Balta1701

QUOTE (Jake @ Jun 5, 2013 -> 02:28 PM) If you're not a moron, it would be fairly easy to get around this testing policy. It will restrict which steroids you can use and it will take quite a bit of micromanagement, but it is totally possible to manipulate that T:E ratio to evade the red flag. You should follow Victor Conte on twitter, he talks about this stuff fairly often...he is a consultant for some testing organizations and he said it would be extremely easy to beat the program right now too. I believe at least a portion of the players are even exempt from offseason testing. Many steroids become undetectable in days, if not hours. I noticed that they actually now allow for nandrolone at a certain level to appear on a test because of Michael Morse who continued to re-test positive because nandrolone is detectable for years. If you had someone smart advising you and no one found the records of your purchase, I'd say the odds of getting caught are on the order of 1 in 1000. That might have been the case with the previous policy I'll grant, but MLB was supposedly basically switching to the olympic testing model this year.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jun 5, 2013 -> 02:21 PM) Are Montero and Justin Smoak done then? Is Morse playing the OF for them? Zunino will have the catcher the position on lockdown soon. If they sign Morales to be their DH then that leaves Montero and Smoak battling for 1B? Smoak may be a bust. Not sure if they are ready to give up on Montero though. Montero's name is on the list in the other thread.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jun 5, 2013 -> 02:08 PM) They're not going to tender him a $14 million offer though. Yeah, so unless he's playing so well that they'd willingly offer him a year at $14 million, he won't involve comp.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jun 5, 2013 -> 01:59 PM) Yeah that is surprising from Scalia. Really?

QUOTE (bbilek1 @ Jun 5, 2013 -> 01:51 PM) Hopefully they all get suspended but Peralta, A-Rod, Braun and Colon would make me happy. As far as the speculation with Rowand, while I in no way doubt that he was using, is there any evidence or rumors other than his stats/production changes? People would also say body type, but he's just one of those guys that makes me hate everything about this era. People have big years/career years all the time, people have years they never come close to repeating, they did it before steroids existed, they're doing it today, but for that 15 year period, you can't tell who had a big year because of chemistry and who just had a big year. Drives me bleeping nuts.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Jun 5, 2013 -> 01:44 PM) Not sure that Morales is worth the draft pick, he is not going to save the offense by himself. Viciedo or Dunn will be at 1B next year. There aren't any plug and play 1B any team is going to give up for what the Sox are willing to trade. Is he seriously going to be good enough to get back draft compensation? He might have under the old CBA but he'd have to be ridiculous this year to get it under the new one.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jun 5, 2013 -> 11:05 AM) Seems like he has a good chance to figure it out. Who knows really, but everything I've read him say has sounded really mature and open-minded. NOT POSSIBLE HE TWEETS TOO MUCH

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 5, 2013 -> 01:38 PM) I'm just saying that looking at his K totals on a game by game basis is just silly at this point. It is a complete waste of time. Well, it has been a great excuse to say how terrible management and scouting are, and so for some it has been incredibly valuable rather than a waste of time.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Jun 5, 2013 -> 12:41 PM) His OPS went from .905 in 2004 to .736 in 2005, so yeah, you can tell when they started testing. Of course, he did then repeat that huge season with the Phillies in 2007 when there was a better testing program in place, just to note.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 5, 2013 -> 04:10 AM) Serious question: Do you think eventually the world will end or be changed forever as a result of US and China tensions? Do you feel someday we will nuke them and/or they will nuke us? It seems to me we have met our match in China. I prefer the USA and am a heckuva patriot and all that, but I am asking you ... will china prevail at some point in the world order? When the world ends will it be a result of USA and China nukes??? Military tensions? No. Nuclear tensions? No. The world will be forever changed by 1.2 billion people entering the economy over the past 20 years and the next 30 or so.

QUOTE (Tex @ Jun 5, 2013 -> 07:26 AM) when was the last time Dr. J was mentioned in any GOAT thread I'm pretty sure the answer to that question involves "Michael Jordan". That's the problem with Dr. J. Clearly one of the greatest of all time...but when you put him up against his airness...you give the edge to Mike. That means Dr. J could at best be #2.

