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Is $9 million a year for 4 years really that high for a big market team with next to no big contracts on the books? Cespedes is a very high upside guy who would only have to be worth 2 WAR a year each year to be worth his contract. His defense alone might do that. Considering his age, our desperate need for impact talent, and how difficult it is to get reasonably priced players in FA, I think it would have been a very good gamble.

I think it depends a lot on how well he pitches to open the year and whether another team suffers an injury in the rotation. Right now, the trade value isn't very high since he's an older pitcher coming off a down year. However, I think the veteran-ness would help him out if he can come out of the gates pitching anything like 2008 (or even 09-10) for even just 1-2 months, I think teams would see him as a proven guy who still has some left in the tank. Adding a little desperation into the equation if a starter goes down somewhere could only serve to increase his trade value. As far as how likely he is to rebound, his 2011 xFIP was only .01 points off his 2008 season and his FIP was very comparable to 09-10. On a quick glance at his stats, the only one that really took a hit from 09-10 to 2011 was ERA. I'm not sure if that actually answered your question, though. I'm terrible at putting letter grades on what prospects a guy might garner, so I was trying to avoid doing that. As a rough estimate, though, maybe we can get a C+ prospect now, a B- prospect if he has a strong start to the year and maybe a B prospect if a team gets desperate and overpays. Maybe add in a secondary prospect as well, but the main point here is that I think his trade value can improve a decent amount if things go well early on.

I pretty much agree with this. A lot of luck could get us into the division race next year, but the more likely outcome is contention in 2014.

Does it really matter if we don't have much rotation depth this year? I realize you still have to pretend you want to win games this year, but ultimately it's pretty obvious the goal is not contention this season (and contention is really, really unlikely), so does it really matter if we end up giving Lopez or Sonnanstine starts this year? If they see Wood, Volstad, or Shark as potentially important parts of the future, a fear of dropping from mid-70s to high-60s in wins shouldn't keep them from ensuring those pitchers are in the rotation. That said, I don't see any of the three as being particularly likely to be anything more than run-of-the-mill mid-back rotation starters. Thus, I have no problem with sending one of them to AAA to give Dempster time to build back trade value - especially since the goal of the organization is to bring in assets and getting a bit more trade value for Dempster would jive with that stated goal. That, and I think it's pretty unlikely we compete in 2013 as well, so that gives us two years to try to figure out what we have in the rotation.

Wow, I thought Carpenter alone was too much. Giving up Kurcz as well is really bad. Nothing devastating since both are simply relievers, but after giving up a pretty non-descript A baller in the exact same type of scenario previously, it seems like we should have gotten away with giving up a lot less.

Colts acquire Winston Justice from Eagles and apparently just swapped 6th round picks to do it. Is there something about Justice I don't know that makes this a bad trade for Indy? Cowboys sign Brandon Carr - 5 years/$50 million Jarrett Johnson to SD and Cory Redding to Indy. Good to see the Raven defense breaking up a bit.

Bud Adams' plane was seen landing in Nashville and then it took off again supposedly headed to Raleigh-Durham, where Peyton has been working out. If all that is true, sounds like Bud picked up Munchak/other Titans coaches and is headed to meet with Peyton. Since it appears we had interest in Mario Williams before Bud decided he wanted Peyton, we better get Peyton. I still think we should have as good a shot as anybody.

Peyton will apparently meet with the Titans and Dolphins at some point early this week. I'm getting excited......

On a more realistic note, the Titans are apparently considering pursuing Steve Hutchinson. Wouldn't be a bad 1-2 year stopgap option, but unless we make a Peyton/Mario Williams type splash, I'd prefer the younger Ben Grubbs.

As his top two choices, not his only two choices. Peyton's too detailed to visit a couple of places and then rule everybody else out - especially when everybody else includes a team with as good a core as anybody else pursuing him. Kenny Britt, Jared Cook and Chris Johnson are all just about as good as anybody else's offensive weapons. He'd have to play the Colts twice if he came to Nashville, but the Titans are a definite playoff contender with him and could be a Super Bowl caliber team if he stays healthy and we make some shrewd defensive moves. Unless he simply has no desire to play the Colts twice, I'd be stunned if he didn't at least consider the Titans.

Apparently the Titans do have some interest in Peyton.... Bud is apparently ready to offer Peyton a "competitive" offer and a front office position after he retires from playing. I had resigned myself to the Titans not having interest in Peyton, but now I'm getting kind of excited. If the Cubs can get Theo, maybe anything is possible.....

Makes sense. Didn't realize he had that many drops.

How much of that was Clark being really bad now and how much of that was the Painter/Orlovsky QB duo, I wonder?

I can go either way on trades. It might bog down the process waiting on myself or someone else to approve each trade, but at the same time there always a spot or two that is an obvious trade down and we know that pick won't be right. As far as starting the mock, April 1 is fine by me. I'm pretty open to that as well, as I'd be fine starting soon or waiting til then.

Actually, I really like RG3 in Shanahan's offense and I think he can thrive in it. I do doubt their ability to put a good team around him after giving up this many quality picks, though.

Nah, no way RG3 is ever as good as The Sanchize.

Mark Sanchez now makes more than Aaron Rodgers. Really bad decisions by NFL teams seem to be popular today.

i guess it just depends on whether he is a franchise QB. if he is, that's worth paying a really heavy price. but he has to be great to make this trade worth it. He pretty much has to be an elite type of QB for this to make sense. And the problem I have with this trade is that RG3's chances of that just aren't high enough. He's a really terrific talent, but he's still not the type of sure thing Luck is or Peyton was.

Wow, didn't realize Clark was that old. I knew he was getting older, but I was thinking 30-31. Still might be a decent 2nd TE option in the right situation, though.

I like RG3 and all, but this was a really, really bad trade by Washington.

Addai might be a decent split-time RB for somebody, but Dallas Clark could be a really good addition for somebody.

Orson Charles was arrested on a DUI. Wonder what, if anything, this does to his draft status.

In non-Peyton news: Cortland Finnegan is apparently trying to pull a LeBron/Wade/Bosh by making himself a package deal with Vincent Jackson. The Colts are apparently considering trading Freeney. No chance this happens, but I'd love to see Freeney on the Titans. and The Giants are planning to cut Brandon Jacobs.

Sonnanstine turns 29 and Maholm turns 30 this year. There's not much of a long term for those two.

Sure thing! I was afraid I had run you off or something.