Balta1701

QUOTE (farmteam @ Mar 10, 2013 -> 05:13 PM) Seth Davis made a good point on the halftime show -- Crean oversubbed his way out of a lead. No reason to take out Zeller and Oladipo with a 10-3 lead when neither of them have a foul. That Michigan run had as much to do with Burke coming back as it did with us playing half the bench. Yeah, i definitely kept looking for them during that Michigan run and couldn't figure out why only 1 would be in there (Oladipo did keep missing layups). Hopefully that's part of the plan, to have them on the court more in the 2nd, or something like that.

QUOTE (farmteam @ Mar 10, 2013 -> 05:10 PM) Is this a common thing at college arenas? People would get heckled and stuff for wearing an opponent's jersey at Assembly Hall, but they could wear it. The only rule was the standard no profanity. Student told to wear Michigan shirt or leave I think it is for the "Student section", since universities are usually giving students much cheaper tickets so that they can get into those sections.

QUOTE (farmteam @ Mar 10, 2013 -> 05:05 PM) Free throws can be the difference. Usually we shoot and make more free throws than the other team, and that's not even close to happening here. And we need to, you know, make the actual free throw when given an attempt. Nice job by Indiana to not fold there, felt like it was a key point when the score was 27-16. Now play well in the second half. Seems like both Zeller and Oladipo spent a lot of time on the bench that half, but I can't find "minutes" recorded in the stats easily. Hulls obviously also but that was fouls. IU has 0 points from its bench right now. 0/8 on FG.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Mar 10, 2013 -> 04:55 PM) So I should be envious of the Cubs who are going to have to wait around 3 or 4 years for their current crop of prospects to POSSIBLY reach the majors. Then they have to let them adjust to the MLB for another year or two. Then they have to try and sign free agents who will look at all the recent terrible seasons and not sign. So they're going to have to hope all their prospects hit their prime at the same time. I'd rather be where the Sox are than hoping my current batch of prospects all hit their prime 10 years from now. Bad team + great farm is worse than in playoff hunt + bad farm. See: Royals MLB Free Agents won't generally care about whether or not the Cubs are winning if they're offering the most money. The problem of course is that signing Free Agents as a method of building your team has become ungodly expensive. So many teams are trying to find that last guy to put them over the edge into the playoffs, or are locking their guys up early, that you pay things like 5/$25 for Hamlton when even fangraphs thinks that's an overpay. Or you lock yourself into an 8 year deal for someone like Prince. Etc. Basically, so many teams are competing for "The guy to put you over the edge" that it makes very little sense to sign high-salary guys for any other purpose.

No more excuses. No more not showing up. No more letdowns. You want to be a #1 team IU, stand up and show it. You're talented enough to. Play like it today. You either take that title on your own or you share it with so many people we might as well laugh.

Derrick told ABC that his hamstrings are "on fire" after every workout/practice right now.

QUOTE (hammerhead johnson @ Mar 10, 2013 -> 03:30 PM) Their ticket sales are not gonna erode. Come on. They lost 135,000 in attendance last year and that's with season tickets still locked up from when they had a decent team. This year the ticket brokers aren't going to take the kind of losses they did last year.

QUOTE (hammerhead johnson @ Mar 10, 2013 -> 03:17 PM) Uh, I'm saying that having a top minor league system and a boatload of cash could lead to success. And it could also lead to a lost decade, particularly if their ticket sales erode while they're piling up those draft picks.

QUOTE (bmags @ Mar 10, 2013 -> 02:04 PM) I'm having trouble linking on ipad, but I suggest reading nytimes article on al-alwaki assassination. Here's a look at the article with well-deserved skepticism.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Mar 10, 2013 -> 02:36 PM) See this is what I find so funny about his post. He's acting like having 4 top 100 prospects is going to lead to guaranteed success for the Cubs. This is a team that lost 100 games last year. They don't have much of a core at the major league level. And most of their 4 top 100 prospects are at least 2 or 3 years away from hitting the big leagues if all goes right. I'm friends with a couple of smart Cubs fans and they're starting to realize this rebuilding thing is going to take a lot longer than they originally expected, especially with all the CBA changes. Theo is going to have a real hard tume accelerating the rebuilding process without all the loopholes he took advanagage of before. This isn't the NBA, one top draft pick isn't enough to change a franchise's fortunes. They're going to have to string together several big drafts and then wait a few years while those guys develop. Who knows when or if that will ever happen for them. The one thing he's right about is that by 2015 they won't have a lot of bad money on their roster from the current players... But that's because they'll have 2 players under contract out of the current group. Castro and Jackson. Basically, yes they'll have some money to spend, but they're literally starting from scratch, and it will be a couple years before they can do so.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Mar 10, 2013 -> 03:09 AM) They're the 90's Knicks/Pacers. Of course they can compete. Actually winning 4 times is a completely different story. If they went into that series now, they'd have Noah and Boozer both healthier and playing better, but they'd be missing Asik and Korver. Bellini and, god forbid, Hamilton, could make a solid improvement on the backcourt, and Butler would definitely leave us stronger everywhere except backup C coming off the bench. They could make a series of it, if Rose was where he was 2 years ago.

