Monday Morning Open Thread: Four Questions

I wonder what BODY LANGUAGE is worth in contract negotiations.1. How is the Koji Uehara/Mike Gonzalez/Roy Oswalt triangle going to end up playing out? Will Texas actually follow through on a much-rumored Uehara deal, and then apply the cost savings to a Gonzalez/Oswalt signing? Or is this seemingly inevitable Uehara deal going to surprise us all in its failure to actually materialize?

2. Earlier this month, Ian Kinsler's agent, Jay Franklin, reportedly told a Tulsa World reporter that he had turned down a $76.5 million offer from the Rangers the week before, and was seeking a $90 million extension on his client's behalf. Kinsler, for his part, is calling that report inaccurate, which leads one to ponder whether Kinsler is being on the up-and-up in saying that, or if Franklin's remarks actually were heard correctly ... in any event, though, we now have this floating around out there, so I'll go ahead and again ask you all to tell me the maximum dollars/years you'd be willing to sign Kinsler for right now.

3. The hot stove season is effectively over, and for all of their troubles, the Rangers have Yu Darvish (six years, $111.7 million) and Joe Nathan (two years, $14 million) to replace C.J. Wilson and Darren Oliver, a fresh infusion of minor league depth and NRIs, and a couple of multi-year contract extensions that closed out the Rangers' slate of arbitration cases, but did not buy out any free agency years.

So, with all that in mind, give me your extremely arbitrary grade for the Rangers' off-season.

4. Peer into your crystal ball and take a stab at this open-ended question: "By March 15th, the storyline/spring training battle that we'll all be talking about the most will be _____."