Balta1701

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 8, 2013 -> 02:31 PM) I could see being contenders with two of those three, especially if one was Abreu. However, I don't think they would be contenders. I could see them contending with 2...but the caveats are "they have to remember that when this white spherical object comes close to them they are supposed to catch it and not run away", general health, and "Viciedo, Garcia, and Abreu all hit like they're capable of". (Of course, if the guy they sign is Granderson, the fact that Viciedo and Garcia are the guys who the team would need to carry the offense might mitigate the impact of his signing. If both of them go off, suddenly he's a very tiny upgrade on De Aza at best).

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 8, 2013 -> 02:40 PM) You're right in some sense. We are talking about players who are competent. You said this yourself about Garcia in CF. Could you tell right away that Ventura was going to make it? How about Chris Snopek? Or Greg Norton? How many AB's did it take to tell that Beckham wouldn't?

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Oct 8, 2013 -> 02:38 PM) But they do have the greatest TE to ever play the game. Frankly, with Jones now out, the right move would be to call up the Chiefs and see if they'd part with a 3rd round pick for him.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Oct 8, 2013 -> 02:22 PM) Ya, one of my old roommates(who is a huge grantland fan actually) is all about going for it basically every time. And every time someone gets stuffed it's "well it was a bad play call." I definitely get the odds, and I'm in favor of going for it a majority of the time, but there's definitely times to kick the field goal. One big problem with going for it in short yardage is that teams become dramatically less creative in their playcalling, so I definitely see that as well. Look how well a "bootleg left" worked for the Denver Broncos last week.

Slightly different subject than the previous set of posts. This morning, the Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments in the case that will be the next 5-4 decision completely destroying campaign finance regulations. This case revolves around the individual contribution limits. After this case is decided, those will be declared to be limits on free speech and unlimited, anonymous individual contributions to campaigns, suitably laundered through charities, will be possible, just as corporate contributions are now.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Oct 8, 2013 -> 10:39 AM) It's not his body or tool box that worries me, it's that he looks clueless going after fly balls. I'm sure he'll get better at wherever they stick him, but I think some guys just don't have the instincts to man CF - you need to get good reads, good jumps, and take good routes to cover all of that ground well. I would counter that most guys would look clueless getting reads off the bat if they are in a position they haven't played before.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 8, 2013 -> 07:49 AM) So would everyone. Except Marty. Since the Dodgers literally have no need to "Save money", the only reason why they should trade Ethier is if they get something back that makes their team better next year. They would probably be willing to throw in money to make that happen, but they need to get something immediately valuable back to have it make sense, and they are not going to throw in any prospect in exchange for the other team eating salary, because they're loaded. The actual deal for Ethier will be something like "Ethier plus $40 million for Hector Santiago and Jordan Danks". They get a strong arm to put at the back of their rotation instead of Edinson Volquez, they give up enough money to make Ethier no-longer overpaid for the team taking him on. They have no reason to trade him for less than that, they can wait and have 4 OF's who play interchangeably until someone offers them that quality of a deal, one that makes their team better right now and fills their major need right now.

White Sox, 6/$72.

Not just in terms of whether the metrics are reliable...for god's sake, he's played 200 innings there, right? People do learn things with time. If he worked at the position and was given a shot there, it's also entirely plausible that he could "learn" and "improve" upon his performance at the position.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 7, 2013 -> 09:06 PM) Better idea would be to just offer a ton of money for the prospect and f*** taking on a horrible contract after the team just dumped contracts. The Dodgers will then look at the $30 million you offered, realize that You're about to sign a $2 billion TV contract and that winning the division probably made several hundred million more, and say "screw it we make more by keeping the prospect and winning."

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Oct 7, 2013 -> 06:05 PM) If you want to talk about real waste in the medical industry, look no further than social security disability. 60 Minutes had a good piece on it last night. What a giant cluster f***. And you all want the government to take over the entire health care industry? http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-5760...disability-usa/ Actually 60 minutes's piece was terrible. The majority of people applying for benefits under that program are still denied, and the appeal rate has actually fallen since the collapse rather than increased. The program itself is heavily audited by the GAO because of misleading claims like the one you just made and it is constantly found to have fraud rates that are well below 1%. The people getting disability under social security meet the standards for disability. In fact, under more reasonable standards, more people probably should be able to receive that. A university of Michigan study found that out of the people who applied are turned down, nearly 80% are still not working 2 years later. The main reason why disability claims have increased since the recession is an aging population. The Social Security program trustees in 1994 predicted that there would be an increase in disability claims necessitating an infusion of extra funds into the program by 2016 solely as a consequence of an aging population, putting it right on schedule for exactly what we've seen. The program itself has sent back cash to the treasury before and basically will remain close to long-term balance once what was predicted 2 decades ago happens. There was also an increase in the retirement age for OASDI benefits a couple years ago from 65 to 66, leaving quite a few more people disabled who would otherwise have been covered by regular social security benefits.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 7, 2013 -> 04:40 PM) Against lefties or righties? Out of those games, 2 righty starters, 3 lefty starters.

