Open Thread: Winter Meetings Eve
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I have officially arrived in Nashville for the 2012 Winter Meetings, and I can confirm the Gaylord Opryland Hotel is enormous. It’s basically four hotels and a convention center rolled into one. Easily the biggest location of the four Winter Meetings I’ve attended. I would have snapped some photos of the fancy foliage and signage and all that had I remembered to charge my phone beforehand. I can try to do that tomorrow, when the offseason will really kick into high gear. My gut feel: the Yankees will make a move this week, something more than a little waiver claim but less than a true blockbuster. Maybe sign Nate Schierholtz, that would be neat.
Anyway, here is your open thread for the evening. The Eagles and Cowboys are the late NFL game, but talk about anything you like here. Go nuts.
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The Tyler Austin Watch
Is that an actual approximation of the Nashville skyline?
I was in the Meatpacking District this afternoon when I saw the fanciest Lambourghini I’ve ever seen, with a Jersey license plate on it which read “WINNING.” I wonder.
That Lamborghini is beyond sick. My friend showed me that a while ago, here’s a link to some pics of it if anyone wants to see. I can’t even imagine how much it costed.
http://evgrieve.com/2012/07/to.....-with.html
You guys should watch Top Gear if you love fancy cars so much! Amazing show! The UK one, not the US crap.
Yup. That was it.
Just found that apparently it costed $400K and it belongs to a divorce attorney from Long Island named Bryan Salamone, who seems insane.
He is literally Saul Goodman.
A divorce attorneyhuh… I am assuming he can only afford such a vehicle by representing the Long Island Housewives, not their husbands…
A good friend of mines is an attorney, does NOT represent housewives from Long Island, and he drives a civic. And not a fancy chrome one with a douchebag licence plate, either.
Read below, Manny, to get the full context in which I saw this car.
One link down from Matt’s is another one outlining the owner. If you want to really hate him, read on.
http://jalopnik.com/5893665/me.....-the-world
The car was the only one parked right in front of the entrance to one of those ridiculous Sunday brunch parties, in which 4:00 PM seems like it’s 3:00 AM. This whole thing is one big douchefest.
“Hire winning lawyers. Don’t wait. Call us now.”
Directly from that douche fuck tards website. Guarantee he wrote that plate off on his taxes because of that quote. Classy dude.
It’s two of the skyline buildings…the capital and the bat tower.
Alright, who’s going to be the one to bite it on the Walking Dead tonight?
See what I did there?
Dude I can’t wait. I love it when I get to this point in a season of a show. Shit is about to get crazy. I mean, it kinda already got crazy, but you know what I mean.
My roommate says he hates midseason finales but I actually like them. Means there are 2 really intense episodes in the season. Sure, waiting while the show is on hiatus for 2 months sucks with a cliffhanger but i’d rather have an awesome episodes and a cliffhanger and a 2 month wait than an average episode and a 2 month wait.
I agree. I love that there are 2 episodes in a season that are just nuts. I have plenty of other options to bridge that gap between mid-season episodes.
I felt like the Tdog/Lori episode was a season finale! This show has me on the end of my seat. To me, it’s like the season of Dexter/Doakes storyline x1000
If Glenn or Maggie die I’m going to be really pissed. Same with Darrell. Don’t think rick will for obvious reasons. Perhaps Michone or one of the two prisoners. If they kill someone from that group of three my money is on one of the prisoners cause we (as the audience) haven’t really gotten to know them all that well yet. Andrea maybe?
Regardless, I’m super excited!!
I could see Andrea. If they wanted to kill off Glenn, I think that would have happened last week. Darrell is just too bad ass. Should be a great episode!
My three untouchables are glenn darrell and maggie also, if any of them die I will go nuts
The T-dogg stand in for obvious reasons, or Meryl because he’s talked himself into a really big grave with his lie to the governor.
I really hope they take out Andrea, if the zombie virus was an std, her being around explains how it spread to every living thing on earth
Michonne is new and is also a popular character from the comics so I think she’s safe for at least 2 more seasons, Darryl is just too great to take out in a midseason finale(that’s some season finale kind of shit if they off him)
You think they actually will go for 2 more seasons? I mean I love the show and it is great but what more can they do and so many of the main cast has died, the main character is going nuts. Unless they keep it going with Glen as the leader after rick dies and they start a new group with Glen taking ricks role and maggie taking laurie’s role
They have plenty of story to go. That’s the thing with this comic/show. It doesn’t have a cast that’s cemented.
plenty of story to go on, the comics go well beyond the prison arc.
