Balta1701

QUOTE (RockRaines @ May 31, 2012 -> 10:58 AM) Whats the benefit of sitting or limiting Sale? I dont understand this theory. Do you think somehow pushing back the possibility of him getting hurt is better for him or the Sox? If his mechanics are as bad as everyone thinks and an injury is inevitable i'd rather have him having surgery now rather than in a year or so. I don't think an injury is inevitable, but I think jumping him from 80 innings in 2011 (counting ST) to 200+ innings if the Sox give him a playoff start would be a massive stress on his arm. His arm got used to working in short stints last year after having been stretched out the years before, now we're pushing it back to being stretched out, and we already saw him hit one "tired elbow" point. One plausible way to avoid that is to build in some extra rest so that his arm gets extra recovery time and doesn't get hit with the full 200+ innings load right away. Plus, if I'm expecting that he'll hit another "Tired arm" period this season, which wouldn't be surprising, I'd rather be able to schedule that outing than have it happen when the Sox are facing a double-header or already have a tired bullpen, like happened last time.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ May 31, 2012 -> 10:31 AM) Except that Facebook is step 2 or 3 in that search process instead of the first stop, which is why I don't understand where the insane value comes from. Is it a valuable commodity? Yes. Is it a hundreds of billions worth? I don't see it. And ok, so you can get some coupons for "liking" a restaurant, but that's one of a bunch of companies that offer the same thing - yelp, foursquare, etc. - companies that have been doing it for a little longer. Just like Facebook is one of many companies that can do photo sharing (Instagram was a big purchase for that obviously). I don't see them being able to generate a revenue stream like Google when Google already exists and owns what Facebook wants to do (even in a slightly different form). I'm not bashing people that use Facebook, i'm just saying I don't see where the value comes from. There's 2 key possible value steps there...first, in terms of liking a restaurant, you need to be connected to a wide group of friends already on that site for that "like/checkin" to mean anything. If I like something on foursquare, it does very little because there aren't a billion people on there. If I check in on Yelp, only a few people see that unless I stop to write a very detailed review. Having everything, including a ton of people, at one site, is a game-changer. Secondly, the fact that everyone is on there already means a lot of content and information available to facebook, which gives them the ability to keep having people look back. it gives them the ability to have people on their site a long time, and develop ads and information use strategies that take advantage of that. Their problem right now isn't monetizing what they have, that would come with time...I think their problem is actually shifting platforms. They have admitted they are struggling with how to make money off of their mobile apps because it's harder to advertise on there, and that's the way a lot of their users are rapidly shifting.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ May 31, 2012 -> 10:18 AM) What an awful, awful game last night. Boston plays really well (Rondo with an all-time classic) and the refs completely screw them. Obviously it's Boston's fault that they gave up a double digit lead, but playing 5-8 in the last 5 minutes of a game is pretty tough to overcome. Though I guess Boston getting screwed and Miami getting swept in the Finals is about the best we can hope for right? Personally I'd go with Miami getting screwed and losing to Boston and then Boston getting swept in the finals, but your way works too. just makes me more nervous to have them get NBA-finals close again.

QUOTE (iamshack @ May 31, 2012 -> 10:11 AM) I don't believe this. There was nothing Brent Morel was doing that would have made you frightened to play Escobar or Lillibridge at 3rd in his absence in order to get him healthy for the remainder of the season. Like I said, there's some iffyness here. I kept saying something was really off/different about him this year because of the strikeouts, but there was virtually nothing said about it being his back until he went for that cortisone shot in early May. There's no one saying he hid anything from the medical staff, no one seems negative about him at all, but they took forever in saying anything about it, and then there's that allusion to the dietary thing. Whatever the answer is, in hindsight yeah, seems like giving Lilli/Esco extra playing time a lot earlier would have been the right move, but for some reason the team decided against that, and they haven't given us their reasoning.

QUOTE (iamshack @ May 31, 2012 -> 10:05 AM) I have no problem with this...I just don't understand how if all his woes this season were related to this injury, and it was this easily fixable, why the hell they didn't do it a month ago? There's some vagueness to this, if you remember the article where he's also talking about having some dietary/weight loss issues that he didn't want to go into more details about, so it's hard to say exactly. But perhaps, the best answer is...who was available? Brandon Inge might have been an option but the Sox couldn't claim him on waivers without picking up a lot of money, and he would then have had the choice where he went as a free agent. The Sox could have been in on him and we wouldn't have known. Other than that, they weren't going to give Lillibridge or Escobar everyday time at 3b, that's pretty clear, and it's so early in the season no one is trading away an adequate 3b starting option if they're not being bought out.

QUOTE (2nd_city_saint787 @ May 31, 2012 -> 12:22 AM) It'll get lost in the playoff talks but I dont wanna lose the thought. Has anything ever been said about the relationship between Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer? Why I ask is if Deron would be happy playing with Boozer in Brooklyn if they cant get Howard then they might give up Gerald Wallace for Booze. But then you get Dallas, another team that wants D-Will, on the phone and you tell them you can have him for that #17 pick, Shawn Marion, and Lamar Odom. Those expiring contracts and the #17 pick really set this team up nicely for the future and with Rose out thats what the should do, build towards 2013. This of course would happen after a Pau trade. Marion isn't an expiring contract, his contract has $9.3 million on it for 2013/2014. And Odom is a "Team option" this year...which frankly, the Mavericks will not be picking up under any circumstances, so that means he's an unrestricted free agent right now and the Mavericks cannot use him in trades.

