Exile on Waveland

Hawks have an awful lot of bandwagon fans at the moment. That I can understand, but I've seen people who've played hockey much of their lives saying this. Like Jersey, I'm far from an expert at hockey, but this just seems like common sense. It's people falling in love with what happened in the playoffs, and thinking that Byfuglien and Niemi were the reason this team was so good. I'm no expert either, but I'm not sure how one looks at a team with Toews, Kane, Hossa, Keith, etc., and thinks they aren't a playoff team. The depth took a hit this offseason, but the front-line players remain intact.

I find this reasoning very circular. Why? I specifically meant Lee and Aramis and we had no desire to trade either until their 10/5 rights kicked in. The player is the one who negotiates in the NTC and the GM then tweaks the money/years offered accordingly. The player wants the assurance of not being traded until his 10/5 rights kick in (or being able to accept a trade and then reject any future deals) and the GM is more than happy to oblige if he sees that player as a young enough cornerstone that he won't want to trade the player during the contract. Whether that was the thought process or not for Hendry, he still has given NTCs either to guys who are good and young enough for us to not want to trade him or to guys whose contracts would likely prohibit trading them in the first place (Soriano, Z). In practicality, you are clearly correct. The Cubs had no desire to trade either player before their 10/5 rights accrued, rendering the no-trade clauses moot. I just don't think that reasoning vindicates the no-trade clauses (especially vis-a-vis Lee). Almost exclusively, teams don't sign players they desire to trade. Teams certainly don't often sign players they desire to trade to multi-year, eight-digit contracts. So, of course, the Cubs didn't desire to trade Lee or Ramirez when they were signed. However, flexibility and contingency are not merely desirable in retrospect. Perhaps this is personal preference, but I would gladly pay a little premium for those in almost all scenarios. I would also look to trade players before 10/5 rights accrued, in many scenarios (Ramirez would have been an exception to that). Finally, the latter argument which I didn't originally address is a fundamental two-wrongs-don't-make-a-right situation. I'm also not sure I agree with it, because I could definitely envision someone taking Soriano or Zambrano when fewer years remain on their respective contracts (depending on how either player performs in the meantime).

I find this reasoning very circular.

The Hawks are cutthroat (and that's a compliment). So many teams across professional sport would have valued sentimentality over the financial and resigned Niemi, in my opinion. This was obviously the correct business move, and possibly the correct on-ice move as well. Kudos.

Like, ahem . . . Chelsea?

The PTBNL is apparently Tyler Skaggs, not the Angels' top prospect but the 40th pick in Anaheim's 2009 draft. That makes a former first and second round pick from that draft plus Rafael Rodriguez and Saunders. Apparently Arizona likes Skaggs and Corbin more than most, so they may be viewed as the centerpieces of the deal. Link I think the question of Dipoto's competency has now been answered.

USC has a copy of all their former player's Heismans in "Heritage Hall": http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/09/22/ojmem2.jpg (Former girlfriend of mine was an 'SC grad.)

That's not really the reason. That's like saying dollars are worth more than yen because dollars come in denominations of up to $100 and and Yen up to 10,000. The scale has nothing to do with it. actually it has a lot to do with it. The question was not why OBP is undervalued in computing OPS; the question was why OBP is more valuable than SLG. Thus, scale is irrelevant. Thus . . . ugh, Kyle is right.

this may be true, but people have been saying that his arm is going to explode soon for three years now, and during that time he's been one of the most valuable relief pitchers in the game. Which probably/possibly means the arm explosion is drawing nearer and nearer. I'm thinking some team out there is just dying to overpay for a closer. Take advantage.

Liverpool sign Joe Cole. http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/latest-news/exclusive-reds-sign-joe-cole

Heading to the game! First game I've attended since last season.

I'll throw you a bone. Evidently Liverpool is looking into Standard Liege's Steven Defour. What's the word?

Great play Byrd!

Hopefully this is true. What if the alternative is Sandberg?

I would be all over Lilly-for-Uptown. That's a buy-low scenario where you get a player with tons and tons of talent -- who has actually produced at some point in the past.

Oh yeah? ARod. EXPLAIN.

Sigh of relief.

Didn't Yanr did that wayyyy back in the day? DaveMason10k from the old ESPN.com board was banned for that trick about a week after I joined. He was under another name and had several thousand posts before revealing himself and was immediately banned. Breaking News!

You can say that again. Well, my bad feeling about that match was confirmed. Pretty cynical match. I feel really bad for the Dutch; 0-3 in finals (with two losses coming to teams that had not won a World Cup either). I wanted the Netherlands to win, but, that said, I'm fine with Spain. I like their team and they've been the best team for three or so years. Not like Italy winning four years ago, ugh. And two Reds (Torres, Reina) are now champions.

A final that pairs a Spanish side that plays like the Dutch and a Dutch side that plays kind of like, well excuse me, Germany. Holland is my second favorite non-US side, but I wouldn't be terribly disappointed if/when Spain wins. Either way, two Liverpool players are going to win the World Cup (hopefully, those players will remain Reds). I'm concerned we're going to see a rather dour, tactical 1-0 game. I'll be optimistic and predict a 2-1 Spain win, though.

They do (and are). But if there's one side that has a knack for winning despite such circumstances, it's the Germans.

Wouldn't that force out Gooch? I think it's one signing per year, and Gooch has Belgish citizenship and holds an EU passport as well. And can't they buy/borrow exemptions from other teams anyway? Or did that change (or am I making it up)?

Hoping for Germany-Holland. Those have always been my two favorite non-US sides (yeah, yeah, I know they're rivals, but the reasons escape me here in middle America). Though, if that happens, I'll feel real bad rooting against the Dutch getting their first World Cup. I would be happy pretty much no matter what.

And the loss was an extremely impressive performance, in my book. They completely took it to Serbia despite being down a man.

Mascherano in the 83rd. Halfway there, Javier. Do it. So do you think the Ballack injury has helped this German team? Yes. He would have slowed them down. As much as I have loved Ballack for what he's done for the DFB, he was a square peg in a round hole at this point. I think he was millstone for both Chelsea and the DFB this year, though believe (and hope) he'll be very good for Leverkusen.