8: 19 2007: 4Theres been talk of Carlos Gonzalez playing first base, but that just opens up a gaping hole in the outfield (let alone if they shop Charlie

On July 18, 2016, the Supreme Court passed its final order on the case involving the BCCI and its implementation of the Lodha Committees recommendations.The Court had appointed the committee in January 2015 to look into the functioning of the Indian board and suggest changes to its constitution.On January 4, 2016, RM Lodha, the former Chief Justice of India, unveiled the three-man committees recommendations, which shook the hierarchy of BCCI and its member associations. Consequently, the BCCI and various state associations approached the Supreme Court raising objections to the recommendations.The final order of the two-judge bench comprising TS Thakur, the Chief Justice of India, and Justice Ibrahim Kalifulla, signed off on most of the Lodha proposals, setting in motion a major revamp of the way cricket is run in India.The following is a summary of the case from the time the committee was appointed.Apr 14, 2015 - 82 questions for BCCIThe Lodha panel sends an 82-point questionnaire to the BCCI to understand how it functions and how it runs cricket in India.The questions were split into eight sections and covered an exhaustive set of topics from the role of the BCCIs stakeholders to the boards election processes, the basis and formation of its various committees, player welfare, conflict of interest and transparency in the IPLs functioning.Jan 4, 2016 - Sweeping reforms unveiledThe Lodha committee recommends a complete overhaul of Indian cricket - from the very top down to the grassroots - affecting all its stakeholders.With special focus on BCCIs governance and administrative structures, rather than its cricketing operations, the most important set of recommendations aims at transforming the boards power structure. The committee recommends one-state-one-vote, suggests clear and stringent eligibility criteria for the boards office bearers and sets limits on their tenure in office. Serving ministers and bureaucrats or those above 70 years of age are not allowed to hold positions on the board nor in their state associations.Setting up of a players associationTaking cognizance of the fact India are the only country to not have a players body, the Lodha committee recommends the formation of a players association.A four-member standing committee chaired by former union home secretary GK Pillai and comprising former India cricketers Mohinder Amarnath, Anil Kumble and Diana Edulji, is appointed to identify and invite all eligible ex-cricketers to be members, to open bank accounts, receive funds from the BCCI, conduct the first elections for office bearers, communicate the names of BCCI player nominees to the board.Jan 7, 2016 - BCCI takes the first steps to acknowledge Lodha reportThree days after the Lodha committee report became public, Anurag Thakur, BCCI secretary at the time, sends an e-mail to all state associations asking them to study the report, determine how it affects each of them individually and submit their findings to the board by January 31.Feb 4, 2016 - Supreme Court sets deadline for BCCIHaving noticed the BCCI and the state associations delaying their formal response to the Lodha committee recommendations, the Supreme Court sets March 3rd as the deadline for the board to make their stance clear one way or another. If you have any difficulty in implementing it [the reforms] we will have the Lodha Committee implement it for you, Justice Thakur tells the BCCI counsel, a view he repeated several times.Feb 5, 2016 - BCCI continues to drag its feetWithout spelling his exact reservations, Thakur says the board is justified in taking time to study the Lodha committees report.We need to understand it is not a one-page report. It is a detailed report, which will have a lot of consequences on the working and the functioning of the BCCI. A committee has taken close to 12 months to come up with it. We are taking close to two months to discuss, debate, and after deliberations come to a consensus to implement that report.When the report came, I wrote a letter to all the state associations to call their meetings. Many state associations have already held their managing committee or working committee meetings. They are going to have their special general meetings before the BCCIs special general meeting in the third week of February. So I think it is a due process. We are not slow at all. We are not shying away. We are not looking at any escape route.Two days later, the BCCI finally calls for an SGM to discuss the Lodha reportFeb 19, 2016 - BCCI points out anomalies in Lodha reportMore questions than answers arise when BCCI responds to the Lodha report. Its members cite anomalies and difficulties in implementing the recommendations. Thakur is asked to file an affidavit to counter the Lodha report in the Supreme Court.Feb 22, 2016 - Mumbai Cricket Association approaches SCThe state associations prepare to fire salvos against the Lodha commmittee. Mumbai Cricket Association, one of the oldest members of the BCCI, files an intervention stating the one-state-one-vote recommendation hurts the MCA. Mar 2, 2016 - BCCI details reservations against Lodha reportTwo days before the Supreme Court deadline, the BCCI files its affidavit, stating it has implemented some of the recommendations - appointing an ombudsman, addressing the issue of conflict of interest and advertising for a chief executive officer, a chief financial officer and other top management positions - but also lists several it does not agree with - the one-state-one-vote rule, age