Balta1701

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 28, 2011 -> 02:43 PM) Balta - can you put this into laymans terms? http://news.yahoo.com/nasa-data-blow-gapin...-192334971.html s***ty study? Interesting twist? Will this new data "dramatically alter the global warming debate?" I can't say whether it would be an interesting twist. I'm half procrastinating right now so I've been reading up on his work, and again, still can't get that journal to load, but the idea that data from this satellite show an incorrect response to short term heating events is something he's published before. The first, and probably the most important thing to remember is that extraordinary claims require extraordinary levels of proof. It's a little bit bothersome to most scientists to see a new piece of data come in and have the response be "This clearly disproves 30 years of work" if the data doesn't show that. Especially when that is written in the popular press...be concerned, because that usually means someone has taken a few liberties to make their case. The actual author of the paper believes that most of climate science is wrong and that modern day warming is just an effect of changes in cloud cover. I did manage to get a quote or two from him via the U-Alabama-Huntsville press release, and there were some bothersome details in it. Now, the bolded part there is just not true. Increasing cloud cover is generally a negative feedback, in fact its a pretty strong one (clouds reflect solar energy back), and he can get away with this in no small part because cloud formation was as of the last IPCC report a very active area of study. Dissolved water vapor in the air detached from clouds is a very different story; that should be a positive forcing (the water vapor absorbs extra energy reflected up from the ground).. In the press release text that has been mixed up, probably for a good reason. I'm not quite sure this makes intuitive sense either, and I wonder about the employment of the model here. One example might be summer. The most sunlight hits the northern hemisphere on June 21, but most of the Northern Hemisphere is hottest a month or two later (July/August are the hottest months). I don't see any reason why in a short term hot spell, the maximum in heating should happen at the same time as the maximum temperature; same reason as the maximum temperature doesn't happen on June 21. A warm front can keep getting warmer even if it has started shedding its energy already, it just needs to be taking in slightly more energy than it is shedding, and if you measure the energy output, you'll only see 1/2 of that story. I'm sure I'll be able to find more work on this subject as the coming months happen, but intuitively and based on what people have challenged the author on before, this doesn't seem to be an atmosphere-shaking data point. Might be some interesting science, but it's hard to believe this will be an "A-ha, the Earth is actually cooling!" moment.

QUOTE (WHarris1 @ Jul 28, 2011 -> 03:01 PM) Bills reach agreement with former Jets WR Brad Smith on a 4-yr, $15 million deal. I'll once again sad I'm glad we "missed out"... The Bills were one of the teams way way way under the floor right?

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 28, 2011 -> 02:43 PM) Balta - can you put this into laymans terms? http://news.yahoo.com/nasa-data-blow-gapin...-192334971.html s***ty study? Interesting twist? Will this new data "dramatically alter the global warming debate?" Well apparently I can't get to the journal right now, can't even get to their homepage (traffic spike for this article perhaps?) so I'll answer once I can.

QUOTE (Sockin @ Jul 28, 2011 -> 02:51 PM) Peter Gammons just tweeted "Q" and thats it.... https://twitter.com/pgammo/status/96652551973376000

QUOTE (WHarris1 @ Jul 28, 2011 -> 02:49 PM) Good, that's how it should be. He's not going to the Pirates.

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Jul 28, 2011 -> 02:45 PM) I'm sure most people would think that. Especially since he is our hottest hitter. However, the AL Central is very winable regardless if we have TCQ or not. If "Tank" is ready for full time at the big league level and we get MLB ready pitching in return from ATL- then you never know! We really don't need to get MLB ready pitching back from ATL. We've got a 7 man bullpen that just got an upgrade and 5 guys who are starting, 4 of whom are performing well, 3 of whom will give you 7 innings almost every time out.

QUOTE (Real @ Jul 28, 2011 -> 02:41 PM) Just curious, what kind of value do you think Danks has? He's not gonna pull a Sabathia/Lee/Halladay return of talent, at least I wouldn't bet on it D1 isn't as good as those guys were...but he's also under team control for 1.5 years now, whereas Lee and Captain Cheeseburger were under team control for 0.5 years when they were dealt for Smoak and LaPorta.

I bet you could make an offer good enough that D1 would be on the table, I just don't know if the Yankees are desperate enough to do so

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 28, 2011 -> 02:18 PM) How can a young kid burn out at 90 pitches? So he's a five-inning guy? Six max? Philip Humber is not a young kid. He's 28. He might well be older than you. The problem is that he's bounced back and forth between the minors and the majors and bullpens and starting, so he's never really had a full year starting pitching in the majors workload put on him. His previous innings maximum has been about 140, which he's done basically each of the last 4 years. If that was a normal prospect, the "Verducci effect" rule would say that he'd max out at 165 innings. He's thrown 113 so far this year.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Jul 28, 2011 -> 02:22 PM) You don't win the division by having a better run differential. But you can definitely lose it that way.

