I just got offered Drew Stubbs and Kyle Farnsworth and I'd give up Brennan Boesch and Jose Valverde. I'm obviously giving up the better closer. Is Stubbs that much better the Boesch? Brennan is hitting in a great spot to rack up some runs and has some great power potential. And I don't really need steals that bad, but I hate to let a good trade slip away cause I'm being thick headed.

This is a standard 5X5 H2H league, non-keeper.

Got myself a dilemma. I'm in a league that can keep 3 players from last year. I've got Joey Votto as a lock. But the next 2 I'm less than sure of. Here's the list of guys I'm considering:

David Wright

Ryan Zimmerman

Pablo Sandoval

Carlos Santana

These will all go against my 1st three picks, so what round doesn't play a factor. I've got a UTIL positions so I don't mind keeping 2 3B if I have to. I'm leaning Wright and Santana. But Wrights age and recent injuries have me worried. Santana has the position scarcity on his side, but is he as good as he showed last year? Sandoval scored very few runs for as many HR as he hits. Zimmerman is an enigma to me.

So what do you guys think?

So according to This Article retired players filed an anti-trust lawsuit against the owners similar to the NFLPAs suit.  Big difference is this suit includes players coming into this years draft.  Which eliminates one of the owners bargaining chips stating the NFLPA illegally decertified.  The college players aren't covered by the union, but are affected by the lockout.  This may not be the be all to end all, but it could speed up the process.  Personally, I don't care which side gets the better deal, as long as it gets done and we can get back to football as usual.

I know this was kinda brought up before, that the players pool their money and start their own league if the work stoppage is a long drawn out one.  But as This Article points out, "The NFL has never experienced a work stoppage when alternate leagues were in effect."  If there's no CBA in place all the players are basically unemployed.  If the UFL were to start offering decent contracts, I could see quite a few players jumping ship.  

So what does this mean for the future of football?  Personally, I see this possibility as a really bad thing. The thing that makes the NFL head and shoulders above other start up leagues is the talent and it's depth.  If fringe starting players start jumping ship for full time gigs, and decide not to come back if/when the NFL starts back up, the talent is going to be hurting and I don't think we'll see the quality of football we've come accustomed to.

Been hearing some buzz today on the radio and saw This Article stating Carolina could go Cam Newton #1 overall. 

I was at Newton's Pro Day at Auburn last week, and the Panthers sent six representatives. The Panthers will return to Auburn for a private workout with Newton today. One group of Panthers was scheduled to have dinner with Newton and his family Tuesday, and another group is scheduled to have dinner with him tonight.

Not sure how this could potentially impact the draft, but the more QBs that go ahead of the Lions, the better I would think. 

Been hearing a lot of news about this desertification process and thought I'd bring some of that to light here.  Here's a link with more info.  So what does it mean?  Well, basically it allows the NFLPA to sue the NFL owners in an anti trust law suit and seek an injunction to prevent the owners from locking out the players.  This is a big risk by the NFLPA, if the judge denies their injunction request, we'll be in for long legal battle.  If they do get this injunction though, they can get things cleared up a lot quicker because unlike the current mediator, a court judge will have power to make a decision and gives the players a lot more leverage since they know they can't win right now in a lockout.

I know there was a lot of talk around here about the possibility of the Lions pursuing the services of Chad Greenway from Minnesota to help fill our needs at LB.  Well looks like that option is most likely off the table as the vikings have slapped the franchise tag on him.  It's a non-exclusive tag, but I can't see the Lions willing to give up 2 first rounders for him.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=6144597&campaign=rss&source=NFLHeadlines

I've got a dilemma in my keeper league.  I can keep 3 guys.  I'm pretty much set to keep Chris Johnson and Tom Brady.  My 3rd player is a bit of a toss up though.  I've got Wes Welker and Greg Jennings.  I'm leaning Jennings, but what are your guys' thoughts?  Is this just a down year for Wes coming off major knee surgery?  Is Jennings going to suffer his TD's when Finley comes back next year?  I've also got Brandon Lloyd but I have a hard time believing this season is a trend since he's been in the league 8 years and this is his biggest season.

This is a PPR league, 10 yards per point, 6 points per TD.

Just heard on ESPN radio that 4 of OSU's players (Pryor, Mike Adams, Daniel Herron, Devier Posey and Solomon Thomas) will be suspended for their first 5 games next year for accepting improper benefits. All can still play in the Sugar Bowl against Arkansas.  Good thing for MSU, since we play them during that suspension period. I'm guessing a couple of these guys will probably just make the jump to the NFL if they can.

LINK  Another Link

So in a standard 5x5 h2h league, no keepers, I've got the following trade on the table.  Who do you guys think fairs better in this one just at face value?  I know its hard to say based on team needs and such, but I don't want to bore you guys with all that stuff, just at first look, who looks like they're getting the better deal? thanks for the input guys.

