Balta1701

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Jul 17, 2014 -> 03:40 PM) I kind of agree with this at this point. I don't think Sale has peaked yet where Kershaw probably has. I'd say it more as "Kershaw is peaking right now and might keep this up for a few years", but yea, Kershaw has been in the league a lot longer than Sale and is a year older, so not totally surprising. We've just this year seen Sale getting better with that change up to righties.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 17, 2014 -> 03:19 PM) There's no logic here. You obviously don't want to "rush" Semien so you keep him in the minors while giving Micah two months of experience. Then next year Micah is in the minors and Semien is our starter cause you don't want to rush Micah. I'm sick of the cliche about not rushing players. Semien clearly is ready to sink or swim. Playing Micah two months while telling the world he will not be on the big league team next year just so you aren't accused of "rushing him" is dumb to me. Trade Beckham and let Semien do well or fail on the big league level. No. He clearly was not. No one who watched him in April and May would write that.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jul 17, 2014 -> 02:44 PM) For shooting down a f***ing passenger jet? If it was shot down by official russian military they'll pay through the teeth and there will probably be some sanctions. If it was shot down by rebels within Ukraine, there isn't exactly an organized government to make restitution to. It could certainly weaken their support, but to what extent?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 17, 2014 -> 02:12 PM) Isn't the Dodgers contract with Time Warner Cable, and thus a Time Warner Cable problem, at least financially, and not the Dodgers? Granted, since only 1/3 of their fans have access to the games, that isn't a good thing, but as far as I can tell, TWC is still paying them the billions. At some point it sure seems like someone is going to take enormous losses on that deal. It might be TWC only but if they got any guarantees from the Dodgers to cover their tails in the deal, it could bite the Dodgers seriously as well.

QUOTE (Andy the Clown @ Jul 17, 2014 -> 02:11 PM) I guess it depends on how you define "pure hitter". To me, a pure hitter is someone with elite pitch recognition skills, and Semien is the only one in our system with that talent. He hasn't sold me on this quite yet, was that just a result of him being rushed?

There was apparently a report earlier this week that rebels near Donetsk had captured a Ukranian air defense station armed with SAMs capable of hitting a high altitude plane. The rebel groups denied that they have such a capability, but worth noting.

The St Louis Fed has an incredible website for economic data as well. http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 17, 2014 -> 10:57 AM) I don't even know, what are the Dodgers looking for? The Dodgers were trying to get every cable subscriber in L.A. to be forced to buy the channel they were starting up. Thus far that hasn't happened and they've been losing court battles as far as I can tell. If that doesn't happen then the Dodgers channel becomes a niche and their revenues will be far, far below those that were projected when they bought the team.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 17, 2014 -> 10:45 AM) The only way the Sox get a return like that is by picking up a ton of Kemp's money. Worth noting is that the dodgers are actually potentially in a place where they're out of salary flexibility, they're facing what is now appearing to be a losing legal case that would cost them a whole lot of money in terms of the cable contract they were looking for.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jul 17, 2014 -> 10:29 AM) Maybe in Chicago, but the story was in Spring Training in Arizona, they actually care about that stuff down there. Barkley, La Russa, Grace, etc. LaRussa actually fell asleep at the wheel. Some things harder to ignore than others.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jul 17, 2014 -> 10:06 AM) Well, and that he's two years removed from an MVP-level campaign. Dayan's "platform" season, on the other hand, was the one where he hit 25 homers and still somehow managed not to touch 100 wRC+. I'm not saying we should get him, but if a couple plausible conditions were met, it might be worth considering because it is indeed an upside play: (1) we believe that he is fully healthy (or soon to be) for the first time since his success, and (2) the Dodgers are willing to make him into a $50m investment (instead of $107m) and only ask for a few "interesting flyer" types of prospects. Something like Snodgress, Wendelken, and a random. Ideally, this would correspond with a "change of scenery" trade that got rid of Viciedo and/or De Aza. You'd stick him in LF from day one and enjoy a rather nice defensive upgrade from those two guys (he's miscast in CF, but we have Eaton), and if he has trouble staying healthy, it's the perfect opportunity to shift into the A's-style rotating DH model (with the departures of both Dunn and Konerko) where we essentially carry 4 starting OFers and give them all plenty of rest. Now, it would be a tremendous risk that I'm not even sure I'd take, but it does make some sense to consider given that we have few high payroll commitments and don't seem to be great fits with any big free agents coming soon. You've made a very poor case here. If given the choice between Kemp and giving up Viciedo or having $50 million to spend on generic FA to fill positional needs I'm clearly leaning the latter.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jul 17, 2014 -> 09:45 AM) I joked about the guy, but of course I see no issue with claiming anybody with a whiff of talent. I just wonder that if a team as devoid of pitching like the Rockies dumped him, the chances of him amounting to something are even slimmer. Just note the other thread created today. The Yankees have needed pitching for years, especially starting pitching, and we're remembering how good of a steal Quintana has been. A single success out of one guy can be huge.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 17, 2014 -> 09:37 AM) Matt Kemp has put up a .269/.329/.414/.743 line over the past 2 years, has played poor defense, has become an injury prone player, and he's due $107 million from 2015 through 2019. There's virtually no difference between Matt Kemp and Dayan Viciedo except that Viciedo has youth on his side. And that extra $100 million you noted?

