caulfield12

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=Ah0t...s_wilpon_011512 and Mets fans know frustration like the Duggars know procreation – is a simple fact: The cornucopia of middling free agents the Mets signed this offseason will make more money this year than Jose Reyes. It’s true. Among Frank Francisco ($5.5 million), Jon Rauch ($3.5 million), Ronny Cedeno ($1.15 million) and Scott Hairston ($1.1 million), the Mets handed out $11.25 million in salaries for 2012. The Miami Marlins will pay Reyes $10 million this year. And while one can question both the intelligence and sincerity of a mega-backloaded deal like the one Miami gave Reyes, he will wear a Marlins uniform, not a Mets one, and that alone is damning. Trying to piecemeal together a ballclub like the Mets have done almost never works. Incremental upgrades work for contending teams. They’re wasted money for teams intent on slicing their payroll by one-third as the Mets are. As tough as it would have been to hand the injury-prone Reyes the six years Miami did, the structure of the contract actually made sense for the Mets, who have no money now but, whether under new ownership or a vanity-share-stabilized Fred Wilpon, should a few years down the road. Instead, the Mets – the least-talented team in the NL East by a fairly large margin – spent the winter working on their bullpen. And while it projects as a potential strength, relief pitching is notoriously difficult to peg year-over-year, and the possibility for implosion is almost as strong. Moreover, bullpen strength is almost always an endgame for teams on the upswing. Lock down the starting pitching, fortify the lineup, then bolster the bullpen. The Mets are trying to build from the bottom up, the sort of strategy that works just about never. Fred Wilpon For as long as he has been in his cash-flow muck, Fred Wilpon has received unfailing support from the best ally possible: commissioner Bud Selig. Wilpon is different than Dodgers deadbeat Frank McCourt, Selig says through actions since he can’t through words; the Mets’ owner was worthy, after all, of a $25 million loan from Major League Baseball that he still hasn’t repaid. But pressure is mounting. More bills are coming due. One source says MLB is likely to let the creditors’ squeeze force Wilpon into considering selling, which isn’t exactly imminent – and could set the franchise back even more. If Wilpon wanted what was best for the Mets, he’d sell now and give the club a chance to avoid the wrecking ball barreling toward him. Instead, this is about him and his family and their team, and so he olés the wrecking ball, knowing its target is the team onto which he so desperately wants to hold. It’s sad really, this proud franchise sullied by a man whose greed overwhelmed the greater good of the thing he purportedly loved. Sounds a lot, in fact, like someone with whom Fred Wilpon was intimately familiar: Bernie Madoff. Another article that solidifies the argument/s behind the trade of Sergio Santos...they just better be right about Molina. But trading FOR a young/cost-controlled #2-3 starter for 6 years in exchange for a non-elite, relatively inexperienced closer who will be getting more and more expensive in the future...there's a lot of logic to doing that.

Except for the fact that Viciedo and Rios aren't going anywhere...and, at least for the next two seasons, 2/3rd's of that OF and DH is set (stuck with, more like). Viciedo could clearly be shifted back to 1B at some point, when Konerko's no longer around.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Jan 16, 2012 -> 09:18 AM) And you're advocating the Sox sign him? Yes. I would prefer to trade Floyd now and have Oswalt on just a one year contract....and then deal him at the deadline as well. I suppose the greatest argument against that is that we MIGHT be competitive in 2013 if Floyd's still around, but he's not the kind of pitcher to anchor a staff around and he's going to be blocking Stewart/Molina/Castro/Axelrod/Santiago eventually. It's a pretty risk gamble for KW, though. Standing pat and keeping Floyd around is another form of gamble, because we're not getting a return on him compared to what we might be able to get back in trade for the future.

Then what was the point for KW to have 6 starting pitchers heading into 2006? At that point in time, it was marketed as having a huge competitive advantage over the rest of the league....

