haleygk74: Making Money With Options

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It was only a couple months ago that the Rangers were (near) the top of the baseball world. They fulfilled their role as David, when slaying the Goliath Yankees, and endeared themselves to millions of baseball fans across the country with their love of all things hustle.

But things changed for the Rangers in a New York minute (you knew that New York would get back in the discussion) when Cliff Lee, their undisputed ace, shocked the baseball world and fled back to Philadelphia. Just like that, the Rangers rotation—a strength—turned into a weakness. Panic spread across Texas.

So they did what any right-minded club would do—go sign the next biggest name available. Because if you can't have the prom queen, you should at least get her still cute best friend...right? Except in this case, it's wrong...very wrong.

The Rangers are closing in on signing 3B Adrian Beltre to a 6-year, $96 million dollar deal that frankly makes, well, no sense. There are definitely positives to Beltre—he's coming off a big season, he's one of the best fielding third baseman (and players) in all of baseball, and he does have a power bat. But for the few reasons that the deal does make some sense, there are many more reasons why it doesn't.

Why? Let's break it down:

Beltre will be 32 years old a week into the season—not ancient—but definitely edging towards the downside of his career. On top of that, this will be his 14th season. If there's such a thing as a "young" veteran, Beltre isn't it. Do you really see this guy still going strong when he's in his 17th, 18th or 19th year of his career (or the second half of his contract)?

In 13 previous seasons, Beltre has made the postseason ONCE! That was in 2004-2005, while still with the Dodgers. Beltre's line was .267 AVG, one RBI, zero extra-base hits, three K's, zero BB's—a series that saw the Dodgers lose handily to the Cardinals in four games. For the record, that was the same year he had his breakout season, when he finished second in the NL MVP race.

Beltre is notorious for having big years in the last year of his contract (see 2004 with Dodgers, 2010 with Boston). I think we saw with Seattle what happens when the guy isn't as motivated to play for the next big contract

Texas is a SMALL market team. Giving an aging player a deal averaging $16 million a year is ABSURD. Look at the Yankees with A-Rod. A-Rod is making $30 million a year for the next eight seasons, yet is already being hampered with injuries. Throwing this amount of money at guys over 30 years old with 10+ years of experience is a huge risk, especially for a team like Texas.

As a team, Texas had a salary of around $55 million last year, which ranked 26th in the majors. That means that they're going to give Beltre a contract that composes nearly 29 percent of their salary from last season.

How was this the price set for Beltre this offseason? Carlos Gonzalez—a much younger OF coming off a major season, who has more upside than Beltre, just agreed to a seven-year, $80 million deal with Colorado. Are we to believe that Beltre is worth $16 million more (and a year less) than CarGo?

Where is Michael Young going? Remember, your CURRENTLY highest-paid player who JUST HAPPENS to play third base. He has three more years left on his deal, worth $48 million. Are the Rangers ready to eat $16 million a year for Young to have Beltre play the same position? Young is 34 years old and has a big contract for the next three seasons. What team is going to be willing to eat that amount of money while taking Young on the downside of his career? On top of that, Young has a no-trade clause in his contract with 22 teams on it, further limiting the options the Rangers have with him.

It's that time again where everyone starts making those promises to themselves. Next year, I'll lose 25 pounds. Or quit smoking. Or manage my money better. Or get back in church. Or... whatever. With the new year comes new resolutions. This time, stick to it longer than a week why don't you? This year, arm yourself with a few Android apps to keep you on track. We've put together a list of titles we think you should consider installing on your phone to keep you adhering to your 2011 resolution. Some may not be available in your country or through your respective carrier however there are probably great alternatives. Most of these are free, but a few are available in paid versions as well. We're big on supporting developers for paid apps we value, therefore we feel comfortable recommending these to Android users.

Of course, as awesome as this list is, we know we're missing more than a few. That's where you come in. Hit the comments and share your favorite apps to help ring in the new year. The more you share, the better for the rest of us!

I resolve to read more...

Nook for Android by B&N - A must have for NOOK owners with plenty of customization options to suit to taste. Access to more than 2 million titles doesn't hurt either. FREE

Kindle for Android - Gets better every single update. Read from 100+ newspapers and magazines and more than 750,000 electronic books. Amazon's Whispersync automatically syncs last page read, bookmarks, notes, and more across multiple devices. FREE

Aldiko Book Reader - One of the first Android ebook reader apps worth a look, landed ahead of Kindle, Nook, and others. Like a good book, easy to pick up and hard to put down. Available in free (ad subsidized) and paid ($2.99) versions.

Google Books - Build a library of cloud-based books with Google's foray into the space. Select from nearly 3 million free ebooks and sync up between phone and PC. FREE

Kobo - User defined options include adjustable text, automatic bookmarking, and various reading modes. Access to 1.9 million free books and counting! FREE

I resolve to lose weight...

