Crawford and AGone to Red Sox. Dunn to White Sox; Maggs Re-Sign Crucial

It's probably no surprise that I wanted them to re-sign Magglio Ordonez no matter what else happened. He's one of my favorite players and I think he gets way too much negative flack for being such an excellent hitter. He's not even a poor OFer by most standards, yet people ee what he made while he was here and like to cry.

Maggs is a huge reason this franchise came from being the worst in the league to competing every year. He has been one of our most productive hitters, and only Miguel Cabrera has been more of a force since he's been here.

So...we didn't get Dunn (who literally can't play OF and blows hard in the field), or Carl Crawford. Dunn we should ahve gotten 5 years ago. He's been available on and off forever and I've always wanted him, but I am not real upster we didn't get him. He doesn't really have a position on the team now except LF, and there is no way he would hold that spot.

Crawford is getting way more than a guy of his skill set deserves in my opinion. Guys with speed value almost always underperform their contracts. I'd love to have him, and I don't care about money since Illitch doesn't seem to, but I can also see him being an albatross about year 4, or 5 of that contract. Because he has a bit more power than most speed guys he definitely deserves more, but I am never comfortable with giving guys like him 5+ years. He's getting 7 at around $20 Million per years. You just don't give that to guys who rely on speed so much. Power guys you can still get production out of at 37-38 years old. Once a speed guy loses that he's way overpaid.

That being said, Illitch isn't a penny pincher so having all these guys doesn't exactly worry me.

You have to get Maggs back though. People seriously underestimate the impact that Victor Martinez is going to have here. With him, Maggs, and Miggy in the middle of the line up we are going to be a run producing force. Laird is no longer here, Paralta is an upgrade at SS, Scott Sizemore looks like he might be improved, and AJax you never know. We're out LF and RF right now so Maggs is someone you can't screw around with. We NEED him back. We really don't wnat to depend on Guillen having to play LF, or even 2B really. We may end up signing someone that is selling Polaris Sportsman ATV Parts if we don't act soon.

We're a long ways away obviously, but if we get Maggs I think our offense is plenty good enough to compete for the division. The pitching is all that matters. Coke needs to have a solid year, Porcello needs to take the next step, and so does Scherzer. All while Verlander has a Cy Young type season. Just like any other year, A LOT needs to go right.

Can My Fantasy Team Get Any Better?

This is my first brag post about my fantasy football team this year. I have waited long enough. This team is so outstanding it should be given an award.

It all started with the draft. This league is a 2 player keeper league, and everyone in it is so in love with WRs that they drop top 10 players just to keep one. Everyone in the league (8 teams) kept a RB and a WR. I had Drew Brees and decided to drop him so I could keep Gore and Roddy White.

We drafted the second week of pre-season, but I had my sights set on Arian Foster as my #2 RB the entire way. I planned to take him in the 5th or 6th round since I doubted anyone else would because his hype machine hadn't started yet. I ended up taking him in the 5th as I planned and he was my first RB taken after keeping Gore.

The rest of the league hasn't had to click here to lose weight yet since they have been chasing me all the way through.

Besides getting Foster in the draft I got Phillip Rivers the #1 QB so far in the 4th round. I have also been able to acquire Steve Johnson out of the FA pool, as well as just trading for Jacob Tamme the TE that replaced Dallas Clark. Like everyone else I was killed at TE with an injury since I had Jermichael Finley.

Feast your eyes on this (.5 points per reception):

QB-P. Rivers
RB-A. Foster
RB-F. Gore
WR-R. White
WR-S. Johnson
WR-W. Welker
W/RB-Miles Austin
TE-J. Tamme

Bench:

B. Roethlisberger
J. Addai
Vincent Jackson
D. Branch
B. Jackson
Ronnie Brown

I pretty much can only trade for a better WR. Miles Austin has dumped big time with Kitna at QB so I am pretty much relegated to benching him now when Addai comes back. Hopefully VJax becomes a nice boon this late in the year.

The Annual "Take the Thanksgiving Game Away From Detroit" Post

I didn't hear much of it this year. Not like it was last year anyways. The Lions have a little bit of confidence from the national guys so far this year at least so they laid off a little I think. While they are the most undisciplined team in the NFL, and they couldn't finish a game if their lives depended on it, they are at least considered "watchable" this season apparently.

I think that has ended for me this year. They are to circus-mode for me. All games are just a giant laugh out loud comedy extravaganza for me going forward. That started last Sunday when they lost to Dallas. That punt they tried to down inside the 5 that turned into a Dallas TD wasn't even where it started to sink in that it was circus-time for me either.

The very first drive of the game the switch flipped. When Dallas had the ball around the 1-2 yard line and one of our interior defensive linemen jumped offsides while looking directly at the ball for the 20th time this year I knew it was time to let go. I tried to pretend it wasn't that big a deal, but when they drove the entire length of the field on that drive for a TD with Jon Kitna at the helm I began to do something else and only check back in for a laugh. You can't even give me enough male enhancement products to make me feel like a man rooting for the Lions now.

Michigan Stinks, Michigan State Will Get Shaft As B10 Champs

Oh how things change in 5 years. Michigan under Lloyd Carr was still elite. They may not have ever been able to beat Ohio State, but they were perennial contenders for the B10 title, and everyone said he was too conservative. In comes Rich Rodriguez with his "new offense" and Michigan is a disaster for his entire time here. Sure they have a high scoring offense this year, but they have the WORST defense in the history of the school.

MSU was always the middle of the pack team that Michigan should guarantee a win from 3/4 time. Now I doubt Michigan will beat them again for 5 more years. MSU fans have found a fountain of anti aging products for their program.

MSU has had a great year. Only 1 loss on the road to Iowa. They even beat #5 ranked Wisconsin, but they will end up ranked lower than Wisconsin when all is said and done. Wisconsin beat Ohio State when they were #1, and they also have beaten Iowa, BUT they lost to MSU. Both OSU and Wisconsin are ranked above MSU right now.

It all comes down to the rankings and the rankings are wrong. When you lose to someone and have the same record it should not be possible to be ranked higher than they are. Wisconsin will be in the top 4 by the end of the say. Maybe higher. MSU may squeak into the top 8 or so, but that doesn't mean much for them and the B10 title.