Balta1701

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 5, 2011 -> 05:55 PM) Beltre to the Rangers is official. 6/96 Somewhere, an ex-GM of the Mariners is laughing.

It's amazing how fast the old "Driving in the snow" instincts come back to you.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jan 5, 2011 -> 04:02 PM) I was kind of thinking that too. It's a little over the top. GMAB, we can't enjoy the thread?

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jan 5, 2011 -> 04:18 PM) Victor Martinez. Ah, I knew there had to be something I was forgetting.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Jan 5, 2011 -> 04:17 PM) I know the Marlins were pretty high on him a few years back. He won the job out of ST and then suffered a pretty significant (ankle?) injury that cost him. He definitely has value and probably has a case for being on a ML team but I don't know about starter. He has the potential but has never demonstrated it for any significant stretch of time. I wouldn't go into the season penciling him into a starting role, but I feel like if Quentin went down, I would be excited to see what he can do.

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Jan 5, 2011 -> 04:00 PM) 2 of the 3 guys they were counting on to anchor their rotation for a decade were sent down to the minors last year. I'm not worried about the Tiggers. Especially since we normally do well against them head to head. What have the Tigers actually done this offseason to get better? Benoit signing, they kept Ordonez, anything else? They probably get Zumaya back next year I'd imagine.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jan 5, 2011 -> 04:09 PM) I think they're planning on Teahen as the 4th OF If they plan on him being the backup CF we may as well just throw in the towel.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 5, 2011 -> 03:40 PM) And Alomar getting 90% this year just proves what a f***ing joke his not making it last year actually was. Bah, I can live with HOF voters making a "Bad behavior" statement.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 5, 2011 -> 02:59 PM) OK ESPN has the list up now... Baines got 28 votes, which I believe is 4.82%. So, he now drops off the list. The players who got sustaining level votes: Roberto Alomar 523 90.0 Bert Blyleven 463 79.7 Barry Larkin 361 62.1 Jack Morris 311 53.5 Lee Smith 263 45.3 Jeff Bagwell 242 41.7 Tim Raines 218 37.5 Edgar Martinez 191 32.9 Alan Trammell 141 24.3 Larry Walker 118 20.3 Mark McGwire 115 19.8 Fred McGriff 104 17.9 Dave Parker 89 15.3 Don Mattingly 79 13.6 Dale Murphy 73 12.6 Rafael Palmeiro 64 11.0 I think McGwire went down from last year.

QUOTE (DirtySox @ Jan 5, 2011 -> 01:02 PM) Nope. Edwin Jackson has been the picture of consistency over his entire career.

QUOTE (Jenksy Cat @ Jan 5, 2011 -> 12:00 PM) (and no, 2 months last year doesn't prove anything). As the stubborn guy who hated that trade...can I apply the same standard to Jackson?

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Jan 5, 2011 -> 10:46 AM) Do you not agree though that Jones is a good glove man still? Maybe defense is something we should be considering? Why do we believe that De Aza and the Stealth Elf are poor defensive options? I'll grant that Teahen and Dunn are, but they were my 3rd and 4th options for a reason. Personally, I kinda like De Aza, and I've thought since we got him that if he ever stayed healthy he's somewhere in the neighborhood of an average MLB starter, although I don't know about his glove.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 5, 2011 -> 11:14 AM) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...ST2010121507078 Didn't you say earlier this morning that this was 100% not true?

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jan 5, 2011 -> 11:11 AM) Ahh, yes, the good old 'food standard'. Chickens. If it's good enough to pay for Health Care in Nevada, it's good enough for everything.

Although, if he was buying the drinks...

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jan 5, 2011 -> 10:02 AM) If you have a principle, you stick with it unless you absolutely can't. "Hurting the economy is bad".

One other topic I wanted to note before heading off... The House Rule that I noted a few days ago which allows the head of the Budget Committee, Paul Ryan, to essentially write and have his own budget automatically passed...it's actually interesting to note how that fits in with the discussion from yesterday about how horrid it was that the bill couldnt' have been read, and another part of the Health Care bill as well. Essentially, the House is using "Deem and Pass"...which if you'll recall, when the Democrats considered using it to avoid an unpalatable vote on the Health Care bill, was the absolute worst thing eva. "The Slaughter Solution", "Demon Pass", " ", etc. What's interesting here is that not only is the House using Deem and Pass...it's using Deem and Pass in the organizing resolution...and it's doing so for a bill that hasn't even been written yet. The house is declaring that whatever budget Paul Ryan comes up with has automatically passed the House unless it chooses to pass something else. A budget that no one has ever read, because it won't exist for at least another month, will pass the House today. And on top of that, it's done without an explicit vote on it. And on top of that, it's done in the organizing resolution, without which the House doesn't function. It's actually kinda impressive. If I ever get into Congress, I'm remembering this one. May as well just try to get every priority I have done in the organizing resolution, that way there are zero unpalatable votes. Get a public option in there, get the Afghanistan war ended, get a budget passed, infrastructure bank created, and I don't even have to have a bill to vote on, it's already passed. No hearings, no delaying tactics, it's beautiful. Anyway, I'm glad that we've had pages and pages of Republican complaints about how evil this all is. Otherwise, I'd get to make sarcastic posts saying "It's different now, circumstances change, blah blah. If you have a principle, you stick with it unless you absolutely can't.", and we know that only works for Democrats.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Jan 5, 2011 -> 09:54 AM) no no. Just saying she'll be torn apart and an excellent lightning rod for democrats. I think Palin will do just fine, thanks.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jan 5, 2011 -> 09:47 AM) Who said anything about it being a Dem only thing? It's hypocritical for him to rant about spending problems and debt problems and the irresponsibility of government, only to then increase the deficit by a trillion dollars in 12 months while President, on top of whatever he added in 09. God knows Reagan and Bush both spent like crazy, but this is a pot meet kettle situation given all the spending Obama has done. You know what's really amazing? Almost all of that spending you're railing against has been 2 things: 1. Tax cuts 2. Things that automatically kick in during a recession (people going on unemployment and Medicaid after losing jobs). The increase in the yearly deficit has been caused much more by a loss of revenue than it has been caused by any new spending. And you can say it's always different all you want...but deficit spending following a financial crisis is fundamentally different than deficit spending during a period of expansion. They're both expansionary...but when the economy is already expanding, the extra expansion winds up pushing inflation.

QUOTE (Elgin Slim @ Jan 5, 2011 -> 09:47 AM) Since this is the Soriano thread, isn't it obvious? I thought it was. So...Soriano as closer, a rotation to start the year of Buehrle, Floyd, Danks, Hudson, Sale? Yeah, I'd take that option.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 5, 2011 -> 09:46 AM) I think you have to bet on at least one OF injury during the year between Pierre and TCQ. And I'm content with De Aza, Lilliputian, Teahen, and in a mighty pinch, Dunn, as the backups.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Jan 5, 2011 -> 09:46 AM) Michele Bachmann is considering a 2012 presidential bid. Oh please do! She'll be the Palin of 2012 So you're saying the ticket will wind up being Palin/Bachmann?

You need to hang out with him for months for that to happen, not hours.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 5, 2011 -> 09:42 AM) If we can get Andruw in the same zip code as last year, that would be awesome. If the Sox have $2 million or so to spare...I think signing another reliever (perhaps a lefty), or perhaps a starter coming off injury (say Chris Young, or Freddy Garcia for those that love him) makes this team better than signing Andruw Jones.

we could probably imagine it...just not remember it afterwards.