With all of the good feelings flying around the North Side, the biggest Cubs related news should not be focused on Alfonso Soriano, but with the way things are being run on Clark and Addision, it is difficult to find anything in which Alfonso Soriano is not it's epicenter. The Cubs are off to a superb, if not almost unprecedented start to the season, owners of the top spot in the central and tied with the Diamondbacks with the third best record in all of baseball. Gone under the radar are Aramis Ramirez's superb start, Carlos Zambrano's unbelievable start and Derrek Lee's return to stardom. Ryan Theriot's hot start and Mark Derosa's excellent play have also not been given proper attention. Why? Because Alfonso Soriano and his extreme highs and lows have not just grabbed the headlines, but have surely given Lou Piniella many sleepless nights and have now necessitated stadium ejections for excessive jeering in the left field bleachers.

This morning, on ESPN 1000, an old interview with baseball insider Buster Olney was replayed in  which he "revealed" that a ninth inning replacement of Alfonso Soriano might put him down for the next two weeks. It's not that Soriano's over the top sensitivity is a secret or anything, it's just that it is strange to actually hear those sentiments from any baseball insider with knowledge of the situation. Judging from what Cubs players and management have said about Soriano, it seems like Soriano is as sensitive as Lou Piniella is subtle, which needless to say is not in the least bit. What makes all of this tough to stomach is that Soriano is no spring chicken. He is a veteran and is completely set in his ways. He will never be consistent, will not learn how to work the count and wait for his pitch and to top it all off, has already peaked, and that peak most likely was reached before he came to the Cubs. From the looks of things, the Cubs are now stick with five and a half more injury riddled seasons from a player who in a year or two will most likely have worn out his welcome.
So all this begs the question: Is Alfonso Soriano and all of the accompanying baggage worth it?

    With the recent all around struggles that have suddenly befallen the Cubs, a few problems with the current roster have stood out more than others. For starters, there's the leadoff man, or lack thereof. Personally, with the current roster, I have no problem with Alfonso Soriano leading things off. However, that has less to do with Soriano's skills than the lack of a real leadoff man on the present day Cubs. The alternatives to Soriano are Reed Johnson, Ryan Theriot and Kosuke Fukudome. Mark Derosa has the OB skills to do it, but Piniella will never put a guy that slow atop the lineup. Reed Johnson, as long as he is as good as he was early on, is a solid option, it's just that he already has reverted to Reed Johnson-fourth outfielder. Ryan Theriot has the speed to pile up stolen bases and his recent run of CS's are nothing to get worked up about, but his track record says he doesn't have the OB skills to leadoff. That being said, he has been much more selective so far and his walk rate has been much better as well, so even if his average drops, and it most likely will, he could still be a legitimate leadoff option. The last option, Fukudome, would be underutilized in the leadoff spot. Sure he could h get on base and even steal a few, but his super bat control and doubles power would be better suited in the two, five or six spot. As is, the only player I would consider using at the leadoff spot outside of Soriano is Theriot. But seeing as I doubt Theriot can keep up his current pace all season long, the best thing for the Cubs to do is to try and bring in Brian Roberts again, who not only would immediately be the Cubs best leadoff hitter, he would also give them that lefty bat they have been looking for.
    If the Cubs do not succeed in bringing in Brian Roberts, i would like to see the lineup built like this, even if Theriot reverts to his 2007 form, although i believe he will fall somewhere in between where he ended off last year and where he is now, with a line of .290/.355/.390:
- Ryan Theriot, Kosuke Fukudome, Derrek Lee, Alfonso Soriano, Aramis Ramirez, Geovany Soto, Mark Derosa, Felix Pie, Pitcher.
     With Brian Roberts, things would be a little more clouded, seeing as Mark Derosa will kind of be the odd man out. Either way, here is the w/Roberts lineup.
- Brian Roberts, Ryan Theriot, Derrek Lee, Alfonso Soriano, Aramis Ramirez, Kosuke Fukudome, Geovany Soto, Felix Pie, Pitcher.
    The last position player mentioned, Felix Pie, has also been the subject of debate as of late. He has been struggling, but has gold glove ability in center field and is very toolsy offensively. Personally, I feel like Lou needs to give him at least 4 starts a week and allow him to work things out, kind of like the Sox did with Brian Anderson two years back. If he doesn't work out, his numbers won't end up being all that much worse than Reed's and at least he'll end up playing great defense. If he does work out, that would just be gravy for this already stacked lineup.

    On to the pitching. Carlos Zambrano has been outstanding, Ryan Dempster has been very good and Ted Lilly has bounced back from a rocky start. On the other hand, Jason Marquis has been, well... Jason Marquis, which is a nice way of saying bad. Last season, at least he started off hot before going back to being the Godawful pitcher he is, but this season, it looks like he has other things on his mind, perhaps paying back the Cubs for benching him in the postseason(Thats not serious). Rich Hill is back in the minors and as I write this, his replacement, Jon Lieber, is being beat around like a donkey. Hopefully, Hill resonds to this demotion like he did his last one, by pitching lights out for the remainder of the season. I know it's just one start, but Lieber looked like horse s@#$ and the sooner Hill comes back the better. In his first rehab start, Hill only allowed one walk, so hopefully his control issues are behind him. He did allow 7 hits,  but his biggest issue is his control, so it's nice to see his walks down. The bottom line is that even if Hill comes back and posts numbers similar to those of last season, the Cubs will need another starter to take over for Marquis whenever Lou deems that necessary.

    The other pitching issue lingers in the bullpen. By now everybody knows about Carlos Marmol, Kerry Wood and the speculation that Marmol may supplant Wood in the near future. While Wood's shakiness has been a real issue and will continue to be, the real problem in the pen is the (quality) depth, which coming into the season looked like a real strong point. Michael Wuertz had a tremendous 07 campaign and after a shaky first half Bob Howry joined in on the fun too, but so far both have been pretty bad, although the former has been much, much better than the latter. Wuertz has better stuff than Howry, so his chances of rebounding are much better, although Howry does have a track record of starting slow, and thats putting it nicely. The good news is that when Hill comes back, Lieber will head back to the pen, where has been great so far and should add some depth to the pen. However, for the Cubs to succeed, they will need for Howry and Wuertz to turn things around quickly.

The 2007 season for the Chicago Bears was a failure. Nobody can really debate that.... but Bear coaches and management sure as hell are trying. The Lovie Smith cliches were in abundance last season, and the offseason has been no different. "We are close," "We finished the season strong," "We are a running football team" and "Rex is our Quarterback."(At least thats what they told Brandon Lloyd, who in just his first day gave a Greise-esque performance.) The sad thing is just how short-sighted and diluted those statements are.

"We are close." To what exactly? The bottom of the North. Oh wait, we are already there. The Bears are close to being a professional football team, which is one thing they were not last year. From the Greise "I called the plays...... oh, and Ront Turner helped a bit too" debacle to the "Mark Bradley is our #1 receiver" claim, the Bears have done and said a lot of dumb and confusing things.

