caulfield12

26. Minnesota Twins — The Twins won 66 games in 2013 but help is on the horizon. They have one of the best Minor League systems around and it’s only a matter of time before the Twins are fielding a lineup with Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton. But this off-season, the Twins signed Ricky Nolasco, Phil Hughes, and Mike Pelfrey to multi-year deals totaling $84 million. Years ago, the trio might have been deemed underrated, but each has been in the league long enough to establish a track record, and each has failed to live up to expectations. The Twins are essentially gambling $84 million for them to, at once, realize their potential. The Twins could have instead used this money to try to get Masahiro Tanaka and more cheaply gamble on players like Josh Johnson (now with the Padres). http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/12/...partner=ya5nbcs

Only God Forgives might be the 2nd worst movie of the year, barely, behind After Earth. I think this is the third or fourth mainstream Hollywood movie in the last five years or so that uses Bangkok/Thailand as its main backdrop, and none of them have come close to getting it right. Same director who worked with Gosling on DRIVE, which was overrated by some and panned harshly by quite a few others....but Drive was Casablanca or Citizen Kane compared to this one.

http://www.boxoffice.com/latest-news/2013-...est-films-of-q1 Preview of the Top 5 movies coming up in January - March. Noah (Aronofsky/Crowe), Divergent (will it be the next Hunger Games or be seen as a rip-off?), LEGOLAND, Monuments Men (Clooney/Damon, WW II pic) and Sherman & Peabody. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (Chris Pine), 300: Rise of an Empire (no Gerard Butler and Snyder's the writer/producer, not director), Ride Along (Ice Cube and Kevin Hart) and Need for Speed (Aaron Paul, based on the video game and obviously trying to fill The Fast & The Furious' niche with that film off the slate until 2015 now).

We definitely could make a Top 10 for comedy movies... It would have The Heat, This is the End, Anchorman 2 (good but not great, a bit too redundant), We're The Millers, Grown Ups 2, Identity Thief (there are a lot of people that disliked that one), definitely NOT the Hangover 3, Bad Grandpa (although I didn't care for it), The Best Man Holiday and Warm Bodies.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 28, 2013 -> 04:36 PM) This just isn't true. They were 8th in MLB last year in fWAR. That's a solidly above average pitching staff. It's not great, but if it was teamed with an average offense and an average defense it could pitch this team to the playoffs, or at the worst right on the edge of it. And just to stress...that was 8th in MLB in fWAR with Dylan Axelrod making 20 starts and a couple guys traded away from the staff midseason. If Danks legitimately returns to at least a 3 status, then sure. You can argue the wisdom of starting three lefties in a row in the playoffs, but it would be nice to get there to even have that conversation.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Dec 28, 2013 -> 11:29 AM) I do agree with you on Matt Garza. He's only 30. He has had success in the American League and can be a big part of the future, giving a veteran presence in the starting rotation. A rotation of Sale, Garza, Quintana, Danks, and Johnson looks very good to me for the future. I would give him a 4 year deal worth anywhere 50-55 million. Garza's the 2nd best option now on the market after Jimenez, and you could argue probably over the last 2-3 seasons the better one...not counting Tanaka, of course. He's going to get more than a John Dank-ish package with everyone still looking for pitching. It's probably going to end up in the $70-85 million range before all is said and done. Too much money chasing after too little pitching to go around.

Just realized I forgot a couple. The Butler should definitely be at the back end of the Top 10, as well as the Hobbit/Smaug (just watched, enjoyed a bit more than the first). And The Past (same director as A Separation, the Iranian director's great movie about a divorce dispute over a child)...maybe the best foreign language film.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Dec 28, 2013 -> 03:41 PM) 3 hours? I will never again see a movie that goes past 2:10. 3 hour movie is ridiculous. You've just wiped out about 30% of the Top 100 films of all-time. It's really not a big deal if you watch at home and take breaks or intermissions on your own. I remember the first movie I saw in the theatres with an intermission was Dances With Wolves, for example. It's fun to go to a movie with a break in the middle, gives you an opportunity to actually speak with your date instead of waiting until afterwards. You haven't seen any of the Lord of the Rings movies? Titanic? Gone With the Wind? Lawrence of Arabia? It's a Wonderful Life? Apocalypse Now? 2001 A Space Odyssey? Chinatown? Godfather? One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, etc.?

