Balta1701

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QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 25, 2011 -> 04:23 PM) Ross Gload has filled a similar roll nicely for years now, being a backup 1B, occasional corner OF, PH and PR. But he's been in the NL, he can actually still run, and he's younger than Kotsay. In the NL, it's a little different. Since you don't have a DH...you effectively have an extra bench slot. If you choose to use that on a guy who can play 1 position, you can still have yourself 2 deep at SS/CF and not be in real trouble if 2 guys happen to be hurt/ejected in the same game. Plus, being able to be a decent pinch hitter is a skill that seems for some people to be fully divorced from being an everyday player.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 25, 2011 -> 04:15 PM) Doesn't hurt that the Patriots won that game. And Brady was still a relative unknown at that point. You pro-Cutler guys are throwing out guys like Benson and Brady and looking at it strictly through a vacuum. Tom Brady was a miracle worker at that point. He'd taken over for Drew Bledsoe and was marching his team on into the playoffs when no one thought he had anything. Tom Brady was already one of the NFL's biggest stories at that point.

And for what it's worth, Mark Kotsay has zero use to an American League team right now. Kotsay would be possibly useful if he could cover more than 1 position defensively. Even though he'd have an inadequate bat, he could be roster filler. With a DH slot and a 12 man bullpen, you have 4 bench players, at least 1 of whom needs to be a backup catcher. That means you have 3 backups to cover 7 spots. You pretty much need your other 3 backups to be utility guys able to cover more than 1 position. Even if they're not good at it, you need them to handle it in a pinch. If you carry a guy who is strictly a backup 1b, that means you have 1 backup OF and 1 backup IF. You might get a little bit better if you have guys you can shuffle around, or a DH who can also play the field, but a strict backup 1b who provides no value with the bat is a luxury that no AL team can afford. If his bat is good enough to get into the lineup on his own, even part of the time, ok, because you can shuffle him in and out of spots. If he can play several positions, even poorly, ok, because at least he's an extra backup OF if someone gets hurt. Kotsay was doing neither of those last year. He does not have any place on an American League roster.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 25, 2011 -> 03:59 PM) I think you're being serious. lol. You mean as a occasional DH or starter at 1B, right? He's not a bad player if used correctly. Just like Mackowiak and Wise weren't bad players if used properly. He actually meant that Dunn would use Kotsay as his bat. He would pick Kotsay up and swing Kotsay at the ball.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jan 25, 2011 -> 03:58 PM) Sunday night and Monday morning, I feel pretty confident that the Bears' brass coordinated with one another to determine the best way to handle the situation with the press. Then they did a horrifically bad job of planning...not saying "Grade 2" sprain or "Partial tear" when they came out with their press conference on the MRI results. Horrendous.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jan 25, 2011 -> 03:55 PM) You're a good baseball person, so the first thought that came to my mind after the Cutler controversy was if it was another Mark Prior situation. Prior used to always take himself out of games and make the doctors do an MRI on his shoulder. They kept finding ligament strains, etc., but nothing that needed surgery or was unlike what a lot of other pitchers had pitched through. And yet...a few years later, he finally went under Dr. James Andrews's knife, and basically wound up having a complete shoulder reconstruction.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jan 25, 2011 -> 03:51 PM) I think he was really struggling in the first half and seemed extremely lethargic for some reason. He then got injured towards first half, and after trying to play in the 2nd half with it on that first drive, he obviously didn't give the trainers the answers they wanted to hear. I'd still bet you that his knee was bothering him pretty early in that game, and my guess is that he first tweaked it on the play where he took 3 steps and then had 2 packers on top of him on like the 2nd drive. Everything after that was off target.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jan 25, 2011 -> 03:43 PM) Not one person has said he faked an injury. I'm not sure how many times this has to be pointed out. Ok, rephrasing..."was a wimp and came out of a game because of a totally weak injury". Same difference...either way, you're telling me that an entire locker room would stand behind a guy who quit on them and came out of a game that he shouldn't have.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 25, 2011 -> 03:39 PM) Benson was a non-proven rookie who reported to camp late and thought he was the s*** before taking a single snap. Not at all a legitimate comparison. He warranted hate from the start. Would you continue to respect a QB who gave up on your team and faked an injury because he was losing at halftime?

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jan 25, 2011 -> 03:20 PM) And you keep believing everything the organization tells you. As if they had a choice to say anything else. You don't think there'd be a few people who threw Jay under the bus, at least in the anonymous quote sense, if they thought he really had given up on them?

No Johnny Damon to sign this year. Work is actually done.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jan 25, 2011 -> 02:55 PM) Why would it be out of spite? I just hate when courts change law based on their interpretation of what they think legislators intended. That just leads to more problems. The law should be changed if the people think it's worth changing. As travel abilities have progressed, wouldn't "maintaining the spirit of the law" have pretty much required a re-writing of the law every decade or so?

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Jan 25, 2011 -> 02:56 PM) http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=6055534 How is Morneau still in the recovery phase? It's been what now, 7 or 8 months? This isn't his first concussion, and frankly, some guys never recover from them. This is why the NFL is correctly making a big deal of it this year.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jan 25, 2011 -> 02:26 PM) And I am certainly not saying they lied, or that they fabricated things...but there are a lot of things going on in this situation that would lead one to decide it was in his or her best interests to go with the organization's version of things and leave it at that. I'm not saying they lied...I'm saying that they probably lied?

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jan 25, 2011 -> 02:18 PM) Then the legislators should change the law. We shouldn't rely on the Court's decision for that. Trouble is...inertia. These sorts of laws don't get changed until someone gives a legislature a reason to change them.

Joba's shoulder might never be the same.

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QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jan 25, 2011 -> 09:32 AM) That's an opinion I do not wish to share. You understand then that no one should give any credence to your belief that Rahm is not the most qualified candidate, since you're unwilling to make that case?

Rick Reilly with a apology to chicago piece on Rose.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jan 25, 2011 -> 09:23 AM) None of this changes the fact that he's not the only qualified candidate. Just out of curiosity...who out there are you thinking of?

I ain't got time to pat down.

You realize that by this point in 2007, everyone other than Fred Thompson had basically declared that they were running in the Presidential primaries? This year, no one has actively announced they're a candidate yet. Anyway, Tim Pawlenty is going to save the world.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jan 24, 2011 -> 10:40 PM) Good thing Derrick's getting to the line now. If he wasn't doing that, he'd be in a real slump points-wise. Link

QUOTE (T R U @ Jan 24, 2011 -> 11:55 PM) Its hard to say Ben raped anyone when nothing was made from either accusation.. it could have been a money grab just as much as he really could have sexually assaulted them.. but he does seem like a pretty big douche either way There's no way that the last one was a money grab. The DA didn't feel like he had enough to press charges, between the victim being intoxicated and not wanting to testify. The DA in the case made that clear in the public documents he released; he thought that bad stuff happened, but the evidence requirements in those cases are large.