cap of 70 years for an office-bearer or a board official, limits on an office bearers and restriction on advertisements during Tests and ODIs.Mar 3, 2016 - Court takes exception to BCCI viewsAlthough the Court says it will ask the Lodha committee to reconsider some of the suggestions, it does not take pleasantly to the BCCIs continued reluctance to change.On Thakur saying he was not consulted before the recommendations were finalised, the bench asks: It was international news that we had formed the Justice Lodha committee to suggest reforms in cricket. The whole world knew it. Now you come to us and say the recommendations were a bolt from the blue for you and you were not consulted... What were you doing? Waiting at the fence for a written invitation?Responding to the BCCI counsels argument that a cap on advertisements during a match would cripple the boards income, Justice Thakur asks: Do you mean that your commerce should overtake the enjoyment of the game?Apr 5, 2016 - Court slams BCCIs method of disbursing fundsHaving asked the BCCI and its state associations for an audited account of their books over the last five years and finding disparities in the distribution of funds between members, the Court slams the Indian board. You function like show me the face; I will make the payment... [The] impression that one gets is that you are practically corrupting the persons by not demanding how the money is spent... [Its] like the moment you want a vote and their hands will go up, Justice Thakur says.Apr 8, 2016 - Are you refusing to be reformed?When BCCI counsel KK Venugopal says the board is beyond the purview of the Supreme Court since it is a trust, Justice Thakur counters, What we understand is that you are suggesting that I am answerable to Registrar of Societies. I will be accountable only to Registrar of the Society. I will be amenable to criminal law but I will not reform. Dont ask me to reform.Is it possible? What have you done? We have seen the allegations of match-fixing and betting. You have no control over these. But you give money in crores. The Lodha committee has said something. It has been said to make the functioning more transparent and visible and the effort is to reform the BCCI.Apr 19, 2016 - Court rebuffs BCCI take on one-state-one-voteWhen counsel for Baroda Cricket Association says implementing the one-state-one-vote recommendation would lead to enormous politics within the board, the bench disagrees. You are right. Seven votes will come to northeast where there is no cricket that we know [of]. But we dont know the game of seven votes. Can you elaborate what the politics will be?Apr 26, 2016 - BCCI running a prohibitory regimeThe Court continues to use stern language with regard to BCCI and its state associations. You are running a prohibitory regime, which is spread across the country, it says. You have complete monopoly. If any cricket club or association wants to do anything, we are least bothered. We are not here to reform every cricketing club. But if any institution which is discharging public duty like BCCI, then any organisation or association associated with it will have to reform itself.Apr 29, 2016 - Court firm on the age cap of 70 for administratorsWhy do you want to hold on to the reign for such a long time? Even the Supreme Court judges retire at 65, Thakur tells Arvind Datar, senior counsel for the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA). You have been given five more years. You had a president [the late Jagmohan Dalmiya] who could not speak, could not communicate. Those who elected him [in 2015] did not see whom they were electing? These days, even in politics people are retiring.Saying the Lodha committee is competent and can perform the surgery to repair Indian cricket administration, the court tells the counsel for Odisha Cricket Association: After a certain age they [people over 70] must retire and do something else. They cannot head a society managing sports.May 2, 2016 - State associations will have to fall in line with Lodha reformsThe Court makes it categorically clear that the BCCI and all of its state associations will have to implement the Lodha reforms.Once the BCCI is reformed it will go down the line and all cricket associations will have to reform themselves if they want to associate with it. The committee constituted in the wake of match-fixing and spot-fixing allegations was a serious exercise and not a futile exercise, the two-judge bench says in response to an intervention plea filed by the Haryana Cricket Association stating the Lodha Committees remit was to only recommend changes.May 3, 2016 - BCCI constitution incapable of achieving transparencyThe Court says the BCCI constitution is highly incapable of achieving the values of transparency, objectivity and accountability [such] that without changing its structure it cant be done so.June 30, 2016 - SC decision on Lodha panel report likely in three weeksThe Supreme Court reserves its judgement in the case concerning implementation of the Lodha Committee recommendations by the BCCI. There is to be no further hearing in the case and the two-judge bench will submit the written judgement to the concerned parties before July 22.July 18, 2016 - SC accepts majority of the Lodha recommendationsThe Supreme Court rules in favour of implementing a majority of the Lodha Committee proposals, and gives the BCCI between four and six months to implement them. Lodha, the court says, will oversee the implementation process.July 20, 2016 - CAB, KSCA call off electionsThe Lodha Committee asks the BCCI to direct all state associations to put their annual elections on