"We finished the season strong." What a consolation prize, winning a game against a bad Saints team and a Packers crew that would have allowed the Bears to score just to get back to the sideline heaters. And Lovie, i though the Bears season was broken up into quarters, not eighths? The Bears finished 2-2 in the final quarter, so they didn't finish all too strong after all.

"We are a running football team." Thats the sad part.not only were the Bears awful running the ball, they bragged about it. In the last few months the running game has taken some huge hits overall. Cedric Benson has had surgery, Adrian Peterson has shown he is nowhere near a #1 back and Garrett Wolfe has shown he is no more then a screen play here or there, an extremely poor man's version of Leon Washington. The Bears haven't brought in a free agent tailback either. The offensive line, which was bad last year, is now bad and incomplete after releasing Fred Miller and not resigning Ruben Brown. Olin Kreutz is still very good and John Tate and Roberto Garza are also decent, but the line needs some real help.

"Rex is our Quarterback." I really am not all that upset with Bears resigning of Grossman, but they still need an upgrade at this position. Still, he was th best guy readily available and the best option for a team that needs a guy to keep the seat warm. What irks me is that Angelo and Lovie keep telling us that there is an open competition and Rex will have to fight off Orton to win the job. The recent communication breakdown with Brandon Lloyd really says it all. The Bears are habitual liars and either they  believe that their fans are idiots or they just don't care about the fans. As far as the open competition goes, anybody that has watched Rex play in training camp knows he will win the job. He is great without a real defense going against him, but is not really good real-game QB. Barring any complications, Rex will win the job.

Now that i have finished venting, what have the bears done in the offseason? Really, not much of anything. On offense, they have let Bernard Berrian and Muhsin Muhammad leave, and if the recent rumors are true, Rashied Davis will them out the door. Rex was resigned and Marty Booker and Brandon Lloyd were brought in. Overall, they lost their #1 and #2 guys, but Berrian is more of a #2 at this point and Moose is a #3. They replaced them with a younger, better player then Moose and a perennial underachiever in Lloyd. If Hester develops a bit more and Mark Bradley takes that ever-elusive next step, the group of receivers will be decent, but the odds of both of those things happening are very remote. Hester is nowhere near the #1 receiver the Bears think he is and Bradley is getting talked up an awful lot after spending most of 2007 in Lovie's doghouse. The Bears haven't added any tailbacks or linemen. On Defense, they haven't done much of anything, which is a bit disappointing. resigning Lance Briggs was a good move, but it doesn't make them better than last year. What will make them better than last is better luck with injuries and the swift cutting of the garbage players that are Ricky Manning Jr. and Adam Archuletta. Archuletta isn't roster material and Trumane McBride is already a better nickleback than Manning.Nathan Vasher, Mike Brown, Dusty Dvoracek, Tommie Harris, Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs all got bit by injuries. Of that group, Harris, Vasher, Urlacher and Briggs should all be expected to play full season next year, albeit with a bit of pain for Brian. Brown is injury prone and Dvoracek is quickly entering injury-prone territory, and while both are good players, they should not be relied on.
On Special teams, the Bears lost ace Brendan Ayanbadejo to the Ravens, but he wont set the Bears back all that much.

So what do the Bears need to do in the offseason? The Bears need to address the DT, S, OL, RB and WR positions in the near future, and they also must draft a QB, maybe on day 1. What i think will happen is that the Bears are pretty much done with free agency outside of maybe a minor acquisition or two. I would like to see them grab Kevin Jones on the cheap, and he would immediately be the most talented back on the roster. Grabbing a lineman like Max Starks shouldn't be out of the question either. The group of FA receivers is pretty thin at this point, and as i write this reports are circulating that Bryant Johnson, the best available WR, is signing with the Niners. The Bears need help at all 6 aforementioned spots, and after their wholly unsatisfying free agency work, they will try to do it all via the draft. Expect the Bears to as usual, hit on defense and mostly miss on offense, although for some reason i have a really good feeling about this years draft class. Considering how poor(and mysterious. Anybody even know what Dan Bazuin or Josh Beekman look like?) last year's class was, the Bears absolutely must hit big come April's draft.

For starters, I couldn't be happier for both the Seahawks and Jaguars. Both teams sweated out pretty tough victories, but in the end it was pretty clear that the better teams won. In both games, the winners dominated throughout the first half and for most of the third quarter, faltered and actually relinquished their leads and then fought back and took back what looked to be theirs from the get-go. The Steelers put up more of a fight than the Skins and Collins(who showed why he has been a carreer backup), but they fell short to the much more physical and multi-dimensional Jags. It just looked like the Jags wanted it more. Regarding Collins, what yesterday's game showed is that while he can make a lot of the throws over the middle of the field, he does not have enough arm strength to get the ball out on sideline routs. On any timing based routes outside the hash-marks, his recievers were well into their breaks when he was just releasing the ball, allowing the Seahawks' DB's to get all over the receivers or pick off the ball. Bad sideline throws often turn into six points the other way, and that game was no exception. If he starts next year for the Skins, or any team for that matter, look for defenses to force him into sideline throws. He just doesn't have enough zip in his arm.

All that being said, the reason I wrote this blog is to praise two of my favorite coaches in the league, Mike Holmgren and Jack Del Rio. Del Rio took an enormous risk in the pre-season and instead of just swapping Gerrard and Leftwich on the depth chart, he cut Leftwich and put all of his eggs in the Gerrard basket, which any competitive player would love to have his coach do. Cutting Leftwich was the ultimate vote of confidendce by Del Rio and it has paid off tremendously. The way Del-Rio is able to get as much as he does out of such an underwhelming roster is very admirable and under appreciated. They do have stud RB's, but the coached have done a great job all year long in how they have gotten a decent quarterback to play like a Pro-Bowler, and the same could be said about the receivers. Reggie Williams, Matt Jones, Earnest Wilford, Dennis Northcut and Mercedis Lewis don't exactly scare anybody, but they are big, physical guys that have come up with big plays all year long. The defense, even with the attention it has garnered the last few years, is still underrated. The linebackers are seldom heard of and most fans couldn't name two of them, let alone one. Again, the job Del Rio and his staff has done with their units is exceptional and can not go unnoticed.

The other winning coach, Mike Holmgren,(contrary to public opinion, and the opinion of Jerome Bettis for that matter) told the world that he planned on abandoning the run and would throw all day, and nobody, not even the hottest team in the NFC, has been able to really shut down his offense, evgen on a day where his quarterback played a lot worse than he is capable of. Holmgren is one of the most candid and secure coaches in all of sports, and doesn't bother hiding his emotions or sugarcoating his opinions, among other things. He also does something that I and fellow Chicagoans have come to believe as impossible, hold open practices, as reported by ESPN 1000 Bears' reporter Jeff Dickerson, my favorite Bears' reporter in Chicago. Holmgren actually came on ESPN Radio about two weeks ago and said flat out that his offense is and will continue to be very pass-heavy and made no bones about it. After listening to Lovie Smith pontificate, waffle, flip flop and cliche his way through his weekly press conferences, listening to Holmgren kinda opened my eyes as to what a good, honest guy Mike Holmgren is. I can't help but love the big fella.

