Balta1701

In a 1994 concurrence to a Death Penalty case the Supreme Court declined to hear, Justice Scalia argued in favor of the death penalty by citing a case of a 1983 rape and murder of a young girl. The man on death row for that crime (mentally iil I should add) was exonerated by DNA evidence and just released after 30 years in prison.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Sep 3, 2014 -> 10:55 AM) Depends on what they're willing to spend in the offseason, and also whether they're willing to 1) trade Alexei Ramirez, or 2) trade Anderson/Hawkins/Montas/Danish. I still think that Viciedo's going to come into the season as the 4th outfielder/back-up plan/occasional DH and depending on what happens with players like a Garcia or Wilkins or whatever bat they get for DH, he could still end up with 400+ at-bats in one last ditch attempt to see if he can put it all together for the Sox. If the goal for Viciedo is to try to harness some of that talent, then having him get 300 at bats seems silly to me because that's not the setup where I think it would happen. If the goal for Viciedo is to win as many games as possible, you could probably get some benefit from getting him 300 PA's, but are you willing to pay him $5-6 million next year for the opportunity? a couple million this year isn't bad, but the raise next year makes that seem pricey. Also worth noting, he doesn't have strong platoon splits, he's been an equally weak hitter against both sides, so it makes little sense to use him in a platoon based on those numbers, and he's bad and getting worse on defense so it makes no sense to use him as a 4th OF since he's not going to ever play CF or replace anyone for defensive purposes.

QUOTE (bmags @ Sep 3, 2014 -> 10:46 AM) So what's our payroll next year, 40 million? I don't want to spend just to spend, but, I really don't want to waste years with Abreu/Sale playing meaningless baseball. As of right now we're at about $60 million assuming a couple guys are offered arbitration, $65 million if Viciedo is included. At the very least, a few bullpen signings and a couple of low-level scrap heap buys like we saw this year will almost certainly push that up towards $75 million.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 3, 2014 -> 10:09 AM) Well Peavy's injury was atypical, but the general rule on pitchers who have surgery and miss a year (or most of one anyway) is that the first full year back they just aren't themselves. All they are really doing is building up strength and getting back to form. It's a common pattern. But as I also said, I was incorrect about Danks' timing, he did actually pitch most of 2013. I feel like the general rule with pitchers who struggle with shoulder injuries is that they aren't themselves for many years, if ever.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Sep 3, 2014 -> 09:00 AM) As much as we all hate to see Flowers occupy a spot in the lineup, don't forget that the MLB average OPS for catchers is .694, and Flowers' OPS is .678, so he's not far away from average. Yes, I would love to see a better-hitting catcher, but they are hard to find and the teams that have them know that and won't give them up cheaply. If the Sox can find a couple good bats for LF and DH, and Garcia becomes what we think he can become in RF, Flowers at C isn't going to make or break the team. It's also worth noting that he's been a positive defensive catcher this year at least in the fangraphs world (admittedly with catcher still being a position where everything they do is hard to quantify). He improved with both the bat and with the glove this year, good things to see.

QUOTE (JPN366 @ Sep 3, 2014 -> 07:46 AM) And why in the hell is everyone still on the 49ers junk? Are they deaf, dumb and blind? That jackass who writes Shutdown Corner for Yahoo had them ranked number 1 in his power rankings. Even 49ers fans were giving him sh**. A bunch of people on ESPN for their NFL picks selected them as their Super Bowl winner. WTF? Even with the losses on their defense, if Kaep can take a step forward now that he has a full season under his belt that's a team that has a lot of weapons on both sides of the ball. But yeah, there's always a team that takes big steps backwards and they fit the bill for that as well. Typical for the NFL of course, you really don't know where teams are until they play.

