Balta1701

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Mar 7, 2014 -> 03:16 PM) That's not exactly what I heard. The story on the radio said the options would be either become part of Russia, or remain part of Ukraine but with greater autonomy. I'm not exactly sure what the greater autonomy would mean, though. The translation I saw

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Mar 7, 2014 -> 03:12 PM) Crimean MPs vote to become part of Russia, referendum to be held in 10 days. http://www.euronews.com/2014/03/06/crimean...part-of-russia/ Worth adding that there is no option for "no I don't want to join russia" on the referendum ballot I saw, it's either "join now" or "join later".

QUOTE (iamshack @ Mar 7, 2014 -> 02:53 PM) So do you think she has a right to do that? I guess that is what I am inferring from your post. She's 18 and she's moved out of their house. If she feels there was a verbal contract at some point saying that they'd pay for various things in that case, she would have the right to sue, but she would also have to prove exactly how things went down and the fact that she has moved out is a strong argument against at least college tuition.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Mar 7, 2014 -> 01:38 PM) My really questionable math: Just by cleaning up the defense and incredibly poor base running should translate into 10 more wins. The loss of Peavy, -4 wins. I'm not going to delude myself into thinking guys like Beckham and Viciedo are going to have breakout seasons. As excited as I am to see Johnson get his shot you can't expect him to have the veteran saavy of a guy like Peavy who can take the mound w/o his best stuff and still compete for 6-7 innings. I do like Johnny D to bounce back, though. So 69-93 would be my guess. Hopeful for more, of course. Serious Q in reply...why should we expect the defense and baserunning to be "cleaned up"? In many cases we have either the same guys in those positions who were bad last year, or potential downgrades (Rios down to Garcia, Davidson supposed to be pretty rough at 3b, Eaton was below average in CF last year although maybe injury and short time to blame). They're younger and that could very well raise the risk of silly mistakes even higher.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Mar 7, 2014 -> 12:53 PM) You might be right but yeesh, could you imagine going from Super Bowl Champ to one of those teams?? yuck. Hopefully winning means at least a little bit to him. With how short careers are in the NFL? Man, you've got your ring, fill your pockets as much as you can before something on your body gives out.

QUOTE (Jake @ Mar 7, 2014 -> 12:39 AM) Sign and trade is a possibility, though it would either mean the trade of a player like Butler/Gibson or a completely f***ed up cap situation that was finally getting manageable. If they're actually under the tax this year, they avoid the multi-year penalty the next season or two and save a ton of money. But yes, I can't see any way they can pull it off without moving Gibson for space.

New study on the value of "Framing pitches" for strike calls finds that catchers who are good at framing pitches is the equivalent fo ~2 WAR per year. Jose Molina, Brian McCann, Jonathan Lucroy, Russell Martin come out as about that good.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Mar 6, 2014 -> 03:17 PM) Danks loaded them up thanks to a hit, a walk and an Adam Dunn error, got out of it unscathed though. 2 K's. Gameday has no velocity reading on him which is a bit annoying, there's one on Beck in the other game. Whatever Danks's velocity is today it shouldn't matter either...I almost don't want him throwing all-out yet, take his time and build up. In 2 weeks or so, then maybe start telling me what it is.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Mar 5, 2014 -> 10:10 PM) Revolution is in straight up crazy mode right now. I know there are only like 3 people still watching but I'm really enjoying it. I'm hating it but I want to see how it ends.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 6, 2014 -> 01:21 PM) I'd love it to die as well, because that means Rose stepped to the plate for the first time in three years. Translation: "I WILL NOT LET THIS MEME DIE!"

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 6, 2014 -> 12:51 PM) Maybe. Entry level jobs for teens and young adults were still there for the taking. Just remember this...I looked it up a while back, only 20% of fast food counter workers are under the age of 25, everyone else is someone older needing a job. The world of "still there for the taking" jobs doesn't exist right now.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 6, 2014 -> 12:36 PM) Also kids dont work as much these days as they used to. Data suggests this is true entirely because of the 2008 economic collapse. The labor force participation rate by people in the 16-19 and 20-24 groups significantly increased from 1959 to 1999 , but it then dramatically decreased starting in the late 2000's. Edited because man I compeltely wrote that crap wrong.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 6, 2014 -> 11:55 AM) Do you think anyone from 30 years ago would have demanded their parents pay for their college tuition? No, because college was actually affordable ~30 years ago to most people if they qualified thanks to significant government support of universities that has evaporated over that time period.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 6, 2014 -> 10:02 AM) And we don't have an entitlement problem in this country... I know, I can't believe this is happening thousands of times per year.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Mar 6, 2014 -> 09:39 AM) You also hate to be the guy that passed on Kevin Durant too, ya feel? EDIT: And I'm not saying Embiid is going the way of Oden. I'm just saying you take the best player on your board. If it's Embiid, then, yes, figure s*** out later. Or don't and run with Embiid at PF and Noel at C and just deny everything inside for the rest of eternity. How about telling the teams drafting 2 and 3 that the #1 pick is theirs in exchange for that pick and an additional #1 in 2 years?