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 16, 2012 -> 09:24 AM) But unless you're Kenny Williams, you don't give up guys who project to be legit big leaguers on a "my pitching coach can fix this player" trades. especially when that player is already due $10 million over the next 2 years. So basically, another GM who sees Gavin Floyd as Edwin Jackson and will give up their own version of Daniel Hudson. LOL. Those kind of trades don't often happen in the off-season...well, who knows, maybe. The Cubs might be asking way too much for Garza and they're unwilling to wait until JULY or take a chance on Oswalt breaking down.

Because Oswalt could easily be a financial disaster for one season. Floyd is likely to do what he's done for four years now...consistent, solid, #3 results...and some brilliant stretches followed by head-scratching ones. Risk versus reward. Same reason the Twins just signed J. Zumaya for $800K with another $900K in possible incentives. Perhaps there's some pitching coach out there who has detected a flaw with Floyd and he thinks he's just an easy adjustment or two from being the same caliber of pitcher he was on a consistent basis in 2008. Oswalt has all kinds of injury concerns, durability issues, wear and tear on that arm/elbow/shoulder....lots of teams are considering him for the pen, for that very reason.

Hopefully the HUGO best director award for Marty (not 34, lol) goes a long way to getting that film back out in the marketplace again in Feb/March. WAR HORSE, I have to admit it....had the MARLEY & ME effect on me, even though I knew it was coming. Just a beautiful film to watch...wish I could have seen it on the big screen and not a measly laptop. Moneyball shut out, not surprisingly.

The Twins lost Joe Nathan, Michael Cuddyer and Jason Kubel and except for former Oakland outfielder Josh Willingham, they didn't spend any big money on free agents. There has been criticism from fans and the media about the Twins' questionable offseason moves. "We very rarely get rave reviews in the winter," Ryan said. "The guys that we sign may not make headlines but more often than not, they're people that fit our system. A lot of times we're looking for a guy that's got some versatility, a lot of times we're looking character, a lot of times we're looking to fill holes. "I've never talked too much about how things look on paper, you have to go out and play the games. More often than not, we've done a pretty decent job here of putting together a decent roster that can compete." Ryan considers the Willingham contract a big one. "We gave Willingham a pretty good, sizeable contract here," Ryan said. "I'm not going to say it's $100 million, but it's not too long ago that we gave Morneau a big contract and we gave Mauer a big contract and we just paid Willingham $21 million for three years. I would say that's a sizeable investment. "We needed to get that power righthanded bat and he fit the mold. Depending on what the situation is, you go out and you get the people that you think are right. You don't necessarily have to make a big splash to put a good team together." www.startribune.com/sports Hartman Funny thing is these same comments apply almost equally to KW this offseason. Payroll for the Twins is right around $98-99 million...not so far from where the White Sox are, right?

http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/137397333.html Zumaya signs with Twins, $800K guaranteed, $900K possible in incentives....hitting 92-95 MPH in workouts. Gio Gonzalez has signed a big contract extension in WASHINGTON.

It was uncomfortable listening to Twins telecasts last season as Dick Bremer and, to a lesser extent, Bert Blyleven spent most of the three hours nightly trying to explain away the 99 losses as something other than a disaster wrought upon the public by the front office. Apparently, they did have permission slips to denigrate Kevin Slowey. Injuries and Slowey's attitude -- those were about the only factors that could be identified by the long-serving duo for this fine baseball organization to have fielded the worst team in the American League. And we can't forget that a Bremer-Blyleven telecast is always rich with the fable that there's a Twins Way of playing baseball: exceptional fielding, being smart and aggressive on the bases, and throwing strikes. No matter that you have to go back to 2006 to find a Twins team that stuck to those principles ... Dickie B. remains shocked over boots in the field, screwups on the bases and 3-1 cookies from Nick Blackburn. Try as they might, Bremer and Blyleven have been second-rate homers when compared to Mike Greenlay (analyst) and Dan Terhaar (play-by-play) on Wild telecasts. I'm not sure which number is consistently higher: Tiger Woods' estimate of his putts that "lipped out" after a poor round of golf, or the total number of penalties per game that Greenlay sees as being missed against an opponent and/or unfairly called against the Wild. startribune.com/sports REUSSE

