Thursday, June 10, 2010

Why Tesla, Fisker, and Solyndra need to work...

The green in industry is going through an interesting times the big boys are having issues getting their products to market. Vinod Khosla postulated recently that the first green IPO's are key because they will be a bellweather for the next green companies to IPO. I've thought lately along the same lines as my job search has to come to a head as my focus on the the green big boys. When I say the big boys I'm referring to the following companies:

Better Place ($750), Bloom Energy ($400), Boston Power ($136), Brightsource Energy($1,485), Coda Automotive ($476), eMeter ($56), Fisker Automotive ($817), GridPoint($229), Miasole ($305), Nanosolar ($395), SolarCity($148), Solyndra($953), Suniva ($375), Silver Spring Networks ($218), Tesla ($783)

Note: Total funding with DOE loans included is in parenthesis

Of the 15 companies, 4 are in the auto industy and 5 are solar companies.

Tesla Motors Model S won't have cars until Q4 2012.
Fisker Automotive won't start building cars until 2012.
Coda announced last week they are building a factory in Ohio for their batteries for their cars and there is no timetable for release.
Solyndra is using trying to thwart off critics that the government is fronting their high manufacturing costs that will be passed onto the consumers.
Codexis tried to sell the green IPO and Earth Day and went flat.
Grid operators Silver Spring Networks are now being chased by Cisco.

The dotcom bust and credit bust makes it hard to sell companies to the large mutual fund investors, hedge funds, and most importantly the general public. Consumers are now back to asking about companies earnings growth, P/E ratio, future revenues, and competition. Green startups are especially plagued by high cost of production and low ROI's. They question becomes can Barack and the companies do enough in the PR department to hide the "under construction signs" before they can became the companies that they and I hope they can become? I truly hope they can. In the big 15 above there will be some consolidation, buyouts, and most importantly real profits before these companies are for real in the eyes of investors.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Call-Ups

Big week in the call-ups.....

Stephen Strasburg (WAS SP) - He's up and you already know, top 10 fantasy pitcher rest of way
Mike Stanton (FL OF) - 21 jacks, #1 in all of baseball, pickup for a few weeks, expect Carlos Pena/Adam Dunn esque K rates with a ton of jacks
Jose Tabata (PIT OF) - traded for Xavier Nady, good situation in PIT for him, not great for fantasy
Andrew Cashner (CHI RP) - good for larger leagues and those playing MRI strategy
Brad Lincoln (PIT SP) - #4 pick in 2006 finally with big boys, monitor

and coming soon....
Carlos Santana (CLE C) - pickup in keeper leagues for power at catcher, he stole Russell Martin's when he was traded for Casey Blake
Jake Arrieta (BAL SP) - top pitching prospect for Orioles debut is Saturday, AL East, so keep eye on streaming him
Aroldis Chapman (CIN SP) - like many imports pitching is bipolar, will be up when he have 2 good starts in a row

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

New Music Tuesday....

Slow week compared to last week

Nothing really all that exciting this week either.....

Any Girl - LLoyd Banks F. Lloyd
Mediocre rap track over great beat

The Only Exception - Paramore
Sounds like an Avril track and that's that not a good thing

Who Dat - J. Cole
Rocafella's newest artist, great rap but give the man some beats

Sex Room - Ludacris
Sounds like old Ginuwine

Super High - Rick Ross F. NeYo

Slow summer rap, not into it, but Neyo on hook makes the song listenable

Leave Right Now - Will Young
This guy won Idol in Britain as I recall, decent acoustic ditty


In the all covers category...
Beth - Glee Cast
Beautiful Day - Lee Dewyze
Hallelujah - Lee Dewyze
Up The Mountain - Crystal Bowersox
Falling Slowly - Lee Dewyze & Crystal Bowersox
The Boxer - Lee Dewyze

CD's
Drake (leaked)
Eminem (leaked)
Twilight Soundtrack
Glee
Christina Aguiliera
Jewel
Hanson

and next week Tom Petty & Sarah McLachlan.....

Top 100 Baseball America Draft Picks By Team

68 of current BA Top 100 our picked within first 5 rounds (including supp.) so acquiring top talent in the top of the draft is paramount to competing in today's landscape. I understand that some teams won't deal with certain agents, have less revenues then they thought in the beginning, and won't sign all the players they drafted. I feel that looking at the BA top 100 draft prospects and seeing who got them is the best judge of the draft for now. Obviously in 3 years when these guys all make the big leagues we can see. This should be a better guide than most in the meantime.

