Frayed Knot

These also tend to be the guys least likely to be dealt. Of this group, only Drabek is not with his original team as far as I know. The guy to watch IMO is the Yanx' Montero. He's not a good catcher now and no one seems to think he'll stay one for long. He's also pretty thick already and since very few get less so as they age so his future screams [u:2fwtq5gj]1B or DH[/u:2fwtq5gj]. What he does have is a good - even elite - bat (one report said he shows an early career arc to Carlos Delgado) but is blocked by Teixeira's long-term deal meaning he could be in the middle of a monster trade in the future if the Yanx need a mid/late season piece.

Yeah I figured it was something like that. That being said, the final top 20 will probably look very similar as those have been the ones most talked about over the past year and many are pretty close to ready. IIRC, BA uses a 4 or 5 man panel to evaluate this stuff so the others might have slightly higher or lower opinions on some guys as compared to Manual meaning the end result won't be exact.

Where and when did Manual publish this list? Usually BA makes a big deal about not revealing their overall picks until they do the top 100 all at once in late February or so. Sounds like this might be JM's personal list which does not necessarily reflect the opinion of BA as a whole - although I'm sure most of those guys will be at or near the top when it all shakes out.

Braves have a 1B prospect who probably would have to be rushed if they wanted him to start by opening day 2010. Glaus gives them time to bring him along more slowly ... or until Glaus gets hurt which will probably be May at the latest.

Catching up with Carlos Delgado Maybe we can turn him back into a catcher!!

His ill gimmick was to title all his novels as The [surname] [Noun]. The Scarlatti Inheritance (1971) The Osterman Weekend (1972) The Matlock Paper (1973) The Rhinemann Exchange (1974) The Gemini Contenders (1976) The Chancellor Manuscript (1977) The Holcroft Covenant (1978) The Matarese Circle (1979) The Bourne Identity (1980) The Parsifal Mosaic (1982) The Aquitaine Progression (1984) The Bourne Supremacy (1986) The Icarus Agenda (1988) The Bourne Ultimatum (1990) The Scorpio Illusion (1993) The Apocalypse Watch (1995) The Matarese Countdown (1997) The Prometheus Deception (2000) I heard Ludlum claim one time that not only wasn't it his intention to name books that way but actually didn't realize the pattern until he turned in a new book (probably his 4th or 5th) without such a title. At that point, he said, the publishers "broke into tears" and convinced him of the wisdom of sticking to the by-then established formula.

Richard Brody of The New Yorker wasn't very Hollywood happy this decade And he picks TWO American films and 'Knocked Up' is one of them?!?!?! But I guess it fits in with part of my point about this decade's films - I can find a better top 5 from the '70s even without leaving the all too short John Cazale catalog. I enjoyed reading Ludlum when I was a twenty-something. I did too (IIRC 'The Bourne Identity' was the first one I read) - a girlfriend at the time got me into them. But after about 3 or 4 books there was a sameness to them and I eventually gave up (on both the books and the girl). I'm not normally a big reader of fiction, but of that type of book I preferred the less prolific but more interesting and varied Frederic Forsythe. His books were made into better movies too: 'The Odessa File'; 'Day of the Jackal'; 'Dogs of War'.

Problem with seeing him as a bench player is that if he shows himself to be even reasonably good someone will want him for a full-timer (or mostly anyway) - particularly an AL team. And if he doesn't show himself to be recovered then there's little sense in signing him.

Trying to put together a top ten (in no particular order): Lives of Other Letters from Iwo Jima Million Dollar Baby Michael Clayton Almost Famous Slumdog Millionaire In Bruges ... and I obviously need three more which, unless and until I come up with something better, will be filled in with Juno, and the very overlooked The Bank Job and The Lookout On goes 'High Fidelity', off comes Juno.