What about trading Gavin Floyd and signing Roy Oswalt on a one-year deal for $8 million? That would be basically revenue neutral...excise $9.5 million more for the 2013 budget and bring in another name pitcher to go with Peavy who could actually help boost or bolster attendance a bit. He snaps back and they've got a VERY valuable trade chip at midseason who can be parlayed into additional prospects, with Castro/Stewart/Molina/Axelrod/Santiago joining the big league rotation at the time of the trade.

We’re counting on Gaston Wahlberg to lead the way! In a weekend that saw both the Mark Wahlberg thriller Contraband and Disney’s 3-D re-release of Beauty and the Beast perform better than expected, it was the former that crossed the finish line in first place. The R-rated Contraband, which stars Wahlberg as a former smuggler trying to protect his brother-in-law from a drug lord, earned an estimated $24.1 million over the standard three-day weekend, and looks to finish the four-day holiday weekend with about $28 million. That’s a solid start for the $25 million movie, a remake of the 2008 Icelandic thriller Reykjavík-Rotterdam. It also represents Wahlberg’s strongest solo debut since 2008′s The Happening. (What? No!) Contraband confirmed Wahlberg’s ability to open a movie, as 69 percent of CinemaScore’s participants listed the actor as their reason for buying a ticket. It received an overall “A-” from the tracking service’s graders, indicating positive word of mouth. But the movie will have to contend with a number of action films in the coming weeks, including Haywire, Underworld: Awakening, and The Grey. In second was Beauty and the Beast 3D with $18.5 million for the three-day frame — the largest January opening for an animated film (topping 2006′s Hoodwinked). Disney spent less than $10 million converting the 1991 classic to 3-D, so this kind of opening more than justifies the studio’s decision to re-release the musical. It also bodes well for Disney’s future 3-D re-releases: Finding Nemo in September, and Monsters, Inc. and The Little Mermaid in 2013. Beast should finish the four-day weekend with around $25 million. Get more EW: Subscribe to the magazine for only 39¢ an issue! However, despite Beast‘s commendable performance, it’s worth pointing out that it fell short of last September’s The Lion King 3D, which debuted to $30.2 million. That could be the result of several factors. For one, King was a much bigger hit in its original release, earning $312.9 million versus Beast‘s $145.9 million. Second, Beast has been out on 3-D Blu-ray since October, whereas King didn’t come out on Blu-ray until after it returned to theaters. And Beast had a harder time attracting the interest of boys. According to Disney, just 31 percent of Beast 3D‘s audience was male — compared to 44 percent for Lion King 3D.http://www.ew.com

Soler, 19, isn't close to major-league ready like Yoenis Cespedes, but the A's are targeting him with the idea of contending in a new ballpark a couple years down the road. The Yankees, Phillies and Rangers are also expected to bid on the 6-foot-3 outfielder, who could end up with a contract north of $20 million. Some MLB teams prefer Cuban outfielder Jorge Soler to Yoenis Cespedes, reports Jim Callis of Baseball America.Callis believes Soler would have been a top-five pick had he been in the 2010 draft and compares him to Royals prospect Bubba Starling. Soler, 19, isn't close to major-league ready, but the 6-foot-3 outfielder is highly-regarded for his power potential. Callis believes Soler is more talented than Leonys Martin, who received a three-year, $15.5 million deal the Rangers. The Phillies, Nationals, Yankees, Cubs, A's, Red Sox and Rangers are believed to be in the mix for Soler. Jorge Soler| OF| 19 years old Standing 6-foot-4 and weighing 225 pounds, Soler isn't your average-build 19-year-old. Soler is described as a potential five-tool player, the dream of fantasy baseball gamers and real life general managers alike. He has plus speed and power potential, and plenty of time to develop those tools. The Cubs, Marlins, Nationals, Phillies, Rangers and Yankees have all reportedly expressed interest. He'll need minor league seasoning, but the wait could be worth it for dynasty league owners who invest. Yoennis Cespedes| OF| 26 years old Cespedes is more than a viral video star. Like Cuban outfielder Leonys Martin, who signed with the Rangers last offseason, Cespedes is near major league ready, but will probably require some time in the minors. He is strong as an ox and has plus speed to boot. The biggest question is if he'll hit for enough average to take advantage of either tool. In a perfect world, he is a slightly below average to average hitter with elite power (think 70 grade on the 20-to-80 scouting scale). A .250-.265 average is palatable when it comes with 30 home runs, above-average stolen base contributions, and strong walk skills that will help his on-base percentage. It's possible he could be an asset come the summer of 2012, but more likely his impact isn't truly felt until the following season. http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/fantasy/...ational-impact/