QUOTE (CrimsonWeltall @ Oct 7, 2013 -> 05:08 PM) I recently read about a surgeon in Texas who was basically killing and paralyzing numerous patients because he was so damn awful at surgery that he'd frequently cut things that weren't supposed to be cut. Doctors were constantly complaining about him. It took the Texas Medical Board years to stop this guy because they're such a weak agency. http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2013/09/...medical-boards/ I'm proud to learn that this person graduated from the hospital I can see as I walk to the gym.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Oct 7, 2013 -> 04:20 PM) Alot of this however is a continuous circle pretty much exclusive to the US. Much of it is the legal system. Unlimited tort and lawsuits force the medical practitioner to have highly priced insurance for protection. Insurance companies payout far too much on some cases. These are the same insurance companies which own many of the health care insurance companies. They take loses in one area and make it up in others. One sure way to lower insurance costs in the US and where it all should start is tort reform. I've been an expert witness in many cases where the lawsuits where absolutely stupid yet insurance companies had to pay. There are many legitimate ones as well but too many stupid ones. There are a couple more problems buried in there you didn't note. First of all, several states, notably Texas, have undertaken severe tort reform (since lawyers were a democratic constituency this makes sense). The end result in terms of behavior of doctors or insurance companies is pretty much the same as in other states; there may be a small difference in total costs but it's less than 1% and small enough that it's hard to definitively say the effect is distinct from zero. Second...the U.S. has way too bloody much malpractice. The stats are hard to figure out but I'm convinced the best data says the U.S. does much worse on this front than most other countries. The large fraction of malpractice cases in the U.S. come from doctors who have problems more than once and are difficult to discipline thanks to protections associated with the AMA and the unwillingness of U.S. medical providers to institute reforms that significantly cut malpractice rates.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Oct 7, 2013 -> 04:27 PM) At least she said she hates cocaine, thats usually their downfall. Drat. Think of the corn!

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Oct 7, 2013 -> 04:25 PM) I really don't think we need a right fielder. I could see a way where it's sensible if they really were intending to move Garcia to CF full-time, but so far they haven't convinced me they're ready to do that move (I'd have had him playing CF full time in September, for example). But even with that said, I wouldn't take Ethier's contract on if he were put on irrevocable waivers. 4 years, $70 million remaining for a 31 year old who, again, has put up WAR numbers comparable to De Aza over the last couple seasons. They'd have to pay something like $30 million for me to be interested in taking the remainder on and that's with no real talent going back. They have no reason to do that.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Oct 7, 2013 -> 04:16 PM) I think they're more concerned with winning this series right now. They'll still have Greinke for game 5 if this move doesn't work out. Pitching a guy on 3 days rest is also a decision you make based on your knowledge of the pitcher. Leyland has refused to pitch Verlander on 3 days rest before when it seemed really obvious that he should go. The Dodgers know Kershaw at this point, they know his arm and makeup as much as anyone. Hindsight of course is 20/20, but you can finish this series right now and have him set to go in game 2 and game 6 of the NLCS also.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 7, 2013 -> 11:47 AM) I think you're crazy. Jeff Keppinger batted 3rd 3 times and 4th twice.

One thing worth pointing out: fWAR: Alejandro De Aza, 2012 and 2013: 2.7 and 2.2 Curtis Granderson, same years: 2.3 and 1.4 (Granderson had 245 PA's in 2013 if you'd like to project to a full season). bWAR: De Aza: 2.3, -0.3 Granderson: 3.0, 1.1. Yes, Granderson has much better years prior to the last 2 and he outperformed De Aza last year during his time on the field. However, over the last 2 years, the difference has been at best narrow. He's not going to be a defensive upgrade and he's going to be a slight downgrade on the basepaths. Only saying this since it seems some people think letting De Aza go for very little or nothing is a good idea. The player you'd get by signing Granderson stands a good chance of being comparable to De Aza for the next couple years. That's not a bad thing, that's more than a $10 million player, but that is why you have to get fair value for ADA.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 7, 2013 -> 12:18 PM) I just can't see them committing 5 years to a catcher, especially at that money. If Phegley hits like he did last year, then signing Granderson makes very little sense to me because the Sox will still have several major weaknesses in their lineup even if Abreu is signed. (Their entire IF other than 1b would be average to below average with the bat). Granderson makes the team better but even teamed with Abreu I'm not sure that makes this a competitive AL Central roster.

By the way, on the subject of comparing McCann and Granderson, I wouldn't expect McCann to play 140+ games next year either. If signing him, I'd be hoping he could catch 120-130 games, same as I'd be hoping Granderson could play.

Whitesox official Facebook feed just shared some photos of Marcus:

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 7, 2013 -> 11:46 AM) So who lives longer, long distance runners or fullbacks? This is obviously a little too simple, but it generally gets the point across. But if I turn that around and ask who has the longer career, the best fullback or the best distance runner...things come up a lot more even, don't they? I think of distance running, or sprinting, as something people do best in their 20's and maybe early 30's, same as fullbacks, and there are a few fullbacks who do last longer than that because they're good at it.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Oct 7, 2013 -> 11:42 AM) They'll get that fixed. Schaub will either get his head on straight or they'll go with Yates, who will be serviceable. The Texans still have one of the more talented rosters in the League. They are playing outstanding defense, have a solid running game and a good passing game. The turnovers will start to even out and they will be winning games again. To say they are overrated is just incorrect. Do they stink right now? Sure. But they are certainly not overrated. Weren't they the number one seed in the AFC Last year? That's about where I'd expect them to have been "rated" coming in to the year, and they aren't playing like that. I'd say the same thing about the NFC's number one seed the last year, the Falcons.

QUOTE (bbilek1 @ Oct 7, 2013 -> 11:43 AM) Any athlete playing 7 straight months of baseball will take a beating. McCann probably takes more of a pounding in a month that Granderson does in a year. For every one time Granderson runs into a fence McCann takes 25 (probably more) foul balls/foul tips/blocks to the body. There is no argument there Balta. And for every foul tip McCann takes, Granderson probably runs an extra mile or two, with starts/stops and sprinting thrown in.