Balta1701

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Aug 31, 2011 -> 01:03 PM) Flowers is still learning. No doubt he has improved, but AJP is no slouch. Pierzynski deserves to start. De Aza and Rios is a hard one. Might be more of the match up then anything. Next year might be different. There is no matchup right now where Alexis Rios should be playing.

Hell, maybe getting Carlos back would push Rios back to hitting 5th. That alone would be a bonus.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Aug 31, 2011 -> 01:25 PM) Why not? Seriously. If he's good enough to be in the lineup, he's good enough to bat 4th. He's been hitting better as of late too. Last 7 days, .579 OPS. Really...he hasn't been hitting better.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Aug 31, 2011 -> 12:30 PM) did people notice Hawk mention last night that Konerko will not be seeing any good pitches to hit while Rios is hitting behind him(unless Rios gets hot)? When Hawk is criticizing the lineups, something is seriously wrong. Hawk has laid into this team a lot this year, from the lack of hustle, the lack of 3-0 swings, the bad mechanics at the plate, etc.

Seriously, Alexis cleaning up again?

Heat makes them extra tender.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 31, 2011 -> 11:05 AM) Aren't we typically pretty meh in September too? Not always. We actually have a habit of putting together good Septembers and screwing up our draft position. We did it in 2007, we were 14-13 last year in September, 13-14 in September 09, etc. We were 12-15 in September 08, but that was without Q.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Aug 31, 2011 -> 12:58 PM) ah ok. I was on vacation for 2 weeks, thought I missed something. About 3 resoddings.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Aug 31, 2011 -> 12:56 PM) New turf? The bi-weekly resodding.

Everything is good when soaked in oil. Especially the Gulf of Mexico!

Can we fry the broccoli too?

Awesome, that's what Fried Zebra must be.

Taylor takes the blame for the Cut mess.

Decently entertaining leak today. A group of 11 northeast states commissioned what appears to be an independent study of the impact of stricter air quality and greenhouse gas regulations on employment within those states. Basically, their findings are...the stronger you make your pollution standards, the stronger your economy is.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 30, 2011 -> 04:57 PM) Then again their wouldn't be a huge lack of demand if half of Barack's promises actually came true when it came to the economy. There also wouldn't be a huge lack of demand if tax cuts, and especially upper class tax cuts, had a strong positive effect on the economy. Because we've done a ton of that.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 30, 2011 -> 04:52 PM) A nice bit of sales work, but turns in the economy don't happen overnight. The roots of what is happening now are from 6 months to a year ago, not last week. Actually, I don't believe it's the case that the debt ceiling debate caused the weakness either. I'm just illustrating the point that if "government uncertainty" is the problem, then the debt ceiling and current budget cut discussions are the epitome of government uncertainty. I don't think government uncertainty or regulatory uncertainty is part of the problem. No one would care about the debt ceiling deal or react to it if there wasn't a huge and continuing lack of demand.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 30, 2011 -> 04:48 PM) Which also had nothing to do with the debt ceiling debate, and was going on for years before it. And "will the U.S. government default on its obligations" is clearly not a source of any uncertainty. Why, if that were the case, the bond market would have cratered the second that deal was passed and people realized that bonds were safe and the economy wasn't going to be growing any time in the near future. Heck, we might have even seen negative yields on 7 year Treasuries.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 30, 2011 -> 04:43 PM) Well except for the part about the downturn starting before the debt ceiling debate got going, which means economically this has nothing to do with that because it is impossible for it to torpedo the economy before the "compromise" actually happened. Hmmm, I could have swore that some group of people had argued that "uncertainty about future government policies" could do a lot of damage.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 30, 2011 -> 04:30 PM) Using Maddux, who is the picture of health and a perfect stressfree delivery, is a terrible example of why Straus can win it many times over. The injuries are going to be his hang up. We saw what multiple major injuries do to guys with once in a generation stuff. No one could touch Liriano's slider back in the day, to the point where all we heard was "Where is our Liriano?" Guess what, you can have him cheap because his arm fell off. Strausburg puts the same stresses on his arm that Liriano did. Now really though, not just becuase of the LHP/RHP part...are Liriano's and Stras's arm slots anything alike? I feel like Sale is much closer in arm slot to 2006 Liriano than Stras.

Phil Better!

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Aug 30, 2011 -> 04:04 PM) Do I really need to post Strasburg's peripherals from last year? The guy was virtually unhittable from day one. 99.5% of prospects, steve is right and J4L goes nuts whether it's appropriate or not. The healthy Stras from last year...it's entirely deserved.

QUOTE (kwolf68 @ Aug 30, 2011 -> 04:05 PM) Obsession with 'small ball' had NOTHING to do with letting go of Frank Thomas or even Jim Thome. Thome was not replaced with a 'small ball player'...he was replaced with a power hitter, who just happen to suck in Chicago. Mark Kotsay?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 30, 2011 -> 03:29 PM) Their call ups this year have been awful for the most part. The last guy they called up who I can remember making a big difference for them was Span, that was in 2008, and he's put up a .677 OPS between 2010 and 2011. Valencia had a hot start last year, slightly better than Brent Morel with the bat this year. Duensing I guess came up in 2009, but most of their starters have been around for a while.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Aug 30, 2011 -> 03:23 PM) It wont last long. The twins org is much better at player development than the teams in our division, they will come up with something. With that said, alot of their advantage went bye bye when they moved outside. Seriously...what does their player development record look like the past 2-3 years?

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Aug 30, 2011 -> 03:21 PM) The M&M's themselves are going to be an issue I think Well clearly...that was sorta implied.