NFL Draft

I've gone around the internet and tried to find out a consensus on the Chargers draft since I've obviously seen a Northern Illinois game. I've copied and pasted for your reading pleasure. Its sounds like most analysts were meh on the Chargers noting that Larry English is good but not middle of the first round good. When we get him on the Merriman plan, he'll be blowing people up. A lot of people talked about English being Merriman insurance, I think enough people raised doubts that its possible San Diego is nervous that A. Merriman may not get back to full strength after the knee injury or B. He will get to full strength and then leave as a free agent when the Redskins offer him 100 mil. With the franchise tag rule, I don't think we'll have to worry about losing Merriman for a couple years but AJ smith might think Merriman is a replaceable part not worthy of a big contract. Back to the Hester deal, look up Phil Loadholt, an offensive tackle drafted by Minnesota in the 2nd round a couple spots behind where we would have picked in the 2nd round. If we hadn't done the Hester deal, we could have had English and gotten a 6'7'' 335 pound right tackle also. Anyway, that's the past. In the first round, I was going to grill the Chargers on not being aggressive and trying to move up to get Orakpo (a personal favorite after the chain picture) but the Redskins made that pick after 10 seconds, its clear they had no interest in trading the pick no matter what the Chargers or anyone else could offer in trade. This draft gets a thumbs up from me.

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San Diego Chargers: GRADE: C+
The selection of linebacker Larry English at No. 16 was a little high, but he fills a potential need for them and he's a good player. Guards Louis Vasquez and Tyronne Green were good selections in the third and fourth rounds. Defensive tackle Vaughn Martin was a bit of a reach in the fourth round because he played in Canada against a lower level of competition. The late-round picks of running back Gartrell Johnson, cornerback Brandon Hughes, safety Kevin Ellison and wide receiver Demetrius Byrd were all good picks.

San Diego Chargers
2009 draft class
Best pick: G Tyronne Green, Auburn (Fourth round, No. 133 overall)
Worst pick: DT Vaughn Martin, Western Ontario (Fourth round, No. 113 overall)
Bottom line: It's hard to knock the pick of DE Larry English at No. 16 overall because I think he is a good all-around player who will help the Chargers in the long term. However, San Diego's Super Bowl window is closing quickly and drafting English at arguably their deepest position -- assuming Shawne Merriman returns to health -- does nothing to upgrade the team in the short term. The Chargers needed an impact player at ILB or a physical presence at RT, and after passing on those needs in the first round they were left to wait until the third round for their next pick. Martin has upside thanks to his combination of size and athleticism but it won't surprise me if he's not on their 53-man roster this fall. The only really good news for San Diego is that Green and Louis Vasquez will beef up the interior of the offensive line now and in the future.

San Diego Chargers
Picks: DE/LB Larry English, G Louis Vasquez, DT Vaughn Martin, G Tyronne Green, RB Gartrell Johnson, CB Brandon Hughes, S Kevin Ellison, WR Demetrius Byrd.
Positives: English, Vazquez, Martin.
Negative: Didn’t get top-end running back.
Bottom line: B. English is a small-college player with big-time pass-rush skills, which the Chargers need after not having linebacker Shawne Merriman last season. Merriman is expected to come back this season, but may not get all of the explosiveness back from what he had prior to his knee injury. Therefore, English may have to be ready sooner than later. Vasquez, Martin and Green are the type of big-body guys the Chargers like on their interior lines and Martin should step right in to replace departed Igor Olshansky. However, the Chargers were really hoping for a shot at Georgia running back Knowshon Moreno, who was taken at No. 12 by Denver, four picks ahead of the Chargers. Moreno was going to be the guy to step in after LaDainian Tomlinson left.

San Diego: B-

The Chargers' draft was quietly productive. They may have taken pass-rusher Larry English a tad too early at No. 16 but he is a fine player who should make a fast impact. Guard Louis Vasquez has a chance to start right away if the third-rounder from Texas Tech has a good training camp. Guard Tyronne Green, (fourth round), running back Gartrell Johnson (fifth) and safety Kevin Ellison (sixth) all could help down the road. It was nothing fancy, but it was a solid draft by the three-time defending division champions.

San Diego

The selection of Northern Illinois pass rusher Larry English helps because of the loss of Igor Olshansky and with Shawne Merriman entering his final season contractually. It's difficult to argue with GM A.J. Smith, but a lot of teams ranked English as a second-round player. English, who started 47 games, had 31 1/2 career sacks and twice was named the best player in Mid-American Conference.
Colorado State running back Gartrell Johnson proved his worth with a 285-yard effort against Fresno State in the New Mexico Bowl game. Johnson led the Mountain West Conference with 113.5 yards per game. Grade: B

What do you think of the Larry English pick for the Chargers? Did he get taken too early, or is his dominant performance in the MAC enough to justify him going before some defensive players from the big-time programs?

SportsNation Mel Kiper: I didn't think he was taken too early. It was a team that had a chance to make a luxury pick. This is Shawn Merriman insurance. He's coming off of a knee injury. He's a perfect 3-4 OLB. Now they have that third entity that they had the luxury of taking. They had no key need area going in. They also picked a RB. This was a pick for a good player in the MAC. It's not like the MAC is I-AA. It's a good football conference. He played for Northern Illinois and played well. He was in my top 25 for a lot of the year.

