Balta1701

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 12, 2011 -> 10:36 AM) Um, those graphs don't agree with each other. Yes they do. It's really hard to get all the data on the same scale and taking everything to the modern without making the graph myself, which is incredibly tedious. Take a look at the scale on the previous graph...the big decrease 14-24 months after the employment peak is the downturn pre-stimulus, which shows up as the end of 2008/early 2009 plummet in the 2nd (FRED) graph.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 12, 2011 -> 10:30 AM) They are mirror images of each other. The interesting thing is that the modern curve is in a nice downward turn, whereas the depression one was picking up at this time. The modern curve is the most non-concave-downward thing I've ever seen. It's flat since the stimulus. Utterly utterly flat.

Tim Pawlenty endorses Mitt Romney, joins campaign as a co-chair.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 12, 2011 -> 10:24 AM) You could say he was the first modern President to do so. You can quibble with this a little, there were some Vietnam-era deficits run, but "Consistently, every year increasing deficit as a fraction of GDP" turns right at 1981. (Note, 2nd graph was pre economic collapse, so the last couple yeras do not appear).

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 12, 2011 -> 10:22 AM) I agree. I think JR's "meddling" is way overblown. I don't think hiring Ozzie was forced on KW. I do believe interviewing him was probably forced. If he can't hire or fire people (although I do think the Walker incident shows how immature KW really is) what does he do other than front for JR? I mean, I'm one of the people who think that JR did force some of the moves this year. That said, my firing or not firing of KW is entirely based on what he told JR about the risk going into last offseason.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 12, 2011 -> 10:02 AM) "won over" is code for "was told to hire". Especially hearing about JR's vetos of moves this year, it makes sense. Again...if I were a GM, and I were put in a situation where I not only coudln't fire my manager but I couldn't even make the choice of manager, I'd resign.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 12, 2011 -> 08:39 AM) Nice work on showing how similar the moves are again by the way. Also worth noting is what I haven't yet found a graph to show. The red line there stays horizontal. The Blue line continues to plummet. The employment/population ratio dropped from 54% to 42% by 1933. Most of that drop happened in 1931 and 1932. In this case, it dropped fromm 63% to 58.5% and has stayed at 58.5% since it stabilized. A similar magnitude drop in employment/population ratio would put it at ~50% right now. That would be an extra 25 million unemployed, give or take.

QUOTE (MurcieOne @ Sep 11, 2011 -> 11:11 PM) That might be an exaggeration. But he did what was asked of him. That was not an exaggeration. Roy Williams had a really good game. Some excellent, difficult to make catches and real solid blocking downfield on those big runs.

I heard the Caulfield version...that Ozzie was strong in his interviews. That he was ordered to hire Ozzie by the Chairman is not one I regularly hear.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Sep 12, 2011 -> 09:46 AM) But Crede usually averaged 16-24 homers and around 65-80 RBI's. Respectable, Uribe-esque numbers. His walk totals kept his OBP down, and OPS down, but he was at least dangerous up there. And he quickly gained a reputation for being "clutch," something many of our young players have yet to establish. And Crede did that while putting up OPS numbers in the low .700's in a much more offense-oriented era. In Crede's 2nd full season he put up an OPS+ of 83. Brent is currently at 70 this year. Crede was not as bad as Morel has been this year, but was also not as good with the glove to start out, and Crede took legitimately 3 years before he finally got the hang of his swing.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Sep 11, 2011 -> 10:11 PM) Yeah, but what if they completely fall off next year and he goes all 2008 Cliff Lee? It'd be really hard for them to completely fall off with their 2 key guys being MCab and Verlander. But in that hypothetical...as of the end of this year, the only 2 big contracts they're currently carrying are Cabrera and Verlander. They have a couple decent sized ones (VMart), but most of the really bad money they signed 4-5 years ago will have ended. Guillen, Ordonez, etc., those contracts are cleared. They've sustained a $120 million+ payroll despite not winning the division the last few years anyway. There's no reason to expect that financial constraints will force them to sell off the big guy.

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Sep 12, 2011 -> 09:04 AM) I like Brent. His defense is very good, but his hitting is lacking. Average-wise, he's not far from how Crede was. But he doesn't seem to have the same impact bat that Crede had. As someone else mentioned, with our payroll woes, he may be the best option. I'm okay with Brent at the hot corner for defense. If the rest of the lineup were to hit (big IF, I know), it'd be easier to overlook his hitting. For the first 3-4 years of his career, Joe Crede was not an impact bat.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 12, 2011 -> 09:33 AM) Let Kenny actually have his own guy for once. Are you alleging that Kenny Williams did not make the decision to hire Ozzie Guillen post 2003?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 12, 2011 -> 09:18 AM) With the K numbers that Tyler had before AJ ever got back, that is just a coincidence. Well, yes and no. He was sporting a .350+ Babip during his hot streak, now he's sporting a .275. I think there's still plenty of reason to think that he ought to be in the .315-.330 range on that stat because he does hit the ball hard when he makes contact, so there's reason to think that his batting average has some room to move upward from here.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 11, 2011 -> 08:21 PM) I see you ignored the 20% current unemployment comparison completely And if we go and look at employment to population, the drop now will be Half that of the depression.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 11, 2011 -> 09:29 PM) cst_Cowley cst_Cowley Twitter blackout ... done with you people!! lol, I love the columnist running like a little b****. Joe Cowardly indeed. Joe Cowley is clearly incensed by the steelers loss.

MRI tomorrow for Sam Bradford, concern about him having nerve damage in his finger/hand.

Jordan, even out of frustration, that's a pretty clear personal attack violation.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Sep 11, 2011 -> 07:52 PM) Hence the "overall" at the end. Was scoring actually higher this year than week 1 last year?

QUOTE (dasox24 @ Sep 11, 2011 -> 07:40 PM) I'm interested to see if anyone is going to give credit to Roy Williams for his blocking. I noticed him just man-handling his CB on a couple plays that allowed our guys to get better yardage (including the Hester screen pass). I can't believe I'm saying this, but we're going to miss him if he's out for awhile with this groin injury. He made a difference today in both the running and passing game. Roy Williams had a really good game.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Sep 11, 2011 -> 07:34 PM) The offenses, surprisingly, seem well ahead of the defenses overall. The Bears and Ravens disagree

Chargers P Mike Scifers with his first career FG.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Sep 11, 2011 -> 05:53 PM) Coming from the guy who blasted us for ranking Reed the No. 2 prospect in the system ha. Glad you came around. I've been saying he's MLB ready for most of the year now. Of course he's MLB ready. Based on this season, I have to conclude that everyone in Charlotte is MLB ready.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Sep 11, 2011 -> 06:10 PM) Watching Steve Smith torch the Cardinals one-on-one with no safety help over the top is hilariously ironic, seeing as how Ron Rivera is coaching the Panthers now. Watching Rex Grossman torch the Giants is hilariously ironic, seeing as how Rex Grossman is a starting QB in the NFL again this year.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Sep 11, 2011 -> 05:39 PM) Perfect. The sad part of it is that it REALLY seems to be the belief of the front office. That's always been the exact opposite impression you get from the marketing department too...which tells me a lot about how unprofessional the public behavior of the faces of the franchise has been.