This is no way intended to slight the other coaches who have brought their teams to the playoffs. Jeff Fisher, Tony Dungy and obviously Bill Belichik are all tremendous coaches and have done great jobs with their respective teams. From the remaining coaches, I would have to say that I have been least impressed by the jobs done by Mike Tomlin, Tom Coughlin and Joe Gibbs. When you consider all three coaches' personel and what they have had at their disposal, their accomplishments have not been too impressive. The Chargers have regressed a bit, but I think Norv turner has them playing good football and I expect them to at least take at least one playoff game, perhaps even more. Mike McCarthy has also done a good job in Green Bay, but the real praise should be given to the management and scouts who have brought in all of those good, young receivers and linemen who have made what they do on offense possible. Wade Phillips has a tremendously talented roster and I need to see how he does in the playoffs before I really formulate an opinion on him.

The games today were great and hopeful tomorrow's will be even better, although i don't think they will be nearly as good. San Diego will beat up on the Titans and i expect the elder Kiffin to put together a good enough defensive gameplan to shut down Eli and force 2-3 INT's. It will be close until the fourth quarter, in which Eli decides he is too close to playing a decent, complete game and throws a pick six, and the game for that matter, into the waiting hands of Mr. Ronde Barber.

Although Lovie Smith said that this past week marked the beginning of the '08 season, I have a feeling that the roster on this year's version of the "'08" team is drasticaly different than the one of the real '08 season will be. In my opinion, the Bears aren't as far from relevance as many think they are. Here is a unit-by-unit, position-by-position breakdown of the Bears, followed with some suggested additions and subtractions.

Defense

Their defense was plagued by injuries this year and aside from safety and possibly outside linebacker, they don't have any problems.

Linebacker- I was getting increasingly worried about the performance of Brian Urlacher with each passing week, but in the last few weeks he showed he can still be a dominant force in this league. The Lance Briggs era at OLB is coming to an end, and it appears that the Bears have no problem with their replacement, Jamar Williams. Whether or not he is an adequate replacement is debatable, but what is not is that if Lance does leave, the Bears will give Jamar the job. Hunter Hillenmeyer is a smart, steady player that makes the most of what he has.

Defensive End- Mark Anderson, who was handed Alex Brown's job in training camp, showed that he is not ready to step in and be a full time defensive end. In the time Alex has had on the field, he has played very good football and has made it clear that come next year, he, not Anderson, needs to be lining up opposite Adewale Ogunleye. Wale, arguably the Bears' MVP this year, has had an excellent season and will only benefit from the return of Brown. Their second round choice this year, Dan Bazuin, hasn't even been seen and is an unknown at this point. If he becomes the player that most of Angelo's middle round picks become, he will only bolster an already strong unit.

Defensive Tackle- Tommie Harris, who has been playing on one leg this year, has showed enough to warrant unwavering confidence in his inabilities. However, his partners at tackle have been disapointing. Dusty Dvoracek was IR'd after just one game, Darwin Walker has been a bust of epic proportions and the Bears have been reduced to playing practice squad guys, who have surprised me with some solid play, considering their shape and that they have been with the team for about two weeks. Anthony Adams played well this year, but he is undersized and was IR'd a few weeks ago. If Dvoracek, Adams and one of the two newcomers can all stay relatively healthy next year, i see no reason as to why the Bears' tackles can't be a top five group.

Cornerback- Not much to say about here. Both Vasher and Tillman are upper echelon cover guys and have both proved to be durable. Vasher has missed a large chunk of this season, but his groin injury is his first significant injury in the league and is most likely the exception, not the rule. Tillman has had an excellent year and has added the ball punch and punt block to his reportoire. Moreso, the play of Truman McBride will allow the Bears to let go of the useless Ricky Manning Jr. and slide Trumane in at the Nickle slot. He plasyed well for a rookie and is already an above average nickleback.

Safety- The soft spot. Mike Brown is as injury prone as Danieal Manning is bad. Brandon McGowan has played better as of late, but he is not the answer at safety. Sadly, there doesn't appear to be an answer in the draft or free agency. Yeah, Bob Sanders is available, but he is too expensive considering his Mike Brown-like injury problems. The draft doesn't offer all that much in terms of safeties either. The Bears could try and bring back Chris Harris or some other run of the mill backup, but even if they do that, it looks like they have no choice but to rely on the Manning-Brown combo yet again, that is unless Kevin Payne emerges as a legitimate player and wrestles the starting spot away from Danieal, which is a distinct possibility. The good news is that Adam Archuletta and his 5.5 million dollar's will not have to be seen again after this season ends.

On this side of the ball, their biggest needs are at safety and OLB. The former most likely can't be adressed and the latter, in the eyes of the Bears, already has been. The Bears will go into next year with almost the same exact unit, minus Archuletta, Walker, Ricky Manning Jr. and most likely Briggs. On the other hand, those subtractions will free up quite a bit of cash for the Bears and will allow them to pursue replacements for their offense.

Offense

This is where the fun begins. Angelo will have to have a tremendous offseason to repair this unit. The problems begin with the....  

Offensive Line- While the unit has been really bad this year, there are more good starters in this group than bad ones. Roberto Garza, John Tate and Olin Kreutz all will, and should, be back next year. If the Bears do go ahead and draft a tackle in the first round, which I hope they do, not only will that draftee be an upgrade over Fred Miller/John St. Clair, it will allow Tate to move to right tackle, where he is better suited to play. The other weak spot is at guard. Ruben Brown was IR'd a while back and will probably not be back next year, although he wasn't all that bad considering he might have been playing on a broken arm for a majority of the season. Still, he isn't under contract for next year, and seeing as he probably won't be back, his possible replacements are Terrance Metcalf, Anthony Oakley and Josh Beekman, all of which are unproven/bad, most likely the latter. There seems to be a lot of guards in the draft with decent skills set, and I think that if the Bears can land Radovich out of USC, Kraus out of Michigan or Young out of Tennessee, all of whom are projected to go in the middle rounds, the line would be in pretty good shape.

Quarterback- Not only are the Bears options at QB bad bad, but the options in free agency and the draft are bad as well. If the Bears do chose to go with a QB in the first round, fine, but I would rather take a lineman. However, the Bears could possibly land a second teir QB in the second round or late first round via trade.(Oh, and don't imagine for a second that McNabb will be in Chicago next year, I dont see Andy Reid letting it happen.) Still, drafting a QB wouldn't fix anything in the short term. The Bears would do best to take a lineman and go into training camp with an open competition between Orton, Greise and Grossman.  

Runningback- Here the Bears have problems galore, but thankfully they have options. Michael Turner, Julius Jones, Chris Brown and Jesse Chatman will all be free agents and all of which are equal to or better to who the Bears have now. I would like to see the Bears sign Turner and either Brown or Chatman(Fargas is available, but he probably will demand close to Turner-like money, and the Bears can't affor to sign two top free agent tailbacks.). A stable of backs made up of Turner, Benson, Peterson, (Wolfe) and Chatman/Brown would be a huge upgrade for this team. Benson was a good number two and even if his struggles continue and/or he doesn't get back into shape, Peterson and Brown/Chatman are both excellent #2 backs. Wolfe is in parenthesis because he is not an NFL back, rather just a garbage time player.

