Balta1701

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jul 14, 2011 -> 10:00 AM) Guess it doesn't matter, but if that replacement is a young pitcher, might as well let him pitch the whole season anyway? If we had anyone not named Chris Sale who was ready, sure. When that Ramirez guy in the bullpen is the next in line though, the cupboard is sorta bare.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 14, 2011 -> 09:59 AM) If you punt on 2011, he needs to be there 5-6 days a week, not in Charlotte. Priorities kiddo, priorities. Clearing $18 million of the money remaining on Rios's deal would be a much bigger priority to me than Morel playing every day in the bigs. Plus, at some point, perhaps mid next year, Young would be moveable again, just depends on how much we want to chip in to make it happen.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jul 14, 2011 -> 09:55 AM) That seems like an easy skip away from being able to openly promote a specific religion with state funds. You're never going to get fully around that though. An Executive or a Congressman is constantly allowed to promote things the Congressperson does using state funds. If a Congressperson attends a church and puts that church on their schedule, they're promoting that church. If Keith Ellison goes somewhere and gives a speech about Islam, then somewhere along the line the state is paying to support Islam.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 14, 2011 -> 09:45 AM) It would take about 3 starts, maybe 4. I'd guess it would take a little longer than that, given all of the new things for him (age, his motion, etc.) I'd bet the most you'd get out of him is a month.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jul 14, 2011 -> 09:49 AM) I like Bedard too, but then we have to find someone to make the 10-15 starts he misses due to injury. With Peavy already in the rotation, that could lead to trouble. Again, if we're rebuilding, who cares?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 14, 2011 -> 09:45 AM) The next problem is...are you willing to already write off Brent Morel? Because acquiring Michael Young would block him for 1 1/2 seasons...you're not going to see Young splitting time with Dunn at DH, not for the amount of money both those guys make. So Young would logically have to play 3B for us. I suppose you could just stick him back in AAA for 18 months, but I'm not sure if that's fair to Morel. Who knows, doubt this trade will even happen because I'm not sure if any team out there is clamoring for Alex Rios, especially the Rangers. I wouldn't mind sending Morel down for part of next year and seeing how things developed. He has options left and if we're throwing in the towel, I'm not in a hurry.

Balta enjoys some slots. They do have a Star Trek one.

I'll also toss in...the biggest impediment to effectively running a Windows based system is knowing how to run it effectively. If you already know how to operate Windows, Windows 7 is a pretty good OS (esp. compared with the debacle that was Vista), so some of the downside is removed. That said, I'm a Windows user and I F***ing hate Microsoft. Yet I keep coming back because I know how to run all of the programs I need in Windows and have other coding languages I need to learn first.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 13, 2011 -> 07:12 PM) I see you have finally come around on the destruction of the dollar. Depends on what's driving it. Price inflation combined with wage deflation is a bad thing. That's what this would be. Inflation pushed by wages would be a spectacularly good thing.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jul 14, 2011 -> 09:44 AM) Well at the bare minimum linking from the official government site gives explicit endorsement from the state of Texas for the event. That should absolutely be removed. And if the promotion of the event implies that the State of Texas is endorsing it, that's also problematic. File that under the "under God" and "In God We Trust" stuff for me, though: shouldn't be there, hopefully it's removed eventually but it's really not worth worrying over. I could come up with hypotheticals all day if I wanted...but here's sorta my thinking. The Governor of Texas is presumably allowed to spend state funds to attend events that the Governor of Texas wants to attend. The Governor of Texas is also allowed to spend funds to publicize actions of the Governor of Texas. Given those 2 facts, I can't really criticize strongly the use of state funds to publicize an event involving the governor of Texas.

QUOTE (FlySox87 @ Jul 13, 2011 -> 11:28 PM) Israel's borders would be indefensible if it gives up the West Bank, the Golan Heights and Gaza. Those territories were seized to deter Arab aggression in 1967. They can't be given back until the Arab world abandons its violent rhetoric against the Israelis. And there isn't a state religion in Israel. Israeli law clearly protects the freedom of religion. How did Israel defend those borders prior to 1967? Why did they give up the Sinai if defense is their only goal? The Golan Heights I will grant you as being a particularly strategic location. However, the West Bank and Gaza, no one in their right mind believes they are being held as a strategic defense. They are being held because the Israelis want that territory. The settlements in the West Bank aren't there for defense, they actually weaken Israel's defense posture by tying down the army in defense of those settlements.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jul 14, 2011 -> 09:39 AM) Here's the press release from FFRF It shouldn't be linked from the Governor's official website, imo. And there needs to be a clear difference between Rick Perry the Governor of Texas and Rick Perry, Evangelical Christian in the promotion of the event. I think that's where there problem lies: he's using his position to endorse and promote a religious event, blurring the line. I dunno...what does it count as if a public official, for example, were to urge people to pray for something? Or were to give advantages to religious organizations like tax-exempt status?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 14, 2011 -> 09:34 AM) Who would play CF? You're going to have to make another trade/acquisition or play some combination of Lillibridge/DeAza/Danks in CF. Assuming we kept Quentin and Viciedo together, the huge premium would then go to finding a CFer who could play stout defense to make up for the shortcomings on either side of him. So let's say you trade Rios and Jackson for Young. That makes sense. But trading Rios and Floyd for Young, that puts our entire rotation into flux for 2012 because then we'd only have Danks (maybe), Humber, Peavy and Sale (???) and another ??? at the 5th spot. Who knows what ends up happening with Buehrle. I don't think he would want to stay if he knew he was going to be part of a 2-3 rebuilding/restructuring of the organization. If you can clear out Rios's contract, you don't care who you put in CF this year, that spot is fillable with developmental people if you do a full rebuild or a FA bandaid next year. Personally I'd still like to see De Aza and the Stealth Elf get regular playing time to see what they can do.