Looking at Jorge Solver’s age and physical frame makes you think you just caught lighting in a bottle. His frame and projection is still massively untapped and he could be a 230 pound masher in his prime; it is that type of lower foundation and torque that makes every scout think he will be better than Leonys Martin, who was signed by the Rangers last year. He shows every tool that you covet and then some for an up the middle prospect. While he has a bag of tools at his disposal, he will need a good deal of refinement. His ceiling is not going to be as high as Cespedes because he will outgrow the center field label much earlier in his career and the same fear of contact at the highest level would not play as well in the corner for an entire career. The other shoe to drop is the amount of risk a team will make in his investment. Sorer’s price tag will likely be above $20 million dollars and that is a large bit to swallow considering how much boom or bust is left in this young man’s game. He would likely start out in high A ball and there is a long road to show that he could be an effective MLB outfielder. From a skills standpoint, Sorer can swing for the fences and shows more pull power, but it is safe to suggest pole to pole once he irons out his game and matures a bit more. It is a longer swing, with impressive bat speed making up for any minor flaw, that will need to be compacted down the line, but again you cannot teach raw athleticism and fast twitch production. Sorer has the overall skill set to play center field right now, but will move to the corner on any parent club. His arm strength is up to plus. Standard speed with growth and maturation should make him a quality right fielder down the line. Overall, he is the same power/speed combo as Cespedes but many years younger. He will not come anywhere close to the dollar amount required for Cespedes, but if everything falls in line Solder can be a quality everyday type player with power production. These are hard to find at any stage, or location and the reason why he will be sought after by many teams. www.orioles-nation.com Dammit KW, can you please come up with a legit CFer who sticks for 5 years and puts up a 725 OPS consistently?

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Jan 15, 2012 -> 05:25 PM) What one has to do with the other is mystifying. You predicted/advocated a Ramirez trade. You were right on Santos...also confident about the Ramirez move happening as well? I'll state for the record that Jackson coming back is more likely than Ramirez being traded. An honorary bet. Probably neither will occur.

If we get Sol-er, maybe Solyndra Solar Power/Panels/Energy can be one our new advertising/marketing partners. Or a Spanish tanning booth company... BTW, how long before the first "Soler Power" headline appeared after a GW-uRIBe? The Red Sox have scouted and are impressed with both Cuban defectors Yoennis Cespedes and Jorge Soler, but it appears the Red Sox will likely pass on the huge dollars it may take to sign Cespedes and bid for Soler instead, according to a major league source. Soler, 19, is a 6-3 slender right-handed hitting centerfielder (sound a little bit like a younger version of THE MISSILE?), who needs more seasoning compared to the Major League-ready Cespedes, who is 26 and ready to step into someone's outfield. Cespedes,a righthanded power hitter, is projected to be more of a leftfielder at Fenway. The Red Sox are looking for a righthanded hitting rightfielder. The Red Sox and a few other teams have started to study the cost of Cespedes, an unproven free-agent who has not played against Major League-caliber competition. The money is said to be over $30 million on a four or five year deal and there's also talk of longer term demands. The A's are yet another of the teams said to be very interested in SOLER.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Jan 15, 2012 -> 03:07 PM) The White Sox are not going to deal with Scott Boras. The idea that maybe he's closer to being a White Sox because the Yankees are off the market is absurd. Which is more likely Marty, the White Sox trade Alexei Ramirez before Opening Day or sign Edwin Jackson on a one/two year contract with limited NTC?

