Balta1701

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Oct 4, 2011 -> 10:50 AM) It has to do with the comparison you made. Football in Texas is way crazier than bball in Indiana particularly because of the size and competition level in the state as well as the deep bucket of talent. Except for the word "Size", don't all of those apply to Basketball in Indiana?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 4, 2011 -> 10:48 AM) I'm just glad you guys care about name calling again... At least if it doesn't involve class warfare. He can call him whatever he wants. But its entirely reasonable to expect a business/consumer backlash against his stuff, and an entirely reasonable business move for ESPN to end its association with him in response. Then again...that sort of stuff is so prevalent on Fox that he probably just got himself a weekend talkshow contract if he wants it.

Meanwhile, here's Ann Coulter comparing the "Occupy Wall Street" protesters to Nazis. Honestly...that whole list 2k5 posted is outgunned by a few months of the Glenn Beck show in terms of volume of comparisons and viewership/interest.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 4, 2011 -> 10:27 AM) Granted there is almost 6 years of references missing, but point made. http://semiskimmed.net/bushhitler.html It's actually somewhat remarkable how low on the totem poll most of those names are even compared with "Hank Williams Jr.". About the only 2 who still produce content or information for anything are Soros and Ted Rall, and I always found Ted Rall way too deliberately over the top/offensive for me. Anyway...I assume you endorse giving Hank Williams the same treatment that the Dixie Chicks received? Dropping his music fully from the airwaves, public burnings of his albums, etc.? If your defense is "They did it too!" then that's a pretty natural following step.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Oct 4, 2011 -> 10:14 AM) You think they contend in 2013 with Ramirez. I don't see how. I think they have a good shot at contending in 2012 with Ramirez. 2013...depends on what comes back in deals that we make now.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Oct 4, 2011 -> 10:10 AM) That would be great, and wouldn't you agree that two guys putting up similar numbers to TCQ would be better than one? Yes, I think it would be great if Brent, Alejandro, or Rios put up those numbers too.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Oct 4, 2011 -> 09:58 AM) That's all well and good, problem is Axelrod and Stewart are the Sox best options right now. That's why they have to be open to dealing Ramirez. I think Santos too. That makes the same problem worse. Escobar isn't a likely long term SS option...and if he were to be, he's not likely to be ready to compete in 2013, even with a full 2012 season at SS in the bigs. Reed might well be able to be a closer option by 2013, so I'll leave that one out...but you're again losing in 2012 with no obvious path to getting back to contention in 2013.

Luol Deng appearing on actual british currency (The Brixton pound, to save you the googling).

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 4, 2011 -> 09:49 AM) You have already begun the Pittsburghization of the Sox. That's exactly it. If Stewart and Axelrod are not long term starting rotation options...then that year is a waste. And then 2013 is spent developing more pitchers. And then maybe 2014 is as well. If we're going to lose in 2012, then lose with the guys who we think can compete in 2013.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Oct 4, 2011 -> 09:44 AM) OK, I think we are both starting from the assumption that among Quentin, Buehrle, Danks, and Floyd, the Sox can only afford to keep two of them. You are saying the Sox need to keep two pitchers and I say keep one pitcher and Quentin. This is why: If we're thinking long term, there's 1 other issue here. D1 and Quentin are free agents after 2012. IMO, Mark Buehrle can probably be kept at an acceptable price comparable to what Danks will get in arbitration this year (maybe a couple million more) as long as he wants to keep pitching. If we were to hold onto Quentin...it'll be hard to get more than a sandwich pick for him. If we hold onto Danks, he might well go type A, but in both cases...we're getting a pittance of draft picks for the guys, when at least we could get tangible players by dealing them right now.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Oct 4, 2011 -> 09:38 AM) There's a good chance that they prove they are not major league caliber starters not to say there isn't a role for them in the pen. The Sox need better starting options for 2013 and beyond than Axelrod and Stewart. If they're not major league caliber starters...and they're just going to wind up in the pen...then it is a terrible waste to spend a full season at the big league level trying to develop them as starters.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Oct 4, 2011 -> 09:28 AM) A rotation that includes Axelrod and Stewart is likely to lose 90+ games which is ok for one year, but they have to be replaced with better pitchers. That's why I advocate dealing guys like Ramirez and Santos. It really doesn't help this team to spend a full year of 90 losses trying to develop Axelrod and Stewart only to cast them aside in 2013 when better pitchers arrive. If you're going to take the losses for a year (a-la 2007), then develop the pitchers you need for the next campaign. Don't waste a year of losses, then the losing becomes normal.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Oct 4, 2011 -> 09:25 AM) Which is my original point that trading Quentin = giving up on 2012. If that's the best course of action, then I'm OK with that. I just don't want to hear how the best chance for the Sox to win in 2012 involves trading Quentin because it doesn't. If the payroll won't allow keeping Quentin in 2012, then the payroll won't allow winning in 2012. No...trading Quentin is not "Giving up on 2012." Giving up on 2012 to me is going into 2012 with a starting rotation missing both Buehrle and Danks. This team can win in 2012 if Beckham, Peavy, Rios, and Dunn have "recovery" seasons and Morel, De Aza, Sale, and Viciedo keep developing. I don't see how that calculus changes if Carlos Quentin is here. We're not winning the Central if those things don't happen, and we've got a shot if the majority of them do happen. The one thing that keeps us from having a shot if those guys do recover is the starting rotation being too weak...which is possible if Mark! isn't back and D1 is also gone.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Oct 4, 2011 -> 09:15 AM) that would be pretty funny to just pull him for a week. what kind of message does that send? "dont say politically incorrect things or you get your hand slapped. then all is forgiven" They can't not act or they'd have a ton of angry emails/viewers. But if they got rid of him permanently...they'd have a ton of angry emails/viewers.

