Bored

Tar Bowl Picks Notre Dame (Lando Griffin) December 14th New Orleans: Southern Miss December 21st Champ Sports: Syracuse December 22nd GMAC: Memphis December 23rd Fort Worth: Cincinnati Las Vegas: UCLA December 24th Hawaii: Hawaii December 27th MPC Computers: Virginia Motor City: Connecticut December 28th Independence: Iowa State Insight: Notre Dame December 29th Houston: UTEP Alamo: Oklahoma State December 30th Continental Tire: Boston College (The team I hate above all others) Emerald: Navy Holiday: California Silicon Valley: Troy December 31st Music City: Alabama Sun: Purdue Liberty: Louisville Peach: Miami January 1st Outback: Georgia Cotton: Texas A&M Gator: Florida State Capital One: LSU Rose: Texas Fiesta: Utah January 3rd Sugar: Auburn January 4th Orange: Oklahoma Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the Orange Bowl? 54 Tiebreak #2: How many total yards of offense will there be in the Liberty Bowl? 799 Texas (Flyboy) December 14th New Orleans: North Texas vs. Southern Miss December 21st Champ Sports: Georgia Tech vs. Syracuse December 22nd GMAC: Memphis vs. Bowling Green December 23rd Fort Worth: Cincinnati vs. Marshall Las Vegas: Wyoming vs. UCLA December 24th Hawaii: UAB vs. Hawaii December 27th MPC Computers: Virginia vs. Fresno State Motor City: Connecticut vs. Toledo December 28th Independence: Iowa State vs. Miami University Insight: Notre Dame vs. Oregon State December 29th Houston: UTEP vs. Colorado Alamo: Ohio State vs. Oklahoma State December 30th Continental Tire: North Carolina vs. Boston College Emerald: Navy vs. New Mexico Holiday: California vs. Texas Tech Silicon Valley: Northern Illinois vs. Troy December 31st Music City: Minnesota vs. Alabama Sun: Purdue vs. Arizona State Liberty: Louisville vs. Boise State Peach: Florida vs. Miami January 1st Outback: Wisconsin vs. Georgia Cotton: Tennessee vs. Texas A&M Gator: West Virginia vs. Florida State Capital One: Iowa vs. LSU Rose: Michigan vs. Texas Fiesta: Utah vs. Pittsburgh January 3rd Sugar: Auburn vs. Virginia Tech January 4th Orange: USC vs. Oklahoma Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the Orange Bowl? 54 Tiebreak #2: How many total yards of offense will there be in the Liberty Bowl? 625

Speaking of Willingham, ESPNews is reporting that he'll be named the head coach at Washington.

Can someone change Dama's screen name to Mark David Chapman?

Uh nope. Mulder completely collapsed the last two months of the season and overall for the year was a league average pitcher. He wasn't even the 2nd best starter on the A's, Rich Harden was.

I believe you have John Halama mistaken for another pitcher. 2002: 101 innings, 3.56 ERA (Seattle) 2003: 108 2/3 innings, 4.22 ERA (Oakland) 2004: 118 2/3 innings, 4.70 ERA (Tampa Bay)

Just three days left. My picks December 14th New Orleans: North Texas vs. Southern Miss December 21st Champ Sports: Georgia Tech vs. Syracuse December 22nd GMAC: Memphis vs. Bowling Green December 23rd Fort Worth: Cincinnati vs. Marshall Las Vegas: Wyoming vs. UCLA December 24th Hawaii: UAB vs. Hawaii December 27th MPC Computers: Virginia vs. Fresno State Motor City: Connecticut vs. Toledo December 28th Independence: Iowa State vs. Miami University Insight: Notre Dame vs. Oregon State December 29th Houston: UTEP vs. Colorado Alamo: Ohio State vs. Oklahoma State December 30th Continental Tire: North Carolina vs. Boston College Emerald: Navy vs. New Mexico Holiday: California vs. Texas Tech Silicon Valley: Northern Illinois vs. Troy December 31st Music City: Minnesota vs. Alabama Sun: Purdue vs. Arizona State Liberty: Louisville vs. Boise State Peach: Florida vs. Miami January 1st Outback: Wisconsin vs. Georgia Cotton: Tennessee vs. Texas A&M Gator: West Virginia vs. Florida State Capital One: Iowa vs. LSU Rose: Michigan vs. Texas Fiesta: Utah vs. Pittsburgh January 3rd Sugar: Auburn vs. Virginia Tech January 4th Orange: USC vs. Oklahoma Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the Orange Bowl? 50 Tiebreak #2: How many total yards of offense will there be in the Liberty Bowl? 848

Considering his career best is 3.56 and his career is 4.52....