Boardwalk Empire all the way.
Can’t wait to see Rosetti meet his end, though I’m afraid Harrow might see his as well.
I’ll be watching both. I’ll watch empire live and then I’ll use the dvr to blow through the commercials on Dead.
I think Harrow might go too. But he’ll take plenty of people with him.
Oh, hell yea he will.
I loved Capone’s line at the end of last week’s episode. Totally something I could picture Capone saying.
You can take boats rides inside the hotel? Now that’s some crazy stuff!
Who’s going to die tonight on the Walking Dead or more the question. Is it a main character?
Dear Baseball Santa, please grace us with Giancarlo.
Bold prediction
Cashman lands Giancarlo Stanton, and Taijuan Walker for Stewart, Cervelli and a couple bags of Swiss Chocolate…boom
That is a good prediction, I would bet on it
And fans would still complain about th lack of a catcher.
Out of the following, who would you want to platoon with either Schierholtz, Dickerson, or Ichiro in RF:
AAAA Players:
Michael Taylor, OAK
Tyler Moore, WAS
Colin Cowgill, OAK
Bounceback:
Ryan Raburn
Ben Francisco
Shelley Duncan
Reed Johnson
Austin Kearns
Lew Ford?
Just tossing out names.
Tell me who you think is best or give other, cheap options. (Not Hairston)
I have an irrational fondness for Tyler Moore, so I’ll say that I’d choose him in this scenario.
Just throwing this out there, what about Dayan Viciedo of the White Sox? I know they are looking for a 3B badly but could it work out?
Forget platoons. Lets get Gordon for left and Stanton for right. Trade Grandy Cano and prospects. Get under 189 now and still put a great team on the field. If they won’t trade Stanton then get Upton.
We’re not getting anyone elite unless they trade the entire farm which Cashman has never done recently.
The Yankees are in a bridge year. Good enough to be in playoff contention while they let their prospects develop. From there they can evaluate whether who to gut and trade for or actually use them.
I’m not buying this all out last hurrah in 2013.
But this is probably the last hurrah for Andy, Mo, Kuroda, Grandy and Possibly Cano. I’d be willing to trade Slade, Austin, Williams, and any other OF prospects along with Grandy and Cano because if you get Stanton and Gordon then you shouldn’t need any of them. Next off season you only need to replace Pettite and Mo. You go this route and sign a catcher and RF to 1 year deals and you will need to replace a #2 your closer, RF, CF, 2B and C and what’s left standing offensively is Gardner, Arod, Jeter and Teix. That’s just scary!!!!!!
Too much caffeine.
Tell me how I’m wrong.
I first need to know what you’re even saying.
Ok let me put it in simple terms so you can follow me. If the Yankees sign a catcher and right fielder to 1 year deals then next off season they need to replace Mo, Andy, Kuroda, Cano, Granderson, the right fielder and catcher they signed to one year deals because all of these contracts expire while trying to accomplish this and achieving a payroll under $189M. Please enlighten me on how they would accomplish this. Don’t forget that all you will receive back for Cano and Granderson after next off season is 2 draft pics probably in the upper 30s of a weak draft.
So what you are saying is “PLEASE TELL ME WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN IN THE FUTURE I DO NOT KNOW.”
I think the Yanks overpay Cano and keep him. Other than that, they have their work cut out for them, with the only consolation I have to offer you that we’ll all have an extra year of knowing what exactly they’ve got in the wings.
So you don’t think Cashman and the rest of the Yankee brass had learned anything from the Arod signing?
You will never see the end of long-term, big money contracts in baseball.
I’m not convinced there was anything to “learn” from the Alex signing. The concept of risk with a long-term, big money deal is something I’m sure all organizations consider.
Hopefully they “learned” not to let Hank make anymore contract decisions.
