Balta1701

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Dec 20, 2013 -> 05:47 PM) I don't get it. They should only be talking to 3 players. Whom they think will be #1, #2 and #3. It's impossible that one of those guys won't be available, and you know, best available and whatnot. To even consider 3 other guys is a huge mistake. Best available, yada yada yada. They should be talking to anyone who has a reasonable shot of being the # 3 pick...not just for money reasons, but because there is an entire high school/college season beforehand during which some guys will very likely step up and say "draft me or you'll regret it".

Let's take a moment and remember the people who just can't afford such gifts.

QUOTE (rangercal @ Dec 20, 2013 -> 02:31 PM) what about if the bulls sign deng before the picks? then sign the picks and get in the luxury tax(I know wishful thinking, but hypothetically speaking) but there's gotta be a way to bring in the new guys while keeping deng. Disclaimer: Only interested in bringing in Deng at a discount. The draft happens before free agency can start. Once the draft happens, there will be a "cap hold" reflected in the amount of money the team could offer associated with the slotted amount for whatever draft pick the Bulls get. There's no trick around this. The Bulls can't re-up with Deng and bring Mirotic over unless they clear space elsewhere (beyond just removing Boozer) or Mirotic can be brought over for the MLE.

Fat chance.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 20, 2013 -> 02:37 PM) Now we've come full circle when liberals/progressives want our speech to be curbed for the sake of what, manners? Should women start covering up too? He of course has every right to say those things. I have zero interest in curbing his right to say those things. He does not have a right to a TV show.

All right, I get to bring us back to A for once.

You need more caroling in your life.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Dec 20, 2013 -> 02:27 PM) You're free to say just about whatever you want. Others are free to judge you based on that. I'm glad we've come far enough that expressions of homophobic and racial bigotry are widely decried. We're a better society when that garbage isn't able to be said in public without backlash. That said, I'll again go back to my initial posts and agree with wite in that I don't really like his being suspended over this. I'm sure A&E has some morality clause in the contract, and they absolutely have the power to fire him over this, but I generally oppose employers having such broad powers. What I find funny though are the people who #standwithphil are often the same people who approvingly post/forward those (fake) emails about the boss/owner who was going to fire all of his employees with Obama bumperstickers on his car. From the accounts I've read including the one presented by him in that article, this TV show made a really big deal out of "staying out of the politics". They wanted to be able to market to as wide of an audience as possible by building a show around a conservative family in that arena, but they wanted to keep the anti-gay, quasi-racist stuff completely out of the show because otherwise they'd wind up with criticism and backlash that would completely undermine their marketing. This interview was the exact opposite of what they wanted for the show. Even by his own account during that interview, they don't want political talk of the sort that would cause controversy.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 20, 2013 -> 01:53 PM) Why the f*** not? Seriously, is that how far we've come now? We can't even express to people what we like and don't like at the risk of offending someone? Jesus Christ. You can say "I'm not attracted to men sexually" without the description. It's really not hard. Here's an example..."I'm heterosexual. I'm attracted to women and I'm not attracted to men."

QUOTE (rangercal @ Dec 20, 2013 -> 01:41 PM) we're not going to win squat with the roster currently constructed.... but the following CAN happen... Top 3-5 Bulls pick 11-15 Bobcats pick Bring in Nikola Amnesty Boozer Rose returns to form (felt this way ever since the news that it was NOT an acl) sign deng to lesser deal? (was not a fan of bringing deng back, but that depends on what what spots we land in the draft) That team can contend. Every one of those scenarios is not as crazy as the 1.8% chance we struck years ago. There's a big problem there. It's really, really, really tough to keep Deng, get a top draft pick, and have the money to bring in Mirotic. By my count, the Bulls have less than $10 million under the cap if they amnesthetize Boozer. Part of that gets chewed up by a draft pick. $5 million+ is probably required to bring Mirotic over. That leaves literally zero dollars for Luol Deng. IIRC, the Bulls would have to renounce his Bird rights in order to be far enough under the cap to bring Mirotic over.