TEAM NAME - Pitchers by pick / Hitters by pick

8 picks
Red Sox - 19,26,68,91 (4 Top 100 P) / 25,28,47,99 (4 Top 100 OF) - Theo!
7 picks
Indians - 4,58,80,84 (4 Top 100 P) / 66,75,89 (3 Top 100 OF) - They need them all
6 Picks
Blue Jays - 7, 22,59,62 (4 Top 100 P) / 53, 94 - Good work AA on first draft
5 Picks
Braves - 73,90 / 76,87,95 - No wonder why they always win
Cardinals - 34,43,61, (3 Top 100 P) / 6, 27 ( 2 Top 50 OF) - Zach Cox, best pick
Rays - 31 / 10,24,45,69 (4 Top 100 OF) - Already #2 system and counting
4 Picks
Royals - 23,54,81 (3 Top 100 P) / 9 - See Indians
Astros - 44 / 55, 63, 64 - Now sign them for once
Rockies - 33,36,78, (3 Top 100 P) / 37 - Taking advantage of Dodgers tapping out
Padres - 15, 46,79, (3 Top 100 P) / 39 - See above
Tigers - 57,86 / 17,77 - Agent's favorite team for draft
3 Picks
Phillies - 49,85 / 93 - Need to replenish after Lee/Halladay trades
Reds - 74 / 13, 32 (2 Top 50 OF) - Little by little gaining
Nats - 16, 48, (2 Top 50 P) / 1 - Ridiculous draft
D'Backs - 35,71,82, (3 Top 100 P) / (0 Top 100 OF) - They address need here
Dodgers - 29,50 (2 Top 50 P) / 100 - Short on picks due to non-arb and Mr. LSU QB
White Sox - 5,40,83(3 Top 100 P) / (0 Top 100 OF) - Nice pitching haul
Angels - 12, 56 / 97 - Considering number of picks, poor haul
Mariners - 38,42,70(3 Top 100 P)/ (0 Top 100 OF) - When will they ever get offense?
A's - 30 / 11, 67 - Tried to address offense
2 Picks
Marlins - 92 / 52 - Small market, has strong international program
Brewers - 18 / 65 - Small market
Cubs - 0 Top 100 P / 60,96 - Should be at top of this list considering revenyes
Pirates - 2, 8 (2 Top 10 P) / (0 Top 100 OF) - See Mariners
Giants - 0 Top 100 P / 14,41 (2 Top 50 OF) - Went for need her on offense
Twins - 21,72 / (0 Top 100 OF) - Went for arms here which they need
Rangers - 0 Top 100 P / 51, 98 - MLB owns them right now to some extent
1 Pick
Mets - 20 / (0 Top 100 OF) - Shocking to find them here
Yankees - 0 Top 100 P / 88 - See other NY team above
Orioles - (0 Top 100 P) / 3 - Sad to see watch this team, this doesn't help either

Note: Stock picks post moves to Thursday in lieu of Sports Business today.

Monday, June 7, 2010

MLB Draft Day 1 from the couch...

Winners
Nationals - get Harper, best prospect since ARod
Scott Boras - 4 out of 7 top picks including Harper
Angels - 5 top 50 picks, strong track record, thanks Lackey + Figgins for leaving
Rays - 3 top high school bats to go with there #2 farm system
Hendricks - Get Taillon (#2) & Lee (Dodgers pick)
Red Sox - 3 top college stars including Ranaundo who was #1 before Harper entered
White Sox/Reds - top player Sale and Grandal fall into their laps
*Dodgers - only if they sign their pick and spread out the $ by getting two sport star
Cox - falls from top 10 all the way to the one of the best baseball towns in America
SFX - most first round picks today

Losers
Yankees - let multiple top 15 guys slide they have $ to get to take BA #168
CAA - only 2 picks today by my count
Cubs - take somebody named Simpson who is ranked outside top 200 in most publications
Stetson Allie - #15 guy on board goes from live feed on predraft to undrafted
Astros - spend $ on the draft please, you farm is one of the worst for a reason, plus 2 07 picks get picked
Austin Wilson - local boy from Harvard-Westlake top position player on board
Rangers - pay overslot somehow guys, draft 2 sports stars from Texas

Note: There were multiple players who the big boys will chase namely the Yankees/Cubs picks now that they can command first round $, so Boras/SFX/etc. will only add to their hauls later this week

TV This Week...

