Balta1701

QUOTE (greg775 @ Nov 9, 2013 -> 02:36 AM) I'm very appalled by that and embarrassed by that. Is the new setup going to help you out or not? I got out of that problem when I was able to find an actual job and get health coverage through an employer (which btw, is the state government). I very nearly had to quit grad school and find an actual job just to try to find some business that provided health coverage. However, had this program existed as is currently operating well in the state of California...yes, this would have been a near life-saver for me.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Nov 9, 2013 -> 02:33 AM) I think Kepp/Gillaspie is something to dread at 3B. It literally can't be worse than Konerko was at 1b this year.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Nov 8, 2013 -> 06:58 PM) Lol...I'd call that retooling. Crain was an injured, free agent to be reliever. Hell, you were the biggest fan of dealing Peavy regardless of his value because of our pitching depth. Trading from a position of strength to land a young, major-league ready hitter isn't rebuilding, it's attempting to address our biggest weakness. And clearly Rios became expendable once we got Garcia. Getting rid of his contract helped us land Abreu (as you've stated numerous times) and an interesting utility player with some upside. Obviously Hahn was trying to get our team younger at the deadline, but rebuilding would have meant trading a lot more than just those three. Also, Abreu just signed the largest first time contract ever for an international player. That's called a major free agent addition. Were Ichiro or Darvish considered rebuilding-type moves as well because they had no major league experience at the time? Cespedes sure felt like one.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Nov 8, 2013 -> 06:14 PM) Wait, we're rebuilding now? I'm pretty sure that's what happens when you sell off 3 highly paid veterans mid-season, lose nearly 100 games, and replace your team's captain and longest-tenured player with a guy who has never played an inning of major league baseball. We could pull it off very quickly, but if that's not rebuilding then I don't know what is.

