Bored

Edit: wrong topic.

Here is today's notes from MLB.com's Hot Stove Report. I left out anything that's already been mentioned before. -Curt Schilling has said that he will accept a trade to the Yankees. -Marlins have made contract offers to Mike Lowell and Luis Castillo. An offer to Ivan Rodriguez should come soon. -Mets and Phillies are interested in Ugueth Urbina. -Astros are interested in Chad Fox. -Phillies are looking for a set-up man. They talked to Tom Gordon but he wants to go some where he can close. If they don't re-sign Terry Adams they could go after LaTroy Hawkins, Shigetoshi Hasegawa, or Curt Leskanic. -Phillies are interested in Danys Baez but they could only get him if the Indians don't tender him a contract. Haven't ruled out bringing back Kevin Millwood but might not want to give him the five-year deal he wants. -Mets are interested in Kelvim Escobar. -Astros re-signed Dan Miceli. They are trying to trade Richard Hidalgo and Geoff Blum. They want to re-sign Jose Vizcaino. -Orioles might make a trade offer for Richie Sexson. -Braves top priorities are Gary Sheffield and Curt Schilling. -Todd Zeile isn't retiring. -Cardinals/Dodgers trade rumor: Jim Edmonds for Odalis Perez and Guillermo Mota. -Reds are interested in Shane Reynolds -Rockies can't afford Jay Payton if he goes to arbitration but they still think they might be able to sign him to a contract. They are trying to re-sign Greg Norton and Chris Stynes. -If David Wells has to have back surgery it will end any chance of him going back to the Yankees. -Red Sox, Rangers, and Angels all laughed off the A-Rod/Nomar trade rumor. -Rangers have now denied any rumor of them trying to sign Roger Clemens. -John Thomson is unsure if he'll return to the Rangers. -White Sox/Angels trade rumor: Magglio Ordonez for Troy Percival and Darrin Erstad. Orioles, Dodgers, Yankees, and Mets are all interested in Ordonez who is in the final year of his contract. -Mets are interested in Shigetoshi Hasegawa. -Tigers might bid on Miguel Tejada but they have a better shot at Rich Aurillia, Royce Clayton, or Rey Sanchez. Might also go after Todd Walker, Mark Grudzielanek, or Pokey Reese. -Royals won't offer salary arbitration to any of their 15 free agents. -Mariners, A's, Brewers, and Mets are interested in Raul Ibanez. -Orioles are interested in Joe Randa. -Blue Jays are interested in Tom Gordon and Chris Carpenter.

Ha! My fellow A's fans are pissed Ken Macha finished 3rd...because they didn't think he should get any votes at all.

Seriously though, do teams even want to play there? I'd say Boise State does. I'm trying to figure out how the ACC agreed to send a team there. Oh and on the subject the playoffs again every other level of college football of a 16-team playoff and no one bitches about it there. Oh and don't say "oh they'll play too long" because college basketball players miss more school time than football players and on top of that the tournament would take place when schools are usually are their winter break anyways. You need 16 teams because its the only way you can get every conference champ in it. Well okay fuck the Sun Belt but they will probably be gone after next year due to all this conference expansion anyways. Of course my plan is all based on getting rid of the bowl system completely. Don't be afraid of change, which I think this is almost as much about as it is about money.

Velocity: Rikishi, Scotty 2 Hotty, & Orlando Jordan vs. F.B.I. Ultimo Dragon & Funaki vs. World's Greatest Tag Team Spanky & Paul London vs. American Dragon & John Walters Rhyno vs. Kanyon Smackdown: Kurt Angle vs. Nathan Jones Jamie Noble & Rey Mysterio vs. Akira (Jimmy Yang) & Sekata (Keiji Sakoda) Chavo Guerrero vs. Basham Brothers, handicap match Bradshaw vs. A-Train Chris Benoit & John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar & Big Show

No...fucking...way. I'm shocked.

Well I prefer it if January 1st was always the last day of the bowl season which it sorta used to be. Maybe a game or two would happen on the 2nd but now January 1st is just another day on the calendar when it comes to college football which is a shame.

Bleh the day a bowl is played on means nothing now just as how bowls in general mean nothing now. The Holiday Bowl in the great scheme of things is a big game with a lot of tradition and typically a very entertaining game as well but its always played on December 30th with the nothing bowls.

