Balta1701

QUOTE (DirtySox @ Feb 23, 2012 -> 02:45 PM) Why? With the new CBA he's as limited in international spending as everyone else is. Exactly. That was one of Theo's loopholes. Now he has to find advantages the same way everyone else does...good scouting, rather than gaming the system through loopholes.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Feb 23, 2012 -> 01:58 PM) I'm glad Balta followed his pictures with the names of the players, as I had no idea that was Flowers. That's exactly why I put the name, I had no clue either. That and Sale has a beard.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Feb 23, 2012 -> 12:21 PM) ESPN's shot chart of the game isn't loading for me, but I don't recall that being the case. Rose was still getting to the line a bunch in the 4th. In fact, I remember a pretty good crossover he got on Lebron in the 4th. He scored 38 for the game, I can't imagine all that came in 3 quarters. Rose was a beast in the 4th quarter, that got the bulls back to nearly tied, but the last 3-4 minutes they put LBJ on him, and that's what did it. Lebron was on the bench to start the 4th when the Bulls made their run.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Feb 23, 2012 -> 11:54 AM) See but the difference this year was that Rose still scored in the 4th quarter. He actually brought them back into the game and could have easily won it with the FT's. But the time Rose was scoring was before they put LBJ on him.

Sale, Flowers, Floyd.

I'll take the over but barely.

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Feb 23, 2012 -> 10:29 AM) Decoupling Mass Transit funds from Transportation funds as is discussed is an easy way to kill Mass Transit programs. You say that as though it isn't the goal.

QUOTE (SOXOBAMA @ Feb 23, 2012 -> 10:57 AM) I am prediciting that the 49ers will sign Wallace and Garcon... Your coach is moonlighting as our bench coach

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Feb 23, 2012 -> 09:49 AM) Come on. In a playoff game atmosphere, AT Miami, missing their best defender, the Bulls essentially were even with the Heat until the final minute. The Bulls are every bit as good as the Heat. It's not as clear cut as you, and others, want it to be. Here's my biggest problem right now. 5 games in a row, between the Bulls and heat, it's come down to the final minute or two, and 5 games in a row the Heat have taken care of business...and it's mostly been the same way, cranking up the defense and saying "You're done scoring" while they put together a couple buckets, sometimes on miracle shots, themselves. 5 games in a row is starting to convince me that this formula will simply work on the Bulls too often. Keep the game close, beat up Rose some, and when it gets to the last 5 minutes, put Lebron on Rose and say that's it.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Feb 22, 2012 -> 11:40 PM) Newt: BMW, Mercedes, Toyota: the American Auto Industry. Hey, Toyota does employ a good number of American workers. (Thanks in no small part to a Reagan era trade war regulation requiring them to do so to continue selling their products here).

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Feb 23, 2012 -> 03:42 AM) SP Stewart SP Sale Being that it's a new season, I want guys to start off with a lot of confidence. You put Beckham in the 2-hole and you tell him he's capable of doing it, so go do it. You make Peavy the #1 SP because that's what he was brought in to do. Give him a shot, show him you have the confidence in him to be the old Peavy. Why has Philip Humber lost his starting job to Zach Stewart? I'm a fan of keeping Stewart as a starter, but Humber was Humberific last year and ought to get a shot now that he's worked at least the better part of his first season as a starter.

QUOTE (MexSoxFan#1 @ Feb 22, 2012 -> 09:59 PM) This is the Noah that was missing in last year's ECF, if Noah plays like this, no one on Miami frontcourt can f*** with him. Please stay healthy Now the Bulls need a healthy PG and SG. Yet Carlos Boozer hasn't missed a game yet.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 22, 2012 -> 09:47 PM) USPS should be allowed to charge what they want. I also have to laugh at them complaining about laws that make them fund retirements. If they are going to be offered, they should be funded. It should be illegal to underfund pensions. If you can't fund them, get rid of them.

QUOTE (JorgeFabregas @ Feb 22, 2012 -> 09:39 PM) According to nearly everyone, Cooper made the pitching decisions. He presumably left Peavy in games to build up his arm, which was ultimately the right choice for a team that was going nowhere. This team was not "going nowhere" in June/July, they were still hanging around .500.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Feb 22, 2012 -> 12:29 PM) Apparently that plan, or at least an outline of it, has been released tonight. The language from that statement is technically correct, the plan includes a 20% across the board tax cut for everyone, eliminating the Alternative Minimum Tax, eliminating the Estate Tax, cutting the top line corporate tax rate, and removing larger fractions of the taxes on investments/dividends. Thus, the way his language is accurate is that the top 1% pay the same "Share" of the total income taxes coming in that they're currently paying, it's just that everyone's is lower and they receive a much larger cut in terms of total dollar amount. To pay for this, the plan includes clauses saying that he would raise the retirement age and eliminate Medicare, replacing it with an Obamacare style premium support plan, effectively the Paul Ryan plan, but without including numbers it's impossible to judge the impact on the overall budget, toher than to note that actually paying for a 20% across the board tax cut at present while trying to move the budget back into balance would require enormous monetary cuts to those 2 programs.

