blog.woogu.com

One of the most noticeable differences between the ’05 and ’06 Bears is the offense. Not only the fact that the Bears replaced the bearded rookie QB with a rookie-ish (in terms of experience) veteran and have become a more passing oriented offense, but last year’s strengths have seemingly become trouble areas this year.

One such example, last year the Bears O-line performed well and aided the running game. This year the running game still hasn’t gained any traction and it seems like the offensive line has missed a number of key blocks, as have the backs, most noticeable in the Monday night game vs. Arizona. Is the decline in the running game due to a need to protect Rex? Possibly, with all the injuries he’s had over the past few years I wouldn’t be surprised if the coaches are taking more measures to protect him, even if it means sacrificing some of the run game.

What worries me now is that opposing defenses may be picking up on this and are more actively attacking the Bears passing game. I don’t know that I will be able to validate (or disprove) this assumption during this weekend’s game against San Fran (they do have one of the worst, if not the worst defense in the league).

I’m expecting the offense to come out firing again with some early bombs to try to help Rex get back into his rhythm. The running game probably wont come into play too much until later in the game. Given the defense of their opposition I feel the Bears will want to make sure Rex gets right before going on to some tougher opponents.

I also think the defense will be fired up and ready to kick some ass after the way Arizona marched down the field on them early in the game, and then later at the end. After losing Mike Brown I’d expect to see a good deal of pressure from the front seven to try to prevent the run and keep Alex Smith uncomfortable. I’ll be interested to see how Todd Johnson performs. He’s had some big hits in the past when I’ve seen him, hopefully he isn’t looking for the big hit so much that he makes some mental mistakes.

Go Bears!

A few guys I’d like to see the Cubs take a look at

1. Carlos Lee — he kills the Cubs, it would be nice to not have to face him, and get a real left fielder.
2. Alfonso Soriano — would probably be a nice upgrade at second.
3. Alex Rodriguez — cost will probably be too high, but at least see what the Yankees want.
4. Barry Zito — another guy who’s cost will probably be too high, but is worth a look.

The cubs need to resign Juan Pierre and I’d like to see Aramis Ramirez back too, hopefully that gets done. Guys like Ryan Theriot and Matt Murton are a couple I think could be traded. Depending on the “official” motive for this year, minor leaguers like Felix Pie or Angel Guzman could also be useful in completing a trade, for say a certain New York short stop.

I’d like to think that if the Cubs get enough enough offense the pitching wont need to be as strong, but then I recall what happened to the Yankees a few weeks ago and I get worried about the Cubs’ pitching. Really the only reliable guy there is Carlos Zambrano. Mark Prior has shoulder issues, Rich Hill and Shawn Marshall are still young and somewhat inconsistent and unproven. Kerry Wood…. well he’s just Kerry Wood.

The Cubs should buy out his contract for the $3 million, and then give him the bare minimum contract loaded with incentives; if he pitches a certain number of innings, give him some money, reaches a strike out count, throw him some more money… I really think that’s all the guy deserves, the Cubs have been burned by his injuries in the past, make him earn every penny he gets. I think at best Wood will be a middle reliever, I wouldn’t count on the guy to be a setup or closer until he proves he can pitch on a regular basis.

Somehow I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, but the Blackhawks already seem to be the “IR Superstars” of the NHL this year. Things were looking really good for them, and now they have a number of players on IR already. Guys like Tuomo Ruutu, Martin Havlat, and Michal Handzus area already out, at least one for the remainder of the year! I guess the only bright spot of it is they don’t have too many games in their upcoming schedule over the next week or two, maybe a couple guys will be back by then.

I hope so, its about time the Hawks did something…

The current full list IR Superstars is as follows: Cam Barker, Michal Handzus, Martin Havlat, Nikolai Khabibulin, Patrick Lalime, and Tuomo Ruutu.