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If he's a pitcher and his arm is still atached, the Red will take him. He also has to only pitch out of the bullpen.

And this is precisely why ARod is unlikely to opt out. Since the Rangers are subsidizing a large share of the contract for the next 4 years ARod is going to get above-market money per year ($27M), while whichever team ARod is playing for will pay below-market rates per year ($16-$18M). And if that team is not the NYY, the Yankees stand to benefit much more from accomodating ARod with a trade (even if it's for 50 cents on the dollar) than risk having him opt out and get nothing. The best-case scenario for the Cubbies is that ARod and NYY come to a mutual decision to part ways at some point this year, ARod uses his NTC to dictate a trade to the Cubs, and NYY, having basically no leverage, accepts a modest return in the trade. If his #1 concern at this point is winning though, would it not benefit him more to opt out and not force the team that takes him to have to give up talent. The Yankees aren't going to accept only prospects, any ARod deal will have to include major league talent and that hurts any team ARod goes to. So, if he's comfortable with the way his bank account looks (like CarolinaCubFan said, I think) and primarily wants to go somewhere to win, the more logical move would be to opt out and not cost his new team any of their major league talent. If he opts out, he's going to cost either himself or his new team a ton of money that would otherwise have been paid out by the Rangers. Something on the order of $10M a year, IIRC. Now $10M doesn't buy what it used to, but you can probably replace the major league talent that you traded away with that kind of cash. Again, it depends on what he's looking for. If his emphasis is still on money and he looks for the largest dollar amount then sure, the trade is better. But, if he wants to go somewhere he likes and play for a manager he likes and have a good to great shot at a championship, it makes sense to opt out and take a paycut.

And this is precisely why ARod is unlikely to opt out. Since the Rangers are subsidizing a large share of the contract for the next 4 years ARod is going to get above-market money per year ($27M), while whichever team ARod is playing for will pay below-market rates per year ($16-$18M). And if that team is not the NYY, the Yankees stand to benefit much more from accomodating ARod with a trade (even if it's for 50 cents on the dollar) than risk having him opt out and get nothing. The best-case scenario for the Cubbies is that ARod and NYY come to a mutual decision to part ways at some point this year, ARod uses his NTC to dictate a trade to the Cubs, and NYY, having basically no leverage, accepts a modest return in the trade. If his #1 concern at this point is winning though, would it not benefit him more to opt out and not force the team that takes him to have to give up talent. The Yankees aren't going to accept only prospects, any ARod deal will have to include major league talent and that hurts any team ARod goes to. So, if he's comfortable with the way his bank account looks (like CarolinaCubFan said, I think) and primarily wants to go somewhere to win, the more logical move would be to opt out and not cost his new team any of their major league talent. Or what if the team he's going to needs to trade away some of their talent to make room for ARod's salary? The idea is, he signs with a team he wants for less than market value. If the key for him is to win a championship and he isn't looking specifically at making as much money as he can, it would only make sense to save said team money. Thus, he opts out of his contract w/ the Yankees and signs with the Cubs (for instance) for $12-15 million instead of the likely market value of $20+ million. Again, if his primary concern is still money (nothing wrong with that) the trade would be the better option for both sides, but if his concern is winning a championship with less emphasis on money, this is the route to go.

It looks like the Rams are clost to signing Bennett, which would be a good replacement for Curtis. Have you heard anything down there in Tennessee about Bennett being close to signing? Nothing from the local media, but Schefter reported on NFL Network that Drew was in talks with the Rams. I'll be sad to see him go, he's one of the more underrated receivers in the league. He's big with good hands and has a knack for getting open despite not having a great deal of speed. Good pickup if the Rams get it done. ESPN.com reports the Rams signed Drew Bennett to a 6-year, $30 million contract with $10 mil guaranteed. http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2786610

And this is precisely why ARod is unlikely to opt out. Since the Rangers are subsidizing a large share of the contract for the next 4 years ARod is going to get above-market money per year ($27M), while whichever team ARod is playing for will pay below-market rates per year ($16-$18M). And if that team is not the NYY, the Yankees stand to benefit much more from accomodating ARod with a trade (even if it's for 50 cents on the dollar) than risk having him opt out and get nothing. The best-case scenario for the Cubbies is that ARod and NYY come to a mutual decision to part ways at some point this year, ARod uses his NTC to dictate a trade to the Cubs, and NYY, having basically no leverage, accepts a modest return in the trade. If his #1 concern at this point is winning though, would it not benefit him more to opt out and not force the team that takes him to have to give up talent. The Yankees aren't going to accept only prospects, any ARod deal will have to include major league talent and that hurts any team ARod goes to. So, if he's comfortable with the way his bank account looks (like CarolinaCubFan said, I think) and primarily wants to go somewhere to win, the more logical move would be to opt out and not cost his new team any of their major league talent.