Monday
MLB Draft on MLB Network - Bryce Harper and 49 other guys become instant millionaires
Last Comic Standing on ABC - Idol for comedians

Tuesday
The Strasburg Debut on MLB Network - interested to see how many non-baseball fans tune in
Lakers-Celtics Game 3 on ABC - Back in Boston and all square
Glee - Faithfully from Journey is sure to be top 50 on Billboard next week

Wednesday
CMT Music Awards - not for me, but I know alot of you are into it
Blackhawks vs. Flyers Game 6

Thursday
Lakers-Celtics Game 4 on ABC

Friday
World Cup Begins on ESPN/ABC
I'm a Comin on Showtime - Tells the story of how comedians made it
Blackhawks vs. Flyers Game 7 if necessary

Saturday
USA vs. England on ABC

Sunday
Lakers-Celtics Game 5 on ABC
Breaking Bad on AMC - Season Finale
True Blood on HBO - Season Premiere
Kim and Khloe take Miami on E! - Season Premiere

Friday, June 4, 2010

At The Movies....

Last Week: Prince of Persia and Sex and The City 2

Get Him To The Greek - Russell Brand, Jonah Hill and the director of Forgetting Sarah Marshall so you can count me in to on this one (75% on Rotten Tomatoes)

Killers - Mr. and Mrs. Smith the remix with Ashton Kutcher and Catherine Heigl, feel like a decent Fall date movie DVD at the house due to horrific reviews (6% on Rotten Tomatoes)

Markaduke - it's a kid film, animated, with voices, counter-gramming just in time for school to get out (11% on Rotten Tomatoes)

Splice - the scary movie that is preview on TV is this one, I'm out but looks scary (72% on Rotten Tomatoes)

Next Week: A-Team, The Karate Kid and in 2 weeks: Toy Story 3 & Jonah Hex

MLB Draft, My Way

The MLB draft is on Monday. The past few years the draft has gained increased notoriety and is now televised on MLB Network rather than being just one big conference call. Being that this is my space I though it would be interesting to express my ideas on how I'd run a draft from a business standpoint. Granted, I'm scared of being a "buyer" whether it's in baseball or any type of retail. There so many intangibles and risks that go into any buying decision: timing, short-term vs. long-term, fit, dollars, length, scarcity, etc.

First I'd request 8 million or double the MLB median to draft players. I think American players, especially with college seasoning, are the best investment one can make in baseball talent. They have the least risk and are closest to having the bigs to seeing returns on your investments. I'd rather get 80% return for less risk faster than take a chance on a high school kid who takes longer to get to the big leagues, has more leverage in negociation, and probably has a chance to be better in the long run. Studies have proven that going overslot pays for itself in the long-run as well. Foreign talent is predominantly tough to gauge to lower talent levels plus you have age and makeup issues throughout. The draft is 50 rounds and I'd take up every single round. In 2007, only 9 teams tapped out earlier. So now that I have 50 rounds to take players what is the best way to draft in 2010?

Rounds 1-4 focus on college hitters
Start with the least risk, arms blow out and you can get similar ones later that are closer to MLB later
Read this table, enough said

Rounds 5-12 focus college pitchers
MLB ready pitching is king, you can never have too much of it at the deadline, you can always trade a pitcher for a bat, but the opposite is not always true

Rounds 13-25 focus on athletes up the middle
Look at the Rays, there entire team is madeup of SS and CF types who are athletes, you can always buy corners and they are getting cheaper by the day as well

Rounds 26-40 focus on locals who you can buy out of all/some school preferably from good schools, two parent homes, and good workers/students
I know some teams use some sort of non baseball evaluations and I think it matters more than one would think. It's just a safer investment. It's very tough to get this sort of information unless it's in your home state. Plus these locals are the ones most likely to bypass college for the chance to play for the local team

Rounds 41-50 Go overslot and buy the draft the best high school players in your state committed and try to steal them from college
Sell them on the bonus, the city, the dream, tour the stadium with team legends like you would the best free agents, it won't work everytime but most times I think it would, lays the groundwork for their actual free agency in 8 years if they are this good

There you have it. Go deep (50), draft value early from college with hitters first, athletes in the middle, and risky local high school kids later. If I get a chance I'll try to take a peak next week if anybody followed my advice.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Fantasy Baseball and xFIP

There has been alot of talk lately about "old school" stats such as wins and saves. They are not true indicators of performance. Thye give you an idea to some extent of what level a player is but not by much. You don't win 15+ games or save 35+ games unless you are good, but you don't need to be great to do it. To take away the BS from it all I use a stat called xFIP that can be found on Fangraphs. Per Hardball times xFIP is Expected Fielding Independent Pitching. This is an experimental stat that adjusts FIP and "normalizes" the home run component. Research has shown that home runs allowed are pretty much a function of flyballs allowed and home park, so xFIP is based on the average number of home runs allowed per outfield fly. Theoretically, this should be a better predicter of a pitcher's future ERA. Using this metric I try to find value in fantasy. A brief look at the SP leaders and laggards can help you find value on the wire or trade market. Only 38 SP are under 4 so the more on your team the merrier.

