caulfield12

Or more accurately, adding some combination of Span/Parra/CarGo/Ethier/Gardner/Inciarte/Blackmon along with the likes of Austin Jackson (against lefties and rotating DH) is much palatable than overcommitting in years and dollars to the Big 3 plus Davis. Almost nobody truly believes the White Sox can compete with Garcia in the field and Saladino at SS and Laroche not sharing the DH spot with a legit platoon partner. As long as teams believe that one of those four is the one to get them over the top, there will be a bidding field of 9-11 teams and at least 3-4 for each player. Except for the Mets, there aren't many teams who want to "go cheap/er" and risk the consequence of spending the same amount roughly for cheaper options in combination and having them blow up...the Tigers, Orioles, Angels, Cards, Giants, White Sox, Nationals, Red Sox, Royals...all looking for OF upgrades still. And the pendulum shifts too far, teams will start asking for too much in trade return, teams will look at the cost/benefit and decide not giving up talent or picks might be the better way to go...or giving up picks for Gordon/Upton/Davis but no valuable young talent surrendered. That can then be held back for June/July adjustment moves.

Where's your list, haha? I just finished The Big Short...perfect companion piece to Inside Job and 10x better than Margin Call. 1. Spotlight 2. Room 3. Brooklyn 4. The Big Short 5. The Martian 6. Carol 7. Mad Max:Fury Road 8. The Revenant 9. Sicario 10. Inside Out Just missed: Steve Jobs, The Tribe, Bridge of Spies, Straight Outta Compton, Anomalisa, 45 Years, The End of the Tour, The Danish Girl, Amy

http://www.sbnation.com/2016/1/1/10699822/...-rose-bowl-iowa Stanford band continues to piss people off...but probably no worse than Hollywood making jokes about flyover territory or movies like "Cedar Rapids." And at least Field of Dreams was great for attracting tourism dollars while it lasted.

There's pandering and then there's degrading yourself and anyone who follows sports... I can't think of a single Iowa fan who would vote for her as a result, even in the GOP, and probably a lot more votes lost. At any rate, she lost her positive momentum a long time ago. Too late. Christie at least has an outside chance if he finished Top 3-4 in NH.

Ian O'Connor @Ian_OConnor I'll say this much -- comparing Christian McCaffrey to Reggie Bush isn't as bad as Dan Quayle comparing himself to JFK. He's a much more dangerous Tim Dwight minus the steroids...name from back in the day. Well, at least there's no heartbreak in this one. I'll be somewhat pacified if the bb team were to win at W.Lafayette, but's that's not likely either. The 2002 and 2008 Iowa teams were much better...as well as the Drew Tate led team in 2005 that beat LSU in the bowl and the one that whipped Florida. Lots of heart but lacking in talent other than OL, Desmond King, rb.

Stanford, OSU and a 100% healthy ND all would have made for more compelling tv in the Final Four. How the hell did NW beat Stanford? McCaffrey already has 140 yards in about six minutes. Getting his Heisman denied moment in the sun. Is he related to Ed?

Upton with a similar opt-out to Heyward after 3-4 years makes some sense... At least he would be in his 20's and with less concern about declining production. That said, his market has been the most quietest of those three...kind of similar to Chris Davis, albeit with no offer from the Padres to legitimately keep him.

Typical Iowa start to an important game where the other team has more athleticism and dynamic playmakers.

QUOTE (3GamesToLove @ Jan 1, 2016 -> 08:34 AM) Try using quotation marks, dude. Why would I be writing from the perspective of a Cincy sports columnist? It's also a lot easier to get italics and bold to function with a pc compared with an ipad for some strange reason.

Urban Meyer is going to have more Ezekiel Elliott related nightmares tonight.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Dec 31, 2015 -> 09:52 PM) Rockies do not need Parra at all. 2 of their top 5 prospects are OFers. Tapia and Dahl should be ready within a year or two. http://m.mlb.com/news/article/160811074/ro...r-gerardo-parra You should explain that to mlb.com.

Yeah, I don't think Iowa would have beaten either OSU or certainly not Bama the way they're playing tonight...haven't won a Rose Bowl since 1959, Stanford will give them a huge test tmrw.

Cabrera was a disappointment. We can rationalize it later all we want. Market now heating up for Parra, 7-8 teams in on him, Rockies want to deal one of their outfielders for pitching and then stick Parra in his place.

Skip Bayless @RealSkipBayless Bob Stoops: Great recruiter, lifeless motivator. Not a dab of Dabo in him. Unrecruited Baker Mayfield motivated/saved this team.

Skip Bayless @RealSkipBayless Bob Stoops, worst big-game motivator in college football, sent out a defense tonight that wasn't ready to match Clemson's intensity. That's 0 for his last 4...although USC was cheating big-time in the Bush/Carroll years. Ironic that Venables was his def. coordinator for many of those great early years from 1999-2006. Pretty hard not to win a title with one of the greatest rb's of all-time in Adrian Peterson.