It looks like the Rams are clost to signing Bennett, which would be a good replacement for Curtis. Have you heard anything down there in Tennessee about Bennett being close to signing? Nothing from the local media, but Schefter reported on NFL Network that Drew was in talks with the Rams. I'll be sad to see him go, he's one of the more underrated receivers in the league. He's big with good hands and has a knack for getting open despite not having a great deal of speed. Good pickup if the Rams get it done.

Did anybody see this one coming? I dont remember ever reading the Pats being interested. From PFI... While not completed the number will be basically be $7.5 million per year and $17 million guaranteed. Yeah, I knew the Pats were interested all along-they have the space, and their linebackers are getting very old-I was just hoping that SF would land him instead, but they decided to go with Clements I guess. They made a good point on NFL Network (Adam Schefter, I think) about the Pats signing Thomas. They said there might be some unrest in the locker room if the Pats start signing guys to big money deals. Yeah, it definitely will be a problem-the Pats haven't been willing to sign anybody to big money deal, and paying people now might result in all of their underpaid players (which are almost all of them) to start demanding their money like Branch did last year. And so the dynasty crumbles. :twisted:

There's speculation on the Colts board that Dominic Rhodes might go to the Titans and they might officially re-name their team Colts South :D :lol: I don't like the idea of Rhodes to be quite honest. I don't think he's a feature back and don't necessarily want LenDale as the man next year. Honestly, there's no free agent RB that I think is as good or better than Henry. Therefore, I think Reinfeldt needs to work a little harder and get something restructured (even if it means a one to two year extension). EDIT: I forgot one RB I think I would prefer to Travis, Jamal Lewis. If we could get him for less than Henry, I'd be all for bringing him in to work with LenDale.

The Titans are likely to cut Travis Henry later this week. He's due an $8.3 million signing bonus which the Titans are unwilling to pay. I think it's a bad move if we're thinking about being good next year, especially since it looks kind of bad that we'll bring back Drew Bennett. http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2786225

Did anybody see this one coming? I dont remember ever reading the Pats being interested. From PFI... While not completed the number will be basically be $7.5 million per year and $17 million guaranteed. Yeah, I knew the Pats were interested all along-they have the space, and their linebackers are getting very old-I was just hoping that SF would land him instead, but they decided to go with Clements I guess. They made a good point on NFL Network (Adam Schefter, I think) about the Pats signing Thomas. They said there might be some unrest in the locker room if the Pats start signing guys to big money deals.

I like Quinn and think he's the most sure thing of the QBs, but that blanket statement is a little too much in my opinion. I fully expect Quinn to have the better career. But he can't touch Russell talent wise. I see this as a situation similar to last year's with Leinart and Vince. Leinart was more of a sure thing, Vince had far more upside (but was less likely to be good).

I like Quinn and think he's the most sure thing of the QBs, but that blanket statement is a little too much in my opinion.

No criticism that I know of at GT. The only worry I have (and this COULD fall on the QB at Tech) is that he disappeared at times during big games when he wasn't thrown to early. I have no idea if he was shut down, or if he was pulling a Randy Moss and taking plays off. as others have born witness, it was reggie ball who disappeared, not johnson. I mistakenly doubted Johnson but after the bowl performance against West Virginia - when he actually had a semi competent QB throwing the ball to him - I realized it was Ball who brought him down. It took you that long? I realized in the 2nd half of GT vs ND in the 06 opener that Calvin Johnson had been screwed over. I didn't know much about him before this year and I didn't get to watch the GT-ND game. The first game I really got a chance to watch was the game against WVU. The ACC championship game was unwatchable. I think their game against Clemson was the ESPN featured game but I didn't get to watch that one either. Me and CCP were watching that game and were both screaming at Ball to get the ball (interesting) to Calvin. He was open so many times, but Ball didn't even look his way.

It always amazes me to see a 6'7 OT put up 225 30+ times. That's a long way to push a bar. No doubt. Wolfe's only 5'7 though and he's benching 22 reps. Free's a huge guy and he's benching the same amount. Hopefully it won't hurt his stock too much. He did play with an injured leg the whole season, but I think he can still be a real solid tackle. Wolfe really intrigues me. He's extremely fast and those bench reps will only help him. His size (which is easily his largest drawback) is much less of an issue if he proves he's strong.

I agree Johnson and Thomas won't fall out of the top four, but Peterson might if the Browns really like Quinn and choose him. Meachem, in my opinion, is now the second receiver on the board. He might go top 10 at this point so if the Vikings want him they better not trade down. As for Olsen, as impressive as he's been, I'm not sure a team ahead of the Bears needs a TE. Buffalo, the Jets, Detroit, Minnesota and Carolina could choose to take a TE, but they all have much larger needs. I would say the only ones with any real likelihood to take a TE are Buffalo and the Jets. Of course, that's all moot if the Bears choose not to take a TE.