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Jan 15, 2012 -> 12:31 PM) He is asking a lot of money, if he continues thinking about $50M to sign. I thought $10M was a lot for Viciedo who spent most of the last three years in the minors. Alexei was a steal considering. But, there might be a real upside to Cespedes if the signing bonus price is more reasonable. The foreign born players asking prices are enormous IMO and just too much. Look at the Darvish kid from Japan. The Rangers paid big dollars just to get the negotiating rights. And the big talk is the deal won't get done because Darvish wants the shorter term deal and huge potential payoff (to himself and not to his Japanese club) of having every team in baseball bidding for him on the open market as early as 2015. Will be interesting to see which side blinks first...or if the Rangers go after Fielder and end up passing on Darvish.

Contraband looks poised to rack up $26-28 million for the weekend, beating out BEAUTY & THE BEAST, which cost about $10 million to convert to 3D. I think we can legitimately call Wahlberg an "action star" and box office draw at this point in his career. Sherlock Holmes was a bit nebulous in its villain this time, Mark Strong was such a huge and malevolent presence in the last one, and not nearly as much Rachel McAdams or "romance" as the first picture in the series. The other "Shirley" was the British actor from V for Vendetta, right? He seemed very familiar, for some reason. Still nothing close to GHOST PROTOCOL in recent months in the action genre.

Oswalt, Garza, Floyd...those are the last 3 chips to fall, as it currently stands. The reason I wrote that about Jackson is that the idea was being floated that many teams (Yankees) were looking at offering him only a 1-2 year deal and shying away from 3-4-5 years on Edwin. As Balta noted, that probably fits our current mode of doing business...trying to stay competitive on the fly while buying time for Stewart/Molina/Castro and staying within hailing distance of first place at the Break. Enough to stave off a complete attendance fall off into the abyss for 2-3 years. Sure, there's a large number of fans who disagree with this type of piecemeal approach, but KW's kind of stuck with it while he's still dealing with payroll consequences of Dunn/Rios/Peavy. If the Red Sox were to acquire a rent-a-pitcher before the July 31 deadline, they likely would be picking from pending free agents -- and, just their luck, the pending class of free-agent pitchers projects to be deep. Any free agent-to-be whose team figures to be out of contention by July 31 could be a target. Among the names worth watching: * Scott Baker, on whom the Twins hold a $9.5 million option for 2013; * Joe Blanton, who was limited to just 41 1/3 innings by an elbow injury last season; * Matt Cain, who could sign a contract extension with the Giants in the meantime; * Jorge De La Rosa, who holds an $11 million player option for 2013; * Gavin Floyd, on whom the White Sox hold a $9.5 million option for 2013; * Zack Greinke, who has a limited no-trade clause in his contract; * Cole Hamels, who won't be traded unless the Phillies absolutely collapse; * Dan Haren, ditto for the Angels; * Tim Hudson, on whom the Braves hold a $9 million team option for 2013; * Colby Lewis, who still might be traded this winter if the Rangers sign Yu Darvish; * Francisco Liriano, who posted a 5.09 ERA in 134 1/3 innings pitched last season; * Shaun Marcum, who has a 3.59 ERA in close to 400 innings pitched in the last two seasons; * Brandon McCarthy, who posted a 3.32 ERA in 25 starts last season; * Anibal Sanchez, who has a 3.66 ERA in his last 80 starts over the last three seasons; * Jake Westbrook, who had a 4.66 ERA for the Cardinals last season. The Angels, the Brewers, the Cardinals and the Phillies -- among others -- figure to be in contention on July 31, making it unlikely they'll trade a starter. But the Athletics (McCarthy), the Twins (Baker and Liriano) and the White Sox (Floyd) all likely will be out of contention and open to moving pitchers for prospects during the season. All the Red Sox really need to do is get to July with the pitching they have now. If they can get there and are willing to part with a top prospect or two, they might have enough pitching after all. from providencejournal/blogs Of all those guys, Blanton seems like the best "buy low" candidate to go after...since the likelihood of Jackson or Oswalt is pretty low, one would have to guess. They'll probably kick the tires on Hudson, Lewis and Westbrook as well, depending on their position in the division and minor league starting pitcher development timeframes/progress.