Calorie Counter - Get the calorie and nutrition information for store brands, restaurants, and more. Food diary, calendar, and weight tracker keep an eye on your daily progress, showing where you've been. FREE

South Beach Diet - Access to tons of recipes and diet tips. Get healthy cooking advice from the pros as well as other dieters. Fitness routines and lifestyle advice make sure you're doing more than just eating the right foods. FREE

Fitness Club & Gym Finder - Find real-time locations to many popular gyms and clubs including 24 Hour Fitness, Gold's Gym, Bally's, Pilates,Yoga,YMCA, and YWCA. Still missing a few but definitely worth having when traveling out of town. FREE

Cardio Trainer - Works indoor and outdoor and tracks calories, GPS, pedometer and more. Recent update includes feature to set New Year's Resolutions and hold yourself accountable. FREE

Diet & Food Tracker - Track your food calories across more than 1 million foods. Fitness tracker keeps an eye on calories burned and while the weigh in tools keep your progress in easy to digest reports. Recent changes allow for tracking strength exercises, copying meals from day to day, and animated demos for exercises. FREE

I resolve to eat healthier...

Epicurious - Complements official website with gorgeous app full of recipes and reviews from magazines and top sources. Access more than 28,000 professionally tested and created recipes and search with your voice! Desktop widget puts daily recipe front and center. FREE

Healthy Recipes - SparkRecipes -Browse the expansive library of recipes by categories such as occasion, course, dietary needs, and calories. Community-based recipes with easy to follow directions, nutritional content, and more. FREE

Diet Points Calculator - Since there is no official way to get a Weight Watchers calculator without signing up for the service, this "diet points" app works just a well. No frills or fancy graphics, but that does not matter when you want to find out whether you have enough points left to eat that Fast Break candy bar. FREE

BigOven - Search more than 170,000 recipes and really nail down the right concoction for that homemade stuffing. The Leftover Wizard lets users enter three ingredients into the app to result in recipes that incorporate each. FREE

I resolve to get back into church...

SermonAudio Android Edition - Browse the massive library of MP3 sermons from thousands of different speakers for free. Find churches in nearby areas using the "Local Church Finder" FREE

Bible Promises - 500 popular passages to read across various topics, including anger, courage, addiction, belief, and more. 99¢

Bible - Share passages and verses from multiple versions of The Bible (NIV, ESV, MSG, NKJV, NLT, KJV) over twitter and Facebook. Features 44 Bibles in 22 different languages. FREE

I resolve to manage my finances better...

Mint.com - The official client for Mint, it provides access to all of your accounts in one clean app. Lets users set budgets, see where money is being spent, and personalized savings. FREE

PageOnce -Organizes and tracks your money and bills. View banks, credit cards, bills and and more in one simple place. Real-time alerts and reminders keep you in the loop as things happen. Also able to track frequent flyer miles and rewards as well as mobile minutes, text and data usage. FREE and paid versions

Toshl - Dirt simple way of tracking expenses and habits. Tag and sort by date, export to CSV, Excel, and PDF. Allows for multiple types of currencies from around the world. FREE

Ask Dave Ramsey - Advice from one of the biggest names in debt relief, financial freedom, and money management. Listen to hundreds of archived calls, read transcripts, and share stories with friends. FREE

I resolve to stop smoking...

StopSmoking- Helps those who want to go cold turkey or with a gradual decline. Displays time between cigarettes, money saved, and average times per day.

QuitNow! - Track the money you've saved by not smoking, count the days since the last cigarette, and more. Helpful widget keeps the app front and center and on your mind all the time. Scare yourself straight with the facts about snuff. FREE

Other self-improvement and general lifestyle apps to help with resolutions...

Catch Notes - Notepad application that lets users capture text, voice, images, and locations, with the option to sync and backup online at Catch.com. Passcode protection, reminders, sharing, and tagging help organize your notes. FREE

Evernote - Handy desktop widget makes it a breeze to add notes, images, and recordings to database of things worth keeping. Easy to sync up with Evernote's website and browser plugins. Save websites and images from Chrome or Firefox and see them on your phone right away. FREE

AK Notepad - Also tied with Catch.com, allows for reminders, tags, import/export, back-up, and themes. Pin notes to home screen to keep your important stuff front and center.FREE

Remember the Milk - Add notes, sort by time, location, date, and more. Latest update allows for push sync from website to handset. While the app is free, it does require a Pro RTM account at $25 per year.

OpenLoopz - Location-aware task manager and to-do list inspired by Getting Things Done (GTD) by David Allen. App is smart enough to recognize where you are and recommend things to do automatically. FREE and paid ($4.72 US)

Pocket Informant 3.1 Beta - Exhaustive list of features, looks and acts like the PIM we have been asking for since the days of Palm Pilots. Based on GTD principles, the developers could easily charge a couple of bucks for the customization and personalization.

Got To Do - Sync with online task website ToodleDo, organize by folders, tags, and more. Desktop widget with configuration options puts tasks where you need them, in your face. Also allows for filtering, searching, alarms, and sub-tasks (Pro version). FREE and ($3.16 US) paid versions.

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Thursday, January 6, 2011

Making Money With Options

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