hold. Consequently, the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) and the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) postpone their elections. July 21, 2016 - Lodha Committee clarifies nine-year cap for state administratorsThe Lodha Committee makes it clear that office bearers, across the BCCI and state associations, who have completed nine years in the job cumulatively stand disqualified and cannot contest for another term.July 24, 2016 - Sharad Pawar announces he will step down as Mumbai Cricket Association presidentSharad Pawar becomes the first high-profile name to say he will step down as MCA president in accordance with the Lodha Committee recommendations.August 2, 2016 - BCCI appoints legal panel to liaise with Lodha CommitteeThe BCCIs working committee approves a new legal panel as a single point interface for the BCCI to interact with the Justice Lodha Committee during the implementation of the report. Former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju is appointed head the panel, which also includes BCCIs counsel Abhinav Mukerjee.August 7, 2016 - Katju terms Supreme Court order illegalFive days into his new role, Justice Katju calls the July 18 order of Supreme Court unconstitutional and illegal. There has been violation of principles of the [Indian] Constitution. Under our Constitution, we have legislature, executive and judiciary. There is broad separation of functions. Its the legislatures prerogative to make laws. If judiciary starts making laws, one is setting a dangerous precedent, he says. The following day, the BCCI files a review petition in the Supreme Court against the July 18 order.August 9, 2016 - Lodha Committee issues first set of timelinesBCCI secretary Ajay Shirke meets the Lodha Committee and says the board will follow the timelines set by the Committee. He also states that the board has already begun implementing reforms. The deadline for the first phase is September 30.August 22, 2016 - BCCI announce AGM on September 21 Shoes NZ Online Shoes NZ From China . The Nashville Predators were glad their captain was still on their side. Weber had a goal and two assists, and Roman Josi scored the shootout winner to lift the Predators to a 4-3 win over the Flyers on Thursday night. https://www.shoesnzonline.com/ .B. - Sebastien Auger made 44 saves as the Saint John Sea Dogs edged the visiting Acadie-Bathurst Titan 2-1 on Saturday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action. Shoes NZ Sale .Y. -- Sabres forward Drew Stafford has witnessed plenty of turmoil during his eight seasons in Buffalo. Shoes NZ 2020 .J. -- Marty Brodeur beat the Pittsburgh Penguins yet again. With free agency underway, the offseason is about to pick up steam. What are the big questions facing all 30 teams? Weve already covered the AL East, NL East,?AL Central,?NL Central?and AL West, and now were moving on to the National League West.Should they corral expenses or go for it financially?2016 record: 91-71Justin Turner, Kenley Jansen and Rich Hill are free agents, so why dont the big-money Dodgers just sign all of them at top dollar if they like them so much?Its the age-old question.If you really want to win, as some fans believe, you should just throw as much money as you can at the problem until it is solved. Yet if sustained success is the goal, development and nurturing young and talented prospects probably needs to come first. Once those young players show they are ready to deliver, then it would be time to spend money to fill any remaining holes.It is the way the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians are doing it. Both teams have established young cores and then attacked needs around that. The Houston Astros are another organization doing it the same way.All indications suggest the Dodgers are not going to continue to spend freely, and it is not because they dont want to win it all next year. They want to be in a position to win it multiple times for a long stretch.So the idea that Turner, Jansen and Hill all return seems to be a long shot. Its not impossible, but the money that it would take to bring them back does not fit with the strategy that seems to be developing.The challenge is that the Dodgers do not have an obvious replacement at third base, closer and No. 2 starter.Expect the Dodgers to have talented players in those three spots next season, with at least one of those players returning. Yet in developing the 2017 roster, the front office is likely to be more creative about it than just opening up the checkbook. -- Doug PadillaSo whos it going to be, Kenley Jansen or Aroldis Chapman?2016 record: 87-75We all know what happened: After owning the majors best record at the All-Star break -- yes, better than the Cubs -- they plummeted to 30-42 in the second half. The bullpen drew the brunt of the criticism, although the offense declined from 4.71 runs per game to 4.04. The Giants lost 12 games they were leading after seven innings and nine they led after eight, and we all know what happened in the ninth inning of Game 4 of the NL Division Series.The longtime trio of Santiago Casilla, Sergio Romo and Javier Lopez enters free agency, clearing up $20.5 million in payroll. Angel Pagan and Jake Peavy also come off the books, although other players are due increases. Still, the Giants should have $20-plus million to spend.Obviously, signing Jansen would have double value: Adding an elite closer while subtracting him from your division rival. But he and Chapman could end up getting close to $20 million per season, and the Giants may want to spend some of that money on an outfielder instead (Yoenis Cespedes would look nice in