Oh I see...there wasn't a mention of Schilling so that was why I was confused. Oh and if there is any truth to the rumor then the Yankees are out of their fucking minds getting a starting pitcher at the end of his career and giving up a young first baseman that they need now because Giambi is going need to DH a lot. Its 1980s all over again with a deal like that.

Here are the quick notes to take from MLB.com's Hot Stove Report: -Kevin Millwood hasn't ruled out returning to the Phillies. The Mets are interested in him. -The New York Post says the Mets are interested in free agent closers Billy Koch and Keith Foulke. Koch isn't a free agent but its the New York Post so what do you expect? -Richie Sexons trade rumor: Sexson to Arizona for Danny Batista, Junior Spivey, Craig Counsell, and John Patterson. Problem with that deal is the Brewers wouldn't cut that much payroll. -Red Sox have entered the Luis Castillo sweepstakes. -Cubs are interested in Ugueth Urbina. -Chipper Jones apparantly hasn't heard anything about him being possibly traded. No plans to move him back to 3rd as Mark DeRosa is expected to take over the position. -Robert Fick cleared waivers and the Expos are interested him. -Rockies and Tigers are interested in Garrett Stephenson. -Yankees and Mets might be interested in Fernando Vina. -Another Richie Sexson trade rumor involving the Yankees and Diamondbacks in a three-way deal but it was reported by the New York Post and I can't quite figure out what the Diamondbacks are getting in the deal. I think Sexson ends up with the Yankees in their rumored, probably made up, deal. -Rockies are uncertain if they can re-sign Steve Reed or agree to a deal with arbitration-eligible Justin Speier. They are interested in Raul Mondesi as they don't know if they can keep arbitration-eligible Jay Payton. Personal opinion: the Rockies GM is a moron with all the retreads and players on the downside of their career that they apparantly trying to sign. -Red Sox are interested in Eddie Guardado and Keith Foulke. Trade possiblities for Curt Schilling and Javier Vazquez are out there. -Rafael Palmeiro appears to be on his way out of Texas. The Orioles are interested and supposedly many other teams. -Blue Jays might bring back former pitchers Paul Quantrill and Pat Hentgen. -The Twins are looking to possibly trade A.J. Pierzynski and Eric Milton to clear payroll to try to sign their free agents. -Tigers are trying to re-sign A.J. Hinch...I know you all needed to know that. -The Royals have offered a two-year deal to Brian Anderson.

Roy Halladay. I think Loaiza deserved it more but that's just me. Voting Points (1st place votes) 1. Roy Halladay (26) 136 2. Esteban Loaiza (2) 63 3. Pedro Martinez 20 4. Tim Hudson 15 5. Jamie Moyer 12 6. Andy Pettitte 4 7t. Keith Foulke 1 7t. Johann Santana 1 Damn 26-2...seriously was Halladay really THAT much better than Loaiza? I mean I don't really care that much either way, hell I hoped Foulke would get more votes than he did, but I just can't believe it was such a landslide.

So what about the two writers who didn't vote for Berroa on their ballot? I'd say they cancelled out the two who didn't vote for Matsui. Checkmate...dead issue...Berroa is the ROY...nothing to see here.

