chw42

I wonder just how much more Detroit is offering. The Cubs might have been used as a bargaining chip. LOL

It makes me wonder why the Royals didn't just sign Anibal Sanchez or Ryan Dempster instead of trading for Shields. It would have cost them no internal talent and the annual money is more or less the same as Shields.

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 13, 2012 -> 04:56 PM) Cubs have some pretty good pitching now, but that deal makes no sense. Eh, Garza, Samardzija, Sanchez, Feldman, Baker. Lots of question marks in there.

Sanchez to Cubs for 5 years and $75 million. The Tigers will be looking for pitching now I assume.

Anibal Sanchez on the verge of signing with the Cubs... Huh?

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Dec 13, 2012 -> 03:19 PM) No, that's not my opinion. Bad press is bad press. The any press is good press only applies to newer companies trying to get noticed...Apple is already noticed. It was bad PR, but for the most part the bad PR didn't result in very much in quantifiable damage to the company. Their image took a short term hit, they attacked it, got rid of those sourced to their problems and moved on. The press tends to bash whoever happens to be on top...this is common. If/when Google is on top, the same will happen to them, because negative press has been shown to generate views/clicks, etc...which equates to more ad revenue. Microsoft went through this in the early/mid 2000's. A lot of good, very profitable companies don't make changes when it's products or strategic decisions are awful... Recent Examples: Research in Motion Microsoft HP Dell Yahoo Adobe ...and many others. Apple made drastic changes very quickly in response to the debacle that was Apple Maps. This is NOT common in companies this large...changes on that scale often take years, if they ever happen at all. On the back end of this, Apple emerged with their own mapping solution, which a LOT of people use, despite the negative press -- and now they have a FULL version of Google Maps (for free) on top of it. So you're saying it was bad PR? Okay then, that's all I was saying.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Dec 13, 2012 -> 02:50 PM) It's not a good thing PR wise, but it shows they're willing to make necessary changes sooner rather than later to fix problems. If something ends up being a + for their users, it's also a + for the company itself. They could always be like Microsoft and pretend nothing is wrong while their marketshare continues to fall on practically every product across the board. I honestly don't see how it's a good PR thing... Your opinion is that any press is good press. That's true to an extent, but not when that press is bashing Apple left and right. Sure it shows that Apple takes responsibility, but what kind of good company doesn't when its products are awful? Just because Microsoft didn't acknowledge it doesn't make it a common thing.

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Dec 13, 2012 -> 02:48 PM) I rarely post speculative trade stuff, but a Floyd/Trumbo-based scenario is something I could actually see playing out. Trumbo's awful at 3B. He's also awful in the OF. His bat's decent, but he's also really inconsistent. I wouldn't trade anything more than Floyd for him, but I think the Angels would want more than just Floyd.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Dec 13, 2012 -> 01:30 PM) The Angels OF will hit more home runs than the entire Marlins team in 2013. Someone write that down. Bourjos won't hit many.

QUOTE (bmags @ Dec 13, 2012 -> 02:10 PM) So, apple ditches google maps for their own. Their own suck, but then google comes back with a much improved google maps for iOS? How is this a fail for apple? It's a win for iOS users. It's a loss for Apple's PR department as Apple's image took a hit. When two of your engineering heads get fired and your CEO has to apologize for a bad maps app, that's not a good thing.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Dec 13, 2012 -> 05:56 AM) Wait wasn't the pr nightmare on Apples end? Like the people getting stranded in the Australian outback because of their terrible maps? I would think Google would have the leverage here, not Apple. Yeah, that's what I meant.

