Balta1701

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ May 14, 2011 -> 03:46 PM) Yeah, I remember that being a pretty terrible argument! And I remember a pretty terrible 8 years after enough people in Florida didn't listen to it.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 14, 2011 -> 03:32 PM) I don't like Morel in the lineup. Ross made him look pathetic when we faced him in relief. If he can't face a guy because we're scared, then he needs to be sent down to AAA and Vizquel/Teahen need to be the starting combo.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ May 14, 2011 -> 03:17 PM) Remember when we argued that Obama was a weak president who gave in to Republican demands as the starting point of any negotiation and never pushed for any real progressive agenda? Remember when I responded by noting that your vote would help the rest of Alaska get torn up, and as such you have no right to complain?

G!

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ May 14, 2011 -> 02:26 PM) Does that mean a movie? I just have a hard time seeing a good movie in that vein coming from Disney. I'd guess video game

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ May 14, 2011 -> 02:17 PM) Pierre/Viciedo is actually more important, as it effects every single game. Agreed. So why are we caring about the one that affects whether or not we win in games where we're down by 7 runs?

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ May 14, 2011 -> 02:11 PM) Now you're comparing the careers of Peña and Dunn, as if they're similar. Peña has been crap for quite some time, but he's been less crappy than Gray. But this year, Gray was noticeably outperforming him. Dunn is a consistent league leader in HR's and OBP. Let's not act like Dunn/Lillibridge and Peña/Gray are even remotely similar circumstances. Let's not act like Pena/Gray and Pierre/Viciedo are even remotely similar circumstances.

As of early May, Disney has trademarked the term "Seal Team 6." Who would you rather have landing inside your compound. The actual Seal Team 6, or an angry group of Disney's lawyers?

I'm sure the Republicans will respond to this by finally passing a program to work towards clean energy and cut emissions. Right?

Shoulda warned me first.

I never thought I'd type this. The Atlantic has a real good article about Sarah Palin and her governing style and successes in taking on the oil industry in Alaska before she became the national candidate, and I highly recommend reading it. Seriously, I feel dirty writing that, which ought to tell you how surprising and interesting the article was.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ May 14, 2011 -> 01:20 PM) Maybe his article meant to imply that Wade/Lebron are a better scoring pair than Pippen and Jordan (which is probably true). Again, only if you really didn't watch Michael and Scottie.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ May 14, 2011 -> 01:09 PM) I'm sure that Pierre's career numbers are better than Viciedo's, too. The problem is that that change will never happen. We'll allow Pierre to flounder at the top of the lineup the entire year while getting the most at-bats on the team. This will also be great if we lose the division by a couple of games. Wait, Jeff Gray is a 21 year old prospect in AAA? Or are both 29 year old ish journeymen relievers with similar ceilings? You really think that the difference between Gray and Pena as the last guy out of the bullpen over the course of a full season is several wins?

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ May 14, 2011 -> 01:16 PM) Hence the optimistically. Bottomline, trading John Danks is dumb right now. One more losing streak and it becomes smarter.

Conveniently, your basic math doesn't strongly disagree with the Forbes numbers by that much. Almost all of the high-revenue teams show revenue in the $200-$250 million range, except for the Yankees who are above $400 million. The White Sox's revenue last year was estimated by Forbes to be just under $200 million. FWIW, in the NFL, they're arguing about having player salaries bye 50-60% of total revenue right now, so if total team revenue was $200 million, a $120 million salary is 60%. And of course, it's worth remembering that operating expenses in MLB are much higher than the NFL since you are operating a facility 81+ times a season rather than 8.

Huckabee supposedly will be announcing something today, but even his top people are still in the dark about what. People who worked with him last time are convinced he's not running.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ May 14, 2011 -> 01:00 PM) And Pena is even worse than this guy so what exactly is the rationale for keeping Pena. I thought the goal was to have the best available players on your team. To be fair, if you look at the career numbers, Pena has been marginally better in his career, if not for the first month of this season.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 14, 2011 -> 12:55 PM) You mean like Exxon, G.E. and Bank of America? With creative accounting and offshore accounts, a lot of Fortune 500 companies don't pay any taxes these days. I'm sure the IRS makes sure the players do, but the teams themselves? I'd like to see the tax returns for the White Sox since Reinsdorf took over. A baseball team can't exactly hide assets overseas as easily as Microsoft can. Almost all of its revenue is domestic. That said, there's probably a hundred ways to move money around to save on taxes, especially if there is debt that is being paid off.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ May 14, 2011 -> 12:50 PM) Well Michael and Scottie havent played for 10 years or so... Now if he meant in their prime the guy should probably never be able to write a basketball column again because I would think that while you could argue Lebron could play on the same court as Pippen or Jordan, Im not sure how the smaller Wade would really factor in. It's even in a column picking the Bulls over the Heat.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 14, 2011 -> 06:34 AM) 20% at BP. http://www.baseballprospectus.com/odds/ Tigers projected to win the Central with 85 victories. Someone want to tell me that the Sox (or Twins) can't hit enough of a run to get to 86 wins?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 14, 2011 -> 12:48 PM) Of course, for every line item, we can go back and forth. For example, merchandise/souvenir sales from all over the world. I live in Korea and 50% of the hats I see here are some variation of the White Sox hat, all licensed through MLB properties, New Era, etc. Spring training costs can also be written off against taxes, for example. If the majority of "small market" teams have been very profitable (think of teams like the Royals or Pirates) by keeping artifically low payrolls and simply taking in the revenue sharing from the larger market clubs, there's still no way any of those teams are spending anything close to $50 million per year on all these other costs we're talking about, or they wouldn't be booking any profits. Very, very conservatively, there's at least a $70 million-80 million spread between revenues and player payroll. There's no way anyone can convince me they're coming close to spending that. Hat and apparel sales don't go to the team, I believe they go to revenue sharing dollars.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ May 14, 2011 -> 04:01 AM) Even with the hype, I can't recall anybody really arguing LeBron was in the same class of Michael, Magic, Bird, Wilt, Russell, Kareem and a few others at the age of 22-23. ESPN and various columnists have been trying to make that comparison for years. Jason Whitlock wrote earlier this week that in a game of 2 on 2 he'd take Wade/Lebron over Michael/Scottie.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ May 14, 2011 -> 10:04 AM) We all know that my motives always are evil and deserve to be questioned. I should have posted it in green. I was just pulling your chain. Ok, then I apologize for responding in anger. I'm seriously interested in seeing how this race goes. I don't have a clue where it's going. I don't even know who's genuinely going to run. I never would have believed Gingrich would enter until he actually entered.

Link

QUOTE (Andrew @ May 14, 2011 -> 12:26 AM) Whoa - What am I getting warnings for? Telling Balta to save the non-sense???? Nobody would've tried that on anyone else in our pen. Certainly not Santos or Crain, which even Ozzie has the common sense to NOT use when we need wins. At least lately. The detailed " shut up" reply ? People disagree with you. Shut up is not an appropriate response to disagrement