitter. He’s 27, got wheels, an ok arm, but most importantly, he can get on base ahead of the big bats of Aramis Ramirez and Derrek Lee. I always remember Pierre in my nightmares from the 2003 NLCS, now, hopefully, he’ll wreak havoc on the Cards, Astros, and Brewers. Juan Pierre will get $3.7 mil this year, and is arbitration-elgible next year, meaning he’ll probably get more expensive and is not a long-term centerfielder solution (let’s not get into the Corey Patterson enigma). But, he is a great addition for now.Chicago Bears—started the season 1-3, but have gone on a tear the last two months and have won eight game in a row. The Bears defense is the best in the NFL, terrorizing opposing offenses with swarming, bruising plays. Their offense is suspect, but this season it seems all the Bears need is four field goals and the defensive unit will take care of the rest. Two tough games are approaching, with da Bears going into Pittsburgh on Sunday, then facing Atlanta in the Chi next. One thing is clear, no one wants to play against this scary defense, especially at home in the playoffs. They are chasing Seattle who has the best record in the NFC at 10-2.
On the other hand, we have the Chicago Bulls, whose defense has definitely slipped this year. They are allowing almost 97 points per game, and thus, without a high-powered offense to counter, are 8-8 so far. Compounding their troubles is the strength of the Central Division, with the Pistons and Pacers, who are annually Eastern Conference contenders, along with the much-improved Milwaukee Bucks and Cleveland Cavaliers. Captain Kirk Hinrich just got a concussion Monday night, so it may get worse before it gets better…
The (AP #11, Coaches #10) Illini have been tearing it up so far, but have not faced a quality opponent yet and will not until January 5th, when #14 Michigan State comes to Assembly. Two days later, the Illini go on the road to see #13 Iowa State. These two games will gauge how good the Illini are without D Will, Luther, and Roger.
17 comments:
great round-up. here are my two cents:
cubs -- pierre deal is great. he'll work well in the cubs line-up. i think next year will be a great race with the Cards-Cubs-Brewers in the Central (expected Clemens to retire).
bears -- their defense is unbelievably good, their offense just as unbelievably bad. if they can get home-field in the playoffs, i don't see a team that can beat them in cold weather against that defense. they'd lose if they had to go to Seattle.
bulls -- Central division is deepest in basketball. all five could make the playoffs.
illini -- i still can't tell if they're any good. tracking...
Thanks, benny. I just heard the Brew Crew lost Overbay to make room for Prince Fielder, so we'll see what the kid can do. The Cards didn't resign Grudzielanek or Ray King, which is great news.
Bears passing offense needs improvement, but their O-Line and running game is great. Teams basically know the Bears are trying to run and still can't stop them.
Big Bulls win last night...
Cards trading King is not great news for the Cubs.
Pierre had a horrible year last year and had an on-base percentage around .320. His arm is much, much worse than okay. With that in mind, it is much better than what they had last year.
Neifi Perez as a starting Short Stop is not good news.
It's like this:
"And then there's Juan Pierre. Every team in baseball wants him leading off."
--President Bush at the White House, Jan. 23, 2004
Cards losing Grudz, King, Reggie Sanders, Julian Tavarez and probably Matt Morris is all great news for the Cubs. Larry Bigbie and Aaron Miles, and the Cardinals management praying for a "home-team" discount is great news for the Cubs.
I will say it one more time.
The Cardinals loosing Ray King is not great news for the Cubs.
Are Miles and Bigbie the answer to the Cardinals holes? No. But getting two young talented players and freeing up money for a useless relief pitcher who didn't throw a single pitch in the playoffs is good news for the Cardinals.
Feel free to say it as many times as you like, man, but the truth is that Ray King was a quality bullpen pitcher whose dad's death may have contributed to an inconsistent year. The Cards losing him contributes to what looks like a pretty terrible group of relief pitchers.
I'll give you one thing, Bigbie and Miles are definitely young. But talented? Please, they haven't done crap.
What's the use if the Cards free up all the money in the world if they won't spend it?
As far as Ray King- Its interesting that Cubs fans become so complimentary of Cardinals players once they leave. Anyway, he was bad all year. Not just when his dad died.
Steve Stone said on Chicago radio last week..."The only person getting in the way of Bigbie winning a batting title it Bigbie himself."
In regards to the rest of your comments, is it just me or is the off season not over yet?
If the Cardinals come to spring training with only 4 guys total in the pen, then I'd start talking.
As far as Steve Stone- It's interesting that Cards fans become so deferential towards former Cubs broadcasters once they say something that Cards fans like. Anyway, the Cards probably traded Ray because he criticized the perfect man, Tony La Russa.
The off season is definitely not over, but I'm not sure the Cards management know that it has even started. Maybe they are too enthralled with auctioning off Busch urinals. I'm just trying to help.
I've always wished Stone would be the Cards' announcer. I would consider it a great day if he were to ever replace Hraboski in the booth.