# Best pick: Guard Louis Vasquez, the team's second-round pick, is a feisty lineman who fits in with what the Chargers want to do.
# Questionable move: Taking Larry English with the 16th pick might have been a little high. And it really wasn't a need. Some teams had second-round grades on English.
# Second-day gem: Fourth-round pick Vaughn Martin played his college ball in Canada, but he initially was set to go to Michigan State. He is 6-3, 331 pounds and has a lot of raw ability.
I just didn't think they did a lot of really good things. But English can change that if he becomes another Shawne Merriman. C-


San Diego Chargers

Grade: B+

Details: A back to basics draft for Chargers GM A.J. Smith after they spent two years going for luxury picks. Northern Illinois DE/OLB Larry English will learn how to play outside linebacker, and then eventually replace Shawne Merriman or Shaun Phillips as a big-time pass rusher. Three straight linemen in the middle rounds will add bulk. San Diego only gets knocked off “A” status because they dealt their second-rounder in a questionable deal for Jacob Hester last year. (Just so we're clear, I didn't write the last sentence)

good riddance

Go

My birthday is coming up

PLEEEEEEEASE

Baseball Predictions

Hey everyone, hope you are as excited as I am about the beginning of the MLB season.
Predictions:

AL East
Yankees - 95 wins
Red Sox - 93 wins
Rays - 92 wins
Blue Jays - 80 wins
Orioles - 71 wins

Its a shame only 2 out of the Yankees, Red Sox, Rays threesome can make the playoffs because they are IMO the best 3 teams in the league (although some people would argue the cubs belong there). However, the cubs get to beat up on the crappy NL central while a team like the Blue Jays, which is actually talented and would do well in several other divisions, is the 4th best team in this one. Easily the toughest division. The Yankees are spent a ton of money on free agents this winter, and while these contracts will be burdens in 5 years, right now they have several very talented players in their prime.

AL Central
Indians - 85 wins
Twins - 82 wins
Tigers - 80 wins
White Sox - 77 wins
Royals - 75 wins

This is one of the aforementioned less talented divisions. It will be close as every team has significant flaws. The Indians and Tigers have significant starting pitching issues to go with good offenses. The Twins and Royals can't hit and the White Sox are old. You could make a believable case that any of the top 4 teams could win the division.

AL West
A's - 84 wins - A's win tiebreaker game
Angels - 84 wins
Mariners - 75 wins
Rangers - 72 wins

I know, I know, cop-out of the century predicting a tie. But these teams are very evenly matched although in very different situations. The A's have a bunch of up and coming pitchers and a newly added star offensive player in Matt Holliday. The Angels are trying to hang on to success while their core ages and the deal with significant injuries to the pitching staff. Ultimately, it will be the injury stories that determine who wins this division. The Angels two best starting pitchers are going to miss the beginning of the season with injuries while Eric Chavez of the A's is likely to re-injure his shoulder if he sneezes to hard. If Erving Santana and John Lackey of the Angels don't miss too much time, they will probably take the division. If the A's rookies in the starting rotation hold up well and perform better than expected of rookie pitchers, they will probably take the division. This one will probably go down to the wire.

National League
NL East
Mets - 91 wins
Braves - 87 wins
Phillies - 86 wins
Marlins - 74 wins
Nationals - 73 wins

The Mets are the class of this division after re-tooling the bullpen. Either the Braves or Phillies will win the wild card and after adding Derek Lowe, Javier Vazquez, and Kenshin Kawakami; the Braves pitching is what seals the deal and leaves last year's world series winner out of the playoffs.

NL Central
Cubs - 94
Brewers - 82
Cardinals - 81
Reds - 78
Astros - 73
Pirates - 69

This division is the Cubs and 5 teams ranging from, at best, average to worst team in baseball. The Cardinals have one ridiculously good player (Pujols), 2 decent starting pitchers (though one is always hurt), and a team of scrubs (with Khalil Greene being king of the scrubs). The Brewers have some young talented position players but lost their 2 best pitchers to free agency and will only have one starting pitcher that is safely above league average (Yovani Gallardo). The Pirates bring up the rear in the division and I predict they will have the worst record in the majors when its all said and done.

NL West
Dodgers - 91 wins
D'Backs - 85 wins
Giants - 80 wins
Rockies - 71 wins
Padres - 70 wins

The Dodgers will safely win this division as it boasts one of the best top-bottom lineups in baseball. The Rockies lost their best pitcher to injury for the season and traded their best hitter for nothing that will be very useful in the major leagues next season. They will be fighting off the Padres to avoid the cellar in the NL West. The Diamondbacks have a young core of position players ready to take the next step to stardom and have 2 of the best starting pitchers in the game. They will fight the Phillies and the Braves for the NL wildcard.

First Round Playoff Scenarios
Yankees > A's
Red Sox > Indians
Cubs > Braves
Dodgers > Mets

Second Round Playoff Scenarios
Yankees > Red Sox
Dodgers > Cubs (98 more years)

World Series
Yankees > Dodgers

Enjoy the season everyone!