Trying to put together a top ten (in no particular order): Lives of Other Letters from Iwo Jima Million Dollar Baby Michael Clayton Almost Famous Slumdog Millionaire In Bruges ... and I obviously need three more which, unless and until I come up with something better, will be filled in with Juno, and the very overlooked The Bank Job and The Lookout

metirish wrote: DocTee wrote: MFY send Melky Cabrera to ATL for Javy Vazquez, as per ESPN. Touted MFY prospect Arodys Vizcaino goes in the deal.......good trade for the MFY , hell of a rotation Kevin Goldstein at 'Baseball Prospectus' just ranked the MFY prospects today and ranked Vizcaino 2nd giving him '4 stars' BA had him 3rd on their Yanx list I guess he must show a lot of promise because he just turned 19 and has yet to play in a full-season league Yanx also get LHP Boone Logan Vazquez is in the final year of his contract. Yanx probably feel at worst they'll get a couple of draft picks after next season.

See if this helps move the discussion along - or at least throws in a few suggestions: Best Picture Nominees 2000: Gladiator; Chocolat; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Erin Brockovich; Traffic 2001: A Beautiful Mind; Gosford Park; In the Bedroom; The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring; Moulin Rouge 2002: Chicago; Gangs of New York; The Hours; The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers; The Pianist 2003: Lord of the Rings:The Return of the King; Lost In Translation; Master and Commander; Mystic River; Seabiscuit 2004: Million Dollar Baby; The Aviator; Finding Neverland; Ray; Sideways 2005: Crash; Brokeback Mountain; Capote; Good Night, and Good Luck; Munich 2006: The Departed; Babel; Letters From Iwo Jima; Little Miss Sunshine; The Queen 2007: No Country for Old Men; Atonement; Juno; Michael Clayton; There Will Be Blood 2008: Slumdog Millionaire; The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Frost/Nixon; Milk; The Reader

"Pitching his entire career without the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, Dickey is 22-28 with a 5.43 ERA in 48 starts and 96 relief appearances in seven big league seasons. Doctors think he either was born without the ligament or it dissolved after a tear." So at least he can't tear it pitching for us!!

I was actually going to start a thread on this too. In part because I can never remember what year these flicks came out so I need a larger list to choose from before I could form an opinion. But also because I stumbled across the latest rendition of 'At the Movies' - the next generation of the Ebert-Siskel show - where the two current guys are picking their decade's best. They're still in the process of counting down so they haven't gotten to #1 yet, but of the ones they have picked I'm thinking ... really?!? Those are the BEST ones? Michael Phillips (one of those Chicago papers) 10 - Minority Report 9 - Gosford Park 8 - Mulholland Drive 7 - United 93 6 - Zodiac 5 - Y Tu Mama Tambien 4 - Once 3 - Climates (Turkish) 2 - Ratatouille A. O. Scott (get a real name dude) - NY Times 10 - Million Dollar Baby 9 - 25th Hour 8 - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind 7 - 4 Months, 3 Weeks ... (Romanian) 6 - Best of Youth 5 - Where the Wild Things Are 4 - The Pianist 3 - Brokeback Mountain 2 - A.I. Now I saw and liked some of those, saw and have virtually forgotten others, and failed, as usual, to see a bunch -- but few of them struck me as best of the decade types which led me to wonder whether it's just been a bad decade, bad (or at least odd) choices, or maybe just me.

Michael Clayton

The little I read up on Cazale recently mentioned that he also knew Pacino from his theatre days and it was Pacino who convinced the director to allow Cazale to read for the part in Dog Day - a part written for a much younger and more energetic street-wise kid, a far cry from how it eventually was portrayed by the then nearing-forty Cazale. Another note had Streep threatening to quit 'Deer Hunter' if Cazale were taken off. The shooting was arranged to film his scenes early on in the process.

If nothing else that article provides us with a new nickname for next spring: "Nor does the list include the latest Japanese Met, the recently signed reliever Ryota Igarashi, who was known as Rocket Boy for his ability to light up the radar gun before elbow surgery slowed him two years ago." I still find it amazing (to coin a phrase) how so many Met fans still seethe over Shinjo's time here, acting as if they were promised some sort of superstar when, in reality, he was never billed (or paid) as anything other than a spare player. That he got as much time as he did was, like Reed or Tatis over these past two years, as much a failure of the other OFers as it was a coronation of him. The whole problem with the Kaz to SS move was that they wouldn't have gotten him without such a promise and that, at worst, Reyes would bide his time and become the full-time SS at age 23. In retrospect it maybe would have been better to walk away at that point instead and, sure, the "splash" part of the move was certainly part of it. But I believe they also thought - as did many others - that they were getting a legit SS and a true offensive weapon in the deal.