QUOTE (Cknolls @ Nov 8, 2013 -> 05:37 PM) Maybe he shoulld have started the process in 2010 instead of waiting until after the election. Once again politics trumps everything with this asshole. Of course, if you really want to get to talking about that...one big reason the Federal government didn't start developing this web page in 2010 is that they didn't want to. The bill was written with the expectation that the states would want to continue controlling their own insurance marketplaces and not have the heavy-hand of the federal government involved. It actually did not include funding to develop the website at the national level for this reason. Funding for it had to be scraped together once 2/3 of the states decided they wanted more Federal control of their marketplaces and not less, and Congress would of course not appropriate funds to do so. But then again, that can't be right, because that would be letting politics trump everything and that would make the Republicans at the state level making those calls "assholes" by your standard.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Nov 8, 2013 -> 03:37 PM) How would you like to be one of the people promised they could keep their coverage and now they can't? Can wipe out life savings in an instant. You want to talk to me about health care costs wiping out a life savings in an instant? Try having a spouse who is sick, actually needs medical coverage, and is uninsured. Come back to me when you've paid $1000 to go to an urgent care center who do a couple tests and give her antibiotics that are useless because you can't actually get a regular doctor to see you. Try putting together an application for individual coverage and being flatly denied because of that pre-existing condition or getting a quote that is more than you make in 2 years. How would you like to have a family member of yours in constant pain, basically unable to do anything for years, because they lack health insurance? Get back to me when you've gone through that agony and I might have a tiny bit of sympathy. You want to talk about a website being embarrassing? We should be embarrassed that people go through this crap in a civilized country every single day, but we're not because they're not important enough.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Nov 8, 2013 -> 03:27 PM) This health care glitch may be one of the biggest embarassments/hassles to the American people in history.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Nov 8, 2013 -> 03:21 PM) But it doesn't seem to me rebuilding should include the Kepp/Gillaspie combo. Sox have some money. Can't they find a stop gap third baseman or just plug Semien in there and get rid of one of the two, Kepp or GillaspieAgain, welcome to rebuilding. When you're rebuilding, you have to get the best value out of every guy you can, IMO. To some degree, that means seeing what guys can do and playing guys you have under contract until they're tradeable.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Nov 8, 2013 -> 03:18 PM) Poor naive Balta, he actually thinks the Democrats don't take bribes. *sigh* Thanks for putting words in my mouth.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Nov 8, 2013 -> 02:48 PM) http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2008/06/obama-to-break/ I tried to add every caveat possible in there. Laugh all you want, here's the vote. It would have at least required disclosure of who is contributing to these super-pacs at some level. The vote was 51 Dems in favor, 44 Republicans against. One party really wants these bribes to be anonymous.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Nov 8, 2013 -> 02:35 PM) Well then he gets the proverbial "one more year," El Rockin. At some point he has to be considered a bust even though he was a first round pick. I guess Semien at third and Beckham at second would be OK. Who's going to get cut if they keep all these infielders, though. Kepp and Gillaspie appear safe. My great fear is it's the blah Kepp/Gillaspie duo at third and Becks at second, which is not good at all. Welcome to rebuilding, that's exactly what the lineup is likely to be to start the year. Semien was a fast riser last year and could seriously benefit from starting the season at AAA, and then we can see if anyone in the big leagues earns their spot or if Semien hits his way onto th e team.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 8, 2013 -> 02:34 PM) Ramirez had a .690 OPS and .373 SLG from the 2 spot. In the three spot it went to .713 and .413. Specifically for homers, he hit 2 in 372 PAs in the 2 spot. He hit 3 in 158 PAs in the 3 spot. He only had 27 PAs in the 6 spot and was awful. In the 7 spot he only had 77 PAs put hit 1 homer, and .695 OPS/ .384 SLG. Just so I say it again...his BABIP was slightly lower in the 3 spot as well, which I think is entirely due to chance/sample size. If his BABIP in the 3 slot had been similar to where it was in the 2 spot, he'd have been close to a .750 OPS.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Nov 8, 2013 -> 02:24 PM) Semien to 3B or as the super IF sub. Beckham to 3B if they think Semien is better at 2B, but ole Gordo just got named the defensive 2B star. I would rater go or someone via free agency like Uribe at 3B. Is Mr. AJ Perzynski available for catching duties? I want a team with some fire and I think AJ can motivate as well as produce. I think Gillaspie and Keppinger are trade bait or Conor is a fill in Semien NEEDS to play every day. If he's going to be a "super sub", hell just release him. I'd prefer that to having him sitting on the bench that Robin rarely uses. I can live with Leury as a super sub although it would be nice for him to get some at bats.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Nov 8, 2013 -> 02:18 PM) You're mistaken my friend, it was the other way around actually. 5 of his 6 HRs were in the 2/3 spot. Very nice work, lumping together his time in those 2 different spots. 2 spot, 372 PA's, 2 HR. .373 slug. 3 spot, 158 PA's, 3 HR. .413 slug. His BABIP was slightly lower in the 3 spot and that reduces his OBP/OPS a little bit, but I think that gives a very clear case that he hits for less power in the 2 hole than in the 3 hole.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Nov 8, 2013 -> 01:11 PM) Fair enough, but with no one on he's been a .251/.285/.342 hitter the last 3 years. I'd prefer he'd hit somewhere with the opportunity to hit with runners on. Call me crazy but I wouldn't mind seeing him hit 3rd again. I think our best hope of a good #2 hitter is Semien winning the 2B job. I think the problem is that Alexei winds up significantly changing his approach when he's in the #2 slot. His power suddenly seemed to re-appear when he moved down in the order later this year.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Nov 8, 2013 -> 12:12 PM) There is bipartisan support for increasing the flow of bribe money. See, the Democrats and Republicans can work together. To be fair, one party has at least proposed things like the "disclose" act that, although weak, would at least have required some disclosure as opposed to the anonymous bribes we have right now. That bill, of course, was filibustered.

QUOTE (CrimsonWeltall @ Nov 8, 2013 -> 09:42 AM) Mostly benevolent whites owning grateful blacks? Geez. Lost Cause Southerners barely even believe that anymore. Because they now call themselves Tea Partiers.

I know the first thing I thought of when I read a beckham salespiece was "Hey, remember that time several minor Cubs players dressed as Theo and jed?"

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Nov 8, 2013 -> 02:56 AM) Thor: The Dark World was damn good. Would love other opinions should others see this.

Link usually these type of fluffs don't start until spring training. Odd.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 7, 2013 -> 05:24 PM) The Bulls are usually slow starters anyway. I think it has something to do with Thibs system. The bad news here is that if they don't pick it up soon they'll hit the circus trip and come out with a terrible first month of the season. Yeah that's recoverable in the long term but then you have to talk about home court for Indiana and Brooklyn.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 7, 2013 -> 05:21 PM) And will be directed by JJ Abrams. I assume the only reason why you're posting this now is that every time you tried to read the article with the director's name previously you were blinded by a lens flare.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 7, 2013 -> 03:08 PM) Poor people can't pick up their ID's, poor people don't have mail boxes, some poor people don't have homes. Trust me, if a Republican came up with this IDea you'd find some way that it's discriminatory towards a portion of the population that votes D. And if it didn't keep poor(black) people from voting you'd be angry over the hundreds of millions of dollars it would cost.

I note that you didn't remove the Electoral College.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 7, 2013 -> 02:11 PM) Pssh, trying to suppress the vote. Typical liberal. If you actually gave everyone an ID that works then it isn't voter suppression. That's the trick - you make sure that the group you don't want to vote has an ID that doesn't work. That's why gun licenses work and school ID's don't.