Balta1701

QUOTE (oldsox @ Jul 21, 2011 -> 07:50 PM) Send Lillibridge down. Yeah, that's how we should reward his performance this year. Only way he'll learn, we want .515 OPS marks from our of's, not gamewinning home runs.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 21, 2011 -> 07:12 PM) He is like wikileaks, but nude and pointless. You rang?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 21, 2011 -> 07:12 PM) Indians fans have to be pissed right now. Why, because he wasn't called up sooner?

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jul 21, 2011 -> 06:03 PM) A few people may know my name, but only 1 person has ever seen my face, and that was entirely by chance/accident. ANONYMOUS Just from what you typed, the NSA and FBI are going to be looking at this thread tonight.

QUOTE (Cknolls @ Jul 21, 2011 -> 06:02 PM) Yeah. It's not like the Dems had control of Congress or anything. If it's standard procedure to pass the FAA bill a few months before the last authorization expires, and it's standard procedure to actually pass the bill...why would the Democrats pass it a year or two in advance unless they expected the incoming House to totally throw out all the historical niceties and precedents that used to exist?

You guys ought to love this.

QUOTE (buhbuhburrrrlz @ Jul 21, 2011 -> 05:02 PM) WE'VE BEEN DOING THAT ALL SEASON. Then we're all long past dead from lack of oxygen.

QUOTE (LVSoxFan @ Jul 21, 2011 -> 04:59 PM) OK, sort of on the topic. Do we all agree that if the Cleveland series doesn't go well, that something will absolutely happen? Because how much more water can this ship take on? We're still not that far enough out of it to write off the season but a couple of bad series and we certainly could be. Because if nothing does happen, we will be on here for months wondering WTF KW was thinking, not doing anything. If nothing happens to this team on the trade deadline, I'll be wondering what happened to Kenny Williams.

By the way, since we're talking about shutdowns. The FAA has been reauthorized by Congress 20 times in its history. The authorization for its existence expires at the end of the day on Friday. Its current reauthorization is held up because House Republicans attached a rider that makes it harder for rail and air travel workers to unionize, while the Senate Democrats did not. The House Republicans responded by passing a bill that defunded a number of rural airports in states inhabited by key Democratic votes.

John Salmons has his own clothing line.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 21, 2011 -> 03:58 PM) Apparently being regularly wrong is a good thing now. I guess that explains a lot doesn't it. Yup. (No I couldn't resist).

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 21, 2011 -> 03:52 PM) It doesn't make it intelligent. But then again I'll never get the race to be first to win at predicting failure. It's not hard to figure out...if there's no downside to being regularly wrong and a large reward for being right, then you rush to judgment as quickly as you can.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 21, 2011 -> 03:32 PM) I didn't get the Viciedo hate in the first place. The guy was away from home for the first time in his life, and in a place where he didn't speak the language or understand the culture. He was 20 for god's sake. He had a lot of adjusting to do without having all of the off of the field things to go through. When a guy gets compared to Miguel Cabrera coming in, and he winds up with an OPS in the .700's, there are going to be people rushing to that judgement.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jul 21, 2011 -> 03:35 PM) Inge might be interesting for us because he would allow us to keep him as our backup catcher. Otherwise, isn't he basically Brent Morel right now? Except for the fact that he's hit better in the past, yes.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Jul 21, 2011 -> 03:33 PM) Your reply is interesting. I like Lillibridge a lot, but I think he is better suited for the super sub role and not playing everyday, but I could be wrong. I think what we're seeing this season is the end result of Lilli as a sub who plays a couple times a week...an incredible hot streak followed by a couple really down months. My issue is...when a guy like Lilli gets into a slump, he's not likely to get out of it while playing once per week. That's why I say I'm at least curious what he could do with more consistent PT. If a guy can hit a streak like the one we saw from him earlier this season, that tells me there's some legit ability there which could be harnessed...the next step in harnessing it is some level of consistency, which he can't establish from the bench.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Jul 21, 2011 -> 02:48 PM) He's got a good arm and his thrown out rate shows that, but for argument's sake let's say he's a solid average defender...he's still not hitting enough even for a catcher. Also, I noticed that anywhere from 20-40 the guys seemed interchangeable. It becomes a matter of preference in player type at that point. When I read that statement comparing Phegley and Viciedo, I assumed it was talking about his bat development. Viciedo's bat wasn't there at all his first year, it wasn't until last year that his bat really started picking up to good levels. With Phegley missing nearly all of last year, I can see why he could get lumped into that boat. Hopefully this means JPN really likes his bat.

It's worth noting the cascade of failing to pay some of those "obligations." The top tier from this list would almost certainly go immediately; they don't get a payment and then everything relying on that payment defaults. The lower levels of the pyramid are trickier and might well depend on how nimble Geithner is regarding what gets shut down.

QUOTE (spiderman @ Jul 21, 2011 -> 02:35 PM) but probably won't because they still believe they can/will catch fire in a bad division. I have no special insight...but if I were in that chair and the Sox lost 2 of 3 in Cleveland, that'd be it.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Jul 21, 2011 -> 02:28 PM) Daily, we become more fully convinced that Lilli is not a full time player I'm still not convinced of this at all.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Jul 21, 2011 -> 02:01 PM) The MLBPA is there to protect the player, if he is being forced to retire than they will have something to say (and really no team would be able to do that at this stage in the contract). If he is the one who wants to retire than there is nothing they can do to stop him, that's part of his rights as a player. If the Sox benched him right now nad played him once a week until he retired, I don't think that anyone would question the Sox's move unless Dunn started hitting in those games when he got a chance.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 21, 2011 -> 02:04 PM) The Yankees could use one, but then again, they aren't about to block their guys either. If they don't have a backup next year, they might well be happy moving a guy in alongside AJ. Or at least someone might be able to convince them it'll be all right until they try it out.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 21, 2011 -> 02:10 PM) Some guys take a while to get going. I hate to use Batista as an example because I think there are other reasons for his success, but he is a prime example. This guy has legitimately never had a chance to get going in the majors.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 21, 2011 -> 01:45 PM) And just got ranked as the second to worst catcher in terms of defense in all of baseball, plus has a notorious reputation as an asshole. I'm guessing most teams in a pennant race aren't going to be interested, especially when the one team that could has already been down that road with disastrous results. The question is...does any team with a shot at a pennant need a catcher this year? I think the bigger problem with trading him is that, unlike last year, I'm not sure there is an obvious one, other than, as you note, the Giants, and they don't want AJ or a 2 year catcher.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 21, 2011 -> 01:41 PM) No one wanted him last year, and I am guessing with the balloon to six million next year, no one will really want him next year. He's hitting a whole lot better than he was at this point last year. .285 average/.704 OPS versus .235 average/.630 OPS.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 21, 2011 -> 01:38 PM) What sucks is if he doesn't do well, we won't really know if it is playing time, or his sucking. Well...if there's a taker, moving AJ Pierzynski and trying Flowers out as near-everyday playing wouldn't be the worst move. Save $6 mil + next year.