Balta1701

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 02:36 PM) What I don't understand is why he caved in here. I'm against 90% of what Obama wants to do, but there's a point where this Republican party is just retarded. Case in point is the idea that rich people paying a slightly higher tax is going to make things worse. That's a joke. They can afford a little more. He had all the cards in this fight. Worst case nothing gets done. Unemployment benefits end and the tax cuts end too. You know who people get mad at? The GOP. 95% of the voting public just got their taxes increased because the Republicans were protecting a small minority. Benefits got lost because of the GOP. The people who are hurt by that move aren't the rich. Even for the moronic democratic party, this would have been an EASY message to communicate. Best case, Obama gets what he wants - unemployment benefits remain and tax cuts are extended for everyone not making a middle class living. The government doesn't take another deficit hit. Win-win-win. Instead, he's a coward with no principles he's willing to stick with. This is my biggest issue with Obama. I'd have more respect for the guy if he told the idiots in Washington (both sides) to shove it. The best leaders don't care who they piss off, they do what they think is right. And yeah, that video is nice to show that he can say it, but let's actually see him DO it. The other way to look at this deal is...it's about $450 billion in stimulus dollars that weren't there last year. This is, by conservative estimates, on the order of 1.8-2 million jobs worth of spending, and it's going to push hard away from the deflation risk that was becoming more and more creepingly obvious. That's why, if I were in Congress, I'd be inclined to vote for this package. I'd definitely try to extract my pound of flesh, focusing on the estate tax most likely, but the difference between passing this package and not passing this package could easily be his re-election, through the stimulus properties. Getting that stimulus right now is probably worth tolerating wasting a couple hundred billion on Republican tax cuts.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 02:50 PM) We have a RF'er in CQ. It is stillpossible we see a battler in ST between Viciedo and Morel for that 3B job. Nothing has been handed to anyone that I know of plus we have Teahan in the picture. There are trade possibilities for sure The stuff I've heard out of the Org seems to suggest that they really like Morel's glove and think his bat will come around quickly, while they clearly don't trust Viciedo's glove or Teahen's glove or bat at all for 3b.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 02:02 PM) Or Lillibridge, he can technically play all positions besides 1B and C. True, and I believe Lillibridge is out of options while De Aza has 1 left, according to Kap's sheet.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 02:00 PM) He's a given barring a trade. Castro ©, Vizquel (3B, SS, 2B), Teahen (1B, RF, 3B), and then a 4th OF would be the bench. Alejandro De Aza, unless he gets hurt in ST.

QUOTE (Princess Dye @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 01:56 PM) If Paulie's year last year means nothing then I guess it's impossible to combat your point. I'm basically saying that the extra 6M in 2013 is worth it to me if it means I'm getting the better player. PK does his damage against AL pitching. Lee should do better against NL pitching if he's going to be my 1B on a championship team. Derek Lee is a career .315 hitter with a .915 OPS against AL pitching.

Frank Thomas hit 448 home runs with the White Sox. Paul Konerko has hit 358 home runs with the White Sox. If PK14 averages 30.333 HR/year with the White Sox over the duration of this deal, he will become the White Sox's all time home run leader. He is also likely to move into the #3 spot on the all time White Sox hit list during the duration of this deal, and has an outside shot at 2nd or first on the all time list of 2b hits for the Sox.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 01:39 PM) We'll see what Lee signs for. I think Lee was the better option if he signs for 1/7 or below. If DLee signs for that low after Pena got $10 million, that tells me that the teams out there really believe that DLee is much more of an injury risk than we're thinking.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 01:32 PM) There's also an article on the Rays site (front page) saying how they need a 1B. They also need a DH, and with payroll concerns, and a surplus of SP, it seems to me like this could be a great fit for both sides. We then deal a starter for payroll space to sign a reliever or two and hopefully pick up an OF in the process. For what it's worth...Garza is a 2nd year arb-eligible player, coming off a $3.35 million deal this year, which means, I think, he's probably somewhere in the $7-$8 million range, maybe a little more, next year. Basically, a very similar number to what Danks is likely to get. Therefore, unless the starter you trade is Peavy (hurt) or Buehrle (NTC), you really don't realize any payroll savings by dealing for Matt Garza and then trading away a starter. In fact, if Floyd is the starter you trade, it hurts your payroll situation.

