Goondal

I prefer Lester but if all other things are equal I will always go with the lefty.

Scenarios for today's games: Group E (Bayern München hosts CSKA Moscow; Roma hosts Manchester City) Bayern München: clinched group Roma: advance to Round of 16 with win. Advance to Round of 16 with draw and CSKA draw. Advance to Round of 16 with 0-0 draw and CSKA loss Manchester City: advance to Round of 16 with win and CSKA draw or loss. Advance to Round of 16 with draw that is not 0-0 and CSKA loss CSKA Moscow: advance to Round of 16 with win and Roma draw or loss Group F (Barcelona hosts PSG; Ajax hosts Apoel) PSG: advanced to Round of 16. Win group with win or draw Barcelona: advanced to Round of 16. Win group with win Ajax: eliminated from UCL. Enter Europa Round of 32 with win or draw Apoel: eliminated from UCL. Enter Europa Round of 32 with win Group G (Chelsea hosts Sporting; Moribor hosts Schalke) Chelsea: clinched group Sporting Lisbon: advance to Round of 16 with win or draw or Schalke draw or loss Schalke: advance to Round of 16 with win and Sporting loss. Enter Europa Round of 32 with win or draw Maribor: eliminated from UCL. Enter Europa Round of 32 with win Group H (Porto hosts Shakhtar; Athletic hosts BATE) Porto: clinched group Shakhtar: advanced to Round of 16 Athletic Bilbao: eliminated from UCL. Enter Europa Round of 32 with win or draw BATE: eliminated from UCL. Enter Europa Round of 32 with win

Lester to Cubs, darn. Okay Ben, go get Shields and trade for Cueto, that is what I wanted to begin with and it will make up for that Sandoval contract

Giants and Dodgers have been informed that they out of the running for Lester. Down to Sox and Cubs

I still have a shot for four from the Bundesliga, although my hopes of three group winners are gone

So we have... Group A: Atletico Madrid and Juventus Group B: Real Madrid and Basel Group C: Monaco and Leverkusen Group D: Dortmund and Arsenal Monaco has to be feeling great right now.

Leverkusen down to ten men, this is what screwing the pooch looks like.

Monaco leads Zenit, Leverkusen needs a goal now

Of course it probably will not matter now, Dortmund leads 1-0

Interesting. I could understand if Dortmund was already winning but you are halfway there, why not? Just the chance to avoid Real or Bayern in the Round of 16 makes it worth trying.

Oddly both could still be in either pot

Leverkusen is very fortunate to be scoreless at the half. They are already through, get it together and secure the group. You do not want to be in the second place pot for that draw

Leverkusen has looked like crap. Dortmund is still scoreless, if Arsenal keeps scoring a draw may not do. I really want three German teams to win their groups.

Sounds like the Sox have offered Justin Masterson a multi-year deal. Seriously?

Perhaps he should read my post if he is confused on what he needs to advance

Scenarios for today's games Group A (Juventus hosts Atletico Madrid; Olympiakos hosts Malmo) Atletico Madrid: advanced to Round of 16. Wins group as long as they do not lose by two goals or more Juventus: advances to Round of 16 win win or draw or Olympioakos loss or draw. Wins group with a victory of two goals or more Olympiakos: advances to Round of 16 with win and Juventus loss. Advances to Europa Round of 32 with win or draw Malmo: eliminated from UCL. Advances to Europa Round of 32 with win Group B (Liverpool hosts Basel; Real Madrid hosts, Ludogorets) Real Madrid: clinched Group FC Basel: advances to Round of 16 with win or draw Liverpool: advances to Round of 16 with win. Advances to Europa Round of 32 with draw or Ludogorets loss Ludogorets: eliminated from UCL. Advances to Europa Round of 32 with win. Also advances to Europa Round of 32 with tie and Liverpool loss Group C (Benfica hosts Leverkusen; Monaco hosts Zenit) Bayer Leverkusen: advanced to Round of 16. Wins group with win. Also wins group with draw and Monaco draw or loss Monaco: advances to Round of 16 with win or draw. Wins group with draw and Leverkusen loss. Also wins group with win and Leverkusen draw or loss Zenit St. Petersburg: advances to Round of 16 with win. Wins group with win and Leverkusen loss. Benfica: eliminated from UCL. Also eliminated from Europa consideration Group D (Galatasaray hosts Arsenal; Dortmund hosts Anderletch) Borussia Dortmund: advanced to Round of 16. Wins group with win or Arsenal loss or draw. Also wins group with draw as long as Arsenal does not make up a goal differential of six Arsenal: advanced to Round of 16. Wins group with win and Dortmund loss. Also wins group with win and Dortmund draw by making up a goal differential of six Anderletch: eliminated from UCL. Earned spot in Europa Round of 32 Galatasaray: eliminated from UCL. Also eliminated from Europa consideration

