I can Eddie Izzard see the Braves offering him

I can outline eddie izzard comedian see the ediie izzard states Braves offering him about $5MM before he rejects and heads towards FA.However, I would be willing to enter a mini-bidding war with other teams and use the team's potential to leverage him into a two-year, $6.8 MM per contract ($3.4 MM increase). Oh, and I would hope he accepts the offer of $5 MM to stay, I'm just saying I would be willing to go to $6.8 MM on the open market (and we'll use that to tally the dollars).All of these moves means a net of: -$5.6 MM (and a pair of draft picks if Soriano does indeed depart)Oh, and lest we forget Garret Anderson's $2.5 MM salary coming off books along with Greg Norton's 800K.That's a total of $11.95 MM to work with on the open market (arbitration changes and trade additions included).Not too bad.Now, in my world as GM, this is what we're looking at for the start of the '09 campaign (a + indicates replacing a hole left by a departing player, a ++ means a $400 K salary for a departing player player's replacement, ? means "could be exchanged for another ?"):C Brian McCann 1B Jorge Cantu + 2B Martin Prado 3B Chipper Jones SS Yunel Escobar LF Juan Rivera + CF Nate McLouth RF Matt Diaz INF Omar Infante OF Jordan Schafer ++ OF Jason Heyward? ++ PH Brooks Conrad ++Rotation 1 Tim Hudson 2 Javier Vazquez 3 Jair Jurrjens 4 Tommy Hanson 5 Derek Lowe Bullpen LRP Todd Redmond (exiting Medlen was the same) RHP Jason Bulger RHP Brian Sanches LHP Eric O'Flaherty LOOGY Boone Logan? RHSU Peter Moylan LHSU Mike Gonzalez CL _____________We've already established that Soriano will command quite a bit (my guess will be $10 MM-which some team willundoubtedly offer him).And the only viable option on the market is Jose Valverde (who will also cost a lot).This one has me truly stumped.Would you push harder to keep Soriano, or go hard after Valverde (or someone else).You've seen the money the Braves have under my scenario, tell me what you think. (Based on the results of this open-ended question, I will assemble my 2010 Atlanta Braves on a pretty little slide show—I really don't know what I should do) This article is also featured on Carolina Co-Op. ABUJA, Jan 10 (Reuters) - West African regional bloc ECOWASsaid on Saturday it was suspending Guinea until the militaryjunta which seized power last month holds elections and returnsthe world's top bauxite exporter to constitutional order. ECOWAS Commission President Mohamed Ibn Chambas made theannouncement during a meeting of heads of state from the15-member regional grouping in the Nigerian capital Abuja. (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on thetop issues, visit: africa.reuters /) (Reporting by Felix Onuah; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editingby Louise Ireland). Perhaps I was expecting too much from Randy "The Natural" Couture (17-10); I vividly remember the awesome fight he had against another heavyweight legend Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (32-5), and eagerly anticipated a repeat of that bout in UFC 105, held on Nov. 14 held in Manchester, England. And I will be brutally honest; his fight against Brandon "The Truth" Vera was quite boring.Of course, I can't put all the blame on Couture.

Vera lately has had his own streak of lackluster bouts against fighters including Reese Andy (7-3), Mike Patt (15-4), and Krzysztof Soszynski (18-9).In those fights, I could no longer see the heavyweight phenom who made quick work of fighters such as Frank Mir (12-4) and Assuerio Silva (15-8) Eddie Izzard . Vera looked scared and tentative, a shell of his former self.Couture, in this fight, tried to do what he always did edddie izzard . He tried to execute the gameplan that always seemed to give him the advantage.Step 1 eddie ezzard . Close the distanceStep 2: Get the clinchStep 3: Do some dirty-boxingStep 4: Take the opponent down to the matStep 5: Do some good ol' Ground and PoundAgainst Vera, Couture only made it to Step 3.Vera showed some amazing take-down defense reminiscent to that of former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion and Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell (21-7), and landed some stinging kicks to Couture's mid-section, but never found Couture's chin eddit izzard . Liddell made it seem so easy, but I guess not every one could be the Iceman.It seems that many people including major MMA website analysts scored the fight in favor of Vera, reasoning that he had won rounds 2 and 3.The fact is that the two last rounds were incredibly close. I gave the first round to Couture, and then for the remaining 10 minutes, I was scratching my head.One thing that was sure, at least in my eyes, was that Couture was controlling Vera and directing the pace of the fight.Of course, Couture didn't do any significant damage, but Vera looked exhausted and quite frustrated.Couture may have been undersized when he fought at Heavyweight, but at Light Heavyweight he is incredibly strong and durable, something that I think was a deciding factor in his fight against Vera.While Couture was not a "Champion," per say, I think the judges took notice of how he was the crowd-favorite.I am not saying that there is any conspiracy involved, but there is something about Couture that makes himlikable not only in the eyes of an average Mixed Martial Arts fan (Everybody loves Randy!), but also in the eyes of an average Judge.My words of condolence for Vera fans:Couture desperately needed this win and luckily squeezed one out.

Vera is still young and has time to grow.Couture fans will say that a "W" is all that counts, but I think Couture himself knows that his currentgame-plan will never work properly on the upper echelon of current LHW fighters.There is no doubt that his body has held up remarkably well and stood the test of time, but now he has to change his mental aspect . He needs to evolve his game-plan.How would Couture fare against fighters who have equally good take down defense AND knockout power? I think that Rampage, Shogun, Rashad, Machida will all flatten Couture, and I don't want to see "the Natural" taking a nap inside the Octagon.My thoughts on Hardy and Bisping:It's great that the Brits had their fighters win edie izzard . In an exciting fight against veteran Mike Swick (14-3), Dan Hardy (23-6) proved that he was no joke, and has now propelled his status as the No 1 contender to Georges St eddieizzard . Pierre's (19-2) welterweight crown.But I stand firm in my prediction that GSP will utterly humiliate Hardy if this fight comes to fruition Sorry, Dan Hardy fans . GSP is just that good.For Michael Bisping (18-2), I am glad to see that he has shaken off his devastating loss against Dan Henderson (25-7).Denis Kang (32-12) is without a doubt a solid contender, and while Kang did beat Bisping in the first round, the Brit weathered the early storm and got the win.I was impressed with how Bisping fared in the wrestling department; I remember actually laughing out loud when I saw him trying to take down Henderson in their fight. So what's next in line for Bisping?A future match against grappling ace Demian Maia (11-1) would be great. Both are coming back suffering from Knock-Out-of-the-Year losses and need to prove themselves again.It seems like UFC 105 left us with just as many questions as answers.