At this point, there's only 2.5 months left in the season. Figure it'd take at least a month, month and a half to stretch him out to be a 6 inning pitcher, that means he gets what, 5 starts at the most? We're so far into this "Experiment" that we might as well keep him in the bullpen, especially since he's actually been quite a bit more effective lately (someone correct me if that changed while I was traveling). We should try to have him starting in the AFL if that's possible though.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 13, 2011 -> 07:05 PM) To be honest, people care way too much about AAA stats on here. And some people don't care near enough.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 13, 2011 -> 07:05 PM) From people I've talked to in the past, they've seen Danks' swing and don't think he'll have a prayer against MLB competition. I don't think you need to see his swing to conclude that, his strikeout stats tell you that.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 13, 2011 -> 07:30 PM) Miguel Cabrera Brad Radke (joking) Jason Kubel Michael Cuddyer Willits Ichiro Fukudome A couple key names from that list (Cuddyer, Fukudome) are Free Agents this offseason and might show up at that point as well

QUOTE (FlySox87 @ Jul 13, 2011 -> 08:04 PM) I'm a moderate KW supporter right now, but if he goes out and gets Carlos Gomez (or Figgins, or Bedard, or Hunter), I'm done with him. Straight up. Michael Young, on the other hand, I have always liked. As far as I'm concerned, he's one of the most underrated players in baseball and always has been. I'd love to see him on the southside. If the Sox go cheap next year, Erik Bedard as a FA option wouldn't make me mad, esp. if Cooper is still here.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Jul 14, 2011 -> 09:09 AM) I do wonder about a Rios for Young swap. The Rangers are said to be desparately looking for a CF and Young has become a $16M utility player for them. It would requre sending a SP to the Rangers as well. Rios has one more year on his contract, but the money is pretty similar. Young could slide in as the everyday 3B for the next few seasons. I wouldn't give them a SP of value, but yeah, I'd probably do that. That's a reasonable bad deal swap.

I assume the reaction to this will be half people angry about him still being unable to pitch, the same half also saying that they were right about the Sox having overworked him, and then the remainder of the board trying and failing to point out the contradiction?

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Jul 13, 2011 -> 06:35 PM) According to Rosenthal the Brewers are getting about $6M from the Mets, not the previously reported $5M. The Mets are responsible for the $3.5M buyout and about half of his remaining $5M salary for this season. Hell of a pickup if he sticks in the setup role and isn't a distraction. Even though the Brewers system is weak, for that kind of money there has to be something of value on the PTBNL list. If there's nothing there and all he costs is $2 million then I'd wish the Sox would have grabbed him.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 13, 2011 -> 06:25 PM) Why would we want Lowe over Pierre? Derek Lowe is still a regularly above average starting pitcher. Good number of innings, not dominant but wins you games. I'd take him...but I wouldn't take him at $15 million, and the Sox clearly have no need of starting pitching right now.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jul 13, 2011 -> 06:14 PM) Sorry, there will be bread/pasta, but all will be covered with butter/cheese to taint it with animal byproducts. Same goes for the fresh vegetable bar...all sprayed with melted butter for flavor. It's not the kind of place you'd want to go if you're one step off a heart attack, but it'll be good! Then you'll realize shortly thereafter that turning away 5-10% of your business by not having a vegetarian option available out of anger/spite might not be the best business move.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jul 13, 2011 -> 06:20 PM) This is true, and I think that would be the only thing that would make it worthwhile for ATL. I would assume that if we took him, it would be a definite goodbye to Buerhle, and might give us the depth necessary to dump Danks for a decent package. I'd think that if the Sox took on that kind of money, we'd expect to see just about everyone being moved. Buehrle, Danks, Quentin would probably go this year at the deadline just to clear salary, with AJ and Konerko right on their heels.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jul 13, 2011 -> 06:16 PM) I dont know, he would essentially be Adam Everett. Adam Everett when he was a starter with the Astros was a >2 WAR a year player from 2003-2006, basically worth $6-$8 mil in that parlance. As long as they had guys like BGO, Bagwell, Berkman, and (WTF?) Ensberg putting up big numbers with the bats, Everett was an ideal guy to stick in at SS.