Yeah, I am actually expecting to see us bring in three SP. At least one FA and one through trade. Not sure on the third but it is going to be really interesting. Lester would destroy the NL West in those big parks and getting to pitch to pitchers instead of a DH. Scary thought. I am surprised we have not heard more about the Cubs in regards to Lester personally.

I am expecting him to move to the OF and now that we have a 3B Xander can finally settle in at SS. Middlebrooks deciding to never improve really screwed us on that one.

This also gives them a lot of flexibility in the lineups we can throw out there. Hanley can play SS, both he and Xander can play third, Sandoval can play first, Brock Holt can play everywhere. I use to love how Andrew Friedman and the Rays always brought in so many guys that could play so many places while the Sox never seemed to have much roster flexibility at all at the time. It really gives them a lot of options when filling out their bench.

I not sure how I feel about all of this. I do like the Hanley deal, he is definitely worst 5/90 if Panda is worth 5/95. Hanley is a better player, just need him to stay healthy. I also have a feeling that he moves to the OF. That seemed to be the consensus even before this deal was that he would be switching positions, it may help his health as well, cannot hurt. If the plan if to keep him at SS though with Sandoval at 3B and to trade Bogaerts then I will be royally pissed. Back before Stanton signed the deal I read an article talking about potential trade suitors. They mentioned that the Sox farm system is so loaded with talent that we could make Bogaerts untouchable and still easily come up with the best package while still having one of the top farms systems after the trade. My opinion on the plan is Xander at SS, Sandoval at 3B, Hanley in the OF and Cespedes and Betts are along with some other prospect(s) are about to be shipped out of town to bolster the pitching staff. I am betting Hamels but would prefer Cueto because he will cost a lot less. We then also sign a FA pitcher or two. I would love to bring back Lester but do not see it. My guy all along has been James Shields. He and Cueto/Hamels along with a huge improvement. Oh, and I want Andrew Miller back! Still not a huge fan of the Sandoval deal, mainly because of the money involved, but if that is the overall plan then I can deal with it. After all, it is not my money. I do not want it to effect what else we can bring in though. I do wish we would hang on to Cespedes because I really like him but it is not going to happen. The best part about being so awful this season is we finished low enough that we can basically sign whoever the hell we want and not lose our top pick. Another plus to our fire sale. So happy that the organization is willing to say "we are not going to win this year, dump everything and build for the future." Not many big market teams can/will do that.

Apparently the Sox offered 5/95. I really have no idea what they are doing. The guy has not hit above .283 or more than 16 HR since 2011. How on earth is that worth 19 million a year? Overpaying to fill a need is never a good idea.

He could help, although we do not need a DH, but 6/90 for someone with those declining numbers is still too much. I get that he played 60% of his games at AT&T, Dodger Stadium and Pac Bell and those games are being replaced with Fenway, Yankee, and Camden, but I still do not feel that those numbers justify that many or those years.

The Sox have extended a contract offer to Jon Lester. Would be really interesting if we managed to bring him back, although I do not think that it is likely. I hope they attempt to bring Miller back as well.

Reports say that the Sox are "all-in" on Pablo Sandoval. Not sure how I feel about this. Yes he fills two major needs (3B and can bat lefty) but the 6 year, $90 million contract he is looking for is a bit much to me for a guy with his numbers of late. OPS 2011 .909 2012 .789 2013 .758 2014 .739 That is not exciting to me, not for that much money/years

Works for me. Really the one team I would not want to play in the Ro16 is whoever finishes second out of Barca and PSG. I was disappointed to see Schalke lose today, they really blew an opportunity. Could have been tied with Chelsea and they get Chelsea at home. Should still make it out of the group but it would have been cool to see half the groups won by German teams.