QUOTE (Special K @ Jul 28, 2011 -> 02:09 PM) How'd he do in that trade for Nick Swisher or Javy Vasquez? Neither one of those were guys other teams actually wanted.

QUOTE (Special K @ Jul 28, 2011 -> 02:03 PM) What do you want to bet the Sox won't get a couple of top 50 prospects for Quentin? And let's take a look at KW's track record for trading for prospects before we go ahead and trade our second best hitter for this year and next. The last time KW traded a player for prospects the year before he hit FA that I can remember (other than of course Edwin Jackson) was Freddy Garcia for Gavin Floyd and Gio Gonzalez.

QUOTE (Real @ Jul 28, 2011 -> 02:01 PM) Pretty sure this will be Quentin's highest trade value barring a 2008 renaissance next year, plus two teams want him, or at least we think they do (theres still a slight possibility that somebody from either ATL or PHI is trying to artificially drive up CQ's value with no intention of finalizing the transaction I wouldn't mind being the beneficiary of that type of behavior, one team driving up the price to hurt the ohter.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Jul 28, 2011 -> 01:55 PM) This season he's up to 7.7%, which is improvement from flat-out sucking to mediocre, and that's against AAA pitching where the control isn't nearly as good. 8.6% since May 1, and he struggled for the first full month recovering from that broken thumb so it's not unreasonable to discount April.

QUOTE (SpainSOXfan09 @ Jul 28, 2011 -> 01:53 PM) Just for the heck of it I am gonna throw this out there even though it is a major bonehead question. What if CQ's value is so high for either Phili or Atlanta that we entice (Or try) to get them to take Rios from us and we lower the asking price and throw in some salary relief. Interesting angle but it would rid us of the worst of the 3 sand bags. As bad as Peavy's and Dunn's contracts are at least they try when they are out there. If we can get a value in young talent for him I'd rather do that. The phils would never be in a position to absorb Rios's deal; they're $3 million away from the luxury tax threshold this year (or less) and taking on Rios would put them in paying the luxury tax for several years. The Braves aren't usually a team that I think of as having a ton of extra money to spend despite the size of their market.

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Jul 28, 2011 -> 01:50 PM) I never thought that after 2008, Quentin would actually be UNDERRATED by Soxtalk. How does thinking he's worth the Phillies top 2 or 3 prospects mean that we think he's underrated?

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Jul 28, 2011 -> 01:48 PM) In his major league career, Carlos has BB/HBP in 12.3% of his PA. In the minors/majors combines, Dayan has BB/HBP in 5.7% of his PA. It takes an awfully good AVG/SLG to make up for that kind of difference long term, especially on a team that already has too many guys in Dayan's category of plate discipline and not enough in Carlos'. I'm not saying that you don't make the trade if the return is good enough, but all those free bases will be missed, and opposing starters will be throwing 10+ fewer pitches the first two times through the lineup. If you're taking Dayan Viciedo's career minor league walk rate to mean anything then you flat out haven't paid any attention to his development.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 28, 2011 -> 11:16 AM) The Dems sure haven't. Making it harder and more expensive to do business are eh biggest reasons why jobs leave this country in the first place. I love remarks that basically say "if we had the labor, health, and environmental standards of China, our employment situation would be fine."

So who do the Bears have on their roster who could take over at C if Kreutz left? Beekman still around?

QUOTE (Special K @ Jul 28, 2011 -> 01:44 PM) Trading Q would be an awful move and purely about salary and arbitration next year. He's our second best hitter and our offense is already pathetic. He's young also. I don't agree at all. If we somehow managed to get into the playoffs, our staff could carry us No, it'd clearly be about the things you got back for trading him.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Jul 28, 2011 -> 01:20 PM) That's why I can't stand the DH. It allows players to pad their stats to get into the Hall. When did Pete Rose DH? Frank Thomas's career was probably extended by the better part of a decade thanks to the DH. I'd say there's a good shot he would not be a hall of famer without it.

QUOTE (SpainSOXfan09 @ Jul 28, 2011 -> 01:41 PM) This goes hand in hand with my previous quote. I just don't see the team getting very far if in fact it can limp into the playoffs. I would see us as once and done in the NLDS. Of course, you think our offense would handle the Phillies or Giants pitching staff?

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jul 28, 2011 -> 01:36 PM) If Dayan is healthy I honestly dont think we lose much by plugging him in RF when Q gets dealt. Yeah it was just a cup of coffee and a whole lot of time being benched. Last season when DV was up, he put up an .840 OPS. Carlos is currently putting up an .863 OPS.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Jul 28, 2011 -> 12:40 PM) And yes, it will suck that Hawk gets a statue. They already named the broadcasting booth after him.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Jul 28, 2011 -> 11:13 AM) He hates using TE's in his system other than blocking. Always has. Hell, with the Bears' O-line, they needed blocking a lot more than receiving last year anyway.