cabiness42

And never will be as long as Mike Brey is still there.

Mike Brey has gotten 14 years. When is his time up???

Clearly the best way to convey bad news to a large group of people is a blue flag with a big white 'L' on it.

He hasn't swung a bat in the last two years anyway.

If Nieto ever amounts to anything, this will be the ultimate FU to Rizzo.

Sign that I've spent too much time looking at advanced baseball statistics: There is a headline on espn.com that reads, "Silver, James to talk sleeves at season's end" My first thought was, "WTF could Nate Silver and Bill James possibly have to say about the impact of sleeves on baseball jerseys?" Turns out the story is about LeBron James and NBA commissioner Adam Silver.

If you don't think 69 is a magic number, the you're doing it wrong.

I doubt ST performance affected anything. This sounds like a rather complex contract so they would have to have been working on this for a while.

Oh, I would take the chance as well--just pointing out that there is some risk involved.

Preseason rankings are A factor in tournament success, but not the only one. Seeds are earned based on performance and not on talent (which may be a flaw in the seeding system). The problem with ranking a team like WSU in either preseason, or at any point during, is that they were never really challenged because Top 25 teams are too chicken to play them. The advanced metrics like Pomeroy and BPI did have them as a Top 5 team despite their schedule. We will never know, but I strongly believe WSU would have handled any other team in the tournament seeded 5-8, and probably half of those seeded 1-4.

1985 Villanova and 2011 Butler were teams that actually had the talent of #8 seeds but got hot at the right time and had some favorable matchups. The 2014 Kentucky team has the talent of a #1 or #2 seed but underachieved all season.

Nate Silver has found that preseason rankings a surprisingly good indicator of tournament success. The 2011 Butler team isn't nearly as good as the 2014 Kentucky team. That 2011 team didn't have Heyward.

That's because in the last 5 years, none of the 8 seeds were the preseason #1. There was a lot of noise when the brackets came out about Kentucky and Louisville both being underseeded and both being in WSU's bracket, so yes, I think this particular 8 vs. 1 upset will be remembered more than most.

I like the deal and wouldn't complain, but I will point out that this kind of deal does not come without risk. If Quintana suffers a career-ending or career-damaging injury, or just flat out starts to suck, the Sox are on the hook for the entire contract anyway.

Every time I hear that name, I think of Danny Zuko's dance-off partner in Grease.

Not the best team ever, but a very good team can definitely lose in the round of 32, especially to what is probably the most talented 8-seed in the history of the tournament. There probably isn't another team seeded anywhere from 5-8 that could have beaten WSU--they were very unlucky to draw the one that could.

Hard to say exactly how much, but it definitely would have been more. The player gives up potential earnings for the security of the guaranteed money.

Now Tigers went and got Alex Gonzalez from Orioles.

Can anybody else remember a long-term contract that had salaries dependent on arb status? Sounds like Mr. Hahn got very creative in order to get this done.

Sandwiched around the Kansas State win, Kentucky had a 1 point loss to Florida and a 2 point win over Wichita State, so it's hard to say Wichita State isn't in the same class as Florida, and Florida is #1. Kentucky is a Top 5 team that has played like a barely-Top 25 team most of the season.

Very different concept of "years of control". Dunn was a FA signing a guaranteed contract for lots of money. Davidson will be paid league minimum for four years and then arbitration rate for three years and the Sox' commitment is only year to year.

Assuming Davidson isn't on the Opening Day roster, they will actually control him for 7 years.

While my entire Final Four is still alive, I actually believe that it will be different now based on the first weekend of play. My new prediction for the Regional Finals: UCLA over Dayton MSU over UConn Arizona over Baylor Michigan over Louisville I'm very impressed with how UCLA is playing and expect them to beat Florida. I don't think any less of Louisville, but I think that the Kentucky rematch will be epic and will drain them for their game against Michigan.

Yes, if Keppinger and Beckham do start the year on the DL, then that will be the roster and I think Webb gets that last spot.

I predict 8 million. Oh wait, I thought the question was how many stupid threads about Dunn are going to appear on Soxtalk before the trade deadline.