Ceetar

Frayed Knot wrote: Valadius wrote: Who else besides Bonilla and Frank Cashen had their deferred payments invested with Madoff? Probably everyone who had a deferred structure. The Times article kind of implies that deferring money so you can invest the remainder during the interim was unique to the Mets or something but that's what everyone does with deferred payments, essentially it's the purpose of structuring a contract with deferred payments. The problem comes up in that not all investments are made with a swindler. the Yankees deferred some of..Rivera? Jeter?s contract. Beltran has 5million deferred for 2011.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: There were billboards for this movie all over Lisbon this past summer. I heard it was a fun movie. I might watch it when it hits cable, if it hasn't already done so. Watched it on DVD, so it can't be far from cable if it's not there already.

Salt With Angelina Jolie and Liev Schreiber. Has nothing to do with Strategetic Arms Limitiation Treaties. Didn't care for it much. It was decently entertaining as far as action movies go, but the twists were very transparent and it plays on what seems like a very overplayed USA-Russia relationship whenever you're talking about spies. I equated it to the Bourne Identity a little, although nowhere near as good. Fair amount of crazy car chases and some niftiness getting out of tight jams with explosive creativity, but nothing special.

That's Zack Hample. anyway, I expect to never see Pat Misch again.

Valadius the plithy wrote: I hate those auto-things, more trouble than they're worth. Swype's pretty decent. way faster than hitting each key, especially with my fat fingers.

Valadius wrote: Ceetar wrote: smg58 wrote: He's a very easy guy to root for. T ishis why up just bought a blue personalized dickey shirt A little early in the week, isn't it? that was a Swype mess, not an alcohol-induced one.

smg58 wrote: He's a very easy guy to root for. T ishis why up just bought a blue personalized dickey shirt

Edgy DC wrote: Tankersly, Byrdak, O'Connor Each a champ or maybe a goner Utley and Howard Are no match for a coward Which lefthander do you honor? Gun at your head, which of these guys do you think steps forward this spring? One will likely make the squad, but probably not more than one. Byrdak? I dunno. I think there's a good chance that the pick on Opening Day doesn't stick all year anyway.

cooby wrote: Ceeter, I think you are right! Is Krod Frankie Rodriguez? That'd be the one.

TheOldMole wrote: Wright, Reyes, Santana, Beltran? K-rod instead of Reyes.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Now here's some sky is falling news. Forbes magazine does some back of the envelope number crunching and concludes that the Mets might have to cut their 2011 payroll by an additional $20-30M lower than Alderson's lowest estimate for the 2011 payroll. http://blogs.forbes.com/mikeozanian/2011/02/01/new-york-mets-may-have-to-cut-payroll-by-30-million/ My question is: How is this even possible, assuming it's true? Is there even $20M - 30M in payroll that's not guaranteed? Triple me down on the under 55 in the K-Rod thread. Forbes wrote: But the cost-cutting will likely be more severe because there are probably debt covenants tied to all the money owner Fred Wilpon has borrowed tied to the Mets That's a lot of speculation without any hard fact. Not to mention all the speculation on what the expected revenue will be.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Do you really think the Mets are going to win the division? I will be operating under that assumption all season, yes. I'm exaggerating with my 9/25 prediction (via a Santana shutout of the Phillies, on ESPN Sunday Night baseball btw) but I'm not ruling them out. I'm not going to make my case in the Jenrry Mejia thread however.

Edgy DC wrote: People don't have good full years at AAA anymore. If he has a good half year, he's here, unless the rotation is bloody airtight. And that's it. Half season in Buffalo: 7-3, 3.11. Half season in Queens: 4-4, 3.92. Well, he's not going to get up early, and late he's competing with Santana and the trading deadline who probably get spots before he does. Unless he's absolutely, 1.1ERA 140 Ks, murdering it in wing land. I think he comes up after the Bisons season ends to chill with the Mets for a week after they clinch on 9/25. Throws two scoreless innings in relief with 5 Ks.