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Sep 3, 2014 -> 05:27 AM) You got me there. However, I've always been a fan of VMart. I wouldn't hate the idea of bringing him here. The dude can rake. Some guys seem to get better with age. Remember how at age 35, AJ Pierzynski jumped from 8 home runs the previous season to 28 home runs, and the Sox let him go the next year? He was a solid regular the next year, still hit a good number of home runs, but his OPS dropped by 100 points and he hit the DL for the first time in like a decade. That's kind of what I'd guess for Victor unless there's another major injury. He's having an incredible power season, but he's doing so at age 36 and it stands out compared to his entire career. He's hit more HR already this year than he has any other year of his career. He's slugging higher this year than any year of his career. He's doing that at age 36. That's almost a perfect example of a guy you'd be surprised if he ever did that again. If you're signing him, you don't even look at this season. Look at the .285-300 average, 8-15 home runs, and .825-.850 OPS he gave in years prior to this year and ask yourself what you'd pay for that. Is that worth your 2nd round pick plus a deal that pays similar to Adam Dunn but is a bit shorter? Is that going to put the team over the top next year? Is that really that much better than we could get out of platooning some of the young guys we have in what suddenly is a system deep with nearly-MLB ready infielders?

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Sep 3, 2014 -> 01:09 AM) Tonight's win cost us a game on.... Texas, Colorado, Arizona, Minnesota Sox still have the 9th pick, sit 10 GB of 1st pick, and 3.5 GB of the 5th pick. If you're going to do this...can you also tell how far they are ahead of the 12th pick/lose their draft pick if they sign a FA slot?

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Sep 2, 2014 -> 10:25 PM) For all the age discriminators out there, have you looked at Victor's numbers over the past 3 seasons in Detroit??? The dude can rake! I would LOVE to have him as our full time DH next year. You realize that he missed the entire 2012 season with injury so his numbers that season include 0 hits, 0 home runs, 0 runs scored, and 0 RBI? His numbers last year included a 112 OPS+. He only hit 14 home runs last year, 28 this year. His numbers this year are spectacular. His numbers last year contributed about as much offensively as Adam Dunn the last couple years. The year before that, injured.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Sep 2, 2014 -> 01:59 PM) I'd imagine a sharp rock for cutting would make it pretty difficult to behead someone. As long as we can deny ISIS the technology to locate Obsidian, we're set. How did they get all these US Made humvees and guns anyway?

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Sep 2, 2014 -> 01:53 PM) http://fortressamerica.gawker.com/the-isla...te-4-1629599572 2nd journalist gone. Bomb the whole region back to the stone age and then GTFO. Because no one was beheadded in the stone age.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Sep 2, 2014 -> 01:09 PM) I'll call bs on this. Giancarlo does every aspect of the game better than Garcia. And remarkably, you can't even use the age excuse here, because at Garcia's age, he was doing virtually every aspect of the game better as well.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 2, 2014 -> 11:30 AM) Yes, but 150 pitches thrown used to be not a big deal. Probably just about every starter up until the 5 and dive mentality hit, had done it several times. Who would have ever thought pitch counts on scoreboards would become a must have addition to a ballpark? Now it's called abuse. I don't think humans are made weaker, but collectively, you have more guys throwing 90+ these days, and certain pitches do put more strain on pitchers. Sliders weren't originally meant to do what pitchers want them to do today. The top power guys didn't throw sliders or cutters. TB won't even let their minor leaguers throw cutters IIRC. And speed guns everywhere I am sure makes some pitchers overthrow. I was also reading that many kids are becoming more sport specific these days, and some think that may help cause the rash of injuries. Back many years ago, kids played baseball during the summer, football during the fall and basketball or hockey during the winter, developing different muscles. There's a big reason you didn't add in that is quite easily quantified why people are going fewer innings now. The average fastball velocity has climbed by more than 1 mph in just the last 5 years, league wide. If people are throwing 150 pitches, most of them won't be able to sustain that kind of velocity even if they don't get hurt.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Sep 2, 2014 -> 10:56 AM) i am a bit surprised that Sam hasnt signed yet. He actually showed that he can play at this level in the preseason He's limited since he can't really play in a 3-4 and a lot of teams have depth at DE in the early part of the season since those positions rotate in and out and guys get hurt a lot at those spots. His phone will ring at some point I'd guess. It also doesn't help that his drafting team has so many DE.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Sep 2, 2014 -> 11:01 AM) Firefox is a memory hog. If you look at the heap it's very clear. I never keep it on. They're pretty much all struggling with flash for me lately, Chrome is the worst of those. I'll have Firefox around for flash things that are dying in Chrome.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Sep 2, 2014 -> 10:02 AM) Here's the thing, I'm not sold on Micah being the 2b next year but the Sox seem to be. If they're dead set on doing that then I think one of the ways to go about upgrading lf or catcher or sp or whatever is by selling high on Conor because we have Semien who can fill in. He wont be as good right away as Gillaspie was this year but he's also not going to create a hole at 3b. Where is this idea that Micah will be the starting 2b in April of next year coming from? They just shut him down for health reasons rather than calling him up in September. I can't see him starting in the bigs next April barring several injuries to other people.