Top 10
  • Halladay 2.92
  • Wainwright 3.07
  • Romero 3.12
  • Lincecum 3.16
  • Liriano 3.21 (My pre-season pick)
  • Haren 3.22
  • Johnson 3.25
  • Shields 3.26 (My pre-season pick)
  • Oswalt 3.30
  • Lester 3.35
Others under 3.8: Carpenter, Latos, Jimenez, Hughes, Hamels, Felix, Verlander

And some suprises in the over 4 crowd:
  • Leake 4.07
  • Sanchez 4.11
  • Buchholz 4.16
  • Price 4.23
  • Kershaw 4.24
  • Greinke 4.27
  • Hudson 4.37
  • Garza 4.43
  • Johan 4.48
  • Sheets 4.71
  • Lackey 5.30

Green Links from the past 2 months...

5/28: Tesla & The Model S Timeline
5/26: Amyris IPO Update

5/26: Tony Blair Joins Khosla Ventures
5/25: Nissan Leaf has 13,000 reservations
5/25: Cisco & The Smart Grid
5/21: Toyota & Tesla Deal Ramifications
5/19: Coda closes $58M Round
5/14: Year of the LEDs
5/10: Better Place closes $350M round
5/7: DOE Pickups
5/5: Google Energy Timeline

5/3: Tesla's Model S
4/22: Codexis IPO
4/20: Amonix, Kleiner, & $129 million

4/15: IPO Picks
AND in the sports green world
5/28: Sox hire GreenMark
4/13: MLB's Green Initiatives

And a Players For The Planet plug because I can

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

10 Stock Picks For The Week

Thanks Kiplinger....

5 year historical sales growth greater than 12%
Beta of .9
5 year ROI greater 15%
Dividend greater than 4%
  • BTE (sales growth 29%, Beta 1.4, ROI 15.9%, 6.86% Dividend) - Baytex Energy Trust
  • DHIL (sales growth 52%, Beta 1.47, ROI 32.3%, 15.16% Dividend) - Diamond Hill Invest
  • ECOL (sales growth 18%, Beta 1.15, ROI 21.3%, 5.09% Dividend) - US Ecology
  • GRMN (sales growth 34%, Beta 1.52, ROI 32.3%, 4.47% Dividend) - Garmin
  • LPHI (sales growth 50.6%, Beta 0.99, ROI 64.8%, 4.95% Dividend) - Life Partners
  • MAIL (sales growth 36.3%, Beta 1.38, ROI 16.3%, 8.35% Dividend) - Incredimail
  • TATT (sales growth 18.57%, Beta 1.17, ROI 15.12%, 4.08% Dividend) - TAT Technologies
  • TEO (sales growth 15.81%, Beta 1.16, ROI 358%, 5.3% Dividend) - Telecom Argentina
  • UNTD (sales growth 15.68%, Beta 1.64, ROI 16.14%, 5.87% Dividend) -United Online
  • UVE (sales growth 78.24%, Beta 3.56, ROI 47.75%, 10.15% Dividend) - Universal Insurance

Summertime Jams.....

#nowplaying

Power - Kanye
He comes out from hibernation dropping rhymes in a song about his "escape" since the Beyonce incident

California Gurls - Katy Perry F. Snoop
Ridiculous beat, the I could rap over with catchy lyrics, it's a summer anthem

Not Afraid - Eminem
The man himself his back reminding us of why he was so great to begin with

Find Your Love - Drake
Ridiculous video and great track, album finally comes out next week, can he go platinum first week, I say yes

Getting Over You - David Guetta F. Fergie & LMFAO
Guetta at his best, this remix is a rare artists collaboration that works

Cooler Than Me - Mike Posner
Duke grad is on Warped Tour this summer and this is why

Neutron Star Collison - Muse
Starts off a piano (Queen-esque), features scenes from Twilight, great track

I Like It - Enrique F. PitBull
An interesting pairing, but I'm a big fan of PitBull and this song is a summer one sure to be around for a bit

#onradio....