Got to thinking the other day, with the Lions having a top end WR in CJ and (hopefully) a top end TE in Pettigrew, how much production do we really need to see from our #2 and #3 WR?  So I decided to check out a few other teams that have a top end TE and a productive offense.  The numbers kind of surprised me.  If Grew can develop into a 1,000 yds level receiver from the TE position, we really only need about 600-800 yds from our #2 WR and even less from the #3 WR to be at the level of some of the best offenses in the league.  Makes me think we might not need to draft a WR this year.  Check out the numbers after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

So in a standard 5x5 head to head 10 team league, I drafted Jason Heyward.  Now, I'm not usually a big fan of the next hot prospect especially in a league thats only 10 teams.  So my question for all you guys, whats Heyward's value in a league like this?  What player(s) do you think I could get for him?  Any positions, throw some names out there!  I'm up for anything.  Or do you think I'm best off just hanging on to him for a while?

Yes there could, but as This Write Up up from over at mockingthedraft puts it, we could be watching some piss poor football.  From the sounds of it, any UFA and anyone coming out of the rookie draft class that year could still be eligible to play, but they'll have to do it at a much smaller salary.  So are you ready for Scab Football?  Maybe it'll end up like that movie The Replacements..........Heres a quick break down from his write up:

Typical owner/union stalemate.  But what happens if the teams don't resolve this dispute by March 5 , 2011.

1)  The owners will lock-out every player that has an existing contract under the current CBA. 

2) The owners will get 5 Billion Dollars from the 2011 TV contract.  Even if they don't play.

3) The owners will field teams from players that have been previously cut, the USFL, and the Arena league. It really shouldn't surprise anyone that the NFL was a big supporter of the USFL and that the NFL chanel just signed on to broadcast arena league football games.  These players will probably get paid about 10% of the total cost teams pay now.  Also there will be no pension payments and long term health cost afforded to these players.

4) The present players will be frozen out.  Their pensions will be frozen.  Future health care cost will be in Jeapordy.

5.  Football fans will not be paying for the best football in the world.  Instead they will be told to accept this rag tag football in order to "save the game".  In the meantime each owner will reap the reward of $156,000,000 one time profit for their team.  That is a bonus of 15% of the value of your business.  Just for being that unkind to your customer, the football fan.

I do, and I remember hearing about him having poor judgment back then and was glad we avoided him.  Now on the other hand, then Bengals are never afraid of a bad egg.  Well, he just got arrested on charges of drunken and careless driving.  Still glad we avoided him!  I prefer to have a team full of hard working guys that make good judgments.  Poor decisions like this just create distractions.  What do you guys think?

Link time

So I just saw this article that the Tigers might be going after Johnny Damon.  I don't get what the plan is for this organization right now.  Moving players to save money and now going after expensive free agents........I suppose he'll probably make for a decent left fielder though.  And he does seem to hit well in Comerica.  Too bad he doesn't have much for an arm.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/rumors/post/Damon-headed-to-Detroit-Tigers-?urn=mlb,213811

I mean I get the theory that you can trade away decent players that are in a back-up role to try and fill a hole somewhere else in the draft.  But at best we'd probably only get a 3rd rounder out of either one.  And there is little guarantee that a 3rd rounder will ever pan out into a starter let alone be a better player then what you traded away in these two.  And this is the NFL, injuries happen, and I for one like to see that we have some depth in a couple guys that won't kill us if they have to go in and play.  That's what the great teams can do.  So what am I missing here?

So by now everyone has heard Larry Johnson was released by KC.  Check out the story here if you haven't.  So, it brings the question of course, should the Lions bring him in?  I don't know how I feel about it.  He's got a lot wear on those tires, but he's still a pretty talented player.  Might be nice to take some of the load of Smith.  But we might be just as good with Morris and Brown.  Anyway, let the debate begin!

Didn't see this posted anywhere on there. Just saw it on Yahoo news.  http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-lions-moves&prov=ap&type=lgns

ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP)—The Detroit Lions put cornerback Eric King(notes) on injured reserve with an injured left shoulder, creating an open spot on the roster Monday.

King was hurt in the second quarter of Sunday’ loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Lions (1-4) and their depleted secondary will be tested at the Green Bay Packers (2-2) on Sunday.

Detroit also put defensive tackle Mathias Askew on its practice squad injured-reserve list and signed defensive tackle Jervonte Jackson and receiver Kole Heckendorf to the practice team.

I have a theory of why the Lions might not go QB this year.  Maybe I'm just crazy Lions fan here over-analyzing things.  We all know that Mayhew was around for the Millen era and witnessed the embarrassement of his tenure.  So why would he want to start his career as Lions GM much the way Millen did?  Millen's 2nd draft led off with taking a QB with questionable ability that ended up going in the tank.  What would make Mayhew want to follow right in his footsteps?  Am I crazy here?