QUOTE (woods of ypres @ Sep 1, 2014 -> 10:32 PM) Erik Johnson gets another crack, right? He starts at AAA next year and has to earn his way into the big leagues again. If he can find his fastball again great. If not, he sits at AAA until he winds up trying the bullpen route in a year or two.

QUOTE (The Wiz @ Sep 2, 2014 -> 01:27 AM) A Viciedo for another struggling young player who's worn out his welcome with his ball club swap makes too much sense. Dustin Ackley actually seemed like the perfect candidate until he started to heat up this second half. The other issue for the White Sox is that they have a glut of upper-level infielders and we're not going to give someone else's struggling prospect time at AAA or the Bigs ahead of Semien, Gillaspie, Davidson, Johnson, Sanchez, etc.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 2, 2014 -> 12:20 AM) Ozzie handled Dunn's lousy year pretty well. If Dunn somehow has an amazing September and DeAza and Gordo get good, then we have to question either the coaching in Chicago or the water or something. They are all on WS contenders so it should be interesting to see if they continue to stink or get good suddenly. I can't figure out how the same person could write this and also write that if Dunn has a great month in Oakland Robin should receive some blame.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Sep 2, 2014 -> 09:18 AM) Another example besides Baez/Alcantara/Edwards would have been Gregory Polanco from the Pirates. I'd imagine quite a few would have been quite interested in a Polanco + ??? for Quintana move about half a year ago. And of course, even though Polonco has shown flashes, he also struggled enough to be sent back down to work on his swing. Which is why I would have not liked such a deal.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 2, 2014 -> 09:09 AM) The only way you move Jose Quintana is if you are getting a true superstar hitter, and are giving out a big contract to a RHSP. So if Jose and others bring you Mike Stanton, sure. You don't deal him for prospects. I literally paused for a bit and said "Who"?

QUOTE (BaconOnAStick @ Sep 1, 2014 -> 09:08 PM) If Semien isn't with the bug league club I'm gonna be pissed.

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Sep 1, 2014 -> 04:51 PM) Is anybody from the low ranks pushing his AAA spot next year? If not, then who cares if he plays another year at Charlotte? Not unless they want to try Semien over at 3b, and that doesn't make much sense with Gillaspie on the big league club.

QUOTE (aboz56 @ Sep 1, 2014 -> 02:24 PM) It's not personal, people just don't like him because he made a lot of money and was terrible. What's the issue? That people made it personal?

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Sep 1, 2014 -> 12:10 PM) This is one of those examples where the contract is important. Those of us that caution against these deals sometimes get lambasted for "being concerned over Jerry's wallet," but there's a good chance we're going to be able to see the worst case play out right in front of us. Great player, bad contract, and the Yankees may get nailed gambling on him opting out. Or maybe he misses a year and comes back and is the best pitcher they've had since CC. Who knows. If you focus on the big picture, the Yankees brought Tanaka in along with a couple other big additions from veteran players last offseason in order to win this year. He had a good run, but they aren't winning this season and they're missing the playoffs to boot. Tanaka would have to do a whole lot to make up for this season, because they aren't just going to take a hit from him, they're also taking hits from Ellsbury and Beltran who are going to keep getting older and less reliable from this point.