Balta1701

Pretty rotten start.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 08:14 PM) Well, this will now be the third year he is seeing major league pitching. I know he has only gotten 100 PAs each of the last two years, but it's time to put up or shut up. I don't think even Marty is arguing that he shouldn't play...I think the two of us just don't think he will pan out...I don't think that should be confused with us saying "bench him." Really? I certainly didn't come into this season expecting put up or shut up for him. He's had indifferent experience and he's been completely jerked around and given the Ozzie "take this Kenny!" benching, in addition to having 3+ positions in 4 years (3b, 1b, 3b, rf, LF). And especially after the injury last year, he could still use a few months at Charlotte if the big league team was going for the division this year.

Rg3 has a kid?

Leadoff walk.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 08:03 PM) There have been all kinds of guys his age or younger that have broken in in the last several years and excelled at the mlb level... Now that's not to say that he won't turn a corner when he turns 25 or something...like CarGo for instance, but I'm just not very aware of players that reached the higher levels of the minor leagues at really young ages, struggled at AAA or the major leagues, and just needed another 2-3 years because of their age. You usually either succeed or you don't once you reach this level, regardless of age. Really? I feel like at least needing a year is incredibly common.

Wtf is this s***

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 06:50 PM) These must be fictional creatures....but there's a whole slew of owners that need that smack upside the head. You can smack them upside the head with the hundreds of millions of dollars Bud has made each of them.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 06:16 PM) What is this upside that is thrown around on this board. Hawk and a few people on this board think he could be the next Vlad Guerrero I guess, but I've never seen overt-the-top glowing reports on his potential. Here's BA's first real article on him as a 19 year old, with a scout rating him as a better hitter than a guy who got a $2 million bonus from the Giants and became their top prospect (Prior to some murder charges). Here's him getting called a "Top 3 pick". Here's what his agent was saying about him, in an article written by Joe Cowley:

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 06:07 PM) Don't care what one year of OPS says. Slugging LF'ers are simple to find. That may be the saddest comeback to being hit with stats that I've ever seen.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 05:39 PM) This is the same guy everyone thought would be the savior if he was brought up last season. He'll probably get into a streak this season and no one will pitch to him. That was, of course, compared to Juan Pierre.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 05:28 PM) No. 2nd basemen who hit like Beckham hit when he came up are at a premium. Slugging LF'ers are not. Really? Because I just checked the stats for all of 2011. There were 7 left fielders in baseball who qualified in PA's and had an >800 OPS. There were...7 second basemen who met that standard. The average OPS league-wide for LF's was .727 and for 2b was .708. And LF's had a needle loaded Ryan Braun who also stood out and helped carry that position. It certainly seems like both are at a premium.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 05:07 PM) Why? Is there nothing to trying to learn from your mistakes? If you could go back now and get peak value for Beckham, would you? Do you really think Viciedo would bring "peak value" right now? Or at any point since we signed him? It's been clear since his first year that he was a project...a project with an incredibly high ceiling, but a project that was going to take one heckuva commitment to get there. That's not something that brings you "peak value".

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 05:00 PM) I don't think my opinion is shared by the organization. I certainly hope not. Dude ought to get at least as long as Beckham has gotten to "Figure it out" in the bigs.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 04:46 PM) If he is honestly doing that against righties and lefties and not just in favorable matchups, then obviously you've got to wait on him a bit longer...I certainly know I could be wrong about him. If we were only going to wait "a bit" longer on him then it's criminal that he's not in Charlotte this year.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 04:40 PM) He hasn't played catcher since 2008. He'd still be an option if you had Tyler at DH and AJ got hurt or something like that. For 1 game.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 04:35 PM) It also means you have destroyed the pen for the next few days as well, as you don't have a long man either. Better than burning a starter when you don't have an offday.

WTF? (Fox news related).

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 04:20 PM) At that point, what is to say the game doesn't go 20 innings? The kid hasn't been conditioned to start for a month now. He probably only had 3/4 innings in him. At which point, he gives up a run in the bottom half of an inning which wins the game. Don't even have to worry about the "He's too tired to throw a pitch so he's just walked 9 straight guys" problem because we're the visiting team. If the A's bullpen outlasted the Sox's, despite coming in earlier, then at somepoint you do tip your cap, and be proud of Stewart for giving you however many scoreless innings he did.

QUOTE (Tex @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 03:06 PM) Rounds 2 and 3 will have a political theme. I will come up with a replacement for the pizza because deep dish would be too easy over thin crust California Style vs. New York style.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 01:30 PM) I don't know what article you're referring to. If someone had already been arrested, why was he still calling in suspicious black youths in his neighborhood? Is it justifiable for him to call in any black kid he doesn't know and to then follow that person while armed? Is Martin's life the price we pay to deter would-be criminals, to show them that we're armed and ready to shoot? Some, including me, would say that a rash of 50 burglaries where no one is injured is a lot better than one dead, unarmed, innocent 17 year old kid, and if given the choice between those 2 situations I'd choose the burglaries, because I wouldn't want it to be my kid. Obviously you can't simply make that choice, but if you're trying to justify having an armed man patrolling the streets because of burglaries...you're a lot closer to siding with the dead kid than you think.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 03:05 PM) Crain is out with an oblique injury. Stewart is the last man in the pen yesterday. If he comes in and keeps it tied, then we have to start using starters once he is done. In the 14th inning you want to put that off if possible. Stewart would have been "Done" once the game was won or lost.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 01:17 PM) I hope he can find it soon but so far he has not been what I was expecting from all the hype. He is young and developing. But, for certain I think alot of people here including me were caught up in all the "Cuban Hype" and thought we had really scored. Now with Alexei Ramirez we did for sure. As far as Dayan is concerned I guess Cuban talent can fail just like any other young draftee. Look at Joe Borchard. Once again though I hope he finds it and shows us the ability and talent that so impressed the scouts and upper brass and excited us fans This is exactly what I was expecting from him and I believe I said so more than a few times this offseason. Furthermore, my biggest fear coming inot the season was that guys like Viciedo, Morel, Beckham, woudl start off slowly and then we'd rapidly see the normal White Sox "Bench him for player X" move. Thankfully, that has not happened yet.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 01:22 PM) Right, so stay in your house, lock the doors, and pray those once an hour police patrols catch the criminals in your neighborhood. That'll surely help. Yes or no... Is your solution having armed civilians patrolling the streets and choosing whether or not to deploy deadly force on their own? Every statement you've made here defends that option.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 01:17 PM) He was trained with his weapon right? Licensed/certified all that. He wasn't someone who stumbled upon a gun and decided to start shooting people. And I never said he should take back his streets by shooting would-be criminals. I'm saying that there's no need, as Balta originally stated, to use this as an example for why no one should be allowed to carry guns. There's a mental deterrent effect out there that, IMO, hasn't sunk in yet - that if you try to rob someone, there's a good chance they'll be waiting inside ready to shoot and protect themselves/their property. That same mental effect swings both ways though. When a guy has a gun, he's much more likely to aggressively confront people, even unjustly. And pretending that state level Concealed carry certifications really require serious training in terms of when weapons should be carried and deployed...that's just not even close. The people who should be really carrying them, police, etc., receive vastly more training, on a regular basis, for when those weapons should be deployed, for exactly that reason...because having the gun as an option can make a confrontation vastly more likely.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 01:16 PM) If only poor Trayvon had been armed less than a year older and he could have been. And in a strange neighborhood, walking at night, with all the crime that has happened in the area...it's the protection he needed.