Gwreck wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: As to the Mets having one of 2011's highest payrolls, the Mets were already committed to most of it before Sandy was hired. They've added very little payroll since, underspent on last year's draft, and haven't re-signed Jose Reyes. So you can spin the Mets payroll more ways than one. That's a good point. The most accurate way to describe the Mets' budget is probably "capped." It's indisputable that they are spending a large quantity of money, a good deal of which is not returning much value, and accordingly, they aren't exactly spending even more on top of that already-large sum. (This level of accuracy doesn't make a good soundbite, however). And logically it makes sense. you're don't push against your budget constraints unless you're highly likely to get a return on that investment. In any way. Look at the Yankees when they traded for A-Rod. The boost they got in attendence marketing and sales after that signing easily made the signing worth it. Theoretically pushing the 2007 team over the top with the best pitcher in baseball seemed, and still does seem, a good move. But before you know how these guys are going to rebound, you can't just throw money at random holes and hope it makes up a team. Pretend it's 2012 for a second, and the Mets are at their 'magic' number of 120 or whatever, are competing and a positive ballclub, and Santana suddenly goes down. Maybe going after a Cliff Lee makes sense in that regard, keeps your team competitive, keeps them on top of the game, even if it pushes you to your cap. As batmagadanleadoff, maybe you can spin it the other eway. personally I don't know how to evaluate owners even less than GMs without knowing the facts behind the scenes. I don't think the Wilpons are a disaster and I don't think i can point to that's immediately obviously better. But they do need to put up. Dickey is part of that, but extend Reyes. make trades midseason.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Elbow and hip injuries in the last two years... but with a career 3.13 ERA, 139 ERA+, 2.87 K/BB ratio, and good experience in both the rotation (32 starts, 3.01 ERA, 1.10 WHIP) and the pen (where he's had three separate seasons of 1.5+ WAR). He's 32, and there was a depression issue the last year or two. But he's damn good, and damn versatile... and can probably be signed for a fairly budget-friendly 1-2 year deal. Why isn't Justin Duchschereron Team Alderson's radar? I've always liked that guy, thought Omar should've looked into getting him last year even. With the talk of maybe Capuano to the pen, he could have the fifth spot with Gee being wing-eating depth.

metirish wrote: I hear ya Ceetar , the next few months should be a roller coaster of a ride..... I'm hoping most of it is background noise in two weeks, but yeah.

metirish wrote: Ceetar wrote: The more people that chime in the more confusing and conflicting this is becoming. Can we just play baseball already? Not like this really should affect the 2011 roster. Well , this is a message board, should we shut up shop until opening day? , I kinda like it here though. Didn't mean here, just in general. You've got conspiracies about Selig over there, and over there someone says the Wilpons knew everything, and then you go over there and they claim the only reason the lawsuit stuff is sealed is cause its' bad, and then Francesa's brilliant insight about this haunting the Wilpons for generations if they don't sell. Some say there are tons of investors, or mabye multiple investors, or maybe no one would ever want to buy part of a baseball team without XXX. I"m mainly just confused. but hey, Dickey's official.

The more people that chime in the more confusing and conflicting this is becoming. Can we just play baseball already? Not like this really should affect the 2011 roster.

Ike Davis' railflip trifecta?

The gooseegg sweep of the stupid phillies?

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Ceetar wrote: I imagine he would, yes, as it seems unlikely anything about his job has changed. You don't think that the budget may be revised downward/come with a less-flexible ceiling these days? The need for capital is apparently so great that the Wilpons are considering something that is tantamount to cutting off an appendage for them. I don't think the budget has changed, no. Obviously, they need to show it, and not say it, so if they do let Reyes walk and don't sign anyone again next season I'll concede that they've changed the budget. But they've stated this is preventative so that they don't have to actually affect the team. Plus, if they're truly going to sell part of the team, they're going to have to sell them on the increasing value of that investment, which means continuing to spend money on the team to make them successful and competitive. We'll see of course, maybe it's already that far out of control and they're just not being public with the knowledge that they can no longer afford the team? But that seems unlikely since the lawsuit is far from settled yet.

I imagine he would, yes, as it seems unlikely anything about his job has changed.

Section 518 notes Kurt Abbott is now a cop in Florida.

metirish wrote: Got to say while there were enough clich�s to fill Citi Fields ample left field I am disappointed not to see the " I'm in the best shape I've ever been in going into a Spring Training " golden nugget oft seen. I'm pretty sure I saw a Reyes quote along those lines.

Has a _killer_ AAA season through Mid-July and is part of the blockbuster trade Sandy makes to bring in the final piece of the championship puzzle. If he's not traded, we'll see a bit of him in September, late, 8 AB, a hit.