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PAC-12 CONFERENCE [Scores] [Standings]

Best Wins:

• For the second week in a row, Arizona got a big win after starting conference play 0-3.  The Wildcats stormed past USC, 39-36.
• And UCLA put themselves back in the conversation with a 45-43 win over Arizona State.  The Bruins started confernce play 1-2.
• Finally, what can you say about Washington?  The Huskies upended highly ranked Stanford, the promptly lost three in a row.  Then they come back and hand Oregon State its first loss.
• And, in a Week 10 preview, the Huskies also defeated Cal, 21-13, on Friday to go to 3-3 in the conference.

Stats Smorgasbord:

• The huge stats mostly belong to they guys on the losing side of the Arizona-USC game.
• And it was Marquise Lee of the Trojans with the shiniest numbers:  16 receptions for 345 yards and 2 TDs.
• Lee also had 123 yards in kickoff returns.
• Lee leads the conference in receiving yards and receptions per game.
• And Matt Barkley was 31-of-49 for 493 yards and 3 TDs, but 2 INT, in the loss.
• UCLA's Jonathan Franklin continues to lead the conference in rushing after his sixth game over 100, a 164-yard effort against Arizona State.  Franklin is No. 7 nationally.

Football Factoids:

• ESPN Heisman Watch: 3-T. Kenjon Barner, RB, Oregon; 9. Oregon all-purpose player DeAnthony Thomas.  Franklin has more yards than Barner, but doesn't show up.
• Pac-12 in the AP poll: 2. Oregon; 13. Oregon State; 15. Stanford; 18. USC; 24. Arizona; 25. UCLA.
• Pac-12 in the BCS standings: 4. Oregon; 11. Oregon State; 14. Stanford; 17. USC; 22. Arizona.
• After two losses, USC has lost some of its shine, but the Trojans can reclaim some glory this week when they face Oregon.
• The Ducks appear to need some help to make the BCS title game, as they have now slipped behind both Kansas State and Notre Dame.  Interestingly, some of that help might come from USC, who will play the Irish on Nov. 24.
• Oregon State's loss to Washington eliminates the chance for a battle of unbeatens in the Civil War game on that same Nov. 24.  The Beavers will try to get back on track with a game against Arizona State.
• Both Arizona and UCLA returned to the AP rankings with their big wins, but this week they face each other, so one of them will probably have a short-lived appearance.

BIG TEN CONFERENCE [Scores] [Standings]

Best Wins:

• Yes, it was the "Ineligi-Bowl" between sanctioned Ohio State and Penn State.  As expected, the Buckeyes prevailed, 35-23.
• Among games the affect the Big Ten championship, Nebraska made a huge stride toward winning the Leaders Division with a 23-9 win over Michigan.
• And Michigan State scrambled up the Legends Division  by knocking off Wisconsin  in overtime, 16-13.  The Badgers had become the favorites to advance to the title game.
• But now, beleive it or not, Indiana  controls its own destiny, after a 31-17 win over Illinois, and can make the title game by winning out.  Hypothetically, anyway.

Stats Smorgasbord:

• Nebraska has been among the leaders in the offensive categories all year, but in the Michigan game the defense stepped up.  The Huskers are now fifth in the conference in total defense at 336.4 yards per game, and No. 26 nationally.
• The Cornhuskers continue to rank near the bottom in turnover margin, with 14 lost fumbles rating among the nation's worst.
• Venric Mark of Northwestern continues to ... well ... make his mark.  The Wildcats' star gained 162 yards against Iowa and moved into second place on the conference rushing chart.  Denard Robinson of Michigan left his game early and gained only 46 yards, creating an opening for Mark.
• But, it is still Braxton Miller of Ohio State lighting up most of the charts, with 121.4 yards per game and 12 TDs rushing and 7.7 yards per attempt and 12 TDs passing.

