Frayed Knot

Mike Puma's latest: Agent Levinson -- �We don�t anticipate a deal any time soon,� to the website MLB Trade Rumors (why the hell would anyone talk to them?!?) adding that discussions were ongoing. Wright -- �I wish I could elaborate" (about his previous comments about "inaccuracies"), "but it was important to me from the very beginning that these negotiations remain confidential and private,� Wright said in an email to The Post. �I plan on sticking to that.� Puma adds that snags are apparently centered around the amount of deferred money.

Dirty Dancing It may not qualify as a mega-hit based solely upon 1st release but, like say Shawshank, it's certainly enjoyed a lengthy second life in cable syndication and in pop culture land, plus it's one of those flicks which feels like everyone has viewed at least 10 times ... except me. I've caught pieces of it here and there on cable but never all the way through.

A sort of all-purpose primer on Adderall from a doc and writer for BP prompted by the Ruiz suspension -- http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=19013 I believe Adderall was also the drug involved with the two Seattle Seahawk players who were suspended (pending appeal) this past week.

Swan Swan H wrote: John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I think DW is referring to Mike Puma's report today that getting a bigger deal than Santana had was "important" to Wright. Yup. Nothing wrong with getting as much as you can, but wanting a number just because it's more than the other guy sounds petty. If it's not true I'm sure it must rankle, and if it is true you start to wonder how it got out there. That's why I'm wondering if someone on the mgmt side is preemptively leaking things intended to make Sugar seem like the bad guy if things break down - and by doing so winds up increasing the chances of things breaking down. But again, if the dollars being talked about are even close to accurate then I suspect this is only a matter of i-dotting and t-crossing.

Ryan Madson - formerly of the Phillies and, on paper anyway, a member of the 2012 Reds although he sat out the entire year with TJ surgery after signing a large contract, looks like he's headed to Disneyland to close and/or set-up for the Angels.

Wright gives statement, says today's reports are "inaccurate." http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2012/11/david-wright-reports-are-inaccurate.html "I have said from Day 1 that I want to play my entire career with the New York Mets. I remain hopeful that goal can be achieved. However, I am disappointed by the reports that I have read today which are inaccurate," said Wright. Now if this all turns out to be nothing more than front office leaked rumors designed to make it look like the team is making a decent offer, this whole thing could get blow'd to bitty bits.

I've seen worse rom-coms. Movie's more than a bit uneven with the dialog often too cute by half. In between it tends to vacillate between you-gotta-be-kidding-me scenes that would never happen anywhere except in stupid rom-com movies and some decent ones courtesy of a couple of non-rom-com pros Patricia Clarkson & Richard Jenkins each playing a parent of one of the leads. And in answer to my question from eight months back: Mila gets more nekkid than I would have guessed. Bonus Met content involves the two leads celebrating a Jose Reyes HR on TV.

Nice job by ESPN covering Miller's death. And by that I mean they basically ignored it. No film to run I guess, plus it would require the anchors to know who he was. Besides, there was that story about the opponent who asked Peyton Manning for his autograph after a game against him that needed to be analyzed for 10 to 15 minutes so maybe there just wasn't time.

My biggest Yeses would go to Piazza, Biggio & Raines. I could possibly be talked into a few others and I think the Roids brigade is going to have to wait a bit longer until folks start to sort that era out in their minds.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: More tweetage: Jon Heyman ?@JonHeymanCBS sources: Mets' offer to David Wright is 7 years about $135-140M Well, now. That should totally do it. Yeah. It would be one thing for Dabid to walk away for a better offer elsewhere, or even to ride out the year in order to test the market next winter if he didn't get what most would consider a real offer (see: Reyes, Jose). But, assuming this info is even close to accurate, there's no way he's going to turn down this one and hold on to his image and the good will he's worked so hard at maintaining. IOW, the crap sandwich of bad pr would fall totally on his head if he doesn't accept this deal and I can't see him allowing that to happen. I sez it's all over but the details at this point.

Edgy MD wrote: All Star Boni. If they're paying him that kind of money he'd better make some AS teams.

Frayed Knot wrote: FAs tend to work best on clubs that are using them for the final pieces in their puzzle and not for teams coming off last place finishes. All this sudden spending - for Reyes + Bell + who knows where it stops - and particularly the timing of the spending could look really bad in a couple of years. And when I said years I meant months.

Edgy MD wrote: Yeah, the recent snubs are really the result of folks not having their shit together enough to know what their role is. Added to the retained bitterness from old owners & execs who didn't like getting their asses stuffed down their own throats on a regular basis.

