Balta1701

QUOTE (iamshack @ Feb 1, 2012 -> 10:12 AM) I disagree. He's going to be 36 when the season begins? The question is highly dependent on who you already have on your roster and what your financial situation is. Most teams aren't budgeting that kind of money for a qb unless that qb has already been on their roster. And you can't just start releasing players to create cap room. You have to pay penalties against the cap in most instances. So I don't think it's as easy as you would like to believe for a team to fit him on their roster. Then you're asking them to give up draft picks on top of that...I'm just not sure he's worth it unless you are fairly well-positioned to make something like that happen...and you really feel comfortable with his health. The latter part here is the only real issue to me. There are going to be at least 5 teams or so that would feel comfortable and well positioned enough to make that happen, and I'd give up a first rounder + some conditional picks to make sure I won the race for that QB... Unless he wasn't expected to be healthy. And if he isn't, then this whole "Free Agent Manning" derby isn't going to happen.

Florida GOP primary turnout appears to have fallen by somewhere between 10-20% compared to 08. I'm going to guess that this is a consequence of "negative campaigning". The Gingrich campaign reportedly didn't call Mittens's campaign last night to congratulate/say something nice. Can't read his mind, but that's the kind of thing you'd do if you really were taking this campaign personally.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Feb 1, 2012 -> 09:57 AM) I honestly don't have a problem with much of what you guys say in here...all I am saying is I don't think everything is quite as cut and dry or neat and clean as you and SS would like to think it is. I agree with what NSS posted, but of course expressed it in more of my usual rudimentary way. IMO...you're right...things are a whole lot worse than how they generally get presented in the public.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Feb 1, 2012 -> 09:52 AM) Oh I know, science is the pure white light contrasted against the thick black crude oil of life. There are plenty of people who are willing to go to great lengths to protect their own little fiefdoms, I won't disagree with that...but the processes here are robust. Science as it works right now is a worldwide effort to evaluate and process data quality. Bad papers get published, and they wind up argued against. Consensus is not reached easily. Groupthink is really, really, really tough, because everyone winds up gunning to knock down everyone else's published data. Proving someone else's data to be wrong is one of the biggest things you can do.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Feb 1, 2012 -> 09:39 AM) But it's not just cap space. It's a $28 million roster bonus plus $23 million in cap space, correct? Whatever the total money is, that doesn't matter at all. If there's a team looking to turn themselves into a super bowl caliber team, he's worth more than that to a team and you know that. The big issue is the cap space.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Feb 1, 2012 -> 09:49 AM) Not one, no. It doesn't exist. And even if it did, it wouldn't be the driver of the science.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Feb 1, 2012 -> 09:41 AM) But there's not some giant multi-trillion dollar extant market heavily funding research that happens to lead to the conclusion that AGW is real. The remarkable thing about science is...there are actively people testing both sides. The hypothesis that CO2 is the single biggest driver of climate in Earth's history gets tested and challenged over and over and over and over again. Constantly. The money doesn't dictate the outcome, the quality of the work winds up dictating where the money goes. The idea that we're just spending research dollars solely to reinforce the current conclusion is flatly false.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Feb 1, 2012 -> 09:24 AM) Just cause he says he's healthy enough doesn't mean he is. Do you wanna risk $28 million and 1st round picks on a guy who may never play for you. He's not gonna tell ESPN how hurt he is, but I don't think all those "sources" are just making it up. Clearly, you have to do a physical or something like that to cover your bases, and make sure you have the medical reports, but if that were a really huge issue, then everything is moot and there won't be a Lebron style free agent chase for him anyway.

Also, I believe that in the NFL, teams have the ability to give agents permission to seek out trades, right? So the Colts could give Mannings' agent permission to do that next week. If the other option is hitting the free agent market and receiving nothing, then I'd say it'd be really likely that Manning's side would renegotiate at least a portion of that deal to reduce the cap hit when the trade happens, because he'd still have more leverage than if he was outright cut.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Feb 1, 2012 -> 09:16 AM) But is a first round pick and a conditional 3rd round pick worth $28 million? If I had $40 million in cap space, I'd absolutely risk that. I'd probably try my darndest to sit down with Manning and renegotiate part of that deal, which he might well do because he'd be aware that having his whole bonus hit the cap that year would hurt any chance he had of having a winning team around him. But if I'm again, the Jets, and I had to cut the Sanchize and give up a first and a conditional pick or something like that to put Manning on my roster, it happens.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Feb 1, 2012 -> 09:13 AM) I'm really not sure how one can believe that there is only money or ill-gotten gains to be received from one side of this argument....there is just as much money (if not more) to be made from "proving" that immediate and drastic action is necessary than is to be made by continuing our current ways. Now really, no there isn't. There may be some money in that effort, but fossil fuels in general are the biggest traded commodity on Earth. They dominate every energy market. This is a multi trillion dollar market every year. Dozens of other industries (plastics, various types of manufacturing) rely overwhelmingly on their existence. They receive government subsidies on the order of hundreds of billions of dollars a year globally. People keep going to war in places that have them. The amount of money that can be made from somehow proving that drastic action is necessary and that a multi trillion dollar market needs to be completely dismantled pales in comparison to the money available to support inertia in that market. Tuvalu just isn't worth that much.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Feb 1, 2012 -> 08:58 AM) All I can say is this sort of reminds me of when a very highly paid baseball player goes on waivers, and no one claims him. While Peyton Manning has indisputably been one of the best quarterbacks ever, is he going to be the same player ever again? Is he going to be worth $23 million/year? Is a first round draft pick worth whatever that roster bonus is going to cost the Colts? I just don't think he's going to be worth much more than a first round pick or a first and a third with the amount of money he is slated to make, and we have been debating this for a month or two now. Fine, if he's worth a first and a conditional 3rd, that's a helluva lot more value than "getting nothing for releasing him". If you've got a contending team and that's all it takes to get Peyton Manning, even though it hurts your cap space, I think it's crazy to expect no one to give that up. If I was the Jets, I'd give that up without a second thought. Which means, expecting him to be released, like everyone seems to be doing, is just insane to me.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 1, 2012 -> 09:07 AM) See Kenny isn't the only GM out there who will lie right to your face! ChrisDeLuca Chris De Luca Brian Cashman on Jim Hendry at winter meetings: "Jim Hendry did a hell of a job when he was with the Cubs." #Cubs #Yankees Does the Tribune company still own the Cubs?