Can't Be Tamed - Miley Cyrus
Miley tries to grow up, will be massive on radio, song alone isn't bad

Dream On / I Dreamed A Dream / Jessie's Girl / Bad Romance - Glee
This show is taking over, charted 5 new songs last week, I get it, but don't really wanna hear it on the radio

Touching On My - 3!OH3
Sounds like bad white rap, although chorus was made for DJ to stop the tracks in the club

#onyourradionotmine

My First Kiss - 3!OH3 F. Kesha
It's my a jingly summer one that will take off in the tween crowds

Nightmare - Avenged Sevenfold
Never been a fan, but perfect hockey "skate-in" song

WooHoo - Christina F. Nicky Minaj
Interesting sound, the mediocre dance music she's been pumping out for years without her vocals

Somebody To Love - Justin Bieber
Glad to see the kid make a song on his own, still no good

Pyramid - Charice F. Iyaz
Iyaz is the new Nate Dogg, so the hook is there, but the rest of track isn't

Free - Zac Brown Band
Not a country fan, but for the OAR of country I'm usually in, but this track is a slower one

Hold You - Gyptian
Jamaican reggae music and I honestly don't know what the lyrics even say, solid beat though

Monday, May 31, 2010

TV This Week....

Monday
Cake Boss (Season Premiere) on TLC - I'm not a chef and don't cook but I've seen this show and it makes cake making pretty exciting
Bachelorette on ABC - I'm not into it but this is the 2nd or maybe 3rd week of the show for the summer, it's crazy to see how many Survivor and Bachelorette seasons we have. I can only imagine in 5 years a winner being Survivor #37 winner or Bachelorette season #26 runner-up on IMDB.

Tuesday
Girly premieres times 3 with Jersey Coutore on Oxygen, Downtwon Girls on MTV, & Losing it With Jillian on NBC
HBO's Rediscovering John Cazale - they profile the 5 movie, 5 best picture nominee himself.

Wednesday
Are We There Yet? (Series Premiere) -Ice Cube's movie becomes a TV show on TBS

Thursday
THE FINALS!
and Royal Pains returns on USA

Friday
The Spelling Bee on NBC, with Erin Andrews sweet but too bad nobody watches TV on Friday nights

Sunday
True Blood - returns to HBO which along with Dexter is the show I hear the best things about but never watched and
The MTV Movie Awards on MTV - still going after all the years, Twilight takeover
FINALS Game 2!

Memorial Day Pennant Chase Check...

Reminder on my opening day predictions:

Sox-Rockies WS with Heyward, Matusz, Tulo, and Longoria picking up hardware. No playoffs for Yankees or Dodgers with wildcards in Atlanta and Tampa

AL East

Rays in first by 3 over Yankees, 4.5 over Jays, and 5.5 over Sox

I predicted the Rays & Sox in the playoffs but didn't forsee the Rays being this good, although they've come back to earth over the last few weeks. The Jays are all power and pitching so far but will not be able to withstand the division as they've been fortunate to play outside the division more often than usual. My prediction stands but the Rays look like the division winner with Desmond Jennings and Jeremy Hellickson, both top 10 MLB prospects, on the way.

AL Central

Minnesota in first by 3.5 over Detroit

I'm really suprised the White Sox are 8 out, but looking deeper at their offense it's really no suprise. This race is a 2 team race and I wouldn't be suprised to see them go down the last week, but this one point to Minnesota due to their starting pitching. The Indians and Royals are just horrible at this point, but hey the draft is next week.

AL West

Oakland in first by .5 over Texas and 2 games over Angels

The Mariners are going to be sellers even though a lot of people liked the team in preseason. I had the Rangers from the beginning and am sticking with it as Schneppers is incoming to help thier pen and Vladdy is killing the ball down there. I'm suprised that Oakland is hanging in, but think the Rangers will run away with this as the Angels just lost Morales.

NL East

Braves up .5 games over Philly, 3 over Mets, 3.5 over Marlins

I'm looking good here. Heyward is a ROY frontrunner and the Phillies lack of a bridge (like the Yankees) is really hurting them. It's crazy to think the Marlins payroll is $46 million and still are in the ballpark consistently with the Phillies and Mets. Props to Loria on being the most profitable owner. I'm sticking with it my prediction as both make the playoffs

NL Central

Reds up 1 game over St. Louis

The Reds (and Padres) are the most suprising team so far. The team is for real. They have the #1 offense in the NL and are getting quality starting pitching. If they add an arm or too in the bullpen they can stay there until the end, but I have issues picking against a Wainwright-Carpenter-Pujols-Holliday led team.