Blanton and Jackson were serviceable last year. No to Williams in the AL. Lee is one of those names that will never totally disappear, like Josh Johnson.

And specifically saying he wanted to play with the Cubs' young core and Maddon as opposed to a theoretically better deal in terms of total guaranteed dollars from the Cards.

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Dec 31, 2015 -> 02:17 PM) No, and that's risky. The question is what's more risky - a full season of Cespedes and rolling the dice with EJ and Saladino (with Beck-Turner having to be possibly be counted on for 5-12 starts), or a full season of Latos, Parra and Ramirez, where Beck/Turner might have to be turned to anyway if Latos can't stay healthy again and EJ fails. It's easy to go through $25-30 million on just 2-3 players and it's also even harder to imagine JR approving a significant payroll boost to do so for complimentary players instead of a star attraction. They pretty much have to go Big 3, essentially. Sure, they could add at the margins (bench/reliever) now or June/July...assuming they get off to a better than average first half or nobody breaks out of the pack in the AL Central.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 31, 2015 -> 02:12 PM) And you're 100% confident Latos would be good in the AL, Parra's fall off in Baltimore was just a mirage, and Desmond will be one of the first players to sign in June and live up to his contract. $28 million, which as pointed out would be very low, 100% confident. Maybe that is what the Royals will do, and they will start selling off parts at the deadline. If they can't offer Gordon market rate after 2 WS appearances, they will be totally screwed if they don't make the playoffs and get that additional revenue. No way those remaining sign extensions, and I'm sure the great leader Sal Perez is still a little miffed the Royals didn't do what you told us they would do, rip up his contract and give him something more appropriate for one of the greatest leaders of all time. Finished? That was constructive. How about you come up with a back-up plan for when/if the Big 3 fall through for $30 million. You sure enjoy being sarcastic but never provide anything other than general platitudes, lectures or generic comments such as it would be nice to get Gordon or Cespedes. Quite insightful. And when have Boras clients not gone on the open market and signed hometown discounts, by the way?

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 31, 2015 -> 01:54 PM) Why in the world would Parra sign that deal? He's going to get something like 3/40, yet you project 1/8-10? For the same reason every outfielder has seemingly come down in price by 25%...too much supply, and too many additional outfielders available simultaneously at discount on the trade market. How can he get that much based on his 2015 season? Especially from an AL team...?

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Dec 31, 2015 -> 02:01 PM) I will 100% take Cespedes, E. Johnson, & Saladino over Parra, Latos, & Ramirez. Not even a debate for me. So you're 100% confident Johnson and Saladino will keep their spots all season long then?

Hasn't everyone said all along Desmond and Fowler were the two most likely candidates to go unsigned into the regular season due to the QO picks attached? Fine, just bring back Alexei Ramirez at that time. So in June, you'd have Ramirez, Latos and Parra or Cespedes. I'm also assuming at least one starting pitcher will miss time, so you avoid having to start Turner or Beck.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Dec 31, 2015 -> 10:09 AM) I have no idea what your point is here, but how in the world is Gordon resigning with the Royals a good thing for the Sox? Because of the argument that Gordon will fall apart at age 34-36 and make it impossible to retain Davis, Volquez, Cain, Escobar, Hosmer and Moustakas as they all hit FA at the same time a huge contract's blowing up in their faces. Not to mention having a poor team in 2018-19 could cost them $15-25 million per year when their new media rights deal is negotiated in 2019. That's how. That's a better argument than saying the White Sox are in a more enviable better position than the Cubs because of the Lester, Heyward, Zobrist, potential Arrieta contracts and cheaper starting pitching. The counterargument to that is/was if you signed Zobrist to a big contact four years ago (age 32, same as Gordon), that it would be quite hard to be upset with the results over ages 32-35.

Latos for $10-12 million (one year) Parra for $8-10 million (one year) add Desmond in June for 4 months....$10 million Wouldn't that be much more of an impact because...? 1) You're only spending roughly $5 million than on Cespedes 2) You now have credible insurance for injury/non-performance pitching-wise 3) You can get a pick if Latos does really well and/or trade him in June/July 4) Players would have more motivation to perform for bigger FA payoffs in 2017 5) You also have insurance for Saladino...not to mention PR, outfielder (potentially) or DH in the case of LaRoche or Avi flop 6) You don't have to worry about huge financial commitments with back end of Big 3 guys blowing up in your face and blocking efforts to reload/retool like Dunn/LaRoche/Danks deals have effectively done 7) Injury risk is spread across three players rather than just one

After Melky, don't think they'd dip into that pool of former ped's players again so quickly when there are lots of more palatable options.