Thoughts on Barker as our GM?

[1argoholic]

Do you have faith in him or not? I'm on the fence. I think he can find talent but could do much more when it comes to Canadian talent and taking the gamble out of his draft picks. He seems to look at the draft as more of a crap shoot than taking the best player available that could help sooner rather than never. He seems to want to find some sort of gem in some obscure college that no one has ever heard of other than the students.

[OV Argo]

He's a veteran football guy.

[RoRoYoBoat]

Barker is a cunning opportunist. As for the talent, as long as Chris Jones is around Barker will look good even if he's not the one on the trail. Milanovich pulls a ton of weight as he has the potential to be a long term cog for the team. Should the Senator have to choose he'll go with Milanovich. So Barker is insulated, to his credit he's surrounded himself with a lot of talent. All he has to do is manage the payroll and staffers and he will be ok and can charge as much cheesecake on his expense account as he wants.

[KCargosfan]

Do you have faith in him or not? I'm on the fence. I think he can find talent but could do much more when it comes to Canadian talent and taking the gamble out of his draft picks. He seems to look at the draft as more of a crap shoot than taking the best player available that could help sooner rather than never. He seems to want to find some sort of gem in some obscure college that no one has ever heard of other than the students.

Used to be a fan, now, not so sure. Letting Picard go was a HUGE mistake. After this latest move, I think he is rolling the dice big time and will either be fired at the end of the year or look brilliant.

[1argoholic]

Difficult to figure where the heck his mind is at.

[gilthethrill]

I didn't hear anyone complaining about Barker when he traded for Ray or hired Milanovich.

[AngeloV]

Guys, they are 3-3 along with 4 other teams, and just 2 points behind the best record in the league. I think it's time to take a deep breath and relax.

[NelsonP204]

Barker is a much better GM than head coach and definitely above average. The overall talent level on the club has been improved dramatically since he has taken over. The only place I would like to see more improvement is on the offensive line. I believe that having a better blocking back in Kackert and one who is more of a dual threat will help the offensive line quite a bit. It will be very interesting to see how the new look line plays this weekend along with the Kackert change.

[Invader]

Barker did a good job, especially in his first year when his vast experience was beneficial for the team, as a coach and GM. I think he's better at player personelle and scouting rather than being the CEO.

[KCargosfan]

I didn't hear anyone complaining about Barker when he traded for Ray or hired Milanovich.

Because Barker's had some good moves in the past means we can't question other moves we disagree with? For the record, I've been a big defender of his the past two years.

[ArgoGabe22]

Lets just say I would rather have him than Tillmen, Mack and Taman but of course would prefer Jim Popp. Overall a pretty decent job, so far so good.

[gilthethrill]

Because Barker's had some good moves in the past means we can't question other moves we disagree with? For the record, I've been a big defender of his the past two years.

Not at all. Just seems there is more complaining about Barker then anything else.

[doubleblue]

Jim has a track record of bringing in quality players when he was in Calagary. Doing the same thing here IMO. With Ricky Ray's bigger ticket they had to replace some higher salaries with young cheaper people but try and keep the talent level. That has been a challenge in some areas like the O-Line. Keeping for Picard and Smith for Murphy is you get what you pay for. Enough said.
Inman has been an upgrade at WR, and there hasn't been a drop off on defense replacing Parker, Pile and Wroten and maybe an improvement with the cheaper talent. Ball, Watkins and Armstead. Some of the other moves just cancel each other IMO. But enough changes were made to get that extra 250,000 300,00 or so for Ray and we mustn't forget Rambo won't come cheap either. He is a quality receiver if healthy. Kackert for Boyd opens up cap space to add Rambo?

[ArgoGabe22]

I know someone who doesn't like Jim, Matt Dunigan.

[1argoholic]

Someone mentioned better than Tillman. NO!

[RoRoYoBoat]

Jim has a track record of bringing in quality players when he was in Calagary. Doing the same thing here IMO. With Ricky Ray's bigger ticket they had to replace some higher salaries with young cheaper people but try and keep the talent level. That has been a challenge in some areas like the O-Line. Keeping for Picard and Smith for Murphy is you get what you pay for. Enough said.
Inman has been an upgrade at WR, and there hasn't been a drop off on defense replacing Parker, Pile and Wroten and maybe an improvement with the cheaper talent. Ball, Watkins and Armstead. Some of the other moves just cancel each other IMO. But enough changes were made to get that extra 250,000 300,00 or so for Ray and we mustn't forget Rambo won't come cheap either. He is a quality receiver if healthy. Kackert for Boyd opens up cap space to add Rambo?

Don't kid yourself Murphy and Jones brought in most of the talent in Calgary.

[ArgoRavi]

I know someone who doesn't like Jim, Matt Dunigan.

Dunigan coached and managed the Stamps after Barker did it in '03 and then Barker was still in Calgary with a radio show during the '04 season IIRC and had to critique Dunigan's work - and in the Feterik era, neither Barker nor Dunigan had it easy - so I can see where any dislike of Barker stems from with Dunigan. Barker took over as GM in '05 after the ownership change and Dunigan was back at TSN.

[ArgoGabe22]

Matt Dunigan brought Nik Lewis and Joffrey Reynolds. I know that because he doesn't stop talking about it when they do/did something productive especially Lewis.