QUOTE (iamshack @ May 31, 2012 -> 09:53 AM) So if we can't find a legitimate upgrade at 3b, who do you go with? Hudson or Morel? Morel has to earn it. If he hits well on this minor league stint, then he's earned a callup. If he gets playing time in the bigs, his leash has to be short.

QUOTE (iamshack @ May 31, 2012 -> 09:38 AM) Both he with us and Strasburg in Washington could make this quite a hot topic in August or September. I still think the way to reduce that concern down the stretch is to pencil in some extra time off, either using a callup or Stewart or Mr. Offday in his place, once a month for the next 3 months.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ May 31, 2012 -> 09:13 AM) Maybe. But that doesnt change the fact that his performance this year has been abysmal at best. And because of that, despite O-Dog looking like a NL #8 hitter, that still makes his performance with us look that much better and that is largely why he has been getting as much as praise as he has been And that doesn't change the fact that O-Dog's numbers currently would be poor for an NL #8 hitter. He's helpful. But he'd be an even bigger help replacing escobar as a utility man...if Brent Morel could be 100% healthy and start showing progress with the bat.

I'd say I'm about 1/2 surprised they won't give him a rehab start.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ May 30, 2012 -> 11:04 PM) Santiago, for one, has a much lower average against righties but they have a higher OPS against him. I wonder what pitches he's giving up these hits on. I think it's the screwball, if I'm recognizing his pitches correctly. (It's either that or it's a change). It's a low 80's mph pitch that breaks away from the righties, but it keeps floating up in the zone knee/waist high, and becomes that meatball.

QUOTE (iamshack @ May 30, 2012 -> 10:25 PM) See Knight's post above mine...I wonder if he actually intended to keep Jackson or not. And that excuse would drive me nuts even more, because you don't complete the first trade if you don't want the player. That would be a fireable fail. Anyway, we saw that go down on The Club and it sure seemed like Kenny wanted Jackson, and I still think that was nuts. Anyway, I've got nothing new to add on that, so that's my final word, despise that trade.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ May 30, 2012 -> 10:12 PM) It seems the loudest people here are still whining over the Hudson deal, and I've been saying Gio is going to be the better pitcher when it's all said and done. I would still complain about the Hudson deal more even if Gio wins a Cy Young. The Gio deal I at least get. It was filling a need the team clearly had. The Hudson deal drives me nuts about how useless/unnecessary it was compared to what the team actually needed. It needed a LH bat and to develop some young pitching.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ May 30, 2012 -> 10:05 PM) Only a massive disappointment if you expect him to continue his insane 2011 season. This season he has had a 7.0 K/9. That's solid. He has a 1.8 BB/9. That's very good. He has a K/BB of 3.83, which is very nice. His HR/9 is 0.9. That's solid. His only problem has been the hits. Who knows, that could be bad defense, that could be bad luck. Is he doing great this season? No. Is he doing bad this year? No. Don't get so caught up in ERA, it's a terrible way to judge a prospect. His peripherals are the most important thing to look at in a box score, and he is doing just fine w/ those, outside of the hits. He's also a control guy moving up to AA. At lower levels you can get guys out in ways that you lose when you move to higher levels.

QUOTE (iamshack @ May 30, 2012 -> 10:04 PM) The trade for him or the trade of him? For him.

QUOTE (Jake @ May 30, 2012 -> 09:43 PM) Brent Morel 2 for 3, but pulled in the seventh. Not sure what's up with that??? Injured??? More hopefully just being extra careful, if this is a 2 week stint, no reason to push things if you need a pinch runner or whatecer.

I'll still go Jackson

QUOTE (Jake @ May 30, 2012 -> 09:58 PM) Seems odd to me, what are you learning about his health if he can't make it through the whole game? I figure the goal has to be as many repetitions as possible to sharpen up for the MLB and prove his good health. If this is an extended rehab stint (and it should be) then being careful is not a bad idea. I don't want to see him called up after 3 games, take your time.

Come on Boston, do this

The 4 minute, anti-Obama attack ad that Fox produced and ran a couple times this morning really is impressive and certainly makes one ask why they haven't declared their whole network a Super-PAC yet.

Link. None of those "issues" should be all that surprising. 2009 study suggested that out of low wage, hourly workers, more than half had some sort of violation in the law in their pay, including things like not being paid for overtime, not being paid for normal work, etc. 12% of workers who earn tips reported having their supervisors taking portions of those tips (which is also termed stealing). Filed complaints have increased by 400% since 2000.

QUOTE (JohnCangelosi @ May 30, 2012 -> 07:31 PM) Well I hear you but the idea is to save their arms a bit. Our rotation consists of a lot of guys with questionable durability... Frankly, with Peavy, we may as well pitch him as much as possible until he really wears out. It's not like we're saving him for next year.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ May 30, 2012 -> 07:41 PM) I wouldn't mind sending down Stewart and having him be a long man/spot guy. I might like that more if e wasn't a lefty. My word, 4 lefties in a bullpen? Im not sure if I would care how good they are.

Great news for the Bulls.

QUOTE (iamshack @ May 30, 2012 -> 06:34 PM) The Mets are saying they are going to start talks with Wright soon, and the Rangers just signed Oswalt... I think Floyd will most likely stay until the end of the year unless someone gets crazy...like the O's... even if desperate, the O's wouldn't be likely to help out a team they might have to compete for 1 of the wild card spots with. If the Sox were giving up floyd for prospects that wouldn't help at the major league level sure, but they're not going to help "Fill the 3b hole".