Wide Reciever/Tight End- Things get really sketchy here. Bernard Berrian will probably leave and hopefully Muhsin and his juicy contract will get cut out of town. He isn't even a good #2 at this point, but seems to think he is a #1, so good riddance. Personally, i think the Bears have no choice but to resign Bernard, but i have a feeling Angelo  won't see it that way. That leaves Devin Hester, Mark Bradley, Rashied Davis and the glorified Mike Hass, all of which aren't good #2's even on their best day. Free agency doesn't offer much either. The only players that i like from the list of FA's are Oakland's Porter and Jacksonville's Wilford. Neither are very good. If the Bear's don't do much to improve their stable of recievers, the pressure on their tight ends will only increase. Desmond Clark has been steady and Olsen has shown flashes, but neither has stepped up as a go-to guy. Olsen could be that guy, but he hasn't done enough yet. However, if he does step out next year and the Bears make their offense more tight-end oriented, which they should absolutely do, their offense should improve. Still, I am banking on the Bears improving their running game enough to allow a barely decent passing game to "thrive." 200 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT would suffice if the Bears running game and offensive line improves as much as I think it can. 

If I were Angelo, I would, for once, almost exclusively draft offensive players. The Bears, if they lose could end up with a top ten pick, but even if they win, they will probably end up with a top fifteen pick. In the first three rounds, i would take two offensive linemen and possibly a QB, if the right one is still around. I wouldn't mind trying to trade up and getting a second first rounder, but Angelo's history of trading down probably makes that highly improbable.Either way, my draft prioritees would go in the following order: Offensive Line, Quarterback, Wide Receiver, and then go with maybe a linebacker, safety or D-tackle in the last two or three rounds. Obviuosly, that order could change depending on who is available, but the Bears must address their offensive line needs first and foremost.

PS- I have read up on a certain receiver from Duquesne by the name of Bruce Hocker, and he seems to be a very good sleeper candiate in the middle-late rounds. He has a good combo of size andspeed and if anybody knows anything about him or where i can find clips of him, some info. would be highly appreciated.

As has become tradition for the Chicago Bulls(See Tim Floyd), John Paxson fired Scott Skiles this morning, on Christmas Eve. The fallout and repsonse from the media, fans and players has been overly predictable. "Skiles is an A to B type coach." "Skiles lost his players." "Skiles lost his job because Aaron Gray isn't getting enough tick."(yes, someone actually threw that one out there. Other speculation is that he was fired so the Bulls could trade for Jason Kidd.(Trading for a point guard a year after giving Kirk Hinrich 10 million per over five years, yeah, that really makes sense.) The fact of the matter is that this firing is no different than almost every other coaching change in any other sport. The coaches go, well, because someone needs to go and they are the only ones that can't be fired. How much has Rick Adelman done for the Rockets? Phil for the Lakers? Isiah for the Knicks? Some coaches are worse than others, but it is a bit ludicrous to think that Skiles is to blame for Ben Gordon's and Kirk Hinrich's severe regression.

To understand what Skiles has had to deal with, lets take a look at the challenges he has this season.

1) His guards: Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon, Thabo Sefolosha, Chris Duhon. 

 

            While Kirk has always been a favorite of Skiles and Paxson, i have never really been a big fan of his. He puts up respectable numbers in the traditional categories, but his defense is overglorified, his passing(for a point guard) is subpar and his shooting is as streaky as it gets. I say his defense is overglorified because with his trouble staying out of foul trouble, his defensive abilities, which admittedly are very good, are rarely able to be used. Ben Gordon is a sixth man, and anybody that has watched the Bulls consistently for the last few years should know that by now. His defensive effort is there, but his defensive abilities and size aren't. He can score in bunches but play no defense, and players with those skills are best utilized off the bench against the opposition's second wave. Thabo Sefolosha, although given very little chance to showcase his skills, has done little to impress. He is a strong defender and has good size, but he can't shoot a lick, has mental lapses way too often and seems to think he can do things which he clearly can't. I like Chris Duhon as a backup point guard and a floor general, but he isn't a starter. He is a smart player who was clearly taught very well at Duke, but he is physically challenged and is not starter material.  To sum it up, Skiles had a streaky, frustrating combo guard in Hinrich, a one dimensional bench player in Gordon, a defensive 2 guard(2 guards must be able to score in this league) in Sefolosha and a nice bench guy in Duhon.

 

2) Small Forwards: Luol Deng, Andres Nocioni, (Tyrus Thomas).

            This is the only position where the Bulls have adequate talent. Luol Deng is perhaps the only balanced and complete player on the entire roster. He can rebound, pass( a bit), shoot and defend. The problem is that although he can do everything pretty well, he does nothing amazingly well. I really like Luol, but he is not a centerpiece type player like The Carmelo's, Lebron's and Kobe's of the world(although there is no shortage of Bulls' fans that would argue vehemently against that.) Andres Nocion is a good player and has probably been the Bulls' second best player this season, but he is just a solid player. He is easily frustrated and often gets too trigger happy on a team with better outside shooters, although this year the latter is probably false. Tyrus Thomas, at this point, is more of an athlete than a basketball player. He clearly has worked on his shot and it has shown in some of the latest games, but he still is somewhat of an offensive liabilty and lacks the size to match up one on one against most of the better post players in the game. His help defense is very good, but i sometimes wish he would block balls into play instead of into the stands, which looks better but is not all that beneficial.

3) Power Forwards/Centers: Joe Smith, Joakim Noah, Aaron Gray, Ben Wallace, (Tyrus.) 

            This is probably the weakest unit on the Bulls. Only one of these players has performed well for the Bulls over an extended period of time, that being Joe Smith. He is scrappy, runs the floor pretty well, has an above average mid-range game and is a good mentor for the younger players. On the other hand, the trio of Wallace, Gray and Noah, for lack of a better word, sucks. Wallace is washed up, and even with the recent article on Fox Sports on his dicline, people that don't watch the Bulls really have no idea how worthless the 60 million dollar man has become in just over one full season. He isn't even starter material at this point, making him the most expensive one-dimensional bench player in all of sports. Noah and Gray were both very good in college, but they are both clearly overmatched at the pro level. They get their shots, and easy putback dunks/layups, blocked routinely and aside from scrappy play and decent size, offer almost nothing. They warrant no more than ten-fifteen minutes a night, but since the Bulls are weak at the position, are forced to play starter's minutes pretty often.