QUOTE (winninguglyin83 @ Jun 4, 2013 -> 11:41 PM) I'll predict we see Phegley before the all-star break. Flowers belongs in a league where they ride a bus. I've been the one saying give Flowers to the trade deadline. That would be close enough. Then Phegley can struggle for 2 weeks and everyone can say he belongs in a league where they ride the bus

Another shot for Hector at least.

QUOTE (zenryan @ Jun 4, 2013 -> 08:37 PM) While I think Braun getting off on a technicality is pretty weak last time around, I dont know if I agree with MLB deciding to ignore write the rules as they go and skip over the 50 game suspension and go straight to the 100 game suspension. MLB would be doing 2 simultaneous penalties, one for juicing and one for lying to investigators, not anything to do with the previous positive test, according to the article. Says they successfully did that with the minor leaguer.

Well that explains how Peralta had that turnaround year last year.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jun 4, 2013 -> 08:25 PM) Those are the names listed in the ESPN article, here is the link. Gracias.

Is that the actual list?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 4, 2013 -> 08:08 PM) Who would you drop? He really is no better than Omogrosso. We have open spots on the 40 man, no one would have to be dropped. Sent down, fine, Omogrosso, he's already been optioned this year.

On phone so someone else can add details. ESpNs outside the lines is reporting that MLB intends to suspend Ryan Braun and Alex Rodriguez, amongst others, over their connections to Biogenesis Phamaceuticals.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jun 4, 2013 -> 05:55 PM) Plus, I think a lot of the reason they were willing to move Santos was BECAUSE of Reed. And like I said...we've got a guy at AA popping 100 right now.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Jun 4, 2013 -> 05:11 PM) I wouldn't go this far either. If Wade and Bosh continue to suck, the window is open. The Spurs are much better than any team they've faced other than OKC last year. Duncan and Splitter could cause similar problems to Indiana, they're a good shooting team, and Parker is playing phenomenal right now. Lebron's the best player in the series, but the Spurs could easily have the next two with better role players than the Heat. I could really see this going either way. I'd be shocked if it ends in 5, and my leanings would be Miami winning in 7 on their home floor. If the Heat had finished their series in 4, I'd have been very annoyed at the fact that Wade got some extra rest. Instead, he has had zero extra rest. That's a positive.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jun 4, 2013 -> 05:48 PM) Yeah, it isn;t ideal by any means, but as long as he remains one of the 9 best bats in the system, that's where he's going to get pushed. Fast OF guys are just what we have the most of in the system, and they're all substantially better than tank out there. Of course, I assume Rios is gone soon, so if De Aza goes too, we may have some holes to fill. At least for next year, it's very, very, very difficult to see the Sox having enough OF's that the team can afford to move one to 1b unless they spend serious FA money on that position. The only guy who was set up to have a shot at the bigs next season was Mitchell, and he's fallen apart. We might well be looking to replace our CF after this season, frankly. We might well have an OF ready in 2015 if they continue developing (see other thread) but we'll be looking to replace Rios then and De Aza would be deep into arb years. We're not overloaded with OF's at the upper levels just yet.

We've got the roster spots now. Does Coop post here? Can someone ask him?

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 4, 2013 -> 03:49 PM) He hit .292 in May. If he can be .270+ for another month or two, and keep the K rates down where he's been lately, I think he's ready for AAA. I don't think he's out of the question for 2014 if he does that, though 2015 may be more realistic. That would be a classic White Sox "get him to the big leagues as soon as possible and make Balta start screaming no no no no no" kinda move. IMO, he's a kid still and the Sox are crazy if they don't treat him like that...give him a full year at AA, plan for AAA next year with a September callup (and if he Phegleys Charlotte, maybe you start talking about it earlier, or if someone gets hurt).

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jun 4, 2013 -> 04:54 PM) Ah yes, of course. He and Duncan will still have a field day. Splitter averaged 12.5/9.5 in 28 minutes against the Heat this season. Meanwhile, Tim Duncan only played one game, but had 17/12 with 2 blocks. I don't believe that this series will even be close. I'll lean towards the Heat until proven otherwise...but I'm really interested to see how the Spurs execute out of the gate. I'm used to seeing what a Thibs coached team can do with a couple days to prepare for an opponent; the Spurs might have paid a little attention to the Pacers, but they knew when they finished their series they needed to prepare for the Heat...and they have something of a quality coach.