QUOTE (The Ultimate Champion @ Dec 27, 2013 -> 07:16 PM) I love the Konerko move. It makes great sense to put a vet like that and a consummate pro on the bench to help a bunch of young hitters adjust. Great move for the future. And Hahn's already stated that Dunn is going to fall in line. Nobody in the organization, apparently not even Dunn himself, wants that guy here. I hope he's gone, and I trust that the Sox will Linebrink him if they absolutely feel they have to - or maybe, they Andruw Jones him as the Dodgers did to get out of that deal. Right now Dunn is only taking a spot on the 40, but as it gets closer to ST, if he's still here, they're going to have to get thinking about letting him go. Then why not just have Thome in that role? It's not like Konerko has had a profound effect on Beckham, and that's the player he's most closely associated with in terms of giving hitting advice and sharing his wisdom/experience. We didn't completely eat the Linebrink contract, and it was only about 1/3rd of what we're paying Adam Dunn for 2014. MacDougal's the only other recent example. Even when we had the opportunity with Teahen, we preferred to package him with Edwin Jackson so as not to eat salary.

I can't include American Hustle, Wolf of Wall Street, etc., since I haven't had the chance to see many of the late December offerings, so just the movies I've actually seen so far this year. 1. 12 Years a Slave 2. Gravity 3. Frozen 4. Rush 5. Fruitvale Station 6. Captain Phillips 7. Saving Mr. Banks 8. Prisoners 9. World War Z 10. The Conjuring 11. The Last Stand (just because I was pleasantly surprised by this one) Hon Mention: Iron Man 3, Hunger Games, Monsters University, Fast & The Furious 6, Thor, The Heat DOC/Foreign Films 1. Blackfish 2. Sound City 3. The Act of Killing 4. Pacific Rim (because it actually made more money here in China than the US) 5. Blue is the Warmest Color (France) 6. A Touch of Sin (China) 7. About Time (England) 8. Drug War (China) 9. Personal Tailor (China) 10. No by Pablo Larrain

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 27, 2013 -> 06:19 PM) The problem continues to be roster spots. Right now, the guys we have under big league contract with no position are: Gillaspie Keppinger De Aza Dunn Our options are to either dump 2 of them uncerimoniously or to send Eaton and Davidson to AAA regardless of what they do in Spring Training. We have 4 guys on the bench right now who can't be sent to the minors. There's not even room for a backup catcher right now. As it stands right now, Davidson could hit .900 in spring training and we'd still have to send him to the minors just to carry a backup catcher. "Dunn might bring something slightly better in July" doesn't matter right now. If we can save a couple million, get him off the roster and at least give us a way to carry a backup catcher. This is another reason the Konerko thing in particular made little sense, it's forcing Hahn into some moves that he doesn't want to make or will be salary dumps. I'm assuming if Davidson's ready to play, they're not going to be very concerned with Gillaspie's fate in terms of losing him or possible trade return. Going by their history for the last 15 years or so, they're not going to trade Dunn until midseason. So that means DeAza and Keppinger are the most likely to be jettisoned, logically. In that universe, Konerko, back-up catcher, L. Garcia and ??? (probably DeAza) are your bench. Keppinger and Gillaspie would be off the roster, as well as Jordan Danks. However, since DeAza has more trade value at the moment, it wouldn't be suprising if Gillaspie and DeAza were both gone and Hahn held onto Keppinger in an effort to see if he could increase his trade value this season. I guess the big question is ROI...playing Keppinger at 3B in order to dump him for the best possible return and free up the position for Davidson OR keeping Gillaspie around and trying to get something back for him. I would take the risk of losing Gillaspie in order to save money by waiting for Keppinger to rebuild trade value.

QUOTE (The Ultimate Champion @ Dec 27, 2013 -> 09:36 AM) Who still needs a SS then? I think Alexei would be a perfect fit for the Yankees. They have Kelly Johnson at 2B, nothing at 3B, Jeter at SS. They can play Alexei anywhere and make an improvement. Not sure what they would trade though. They're not going to run off Jeter until he's leaving the SS position on his own terms. It's not going to be like Michael Young with the Rangers, where he was pushed/forced to 3B. They just signed Brian Roberts for 2B, I'm guessing that Johnson and Brendan Ryan will be fighting it out at 3B (although I have no idea how much experience Johnson has at that position recently).

