Balta1701

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Apr 10, 2012 -> 02:20 PM) Numbers must be really bad in PA. He also keeps having to leave the campaign trail for a sick kid.

QUOTE (GoodAsGould @ Apr 10, 2012 -> 02:55 PM) It's hard to believe that their attendance in the 90's was best in the majors in terms of sellouts..... Here's a crazy thought...Imagine if Sizemore and Hafner hadn't started getting hurt after their 2007 run...so they stay in contention in 2008 and wind up having both Sabathia and Lee able to drive that rotation. They had the makings of a solid team if it weren't for some of those injuries. They could have had a shot at rebuilding that attendance. The market is there, it's just not going to tun out on a 45 degree day in April without a good reaosn.

QUOTE (LVSoxFan @ Apr 10, 2012 -> 03:11 PM) And now... it is time for people to lay off him. He apologized dozens of times (we didn't get that in Chicago) and he got suspended for 5 games so those people down there need to move on with their lives. Honestly though, if a Cuban fan decided not to support the Marlins financially based on this, I wouldn't blame them.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 10, 2012 -> 11:44 AM) Yeah, but they can always use that "acting against the best interests of the game" clause... QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 10, 2012 -> 11:49 AM) "It's like going to New York's Jewish district and saying, 'Hitler wasn't so bad. He managed to stay in power for a few years,'" veteran Spanish-language baseball announcer Amaury Pi-Gonzalez, who left Cuba at age 17, told USA Today. "Even a 9-year-old knows better than to say that in Miami. But I don't think he's really a fan of Castro or meant any harm. It's just that he talks so much that sometimes he says things without thinking about them." Shack...I get why baseball might be tempted, but let's imagine that baseball had an anti-semite in their midst. With a thousand players, it's certainly not out of the question. Should baseball suspend people, in an official capacity for controversial statements or political beliefs? I can see why the league/commish would act on Schott...the owners are what, effectively contractors allowed into the league by the MLB main office, and the MLB main office is given extraordinary authority by Congress to regulate them and the game. Furthermore, there's no one else above the owners who has the authority to react to anything done by owners other than the League, while Ozzie has the team level to deal with, and I still think the team ought to care about this a lot more than the league.

QUOTE (LVSoxFan @ Apr 10, 2012 -> 11:38 AM) My co-worker says MLB will probably nail him too. MLB didn't do anything back when people like Delgado were sitting for the National Anthem did they? I'd actually have a problem with MLB acting in an official capacity here. The Marlins I can understand, that's their home base. It shouldn't be MLB's job to regulate unpopular political beliefs amongst people within their league, that should be directly between the employer and employee.

It was not his intention to hurt anyone, he just didn't understand that his beliefs could be hurtful (to his pocketbook)

Parcells seemingly out of the picture for the Saints coaching slot.

QUOTE (Swingandalongonetoleft @ Apr 10, 2012 -> 11:10 AM) Five games is fine by me as long as long as it gets everyone to apply their vagisil and find something else new and outrageous to b**** about, like that Ozzie is racist because the press conference was in Spanish and this is America not Spain and Mexico. Pathetic.

QUOTE (jasonxctf @ Apr 8, 2012 -> 11:10 PM) he's going to pick the governor of New Mexico. 1. He needs help with women. 2. He needs help with Latinos 3. Will try and make New Mexico into a swing state QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 8, 2012 -> 11:29 PM) Susana Martinez or Ramirez or whatever her name is. Don't count on it. He needs to worry more about Ohio and Florida than NM. It's too naked a play for Hispanics and women to reverse everything said throughout this primary season, especially about the border fence and how Romney agrees 100% with the AZ laws regarding immigration, as well as some of the harsher comments about the Dream Act. There's no way to walk that back now. Martinez came out with an "I'm not interested" statement last weekend, but at least for now, it appears to me to have a much more credible, family-based reason for why she actually wouldn't be interested. Obviously the denials at this point should be greeted with skepticism, but if that's actually true, that's a tough one to believe she could state and then maneuver around.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 10, 2012 -> 11:07 AM) And an even bigger LOL at the misinterpretation, but I am still sorry and wrong. Well which is it Ozzie? Were you misinterpreted, or wrong? No reporter ever asks questions like that.

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Apr 10, 2012 -> 11:02 AM) I am curious how many times Paulie has finished top 10 in MVP voting. I don't think he was even a top 5 player in the league at any given year, when defense is considered. When Paulie retires, the WAR value could become even more common in evaluating the HOF credential of a player, and WAR has never favored Paulie. To be honest, I don't even think 500 HR would put him in automatically, but it would give him an outside shot. If he does get in, it won't be because of his dominance over several peak years, it would be for his longevity and consistency. 5 all star appearances so far, 2 top 6 MVP vote seasons, 4 top 20 MVP vote seasons.