NL West

San Diego up 2 games on Dodgers, 2.5 on SF, and 4 over Rockies

I'm picked the Rockies to go deep into the playoffs and stand by it. Ubaldo Jimenez is the best pitcher in the NL right now. They are a mere 4 games out without their #2 starter, closer, and setup man. June is when you'll see the swing due to the Interleague schedule as I documented here last year when the schedule was released as the Dodgers will falter and the Rockies/Giants will come up.

So to review: Rays, Red Sox, Twins, Rangers, Braves, Phillies, Cardinals, Rockies

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

2009 Fantasy Busts and Booms

Busts
Michael Turner - #2 pick in many drafts ended up having 5th round value
Matt Forte - see Turner above
Brian Westbrook - the year the wheels broke (might have to retire) and unlike usual McCoy didnt' do a good job replacing him
Brandon Jacobs - early 2nd rounder eneded up having 7th round value on the IR
Clinton Portis - one of worst 2nd round picks as stunk it up and spent last 6 weeks on IR
Steve Slaton - see Jacobs above
Ronnie Brown - ended year on IR, would have been top 5 back if healthy though
Steve Smith - got outplayed by his namesake in New York, can't imagine how good he'd be witha good QB
TO - disappeared in Buffalo this year, will be interesting to see who signs the 35 year old
Reggie Bush - the SC/Kim Kardashian/playoff star power shines, but he stinks at fantasy
Marshawn Lynch - never made up for missing first 4 weeks as he shared with Fred Jackson all year
Antonio Bryant - 4th round pick in 09, won't get drafted in '10
TJ Houshmanzadeh - fantasy career died in Seattle and so did your 5th round pick
LJ - done and done
Other complete busts: Lendale White, Eddie Royal, Willie Parker, Anthony Gonzalez,

Booms
Aaron Rodgers - drafted after Brees, Brady, Manning but outplayed them in fantasy
Brett Favre - from 12th or 13th round pick into top 10 player at 40, amazing
Ray Rice - Top5 back for a 4th-6th rounder, I had him and he'll be the 4th or 5th pick in '10
Ben Rothlisberger - same as Favre except went a bit earlier because of his SB run in '08
Matt Schaub - my pick at QB this year proved me right as a top 5 QB in a year where every team had a ridiculous QB
Jamaal Charles - Undrafted to domination the alst 5-6 weeks, might have earned himself a 2nd round pick in '10
Miles Austin - Along with Charles, best waiver wire find of year, will go 5th or 6th round next year
Steve Smith - Outplayed the Carolina WR, but still a risky play in run first NYG offense next year
Percy and Sidney Rice - Brett's WR's went from undrafted to studs, if Brett is back they are too

New Music Tuesday

Blah Blah Blah - Ke$ha featuring 3OH!3
Your Love Is My Drug - Ke$ha
Take It Off - Ke$ha
This girl is taking over by riding Lady Gaga's coattails in regard to her sound, also it appears that dance music is now becoming more and more mainstream, she charted 3 songs this week off her album that came out on the 5th, Blah Blah Blah has staying power

Drop The World - Lil Wayne F. Eminem
Starts off slow in classic, slo-motion Lil Wayne style, Eminem's rhymes are back and make this song worthwhile

Love This Pain - Lady Antebellum
A country ditty in anticipation of her album coming out next week, not a big country fan

Say Something - Timberland F. Drake
Similar to the Lil' Wayne track, Drake steals this song, but song is overall mediocre

New Albums This Week
  • Spoon
  • Crazy Heart Soundtrack
  • Grammy Nominees 2010
  • Eels
  • Motion City Soundtrack

Monday, January 18, 2010

2010 Spring TV Picks

I'm going to make this quick and easy. Here's all the shows with their premiere dates.

BOLD - Watch it

Sunday, Jan. 3
Giuliana & Bill (E!), 9 p.m.

Monday, Jan. 4
The Bachelor: On the Wings of Love (ABC), 8 p.m.
Make It or Break It returns (ABC Family), 9 p.m.
The Secret Life of the American Teenager returns (ABC Family), 8 p.m.

Tuesday, Jan. 5
The Biggest Loser
(NBC), 8 p.m.
The Good Wife returns (CBS), 10 p.m.
NCIS returns (CBS), 8 p.m.
NCIS: Los Angeles returns (CBS), 9 p.m.

