Balta1701

QUOTE (sircaffey @ Nov 2, 2013 -> 12:22 PM) He's always had horrible control. How many years until you accept that it's not going to get much better? His BB/9 was 5.1 in 2012 and 4.3 last year, and his numbers got worse during a few starts in the 2nd half when he was clearly tiring out.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Nov 2, 2013 -> 12:11 PM) Sure he has some flaws, like his inability to go deep into starts And it's worth stressing more specifically than you did...this is exactly the flaw you'd expect from a guy who kept getting put into the bullpen and didn't have a chance to work on controlling his offspeed stuff.

QUOTE (DukeNukeEm @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 09:49 PM) While I've been gone I surely hope the board consensus, even from the Obama shills, is that that this thing is an absolutely collosal failure. Like, I cannot think of a bigger boondoggle in my lifetime... And to preempt the argument that comes from anyone delusional enough to defend it. It is not "too early" to give up on it. When a trains running off the rails the engineer doesnt just throttle up hoping it jumps back on the tracks. What ought to be stressed here is that the 10+ states who built their own exchanges are doing just fine (including, of all places, Kentucky, who happens to have a Democratic governor right now). So the f***up wasn't mandatory here. The website could have been built correctly; a dozen states did so and the problem isn't capacity.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Nov 2, 2013 -> 11:58 AM) You're advocating keeping major leaguers from a 99-loss team? That's a certain path to a 120 losses. I know, how dumb was it for the Red Sox to hold on to Lester and Ortiz? F***ing failures, absolutely guaranteed them 120 losses in 2013.

QUOTE (TheFutureIsNear @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 07:16 PM) Sure, Beck had a nice ERA but he managed to strike out a grand total of 4 guys per 9 in A+ ball. Unless he somehow develops a strikeout pitch he's never going to be able to consistently succeed in the majors. He's a pretty marginal prospect that was a throw in for me to be honest. And what exactly do you think of Santiago going forward and what do you think his trade value is? Beck's a sinker-baller. Santiago's trade value ought to be really high. The Sox really f***ed with him the last 2 years and he still put up an ERA in the mid 3's. His fWAR is hurt because he didn't get put in a position where he could throw enough innings - he'd probably have doubled his WAR value if he'd been able to get closer to 200 innings, but they put him in the bullpen for over a year and bounced him back and forth to the rotation over and over so he never got stretched out and tired out. Worse, he never got the time to really refine his offspeed stuff he needed. His ceiling is through the roof...but I fear he may not reach it in Chicago because I feel they won't commit to him. I think he's a #3 starter on a good team or maybe even a #2.

QUOTE (TheFutureIsNear @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 06:22 PM) And my trades are crazy but people actually think we can get a 21 year old pitcher who is a top 20 prospect in return for Alexei Ramirez?? I'd say that's way more out of touch with reality than my trades. Then there should be zero motivation to trade him.

QUOTE (TheFutureIsNear @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 06:22 PM) Beckham, Santiago, and Beck is a lot to give up? Um, yes. A 22 year old already in AA who was a 2nd round draft pick and has an ERA in the low 3's at each stop is quite a valuable commodity. A 25 year old, left-handed starting pitcher who has 4 years of team control remaining, threw 150 innings this year, throws in the low to mid 90's, put up a 120 ERA+ (3.56 ERA in the Cell) and put up really solid strikeout numbers is extremely valuable and should be treated as such.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 05:24 PM) The thing with FanGraphs is that they use peripherals (FIP) in their WAR equation rather raw numbers (ERA), which is what B-R does, because they believe it to be a better indicator of individual success and a better predictor of future numbers. This is the point of contention where I legitimately have not decided which side of the fence I am on. Pitchers can pitch to their defense...if you have a good shortstop, throw changeups and sinkers to lefties down and away and sliders on the outerhalf and sinkers down and in to righties. That will hurt their peripherals (to some degree) but it's a legitimately smart and efficient way to pitch. Then sometimes there's dumb luck where a green pitcher will hang a breaking ball and a veteran will see it, line it up, and simply mis-hit and roll over it into a double play. It's the same result on the page but one was done intentionally and one was done basically by accident. At the same time, if he did not have a good defensive shortstop, he could still look to do that and the balls would end up in CF for singles. It is involving the team, rather than what he is independently capable of. What Javy's fWAR suggests is that he's an incredibly talented pitcher and that, in a vacuum, he would be a #1 or #2 starter. He has been that good in the past both for the Sox and other teams. Baseball is not played in a vacuum, and he would leave pitches over the middle of the plate far too often and when he did, they got hit very, very hard. With his stuff, he could have been a contender for multiple Cy Youngs. He simply didn't have SOMETHING right, and it resulted in him failing miserably. Meanwhile, Mark Buehrle never should have made the majors, but here he is, best Sox pitcher of the last 15-20 years. This is the most obvious case of fWAR not being the end all, be all. It's still a great statistic. "You like this".