There is not just one problem with the Bulls. Rather, there are problems up and down the organization. The players do seem top have given up on Skiles, but could it be that they are just burnt out? The amount of effort this team has to exert to play competitve ball is greater than any other team in this league, and the last few years of intense work may have finally taken a toll on them. A team can only scrap and scrape for so long. John Paxson is also responsible for this, probably more than anybody else. The contract extension to Hinrich looks really foolish right now, but pales in comparison to the ontract Wallace got, which by the way will hamper the Bulls for another 2+ seasons. The draft day trade of LaMarcus Aldridge for Tyrus Thomas looks terrible right now, as does picking Noah ninth overall just a few months ago. From the looks of it, either Deng or Gordon, or possibly both, will be gone after this year, leaving the Bulls in even worse shape than now, if at all possible.

Scott Skiles is a hell of a coach, and i highly doubt that any other coach in the league could have done significantly more with the Bulls than he has done. The Bulls simply are not that talented of a team, and it's a shame that Paxson hasn't come to terms with that yet.

PS- It appears that many fans that are happy with the firing seem to think that Skiles' biggest failure was his inability to develop his young players, Tyrus Thomas, Thabo Sefolosha, Aaron Gray and Joakim Noah. The idea that Skiles, while coaching a team expected to go to the conference finals, can afford to play severely underdeveloped players AND take his team to the next level is laughable. This isn't baseball people. To really develop a player, a coach must give him real time experience, and with a team only able to put 5 players on the court at one time, a coach of a team with championship expectations can not afford to put his lineup at a disadvantage to help bring along a specific player. Baseball has the minor leagues and even when a player comes up, he can be shoed in the seven or eight hole and learn from there, but in basketball, players and teams don't have such a luxury. John Paxson put Scott Skiles in an impossible situation. Teams that win champonships grow together and eventually reach their pinnacle together; championship teams usually don't consist of a couple of role players and first and second year projects. John Paxson will see that while the team he assembled in Chicago was decent enough to fight it's way into a second round exit, it was nowhere good enough to meet the expectations put upon it. You see, Paxson, and perhaps Skiles, were naive enough to believe that a team full of solid but not excellent players with great work ethics, good values and team-first mentalities could win championships. The idea is great and can work in the college level(see Duke), but the NBA is a big boy league with mean, grown-#### man that feast on the type of players that the Chicago roster is full of.

Oh, and to the inevitable "Well the Pistons won a championship" comment, please. In their championship season, the Pistons had four players better than any one on the Bulls right now. Rip, Chauncey, Sheed and Tayshaun are all all-star calibur players and would be superstars on any other team aside from the one they find themselves on. All of those players, aside from Rip(maybe), could create their own shots and take advantage of mismatches. Tell me one player on the Bulls that on their best day could hang with any of the  aforementioned Pistons.

Let me preface my blog by saying that my opinion on running backs and the perspective i view them through is vastly different than how most others do. While most marvel at the impressive accomplishments of backs like Steven Jackson, Ladanian Tomlinson and Adrian Peterson, and rightfully so, I marvel at the work done in the trenches by those tailback's offensive linemen, who I think decide the outcome o####ame more than any other player beside the one that takes the snaps. While Adrian Peterson is a phenominal player and his backup Chester Taylor is anything but, both run behind a line stacked with five unfathomingly large behemoths. Ladanian Tomlinson is an undisputably great tailback, but his linemen, while not as good as those in Minnesota, are nonetheless excellent. Granted, Steven Jackson has been running wild, when healthy,  behind a makeshift offensive line, he has a passing game that can prevents opponents from stacking the box. It sounds like i am trying my best to take away credit from running backs through any means possible, but i am merely trying to build up the point that rushing the football is, in my opinion, more dependant on other, external variables than any other task in football.

Also,. with all the attention Lewis and the Browns have drawn in recent weeks, the fact that Lewis's season has been very hit or miss(dare I say Grossmanesque), has been overlooked. Through Week 11, Lewis, who missed two games in that span, ran for over 100 yards just once and averaged over 4 YPC just twice. Also, four of his 9 touchdowns came in week 9 against St.Louis, when he ran for 37 yards on twenty carries, hardly a strong performance.  When you include his last four games his performance overall has been solid, but still not as good as one would think judging from the attention Lewis has generated.

With that established, the answer is yes and no. I am not surprised at what Lewis has done on his own. (Even back in Baltimore, when Jonathan Ogden was out with injury, Lewis's performance suffered and it was clear that Lewis was largely dependant on the performance of his enormous blocker. The same can be said for Edgerrin james, who suffered a massive letdown when he left Indianapolis and the fantasy that is playing alongside Peyton Manning.) Rather, what does surprise me is how quick the Browns' first draft pick, Joe Thomas, has risen to the upper echelon of offensive linemen, and how the passing game went from non-existent to often unstopable. Braylon Edwards is a top ten reciever, Kellen Winslow a top 5 tight end and Derek Anderson a very competent, if not above average quarterback. What I am trying to say is that while Lewis has put up some nice numbers this year, those numbers have less to do with him and more to do with the offense he plays on and the beasts, particularly Thomas, that he runs behind. Throw in the fact that his four triple digit yardage games came against Cincinatti, Houston, New York(AFC) and Buffalo, and his season is even less impressive.

To sum it up, i would say that I am surprised with how well the Browns have run the ball, not how well Lewis has run the ball. Running the ball is the ultimate team effort, and if one player misses his assignment, the run play can easily get blown up. So when analysts look at the Browns and attribute their success on the ground  to Jamal Lewis, i get upset. It's not Jamal that is getting it done, rather the most unerappreciated unit in the game, the fat, one ton brotherhood that its the Offensive Line.

         While baseball has managed to stay atop American Sports for the better part of one and a half centuries, the fact that baseball has lost some of it's luster to America's other sport, football, is indisputable. When was the last time andybody said anything along the linees of "So and so might have saved football?" Meanwhile, in the late nineties, baseball was in need of saving, and the unprecedented home run battle between Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire arrived just in time. Don't let anybody fool you, while baseball's stadiums were and still are getting filled at a very respectable game, the game is nowhere close to where it should be, or where it, for the most part, has been. TV ratings are way down, and even during October, when the football season is still in it's infancy and baseball is in the thick of the playoffs, TBS and FOX recorded putrid viewing numbers, some of which were all-time lows.

          Now imagine a game where pitching is dominant and 60 home run seasons are as unlikely as undefeated seasons are in football. With today's instant gratification mindset and the way fans crave the long ball, the casual fan would be extinct. Now imagine what Bud Selig and baseball's owners were up against when the allegations and accusations came about in the early part of the twentieth century. They could do like other sports and set up a real steroid policy at risk of losing the casual fan base, which would devastate a game already reeling from it's losses to the NBA and NFL, or they could turn the other cheek and hope steroids went away. In hindsight, the decision looks pretty easy to make, but was it, and is it, really so? Selig, as it is right now, has put himself in a position where he has no choice but to beef up the steroids policy and severely punish violaters. Ten game game suspensions will become 50 game suspensions and two time violaters will get one or two year bans. Selig has no choice anymore. By setting up the Mitchell investigation, which finally gave real, documented evidence pertaining to the undoubtebly enormous influence of steroids on baseball, Selig has cornered himself and is now forced to do what he didn't do a number of years back. The question now isn't whether or not Selig will toughen up the doping policies. Rather the question is, will baseball be better off for it?