QUOTE (bighurt574 @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 01:30 PM) If someone was going to need to take a $$$ hit to bring Putz back, why does that fall on Konerko? If it's just about who has the most money to afford the hit, then why wasn't it on Reinsdorf to suck up a couple extra million? His kids wouldn't go hungry. Seems pretty arbitrary (and unfair) to link Konerko to Putz like that. As it is, Konerko agreed to defer some $$$ (lowering the present value of his contract) to give the Sox more flexibility. I'm not sure you can really expect more than that. There's one other possibility...the team itself didn't think Putz was going to be healthy enough to be worth a 2 year contract.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 10:36 AM) Yes. Any idea how to fix the problem without a three figure upgrade? Find someone you know who currently attends a university and kindly ask them to buy you a school-subsidized $5 copy of 7?

QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 09:40 AM) It's in Crawford's best interests to make it seem as though many teams are still in the picture, especially the Yankees and Red Sox. But read between the bs, Balta... Yankees met with Crawford's people over dinner last night. Olney also says that multiple Red Sox team sources say they're still in on Crawford. None of this appears to be BS spouted from Crawford's side.

There is reportedly a good chance of some sort of DADT vote process beginning in the Senate tonight.

QUOTE (Jenks Heat @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 12:53 PM) This is also where Teahen will be in the mix although they need soemone who can play CF. For starters, that's De Aza. If things got really bad, Pierre could spend some time there too and not be the worst thing eva.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 01:03 PM) According to Oney Guillen, Jake Peavy was throwing a baseball today, which would be great news. That's 3 weeks ahead of schedule

QUOTE (Fantl916 @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 01:03 PM) Im just gonna come out and say this... why is everyone so bent of trading quentin... its assumed that we hardly have any money left to spend and what is left is likely to go towards the bullpen... who is going to play RF if Quentin is traded? Unless you want a Kotsay type back or Dunn playing RF this trading Quentin stuff needs to go away unless we move some salary... The Sox are unlikely to make a play for Garza considering we have 5 solid rotation guys unless theyre willing to move a SP as part of a 3 way deal of some sorts The reason that people want to trade Quentin is that Quentin seems like he belongs at DH, not in RF, where he's terrible and keeps getting hurt, and the Sox just invested a lot of money in one of the best DH's in baseball.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 01:03 PM) One would argue that RF currently is a hole based on Quentin's brutal defense, inconsistent offensive production and frequent injuries. Hell you have to go into the season with a plan B in mind for RF when Quentin inevitably goes down. I'd really like to see De Aza get some legitimate time there, but he's even more injury prone than Quentin so far in his career. That said, De Aza is your 4th OF to start the season. Option 3 for a short break is Teahen. A long term Quentin loss...that's a lot more troublesome...but that's one of those things that sometimes you have to roll the dice on, as you can only have so many quality backups for a position.

QUOTE (bschmaranz @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 12:55 PM) Gardner I could see being attainable. Ellsbury is gonna be pricey. I would assume another team would be able to trump anything we could possibly offer. Not only that, we're a poor match for either of those teams, since our top tradeable asset is a 1b/DH type, and both of those teams have monsters at those spots.

So that's how they'll get it through. I was really hoping for a line in the sand on this one.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 12:45 PM) Jones could be looking at a decent pay raise, fwiw. Realistically, he and Quentin should be looking at similar salaries this year, with Q as a first year arb-player. Q will probably beat him, but not by a whole lot.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 12:41 PM) Also, I would love for us to bring back Andruw. Hell, I'd probably take him over Quentin for his price and defense. Power is still there, just needs to work on contact skills. He's not going to change the kind of hitter he is.

What, Susan Collins might not negotiate in good faith? Why I never...

QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 12:33 PM) Everyone is drinking the coolaid. Where else was he going to go, folks? I could imagine that the Orioles offered him a similar deal to this. Not huge hometown discount though, especially when the tax rates get calculated. Just like last time.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 12:22 PM) Olbermann's rant on Obama last night. Sorry but it doesn't look like there's an 'embed video' function on their site. Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I'd be pretty confident that Infante will go into the season penciled in as the 7th guy in the bullpen.