Jon Garland? Damn, he is that good? Ironically enough #2 on Garland's most smiliar pitcher through age 24 is Javier Vazquez.

Tim Hudson. I'd rather have an age 30 Jason Schmidt than and age 29 Jack McDowell but that's why these things probably mean nothing. Closer for the Brewers who has mastered the art of not striking out anyone.

Now this might not mean anything at all but looking at baseball-reference.com's similarity scores for Carl Pavano and Matt Clement: Pavano: Clement: Oil Can Boyd or Jason Schmidt? You make the call!

I'm still not convinced Hudson is going anywhere, especially with the Braves refusing to trade Giles. It's just not Beane's style to feel forced to trade a player in a walk year.

The A's have no use for Mientkiewicz so I wouldn't buy any of these rumors.

Gammons was on ESPN News so that's where it's coming from. $10 million/year for Renteria? $11 million/year for Pavano? This whole offseason has just a model of stupidity across the board. I'd say 90% of all players signed so far have been overpaid. Though after the "market correction" of the last two years I have a feeling this over spending by the owners is so they can cry poor again for the next CBA after 2006. Then we can look forward to a possible strike or lockout yet again.

Texans - 21 points Chicago Cincinnati Cleveland Green Bay Indianapolis New Orleans N.Y. Giants Oakland Minnesota Miami N.Y. Jets San Francisco Carolina Tampa Bay Philadelphia Kansas City

Peter Gammons is reporting that the Diamondbacks have signed Russ Ortiz to a 4-year, $34 million deal. The D-Backs have a $55 million debt this upcoming year and that was before the signings of Glaus and Ortiz. $55 million

Taking a look at the Angels and Dodgers transactions today. Steve Finley 2 years, $20 million 40 years old in 2005 OPS+ last three years: 109, 112, 110 Jeff Kent 2 years, $17 million 37 years old in 2005 OPS+ last three years: 152, 118, 124 Okay they do play different positions and I know the Angels have the money to spend but don't you think they feel a little silly tonight after the Dodgers signed Kent?

Okay already an update off of rotoworld.com:

There's speculation that the A's/Cardinals deal will become a three-way deal with the Braves in which Giles comes to Oakland. It looks like I'm going to be wrong about the A's not trading Hudson.

White Sox have signed Jermaine Dye to a two-year, $10.15 million deal.

Diamondbacks have signed Troy Glaus to a 4-year, $45 million deal. Aren't they trying to dig out of a huge debt? They are going to pay $10 million+/year to a guy who's played 149 games the last two years and who's long term future is probably as a DH but won't be able to DH in the NL. Pure insanity.

It was the anniversary of John Lennon's death. Maybe it was some fucked up obsessed fan.

I still don't think that the A's will trade Tim Hudson. Beane is unlikely to get equal value for him in his walk year so by trading Hudson the A's immediately will make themselves worse for 2005 to maybe make themselves better for 2006. I think Beane is putting out feelers just in case a gem of a deal falls in his lap.

Poor White Sox fans:

Wow the Yankees are really banking on a couple of guys who may have had fluke years. Womack had his best year last season at 34 so it's pretty much a lock his numbers will go down. Wright will be 29 next year so it's possible his resurrection last year wasn't a fluke but we'll see how he does without Leo Mazzone.

I haven't seen it mentioned in the thread but Jerry Rice passed Brian Mitchell last night to become the all-time net yardage leader at 23,351 yards. Net yardage includes receiving, rushing, and kick/punt returns. That is just insane for a player who's never been a kick returner (he had one return his rookie year) to be the all-time leader let alone a wide receiver who isn't going to get too many rushing attempts. It's now Rice's 35th NFL record.