Balta1701

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 30, 2012 -> 01:50 PM) You should say you learned then, not "I was told..." Sorry, didn't mean to offend, would say those mean the same thing to me, but yes, I learned that we should expect a major hot streak from Fielder sometime soon.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 30, 2012 -> 01:42 PM) Are you going to do this every time someone actually corrects you? I was trying to give you credit. I actually learned something, and now I'm trying to take and project based on that. If Fielder does what you say and hits a HR streak, that's going to solve a whole lot of their problems.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Apr 30, 2012 -> 01:43 PM) LOL. You are kinda ridiculous when you come off really wrong in threads and get called for it. Did you see that bomb by Fielder yesterday? He's fine. No, I didn't.

QUOTE (GoodAsGould @ Apr 30, 2012 -> 01:40 PM) I think we can beat anyone outside of the thunder with our current roster. That being said, I just don't see us beating the heat 4 times. How's this for a statement. If the games were officiated like regular season games, I'd give the Bulls a reasonable shot.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 30, 2012 -> 01:21 PM) I'm all for Beckham being sent down and Morel staying on the big league club and just working on being aggressive. If Beckham goes down the minors and continues to struggle to hit the ball out of the infield, then it makes it easier to get rid of him after this year. In general though, I think everyone should be way more optimistic about this team's chances to compete in the AL Central as opposed to a month ago. Peavy has looked great, Sale's made a smooth transition to starter, and Dunn no longer looks to be the worst hitter in history. The biggest area for optimism for me is that the Tigers haven't distanced themselves already from the rest of the division. I was told in the other thread that I should take very little fromm the fact that Fielder only has an OPS just over .800, and at some point he's going to go on a major HR streak. If that's the case, that'll make up for a lot of the issues they're having right now.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Apr 30, 2012 -> 01:25 PM) I dont understand why he wouldnt recover fully. The kid is in his early 20's, a full recovery is 100% expected. His work ethic is also a huge plus in rehab. He'll be fine, I just hope the roster turns out fine. The knee is just one of those things. Once you've damaged it, it's just never going to be the same.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Apr 30, 2012 -> 12:58 PM) I'm desperately searching for positives in this offense, but they're hard to find. However, I would like to give yesterday's lineup a chance to succeed. Lillibridge and Escobar add considerably more speed and might help to manufacture a few runs, certainly more than Beckham and Morel can do with speed alone. I don't know what you give up on D, though. I'll say that I am impressed Ventura has stuck with Morel and Beckham so far, but I'm not quite sure at this point what he's thinking while doing so...they've just shown no signs of turning things around...so I'm left wondering what the deadline is before something other than the lineup order is changed.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Apr 30, 2012 -> 01:11 PM) Nope. Not a positive and I don't believe it. A title is a title, and staying healthy is a huge party of that. Even the shortened season won't really be an asterisk, nobody says the Spurs didn't deserve their title.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Apr 30, 2012 -> 12:24 PM) And yet hundreds of thousands of people DO carry every day without incident. And thousands of people do drive home intoxicated without incident.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 30, 2012 -> 10:01 AM) And if you are the Dodgers, flush with cash, and you're in a division race or more likely, a pennant race, and you know there is an SP available basically for cash that's pitched very well against Boston/Texas/Detroit and possibly the other AL powerhouse lineups, you're not going to have a ton of interest in acquiring him? I'm just not sure that, after forking over $2 billion, that ownership group counts as "Flush with cash", but we'll find out. We already know Boston is out of the picture.

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Apr 30, 2012 -> 10:00 AM) So you're saying put the money towards next year? Question: Peavy has a buyout, correct? So if the Sox hold on to him for the whole year, they MUST either pick up the option or pay the buyout? Am I correct about that? Yes. Whoever is holding Jake Peavy at the end of the season either must pay him $4 million when they choose not to pick up his option or they must pick up the option for $22 million for next year. No way around that unless you renegotiate his contract mid-season.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 30, 2012 -> 09:58 AM) Exactly... The question is do the cc laws give people the courage to do things (oftentimes not the wisest things) they wouldn't ordinarily do because they feel a sense of security carrying a gun? If so, then perhaps this is an unintended consequence of the cc laws. Hopefully this was more than just "5 people" tested, hard to tell from this reading, but this was the most recent result that turned up on the Google, and I'm pretty sure quite a few studies have replicated this result...having access to a weapon makes people more paranoid, more aggressive, etc.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 30, 2012 -> 09:51 AM) The problem is that if a good chunk of the area is extremely poor (median number at minimum wage for example) how far are you willing to travel for somewhere to hang out? That's got to be their issue with the site...if they want this thing to succeed, it needs to be able to draw some traffic on its own. If gets a big boost on maybe 100 nights a year, which is a nice starting point, but that kind of boost can sustain a couple restaurants/bars in the area, I don't know if it could sustain an entire retail complex with multiple restaurants and bars. You've got to be able to draw some traffic to the area on nights where there aren't games, which means that there has to be some successful retail on the site as well, along with non-game-night transit access.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 30, 2012 -> 09:51 AM) How do you get $12 million for 2 months? Probably closer to $10 million if he's moved at the deadline, you're right, $12 million would be moved mid-July. He gets $17 million this year, which translates to about $3 million a month. Then, there's a $4 million buyout paid by whichever team he's on at the end of the season when they decide not to pick up his option. Pick him up end of July, and you're paying him $10-$12 million, give or take the exact day. $750k a start is a reasonable estimate.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 30, 2012 -> 09:47 AM) If he continues to pitch like his 2007 self...come July, we won't have to eat any salary. We'll trade him to the Dodgers and possibly even get a couple live, breathing baseball players for him. $12 million for 2 months is a ton of money. If someone wants to take that on, great...but I'm skeptical until I see it. That's probably about what ARod is getting paid for thsoe 2 months.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 30, 2012 -> 09:42 AM) It's 20 games...it's April...and Fielder is VERY streaky in terms of hitting home runs...I know you never want to admit you're wrong, but are you really going to argue with me that a guy hitting .309 is off to a bad start? Have you watched many of his games? I think the reason I'm curious about him is the AL switch combined with moving to Comerica. Just wondering if he might be one of those guys that lets the ballpark get into his head, where suddenly stuff that used to easily clear the fence is staying in, and it starts affecting his swing or really hurts his numbers. If he's just lining the ball everywhere and things are staying in, that's one thing, but I'm at least curious about where he's going.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 30, 2012 -> 09:38 AM) Well the power hasn't exactly been there, but Fielder is still getting on at a .380 clip...I wouldn't say that he's off to a rough start or anything... CJ Wilson has been very solid as well. Yeah, Fielder's hitting .300+, but the power isn't there currently, sporting a low-800's OPS, in addition to the expected below average defense, which isn't what they paid $214 million for.