Wednesday, Jan. 6
Friday Night Lights returns (DirecTV 101), 9 p.m.
Nip/Tuck (FX), 10 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 8
Ghost Whisperer returns (CBS), 8 p.m.
Medium returns (CBS), 9 p.m.
Numb3rs returns (CBS), 10 p.m.
Shark Tank returns (ABC), 9 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 9
Legend of the Seeker returns (syndication)

Sunday, Jan. 10
Big Love (HBO), 10 p.m.
Chuck (NBC), 9 p.m.

Monday, Jan. 11
Accidentally on Purpose
returns (CBS), 8:30 p.m.
The Big Bang Theory returns (CBS), 9:30 p.m.
CSI: Miami returns (CBS), 10 p.m.
Heroes returns (NBC), 9 p.m.
How I Met Your Mother
returns (CBS), 8 p.m.
Two and a Half Men
returns (CBS), 9 p.m.

Tuesday, Jan. 12
American Idol (Fox), 8 p.m.
Southland
(TNT), 10 p.m.

Wednesday, Jan. 13
Criminal Minds returns (CBS), 9 p.m.
CSI: NY returns (CBS), 10 p.m.
Gary Unmarried returns (CBS), 8:30 p.m.
Leverage returns (TNT), 10 p.m.
The New Adventures of Old Christine returns (CBS), 8 p.m.

Thursday, Jan. 14
Archer (FX), 10 p.m.
Bones returns (Fox), 8 p.m.
CSI returns (CBS), 9 p.m.
Fringe returns (Fox), 9 p.m. (for four weeks, then off until April)
Grey's Anatomy
returns (ABC), 9 p.m.
The Mentalist
returns (CBS), 10 p.m.
Parks and Recreation
returns (NBC), 8:30 p.m.
Private Practice
returns (ABC), 10 p.m.
Project Runway (Lifetime), 10 p.m.

Sunday, Jan. 17
24 (Fox), 9 p.m.
Human Target (Fox), 8 p.m.

Monday, Jan. 18
Life Unexpected (CW), 9 p.m.
One Tree Hill returns (CW), 8 p.m.

Tuesday, Jan. 19
White Collar returns (USA), 10 p.m.

Thursday, Jan. 21
Burn Notice
returns (USA), 10 p.m.
Supernatural returns (CW), 9 p.m.
The Vampire Diaries returns (CW), 8 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 22
Caprica (Syfy), 9 p.m.
Smallville returns (CW), 8 p.m.
Spartacus (Starz), 10 p.m.

Monday, Jan. 25
Damages
(FX), 10 p.m.
Greek returns (ABC Family), 10 p.m.
La La Land
(Showtime), 11 p.m.
Secret Diary of a Call Girl
(Showtime), 10 p.m.

Wednesday, Jan. 27
Psych
returns (USA), 10 p.m.

Sunday, Jan. 31
American Dad returns (Fox), 9:30 p.m.
The Cleveland Show returns (Fox), 8:30 p.m.
Family Guy returns (Fox), 9 p.m.
The Simpsons returns (Fox), 8 p.m.

Tuesday, Feb. 2
Lost (ABC), 9 p.m.

Thursday, Feb. 4
The Office returns (NBC), 9 p.m.

Sunday, Feb. 7
Undercover Boss (CBS), 10 p.m.

Thursday, Feb. 11
Past Life (Fox), 8 p.m.
Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains (CBS), 8 p.m.

Sunday, Feb. 14
The Amazing Race (CBS), 8 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 19
Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO), 9 p.m

Offseason Contracts So Far In Review

Since my computer has been down all off-season I'm going to run through the 20 biggest deals with my comments on them.

Matt Holliday, 7 year @ $120 million with Cardinals
Great deal for Boras as it's 2 years and maybe 3 years longer as he turned 30 this week, if Cardinals can't keep Pujols because of this deal then the deal gets worse

John Lackey, 5 year @ $82.5 million with Red Sox
Insurance if Beckett bolts next year and helps Sox contend with CC-AJ-Vazquez to counter with Lester-Beckett-Lackey

Jason Bay, 4 year @ $66 million with Mets
Still trying to figure out who they outbid, good work Mr. Urbon, will regret this deal in years 3 and 4 with no DH to put him as his defense is already iffy

Aroldis Chapman, 5 year @ $30 million with Reds
Great deal for Reds, lot of risk for small market team, the way they deferred the funds for what most people would say is a top 10 left handed pitching prospect is fantastic based on what they are getting, my only wonder is why Sox and Yankees weren't bidding as $6 million is nothing to them

Chone Figgins, 4 year @ $36 million with Mariners
Speed, defense, and OBP from Chone plus he's a great clubhouse guy