Russell was absolutely amazing against the weaker opponents of LSU this year-the problem is, is that enough of a sample size? This is his first great year, and he still struggled a great deal in 2 of the bigger games of the season for LSU. If he had mutliple years of good performances, or if he had more great performances against great teams, then he would be better in my eyes. He had 5 big games this year-Auburn, Florida, Tennessee, Arkansas, ND Auburn-his numbers look all right, but his team scored 3 points, so he couldn't have been amazing. Florida-he was terrible Tennesee-he continued to let Tennessee back in it in the second half, but then came back with the game-winning TD pass at the end. Arkansas-he played well in leading the way to an LSU victory over a good defense. ND-He played very well against a bad defense in the blowout win. Russell makes for a very interesting case-did he mature into a different QB this year? My big concern about him is his tendency to throw into coverage, which he's going to have to do a lot more in the NFL than in college. He's incredibly talented, but as you've said he's extremely inconsistant. I think if he had a good QB coach he would be a great pick.

Thats awful. TE speed. Yea, that was never confirmed but Mike Mayock said it and he's normally very reliable. Jarrett said later on that he wasn't running becuase he had tweaked his groin and would run during USC's pro day. He indicated he expects to run in the 4.4 - 4.5 range. And with his size and hands, that would be a very solid speed, in my opinion.

He's a beast, either the Browns or Texans better grab this guy. I think if Houston can get him, the Peterson/Mario Williams duo will be far better than Reggie Bush/Gaines Adams-Abiamiri-Charles Johnson-etc.

I find it interesting that Lou always seems to call Rothschild "the pitching coach." I wonder what, if anything, is behind that.

A 4.36 and 4.38 40 by Robert Meachem just guaranteed him a top 15-20 pick. I think he also cemented himself as at least the third, if not second, best receiver in the draft. Especially since they said on NFL Network that Jarrett decided not to run today after running a 4.7 earlier in the offseason. EDIT: Meachem also just talked about how dissapointed he was that he didn't run faster. And after watching him this past season, I believe him.

This is good, as long as you're looking at the right things. This doesn't look like a very good start to me. It looks to me, other than the one quote from Lou (which, admittedly, I'm not enamored with), that Paul Sullivan is the one looking at all the wrong things there. I'm doubting that Lou said anything referencing how Eyre or any pitcher has done against a particular team. That's just absurdly stupid logic, pretty much what we've come to expect from Paul. That doesn't mean I trust that Lou will be looking at the right things himself, though. That's true, I didn't pay close enough attention to the quotes. Still not a huge fan of "throwing a little more speed" out there though, unless the catcher/pitcher/both is truly awful, and even then it's probably not worth it. Well, with the way our bench is currently, especially if Pagan does not make the squad, that might just mean that Murton plays instead of Floyd and Theriot plays instead of DeRosa-I mean, Ward, Floyd, or Blanco are not going to win any speed competitions anytime soon :D I don't know, it depends on who you put them up against. I figure they'd have a darn good chance against a Gilbert Brown or Ted Washington. Peyton could probably edge em out on a naked bootleg race, though. :D

Tennessee likely clinches a tournament berth with a big win over Arkansas today. It was also our first road win in the SEC so it makes me quite happy.

Maybe so, but the sad thing is that Izturis will still most likely be an upgrade both offensively and defensively over the Cubs SS's in 2006. Edit: Another thing-the fact that people who are watching Izturis in spring training and are "raving" about his defensive skills, including apparently Bruce, tells me that he hasn't lost that much if at at all from the injuries defensively. How he responds with the bat, and if he continues his offensive progression before the injuries will be the big key. This is an excellent point. Many people forget that last season we had Cedeno at short and he was terrible with the bat and glove. I'll agree Izturis is not the ideal guy to have at short and we're not shooting for mediocrity or anything. But he definately is an upgrade over Cedeno even if he's not good with the bat and he has shown the ability to do better than that.

Nah, don't worry - Dirk can't win the big one. :wink:

yikes, he goes from a head coaching probable to less than a coordinator. i wish ron well, hope he gets to the promised land eventually. can't say i blame teams for not giving him a head job, though, he basically held a clipboard for lovie for 3 years. it'd be nice to see what rivera can actually do when given the reigns of a defense. he's no big loss for the bears, but it's a shame that something couldn't be worked out. Wouldn't have minded the Titans firing Jim Schwartz to make room for Rivera as DC. Pretty fair to significant upgrade right there. rivera just had terrible timing all-around. With as much serious consideration as he got for a head coaching job this year, I wouldn't be shocked if a rebuilding team hired him next year to work with young players and develop them. It's pretty much certain, though, that he won't get a sweet gig like the Chargers were offering.