Balta1701

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Jul 29, 2013 -> 01:46 PM) I am taking the GRE this fall. I like this thread. My gut tells me I should be intimidated but it's a standardized test, how hard could it be. You're right. It's a standardized test, it's manageable. But also remember...the more you pretend to be intimidated going in, the more you're going to prepare. Even if you shouldn't be intimidated, if you really want a top level grad school or money from the school, whatever...you want to be overprepared.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jul 29, 2013 -> 12:51 PM) I dont get pensions. Why not just take some of their salary and let them put it into a 401k like the rest of us? Stop the idea of pensions right now moving forward. The management costs of having each person holding a 401k plan are vastly higher than having a centralized pension fund. The biggest winner in this case is the financial industry; they get a much larger fraction of the money people invest for their retirement.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jul 29, 2013 -> 02:09 PM) One would think he would know better than to try to rattle Rodgers that way. Unless he thinks it works?

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jul 29, 2013 -> 02:30 PM) Here's mine Jake Peavy: Not traded Alex Rios: Not traded Alexei Ramirez: Not traded Jesse Crain: Moved to Tampa for a package that is near impossible to speculate on Matt Lindstrom: Moved to Boston for a low level starting pitcher with a live arm and is otherwise completely terrible. Other: Nothing else of note other than the fun of watching Soxtalk cry. I was going to write exactly what you said here after seeing the thread title.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jul 29, 2013 -> 01:05 PM) If that asking price is too high then we don't need to trade him. Young cheap quality SPs are the most valued commodity in baseball and should be treated as such. The other thing to remember is that having young, cheap, quality SP's opens up the door to having a ton of money to spend on the free agent market or even on the trade market if some team is trying to move a person who is performing but not quite enough. The ability to take on money was one KW always used to his advantage. Sometimes with real solid success.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Jul 29, 2013 -> 11:18 AM) To go along with the fail rate of prospects that has been talked about....Middlebrooks was the Red Sox top prospect 2 years ago....He very well could be in the midst of the dreaded sophomore slump though so I wouldn't add him to that percentage just yet. There's a lot of problems with the guy though. His minor league numbers aren't all that great; I looked at them a while back and found them to be somewhat comparable to Gillaspie. He has more power than Conor but Conor makes better contact. Neither one of them is especially distinguished in OBP as a consequence. Middlebrooks had a great 2 months at the big league level last year, but I think a legit comparison for him is Tyler Flowers. He's a guy who if he ever got it could put up some serious power and RBI numbers, but he strikes out too much right now and that will probably keep him from being a real solid MLB player. I think he'd be somewhat of an upgrade on Gillaspie but the odds are not a huge one, unless the Sox could help him get the strikeouts under control, which they've shown a poor record of doing. I'd take him if a team was giving him away, but I don't think he's a very big upgrade over what we already have at 3b right now, at least not enough to be a centerpiece of a deal.

When did you first realize you looked that good with a beard?

QUOTE (Al Lopez's Ghost @ Jul 29, 2013 -> 10:54 AM) If I remember correctly, Rienzo or Johnson are on the same day rotation as Peavy. And there's always Axelrod. Unfortunately. Rienzo is. Johnson pitched last night and they pulled hiim after 2.1 innings/66 pitches.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Jul 29, 2013 -> 10:49 AM) I think there very well may be a major trade of one of these guys and/or Reed before next season. They are going to have to do something to fix the rest of the team, and that will probably means some trades. Should get 2 above average position players for one of these pitchers. Hopefully we'll go for players who haven't reached their prime, which would be a refreshing change. The problem is I don't think it's very easy to trade any of those pitchers. Both Quintana and Santiago ought to cost a fortune in a trade, they're young starting pitchers with a ton of talent, team control for 4+ years, and top of the rotation starter ceilings. Maybe not number 1 guys, but these guys are pitching well enough to be #2-#3 starters on playoff teams right now and could easily get better with experience. The price for either of them ought to be "the price for a top of the rotation starter under control for a long time". Comparable maybe to the price for Matt Latos or something like that. The price for them ought to be so high that I wouldn't expect any team to really come out and meet it even if they're desperate for a LH starter. Danks of course is the one you'd like to move because of his salary, but there you have the issue of someone taking on his contract before he's fully healed and he could easily be expected to be even better next year.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Jul 29, 2013 -> 10:41 AM) Why do we care if the deal is done Tuesday? The drop-dead deadline is Wednesday anyway. What we care about is getting the most out of him we can, not dealing him by Tuesday. If you make the Peavy move happen, other dominoes have time to fall.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jul 29, 2013 -> 10:22 AM) How much of a burden on pension funds would a universal healthcare system have alleviated? They're all counted as "Benefits" but shouldn't "Retiree health care" be a fully separate line-item from retiree retirement costs (a-la Medicare and Social Security?) I can't imagine anyone would think "Investing health care costs in the stock market" is a good idea? By the way, this post also gives me a chance to note that the pension-holders in Detroit are doubly-screwed here because they aren't eligible for Social Security benefits, their pension through the city was their only retirement.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Jul 29, 2013 -> 10:29 AM) The Sox shouldn't start him tomorrow. It doesn't matter to us if we trade him Tue or Wed. By starting him, his value is decreased as teams will get 1 less start out of him (or 4/5 less of a start). He's had sufficient post-injury auditions. We don't need to cut our own throat. The Sox ought to go into tomorrow with every intention of starting him unless someone meets their price. Having him set as the starter should be the motivation to get a deal done before the outing.