Randy Wolf, 3 year @ $30 million with Brewers
Nice move from the guys a WMG getting this done early as the market past him and Lackey has dropped out for SP since he signed, have to wonder though if anybody bid close to this though

Rich Harden, 1 year @ $7.5 million with Rangers
Ballsy move by the Rangers to tie-up so much payroll (as a percent) in a risk-reward guy, really thought he fit best in large market NL teams

Andy Pettitte, 1 year @ $11.75 million with Yankees
Still doing it in his 40's, more rings and that money why not

Adrian Beltre 1 year @ $10 million with Red Sox
Sox are playing for defense because they can't outslug the Yankees, might be one of best defensive 3B of all-time

Rafael Soriano, 1 year @ $7.25 with Braves, traded to Rays
Horrible move by Braves signing Wagner instead of waiting for him, then being forced to move him, Rays great work

Mark DeRosa, 2 years @ $12 million with Giants
Mr. all over the diamond, his health will determine if this is a good deal as he's recovering from a wrist injury

Mike Cameron, 2 years @ $15.5 million with Red Sox
More defense in Boston as Jacoby moves to LF, might have best defensive OF next to Seattle now

Marlon Byrd, 3 years @ $15 million with Cubs
Another mind boggler from the Cubs, do they just add a year or two extra to every contract for fun, look he's good, but 3 years

Mike Gonzalez, 2 years @ $12 million with Orioles
One of the worse moves this year, lose a first round pick, $6 million for a closer on a bad team, and tie-up payroll that should be spent elsewhere

Coco Crisp, 1 years @ $5.25 million with A's
Another risky move for a smaller market team, but at least it's only 1 year

Nick Johnson, 1 year @ $5.5 million with Yankees
Highest OBP of any free agent, it's he healthy another win for Cashman

Adam LaRoche, 1 year @ $5.5 million with D'Backs
Signing went under the rader, but if it's the 2nd half Adam then the D'Backs might have some semblance of an offense this year

Jose Valverde, 2 years @ $14 million with Tigers
Let's see trade Granderson to dump salary and then spend money on a closer when you have a free on (Perry) and lose a first round pick, still can't explain this one

Billy Wagner, 1 years @ $7 million with Braves
Braves moved way too early on him, he looked great with Sox and it's 1 year but too much risk in that bullpen now with Takashi too

Marcus Scutaro, 2 years @ $12.5 million with Red Sox
No more Julio Lugo, solid short-term move for Sox, paid market value here

Placido Polanco, 3 years @ $18 million with Phillies
A headscratcher as Phillies locked up one the best defensive 2B to play 3B and gave him an extra year, the Phillies have a ton of money locked up and $140 million in payroll so they can't be having injuries now

Brad Penny, 1 year @ $7.5 million with Cardinals
Another win for the agent for locking up his guy early with a solid guarantee as comparable pitchers are unsigned below

My best moves so far are the Aroldis Chapman to Reds, Rafael Soriano to the Rays, and whoever sign Pineiro and Dye on the cheap.

Remaining Free Agents: Erik Bedard, Ben Sheets, Joel Pineiro, Jermaine Dye, Jarrod Washburn, Russell Branyan, Johnny Damon, Miguel Tejada, Felipe Lopez, Orlando Hudson, Pedro, Doug Davis, Jon Garland, Vincent Padilla, Bengie Molina, Ryota Igarashi, Carlos Delgado, John Smoltz, Orlando Cabrera, Kiko Calero, Bradon Looper, Octavio Dotel, Gary Sheffield, Joe Crede, Rick Ankiel, and Jack Cassel

A look into 2011 free agents can be found here. Although the real prize is a man named Yu.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

WIP: Work-In-Progress

It's a work in progress on the infrastructure front. Sprucing up this page right now back blogging really soon.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Things I'm Looking Forward to in 2010

The Solyndra IPO
This blog shutting down
Stephen Strasburg and Jason Heyward's rookie year
One month of Spanish immersion here
The return of Chuck and 24 to TV
Drake's debut album, Eminem' return, and My Chemical Romance's return
My new green blog
The release of the Apple Tablet
The MIT Sloan Sports Business Conference
The release of Inception, Kick Ass, and Iron Man 2
Dominating fantasy baseball (no helping here)
And my new green job and apartment


1.11.10 The Blog-cation is Over

I'm getting a new computer this week so I'll be back soon....

Monday: Baseball + TV
Tuesday: Fantasy Football + Music
Wednesday: Fantasy Baseball + Green
Thursday: Sports Business x2
Friday: Stocks/Economy + Movies

Plus starting to green blog on greenistheidea.blogspot.com