Cazale is, of course, correct. I hadn't realized he died so soon after making 'Deer Hunter' (before it was finished filming even) or that his resume was so short otherwise. Quite an impressive resume even if a sucky way to get it.

This actor appeared in just five feature films in his career but all five were nominated for Best Picture Oscars (three won) - name the actor, and the pictures while you're at it.

Combined list. A few things were changed around from the above pre-lists. Main snag was that I omitted Maine earlier (now I 'Remembered the Maine'), otherwise I just swapped a few guys a step or two higher or lower. 30 - Wright 29 - Santana 28 - Beltran 27 - Castillo 26 - Murphy 25 - Feliciano 24 - Francoeur 23 - Rodriguez 22 - Pagan 21 - Pelfrey 20 - Tatis 19 - Sheffield 18 - Santos 17 - Stokes 16 - Reyes 15 - Redding 14 - L. Hernandez 13 - Maine 12 - Figueroa 11 - Cora 10 - Delgado 9 - Church 8 - Parnell 7 - Misch 6 - S. Green 5 - Schneider 4 - Nieve 3 - Dessens 2 - Thole 1 - Reed As always, both list and creator are open to questions, suggestions, insults, IQ tests, etc.

Pitchers: * Santana - Even with the injury-shortened year it’s no contest All others tie for last -- but, since we have to place them in some kind of order .... * Feliciano - Seems weird to put a specialist this high, but he had lower WHiP & ERA totals than just about everyone else and, unless someone else wants to correct me, I don’t remember him being too bad on the inherited runners situation * Rodriguez - Yeah, I know, but at least he had half a good year. Same number of hits and HRs allowed as Feliciano and in fewer innings but double the number of walks and half again as many runs allowed * Pelfrey - Had some good games here and there while leading the team in innings pitched * Stokes - Geez, the walks allowed by this staff was frightening * Redding - Better than Livan * L. Hernandez - Not as good as Redding * Figueroa - A little of this, a little of that * Parnell - Was great for a while, then lost his control, then was horrid as a starter * Misch - Some decent relief outings plus a fine start or two * S. Green - Hit a few more batters why doncha? Good stuff but I wonder sometimes if he knows where it’s going * Nieve - Looked good for a time and then (say it with me people) got injured * Dessens - Actually did OK during the brief time he was out there * Rounding out the rest: Takahashi - Niese - Putz - Perez * Out of the running -- Broadway, Stoner, Fossum, Switzer, O’Day, Wagner

According to a Mets official, if the team fails to secure Bay, it will strongly consider raising its offer to Molina. But if Bay signs, the Mets will hold a harder line with Molina. Regardless of whether you agree with the strategy to persue either of these guys - who the hell thinks it's a good idea to publicize this stuff?

Strasburg got 15.1 guaranteed over 4, and he's widely considered to be a more polished pitcher. 'He' - meaning Chapman - is considered more polished? I'm not so sure about that. Young pitchers are notoriously tough to project. Cuban players are notoriously tough to project. Put the two of those together to get a young, Cuban pitcher and it's going to be hard for anyone to get a handle on this one. Strasburg & Chapman are about the same age and, while Chapman pitched (at least theoretically) in a more advanced environment, virtually no reliable eyes saw him do so. A handful of WBC innings and this side throwing session is about all peeps have to go on. My guess is his agent is at least looking for Contreras money, which if I recall was something like $8 million a year. He can ask all he wants but it doesn't mean he's getting it. Contreras was a considerably older, more seasoned pitcher at the time of his defection and contract. Besides, it's not like that deal worked out all that well to the point where teams are going to be rushing to match it. I suspect he'll eventually get more than that Marlins offer but I don't think there'll be GMs lined up to blow it out of the water.

Not sure I get the joke.