Of course there was something to learn. Cashman was against resigning Arod when he opt out because not only did they lose a ton of money from Texas but it also meant paying him top dollar for seasons when most players start to decline. George rolled the dice and lost on that one. Signing Cano could mean more of the same. Trading him for the pieces needed to bring back a cost controlled potential stud makes sense for not only 2013 but beyond as well. Signing him to a long term deal would mean not being able to pay higher salaries for the rest of the players needed next offseason while staying on the budget needed to get under the cap.
That’s every big money free agent signing. When you sign a guy in his peak years to that length, he’s not going to finish that contract at his peak. Do you honestly think the Angels are counting on Albert Pujols to be at the top of his game at the end of his contract? No. You hope they produce enough and win a title for you in the front end of that contract so that the end of that contract is the “victory lap” we talked a ton about last off-season. If anything, Alex’s contract is the rare one that isn’t terribly backloaded.
The New York Yankees will give out huge contracts again, whether or not they do so in the next two seasons.
A smart GM realizes when and when not to sign a player to a huge contract. CC, AJ and Teix were good signings. The Arod deal signed with Texas wasn’t bad. Resigning him was dumb. Signing Cano next year to 7 years would be just as dumb IMHO
The AJ and Tex deals aren’t looking so good.
A smart GM weighs out risk versus reward. Smart GMs can also come out losing sometimes.
How so Teix has been worth 16 war the last 4 years and AJ was still tradable when he imploded. Arod is not!
They got one good year out of AJ and then 2 bad years and now are paying him to pitch for another team.
Tex performed to expectations in his first season, but has under-performed his contract and expectations since.
But yes, ARod’s deal is definitely worse.
Arod having a horrible deal doesn’t make AJ or Tex’s deal good.
I can try… Because its all an illogical pipe dream out of MLB13 with ‘Force Trades’ mode on.
You have to assume in your scenario that the other 29 teams want to help the Yankees get better and cheaper. Meanwhile, The other 29 teams want to throw their Alfonso Sorianos and Carlos Zambranos at the Yankees.
So in your humble opinion trading Cano, Granderson, Heathcott, Austin, Williams and one of Nova or Phelps is not enough to land 2 solid cost controlled outfielders? I’m not sure you realize how much 1 year of Cano is worth. I don’t think you need force trades on because the Royals could trade Gordon or Myers and the D-Backs will trade Upton.
I don’t think you realize how much one year of Cano is worth to what is a non-contending or a most likely non contending team.
I’m sure the Dodgers would love to have him. I never said trade Cano to the Fish or Dbacks.
That’s a lot of moving parts in a deal, and you have to make the deals simultaneously or else the Yankees might trade Cano and Granderson and just end up with a bunch of prospects the Marlins and Dbacks aren’t interested in. It’s much easier said than done, and in the end maybe the Yankees are better off taking the value of Cano/Granderson this season and hanging on to their top prospects who could be ready in 2015. Not to mention that even if they do pull off your mega trade we have traded a hole in RF for a hole at 2b while gutting the farm system and still not addressing C.
What you don’t seem to realize is the hole at 2b will be there next year anyway.
What you don’t seem to realize is the 2b issue will be there next year anyway.
