Balta1701

QUOTE (flavum @ Mar 30, 2013 -> 11:39 AM) At 32 starts, averaging 6 2/3, he'll be at 213 innings. I think that would be a good number to shoot for. Unfortunately, we might have to choose between him throwing 240 and winning the world series MVP. Such a trial we have...

QUOTE (GoodAsGould @ Mar 30, 2013 -> 10:14 AM) People do overvalue the stadium for the Cubs, moving out or building a new stadium would have no affect on their fan base. I don't know any Cubs fan that has said he would stop going based on their park, most admit it is a dump now if anything. Getting the fans of the team out to the ballpark isn't why the Cubs sell 30k tickets a game. It's the casual person who is only slightly interested in the game that is filling their park.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 30, 2013 -> 08:37 AM) And the Yankees identity isn't tied up in its stadium. Its tied up in winning. A lot. The Red Sox are a better comp for the Cubs. Great comparison, and there's a reason why the Red Sox didn't move out of that ballpark.

QUOTE (Tex @ Mar 30, 2013 -> 10:42 AM) I have to agree. With Sale you have 200 innings to spend. When do you want to use them? Why only 200? He threw 192 last year. Even if you buy the Verducci rule, the Sox can push him 220 without setting off alarms.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 29, 2013 -> 10:27 PM) Every source out there has Khan seeding the NK program. Of course that was in the 90's so it couldn't have actually happened because there wasn't a Republican to blame then. He helped them make somethig they don't have working yet. The hard step in making a plutonium bomb is building a nuclear reactor and machining the metal. Once you do build the reactor, it makes plutonium as a waste product. Separating it is easy because it is chemically different from the fuel rods. Machining it is then incredibly difficult, the metal is highly flammable and machining has to be precise. Incorrect machining can cause a bomb to "fizzle", to not go critical, which is exactly what happened in their first test. None of the products of this setup are remotely usable in a uranium bomb. The only similar step is enriching uranium to 20% in order o use in a reactor. The easy step in a uranium bomb is building the bomb. It's simple to do. The near impossible part is enriching the uranium highly, to 98%. That was what Khan developed for Pakistan and sold to both Iran and Libya. If they had a successful uranium enrichment cascade in Korea, they'd have tested that bomb already. To build a uranium bomb we had to build Oak Ridge and employ 25,00 people. The Pakistanis spent 2 decades working on it. Korea had plutonium sitting there, stripped the seals off, and in 3 years machined it to the point it fizzled. They have taken other things from Pakistan but it has not worked yet. You need fundamentally different technology for the 2 paths. Callig it a non sequitur is the same as saying Washington state and Tennessee are the same state, since the us built 2 totally different factories (Hanford and Oak Ridge) to build the 2 different weapons used.

QUOTE (South Side Fireworks Man @ Mar 29, 2013 -> 05:21 PM) Because Dunn swings and misses left handed. 3/3 today before being pulled. You have 162+ days where you are now required to make this joke.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 29, 2013 -> 10:19 PM) It also talks about the transfer of technology from Pakistan to Iran and to North Korea pretty clearly. That non sequitor doesn't really matter. That uranium and plutonium are fundamentally different processes doesn't matter? Sorry man. You can't make one into the other and they don't have a uranium bomb yet. Everything they've tested was stuff that was under un deal until 2002. They certainly want one, but that enrichment cascade isn't easy. Woulda been great if we hadn't been busy in 2002 when they removed all the un monitoring equipment.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 29, 2013 -> 09:59 PM) You should try google once in a while. http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/robcrill...th-koreas-bomb/ Your own link talks about him selling uranium enrichment. Link yes, you should also try google.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 29, 2013 -> 07:31 PM) Their nuclear program goes back to the 50's and 60's, due to the Soviets. Their nuclear programs recent "strides" were thanks to buying it from AQ Khan and Pakistan. It is the same set of "strides" that Iran made. Cash. North Korea has been detonating plutonium bombs. Khan s old uranium enrichment equipment.

Posey got Paid! 9 years, $167 million, covers 2013-2021, with an option $22 million year at the end. Also includes a full no trade clause for the duration of the contract. Largest contract ever for a player with less than 3 years service time, more than doubling the contract CarGo got at that point. Buster Posey will still be under contract in Hillary Clinton's second term (hi-o).