Before I come off as overly callous and insensitive to the needs of those that have made the game what it is today, let me say that i think that what Mike Ditka is doing needs to be done. What bothers me is the way he has gone about drawing attention. While I am only twenty and am not overly familiar with Ditka, I have always seen him as a pontificating, over-generalizing blabbermouth with no sense of what to say and what not to say. The saddest part of it all is that since Chicago is chock full of Ditka worshipers that would like nothing more than to buy every one of his ridiculously named products(Kick #### Red Liquor is one of his lead products), Ditka has, for the most part, gotten away with his antics. Because of that, it was even nicer to tune in to the Boers and Bernstein show(with Lawrence Holmes filling in for the former) on 670TheScore and hear Dan Bernstein laying it on Ditka. Bernstein isn't the only to notice that almost nothing Ditka says(not does) holds water. Hunter Hillenmeyer, a Vanderbilt graduate and the Bears' outside linebacker, voiced his displeasure with Ditka's empty claims in an interview almost a month ago. While i don't have access to what exactly he said, it was something along the lines of what I said, that Ditka is more or less just puffing smoke and that his statements are very empty and lack context. His recent episode aside, if you were to listen to Ditka on any of his radio shows in which he is simply talking football, it would be easy to see what i am talking about. When he talks football, which he undoubtably knows lots about, his claims are almost always vague, broad and very generalistic(Is that a word?).

When Ditka went in front of Congress with his complaints regarding Gene Upshaw and the Players' Union lack of funding for the injuries of the retired, in reality, all he did was act like a bully. He went up to the stand red faced with his neck veins bulging and spewed out threatening sounding sentences with very little stress on the facts and very empty claims. I'm not going to put up any quotes on this blog, but if anyone is interested in what he said in congress, or in any of his Gridiron Greats rants, the quotes are plastered all over the web. When all else fails, he usually falls back on his "Da Coach" charm and although thats enough for most fans, its not enough for me.

Now with the recent accusations directed towards Ditka's charity, his filibusters and attacks on Upshaw seem even less impressive, if at all possible. I have always felt that the best type of charity is one that doesn't garner any type of attention. Yeah, those that donate won't get the recognition they want, but really, if you are giving donations for publicity reasons, thats not much of a donation at all. If you use publicity to get donations its one thing, but the opposite really bother me. Ditka really needs to get his stuff together. I am not sure as to what Ditka should do from here on out, but it is pretty clear what he shouldn't be doing.

Some call it parity, i just call it bad. Regardless of where you stand on the NFC and the cluster of mediocrity that is every team outside of Dallas and Green Bay, it is impossible to deny that the Wild Card race is a very tight one. With only one division still up for grabs, that being the South, teams are aware that their only chance is to get the Wild Card, and while the heat is definitely on, there is a startling small number of huge matchups left between the Wild card candidates, which are the following: The New York Giants, Washington Redskins, Minnesota Vikings, Detroit Lions, Arizona Cardinals and the New Orleans Saints. Again, while the top spot in the South is still open for the Saints, the Bucs have games left against the lowly Falcons, Niners and Panthers. As long as they take at least two of those games, which they will, they division will be theirs. So now that I have established the LEGITIMATE wild card possibilities, here is a team by team analysis of their ability and chances of getting a wild card spot.

New York Giants: The Giants don't scare anybody and odds are they won't do any damage even if they reach the playoffs, but they do find themselves at 9-4, with games left against the Redskins, Bills and Patriots. The Patriots game will be a loss, book it. The Bills game could be tough, but as long the Giants beat the Redskins, who are now without Jason Campbell and Sean Taylor, they will get the top spot. No team outside of Minnesota can get to ten wins, so if they get that W in their upcoming game versus Washington, which will be played at the Meadowlands, they are guaranteed a playoff spot. Take it to the bank, the Giants are a lock. Verdict: IN

Washington Redskins: This Skins are only one game behind the Vikings, but they don't stand a chance. The death of Taylor hurt as much on the field as it does off, and the loss of Campbell sealed their fate. With games against the Giants, Vikings and Cowboys, in that order, the Redskins would be fortunate to finish .500. Just a question, is it possible to remove someone from the hall of fame? If it is, Joe Gibbs has wore out his welcome in Canton. Verdict: OUT

Minnesota Vikings: While this team has only started garnering attention in recent weeks, I have been a believer for quite a while. Personally, I think this team has a legitimate shot against either Green Bay or Dallas, and on a good day, even against some of the better teams in the AFC. Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor make up the best running back tandem, ever. Both would be above average starters, and with the weekly progression of Tarvaris Jackson and his improving receiving core, the holes will only get bigger for the two of them. Looking at their three remaining games, I don't think a valid case could be made as to how they would lose even one of them. They already smoked the Bears back in Soldier Field, and Peterson should once again make fools out of Adam Archuletta and Danieal Manning. The Skins are as full of holes as the Bears are, and Vikings will steamroll them in their second straight home game. Their season finale, against Denver, shouldn't be too tough either, given Denver's horrendous rush defense. This team will be the second Wild Card team. Verdict: IN

Detroit Lions: Jon Kitna's 10 win prediction and Roy Williams's trash talks have once again proved worthless. The Lions are done. They have the Chargers and Packers left on their schedule, and unless the Packers rest their starters, those will amount to two losses. Both games are also on the road, increasing the improbability of Detroit victories. Could they salvage a win against the Chiefs in week 16? Perhaps, but the Lions run of futility is still going strong. Verdict: OUT.

Arizona Cardinals: Given the fact that I have the Vikings winning at least two of their three remaining games, the Cardinals will have to win out to even have a chance. The good news is that with games left against the Falcons, Rams and Saints, their remaining schedule is among the easiest in the league. The bad news is that the Cardinals are simply not that good of a team. Their defense is dinged up and so are their receivers. I don't see them winning out, just because they are the Cardinals and the Cardinals simply don’t win out. That being said, they might end up at .500, not a bad start for Wisenhunt and his young Cardinals. Verdict: OUT

New Orleans Saints: Not to gloat, but I saw this coming before the season even started(same goes for the Niners, this year's version of the '06 Dolphins). As crazy as it sounds, I think that losing Bush for the season is not all that bad. If the Saints let their runners run and let their receivers receive, like they did last night, they have a better chance of winning than when they have Bush doing his hybrid thing. Hopefully Sean Payton will see that and do what I proposed a while ago, convert him into a wide receiver and bring in a real running back to split time with their other legit tailback, “the Deuce(Is there a better name in all of football, of course aside from Craphonso Thorpe).” Anyhow, the Saints are in a similar position as the Cardinals in terms of catching the Vikings. The Saints have three tough games left, a home game against the Cardinals, another home game against the Eagles and then a road date in Chicago, a matchup of the two most disappointing teams in all of football. Can they win out? If everything goes right, but we are talking about the Saints here. The Saints will end up 8-8, a game or two behind the Vikings.
Verdict: OUT

So there you go. The Wild Card teams will be the Giants and the Vikings.