Speaking of meanigless bowls... Bored's Bowl Projections OR Everyone Else's Yes its the 2nd edition of my own laziness where I take projections from various websites such as espn.com (has four seperate projections), si.com, cbs.sportsline.com (new this week!), collegefootballnews.com, and collegebcs.com. Each bowl game listed has every team being projected for that game just to give you an idea of who and who isn't being considered. With the Fiesta and Orange Bowls I just list every team being considered since any number of match-ups could come out of those two games. Funny note after all the attenion TCU received many of the projections switched to Southern Miss winning Conference USA and getting the Liberty Bowl berth. Could it be they are rooting for Southern Miss to knock off TCU? Oh and for some reason collegefootballnews.com has LSU in the Sugar Bowl now. Everyone else still has USC. December 16 New Orleans: North Texas vs. Memphis/South Florida/Southern Miss December 18 GMAC: TCU/Southern Miss/Memphis/South Florida vs. Miami (OH)/Bowling Green/Northern Illinois December 22 Tangerine: Georgia Tech/Virginia/Clemson vs. Kansas/Northern Illinois/Texas Tech/Oklahoma State/Kansas State/Navy December 23 Fort Worth: Houston/South Florida/Louisville/Memphis vs. Northern Illinois/Kansas/Colorado/New Mexico/Connecticut December 24 Las Vegas: Air Force/New Mexico vs. Oregon/Washington/California December 25 Hawaii: Louisville/Southern Miss/Memphis/South Florida vs. Hawaii December 26 Motor City: Bowling Green/Miami (OH) vs. Wisconsin/Northwestern Insight: Virginia Tech/Miami/West Virginia/Pittsburgh/Syracuse vs. UCLA/Washington/Oregon State/California December 27 Continental Tire: West Virginia/Syracuse/Boston College/Miami/Virginia Tech vs. Clemson/Virginia December 29 Alamo: Iowa/Minnesota/Purdue/Michigan State vs. Oklahoma State/Kansas State/Missouri/Texas Tech/Nebraska December 30 Houston: Texas Tech/Kansas/Missouri/Colorado vs. South Carolina/Arkansas/Houston/Wake Forest Holiday: Washington State/UCLA vs. Oklahoma State/Kansas State/Nebraska/Texas Tech Silicon Valley: Fresno State vs. Washington/Oregon State/Stanford/California/Bowling Green/Navy December 31 Music City: Auburn/Arkansas/South Carolina/Tennessee vs. Wisconsin/Iowa/Minnesota Independence: Missouri/Texas Tech/Oklahoma State vs. Arkansas/Auburn Liberty: Southern Miss/TCU/Louisville vs. Utah Sun: Oregon State/UCLA vs. Michigan State/Minnesota/Iowa San Francisco: New Mexico/Colorado State vs. Syracuse/West Virginia/Boston College January 1 Outback: Michigan State/Minnesota/Ohio State/Purdue vs. Tennessee/Mississippi/Florida/Georgia/Auburn Gator: Virginia Tech/Miami/Pittsburgh vs. Maryland/N.C. State Capital One: Purdue/Ohio State vs. Florida/Tennessee/Georgia/LSU Rose: Michigan vs. Texas/Washington State/Florida State/USC Orange: Floirda State, Pittsburgh, LSU, Miami, Georgia January 2 Cotton: Nebraska/Kansas State/Oklahoma State vs. Mississippi/Tennessee/Georgia Peach: N.C. State/Maryland vs. Florida/Georgia/Mississippi Fiesta: Texas, Ohio State, Florida State, TCU, LSU January 3 Humanitarian: Boise State vs. Wake Forest/Georgia Tech/Virginia January 4 Sugar: Oklahoma vs. USC/LSU

Well actually this year it appears to be triple elimination as its still possible a two loss team could sneak in. The argument that teams wouldn't play as hard doesn't hold much water as losing any game obviously would hurt any team's potential seed in a tournament or even knock them out. Besides the competitve fire will always carry good teams late in the season in so-called meaningless games. Sorry I'll take 15 games (16 team playoff...gee just like every other level of college football) that mean everything than 20 pointless bowl games.

Gagne isn't winning tommorrow...because the award is given out Thursday. Managers are tommorrow.

I've already said my opinion on this but something is really annoying me about all of this. When you really look hard at the statistics which a very similar overall and this assumption by pro-Matsui people is that he some how if it weren't for the whole "is he a rookie or not" thing he'd be the automatic winner is total bullshit. Matsui had a good year but he wasn't Mark McGwire in '87 or Mike Piazza in '93 or Nomar Garciaparra in '97 or Ichiro Suzuki in 2001. Straight up either could have won and it was closest vote in 23 years so get the fuck over it.

Angel Berroa and Dontrelle Willis.

Report is the Rangers might offer Roger Clemens a "1989 Nolan Ryan" contract where he'd primarily only pitch at home so he'd be able to spend time with his family. Obviously this move is about increasing the Rangers attendance which is way down from a couple of years ago.

Here is YOUR college football national television schedule for the week. As usual ABC regional games are marked with an asterisk, all times are Pacific, and rankings are the BCS rankings. Wednesday Marshall at #16 Miami of Ohio, 5:00 PM, ESPN Thursday Virginia at Maryland, 5:00 PM, ESPN Saturday #24 Michigan State at Wisconsin, 9:00 AM, ESPN #22 Minnesota at #20 Iowa, 9:00 AM, ESPN2 Texas A&M at Missouri, 9:30 AM, FSN BYU at Notre Dame, 11:30 AM, NBC Auburn at #9 Georgia, 12:30 PM, CBS #11 Purdue at #3 Ohio State, 12:30 PM, ABC* Arizona State at #10 Washington State, 12:30 PM, ABC* N.C. State at #13 Florida State, 12:30 PM, ABC* Kansas State at #18 Nebraska, 12:30 PM, ABC* #8 Michigan at Northwestern, 12:30 PM, ESPN #19 Pittsburgh at West Virginia, 4:00 PM, ESPN2 Texas Tech at #5 Texas, 4:00 PM, FSN #2 USC at Arizona, 4:00 PM, TBS #4 LSU at Alabama, 4:45 PM, ESPN