QUOTE (The Ultimate Champion @ Dec 26, 2013 -> 02:18 PM) You know a lot more about the prospects out there than I do, I just like Noesi's arm a lot and I think he could be a fit with Coop. But I'm sure you'd have a better idea of what else they'd have to offer in terms of pitching prospects. There's quality there to be had I would assume. They basically gave away Fister & Morrow. I'd love to dip into that well a bit, especially since they seem pretty desperate. As for Dunn, I'd eat all his cash anyway, but getting a potentially good player would be awesome. I would argue that it's worth it to shed Dunn even if it only allows us to keep Connor Gillaspie & take a 4th OF on the roster. If Davidson struggles or doesn't make it out of ST as the starter (and there's no reason to "challenge" or rush him when he has options) then Gillaspie will be pretty important to us, and even after a kind of disappointing first year, Gillaspie should by no means be considered a finished product. 5 years of Gillaspie as a cheap 1B/3B/LF LH PH option with the ability to start for stretches has a lot more value to our future than 1 year of Dunn does now. And a 4th OF will be necessary, especially if Leury can't hit his weight even measured in kilos. And I think if you can get that extra positional flexibility plus a project, you just do it & be thrilled at the chance. Maximizing DeAza though, I would like to see that, but I'm not sure you're going to get much ceiling out of him unless you either take a bust/failed/change of scenery type like a Noesi or you dip down into the lower minors. If the Sox can do both though I'd love it. The Mariners OF seems pretty s***ty and he would actually fit as a LF there, so maybe Hahn's already spoken to them. They added Morrison and Hart, two players that SHOULD be at 1B/DH instead of a corner outfield spot. Dunn would be of no interest to them, because they also have Smoak on their roster and ditching Smoak for one year of Dunn makes about zero sense. Sure, they're trying to compete THIS year, but we at least are also attempting to create the illusion we could compete in 2013 as well....and giving Konerko a full season of at-bats at DH makes about as much sense as eating almost all of Dunn's contract before the year even begins.

QUOTE (Knuckles @ Dec 27, 2013 -> 04:10 AM) Wolf of Wall Street opinions please, someone on the book said it was dissapointing? I don't even think the books are all that great, to be honest. Margot Robbie, the one who plays Belfort's/DiCaprio's 2nd wife, and the one who supposedly had an affair with Will Smith, she's the one getting all the raves. Can't believe DukeNukeEm actually had something positive to say. Jennifer Lawrence isn't "Hollywood beautiful," but she's certainly got that girl next door quality with a dash of hotness or sexiness or whatever you want to call it. Isla Fisher has it, too. Of course, she's considered curvy for Hollywood, and not at all apologetic for not being stick or rail thin.

The young star, the man with the name that buzzed with every baseball conversation I had in Havana and whose talent on the field was blinding, was (CF/RF Yasmani) Tomas. He is 6-feet-1 of thick muscle and fast hands. In the three games I saw, he cracked several extra-base hits, including a line-drive homer to left. The sounds of Tomas's dinger went: cheer, crack, roar. Impoverished, isolated, beautiful, police-state Cuba is no paradise. There are reasons its people try to leave. Despite their high quality of play, its baseball leagues typically never field foreign players. The pay and conditions are too miserable. But as a fan, I will say this: Its ballgames are about baseball, and I loved that. On the field, the play was fast, sometimes uneven. After Tomas threw out a runner from deep right—an unworldly 300-foot heave—the Industriales booted an easy double play. In one game, there were seven errors. The balls and infield seemed unusually bouncy. After one game, I squeezed myself out of the narrow, crammed exits and walked to the parking lot. The players were trickling out a door, still in full uniform. They mingled with the crowd, which, like them, lives mostly on state allowances. Most players earn around $60 a month, while national stars can make supplements of up to $500 a month, said Peter Bjarkman, an author and expert on Cuban baseball. Tomas, who is rumored to be one of the next big targets for major-league teams, emerged. He wore a Cuban national team warm-up jacket over his barrel chest. Somebody called his name. He approached and greeted a band of a half-dozen people. He held the hand of a pretty pregnant girl and chatted, just a big kid after his game. The 1970s-era team bus honked. The players weeded themselves out of the crowd. As each climbed onto the bus, he high-fived the driver. Write to John W. Miller at [email protected]