Might as well include Paulo Orlando and the "legendary" Anderson Gomes while he's at it....for the Sox Jai Alai league team.

Well, we don't have the usual "keep him away from Walker as long as possible" posts to worry about this season. There's that. Supposedly, Cespedes hasn't played under the lights in 10 months, that was his excuse basically for the 3 strikeout game.

No interest in COUGARS, unless they will give me an AUDI TT as part of their "sponsorship" agreement, haha. Did marry a Russian, however. Beautiful women...but often with icy/cold hearts, just like the winters there. However, if you do succeed, you'll have her heart forever. Before there's a Czech/Slovak/HungaryCupid sighting, I would lump them all in that same general category. Caveat emptor.

Soler, more of a work in progress, might follow Viciedo's example in going to Double-A to start his American career. But there are some scouts who rank him ahead of Cespedes in terms of his upside. His five-tool potential would make him the No. 1 prospect immediately in either the Cubs or White Sox systems. Because of his advance billing, the signing of Cespedes will be considered a masterstroke for someone. He said last week that the Marlins, Orioles, Tigers, Indians, White Sox and Cubs have shown the most interest in him. But a source with one of those teams says he was surprised to see only six teams listed, and wouldn't be shocked if he winds up with a team he didn't list. Most expect Cespedes and Soler to go to the highest bidder, which is usually the case with Cuban players, but clearly the White Sox and Cubs are positioning themselves to sell the comfortable fit, not just the contract. Both organizations know other teams are prepared to extend themselves financially, as these are among the last significant pieces that can be acquired before international signing limits kick in this summer. In signing Balaguert (for $400,000) and Martinez (for $250,000), Epstein followed Hendry's lead to help create a welcoming organization for fellow Cubans. Belaguert played alongside Soler with Cuba's Junior National team at a tournament in Canada, during 2010. He was in center field, hitting down in the order at the end of the tournament after leading off at the start, while Soler played right and batted third. Martinez spent that season pitching for a bad Industriales team in Cuba's Serie Nacional, and like Balaguert is well acquainted with Soler. A major league source said the White Sox (COULD, sic) also join the Cubs in pursuing left-hander Gerardo Concepcion. He was Rookie of the Year in Serie Nacional last year but hasn't had as much international experience as Soler, Belaguert and Martinez. He's considered a finesse pitcher but has succeeded with his command. Rogers www.chicagotribune.com/sports

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jan 13, 2012 -> 06:20 PM) I didn't find it odd that people were cheering her on...I was responding to Caufield finding her character to be frightening...she is definitely a bit crazy, but not so much that normal people have a hard time identifying with her plight. As for the nudity, Fincher really didn't show any more than the Swedish version showed. I guess I was more surprised it was in that version than this one...although I guess I do find it surprising that Mara was cool with it. Well, maybe not compared to "JUNO" girl in HARD CANDY. That was REALLY scary. Having read all the books and seen the first version, of course I knew what to expect in advance....and maybe 90% of it is my inherent bias for MARA kicking in.