Balta1701

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QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 10:16 PM) That's where we will have to agree to disagree, and neither of us know the answer as it's all just speculation. If it's 2 years instead of 4-5, and he's projected to be a true impact player by Abreu, then I'd put all my eggs in that one basket. If you can instead put him on the Hawkins/Anderson track, and you're just adding pipeline depth/lottery tickets, then pass. How many 21 year olds are "impact players" in the big leagues? If he's the next Mike Trout I'd be willing to give up this year's signing pool for him, but the fact that we see 21 year olds who are major contributors once every couple years at best should make it clear how rare what you're saying he needs to do actually is. Are you certain he's the next Mike Trout?

QUOTE (TaylorStSox @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 11:06 PM) I'll be patient with Viciedo for a long time because his good tools are extreme. Even if he doesn't ever figure it out, he's still somewhat productive. He's definitely worth the wait, especially considering he's not being pushed. I've given up on Beckham because his tools aren't in the same vicinity. His hit tool is negated by his ugly swing. His glove is negated by his range. Beckham no longer has a peak worth waiting on. I think we've been patient with Viciedo for about as long as we can be. I start getting really tempted to draw a hard line at the 2nd year arbitration level and that's where he'll be this offseason. The first year arb salary for a talented, struggling player is ~$2 million and I'll risk that on a guy with talent. The 2nd year arb salary starts getting close to $5 million and that's when "being patient" becomes pretty expensive.

How on Earth could the Bulls make those salaries work? If Melo is ~$20m, that's $27 million in salaries the Bulls would have to take on/match.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 2, 2014 -> 01:37 AM) What are you talking about? The people can still get their abortions. Unfortunately for them this particular employer doesn't want to pay for the four contraceptives. Now you're just lying. It's been pointed out to you that Hobby Lobby is not paying for abortions yet you refuse to listen. You said earlier you were getting offended, you deserve to be.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 10:10 PM) The Cubs paid Concepcion better than the first pick in the draft, or the Phillies with Miguel Angel Gonzalez. Or look at the money the Dodgers gave two middle infielders that are parked in the minors. It's hard to compare the under 23 international spending area with the June draft, anyway...and then again with the amount they would be willing to spend on an Abreu or Tanaka. That said, Abreu's very familiar with this kid, so surely Hahn has already had that conversation about his ability, work ethic, how he would fit in chemistry-wise, etc. You can also look at it like this...would you rather give Ben Zobrist, for example, $75 million or this kid $3-5 million? The thing is....we know the Cuban players intimately now through our relationships with Torres, with El Duque and Contreras, through our 4 current Cuban players...I trust that network 10X more anything we have going in the Dominican right now, at least until we see some real results. No, I won't look at it that way because we're going to spend the $3-$5 million anyway. We're not going under budget on international signings according to anyone. The question is whether I'd prefer to lump it all in this guy or to go and sign as many 16 year olds with bats as I can find. That comparison doesn't work. If we signed this guy, it would make absolutely no difference regarding whether we need to make a major signing for whatever position in the next 3-4 years, because he's a 19 year old and he won't be a major contributor to the big league club for 3-4 years at the very least if everything goes beautifully.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 09:32 PM) From everything you read, there are some parallels with Alexei Ramirez. He's one of the fastest players in Cuba...and he's equally comfortable playing 3B, SS and 2B. That's the kind of versatility we need, a Ben Zobrist who can actually play all those positions capably and be a credible threat offensively. Remember, Alexei came to the White Sox as a CF/2B. But no one would ever have said that Alexei was a candidate to be one of the best players in the big leagues. You're not making a strong case here that he's a guy who would be a top 5 pick.

QUOTE (Cknolls @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 09:39 PM) And the employee is free to work somewhere else. The owners are free to found a church rather than running a business.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 09:23 PM) Lol. AT least you're able to give us a good, detailed discussion of women's health care issues.

Someone also needs to point this out since no one seems to care about this either. So please, tell me again why Hobby Lobby should be able to inflict additional pain upon their workforce.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 04:34 PM) You say "it's the law." Hobby Lobby just was backed by the highest court in the land. They are totally OBEYING the law here. You say it's a ridiculous stretch. That is offensive. The Hobby Lobby owners don't want to pay for this because of religious beliefs. Why can't we have our religious beliefs? It's no stretch. If I owned a company, I wouldn't want to pay for that, either. This is becoming borderline offensive to me. Why can't Hobby Lobby owners and thousands of gregs have religious beliefs that are respected? Freedom of Religion. Why do Hobby Lobby's employees have to give up their freedom of religion due to the beliefs of their management? Where is your respect for the actual people who work there? Why are their religious beliefs unimportant to you?