QUOTE (docsox24 @ Feb 22, 2012 -> 04:21 PM) Sure he has earned a shot, I just have my doubts about whether he will be a plus player. The nice thing is...we don't need him to be a plus player. We need him to be adequate. If he's "adequate", if he gives me a .350-ish OBP and a .350-.400 ish slugging, not only does he set up our leadoff spot better than it has been in years, but it also gives us a cost controlled player filling that role, a guy who hits left handed, and at least supplies a little speed on the basepaths. From his minor league time, I don't think those numbers should seem outlandish for him and I think he's got a shot to beat them. And that would leave us having the leadoff spot filled for this year (and a much more potent lineup because of that), and having both the leadoff spot and an OF spot filled by a guy making the MLB minimum going into 2013, so there would be no reason to spend any new money filling the leadoff spot. Out of the "Kids", the guys we need to be plus players are Viciedo, Sale, and Beckham. The guys we need to be "adequate" are Morel, De Aza, perhaps Flowers, perhaps Humber although he's not really a kid any more, etc.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Feb 22, 2012 -> 05:21 PM) 1.) In the games I watched that Peavy pitched, he does not want to come out of games. I cannot say this clearly enough. Ozzie should not have cared. He should have had a reliever warming in teh 5th every game Peavy pitched after July 1, because the trend was too obvious. If Peavy then got in trouble, you use up the first visit, ask if he's ok, then give him one more batter, and pull him once he gives up the run. Instead, we got killed, repeatedly. Humber was the same deal.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Feb 22, 2012 -> 05:14 PM) Do you have any numbers that show how much a park inflates/deflates offensive stats for a player on average? There's a fair amount of year over year variability that shows up in those numbers I've never seen accounted for well, but generally, both Wrigley and the Cell play as hitter's parks. Here's both Rotoworld and BleacherReport showing Wrigley as one of the best hitters parks in the game, slightly above the Cell. Here's a 5 year average showing Wrigley as the 3rd and the Cell as the 4th best hitters park. If you go through ESPN's Year by Year numbers, last year both parks played a bit big, but if you flip back a few years, Wrigley consistently shows up in the top 10, is #3 a couple times, and the Cell is up there as well. I don't think you can tell me Wrigley is a better hitter's park than the Cell, but you can't say the Cell is massively better than Wrigley either. Most likely they're pretty close to a wash and the exact position depends on the number of days the wind blows out. Thus, you're basically putting Fukudome into a similar park. If his slugging goes up because of the park, it's because of some peculiarity he's exploiting, not because of anything systematic.

Showtime!

It's also worth noting that the gas tax has not been increased since the early 90's and thus no longer is sufficient to fund highway maintenance and construction on its own, leading to inputs of highway funding from the general fund. Edit: Oh, and of course, that is just highway funding...not to mention all the other dollars that go into upkeep of local/state level streets, or other laws such as mandated parking requirements which hurt the ability of developers to build other things, etc.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 22, 2012 -> 01:20 PM) He is also a guy that managed to get all of the way to the Sox in the AL on waivers. If his performance since then hasn't earned at least a couple months for a rebuilding team to see if he can actually become a MLB starter, then it's impossible to earn a starting job based on minor league performance. If he comes out and struggles, the clock will be ticking. He really needs to start rolling, at least decently, in April and May.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Feb 22, 2012 -> 02:54 PM) Good luck to Robin in trying to convince Peavy to come out of a game. Good luck to Robin in dealing with AJP as well if he decides to play Flowers a lot. Good luck to Robin dealing with Rios and Dunn if he decides to "rest them" a lot. If Jake Peavy falls apart in the 5th inning in 5 straight starts again, and Robin Ventura doesn't have the cojones to have someone getting ready in the bullpen to start the 5th in the next game to take him out if trouble starts, then Robin Ventura is a wimp, Robin Ventura needs to resign or be fired, the person who hired Robin Ventura needs to be fired, and then Robin Ventura needs to be forced to fight Nolan Ryan as punishment for that awful of managing. I think tarring and feathering would be an appropriate response to Guillen never having anyone up in the 5th to back Peavy up.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Feb 22, 2012 -> 03:01 PM) I think some of the decline can be attributed to switching teams/leagues mid-season. I think having a full spring training to prepare will help with that aspect. Also, I would think playing half his games in USCF will increase his slugging a little bit. Compared to Wrigley?

QUOTE (docsox24 @ Feb 22, 2012 -> 01:12 PM) We don't know for certain. Just based on the fact that he is 28 and never had a full time job leads me to believe that he isn't all that great. Plus last year was limited sample size. I am actually hoping that Rios is in LF and DeAza in CF. You do know his history right? He had a full time job out of spring training with the Marlins at age 23, which would have been really good for most prospects. He then completely destroyed one of his legs, to the point where he was out of baseball entirely for 1 and 2/3 seasons, including all of 2008. By 2009, he was back in the Marlins minor league system and played well, put up an .876 OPS as a 25 year old, but he'd been passed by other guys in their system and there was no room for him. The Sox grabbed him after that year when he was available as a free agent, then have kept him in their minors for 2 years, trapped behind Juan Pierre and Alex Rios. .806 OPS his first year in Charlotte, .876 last year. Pretty much this is a talented prospect who got seriously hurt and has done nothing but hit in the minors since coming back from that injury but has always been blocked. There's no guarantee obviously, but there's a whole lot of extenuating circumstances going in to why he's just now getting a chance at age 28.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 22, 2012 -> 12:52 PM) I am not aware if they did or not - my point was (and this is still true) that Congress allocated monies for a broad but specific purpose in TARP. If that money is essentially re-used or redistributed, that causes a conflict. Treasury or any other executive agency cannot simply spend money it takes in as it likes, they all have rules for that, and any spending outside those specified purposes requires Congressional action, as I understand it. But if the broad mandate in Tarp covers "supporting the housing market", then pretty much anything under the auspices of HAMP would count, even a program like the original HAMP which just pushed people into foreclosure.