QUOTE (ptatc @ Mar 5, 2014 -> 04:42 PM) I think this would be the case if they were a WS contending team. An extra more versatile player would be preferable. However with this team Hahn can wait for a better deal if he thinks one is out there. All this being said, I think one of them is traded prior to the beginning of the season and this problem will not exist. See, I disagree, I think De Aza would be a decent match for this team if they were a WS contending team because he could be a useful PH bat on an extremely RH-heavy roster, and because you might not care that much if getting him 400 PA's requires taking 200 PA's away from Viciedo and Garcia each. You also might not worry as much if De Aza got off to a slow start in that case (like we saw with him last year). The downside on a WS contender is you really don't want to use him as a defensive replacement very often because he's not a clearly substantial upgrade over anyone on the roster and those could be really useful in late innings as well.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Mar 5, 2014 -> 03:57 PM) This is a myopic view of the situation that does not consider a number of important factors including injury contingencies, trade value, and the dynamic supply and demand situation of players throughout the season. Is my opinion. I think all of those are summarized well by me calling it silly. I think it's a poor move to break camp with both of them.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 5, 2014 -> 02:30 PM) That is an incredible stretch. Even looking at BushCo's foreign policy in the worst possible light, I fail to see a connection. I'll stick with what I said, if we ignored some of these talking heads, we'd all be better off. Wow, you're 100% right, I completely fail to see a connection too...except perhaps in a different sense. Considering she was asked a question about her work on Iraq and answered about Iraq, it is definitely an incredible stretch to reach the point of saying "Maddow blames Bush for Crimea". It's also impressive how few of the "Maddow blames Bush for Russia" articles actually include either the video or the quote.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Mar 5, 2014 -> 02:27 PM) Maybe trying to light a fire under both, but especially Tank? It remains silly to have both of them on the same roster this season.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Mar 4, 2014 -> 11:42 PM) Age played a factor for sure, but I think the changes in special teams personnel played a major factor in Hester's decline. He had some damn good blockers in front of him when he was scoring so much. Personally I think it was injuries. The first time he tweaked an ankle it seemed like that was it for him as a big return factor.

QUOTE (buhbuhburrrrlz @ Mar 5, 2014 -> 01:09 PM) where do you get the money to sue your parents. couldn't she have just paid for school? The legal bills were included in the request.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Mar 5, 2014 -> 12:26 PM) That's the plurality, yes, but it's more accurate to say he's been better because of ALL of 2012. The difference between 80 and 89 wRC+ is nothing to sneeze at. Further, last year's defensive ratings corroborate the idea that he's a true talent ~10-12 defender, which is a level Beckham has never touched. EDIT: Another way to look at it: Moustakas had a rough rookie year, in which he substantially outhit Beckham's THIRD year in the majors. He then had a breakout sophomore season in which he was better than any season Beckham has ever had, including his rookie year. Finally, he had a rough third year that added up to marginally more value than Beckham's "injury-interrupted comeback" last year. But similarly, Beckham outperformed Moustakas with the bats last year. He was injured a portion of the time so it didn't pile up the fWAR, but to borrow a phrase, the difference between 77 and 88 wRC+ is nothing to sneeze at.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Mar 5, 2014 -> 09:22 AM) Moustakas has been demonstrably better than Beckham. 2011 Moustakas: 84 wRC+, -1.1DRAA, 0.2 fWAR Beckham: 72 wRC+, 4.9 DRAA, 0.5 fWAR 2012 Moustakas: 89 wRC+, 18.0 DRAA, 3.1 fWAR Beckham: 80 wRC+, 3.7 DEF runs, 0.9 fWAR 2013: Moustakas: 77 wRC+, 9.0 DRAA, 1.1 fWAR Beckham: 88 wRC+, 1.0 DRAA, 1.0 fWAR So basically he's been demonstrably better than him based almost entirely on his defensive performance in 2012?

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Mar 4, 2014 -> 05:29 PM) Usually they will play 1 extra inning and if it's tied after 10, they'll call it then. This early they may not want to load up pitchers yet.