When news dropped Sunday the Brewers had dealt Brett Lawrie to Toronto for Shaun Marcum, I was immediately excited. I had to double check the stats, to be honest, but knew Doug Melvin would get a guy that could make an immediate impact if he could.
That's exactly what he did. Last year Marcum went 13-8 with a 3.64 ERA (FULL STATS) in the brutal AL East. Yes he did miss all of 2009 after having Tommy John Surgery, but he bounced back and threw 195 innings. That makes me a little less worried about him being a so-called "injury risk" and more excited he will contribute for most of 2011. He was the ace of the Toronto staff after Doc Haladay left town and will fit right between Randy Wolf and the ace of the Brewers, Yovanni Gallardo. The new man at the helm, Ron Roenicke, has already gone on record and said he's "very excited" about the arrival of Marcum to the staff having watched him from the opposing dugout.
Of course, the quote from Melvin still rings out that his is "just the start" of what he wants to do this winter. I'm hoping they can put together something for one more arm - not sure on Carl Pavano, but I saw he talked to his agent - to round out the rotation that already includes Yo, Marcum, Wolf and Chris Narveson. What that move is, I don't know yet, but I'm sure it has to be something of importance. Yes, they would like to deal Carlos Gomez, but you can't just ship your trash out the door and get something great for him. You can't get too much into the rumors you read during the day on Twitter - There's a lot of them - you just have to wait and see what gets finalized.
Let's just hope Marcum is nothing like the douche it has been revealed that Brett Lawrie was. A blog I've mentioned on these pages before, Miller Park Drunk, has posted pictures from Lawrie's Facebook page and let's just say the guy is a bit of a tool. Here's the link. What is up with CLEAN Eminem lyrics? I know you are a bit of a public figure, but what the hell?
Moving on now to my Bears, who had to get a ripping from the usually lax Coach Lovie at halftime in Detroit to move to 9-3. They still aren't getting any respect and the skeptics stood up and pointed when things got dicey at Ford Field, but this Bears team is for real. Make no mistake, they have come along since the beginning of the season, but they are for real.
I watched some video on ESPN.com today that featured Trent Dilfer telling me why the Bears were not Super Bowl contenders and he said because they are built around defense and don't ask the offense to do most of the heavy lifting, they are not even being considered, or shouldn't be.
Hey Trent, what were you on that Tampa Bay team that won the Super Bowl? The defense did everything and you were asked to just not mess it up.
Now, I'm not saying the Bears are going to win the Super Bowl, but being in a spot to earn a bye in the NFC playoffs has to put them in the discussion and he's being asinine for dismissing them so quickly. They surely have the defense that will make noise in December and we'll get to see it get tested in the final four weeks of the season. With games against the Patriots, Vikings, Jets and Packers, that defense will need to step up if they want to hold on to the NFC North lead and earn that bye. Yes, the team is built around defense, but since the bye week (Week 9), the Bears have the second highest third down conversion percentage at just over 52 percent and Jay Cutler is not making the stupid plays. The biggest key has been the emergence of BOTH Matt Forte and Chester Taylor. That means the offensive line has figured it out, having played the same five guys since then.
Alright, I don't get into college football much here on the blog, but that "Teach me how to Bucky" was quite ridiculously awesome. So, when the same folks to another video, you have to take notice. This time "We're Smelling Roses."
It is now time for the Nussie Hunter portion of the broadcast. Today, I introduce you to a woman you probably don't know. Her name is Daphne Joy and she's downright amazing. I found her on Twitter and you can too, here.
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