Balta1701

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jan 14, 2011 -> 11:30 AM) When it happens 3 years in a row, you gotta start believing it's a real trend. Alexei's BABIP is horrible in April, so it could be partially on luck, but since I don't know his batted ball rates in those months, I can't really comment on whether or not it's just bad luck. Technically it's only really happened 2 years in a row. He looked awful in April 2008, but he only got about 10 starts until early May when Uribe got hurt.

Try the larger wikipedia entry if my discussion doesn't make sense.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 14, 2011 -> 09:49 AM) Ahh, I missed that. I'm forgetting Soriano was not offered arbitration. Still not worth the pick to me. No, Soriano was offered arbitration, you're still not understanding the system. The 2nd pick is magically created out of thin air.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 14, 2011 -> 09:36 AM) It makes them 'slightly' better. But I mean, c'mon. One, you've got the injury history. And Soriano has never produced three good seasons in a row. Two, you lose two draft picks in which the upcoming draft is believed to be loaded for a guy you might get 150-175 innings out of over the life of the deal. And you can have a bullpen with multiple Mariano's. Starting pitching will always take precedent over relief pitchers. It's not even really close. And other than Sabathia, they're going to have troubles getting to the 'pen with leads consistently with that rotation. I don't think people realize how bad Burnett was last year and how Hughes really fell off a cliff the second half. The Yankees only lose 1 draft pick in the upcoming draft. The Rays get 2 picks; the other pick they get is a "sandwich" pick, a compensatory pick created between the first and second rounds. Those picks only are created when an arb-offered player is signed by someone other than his team; they do not exist otherwise.

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QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 14, 2011 -> 09:17 AM) I thought about splitting out the core, energy and auto numbers - the difference between them is definitely worth noting. I disagree with the Core being "the one to really pay attention to" though - the total price index is what really effects consumers. Core CPI is more of a study point to look at how retail goods pricing is doing, a much narrower topic. It's the one to look at right now because it's at a record low value...and that's the one the Fed uses (correctly) when making policy.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jan 13, 2011 -> 10:07 PM) I don't think VZW speed will be hit THAT hard. It's already a huge network with tons of smartphones. That being said, I love my DroidX. What's really going to be interesting is what happens when presumably the iPhone 5 comes out. I think Verizon sales will get a decent number who have been waiting in Feb., but between the fact that it's not on their best network yet and the fact that AT&T locked all their iPhone4 users into 2 year deals, they're not going to sell all of the iphones in Feb. that they could have done without those circumstances. Hit a new model out later this year though, and that's when 5 million new users will appear practically overnight. (Probably me included)

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jan 14, 2011 -> 07:32 AM) ^^example, first round of tax cuts in '01. Democrats want $300 billion and want to keep the surplus. Republicans want some absurdly high number like $1.3 trillion and absolutely won't compromise on it. After a while of gridlock some hack senator comes out and says, as if this was an ingenious solution, "I got an idea, how about we all just vote for a $800 billion tax cut instead!" That's not moderation, that's just political hackery. There really isn't any principle driving it. And yes I did mean argument to moderation. Just to correct your numbers, it was $1.6 trillion that Bush wanted, and the compromise was $1.3 trillion. Followed up of course by another $100 billion 8 months later (post-911) and another $600 billion 12 months after that.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jan 14, 2011 -> 07:37 AM) you don't claim any kids on your taxes? Why? That's just basically giving away money to the IRS. If I understand what he means, I think he's saying he claims zero on the withholding so that the IRS pulls more out during the year and he gets a larger return when he files.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 14, 2011 -> 09:05 AM) Hm, Balta got the news before I did lately. I'll try for a morning update here... 2010 Retail Sales rose 6.65% on year, versus 6.5% drop in 2009. December came in at 0.6%, versus 0.8% expectation. The year's gain was the biggest posted since 1999. December CPI rose 0.5%, the largest increase in 18 months. But 80% of that increase was due to an 8.5% increase in gasoline, which was also the biggest increase in 18 months. Food was up just 0.1%. For the year, CPI was up 1.5%, versus down 2.7% in 2009. Although the total number has its uses, the one to really pay attention to is the Core CPI, which smooths itself out by excluding energy and commodity price shifts. Core CPI was up 0.1% in December and up only 0.8% for the entire 2010 period, which was a record low.

Apparently both years 2 and 3 are player-option years, so Soriano can opt-out after year 1 if he thinks there's better money out there for him.

Man, talk about bidding against yourself.

Again folks..at least get on the record and say "I think teachers are overpaid." Because i sure don't think that.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jan 13, 2011 -> 05:34 PM) What happens when you subtract the 3 months they do jack s*** during the year? Take out those 12 weeks and tell me they don't average about 6 hours/day and way less than 40 hours per week. You don't know that many teachers if you think they're not doing stuff during the summer. Enrichment courses (often mandatory), lesson plans, cleaning up from one year and starting another, etc.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Jan 13, 2011 -> 04:51 PM) No idea, but I figured that Ozzie loved the R-L-R so much that he would want our big 3 hitters aligned that way. I also figured I'd put Rios and his speed/base stealing ability in front of Dunn and Konerko. Doesn't mean that Rios couldn't hit 2nd, with Dunn in the 3 hole I guess. Really, the odds are that however our lineup starts on opening day, it's going to be shuffled by 2 weeks later. If Alexei is struggling he's going to drop, if Beckham is raking he's going up, whatever Rios is doing I dunno. There's not anything that I'm going to get mad about right now. We know these things: Pierre will lead off. Konerko and Dunn will hit somewhere back to back. Morel and Pierzynski will be towards the bottom, with Brent presumably hitting 9th. Other than that, I can't get riled up over where anyone hits. Rios, Beckham, Alexei, Quentin, all of them could have stellar "bat me at the top or else" kinda seasons, and all of them could have "Brent Morel is making this guy look bad" seasons, and that's how the lineup's going to be decided.

Very fortunate for his arteries though.

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-TX), who many believed was a likely candidate to lose (badly) should she face a tea party candidate in the 2012 Senate primary, will retire at the end of 2012.

What are you doing Dragic!?!

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jan 13, 2011 -> 02:35 PM) I'm not sure. This is just what Nissan claimed on its website. Nissan uses that number.

Fisk's double-tag?

Touche.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 13, 2011 -> 10:27 AM) I think Balta hates that soundboard the way I hate Juan Pierre. Actually, I was the first one to post it. I'm just annoyed because everyone's going all Dragic on me and stealing my thunder.

Really not sure I trust their "Eggs".

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QUOTE (iamshack @ Jan 13, 2011 -> 09:01 AM) You like the Volt a lot more than the Leaf, eh, Balta? Just more practical? If I had the Leaf, I'd still have to have a second car if I wanted to do anything like drive to my parents (and probably 2/3 of the mileage on my current car is long-distance highway trips). Insuring 2 different cars for 1 driver doesn't seem like the best use of money to me.