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 05:01 PM) http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/23407...Space-Available If you hadn't already pre-worked deals, how does this happen. I really hope league hammers the Heat. Ha.

Sigh.

I'm sure Greg would be happy to give up his religion if his employer wanted him to.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 03:07 PM) Man, pitching Noesi and Carroll against a good team ... some of those Angels hitterscould have a day. The Sox are in deep trouble in both games in a hitters park. How the heck does a big market team like Chicago find itself pitching two hacks like this in a home doubleheader? Ever heard of free agency? You must do better, Mr. Hahn and Kenny. We'd probably split with a good AAA team today pitching those two guys. Hector Noesi has a 4.18 ERA with the White Sox and he's actually been better than that since they burned him in a couple early starts to stretch his arm out. You better get used to him because he's pitching like a guy that will be here for several years.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 02:39 PM) If some were willing to give up the rest of a draft as long as we got Rodon/Adams signed, then the same type of thinking has to be in place here about taking this kid vs. 1 guy ranked 25-35 and then 4-5 guys in the hundreds of thousands for bonuses. QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 02:40 PM) I would not give up the rest of an MLB draft for those two. QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 02:44 PM) Okay, and the Univ. of Missouri/Tommy John pitcher. So basically here's the question. Is this guy a sure thing, top of the draft, almost can't miss guy, or is he a guy who could go in the teens or lower who has a high ceiling but a high bust rate? Because yeah, if you convinced me he's a version of Tulowitzki except healthy, I'm going to be game as well, but if he's a talented but raw guy like most 19 year olds are, then having a whole bunch of 16-17 year old wild cards could do more for the org long term than having him.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 02:47 PM) No, i'm saying that certain companies were exempted, by law, from this mandate. So the question was why them and not others. It was not about "why do companies get to pick and choose what laws they want to follow in the name of religion" as you're trying to make it out to be. It's really interesting that your language has classified the catholic church as a company.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 02:40 PM) Nope. Seriously Balta, did you even read the opinion? Or are you relying on a bunch of blogs whose narrative fits your own? It seems like you don't even understand the context of the opinion. You're extrapolating, as most reviewers have, about what this possibly means, when we all know in 6 months and 100 court cases later it'll be much more refined and narrowed. That's how the law works. Really, there are companies in this country that have no rules? Wait, you're right. Fine, every single company in this country other than a handful of firms on wall street has to abide by rules and regulations set by the government.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 02:38 PM) They must abide by statutory requirements and regulations, not whatever their employees decide. They have the right to operate their corporation, which is solely a creation of the state, within the confines of the law. They should not be able to get exemptions from that law because they have some weird religious hangups about sex and objectively wrong beliefs about certain types of medical treatments. Just as the employees could work somewhere else, they could shut down their company just as readily if they don't like the requirements.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 02:35 PM) Still doesn't get around the fact that you're making an awful argument that the owners of a company shouldn't have the right to operate THEIR OWN f***ING COMPANY as they see fit, but must instead abide by the demands of the employees. Every single employee in this country disagrees with SOMETHING their employer does or does not do. And every single company in this country abides by rules set regarding their operation that they may not agree with as well. Should Hobby Lobby's owners have a right to not employ Catholics? After all, that's operating THEIR OWN f***ING COMPANY as they see fit.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 02:16 PM) What's the success rate of those guys ranked in the top 30 over the last couple of seasons? It's a crapshoot at best. Whereas none of those Dominicans have come to proving themselves to be effective players on U16 National Teams or for a SERIE NACIONAL team. Do you want Aiken/Kolek or Rodon? That's basically the same difference, between this kid and Adolfo. We need prospects who are hitting the prime of their careers in 2016-17-18. That's EXACTLY my point. This guy is a crapshoot as well. He may be a slightly higher chance of success crapshoot, but 5 chances could be better than 1. And if we need "prospects who are hitting the prime of their careers in 2016-2018", he'll be 22-24. That's not even close to hitting the prime of his career. He'd barely be making the big leagues on a normal schedule by the end.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 02:15 PM) When did you become Duke with the nonsense? When the idea that a corporation could have religious freedom was declared to not be nonsense.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 02:13 PM) I think that's pretty cool actually. I'm surprised Google isn't helping me find a photo of the banner that hung at Wrigley Field trying to recruit Tracy McGrady back in like 2002.

QUOTE (flavum @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 02:06 PM) The Padres scored 60 runs in 27 games in June. 2.22 runs a game for a month. As a team they hit .171 for the month, lowest monthly batting average for a team since 1920.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 01:53 PM) But we also don't have to give him $30-40 million, either. We're talking about $3-5 million. I'll take 5-10 versions of this guy over one Soler every time. But signing Soler also didn't cost the Cubs a chance to sign 4-5 other guys either. You might get 5 versions of this guy if you don't sign him.