Got it. 4 seconds.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Oct 4, 2011 -> 09:11 AM) An OF of Quentin, deAza/Lillibridge, Viciedo has a real good shot at being better offensively than deAza, Lillibridge, Viciedo. By quite a bit. And then you have the potential to play Lillibridge in the IF some if Beckham and/or Morel don't hit next year. I'm sorry, but I just don't see an OF comprised of Viciedo, deAza, Lillibridge, and Rios producing enough offensively to win games unless Dunn, Beckham, and Morel all have massive turnarounds next year. But that Quentin, De Aza/elf, Viciedo OF is also going to be worse defensively than the one I wrote down...and this season's OF defense was bad enough to hurt this team a lot (Juan Pierre agrees). And there's literally no room at all for Rios...which I know some would view as a great thing...but like it or not we've got $36 million more to pay him, so we ought to at least be able to give him some at bats. Yes, it will take recoveries by Dunn, Beckham, and Morel to win the Central next year. Even if you kept the OF you want...it would take recoveries by Dunn, Beckham, and Morel to win the Central next year. I think we're at the point where we can no longer focus solely on next year...we have to look beyond next year as well...and that means Quentin has to be moved for whatever we can get. Especially if you throw in the $7 million salary he's likely to get...and realize that it's probably Quentin or Buehrle. Or Quentin or Floyd...not both.

Well, it's "Deadline day". Long meeting scheduled for today. If there's no progress today, the season doesn't start on time.

QUOTE (Papa Tru @ Oct 4, 2011 -> 02:04 AM) You always have ridiculous expectations, IU will never be good again.. just accept it Yeah, this is a little ridiculous too. This is a program like Notre Dame in football. If they're not winning, it will keep making them more determined to start winning...because that's what the alums demand.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 4, 2011 -> 08:49 AM) Exactly. The focus was on winning in 2011, which means if Sale was on the team, it needed to be in the pen. If they wanted him stretched out for 2012 at the expense of having him as a reliever, that would have meant a whole lot more Will Ohman, Tony Pena, Brian Bruney, and Jason Fasor depending on match ups and the time of the season. After the way Chris relieved in 2010, that wasn't going to be very consistent with winning the division. At least worth pointing out...I would have had no problem with more Will Ohman as long as he was being used against left-handed batters. That's his job. The real problem was going with Thornton as the closer out of ST, which necessitated 2 other lefties out there, and not having enough quality RHP out there (something which hurt us the whole year).

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 4, 2011 -> 08:53 AM) I'm guessing they get at least one more starting pitcher from the deals this year. If we know anything about Kenny, it is that he loves pitching. If KW gets anything of higher quality and greater MLB-Readiness than Stewart for the guys he has to trade, I'll be very impressed and stunned. That said, I was impressed by him turning Jackson into Stewart.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 4, 2011 -> 08:55 AM) Every fan base has them. Of course I know that...I know at least one person related to this site who has their season tickets . Still...I don't feel like I've ever seen the Angels successfully marketing to them. They've tried...like when they changed their name to LAA and launched ad campaigns downtown...but they still seem like an intelligent fanbase with a good club and good ballpark.

You have them calling you now?

This is sorta amazing. This researcher died almost literally while the Nobel committee was voting on the prize he would eventually win. The rules say that the award cannot be given posthumously, but they're giving it to him anyway since the voting committee was unaware of his passing.

According to ESPN, Verlander threw 15 pitches yesterday clocked at 99.5 or above (i.e. rounding to 100+)

QUOTE (MexSoxFan#1 @ Oct 4, 2011 -> 02:07 AM) If that is true and Reagins really didn't have control over personnel decisions, then why did he get canned? Even the article you're replying to says he was overmatched as Scioscia's personal assistant. If nothing else, why not have a dissenting baseball voice in that chair when someone suggests bringing in Vernon Wells?