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Feb 1, 2012 -> 08:57 AM) Defensively he was awesome. But you're right about his hitting. Out of last year's 25 man roster, there's only like 6-7 guys I would say didn't have a season I could call disappointing in some way. Konerko, Buehrle, Lillibridge, Crain, Ohman, maybe Pierzynski, maybe Jackson. Everyone else, I can look at them and say "This guy needed to do x better and should have been able to do so".

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 1, 2012 -> 08:54 AM) NO mention of Soler Is he a free agent yet?

So, Facebook IPO talk, in here or separate thread?

So, I need help. It seems like the media everywhere are in agreement that Peyton Manning is going to wind up released by March 8th. Maybe as soon as next week. I can't figure this out. If he's saying he's healthy enough to play and expects to be back, why wouldn't he be tradeable? Is it impossible to do trades until after that date? I know the Colts might not get 7 first rounders for him if they're under the gun, but I can't believe he wouldn't fetch a Carson Palmer level deal, with maybe a contingent draft pick or two extra, before that date, if he was allowed to be traded.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Feb 1, 2012 -> 03:06 AM) I think a lot of it making a move for the sake of making a move. How would Orlando have gone if they didn't trade anyone after they made the finals? Would they have kept Hedo still? The problem is, even if Howard is dealt, they're going to be in cap hell now. And a lot of that is on ownership, because they desperately want to win now and will overpay to do so. FWIW, I think SVG is an excellent coach also, probably a top 5 coach in terms of his X and O's and his defensive system, however it's fair to say things have definitely stagnated offensively in his system. He needs a PG who can distribute the ball well in his offense, and currently Nelson is not doing that which is causing the likes of J-Rich and Hedo to have down numbers. Calderon for Nelson would be something I'd look at if the Raps were interested (Raps could start Bayless, maybe Orlando would have to chuck another piece in also like Justin Harper). If Orlando didn't have to worry about "Keeping Dwight", then after the Finals, they should have made the same effort they did make to sign Hedo. When they failed to sign him, then they had to look and see a much weaker roster, especially after the next season when Lewis's dropoff really started to show (and that was when he had the roid suspension as well, right?). That might have been a great time to play for cap space and picks. The previous incarnation had reached its peak, and although Lewis's contract was hard to move, it might well have been clearable, at least a year at a time. Or worst case scenario, you get to a point where a new CBA comes along and then you can amnesty the last year. The other guys, like Reddick, etc., you could move in sign and trades to try to clear more salary, until you put yourself in a position where you can be a threat to sign someone like Deron Williams or Chris Paul if they become a Free Agent. The problem with doing so is that it means 2-3 years of maybe being in the edge of the lottery or at the back end of the eastern conference, which isn't a fun place to be, but with the contracts they had for aging guys, they could have pulled it off and still had a 27 year old Dwight Howard with a rebuilt team around him. Instead, they have to compete every year to keep Dwight happy. Thus, they start making more and more desperate, high risk moves, to see if they can pull off a competitive season every year, and they have no realistic way to escape salary cap hades.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jan 31, 2012 -> 11:38 PM) If Adam Dunn hit 45-50 home runs would we win the division? Last year, probably. Next year, I don't know.

QUOTE (DirtySox @ Feb 1, 2012 -> 01:34 AM) With a Concepcion signing, a decent return if Gavin is traded, and the 13th pick in June I could start to feel a bit better about the farm. Hopefully it's ready to churn out some MLB players or trade chips in the next few seasons. I'd like to see some young cost controlled talent to join players like Sale, Dayan, and Reed around the time Dunn and Rios are gone.Not happening.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Jan 31, 2012 -> 11:58 PM) Alexei, big time. Alexei may have "Earned his money", but he's still on the list of guys that could and should have been better. Dude was a ground ball to the shortstop machine last year.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Jan 31, 2012 -> 10:08 PM) That's what he was saying. Decent chance they lose money next year if the don't move Reyes and Buehrle.

QUOTE (Jenksy Cat @ Jan 31, 2012 -> 07:47 PM) Meh, just like the Marlins didn't make a profit either. I think the Marlins have made plenty of money the last 5 years.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jan 31, 2012 -> 08:14 PM) So I've had this iPad for a few days now and I'm showing absolutely no signs of morphing into a pretentious douche. So it is possible after all. Morphing?

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Jan 31, 2012 -> 06:31 PM) I seem to recall you saying vote fraud didn't exist. Not voter ID fraud. I readily admit this had nothing to do with requiring an ID. But is IS vote fraud. A small case, hundred voters or so, easily wrapped up and prosecuted since it involved several hundred people, involving absentee ballots, and barely able to impact a small election. Some would call that the exception that proves the rule.