caulfield12

Lazaro Armenteros: Armenteros, 16, stands 6-2, 205 pounds and has been hailed as the next Cuban star-in-waiting. He established residency in Haiti in May and will attract a crowd when he begins auditioning for teams in showcases and private workouts in the coming months.

QUOTE (CWSpalehoseCWS @ Jan 1, 2016 -> 11:33 PM) I thought I read somewhere that teams were questioning Upton's effort/work ethic or something along those lines. I could be mistaken, but I swear I saw that in an article recently (could have even been on this board too). If that's true, then that might be why there literally doesn't seem to be any market for him. Didn't stop the Red Sox with Ramirez and Sandoval last year...talent always gets opportunity, despite question marks, on character/work ethic, until the cost/benefit no longer comes out positive.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jan 1, 2016 -> 10:57 PM) Just brutal bowl season capped by Iowa getting embarrassed Jon Miller has a good podcast about the positives of the season at hawkeyenation. With King and a Rose bowl win, they were top 4-6 in preseason. First time in six years that expectations before a season are so high. Now they will be 15-23 next year probably. MSU got exposed as well as NW. OSU...how the hell did they lose to MSU? The question of the year in the Big Ten.

You can make an argument for Gordon or Upton going shorter because of the horrific FA market next year and their injuries (Gordon) or inconsistency (Upton). For a player in the prime of his career, you're not hearing about many teams aggressively pursuing Upton, at least not in the press. Could be a smokescreen. That said, you could imagine Gordon coming off an injury-filled year betting on himself bouncing back and signing a shorter deal for one year. On the other hand, Cespedes is never going to have a better season and age 30 is the perfect time to strike. Still, there are at least 9-12 teams who would love one of those four.

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?