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Mar 29, 2013 -> 04:02 PM) His strong, accurate arm makes up for his only decent range. I'm going to say he's the best defensive LF'er the Sox have had since moving to the new park. I'll probably give that to Juan Pierre (the 2010 version, not the 2011 version), although I could be forgetting someone from the pre-Lee years.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Mar 29, 2013 -> 03:43 PM) Be skeptical of defensive stats. Viciedo was a good defensive LF'er last year. I'll go so far as to say decent, I won't say good. He's still not going to cover a lot of ground, but Rios + De Aza out there will make up for some of DV's issues with that, and he'll probably get better jumps on the ball with more experience.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Mar 29, 2013 -> 02:55 PM) That's not really true, but what's the point in trying to have this conversation with anyone anymore? WTF? The capital gains tax rate was cut from nearly 30% in the late 90's to just over 20%, and then to about 15% in the Bush 2003 tax cut package, and that rate was extended in the fiscal cliff deal. Since 2003 it is at the lowest level post-war. Yeah, what's the point of having a conversation with a person when they insist that 15% > 30%?

QUOTE (whitesox901 @ Mar 29, 2013 -> 02:56 PM) 24M (Fielder) + 16M (Sanchez) + 22M (Cabrera) + 25M (Verlander). It's worse, Verlander is $28 million for that season.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Mar 29, 2013 -> 02:50 PM) They also got .600 out of 3B, but that doesn't take away from Youkilis's all around production. He wasn't a savior by any means, but he was absolutely worth everything the Sox gave up in prospects. Was totally not saying anything about Youk being worth what they gave up. Obviously he was. Posted that mostly as a way of illustrating that indeed, the Sox's #2 spot was quite bad last year and reasonable performances from Keppinger/Gillaspie/anyone who steals the #2 spot from them would be a solid lineup upgrade.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Mar 29, 2013 -> 02:40 PM) We ( me and you) think his D was decent because he wasn't a liability and because of his arm. His assist total was the highest for a Sox left fielder in a long time. However his WAR was like a .5 which I found shockingly low and I'm guessing that's mostly due to his D (lack of range?) and/or lack of walks. Now I admit I am more old school and so maybe someone can tell me why he was deemed to be barely above replacement level. Just seems to me having a hand in throwing out 16 base runners is more valuable. His fielding was only slightly below average for that position, but the real rub for him is that those 25 HR only translated to a .744 OPS. The average LF across baseball put up a .756 OPS, so Viciedo was slightly below average with both the bat and the glove. Given his age, "Slightly below average" is certainly promising, but that's why he only put up a slightly above replacement level WAR.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Mar 29, 2013 -> 02:38 PM) The Sox last good 1-2 was...last year. De Aza-Youkilis was more than acceptable. Counting the whole season, the White Sox got a .221/.296/.354/.650 out of the #2 spot in their batting order.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Mar 29, 2013 -> 02:27 PM) Hah, if we signed Verlander to this deal, we'd be super stoked We may well have signed a younger pitcher who will be just as good for $60 million through the time he'll be paid $180 million.

By my count, that leaves them $90.8 million committed to 4 players for 2015 and $73.8 million for 3 players in 2016-2017 (with Cabrera hitting FA after 2015).

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Mar 29, 2013 -> 01:50 PM) That is what outsourcing and streamlining productivity are all about. Then you tax those that profit from this in capital gains tax and give the money to the middle and lower class workers that have been replaced via federal assistance programs. Which is why we've slashed capital gains taxes over the past few decades, to make sure that doesn't happen.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Mar 29, 2013 -> 01:07 PM) KC finished 72-90. They added James Shields to pitch every 5 days. And Wade Davis who should contribute as well. So what kind of realistic turnaround are we talking here? 81-81? They could do it. They could get another couple wins out of guys like Francoeur not being totally terrible, they could get a couple wins if they had their regular CF and C for most of the season, but the real key for them remains Moustakas and Hosmer. Those guys have the ability to be all stars; if they play like that, they're dangerous, if they muddle through another season, then .500 could be a ceiling. Edit: Found it, here's a good summary. Lots of guys need to perform above their averages, but Hosmer and Moustakas are the guys who need to make jumps.

QUOTE (farmteam @ Mar 29, 2013 -> 12:11 PM) I keep reading that it "protects Monsanto from litigation" without seeing how it protects them. I'd want to see that before getting worked up. as soon as I saw that Snopes had a piece on it, i figured that aws a better explanation than anything I could find elsewhere.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 29, 2013 -> 11:18 AM) No letting crazy dictators put together nuclear programs is a great idea. I totally agree. We should have been on this problem in 2002 and 2003 when they reprocessed those fuel rods, that was the key time, we stopped negotiating with them then, declared that negotiations were just aiding the enemy, and then turned our backs to deal with a different, um, issue. If we'd kept the fuel rods under seal, as they were until October, 2002 when the monitoring equipment was removed, we wouldn't have this problem right now. We're still paying for that lunacy 10 years later.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 29, 2013 -> 11:05 AM) That's been our plan for a while now, especially with NK. If you've got a better idea I'd love to hear it?