That isn’t necessarily true, assuming the Yankees don’t sign Cano is a big leap. Even so, you’re trade isn’t based in reality. Read this http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs.....-possible/ and tell me we have the pieces, or could acquire the pieces to trade for Stanton. The Marlins might be penny pinching a-holes but they definitely squeeze every last bit of value out of every dollar, they aren’t trading Stanton without getting really elite prospects, and if we waited until after 2013 the trade cost comes down and thus more possible. And pre-empting the argument that they didn’t get elite prospects from the Blue Jays, I’ll point out that the difference in that trade was that they were dumping 100+ million in salary. The D-backs want a package built around an elite cost controlled SS/3B for Upton and have been turning down Olt+ in trade rumors with the Rangers. So despite popular opinion they aren’t prepared to give Upton away. The Royals have no reason to trade Gordon because he’s their best player, they play in a division where 87 wins won and could conceivably compete (see 2012 Orioles). They have been shopping Billy Butler for a front-line MLB pitcher, and teams have been asking for Myers instead, and then the trade stalls. So if they are going to trade Gordon, it’s not going to be for Nova/Phelps or any of our current MiLB pitching, they want an elite guy. So where is that coming from. Are we going to trade for Garza or Shields and send them plus prospects to the Royals for Gordon? And seriously come up with another realistic trading partner for Cano other than the Dodgers it’s tougher than you think. The Yankees aren’t trading him to an AL team, and how many NL teams have the money to actually keep him, the Giants maybe, the Nationals. That’s really it. And none of those teams have the a farm system that I would consider trading Cano for. Are you really ready to make a trade centered around Zach Lee and Joc Pederson? The Giants have some nice arms, but they are really far away, and the Nationals gutted their system when they traded for Gio and just traded their top pitching prospect for Span. Even if we did go to the AL the options are still limited, basically the Rangers and Tigers. The Rangers don’t need Cano, they have Kinsler, Andrus and Profar, so they wouldn’t sell the farm for him. Sure the Tigers have Nick Castellanos as a nice center piece for a trade but then we have to watch a Cano, Cabrera, Fielder, Verlander team, that doesn’t sound fun. Plus even if it works out in the end, Gordon isn’t exactly cheap he’s signed for 4/44 million and Upton is signed for 3/38. In my opinion keeping Cano/Granderson gives us a better team in 2013 and even if both leave and we get nothing but two picks and some financial flexibility, at least we still have some nice assetts in the farm that could help us and actually be cheap. There isn’t anything I don’t realize about the situation, this is a group of people posting on a Yankee blog, they all think about these things way to much. It’s just not all that probable or practical to do what you are suggesting.
Yes, there will be a lot of changes to the roster in 2014. But the only commitments will be A-Rod, CC and Teix and maybe Jeter’s option. Robertson, Gardner, Nova and maybe Pineda, would all be arbitration eligible. Yes that’s a lot of empty spots on the roster. But even with the 189 cap, we’d have about the same payroll for the other 17 spots that most teams have for their whole roster. While it’s not ideal, I don’t think we’re going to be incapable of fielding a competitive team in 2014 and beyond.
We are pleased to welcome Mike Axisa, noted country music fan and hillbilly.
Would make your rotation CC, Hughes, Nova, Phelps and maybe Pineda or Banuelos.
Reply fail!
And from what I’ve already seen, I am assuming ‘logic fail’ applies as well…
IEYSVM
These Steelers/Ravens games never disappoint.
Winter Meetings Eve – Yankees Winter Meetings = Waste of time.
Not true, the winter meetings is where cashman sets up the ground work for his sneaky moves
What’s with all these asinine comments. Did Lohud close for Christmas break or something?
You know, I’ve JUST decided to try Law and Order SVU. While it really isn’t a GREAT show, and it often is rather depressing,it’s pretty good and surprisingly addicting.
Nothing will ever beat “Sherlock” to me though. Ever. Those episodes are masterpieces.
It’s great DVR fodder, and Mariska is just genetically superior to the rest of us.
And it will still be a year before any new episodes air, from what I heard.
I heard that was what was originally said but they’re actually just moving filming back a bit. They’re going to try and air the episodes at the same time.
What this means is that there is NO WAY they’re going to be aired at the same time and we should expect 2014.
You picked a wrong time, stabler keft the show is nothing compared to what it was
I know, but I still have all of the reruns to watch since I just started.
Ma-ris-ka
Random question. I saw a lot of people pulling for Romine (meaning if nothing changes…which I doubt). There’s obvious questions with him not playing too many meaningful games above AA, but to me the major question is how do you think he could handle the pitching staff?
He is praised for his defensive abilities and I believe also on being good with a staff
He is supposed to be good defensively, and as for calling a good game; it shouldn’t be a problem because the pitching staff is mostly veterans.
CC, Kuroda, Pettitte, Hughes have all been in the league for several years, they know what they are good at, and I’m sure will help teach Romine how to call a good game.
As of right now I would think cervelli has lead, but with Romine having chance take it in ST.
Prediction-
Teams- Yankees, Dodgers, and Indians.
Major Yankees Players some combo plus or minus- Cano, Nova, Nunez, Joba and minor leaguers not name Gary Sanchez.
Major players coming back some combo plus or minus-Asdrubal Cabrera, Shin-Soo Choo, Carlos Santana, or A. J. Ellis and minor league pitching.