Bonus Picks: The Giants, who will end up with the sixth seed, will get ousted in the first round by the Seahawks. The Vikings will squeak by the Bucs. The Vikings will lose to Dallas, but it will be a helluva game.

Follwing the success the Tampa Bay Buccaneers exhibited in their Super Bowl season, the Cover Two style defense started gaining popularity and spread like wildfire. Whether it was the traditional Cover Two or the Tampa Two or whatever variation of this disgusting defense that was in existence, most teams employed it in one way, shape or form. The idea is to divide the field into portions, with each player aside from the four down linemen assigned one portion. The safeties play a huge part here as they are almost always the only players that end up covering deep routes, and with inadequate safety play, the defense falls apart. While all of the variations center on preventing the big play and forcing turnovers, none have become so dependant on turnovers as the particular style employed by my favorite team, the Chicago Bears. The Bears variation is pretty close to the Tampa Two, and while Lovie Smith has said it is in fact different, i have yet to see why. The Bears spread their safeties a bit wider apart than the traditional Cover Two dictates, but no more than that of the Tampa Two. Anyhow, the idea of relying on the other team to make mistakes really irks me. I am a believer in making things happen and only relying on things that you can make happen.

Last year the Bears were among the league leaders in takeaways. This year, although not nearly as productive in the takeaway deprtment, they still rank a respectabl 12th with 24. So why are the Bears so bad this year? The answer is because even though you can use takeways to limit the opposition's chances at scoring, what counts is a) what you do when you are not getting takeaways and b) when you do get takeaways, can your offense capitalize. Last year, the Bears were a defense that at times did struggle, but for the most part was of the lockdown variety. Also, the Bears were the highest scoring team in the NFC last season, thanks largely in part to the extra 2+ possesions per game the defense gave them. The is year, the Bears not only can stop anybody, but they cant score either. A cover two defense is all fine and dandy when the turnovers amount to something, but the defense is exposed as a fraud when the offense cant score or the defense has no skill other than taking away the ball.

In fairness, the Bears have struggled largely thanks to a number of injuries on defense, but the Bears, if not for Jerry Angelo and Smith's offseason arrogance, could have been in a position to succeed despite those injuries. Lovie allowed Todd Johnson to leave and traded away Chris Harris to make room for his lapdog Adam Archuletta, who should have been out of the league two years ago. He also promoted Daniel Manning, who despite his superb speed has regressed badly this year, probably because of his lack of football IQ. The Bears allowed Ian Scott and Alfonso Boone to leave as well and signed a big time cover two guy, Darwin Walker, to replace them. Smith also shafted Alex Brown by giving his job to Mark Anderson, who desoite his gaudy rookie numbers should have been used as a specialist once again.

The cover two defense and the Lovie Smith's inability to adapt, whether it be in-season or in-game, have brought upon the downfall of the Bears. The latter probably is the bigger culprit, but i just cant help but look at the Cover Two as a problem. One of the biggest Cover Two guys in existence, Monte Kiffin, has already come to grips with the problems of the Cover Two and from what i heard has said that it needs to be readily evolved and mixed in with less reguarity thanks to the extensive knowledge coaches have about it and the holes within it.

While this blog isn't as descriptive and thorough as i would like it to be, i have run out of time. please leave comments regarding your comments on the cover two and whether you look at it the same way i do.

When Jason Campbell left the game, the Bears chances at leaving the capitol with a W skyrocketed, or so i thought. Tod Collins, without the aid of a running game, put on his Tom Brady mask and had what was said to be his his best game of the century. Has it gotten to this point for the Bears? The list of the players that have taken the Bear defense out to the woodshed is chuck full of no names, has-beens and never will-be's. Andre Hall, Derrick Ward, Eli Manning, Justin Fargas, Maurice Morris, the list goes on... and on... and on. There are so many holes on this team and i have no faith in Lovie Smith and Jerry Angelo and their talent evaluation methods. This past offseason, Lovie was given a type of freedom that no Bears coach in recent memory has ever had. Angelo brought in Adam Archuletta based solely on Lovie's word, disregarding the fact that the same Redskins that whooped the Bears tonight benched him despite his fat contract. Lovie is a good coach as far as gameplanning goes, but his talent evaluation and in-game coaching is just horrendous. Some may blame him for the offensive line's discipline issues and all the false starts, but i think that notion is downright laughable. The entire offensive line has extensive experience in the league and should never string together six penalties in one drive. Griese was also guilty for a delay of game or two. On the other side of the ball there are also a number of issues that must be addressed in the offseason. They have a solid defensive line, but if Tommie Harris isn't resigned, the Bears would be down their best defensive player. Brian Urlacher is hurt and getting old and Hunter Hillenmeyer is simply decent. I would suggest moving Lance Briggs to the middle, but odds are Lovie doesn't have the stones to do it. The Bears are strong at the CB position, but i would suggest cutting Ricky Manning lose and moving Trumane McBride into the nickle package. Manning was solid D-back in Carolina but at this point is mediocre at best. The real problem is the safeties. Archuletta wont be back next year, so there reallly is no reason to talk about him. Mike Brown will probably be back, but hopefully the Bears keep him on as a back up. He can't be trusted to stay healthy, and hopefully Angelo will go out and get somebody. Danieal Manning improved throughout last season, but he has regressed quite a bit this year. I cant remember the last time he has made a play and he takes way to many bad angles to ballcarriers. One player that wont be catching flack is Robbie Gould, but i say good riddance. The guy is accurate from 49 yards in, but he has no power and Lovie is adamnant about not using him past 50 yards. But his field goals are not the problem, rather the problem is his kickoffs. He has had a number of kickoffs go out of bounds this year and may not have had a kickoff go for a touchback all season long.

While i have no faith in the management to put together a strong draft class, i hope they address their offensive line woes in the first round. There are a number of really good lineman coming out next year and i would love to see the Bears cash in. I have my fingers crossed, but hopefully Angelo trades up for Jake Long, who is said to be just as good or better than Joe Thomas. If the Bears pick up two O-lineman, a safety and a decent QB, they should be fine, but I, and most Bears fans for that matter, know that that is wishful thinking.

PS: TD's scored aginst the Bears were by Todd Collins, Mike Sellers, Ladell Betts and ___ Yodler????

First Team:
PG- T.J. Ford/Jose Calderon: Its kinda hard to mention one without the other. Toronto has two of the most high-energy and efficient point guards in the entire league. Both aren't great shooters, but can fill it up on occasion. They are excellent free throw shooters and both are in the top twelve in Asstist/PG.
SG- Josh Howard: Howard is the only Sg in the top ten in scoring with a FG% above 50. The next best, Paul Pierce, is 33 percentage points behind. His defense, efficiency and athleticism make him one of the tougher defensive assignments in the league.
SF- Caron Butler: Another efficient offensive machine. He logs a ton of minutes and doesn't take all that many shots, yet he puts up 22 per. Steals are a very misleading defensive stat, but he still grabs 2+ per and grabs 7 boards per as well.
PF- Al Jefferson: Although the Celtics are doing great, i cant help but wonder if it ws worth getting rid of Jefferson. This kid is a beast. He's only 22 and is already putting up All Star numbers. He and Carolos Boozer, another vastly underrated player, are going to alternate as starters in the All Star game for the next decade.
C- Chris Kaman: His goofy face and ADD make him easy to disregard and poke fun at, but he has developed into a really strong center. When his head is in the game, which it is a lot more often than not, he is a monster on the glass. When Elton Brand returns, his numbers might suffer a bit, or with less of the responsibility in the blocks, they might improve.

