Good News, Bad News.

First, the good news:



Now, the bad:

Well, it looks like it's time to say good-bye to Kris Dielman, widely considered the anchor of last year's stellar offensive line. Kris is ready to join the free agent pool tonight at 9:00 after the Chargers were somehow unable to come up with an offer tantalizing enough to keep him off the open market. Here's another hit single from BA GM AJ on the sitch:

“This will hurt,” Smith reiterated yesterday. “I don't blame him. He deserves everything he gets. He's a great kid, a great pro. But the only way to make him stay is to give him what he wants.”

There you have it. Dielman is being unreasonable. You really have to look for it, but that's what Smith is saying. I consider myself fluent in AJ these days. Check it:

"He deserves everything he gets," means, "Some desperate team is going to pay the greedy son of a bitch more than I deem him worthy of. Fucking pussies!"

"But the only way to make him stay is to give him what he wants," means, "Believe me, if I could force him to stay I would, but I'm certainly not going to pay him actual money. The bottom line is that unless your name rhymes with MaDainian Momlinson, if you want to play for my glorious empire, you'll take what I want to pay you."

I've seen this at the poker table many times. Hell, I've lived it. You're rolling along, getting all the cards you need. You don't feel like you can lose. You've made all the right plays, and even some of the wrong ones, and luck has rewarded you every time. Then you run into a couple of bad hands. But instead of tightening up and playing it straight for a while, you try to gamble your way through it. You think, "I'm better than these guys. I can get it all back." Most of the time you don't.

Donnie Edwards was a bad hand. I think Dielman will end up being a bad hand. Norv Turner is a split pot, which is pretty much annoying, so that blows. Players like Edwards and Dielman are not so easily replaced. BA GM AJ better think about playing a little bit safe for a bit, or he might turn out like another "Genius" GM I remember. Who will be your Brian Still, AJ? Your Aaron Hayden?

Update: Michael Turner has been saddled with a first and third round draft pick tender, more or less insuring that he will stay with the team for one more season. Personally, I don't mind this as I love having that insurance policy back there. But more importantly, to everyone who said to me that Turner was gone for sure: Suck it!!! You all looked at me funny when I told you not to be surprised if AJ made him unattainable, because AJ loves HIS guys. Suck it! Suck it! Suck it! Why do you question me?!!!