QUOTE (Tex @ Apr 10, 2012 -> 11:01 AM) Zimmerman and Martin are larger than life and are bearing the hopes, dreams, expectations, faults, and everything else for a country. It stopped being about what happened and now the centuries of injustice, the sins of our fathers, are taking over. Of course Tex is right. Because blaming it on the sins of our fathers is a great way to ignore the fact that the injustices still happen regularly today, are built in to this society, and have very powerful defenders.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Apr 10, 2012 -> 10:49 AM) Well that went over Balta's head. If that's the case... Oops. My bad.

QUOTE (balfanman @ Apr 10, 2012 -> 10:48 AM) I'm not sure what he has, but wouldn't 2 - 3 more decent seasons put him near 500 homers? Yes. And if he were to get there, I think that's the finish line for him getting in. PK14 would go in eventually.

QUOTE (balfanman @ Apr 10, 2012 -> 10:40 AM) True, but if, IF, he is able to produce for the 2 - 3 more seasons, then I would think that he would be almost a shoe in for the HOF. Not first ballot mind you, but he would get in. Again, JMHO. Interesting discussion though. When a guy is a top 10 in the MVP voting level player but never reaches the #1 MVP, best player in the league for a year or two level, he has a shot at the HOF, but he needs the career milestones to do it. 3000 hits or 500 HR or something like that. Guys like Biggio, Michael Young, etc.

QUOTE (Big Hurtin @ Apr 10, 2012 -> 10:40 AM) I watched his outing against the Red Sox and it was not an arm strength issue. His fastball was consistently 95, he just couldn't locate it. His slider was worse. I don't think he even had any swings at one. People only have to swing at his slider if they're protecting against his fastball. If he can't get the fastball over, then they can sit back and wait for him to throw a strike with it...and if he throws the slider they're already not swinging.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 10, 2012 -> 10:33 AM) They are making $80 million a year on their TV contract alone. It isn't impacting them at all. Do you think they have the ability to push their payroll, not counting the money sent to Japan, upwards of $140 million right now? Because that's what it'll take for them to keep both Napoli and Hamilton right now.

Seems like good, overdue policy.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 10, 2012 -> 10:27 AM) They don't. That is coming out of the TV contract and that money is gone and paid already. Doesn't make sense to me to count their payroll as $170 million this year, but if thats' how you want to bookkeep it more power to you. I'm just going to figure that Darvish is on 5/$110 in terms of how I think of their total payroll, because that's wh at the real effect should be. It might be paid entirely up front but it's going to impact them for years.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 10, 2012 -> 09:56 AM) It turned out well for the President. Joe Biden may not have been known by the average Joe (not named Biden) on the street, but he was well known within political circles, to the point where his positives and negatives were already well established. Hell, In 2002, I wrote a column titled "Joe Biden Hates you". He was absolutely a known quantity politically. He was going to make Gaffes, he had a legislative record that could be attacked, but you could also easily make the case that he had a substantial foreign policy background. He was only a "Wild card" if he made a particularly silly gaffe. I have no impressions of the other guy whatsoever other than thinking he plays 3b for the Giants, and I can't imagine that much of the media does either.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 10, 2012 -> 09:58 AM) Jon Heyman ‏ @JonHeymanCBS Kinsler $75M, 5-yr extension agreement, 1st reported by the dallas and ft worth papers, removes $10M team option for '13 Seems reasonable for him and good for both sides. Now the problem is...if you count arb guys and the paid to Japan portion of Darvish, they're in the $115-$120 million on commitments for next season...and both Hamilton and Napoli are free agents.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 10, 2012 -> 10:00 AM) With the way the Indians have been drawing, it's a wonder they can afford any of these guaranteed long-term deals. But they really have no choice if they want to operate their organization in a financially viably and competitive way in the future. TV Dollars and revenue sharing is rapidly pushing every team towards $100 million in revenues as a starting point.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 10, 2012 -> 09:52 AM) Just wondering if there's any distinction or differentation between free speech rights on public versus private property...? For example, in recent months, students have been expelled for posting things online while at home...because they were using the school's internet or IP address/account for posting. But the argument was made that since they weren't at school, they shouldn't suffer the same consequences....and also that it was after official school hours. Well, I guess it really doesn't matter. No, where it was that it happened doesn't matter at all in this case. It wouldn't have mattered if he was using team facilities to make the statement or not. All that matters is that he has embarrassed his employer directly to a group that his employer considers a key demographic for their product.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 10, 2012 -> 09:46 AM) Rios is an important part of this team. As much as most of you guys can't tolerate him, he's owed a lot of money over the course of the next 3 years. It's in our best interests to bring him back around to at least mediocrity somehow. By all accounts he's been working very hard to try and get his career back on track. This is not the time to send a message and make him pout for the next two months. As much as it might suck to have to deal with a fragile ego, or whatever you want to call it, our success in large part depends on him making some key contributions to this team for the next few years. Considering that so far, 2 managers have failed to get through to Rios enough to get him to focus and correct mistakes like the one made yesterday, it will be an interesting challenge to see what Robin can do to correct him on this.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Apr 10, 2012 -> 09:46 AM) The Cubs/Rahm's plan to renovate Wrigley may not get far off the ground. Apparently the county and state need to sign off on it and Quinn has already said the state is in over it's head and he would oppose it. "Sign off on it" or "Chip in"?