Monday Morning Open Thread: Four Questions

I'm sure nobody will notice I've used this same picture of Prince multiple times. Oh wai-1. We're 16 days and a few hours away from the Yu Darvish signing deadline (which passes at 4:00 p.m. CST on January 18th), so let's go ahead and throw this prediction contest out there: Guess the total dollar value and the number of years on Darvish's eventual contract with the Rangers, and the exact time when the first report of Darvish officially signing hits Twitter. I'll go by total dollar value first, then use the number of years as the first tiebreaker and the date/time as the second tiebreaker if necessary.

The winner gets something exciting from my grab bag of electronics- and baseball-related crap -- which is quite substantial, and could probably stand a reduction given that I'm moving in two days -- and name recognition in the form of a Clubhouse post. The runner-up gets something else less exciting. Everyone else gets fired Glengarry Glen Ross-style. Good luck.

2. Buster Olney's recent series of organizational power rankings has pegged the Rangers' starting rotation as the sixth-best in baseball, the bullpen as the tenth-best in baseball, the infield as the best in baseball, the outfield as the third-best in baseball, the lineup as the second-best in baseball, and the team overall as the third-best in baseball, wedged between the Rays (1st), Phillies (2nd), Yankees (4th), and Diamondbacks (5th). Does that all sound just about right to you, or do you take particular issue with any of these rankings putting the Rangers too low or too high?

3. Alright, let's also go ahead and throw this out here as well in anticipation of today's lunchtime post -- just how far in terms of years and total dollars would you be willing to go in order to bring Prince Fielder to Arlington?

4. Which one player across the entire Rangers organization -- including the majors and minors -- do you believe will be the biggest and most buzz-generating success in 2012? Conversely, which one player do you believe will be the biggest disappointment?