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 16, 2014 -> 11:54 PM) You guys could have called the cops on Ozzie and got him in a heap big pit of trouble. Can't have open containers. Stupid and they'll keep you in the jail 24 hours I bet. I'm sure he'll get in exactly as much trouble as Lance Briggs did for totaling a car and then leaving the scene so that he didn't get caught.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 16, 2014 -> 03:49 PM) CLAIM ALL THE PITCHERS He's not a lefty. Meh.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Jul 16, 2014 -> 03:43 PM) Toronto. QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 16, 2014 -> 03:48 PM) Atlanta too. So basically the East has 8 teams that could potentially get to the 2nd round and 0 teams deserving of the conference finals as of now in my eyes. I think that sums it up pretty well.

QUOTE (TheTruth05 @ Jul 16, 2014 -> 03:19 PM) Idk if they will be able to get out the first round this year without Stephenson though If Hibbert and George play like all stars then that's a 2nd round capable team. Of course, I'm counting like 5-6 2nd round capable teams in the East and can't figure out who will get beyond that at this point. (Cavs, Bulls, Pacers, Wizards, maybe Bobcats, Heat, maybe a surprise or two somewhere).

QUOTE (scs787 @ Jul 16, 2014 -> 03:02 PM) I'm aware. Just saying it could be a whole lot worse...Well really just poking fun at the Pacers. A weak pacers backcourt is pretty darn useful for the Bulls.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 16, 2014 -> 02:44 PM) Regarding Davidson ... I thought he was a horrible defensive player, too. He's not supposed to be good but with a guy that young there's always going to be some potential for improvement.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jul 16, 2014 -> 01:34 PM) What about batting averages? And to think in this day and age when the walk is valued more so than it has ever been... Walks are down about 10% from a decade ago as well.

QUOTE (farmteam @ Jul 16, 2014 -> 09:58 AM) I'm not sure if the Vikings ever promised to release the report to the public, but I do think they promised to release the report to Kluwe. Now they're not doing either. According to a "source" the Vikings backtracked because the report came up with some pretty damning stuff. I honestly never thought his release was solely, or even substantially, about Kluwe's politics. It was about what it always is -- money. He wasn't good enough to justify making what he was due. Even if their rookie punter was worse, he'd be a hell of a lot cheaper. Now, once the Vikings decided to release him from a money/performance perspective, I wouldn't be surprised if also getting rid of what they may have viewed as a distraction was an added bonus. Frankly, the Twin Cities culture is incredibly LGBT friendly (at least as much as one can be, sadly), so Kluwe's views weren't as much of a "distraction" as they might have been somewhere else. Like I said, I thought that too until this week. The Vikings investigation should have been a straightforward football discussion that they'd have no problem releasing to anyone. The fact that they have a problem releasing the report means that Kluwe's release wasn't a straightforward football discussion.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jul 16, 2014 -> 09:10 AM) Win shares? Ok, and Pau had a PER of 19.3 vs Lance's 14.7. yes, but when you take into account the number of games played, the age of the player, and the trend lines. Which would you like more, a guy who plays 25 minutes for 50 games and is very effective or a guy who is a solid player who gives you 35/80?

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jul 16, 2014 -> 08:47 AM) Really? Pau Gasol at 7.3 seems like the better get to me. Really? A guy who has played 65 games or fewer 3 of the last 4 seasons and was worth fewer "win shares" than the 23 year old in each of the last 2 seasons? Man, I see how Gasol fits with the Bulls but that strikes me as an equal stretch.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jul 16, 2014 -> 08:44 AM) To expand - Rose has a max contract and has hardly played in three years. Westbrook, while awesome in the bounceback season, has his own worries regarding his legs. Bosh, I mean that one's not even worth discussing. Dwight is a shell of his former self (still very good, but his efficiency is light years behind Love). Harden has been overrated since he dropped 50 like his first week in Houston (good player, no doubt, but not near that level). Kevin Love was 3rd in PER behind LeBron and Durant last season. Sorry, not trying to pick on you, but your post was ignorant and laughable. If everything went right with one of those guys then I'd prefer them to Love. But...the reason why Love stands out is that as of recent years, things have gone wrong with those guys that haven't gone wrong for Love. Fair statement?

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jul 16, 2014 -> 08:31 AM) 9 million per. Has to be best value of the offseason for a guy switching teams (not named lebron) Yeah, on paper that seems like a really good FA buy.