left field). Mark Melancon would be a cheaper option, although without the same dominance and more of a risk. -- David SchoenfieldAre they ready to make a push for contention?2016 record: 75-87The Rockies went 75-87, which for them qualifies as a good season. It was their best record since 2010, but also a sixth straight losing campaign. They actually got a game over .500 in early August before a late fade resulted in general manager Jeff Bridich firing Walt Weiss and hiring former Padres skipper Bud Black as the new manager.Black has a good reputation in baseball circles, but in nine seasons with the Padres he finished over .500 just twice and never made the playoffs, so its hard to even argue that he got the most out of the talent on hand. The one thing he was consistently pretty good at was building bullpens, and thats where the Rockies need a lot of help after finishing with an MLB-worst 5.13 bullpen ERA.Now, some of the advanced metrics say the pen wasnt as bad as the 5.13 ERA indicates -- it had a 4.35 FIP and ranked 21st in FanGraphs WAR. Still, its been a long time since the Rockies had a good pen, and because their starters rarely compile a lot of innings, they need a deep core of relievers.Id like to see the Rockies find a real first baseman. Theyve basically been faking the position for a decade now. Here is their annual ranking among the 30 teams in wins above average at first base.dddddddddddd Other than 2014, when Justin Morneau won a batting title, its been a sorry lot for the most part:2016: 24 2015: 26 2014: 8 2013: 28 2012: 23 2011: 11 2010: 25 2009: 14 2008: 19 2007: 4Theres been talk of Carlos Gonzalez playing first base, but that just opens up a gaping hole in the outfield (let alone if they shop Charlie Blackmon for pitching help). The Rockies always overrate their offense. How about adding Edwin Encarnacion?in Coors Field? -- David SchoenfieldHow much of a difference will the return of A.J. Pollock make?2016 record: 69-93Lets offer one kind word to the old regime of Tony La Russa and Dave Stewart -- if A.J. Pollock doesnt fracture his elbow in spring training, Mike Hazen might not be the general manager this winter. Losing Pollock hurt the Snakes offense last year, but it may well have killed the D-backs on defense. From 2015 to 2016, Arizona dropped from plus-60 defensive runs saved to minus-18 -- a nearly eight-win swing on defensive value alone.Maybe putting all of that on Pollocks absence is a stretch, but were talking about losing a premium glove (plus-14 DRS in 2015, which helped him earn a Gold Glove) on a team saddled with dubious defenders like Yasmany Tomas and Jake Lamb. The D-backs delivered a .665 defensive efficiency, which wasnt just the worst in the NL last year, but among the worst team marks in MLB in any year since 1969. Robbie Rays NL-worst .355 BABIP or Shelby Millers career-worst .343 BABIP werent functions of bad luck on balls in play -- theyre symptoms of a porous defense in an already tough park for pitchers.Now Hazen has to determine how much a fully functioning Pollock might change the outlook on everything else hes inherited. A stronger defense will help make Ray, Miller, Archie Bradley and Patrick Corbin look good lined up behind Zack Greinke in the rotation. That might leave Hazen to ponder simpler winter shopping needs, like picking up a closer, and deciding whether or not moving Jean Segura back to shortstop would free them to pursue moving infield parts like Justin Turner or Luis Valbuena, or even go after a bat-first second baseman like Neil Walker. If those sound like the moves a contender might make, dont be shocked -- getting Pollock back as one of the best players in the league could help Hazen look very good, very fast. -- Christina KahrlCan they conjure up a starting rotation?2016 record: 68-94Thats the nuts-and-bolts issue for the Padres to sort out over the winter. Sure, you could also say they need a better closer than Brandon Maurer or somebody who can play shortstop, but sure-thing solutions are rare, expensive and probably outside the Padres reach, even with their considerable payroll flexibility. They could use a starting outfielder, but they may end up picking from among their current crew of Hunter Renfroe, Manuel Margot, Oswaldo Arcia, Travis Jankowski and Alex Dickerson.The other problem is that to stock their staff after their slow-motion teardown, they dont have much left to trade with -- assuming theres any trust left in the industry after general manager A.J. Preller got caught dealing damaged goods to both the Red Sox and Marlins last season, earning a rare front-office suspension.The best starter they have left, Tyson Ross, will have to show hes recovered from an Oct. 13 surgery on his shoulder to alleviate thoracic outlet syndrome after effectively losing the 2016 season to the injury. Hes only Padres property for one more year before free agency, and should they shop him, you can expect any interested party to be wary. After that, you get into hoping Colin Rea and Jarred Cosart are healthy, and wondering if theyll send Luis Perdomo down after letting last winters Rule 5 find take a beating in the big leagues.The one thing the Padres should have after trading away almost everyone of note is some money, plus Petcos reputation as a great place to pitch. So you can expect a number of veterans ready to accept a short-term deal equally receptive to any offer the Padres might make. This winters market is overstocked on middling starters looking for a new lease on life. A guy like Scott Feldman?might fit that profile; you might even get Jake Peavy or Andrew Cashner back in San Diego. -- Christina Kahrl ' ' '