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 05:32 PM) ObamaCare is like corn ethanol, policy-wise. WTF? I mean, I can guess where you're going here, maybe with "trying to solve a problem but has too many handouts to big business" or something like that, but seriously, WTF? I can't even get close.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 05:12 PM) What I think is immaterial. I'm not the one utilizing them as a person in one aspect, but not in another. Talk to the Dems who wrote those lies about their exploitations of illegal immigrants. If calling "It doesn't include illegal immigrants so they're liars!" is the best argument against this bill you have left, that leaves me pretty content.

So yeah, it forgets 1. illegal immigrants, and 2. people who live in states that hate their poor.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 05:09 PM) Actually you did in your original pie chart, whether you knew it or not. So you do think that they should be covered. Finally we're in agreement that it's inhuman to have a large underclass of people in this country who can't get health care and this is a major problem.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 04:48 PM) Spin it how you like. It doesn't change the inherent lies build into the ACA, starting right at the top. At the end of the day I am not the one including millions of people in a number to sell how great of a plan this is, with the full intention of never doing anything about it. I am sure the illegals really appreciate being your pawns though. You're the one who brought them up.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 04:36 PM) When you are using it in the numbers, with no intent to ever cover a group, it is another bold faced lie. it doesn't get much clearer than that. So does what you just posted as an argument against it, unless you're ready to tell me why your state is better off screwing over its poor people by refusing the medicaid expansion. But I guess that in your view they're somehow in the happy-go-lucky 80% there and not "excluded".

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 04:28 PM) It means the numbers are full of s***. Both the uninsured and the number who will be covered. It is yet another lie in a program of lies to move this plan. So...it's full of s*** because we should have provided coverage to the illegal immigrant community. I agree.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 04:05 PM) Catcher is first, second, and third on that list. If they don't come up with some sort of constituency plan at catcher this offseason, even with Abreu signed, it's a complete failure. You can't count on Flowers or Phegley. If nothing else, bring another catching prospect into the system, even if it means trading Santiago or even Quintana for one. The system has quite a few infielders right now with quite a few of them likely capable of covering 3B if necessary. They have 3 capable outfielders and could look to bring in more. For all intents and purposes, they have zilch for catchers right now. Can you name any options who make sense?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 04:02 PM) http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-whats...s-chart-2013-10 Did you just post something which looks at the 10 million undocumented immigrants who are ineligible for the expanded coverage and considers that a bad thing? And which indicts the states which did not expand Medicaid as another bad thing?

QUOTE (Tex @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 04:09 PM) I hope, and fully expect, that adjustments will be made as opportunities present themselves. For example, the website problems should mean a delay in deadlines. This has already happened to some extent, the date at which purchases were required to be made before the mandate penalty kicked in has been moved back by IIRC 45 days.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 03:34 PM) He looked like a bust when they acquired him, and he didn't dissappoint. Yes he did. I have no idea what happened to his fastball last year, that's the disappointment; he somehow lost 8 mph.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 03:34 PM) I'd trade Beckham, Santiago and Keppinger to the Royals for Giovatella and Moustakas who have been busts and see if our new hitting coach can help fix 'em. I'm not sure I'd give up Santiago in that.

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 02:31 PM) I’ve started going through the site and filling in some of the info. It’s pretty tedious and some of the questions seem superfluous. For instance I entered an address for myself, my wife and all 3 of my kids. They are all the same address but it then it asked if my kids live with me. I had to answer this for each one of them. I also had to go through this 3 times: Does person X have any income? NO. So person X’s monthly income is 0. Is this correct? Yes. Person X’s yearly taxable income is 0. Click ok to continue. That sounds like a fairly normal health insurance application process to me.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 02:07 PM) when was ben gordon SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good at shooting that he could cover things up. That legendary series against the Celtics?

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 02:09 PM) The site needs a "Buy It Now" button. It did wonders for eBay. (Based on the performance of the contractor that built the website...I'd assume that a "buy it now" button would actually send you to the national parks service homepage).

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 01:57 PM) Carlos Martinez and that's about as low as I go. Any position players who might qualify? (Genuinely don't know their system well).

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 12:47 PM) Matt Adams looks like a beer league softball player. Wacha is DEFINITELY off limits. I would have said untouchable, but he finally got dinged up in Game 6 a bit and it will be interesting to see how he bounces back. They have Wainright, Wacha, Kelly, Lynn, Shelby Miller, Garcia (when he returns to health), Carlos Martinez and a couple of other options. Chris Carpenter will probably come back for the 6th time, lol. I think the Cardinals move Carpenter to 3B, Wong is at 2B (or Jackson), they might STIL go after Tulowitzi or Asdrubal Cabrera to improve the SS position, Allen Craig in RF almost everyday and Oscar Taveras in CF. The only sure things are that Holliday, Carpenter, Craig, Adams and Molina will be playing at some position nearly everyday. So you said all this without answering my question...what do they have that might be available for Alexei that could make sense as a return for him?