Football Factoids:

• ESPN Heisman Watch: 5.  Miller.  With no title game, is doesn't look like Miller will have a chance to move much higher.
• Big Ten in the AP poll: 6. Ohio State; 21. Nebraska.  Huskers return to the poll after a few weeks out.
• Big Ten in the BSC standings:  Ohio State is ineligible, but Nebraska is No. 20.  Michigan and Wisconsin fall out.
• Nebraska now looks like the Rose Bowl favorite after its convincing win over Michigan and its defense beginning to take a step forward.  The Huskers must get by Michigan State in East Lansing, but then will be strong favorites in their remaining games.
• In its first year in the Big Ten, Nebraska lost badly to Robinson but caught a break when Miller got hurt in their game against the Buckeyes.  This year, the Huskers lost badly to Miller, and caught a break when Robinson got hurt.  But the Wolverines didn't appear to be on the way to victory with Robinson, either.
• OK, Indiana has indeed now joined Wisconsin as the only eligible Legends Division team with a conference victory.  If the Hoosiers beat Iowa this weekend, then they will indeed face the Badgers with a chance to go 3-3 in the league, and leave Wisconsin with three losses as well, and control the tiebreaker.  Sounds more like Hoosiers the movie, but its not impossible.

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1.  How badly did the Mariners lowball the dude?  Well, in their defense, Iwakuma is fragile.  And they had many other (attractive!) options for the period 2013-15.  Had Iwakuma chosen to move on, the Mariners would legitimately have shrugged and given the job to somebody else.

It's tough to ask for a raise if the fact is that other people can do it better and cheaper.  Rich Dad said, the days of claiming we "deserve" a raise are over.  That's going a bit far, but one day, eBay (the paradigm not the company) will rule the planet -- if you need a carburetor, you'll be able to ask 8 billion people for the cheapest one.  Frictionless sales mean that, increasingly, you are going to get paid more and more precisely what you are worth.

Right now Cindy and I have added Saturn Barter to our eBay 'lifestyle', as it were.  Our other writing jobs are paid (handsomely) through a giant barter collective.  My own services are advertised and we purchase services with barter credits.  That's where we're headed:  put your goods and services up into the cloud and start swapping so fast we can't see our hands moving.

Gotta stop axing for grace and favor and be worth something.  /capitalist moment

Iwakuma was in an odd situation:  he wanted to be here, but couldn't shop his services unless he took the nuclear option to Seattle.  Who'da thunk the club-only period would be such a bludgeon in Zduriencik's hands.

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2.  What did Iwakuma deserve?  There's no correct answer, because there's no data on Iwakuma's 2013-14 performance.  But here is what I look at:  the two guys above and below him, for 2012 xFIP, were Darvish and Kuroda.

• HI:  Darvish $23M in production last year (same exact xFIP as Iwakuma's in the rotation)
• MID:  Kuroda $16M, $10M, and $18M in production the last three years
• LO:  Vargas $10M, $10M, and $3M in production the last three years

We throw Vargas in there as a reality check, a LOWER bound.  

Darvish is a very realistic UPPER bound - here's a crosscheck.  Doug Fister is a very similar pitcher to Hisashi Iwakuma, both sabermetrically and stylistically.  Doogie earned $25M and $16M the last two years.  There you go:  the $20-25M range is the UP scenario for Hisashi Iwakuma, it says here.  Maybe a 25% chance of earning that.

Hiroki Kuroda last year fanned 6.8 men, walked 2.1, and gave up 1.0 homers, with a lifetime grounder rate a bit worse than Iwakuma's.  Over 220 innings, that was 3.9 WAR and $18M in salary earned (WAR uses a lot of theoretical outcome in its output).

...............

Certainly Iwakuma is less of a workhorse than Kuroda.  But on the other hand, we're looking at very possible inflation in 2013-15.  I think it's fair to say that the Mariners gave Iwakuma right at 50c on the dollar.  It will be 30c on the dollar if Iwakuma has a good year.

Two years, plus a club option with a piddling $500,000 buyout -- isn't that absolutely the ideal club length of term for a veteran pitcher?

Tony Adams, Mr. Arsenal, once said "I will sign every contract Arsenal puts in front of me without reading it."  Says here that Iwakuma REALLY wanted to play in Seattle.  Glad to have you, sir.

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