Being a big time Red Sox fan I am excited about the possibility of these prospects becoming superstars, but the hype they receive has risen to the point of insanity. The sense from these 2 teams enormous fan bases is that their prospects are sure fire MLB stars. SInce it has been a long time since either of these teams have had a productive farm system the hype is easy to understand.

Being a Sox fan I will start with them first. Their farm is on a hot streak producing stars like Jonathan Papelbon, Dustin Pedroia, and Kevin Youkilis, but during this offseason the majority of fans I talked to were skeptical about trading Jon Lester and Jacoby Ellsbury for Johan Santana. ARE YOU KIDDING ME, so their thought was that a pitcher who recently recovered from cancer, who also has a 4.68 career ERA + a CF who has the potential to steal 50+ bases on a team that never runs is worth more than the best pitcher in the game. Personally I think Clay Bucholtz will be a star, but I am holding off judgement because several years ago pundits were labeling Zach Duke the next big thing.

Yankees fans are just as guilty of this as Sox fans. Joba Chamberlain has been good in his work thus far, however he only has 2 pitches. I think he will be a very good pitcher, but again another prospect on the Sox who had 2 pitches, Craig Hansen started to get tagged after a while. Chamberlain also looks like an injury waiting to happen. Ian Kennedy and Phillip Hughes I haven't seen much of, but be wary.

So to all the media outlets and fans out their lets see how they do this year before we look 10 years into the future. None of them should have been untradeable for a 28 year old AL ace.

So the inevitable happened and Samuel signed elsewhere. The best player from the Pats worst unit left. With Gay a free agent as well the Pats cornerback situation looks like this: Hobbs CB1, Meriweather CB2. That is frightening as hell. If the Pats ignore the situation like they did with the receivers 2 years ago this team could be headed for disaster.

Lets look at their options for next year.

Free Agents

Ty Law should resign with the Pats. While not a burner anymore his ball skills could still net him 5 or so interceptions in the Pats blitzing zone defense.

Drayton Florence if they want to overpay which I am assuming they won't. He could cost as much as 2/3 of Samuel's price.

Trades

Pacman Jones the chances are virtually non existent. While the strip club revenues would increase 10 fold, he is a lock to do something stupid. However, the Pats have increased their thug count with Meriweather, whats one more. In terms of cost I think it would be very cheap for his talent. A 4th round pick probably would do it.

DeAngelo Hall is very talented and probably would fit in well on a team with leaders on defense like the Pats. However, the price tag would probably be way to high to aquire him. They would have to trade down in the draft and trade a lower 1st round pick to get him. Then they would only have him for a few years before he bolts for free agency like Samuel.

The Draft

1st Round The Pats shouldn't draft a CB here. Mckelvin, Talib, and Jenkins are good prospects, but the value for that pick would be poor for one of them. Gholston or a trade down is probably the better option.

2nd & 3rd Heres who they should target.

Brandon Flowers He is the most physical corner in the draft. His ball skills are tremendous. His height and speed are average, but what else is new with the Pats corners. He would be a great pickup via moving up in the 2nd or maybe he falls.

Antoine Cason He was a sensational college corner who some scouts think is too slow. He has good size and decent speed. He is an ideal #2 corner. They probably could net him with the 4th pick in the 3rd round

Solution

Bring back Randall Gay and Ty Law. They should be able to hold down the fort for next year cheap. Draft 2 corners in the early rounds preferrably Flowers and Cason and ease them into the game. Whatever they decide to do they need to get Hobbs off the field. They can't afford him getting burned any more.

The Pro Bowl has become a joke. I usually watch the game to get one last glimpse of football before the offseason, but I'm only one of maybe 20. The veteran players simply don't want to be there so it turns into a glorified game of touch football.

I think I have the solution, although it would never happen. Play a game that would be the equivalent of the futures game in football. You would take all the top rookies in the NFL from that year and put them on a team vs. the players entering the NFL through the draft.

Imagine a rookie offense with AP and CJ attacking a Chris Long and Glenn Dorsey led defense. This could replace the Senior Bowl as an even better college All Star game. The game could pull from 2 major fan bases pro and college. Plus if there is one thing we as fans love it's the draft. We could watch incoming players play against top NFL players, and as fans make judgements on who is the real deal. 

The quality of play would also skyrocket. The players coming in could raise their draft stock, so they would be hell bent to perform well. Plus, the rookies are always the ones who are the most intense at the Pro Bowl. Adrian Peterson went nuts down in Honolulu, imagine if every player was playing at that speed.

So basically it is like the rookie sophmore game in the NBA only better, since 1/2 the players don't have teams yet. It would also be a platform to look at college juniors who don't get to participate in college all star games.

They also shouldn't invite so many players to the game. Instead of being consumed on making sure everybody gets ample playing time, the teams should have starters that start the entire game. This would increase the intensity and the quality of play.

I don't know what to call it since the futures game is a baseball thing, and I don't know what to name the teams either. Any suggestions?

This is my first post.

Over the last several months I have witnessed over the message boards a constant barrage of Patriots hating. The number of comments on every story have reached into the thousands and irrational statements have been made on both sides. However, with this time I would like to put this into a reasonable perspective, and defend the Patriots recent run.

The Patriots broke the NFL Rules, and have been penalized sufficiently for their actions. So why is this still a front page story? Is this scandal really as big as steroids or gambling in sports? The answer is no and here is why. When the Pats videotaped other teams defensive signals from an onfield camera, essentially they were trying to simplify a practice already used by many teams. Any team can videotape or look at signals from the coaches box. Many teams have coaches sit in the box with binoculars taking notes on the oppsing teams defensive signals. So basically the Patriots tried to obtain a better view to improve upon this practice.

Also, nobody gains all that much from stealing signals. The reality of it is that the defense does not call its plays until after the offense sends in its formation, so somebody would have to recognize the signal relay it to BB, who would then relay it to Tom Brady inside the huddle, they would need to choose a play to exploit this, and design a protection scheme all inside the 45 second play clock. Plus many of the signals can be figured out just by reading the defense. Like the type of coverage based on the corners and safties positioning, and if a blitz is coming by the defense showing the blitz. The Patriots proved that this year by making the same kind of adjustments like everyone else in the league without the use of a videotape.

Along with being useless in the first half of games, stealing signals does not help you in later games because teams change their defensive signals on a week to week basis, because they are aware other teams are stealing their signals.

While changing the position of their cameras is against the rules, many teams have little tricks they pull to win football games. It is alleged that the Colts pump in artificial crowd noise into the RCA dome. The Miami Dolphins turn on the heat in the visitors locker room. The Oakland Raiders bus in convicts into their stands to scare opposing teams players, jk. The Broncos teams won superbowls despite being over the cap. Those are only some of the ones we know about.

Anybody who is accusing that the Patriots' Super Bowl victories are tainted need to go back and rewatch those playoff games. They won with their defense and special teams. In the Super Bowl against the Rams the Patriots had an interception for a touchdown and a touchdown in the 1st half. Plus the field goal they scored was in the hurryup offense where you don't have time to steal signals. The Panthers Superbowl the Patriots won because they were a far better team, and the Eagles Superbowl the Pats won because DM was tired and couldn't win the game for them.

So in light of all this all I am asking for is to close the book on spygate unless more information comes through. If it is true that the Pats somehow taped the Rams walkthrough I will be the 1st one calling for BB to be fired. However, what is done is done. We have more interesting stories to be paying attention to. Like the greatest upset in SB history which is being almost ignored. Plus the draft is 2 months away, and 31 teams are looking to make the next step. I understand the outrage, but for the love of god please move on.