QUOTE (hammerhead johnson @ Mar 9, 2013 -> 10:28 PM) I never had you pegged as a company man. Surely, you're more informed than the people who sing the praises of mediocre pitchers like Quintana and Santiago? I'm only concerned with building towards a championship. Keep your "random guys". Who cares if the Cubs lost 100 games? The short term is meaningless in their case. If they lose 100 once again and score the #1 overall pick, then that's awesome. Good lord. If the White Sox had the Cubs roster this year, I wouldn't be paying for MLB Extra innings, and I'd be going out a lot more on Saturday.

This is listed as "unlikely to be released online" and may get pulled soon.

QUOTE (hammerhead johnson @ Mar 9, 2013 -> 08:58 PM) I know it hurts. Yeah, watching the team on the South side bring up random guys and keep getting production out of them while the top picks and veterans you've invested a fortune in lose 100 games has to be excruciating.

QUOTE (flavum @ Mar 9, 2013 -> 06:12 PM) Not really, but I just saw Canada and Mexico get into a huge bench-clearing brawl. GM's cringing all over baseball. I understand why they want to make the game more international, but for the American fan, I don't see the appeal. Compared to the first year they did this, the quality of play they're getting from the non-incredible teams is impressive. Whether we pay attention or not, it seems like the WBC is seriously helping improve international baseball and probably interest in baseball internationally as well.

QUOTE (MAX @ Mar 9, 2013 -> 03:12 PM) Who is RJ? Clemens was roided up like crazy just to stay healthy. He still got hurt some, like in the world series. Randy Johnson.

QUOTE (Andy the Clown @ Mar 9, 2013 -> 03:02 PM) 2) Lexi and Dayan struggle to get their OBPs above .300, so I could see why some advocate trading them. Alexei's OBP for his career is .316 and it's been above .300 every year of his career except last year.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Mar 9, 2013 -> 12:57 PM) I've got to be honest, I think Hahn pulled off quite the deal. I read the article on Fangraphs that listed 8 comparable deals and it seems like the Sale deal was better than most and possibly all of them. Minimal salary increase in his final pre-arb year, low prices for the three arbitration years, and an extremely low first free agency year. The salary for those guaranteed years should have been much higher, especially since a lot of those comparable deals are now several years old and the cost of pitching continues to rise. Also, getting two cheap options is incredible. Come on Balta, it's one thing for Sale to forego possible income down the road to lock in some money now, but you're telling me he couldn't have got way more in those two option years? $12.5 million & $13.5 million is what #4 starters will be making in 2018 & 2019. Chris Sale could have easily gotten more money in the latter years, but to do that, he'd have to go through the normal arbitration and free agency process, where none of the money is guaranteed. Through normal arbitration, it would take him 2 to 3 seasons to earn this much. He'd be minimum salary this year, $10 million or so next year, $14 million or so the next year, and then closer to $20 million in the 4th year. Basically he traded a guaranteed salary for an early arrival at free agency. If you're a player with any worry about injury risk, and you're content with where you are, it's the right move. If he had any injury, then he might never earn that $30 million since it wouldn't get there until the 4th season.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Mar 9, 2013 -> 10:01 AM) the padres would be smart to deal headley when he's at the peak of his value. the white sox would be stupid to buy into it There's a decent chance this isn't Headley's peak value. Think about it. He's been a good, solid 3b before, but last year he was a great 3b. No one who is trading for him thinks he's a great 3b, but if he comes out and can replicate last year's campaign, suddenly he now has a track record for multiple years as a great 3b. I'd pay a helluva lot more for him if he hit 30 HR 2 years in a row than 4 HR in 2011 and 31 in 2012.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 9, 2013 -> 11:10 AM) He must be a hypnotist then to get so many players to take hometown discounts to play here... Sale, Konerko three times, Danks, Peavy, Buehrle for a lot of years... This deal wasn't a massive hometown discount. It's a reasonable deal for a kid under 25 to sign. He could blow his elbow out tomorrow, never pitch again, and walk away with $33 million dollars based on 1 really good season as a starter. Maybe he could have talked the team out of another couple million, but that is a real good deal for him too.

So is there anyone with a decent chance to knock of Gonzaga or do they have the #1 overall all but wrapped up?

Hawkins article front the trib. Hawkins weighed 270 as a 13 year old, 235 today.

“@scottmerkin: Crain threw a bullpen yesterday. Getting better but still can't go full out to get in a game. Hoping for next week.”

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Mar 8, 2013 -> 05:58 PM) If I owned property within a mile Wrigley I'd have to think seriously about unloading it. I think moving is a real threat and the day they announce it, property values are going to drop like a rock. Might as well start calling it South Uptown. IMO, not a chance. >50% of that teams value is in the stadium. It's why they're a unique property. Move to the suburbs and they immediately become any other team and simultaneously anger their fanbase.

NBA to add in HGH and blood testing.