Vic Sage wrote: the veteran's committee has been changed over the years, but has generally been dominated by management/owner/executive types along with older players from the pre-Miller era, who didn't benefit from Miller's successes are said to resent the big salaries of modern players. It's not hard to see why such a group has chosen not to enshrine Miller in the HOF, even as they gave plaques to mediocrities like Bowie Kuhn, who Miller whipped like a rented mule. It's a disgrace, but it's entirely comprehensible. Then, even when living HoF players (as opposed to the dead ones) who had played and thrived under Miller were granted the vote (following the break-up of the much smaller committee which handled things up until about the Mazeroski induction), many of those players voted against Miller under the thinking that it wasn't really their job to judge the merits of off-field personnel. The HoF has been tinkering with the formula for selecting both non-players and past-era players seemingly forever now and I don't think they've gotten it right yet.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Sure was nice of the baseball writers to honor him while he was still around, no? This one isn't on the writers (at least not as a group) but rather on whoever makes up the ever-changing Vet's committee.

metirish wrote: Edgy MD wrote: It's as comforting as ever to know Ashie agrees with Ashie. Meanwhups, Ken Rosenthal of Foxy Sports says an offer is on the table. Madgal on Twitter said it's an offer Wright can't accept. So either Medgel knows what's in the offer -- in which case he's got some REALLY good sources and we should take as gospel everything he says from now on OR ... he decided beforehand that the NYM offer was going to be something Wright's camp would reject -- in which case we should simply ignore everything he says from now on.

Mets � Willets Point wrote: Vic Sage wrote: i fell in love with Ingrid Bergman as a nun... is that wrong? You had me at "Ingrid Bergman." You had Woody Guthrie too, although he appears to have had a different film in mind. hxurhF7ssq0 'Ingrid Bergman' Lyrics - Woody Guthrie Music & Vocals - Billy Bragg

Ashie62 wrote: Brian Lahair is officially turning Japanese. You really think so?

I could make an argument for 'Sixth Sense' except that once you know the gimmick (and you probably do by this point) a big chunk of that argument goes out the window.

Ceetar wrote: There's some sound theory there. I don't how common it actually is, but you hear more and more about people dumping their cable and just streaming/downloading/etc the content/shows they want. Most people don't do this for sports though. The few that do are doing so through MLB.TV or similar avenues. The problem with MLB.TV replacing cable/local stuff entirely is their arcane black-out policies which severely limit some options. I was reading an on-line note from one guy who said he lived in Iowa and was blacked out via MLB.TV of Cubs, White Sox, Cardinals, Indians, Royals, Tigers, Brewers, and Twins games (and maybe one or two others as well) even though he's several hundred miles from most or all of those cities. That Levine quote is priceless even though I'm sure Michael Kay would confess to being the love child of Bea Arthur impregnated by an alien before admitting that he's under any such restrictions from his YES overlords.

Leaving aside the pre-1960 ones (just to pick a cut-off - although I have seen a number of those) the top box office ones from Vic's above list that I have NOT seen include: - Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) - E. T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) - Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) - Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) - Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) - The Lion King (1994) - Marvel's The Avengers (2012) - Shrek 2 (2004) - Ghostbusters (1984) - Love Story (1970) - Cleopatra (1963) - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) - Finding Nemo (2003) - Spider-Man 2 (2004) - Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) - The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) - Smokey and the Bandit (1977) - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) -- although I actually caught pieces of this one on TV just this afternoon due to the presence of related-to-me rugrats - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) - Men in Black (1997) - Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) - Swiss Family Robinson (1960) - Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) - Aladdin (1992) - Toy Story 3 (2010) - The Hunger Games (2012) --- may still get around to this one - Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) - The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) - Spider-Man 3 (2007) Pretty much what I expected: Star Wars stuff, super-hero stuff, recent kiddie-oriented stuff, plus several sequels.

MFS62 wrote: According to the Daily News (early print edition, full page article. Must have been a slow sports news day), Robinson Cano became a US Citizen. That'll allow him to jog for political office one day.

Nymr83 wrote: Shawshank Redemption is $4 at Target today on DVD Buy two in case one breaks.

Edgy MD wrote: One wonders whether the Mets have an out in their agreement. "they might." -- I suspect they don't but that's just a guess. If they do it can probably only be invoked at the end of 2014 (Mets/Bingo current agreement runs through 2016) when the next "cycle" of franchise movement comes up. Remember this current off-season was one such period (hence the unwanted move to Vegas). "This was rumored a couple of years ago right?" -- Well, one year ago anyway "They had to know it was a possibility, or alternatively, they don't care about going to Canada." -- Not really a case of not caring so much as it is not being able to do much about it. The last agreement was signed at least two years ago (maybe four) at which point this wasn't even a rumor, and even when the rumor broke the Bingo ownership was denying it strenuously. Now maybe the Mets believed that or maybe they didn't but if you like the current arrangement (and this one has been ongoing for some 30 years so you assume both sides did) then longer-term agreements are preferable to shorter ones which in turn locks the Mets into this franchise for another four years regardless of where they wind up.

So much for the Bingo owner's vows not to sell. This isn't a done deal yet and no one in Binghamton is talking, but it sure sounds like it'll happen. BA Report -- http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/minors/business-beat/2012/2614356.html