QUOTE (bmags @ Dec 20, 2013 -> 10:18 AM) Farbeit from me to defend them, but this is a bit melodramatic. It has been 15 days, there has been 1 trade, the other most likely to go player got pulled back for who knows how long. If most of the other GMs are actively trying to win a championship they are doing a terrible job. I'm not going to criticize just yet, but I will add this...if there's ever a time to be aggressive...it's now. There's literally no benefit to waiting if you can move any of these guys for an expiring and a draft pick or something similar. The NBA trade market doesn't usually improve with time. It can if someone gets hurt, but that's it.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Dec 20, 2013 -> 09:57 AM) I like how Obama picks and chooses what part of the law he wants to enforce. This is definitely annoying but 99% of it comes out of them screwing themselves with the website for several months, so those delays I get. Still wish Sebelius's job was replaced as a consequence though.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Dec 20, 2013 -> 09:41 AM) I understand what you are saying I just disagree with the application of the research. Its not the same as proof to say its safe before hand. Because there could be anything waitng there that we can't detect yet. If anyone wrote a an article and tried to get something published with this concept, it would get laughed at. You can't base a conclusion on the this. Again, you can interpret an opinion and base your decision on it but to say it is a valid conclusion based on the research isn't correct. It's sound like to me you;ve done quite a bit of qualitative research. Mine has revolved around quantitative. I have this same discussion with some of my co-workers.I can't support a conclusion unless there is evidence to support it. Working with the human body I cannot justify doing something to a patient unless there is evidence for it. Sometimes we find a better way later but I use the best evidence I have at the time. I've done plenty of quantitative research and I think part of our difference here is the requirements for giving medical advice being different. I'm not trying to base a conclusion on anything. All I've said is you can't prove there isn't a problem and I think your language is too strong when you focus solely on the "there's no correlation" part.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 20, 2013 -> 08:29 AM) They were counting on getting $40-60 million, and, as things currently stand, it would be just $20 million. Looks like we're going to have a game of chicken over the next couple of years with the pitcher, his agent and the Eagles. The MLB plan looked great to every one of their owners but somehow I think they forgot that the Japanese teams have some leverage here. I still come back to my version of this...every team that bids is out the money they bid as a posting fee and the whole pot goes to the Japanese team. That way you don't have 29 teams bidding for the same guy.

QUOTE (Tex @ Dec 20, 2013 -> 09:02 AM) I should thank Balta for reminding me that that the oil company has a vested interest in having me change my oil. However, I swill note that Ford has a vested interest in saving me cost of ownership so I can pay more for the vehicle. Just stop and think though...Ford also has a vested interest in having you happy with your vehicle. If your engine explodes after 60,000 miles...you're extremely unlikely to go buy another Ford, and there's a good chance you will tell everyone you know "god the last Ford I bought was such a piece of ****". For a company which makes its profits based on incredibly rare, huge value purchases...they need to be concerned hugely about such things.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 20, 2013 -> 09:04 AM) I haven't seen quiet. Jason Parks was raving about him not that long ago, and BA hinted he's among the Top 3 in the Sox system (which now means something a little more, since the other two are Abreu and Johnson). He's raw, but I've seen raves about his tools. Ok, surprisingly quiet from the places I check...which translates mostly to "here".

