Balta1701

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 02:58 PM) I have feeling you will see Alexei batting 2nd, and Beckham batting 8th, pending a miraculous spring by Gordon. I have a feeling neither of them will bat 2nd out of the spring, because Alexei has that usual April swoon and they probably want to be a little more cautious with Beckham's brain this year.

QUOTE (chunk23 @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 02:51 PM) You put the high OBP guy in front of the high SLG guy. Beckham's OBP in the 2nd half last year was .380, Dunn's OBP in his career is .381. So, the difference I'm giving you is that one guy is walks and HR's, one guy is more well rounded, singles, doubles, and HR, fewer walks though, but similar OBP values and similar slugging.

QUOTE (bucket-of-suck @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 02:47 PM) You don't need high averages to win games...you need runs. Let's ask it this way, hypothetically, let's say Beckham comes out and gives a .900-ish OPS while hitting .310, similar to what he did in the 2nd half last year except with a bit more power. On the other hand, Dunn gives you a .900 OPS with 42 home runs, but hits .245 and strikes out 190 times, with the slugging and walks making up for the low average. Which guy would you want where? I've qualified with similar OPS values between the 2 guys, so now we're talking roughly similar runs between them.

Fascinating concept. How might I go about doing that?

QUOTE (chw42 @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 02:33 PM) Depends on what you mean by best hitter. Adam Dunn is the best hitter on this team, but some people might not believe that since he can't hit for average. but he's also likely the best power hitter on the team as well.

Do try again.

QUOTE (Tex @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 01:57 PM) The second in line to the Presidency has no public appointments listed in his schedule today. Where the hell is the press coverage? Actually, he's probably involved somehow in the tax cut negotiation meetings in the Senate, since he might well wind up a deciding vote.

Candy candy candy candy candy candy candy

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 01:53 PM) It depends on where they put the team. You put it at All-State and you can draw greater from the Northwest and Southwest suburbs, while also bringing in a lot of attendance from the Rockford region. I think they'd have no problem selling out that arena on most nights with NBA talent playing there (especially Chris f***ing Paul? I'll head out a few times to watch). It would certainly make for some entertaining "cross town" games. Remember though, the NBA doesn't make its money on the people who buy the cheap seats (you might be fairly wealthy, I wouldn't know). The NBA makes its money on the people who pay a couple hundred dollars to sit close to the court, and the people who spend a lot more than that to fill the luxury boxes. To succeed as an NBA franchise in chicago, you need the big money, the businesses, to fill those spots. When NBA franchises have gotten in trouble, it's because the big industries in their cities have gone downhill, such that the luxury boxes couldn't be filled or such that they had to cut their lower box ticket prices.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 01:50 PM) I like how there's a few people reporting that Pauly has had pretty much no discussions with Arizona and then there's a few who are reporting that they're making a huge push. Good stuff. Mark Reynolds for Melvin Mora is not how you convince a veteran to come to your city.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 01:49 PM) The government f***ed up massively when they put Arthur out of business. KPMG did far worse things but the government knows that you can't get rid of another one of the major accounting/consulting organizations because if you do there would be an utter monopoly since most major corporations have at least 2 and usually 3 of the big 4 doing some sort of work for them. "2B2F."

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 01:41 PM) Those two teams are far to rooted to compete against. s***, if the Sox were brought in recently instead of back in the day we wouldnt support them at all. I think people who arent from here dont understand the sports market. Let's put it this way...starting from scratch building a franchise as the 2nd team in chicago, or staying in NOLA, which is the better business investment? If I had no personal knowledge of the city, the first option might make sense, as Chicago is more than 3 times the size of the Metro area for NOLA, and hasn't recently been devastated, plus they have the benefit of the NBA's largest arena, and the CP3/DR1 rivalry would kick up instantly. That said...the only time I'd ever go to see the other team is to go see the Bulls beat them for cheaper tickets. And I think the rest of the city would be about the same way. The other team would always be the "other".

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 01:40 PM) Dbacks sign Melvin Mora. That's a rebuilding team right there. Trade away the young but getting expensive guy with a plausible ceiling, sign the cheap old guy to fill his role.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 01:38 PM) Red Sox deal beat that, but our deal would have been a steal too as far as I'm concerned, even if Adrian walked a year later. Any deal the Sox put together right now for Gonzalez would have been a steal unless they included a MLB starter. The Sox don't have anything in their system worth Gonzalez. They could have done something with Danks + Viciedo that would have not been a steal, but there's no reason for the Sox to do that.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 01:27 PM) No way could Detroit get Crawford. They'd have to give him a ridiculous contract given the other clubs involved (Boston, Anaheim, New York). Even after the Benoit deal, they're still only at about $75 million committed I think, coming down from $130-ish. They have the room if they really want to.

QUOTE (Mattchoo @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 01:33 PM) Who is better defensively in the OF. Dunn or CQ? 3 years ago, when Dunn last played the OF, he was about as bad out there as Quentin was last year.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 01:34 PM) I'm not going to pull punches here, I dont believe him at all. It's not like the offer the Padres accepted was earth shattering. Viciedo + Flowers + Escobar is probably the best we could put together right now.

Worth checking out is this list of the largest metropolitan areas in the U.S. Just behind the OC area, which is housing bubble ravaged...Seattle is the largest metro area in the U.S. without an NBA team. San Diego, St. Louis, Baltimore, and Pittsburgh are your next ones on the list (although the Wiz probably count for Baltimore).

3 basketball teams for the L.A. area? Yeah, sure.

QUOTE (Frank_Thomas35 @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 12:54 PM) The Pader GMs press confernce was on MLBN and he bascuslly said it by not saying the whitesox were interested. He said he needed to move fast cause Boston and anoter team were liking at possible free agent solutions at the postion. Also said Boston package was deeper then others even though the other offer included major league talent or major league ready talent but lacked depth. kW is all in folks. Ken_Rosenthal Loney a trade option? http://bit.ly/b7JX0U #Cubs #Nationals #Dodgers #MLB 16 minutes ago in case we miss out on PK? Loney has racked up a lot of RBi's because of the guys he hits around, but look at his OPS the last 3 years: .772, .756, .723. He just isn't showing the kind of offensive production he was supposed to. He'll be 27 this year. He's the kind of guy I'd go after if I were a team that was on the outs like the Cubs or Astros; he's a guy who won't be terrible for me, has a slim chance of suddenly turning it around, and he won't be too expensive. But if I wanted to compete next year, I'd rather go with Viciedo.

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 12:30 PM) That is quite unlikely, but could you imagine? Quentin would have to go away. Plus, how much does Ichiro get paid? Ichiro is one guy that you really don't care how much he's paid, because, just thanks to the added interest and viewership and ad sales in Japan, you make up most of the money. It's nearly $20 million, but it's a $20 million check and an extra $25 million in revenue.

Something I'm going to be keeping an eye on...here's our first potential tea party supported challenger for Senator Lugar in 2012, IN state senator Mike Delph.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 12:10 PM) Nope, it is working as a plug and play for my camera What about the cable you're using to connect?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 12:11 PM) Do you know how many ex-Aurthur Andersen accountants I have met over the years? Besides, if we held the federal government to the same standards as you want to hold BP, the nation wouldn't have its largest employer. The federal accounting standards canard again? Ok, I'll drop it here, because this one isn't going to go anywhere.

QUOTE (dmbjeff @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 12:11 PM) maybe quentin and viciedo could be offered up for rasmus?? Who is the Cardinals Center Fielder in this situation, Lance Berkman, Matt Holliday, Carlos Quentin, or Dayan Viciedo? And how much better do they get when they bench their current 1b to get Viciedo some at bats?