Second Team:
PG- Raymond Felton: he's turning into a really solid player, but his shooting touch really needs some work.
SG- Marvin Williams: He still isn't scoring enough points, but it's not from a lack of skill or work. He just needs to start to shoot a little more. His FG% warrants a few more ATT/pg.
SF- Rashard Lewis: The Magic were laughed at when they gave him a massive extension in the offseason, but he has been excellent. There really is nothing he doesn't do at a high level.
PF- Chris Wilcox: He is more of an athlete than basketball player, but is still a hell of a force on the court. Nobody goes at it harder than him.
C- Tyson Chandler: He still doesnt have any offenive game, but he is a double-double machine that plays some decent defense as well.

In his article Jay Walking, Tracy Ringolsby ripped into the Blue Jays, and more specifically, their manager JP Riccardi. No one can deny that the Blue Jays have been playing third fiddle to the Yankees and Red Sox for the last decade plus, put to put the blame on Riccardi for a few bad draft picks and his "small" payroll is unfair. Althoough Ringolsby didn't mention it, its hard to get around the fact that the Jays play in Toronto, and given the options most top tier free agents get, they probably dont light up at the idea of moving to Toronto. Also, if you take a look at Toronto's roster, it happens to be pretty good. They have a number of strong power hitters, a strong rotation and a solid back of the bullpen.
Well, if they have so many good players, why do they struggle? Well, when projected starters like Vernon Wells, Lyle Overbay and Troy Glaus underperform and suffer from injuries, teams usually find themselves in deep holes. Wells, fresh off a huge extension, played like garbage. He was moved up and down the order, but nothing really shook him out of his funk. Overbay, a solid slugger and a strong on base guy, couldnt shake off his injuries and never got on a roll. Troy Glaus posted really good numbers in his 385 Ab's, but missed too many games. Alex RIos, Frank Thomas and Aaron Hill all did their best to make up for their gimpy teammates, but in the end they finished well behind Boston and New York.
As far as their pitching goes, Jays fans have real reason for optimism. Halladay was his usual self and the same goes for Burnett, although he missed his usual ten games or so. But starters Shaun Marcum, Dustin McGowan and Jesse Litsch al had really impressive seasons. McGowan, in his first "full" season, pitched well very well in 27 starts. He struck out almost a batter per inning and ended the year with a 4.08 ERA and only 14 HR's allowed. Marcum posted similar numbers overall, but he struck out 20 less batters and gave up 27 HR's. Still his WHIP and BAA were very respectable. The main difference between Marcum and McGowan was that McGowan improved in the second half, while Marcum regressed quite a bit. Litsch, the youngest of the trio at only 22 years of age, pitched brilliantly in his 20 starts. Hes more of a finesse pitcher and seems to already have a firm grasp on how to pitch, as opposed to young fireballers who really just try to throw by batters. I see no reason why this staff shouldnt be better than the one the Yankees will trot out next year, barring injuries of course.
The third component of the Jays, their pen, also looks to be strong. Although they lost Ryan early on in the year, they saw just how good Jeremy Accardo is. Accardo got much, much better as the season rolled on, showing that he learned from experience and should be really good next year. If Ryan returns to form, that should be a 1-2 punch just a shade behind that of Papelbon and Okajima. Scott Downs and Casey Janssen were also brilliant last year. If their starters can get to the sixth or seventh with the lead, there is no better bullpen in the game more capable at bringing home a W.
All in all, i dont think the Blue Jays are in as much trouble as Ringolsby does. Again, barring injury, i don't see why they cant compete with the Yankees and Red Sox for the division title or with intraleague foes for the wild card.

The recent events in Chicago remind of the Seinfeld episode in which Jerry becomes Kramer and Kramer becomes Jerry. You know, the one with Roger's Chicken. Anyway, it seems as Kenny Williams has taken to the way the Cubs have done business the last few years. You know, just throwing money around without paying attention to whom it it is going to. First he trades Jon Garland. Not to say that i have such a big problem with trading Garland, i just dont understand the timing and the return on the trade. Yeah, Cabrera is a solid player, but in a FA market in which Carlos Silva is the big fish, i cant imagine that Cabrera was the best the Sox could get in return for Garland. Garland was never really a good fit for the Sox. He was too laid back for Ozzie, and his fly ball tendencies weren't a good fit in the launching pad that is US Cellular Field. Plus, the Sox just lost their second best starter, and they dont really have any viable replacement for him. John Danks did nothing to inspire last year, and the same can be said for Gavin Floyd. Lance broadway pitched well in his final start, but he is very young and raw. Maybe one of them could work out, but i dont see it happening. With the continuing decline of Jose "im only 30 years old" Contreras, the Sox pitching staff will struggle nect year. Also, Garland was going into the last year of his deal and Kenny has made it clear that he wont have enything to do with long term deals, which Garland is sure to demand. But thats where i have got a problem with Kenny. Fine, if your gonna take that stand, take it. But dont turn around just a few days later and throw 20 million over five years at a guy like Scott Linebrink, who Bruce Levine, ESPN Chicago's baseball guy, said has just signed with the Sox for that amount of money. Not only is Linebrink coming off of his worst year as a relieve, but in offering him that deal kenny went aginst the principal that he so often sites as his main criteria in making offers. Considering that he posted an ERA in the high 3's the last two years while pitching in cavernous Petco Park, the move to the Cell will only make him less efective. His strikeouts were way down in 07 and his WHIP was way up. He is also 31 years old, but with relievers, 31 isnt as big of a deal as it is with hitters and starting pitchers. P

Overall, i dont really like the moves that Williams has made. He signed Uribe, then traded for Cabrera. He would have to find an absolute #### to take Uribe and his 4.5 million that he is owed this year. The Sox would probably have to eat at least half the contract anyway, nullifying the cash they got in the deal for Cabrera. And now, with the rumor that the Dodgers have offered Torii Hunter a six year deal worth 102 million, the Sox chances at landing Torii look really slim. Kenny has got a lot of work to do, and i dont particularly like the start he has gotten off to. They have no left and center fielder. Jerry Owens is OK, but hes already past the prospect age, and still hasnt shown anything outside of speed. Dye is old is not going to repeat his 2006. Konerko is older, and Danny RIchar is also way too raw and hit very poorly last year. To me, it looks like Kenny is trying to patch everything up in one postseason, but there simply arent enough good players avilable to fix all the problems on the South Side. If he continues making desperate and ridiculous offers like the one he has extended to Linebrink, he is only hurting his team.