Pedro had only 14 wins and that ain't gonna cut it as no starting pitcher has won fewer 16 and won the Cy Young. Yes you can say the bullpen blew games or lack of run support but that would be the same argument for Tim Hudson who ended up with only 16 wins for similar reasons.

I don't think if they deal A-Rod they'd be a major player in the market this year but they might be next year. I think for this year its just cutting payroll period.

Boy I'd hate to be a Ranger fan if they made that deal. I mean ya they have to cut payroll but to only get David Eckstein and a prospect in a deal involving A-Rod, that better be one Grade A, guarenteed future star, prospect. I can't see that deal happening.

Here is just some quick notes to take from MLB.com's Hot Stove League Report from today: -Paul Quantrill is interested in signing with the Phillies -Brewers will take trade offers for Richie Sexson at the GM meetings. Giants might be interested. -Braves are cutting close to $30 million in payroll. Javy Lopez, Greg Maddux, and Gary Sheffield all likely will be gone. Might consider trading Chipper Jones but he's a 10/5 guy so he could reject any trade. -Giants might go after Vladimir Guerrero but affording him is another story. -Red Sox are interested in Rich Aurillia but would want/need him to move to 2nd or 3rd which he might not wanna do. -Orioles, Cubs, Padres, Yankees, and Cardinals are interested in Luis Castillo. -The Rockies might bring back former Rockie players Eric Young, Vinny Castilla, and Pedro Astacio. Also interested in Robin Ventura, Jeff Suppan, and Wilson Alvarez. -Cardinals need to cut payroll if they are to sign any major free agents. -Pirates are interested in J.T. Snow and Joe Randa. -Yankees will go after Japanese player Kazuo Matsui but he would have to switch positions since he's a shortstop. -Red Sox appear to be close to re-signing Mike Timlin but Todd Walker might be leaving. -Angels are frotrunner in trying to sign Korean first baseman Seung-Yeop Lee. -Royals are going to try to sign Bentio Santiago. -Orioles #1 target is Vladimir Guerrero. Brook Fordyce and Pat Hentgen are not expected back. -Mike Cameron is likley gone from the Mariners and the Mets and Devil Rays are interested. -Rangers will go after Jose Cruz Jr.

Just pasting the BCS rankings on this page since I didn't realize when I posted them they'd be at the end of the previous page and I know sometimes people are too lazy to go back a page. 1. Oklahoma 1.68 2. USC 6.27 3. Ohio State 7.73 4. LSU 13.17 5. Texas 17.05 6. TCU 17.65 7. Tennessee 18.32 8. Michigan 19.29 9. Georgia 20.27 10. Washington State 20.49 11. Purdue 24.64 12. Miami 27.93 13. Florida State 28.95 14. Florida 32.10 15. Virginia Tech 34.13 16. Miami of Ohio 35.36 17. Nebraska 36.35 18. Mississippi 37.00 19. Pittsburgh 38.32 20. Iowa 45.40 21. Northern Illinois 47.44 22. Minnesota 47.52 23. Bowling Green 48.37 24. Michigan State 51.38 25. Oklahoma State 54.29

New BCS Top 25 from collegebcs.com before ESPN's "exclusive" announcement. 1. Oklahoma 1.68 2. USC 6.27 3. Ohio State 7.73 4. LSU 13.17 5. Texas 17.05 6. TCU 17.65 7. Tennessee 18.32 8. Michigan 19.29 9. Georgia 20.27 10. Washington State 20.49 11. Purdue 24.64 12. Miami 27.93 13. Florida State 28.95 14. Florida 32.10 15. Virginia Tech 34.13 16. Miami of Ohio 35.36 17. Nebraska 36.35 18. Mississippi 37.00 19. Pittsburgh 38.32 20. Iowa 45.40 21. Northern Illinois 47.44 22. Minnesota 47.52 23. Bowling Green 48.37 24. Michigan State 51.38 25. Oklahoma State 54.29