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Apr 30, 2012 -> 09:26 AM) I could possibly see Peavy being moved if he continues pitching like he has. But, what do you think the Sox could get for half a season of the guy? Unless a team takes all or most of the remaining salary, the Sox would need something decent in return. If they just trade him for junk AND eat the cost, what's the point? If the Sox could save $5 million on moving him, that's $5 million more that could be put towards payroll in a year that we're not playing 3 sub-.200 , 26 or younger hitters in April. Even better if we could get someone to throw in a talented A-baller while we're at it. But...Saving $5 million would require the Sox still eating $7 million or so...and I just don't know they'd be willing to do that even if it's the right move.

Serious question...is there a big Free Agent signing from last offseason who is off to a good start anywhere in MLB? I've got Darvish coming to mind, but that's about it. Pujols, Fielder, Reyes, none of them are off to good starts.

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Apr 30, 2012 -> 01:12 AM) Where does one go to purchase a laptop bag? Time to be a professional. Just google it or go to Amazon to see what's out there, there are tons of options depending on what you need it for.

QUOTE (Tex @ Apr 30, 2012 -> 08:25 AM) Sure Balta one bad apple and all. BTW instead of comparing guns to cars, let's compare guns to something that does not serve any valuable purpose in our society, alcohol. You start looking for stories of irresponsible gun owners and I'll start looking for irresponsible drinkers and the damage they do. If we apply the same standards to everything else that you apply to guns nothing will be allowed. This weekend a 13 year old kid died in a jet ski accident when the operator was irresponsible. Let's ban jet skis. Utopian societies where all risks are eliminated does not work. Or, we place limits on Alcohol and arrest people for misusing it. I think that you've just made a great comparison. Legalized concealed carry laws are just like legalizing DUI.

QUOTE (JPN366 @ Apr 30, 2012 -> 12:33 AM) I'd have to disagree to a certain extent about that. He definitely has legit power. Ok, well that's an interesting take. Compare him to how Morel looked at AA for me...does he drive the ball better than Morel?

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Apr 30, 2012 -> 07:17 AM) This is when Thomas started struggling in his career too, give or take a year. Pujols may be more similar than we think. If his career continues to mirror Thomas at all, that is going to be one of the worst contracts of all time. When Frank Thomas was 32 (same age as Pujols), that was the 2000 season. He was robbed of an MVP award by a guy who was more synthetic testosterone than man. When Frank Thomas was 33, he put up a .758 OPS on the season...because he tore a biceps tendon and played ~20 games.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 29, 2012 -> 09:24 PM) Get out to early leads with Pods and Iguchi, pound away with the bombers, lockdown bullpen. Now, if you're playing small ball to add on runs to a 2/3/4 run lead, that can be effective, AT TIMES. But, once again, you're taking yourself out of lots of big innings, especially at a park more well-suited for homers. Have we really done much of that in early innings so far this year? And if we were doing that, was it taking the bat out of Morel/Beckham's hands (i.e. who cares?). I think the answer to why they stink at home is that both the pitchers and the hitters let the park get into their heads. The Pitchers get a runner on base and realize that now, one swing can be a two run home run, so they go into trying to prevent that and it causes mistakes. The Hitters see a runner on base, realize how close those walls are, and start swinging for the fences.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 28, 2012 -> 06:26 PM) Marty, Are you saying that DET is in a much better position at DH/LF with Brad Eldred, Delmon Young, Andy Dirks and J. Worth than the White Sox? Why can't Dave Dombrowski find better players with a much bigger budget than the Sox? Detroit looks like Boston's team from a week ago right now. 5 "why are these guys in the big leagues" players on their roster, a bullpen where no one other than Dotel seems reliable, and multiple guys who should be hitting failing to do so.