At this time last year, the Cardinals did not have Eckstein, Grudz, Mulder, or Sanders. The Cubs pay $23 million for two relievers and trade away 2 of their top ten prospects for a mediocre lead-off hitter and they start thinking that the season starts tomorrow.
Juan Pierre's career numbers are better than your boy Eckstein's, across the board, so if Pierre's mediocre, Eckstein is a complete failure.
Don't look now, but Matt Morris somehow resisted the Cardinals' "home-team discount(ed)" offer, otherwise known as the "You Should Take A Little Less Because We're The Cardinals" sales pitch. Huge surprise. Oh wait, I forgot again, the season doesn't start tomorrow.
Whoa! Matt Morris. It's a good move to offer someone arbitration who you don't think will sign with you anyway. If he signs for discounted rate--good. It not (like he is) then you get a supplemental first round draft pick from the team that signs him. In this case, the Giant's #6 pick in the draft. So while you make fun of the Cardinals low ball strategy with Morris, it shows the difference between Jocketty who has been able to replenish his revolving door with good players and Hendry who has signed big named bullpen pitchers to big contracts that eventually fail...horribly.
Remlinger?
Hawkins?
Who's next? The two pitchers they threw 23 mil at?????
I'm going off of last year's stats. Pierre's on-base percentage (the most important state for lead off) was lower than EVERY lead-off hitter in the NL Central. The closest he was to any of them was 20 points.
Very, very mediocre.
Plus, Eckstein is a much more complete player.
"Oh wait, I forgot again, the season doesn't start tomorrow."
--Excactly.
>> while you make fun of the Cardinals low ball strategy with Morris<<
Just to be clear, I'm making fun of the Cardinals' low ball strategy with Morris, Burnett, Grudz, Sanders, Tavarez and Al Reyes.
The Giants #6 pick won't help this year, unless along with forgetting that the season doesn't start around Christmas, I also forgot about the Red Bird Time Machine that will allow Larry Walker and Jim Edmonds to exist outside of the worries of aging.
>>I'm going off of last year's stats.<<
Bad move.
Face the facts. The Cards managment is not doing well. They may pull together something yet, but so far, it looks great for the Cubs.
"Just to be clear, I'm making fun of the Cardinals' low ball strategy with Morris, Burnett, Grudz, Sanders, Tavarez and Al Reyes."
Let's talk about you and your "face the facts".
You need to know your facts before throwing stuff out there like that.
The Cards didn't even attempt to make an offer to low-ball Sanders and Tavares. And sorry, but Al Reyes is out for the year with elbow surgery. So, unless you know that the Cardinals employee insurance policy is low or something, then you are completly wrong about Al Reyes.
And even if the Cards didn't "low ball" Burnett, it'd be much more stupid to give him a rediculous 5 year, $55 million contract. So if by low balling, you mean their offer was still more than every other team in the running besides Toronto, then I guess so.
Wait...who's management just gave over half of that same amount of money to two middle relief pitchers for over just two years????
"it looks great for the Cubs."
- They were 21 games behind the Cardinals last year. So, you think they've gotten 22 games better by adding a lead-off hitter and two over-priced relievers? Typical Cubs fan. Blindly optimistic.
Observations about the last comment:
1. Fantastic leap made from arguing about baseball to making a personal attack, i.e. “blindly optimistic”
2. Worse-than-usual grammar and spelling
3. Irrational arguments
Conclusion:
You are having a hard time conducting a civil debate. Take some time off.
Seriously??
Because I was thinking (and I wasn't going to bring it up in front of everyone) that you seemed to throw away your improved sarcasm when it came to these comments & talking sports. However, I realized that sports are not at all important and didn't at all mean for "blindly optimistic" to be a personal attack.
But to then stoop to that level and revert to pointing out grammatical and spelling mistakes and saying I can't conduct a civil argument? Please go back and read both our comments as I think you'll see that you said just as many if not more snide and sarcastic remarks. Yes, now it has gotten personal.
I think I have been more than fair in the past by e-mailing you when I thought things got out of hand. But at least, then, it was over important issues.
I have never insulted your intelligence on your blog or mine, and it's sad that a post about something as unimportant as baseball resulted in this.
I never claimed to renounce sarcasm. I was having fun with this until you crossed the line into making personal remarks. If I followed you into that descent, we'd truly crash and burn.
There is no other way to reasonably interpret your judgement of my character, attitude, and/or outlook as "blindly optimistic" besides being a personal attack.
I listed my observations in order of importance to my conclusion. I apologize for #2, I could see how you thought it was a cheap shot. I intended to point out that it seems like you were just typing the first thing that came to mind, hence, the increased errors.
Lastly, I said you were having a hard time conducting a civil debate, not that you could not do so. I would have shut you down the instant this began if I didn't think we could debate in a respectful manner.
It's no big shame to lose your cool; I do it all the time and have to try it again. It's not about intelligence at all; it's about discipline. Whether it's sports or politics doesn't matter; debate can be a healthy thing if the people involved practice temperance.
I said "take some time off" because I would like to address your last argument, but only if you relax.
I sent you an e-mail about 2 hours before your latest commment.
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