[paulwoods13]

Jim has a track record of bringing in quality players when he was in Calagary. Doing the same thing here IMO. With Ricky Ray's bigger ticket they had to replace some higher salaries with young cheaper people but try and keep the talent level. That has been a challenge in some areas like the O-Line. Keeping for Picard and Smith for Murphy is you get what you pay for. Enough said.
Inman has been an upgrade at WR, and there hasn't been a drop off on defense replacing Parker, Pile and Wroten and maybe an improvement with the cheaper talent. Ball, Watkins and Armstead. Some of the other moves just cancel each other IMO. But enough changes were made to get that extra 250,000 300,00 or so for Ray and we mustn't forget Rambo won't come cheap either. He is a quality receiver if healthy. Kackert for Boyd opens up cap space to add Rambo?

Very solid analysis, doubleblue.

[Fungi]

I'm just miffed we didn't get anything for him, and people, like marcwagz keep on buying his jerseys. There was no thought about those fans. They should be compensated.

[ArgoRavi]

Matt Dunigan brought Nik Lewis and Joffrey Reynolds. I know that because he doesn't stop talking about it when they do/did something productive especially Lewis.

For some reason, TSN played their top 50 players from prior to the 2011 season at 8 pm tonight and Dunigan was doing just that - taking credit for Lewis and Reynolds.

[1argoholic]

Why would you play the top 50 which was done prior to the start of the 2011 season. Didn't they have more hockey bs?

[ArgoRavi]

Why would you play the top 50 which was done prior to the start of the 2011 season. Didn't they have more hockey bs?

Darian Durant was near the top of that list for crying out loud. It is hard to believe that fourteen months can be that long but in the world of professional sports, it is. Interesting on the pregame show btw that both Dunigan and Schultz believe that the Argos will be better off without Boyd than the Esks with him.

[paulwoods13]

Have to say it was unfortunate at best that the top-50 show ran so deep into the season without any revisions. I turned it on just in time to hear them singing Boyd's praises and expressing their excitement about what he would do this season for Toronto. In fairness to TSN, tho, their resources have been stretched very thin by the Olympics and it's not surprising they have inserted some canned material -- I'm just surprised they chose soemthing that so obviously would make less sense six weeks after it was first broadcast.

[ArgoRavi]

Have to say it was unfortunate at best that the top-50 show ran so deep into the season without any revisions. I turned it on just in time to hear them singing Boyd's praises and expressing their excitement about what he would do this season for Toronto. In fairness to TSN, tho, their resources have been stretched very thin by the Olympics and it's not surprising they have inserted some canned material -- I'm just surprised they chose soemthing that so obviously would make less sense six weeks after it was first broadcast.

Paul, that wasn't this year's top 50, it was last year's which makes even less sense as to why it was broadcast.

[paulwoods13]

Paul, that wasn't this year's top 50, it was last year's which makes even less sense as to why it was broadcast.

All I can say is wow. Very surprising programming choice.

[argos1873]

Seriously? It wasn't even the pre-2012 season top 50?

[tennyis]

he should be fired imho.. he takes to many unnecessary risks without any reward. like letting cleo go last year and letting boyd go this year. Cleo, like him or not was the most important player on the team last year and we probably won a couple more games if he started the rest of the way. This year... letting Boyd go for nothing... It's like he's got something to prove, oh look at me I let Cleo go and Jyles is amazing... umm no he's not... oh look at me, I let boyd go and Kackert is way better... lets hope it works out that way for the sake of the team and my blood pressure

[1argoholic]

No they were showing a preview for the first game of 2011 being BC and Montreal. Real joke for sure.

[Gill The Thrill]

Paul, that wasn't this year's top 50, it was last year's which makes even less sense as to why it was broadcast.

They still had Henry Burris of the Stampeders at #2....that's when I tuned in and immediately knew it was not the list that was made before this current season.


he should be fired imho.. he takes to many unnecessary risks without any reward. like letting cleo go last year and letting boyd go this year. Cleo, like him or not was the most important player on the team last year and we probably won a couple more games if he started the rest of the way. This year... letting Boyd go for nothing... It's like he's got something to prove, oh look at me I let Cleo go and Jyles is amazing... umm no he's not... oh look at me, I let boyd go and Kackert is way better... lets hope it works out that way for the sake of the team and my blood pressure

I'm not going to say I was a big Barker supporter when it came to coaching on the sidelines as I think he's as a bit soft, tended to play favourites, and made some very serious and notable errors in decision making such as sending in Grant Shaw to kick a 57 yd fg on a hunch in Edmonton last year, after Shaw was shanking 25 yd punts all day. That being said, he is a much better GM as he is allowing his hired Head Coach to have input on the roster and is not interfering. I think it's to his (Barker's) advantage that as a GM, he can keep an arms length relationship with the players as it allows him to make the tough decisions that I feel he did not have the guts to make if he were in the locker room and more directly involved.

Case in point, I would have either gotten rid of Boyd or at least have disciplined him last season after that on-the-field in game outburst on Special teams coach Mike O'Shea. Barker kind of wimped out on that one last season with the media by just claiming that football is an emotional game and that he was going to let it slide, while at the same time handing Lemon his walking papers. It sent a mixed message.

As for releasing Lemon, that was one of his better moves, as I was proud to go back to the stadium to watch Jyles as he was at least was more entertaining to watch since he was willing to at least throw a pass farther than the first down marker. Needless to say, I'm delighted you're not the GM of the Argos as attendance would be down to 4 digits if you came back to camp this year with Lemon as the starter

[doubleblue]

he should be fired imho.. he takes to many unnecessary risks without any reward. like letting cleo go last year and letting boyd go this year. Cleo, like him or not was the most important player on the team last year and we probably won a couple more games if he started the rest of the way. This year... letting Boyd go for nothing... It's like he's got something to prove, oh look at me I let Cleo go and Jyles is amazing... umm no he's not... oh look at me, I let boyd go and Kackert is way better... lets hope it works out that way for the sake of the team and my blood pressure

lol You are too funny.