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Dec 22, 2013 -> 10:08 PM) For those like me who watch most of their movies online, we are now at the point of the year where new movies to theaters will be put online because of the award consideration DVDs being floated around. I am talking high quality DVD-rips, not those awful camera recordings in an actual theater. For instance, Out of the Furnace and Gravity are online now. Hoping a bunch others will be soon too. Yeah, I saw the Out of the Furnace one up for awards consideration (and won't draw any interest from the Academy). Really looking forward to Nebraska and Short Term 12, though, among many. Philomena would be another one. Going on a Top 100 movies run to catch some of the ones I've never seen... Raging Bull Vertigo....love Jimmy Stewart, although Rear Window is better IMO Lawrence of Arabia...excellent albeit long movie, RIP Peter O'Toole The Searchers...one of the best John Wayne movies, maybe not quite so famous as True Grit

QUOTE (chisoxfan310 @ Dec 22, 2013 -> 07:57 PM) I thought with the Marlins needing a third baseman, Gillaspie may have been a fit. Would have been cheap for them and not cost much and help us open up a spot on the 40-man Casey McGehee. More of a proven commodity than Gillaspie.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Dec 22, 2013 -> 07:39 PM) No, they shouldn't. They should trade him for Gillaspie and Molina. If you read my comment, I said if you were talking about anybody in the bullpen, give them Donnie Veal, because he's the only guy I'd give up for Murphy. Jeff Marquez had 10X the value of Nestor Molina now when he was traded for Swisher. I'm not sure why Molina would interest them when he hasn't been mentioned by a single poster here in our pitching plans for the future. Now if you want to trade them Semien, that's who they are going to ask for...that might be the end of the conversation, they might be offered Carlos Sanchez instead, but one player who won't start for the White Sox and a starting pitcher who will never sniff the big leagues isn't going to be very enticing.

That doesn't mean the Yankees just have to give him away. In fact, that kind of organizational depth is now crucial if you don't want to pay through the teeth in free agent. The most valuable commodity in the game now is young, cost-controlled talent...just watch, in the next couple of seasons, even those extensions that buy out one or two years of free agency are going to rise another 50% as well. This is the one major area left for the agents to exploit. For example, the Mike Trout situation with the Angels...it's going to be hilarious if their contracts for Pujols and Hamilton make a contract extension with Trout untenable. They've been playing hardball so far with him.

Who do they (Yankees) currently have slated to play 3B? Kelly Johnson or Brendan Ryan, maybe?

K. Suzuki signed for $2.75 million with the Twins.

QUOTE (Jake @ Dec 22, 2013 -> 02:45 AM) What do you think Shin Soo Choo would have gotten if he had hit the market a year ago? That is one of the first things I think about when evaluating a deal. When a guy's likely value jumps tremendously from one year to the next, especially at Choo's age, I tend to think the current value is too high. http://sports.yahoo.com/news/baseball-s-bi...-011632054.html Right place, right time. Just dumb luck, coming off an excellent season with the Reds, and the money having to flow somewhere. Nelson Cruz is basically the only big name FA position player dangling out there, and the Stephen Drew's signing MIGHT have some impact on the Alexei Ramirez market, if there is one actually.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-leag...04671--mlb.html

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 21, 2013 -> 11:09 PM) I think Boras wins after getting Choo 7 years and $130. The expectations were for about 5/90. After the Ellsbury deal, everyone was pretty much expecting $125+. I guess you can credit Boras for setting the outfielder market there, it helped Choo and might have some carryover effect for Nelson Cruz, although his age and the recent PED's will push his total years down to 3-4 instead of 6-7-8.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Dec 21, 2013 -> 08:26 PM) I think this offseason shows that players can't go wrong either way, teams just can't help themselves. Question is, can Jay-Z get the top players to choose him over Boras. And how successful they will be promoting a player now toiling for a mostly irrelevant (for the last decade, especially after Ichiro left) franchise in the Pacific NW.