QUOTE (Lemon_44 @ Dec 13, 2012 -> 01:43 AM) As he should be. I agree that he won't touch the same numbers as last year. In fact, I don't know if it's true or not, but even his 2nd half last year, he seemed to be declining. I would love to see a Dayan/Domonic platoon and replace Rios(contract-wise) with Granderson. Then, after the year, hopefully the platoon guys are ready to step up to full-time duty if Granderson left via FA. He had a .823 OPS in the second half and hit one more home run than he did in the first half. So yeah, his OBP an average went down a bit, but the power was still there. Not enough of a decline to be concerned IMO, considering Rios has usually struggles in the second half.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Dec 12, 2012 -> 11:17 PM) Rios is going to have a bad year. Dealing him now is smart. He has a pattern in his career and at times his team follows. Personally I believe and have heard he would be the first Ofer they would deal. I'm not sure it's set in stone that he will have a bad year. The history is there, but how are we so sure that this Rios is the same Rios from a few years ago? If you watched him last year, Rios seemed like a different kind of player. His performance was more consistent (go look at his monthly splits, as opposed to a year like 2010). He didn't disappear in the second half like he did in 2010. Not only that, his personality on the field and in the dugout changed. It seemed like he cared that he would have an awful at bat or that he didn't do his job correctly. Maybe he'll screw with mechanics in the off-season or get off to a bad start in 2013 and have a crappy year. Or maybe he won't. I just don't think it's that obvious that Rios will be bad next season. There are a multitude of things that have changed about him since 2011 and I don't think it's fair to judge him solely based off of his performance from 2009-2011.

Google released Google Maps for iOS, which actually has turn-by-turn voice navigation now. If you're on iOS 6, you should probably get it... Remember all those stories where Google wouldn't give Apple turn-by-turn and Steve Jobs was super duper pissed? All it took was a PR nightmare and some competition before Google decided to give in.

QUOTE (3E8 @ Dec 11, 2012 -> 09:21 PM) I disliked the Chris Young trade for Cliff Pennington earlier in the offseason too. Kevin Towers is confusing me. Maybe he can confuse us even more when he trades Justin Upton for Dayan Viciedo and Jose Quintana.

QUOTE (daggins @ Dec 11, 2012 -> 09:08 PM) So the Dbacks probably aren't gonna trade Upton. So thats three times in a row the Rangers have struck out on a target. Olt for Floyd!!! #RANGERTEARZ They can still trade Upton. I don't see why they can't.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Dec 11, 2012 -> 09:16 PM) Dbacks got butt raped in this trade. Worse trade than the Royals, for sure. They must have been ridiculously high on Gregorius. They could have gotten Asdrubal Cabrera, but wanted Gregorius instead.

STOP.MISSING.FREETHROWS.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Dec 11, 2012 -> 08:51 PM) The Indians are HUGE winners in that deal, IMO. This looks horrible for Arizona, unless Bauer is a ticking time bomb. Gregorious does not have a ton of upside, from what I've read -- more of an average player ceiling. Stubbs and Bauer for Choo. That's an awesome haul for a guy they weren't going to re-sign after this year.

What an ugly game. Hopefully an ugly win. Inability to make free throws is killing us again.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Dec 11, 2012 -> 08:42 PM) I could see that. Gregorious is gonna make or break this deal for them I believe. With what they gave up, Gregorious better be an above average ML hitter. I don't see it right now though.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Dec 11, 2012 -> 08:34 PM) Arizona did not get enough for Bauer IMO. I agree. Bauer's stock probably went down a little last year after a poor performance at the ML level, but I still regard him as a very good ML-ready prospect.

This Illini team has a knack for playing like s*** against no-name schools.

QUOTE (zenryan @ Dec 11, 2012 -> 05:42 PM) Do most people play in 10 team leagues where 6 make the playoffs? I've played for 8 years or so and I've never heard of more than the top 4 making it. Even in the NFL.com league where we had 12 teams broken into 3 divisions, the first place team of each division and 1 WC team made the playoffs. I usually do 12 teams with 6 in the playoffs.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Dec 11, 2012 -> 05:36 PM) The thing about Rios is that he isn't really an albatross at this point. He has something like 3/36 left on his contract, right? If he was a free agent this offseason, at age 31, he would do substantially better than that, I would think. 2 and 25 I believe.