QUOTE (staxx @ Dec 19, 2013 -> 10:32 PM) I highly doubt Semien is going anywhere. It's a pretty good guess at this point that Rick Hahn is holding onto the upper level minor leaguers he does have.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Dec 19, 2013 -> 07:40 PM) I've seen this said quite a bit - worth noting that per Fangraphs, Alejandro De Aza had a defensive WAR of -3.2 in 153 games (7.7 in 2011, 0.2 in 2012) whilst Adam Eaton's was -11.2 in 66 games. (UZR/150 in CF in 2013, De Aza: -4.1, Eaton: -46.2. QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 19, 2013 -> 07:41 PM) UZR is a horrible sample size tool QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Dec 19, 2013 -> 07:47 PM) UZR is best used over 3 seasons, not 66 games. With all the caveats said though...that low number for Eaton does mean that he didn't tear CF apart when he was out there. He could rapidly improve, that number could be dominated by a few mistakes...but it's not 100% useless.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 20, 2013 -> 08:51 AM) Tim Anderson might show up too. Really? That'd be great to hear some positive about him, it's been excessively quiet on him since he was drafted.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Dec 19, 2013 -> 10:12 PM) It doesn't disagree with it. It just says that there is no reason as of now to think that once the technology is available that they will find CTE in cumulative head trauma. Some researchers are guessing that it might but that is based on an opinion but not any hard evidence. They currently can't look for it but that doesn't mean it's there. It might be but them again it might not. We don't know. In theory it's possible that repeated mild blows might cause this but so far all we know is that blows hard enough to cause concussive symptoms do in post mortem brains. First they will need to find that mild blows cause CTE then they will need to find it in living subjects in a significant amount. There was one study done at Purdue that looked at around 100 athletes in football and hockey. None of them had concussion symptoms. They looked at changes in the white matter of the brain. This isn't CTE but it shows some possible changes. They found that 11% had changes. The rate for the normal population not involved in sports was 7%. So I guess my thought process is that we can't look for CTE yet but just because we can't look doesn't mean it's there. Again it's somewhat semantics because it could be there. I just wouldn't deny my kid something he really wanted to do based on really no evidence, only guesses. That may change soon, then again it may not. edit: this is the Schroedinger's cat in the box paradox. The cat is both dead and alive until the box is opened. I just prerfer proof before I make a decision. It's completely fine that you prefer proof beforehand...all I'm harping on is that it's exactly as valid to say you prefer proof that it's safe beforehand. The same way you say there's no reason to think that an appropriate technology will find a difference in CTE cases between football players and non-football-players, I get to say there's no reason to think that we won't find a difference. All I've seen right now is autopsy reports saying that the brains of these guys are mush...and some counterproposals saying that brains of non-athletes have done the same thing. To me, those push both ways.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Dec 20, 2013 -> 07:22 AM) assuming there is a link between white matter and CTE, an increase from 7% in the general population to 11% in the sports population is a huge increase. The problem there is sample size. If the sample of athletes is 100, that's within the statistical margin of error of 7%. So again...that could be saying "There's an incredible problem" or "There's no problem" and there's no credible way to state it either way.

Everyone beat up ptatc! He's a doctor, he can heal himself.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Dec 19, 2013 -> 09:11 PM) I agree but it reminds me of the log jam we have at Charlotte. If Semien starts in the minors along with Garcia, then you have Semien-Garcia-Sanchez all in Charlotte for 3 infield positions and none of them are really suited for 3B. I'm pretty ok with those three alternatin between those positions, especially since a couple of them could back that position up.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Dec 19, 2013 -> 06:43 PM) I would still disagree but it's somewhat semantics. The hypothesis or research question here is cumulative head trauma will cause CTE and in turn cause degenerative brain issues later in life. I can conclusively say there is no data to support this hypothesis. I would not say there is a lack of data. There is plenty of data that says there is no causal relationship between cumulative head trauma and CTE in living subjects. Now, you could put a caveat on there research, which is what some researchers have done. They say they believe they will find a relationship once the current technology is upgraded. However, that is pure speculation without any data. It makes logical sense but is not supported with data. So right now with current technology and information it can be said that there is no causal relationship between the two. Some speculate there could be but until new data is found (and they are working on it, the first person to find it will get their weight in gold in research dollars) there is no relationship. The only way that this makes sense to me is if you believe there is an accurate rests for CTE that has been performed on living people. That's the only way you could say there is "no lack of data." Am I wrong in that? Because it seems to disagree with what you said about diagnosing the problem earlier in this thread.