gehringer_2

of course. But if you are releasing guys you have to replace that depth. If you draft well enough to do that you are golden - but then again, if you draft really well in the NFL you are golden - period. It solves basically all your problems. If you can't draft well enough to replace guys then you're not in such great shape because you're going to have to turn around a spend that cap space signing guys to fill lholes or risk not having injury depth. An example would be what the Lions did a few seasons ago when IIRC correctly, they recovered cap space by letting Reiff walk but then had to turn around and sign Wagner for virtually equal money. So cutting guys is fine, but only if you can draft well enough to replace them cheap - so it's still the drafting (or scouting UFA etc) which is the critical piece. Being able to cut guys is a contingent option. It's not something you can count on on a regular basis unless you are doing other things well. That said, the Lions are in pretty good shape ....this year....

It's not so much specific to how the Bally RSN's get replaced in the immediate future, but I still don't see how they make up the revenue that used to come from the cable systems once the audience is reduced just to people who actually watch baseball (or hockey or basketball) games. Maybe I'm overestimating what the cable system fees used to generate, but I'm seeing a pretty big gap between that and what reasonable subscriber fees can replace.

But he is a bit of a one trick pony in that regard. He's sort of in that mid teir with Fabbri and Kubalik (who's really come down to earch since the hot start), a cut above the Zadinas and Velenos....

yeah - I don't find the some of the arguments about how much cap space a team can clear for the current year very persuasive - you still pay the piper eventually. The counter arg is that the cap keeps going up so don't worry about how much you are burdening yourself in the out years; but it's usually just when people start assuming that things will go on forever that they don't.

I think it must be one of those flavors that there is gene for that some people have and some people don't, because there isn't much middle ground on Vernors. It was always around the house when I was a kid but I think in a lifetime I've never finished a glass of it...and of course the SO loves it.

Kewl.

The system continues to spin into chaos. I have no doubt only some future Congress will be able to sort out the mess the courts have created, but of course not likely this Congress.

Right. It has been the strategy going back to Reagan. If you find a dificiency in the government, you don't fix it, you use it as an excuse to stop doing that function, which is precisely the agenda of the GOP's corporate funders and why the GOP is able to collect so much corporate money despite the general corporate preference for sanity and stability. What could be more transparent in that regard than their crusade against the IRS? The people who rail daily about deficits won't support the agency that could earns back something like $10 for every 1$ they put into it?

Yzerman has a lot of confidence in his - or his system's - ability to find talent in the draft. He's sort of the exact anti-Holland in that regard.

yup. Another guy who is OK but for whom I would take what I can get.

on second and third thought I have to say that moving Hronek does surprise me. I guess that means Yzerman has some level of confidence in the Dmen coming up through the system, because with Hronek gone there certainly isn't much to be excited about in the Wing's current defense corps past Seider and Walman. It could also mean that Yzerman sees something that makes him doubt that Hronek's turnaround this season is sustainable.

LOL - seems to me they were a lot less corrupt than the US gov on or about July, 2019....

could we be setting the premise for.... MALICE. ?

Now the other shoe that has to drop is Bertuzzi isn't it? You've more or less raised the white flag on this season even if it is a good trade for Hronek.

Bert can play an abrasive style, but he's not big enough to create much physical 'presence.' I tend to think they would rather deal him, but he may have succeeded in torpedoing his trade value over the last year, thus I wouldn't be that surprised he does't get moved now. Afterall, even if they don't wan't him long term they can sign him and then trade him in the off-season just as well.

Angela Merkel and Neville Chamberlian can have a good talk comparing notes in the hereafter....

Seems Putin has made that choice for us.

this one is going to be more interesting. Signing Larkin was no-brainer, but I wonder more about where Bertuzzi's skill set (and baggage) rank put him SY's hierachy?

but the payoff is bigger in terms of pulling the teeth of an adversary that traditionally generates a lot of the rest of the defense budget. To the degree that it also leverages the Euros into a more active defense posture it could reduce our long term burden there as well, though whether Euro current rhetoric will be followed by concrete Euro spending is certainly still an open question.

ususally there are more teams wanting to trade down than up - we'll see if this qb crop has enough drawing power to make this year an exception.

a game with too much 'effin around before they found out.

just repeat to yourself as you sip your coffee..."It's not my money, it's not my money....."

never a doubt

in the interview clip Holmes seemed to me to be thinking purely in terms of getting a backup secured and doing it a little earlier in the process than they strung it out to last year. I'd go short on early round QB draft.

Cartoon says Manning didn't have a lot on his FB. No issue for his first start but something to track given how many guys come to camp throwing full speed today.