cabiness42

Hopefully Ozzie doesn't put him 4th. It's a much farther drive to Philly.

I'm about 80 miles from Cincinnati, so if anybody wants to joint me to see Mark's first game with Miami, let me know. I'd assume he's gotta be in the top 3 in their rotation, right?

Mark is the 4th player to hold the distinction of my favorite current Sox player, following Harold Baines, Carlton Fisk, and Frank Thomas. I guess Paulie's next on the list if he's not traded before Opening Day.

Agreed. Agreed.

The union can't force a player to take a higher offer, but they can and do exert pressure.

I am 250 miles south and we are expecting measurable snowfall Friday.

Mark, just in case you're reading this thread--you probably don't want to live in PG County.

I can live with Buehrle on the Nats. Gives me an excuse to go visit their new stadium.

You misunderstood what I meant. The Sox offered him arb. He can pitch in Chicago in 2012 for no less than $14M no matter what contract the Sox have or haven't offered him.

He has a job in Chicago for 2012 if he wants it.

Not handing him a starting spot, but he can play 7 positions and small sample size or not, he had a better OPS in 2011 than every starter not named Konerko. I don't see how you ditch him off the roster to make Rowand the 4th OF. If Rowand takes Vizquel's roster spot and Lilli transitions back to more IF than OF, I'm OK with that, though I think Lilli is a better OF than IF.

If Lilli isn't on the 2012 roster, I'm going to be very upset. Like him a lot.

Well, for me, I always enjoy seeing Favre getting pounded into the ground, and for once it would be a good thing that the offensive line sucks. But seriously, I agree that there's nothing to gain from getting Favre.

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If Mark really wants to stay with the Sox, how much leverage does he have in negotiating a reasonable 3-year deal against the threat of accepting arb and adding $14M+ to the Sox 2012 payroll?

I would say the chances are zero. The only possibility for getting rid of Rios is if the Yankees are desperate enough to acquire Danks that they agree to take Rios with him, and even that is a longshot.

I said several posts back that I favored giving 8 auto bids to conference champions. In most years that's the BCS conferences plus the MWC and either WAC or CUSA, but an undefeated MAC or SBC team would probably crack the Top 8, and I'm not really interested in seeing any MAC or SBC team in a playoff if they aren't undefeated. Of course, TCU is headed to the Big 12 and it looks like Boise St, San Diego St, and Houston among others to the Big East is almost final, so there may not be any worthwhile teams outside the BCS conferences anymore anyway.

A starting 2B, even a mediocre one, is harder to replace than a closer.

You mean like Santos?

I don't see this move being a sign of blowing up the team or a full rebuild. I see it as Toronto had a starting prospect the Sox are really high on, Santos is what it took to get him, and the bullpen is the area where the Sox have the most depth and can afford to let a guy go.

I guess that's where we disagree, because if Cutler and Forte aren't going to be back, I'd prefer a 7-9 record and a better draft pick than a 9-7 record and a first round blowout at New Orleans.

To me, keeping one out of Buehrle/Danks/Floyd doesn't make sense. You either keep two of them and go for it all or you keep none of them and rebuild. Keeping one of them means you are failing to maximize your ability to win in the future while at the same time failing to maximize your ability to win in 2012.

The Bears aren't winning the Super Bowl, or even getting there, with Favre. The only chance the Bears have of reaching the Super Bowl this season is if Cutler and Forte are both back in time for the playoffs. If there is a good chance of that happening, then I have no problem bringing in Favre or McNabb to try and get the Bears into the playoffs, but does anyone think Favre would be happy becoming the backup QB at that point? If there is little chance of getting Cutler and Forte back for the playoffs, then I hardly see the point of bringing anybody in just so the Bears can get plastered by the Saints in their first playoff game.

I don't think it's the entire barometer, but a good chunk of it. The chances of winning in 2012 are much higher with Mark than without. I can see a scenario where they lose out on Mark yet still decide to go for it by keeping Danks/Floyd/Quentin, but I don't see a scenario where they re-sign Mark yet dump major salary and rebuild. Even if they've decided not to keep Mark and to a major rebuild, it doesn't make sense to trade Danks/Floyd until there are teams who are more desperate after having missed out on Mark and CJ Wilson, unless there is some team out there who makes some kind of insane offer that KW just can't refuse.