It is probably just me but I think if we traded cano we could bring back some way better players
I think Cano would probably be the long shot in the group of tradable, but getting a package together with the Dodgers that would be strong enough to pull Santana would probably need him.
If they trade Cano, I would want a ton of minor league talent.
It is crazy how once martin left the talk for a RF really died down and focus went to catcher, but it is more important that we get a good above average right fielder plus there are more options there than catcher
Cashman at least publicly says the same.
Chances we have anything to offer the Royals for Will Meyers? Maybe a 3 way deal?
Of course we do. They want pitching so a 3 way would make sense because Hughes , Nova or Phelps wouldn’t be enough.
5 percent.
All you Walking Dead fans, a quote from Laurie Holden (Andrea) about tonight’s episode:
“I can say that the mid-season finale is going to make people want to throw their TV sets out the window. I want to apologize in advance to the world because it is a treacherous way to leave people hanging until the new season starts. But it’s good storytelling.”
It sucks we have to wait till 2/10/13 for episode 9.
I’m gonna go through withdrawal.
so far my predictions are looking good
Random black guy prisoner just went down (surprise surprise)
Come on man! Spoiler alerts!!
And they brought in Tyreese to replace him. That show has some sort of aversion to having two black guy characters at the same time.
Yup. One big black guy in, one big black guy out. This is like the 4th time (though the first black guy wasn’t especially big).
His name was Oscar.
Last night’s “On Demand” selection was “Dark Shadows,” because of both the Depp/Burton involvement and my remembering ads for the show when I was a kid. Somehow the movie was really bad and totally worth watching at the same time.
It was interesting and sloppy and funny and mediocre all at the same time.
Exactly.
Tim Burton and Johnny Depp? And Michelle Pfeiffer? How did I miss this? Totally watching this on Christmas Day. At least something good will come out of this off-season.
Overshadowed by the Avengers this summer.
Performances are great. Continuity of plot is pretty crappy, though. Still worth it.
Good assessment.
I caught it on PPV and had high hopes since it looked like the type of movie that could pull Burton back to some of his earlier works, like the two Eds (Scissorhands and Wood) and Beetlejuice.
I never saw the original Dark Shadows because it was gone by the time I was aware it had ever existed, but my mother and one of my older sisters were fans, so I would hear them talk about it after it went off the air and totally knew the character Barnabas Collins, or at least his name. As a little boy, Dark Shadows sounded like the only soap opera I could be tempted to watch since it had a vampire.
The movie I think tried to shoe horn a few too many plot lines with characters into a two hour movie that in the soap opera unfolded over a period of years. Just didn’t work.
Yet if you approach is with kind of lowish expectations, it’s an enjoyable watch. Burton always makes something look interesting, even if it’s just visual, and all the actors are solid. Liked revisiting some of the music, too, including Alice Cooper. “Ugliest woman I’ve ever seen.”
My wife and I call it “good bad” and apply it to many things including food eg Devil Dogs.
Richard Harrow, Angel of Death.
That was quite possiibly the most incredible and badass scene I’ve seen in a while! Great finale, can’t wait for next season!
Wow I love Carlos Santana and there is valid reason to start a love fest but I hope you know it’ll probably not happen.
Seriously this may be the year we don’t do anything and actually keep the prospects. What else is there to do? It’s not like the Indians would be dying to help us.
Agree on both the Santana love and that nothing going to happen.
I got a strange feeling a Morse for Nova trade might go down.
Morse only has one year of team control left. That’s disappointing.
NVM, if the Rays get him, my strange feelings will subside.
Soto re-signs with Texas. Good.
Resigns?
Well, guess you can scratch Soto off the list of potential catchers…
Everyone can probably stop those absurd trade ideas with the Indians since Cabrera has the Yankees on his no-trade list.
DAMN HIM!!!!!
His list is interesting though. It’s 6 teams and 4 of them won their divisions this year with a 5th who is usually very competitive and only one other who isn’t really there.
Does he just not want to win or what???
Maybe he doesn’t want to win. I’m trying to look for a pattern here Yankees, Red Sox, Tigers, Nationals, Giants, and Mets.
Could be $$$$ most on them are big market teams and the Giants have drop some $$$ in the past.
He still would be cheaper then Cano so I guess my crazy ass idea might still happen but I doubt it.