QUOTE (Frank_Thomas35 @ Jul 29, 2013 -> 09:46 AM) I'm liking the early trade winds, love hearing Hahn is asking for top prospects from each team, if we are able to get Xander (BOS), Bundy (BAL), Russel (OAK) that's a start of an amazing return all 3 of those guys are going to be legit stars. Personally like I said last night it will be Boston or St. Louis it just makes too much sense for these teams. I would like it to be STL Or Bos. Personally if we can get Martinez (size ?'s or not this guy has electric stuff, I see him as a Pedro Martinez type) and/or Adams or Wong + 2-3 prospects in the 15-30 range. I believe Hahn comes out on top and we will be talking about his first deadline in a few years when these guys are all hitting the field. Just remember, The bust rate on top prospects in baseball is still 25-50%.

QUOTE (GoGoSox2k2 @ Jul 29, 2013 -> 09:38 AM) would really seem like a deal would get done at some point today/tonight. i will apologize in advance to my colleagues that today I will be spending way to much time on soxtalk.com - Trade Winds I think it happens the same way Garza's deal did...making sure Peavy doesn't make his next start will be the motivation to make the best offer. Teams will hold out overnight and put something on the table tomorrow morning good enough for Hahn to say "ok, if that's on the table let's write it up and tell Jake not to warm up".

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Jul 29, 2013 -> 09:23 AM) Yes, read all the posts, there are people who are dead set against sending money with guys. They must be under the delusion that the $13M they don't send with Peavy and Rios for 2014 is going to make some kind of magical difference. Adam Dunn goes for $14M on the market, but somehow there's a magical free agent out there that the Sox can get for $13M who will be the difference-maker in 2014, at the expense of getting better prospects back in the trade who will make the team better in 2015 and beyond. Well personally I don't think the Sox would get anything of value for Dunn even if they sent some money along. Sending some money along might make him moveable though.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Jul 29, 2013 -> 07:44 AM) I don't think I studied at all for my GRE. Did a couple practice tests to make sure I was ready for the math and the writing sections (that's doing the full test), but knew I wasn't there for the Verbal. Really did a lot to make sure I could get a passable score on the vocab.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Jul 29, 2013 -> 09:17 AM) To the people who are dead set against sending money with Peavy and Rios, what exactly do you think the Sox are going to do with that money? Are people here really dead set against sending money with guys...or are people here recognizing that the White Sox have in recent memory been very hesitant to send money along with guys? They'll eat a bit in order to move a guy at the end of his contract like Thome or Iguchi...but usually if a guy needs to have money sent with him in order to move to a team, the Sox just hold the guy/.

If I had to bet based on my assessment of the org...I don't think they'd be willing to go with a rotation including 4 lefties. I think they're too conservative and unwilling to do things that aren't regularly done by everyone else in the league. I think we saw some of that with their continual moving of Santiago to the pen for whatever reason; they saw 4 lefties as risky but they won't tell you why.

It was a while back but the best purchase I made was a tutorial book by Barron's, including a long vocab list, math examples, and example essays. I copied every word I didn't know from the vocab list onto flash cards and that occupied a couple months. Kaplan was a utter waste of money. Anything that has full practice tests is a good thing also.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jul 28, 2013 -> 09:01 PM) He's getting a free pass because he's a 2nd year manager who replaced a loud ego-maniac and half the fanbase doesn't give a s*** right now anyway. If this was Dave Martinez's team people would figure he was done and it would ruin his chances at future employment

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jul 28, 2013 -> 09:02 PM) I must be the only one on Soxtalk who isn't enamored with Peavy. Nope.

Anyone know who number 14 is on the Barons? Not on the roster numbers list

carpet bombing.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Jul 28, 2013 -> 03:19 PM) JIM BOWDEN ‏@JimBowdenESPNxm now Peavy about to be traded according to Bruce Levine ESPN Chicago...could be A's or Braves (Red Sox, Cardinals, O's say it's not them) I haven't had a chance to do this in a while.

Nice recovery Hector.