Balta1701

QUOTE (Wanne @ Dec 4, 2010 -> 05:21 PM) I think those numbers are a little deceiving Balta IMO. He has moments of breaking out...but don't you think a lot of it was due to the pitches he was seeing and the fact he was hitting in the 9-hole. How many times is it lamented "giving up a hit or a walk to somebody in the 9-hole." They're just pitched to differently than 1-6 hitters. Becksy...wth did this come from? Mr Horse says, "No sir...I don't like it!" Frankly, no I don't think that was because he was in the 9 spot. Once he gets going, he's a threat and every pitcher knew it. It's really been a lightswitch for him so far. When he's off, he's off, when he's on, he's a legit #3 hitter. He just needs to stay "on". He does that, and he can fill that role. I'm just not confident putting him there to start the season.

QUOTE (PlunketChris @ Dec 4, 2010 -> 05:29 PM) Anyone know the last time Berkman played the outfield? if ever? I've always known him as strictly a 1b. He played 27 games in the OF as recently as 2007, and has actually played more games in the OF in the big leagues than at 1b.

QUOTE (hitlesswonder @ Dec 4, 2010 -> 05:22 PM) Why does the government need to be fighting them? I'm so tired of liberals demonizing the companies and people that actual produce things and make society work. The government taking an actively antagonistic stance toward a company is simply wrong and would just be driven by Obama's desire for good PR. BP's rights are just as valid as anyone else's and the government should not decide to favor one over another. Just another example of government increasing inefficiency and increasing costs that everyone will pay. I am so looking forward to 2012 when a competent government that understands the value of industry is finally restored. Real simple; the government needs to be fighting them because the interest of the people; having BP pay for the cleanup, for all the losses, and a large enough fine so as to act as a deterrent to future spills, is diametrically opposed to BP's interest; paying as little as humanly possible for all of the above. This company deserves to be demonized. Feel free to be sick of that. I'm sick of companies that deserve to be demonized.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 4, 2010 -> 04:42 PM) Yes, how dare a company defend its rights. They should just take the government at its word. It's ALWAYS accurate. But y'all told me that Bp was the good guys and they weren't going to fight anything. That's the whole point. BP was going to make everything better. Remember, just because Exxon defended itself for 20 years doesn't mean that BP is going to challenge things every step of the way. Of course BP was going to defend its rights at every step of the way. Which is exactly what people scoffed at when I said they'd do that in May. And which is exactly why the government needed to be fighting them as hard as possible for access and money from day 1. Like when the evil Obama forced them at gunpoint to escrow all that money.

QUOTE (Wanne @ Dec 4, 2010 -> 04:32 PM) Yeah...gonna have to second that. Ghey1 I'm really dumbfounded people even talk about Beckham in the 3 hole. In a perfect world...sure...but he's not even close to being anywhere near that spot in the order. I'm just hoping for a bounce back year from him for cryin' out loud. Really, he's not even close? The numbers in the thread description are a pretty decent argument. Becksy's problem is these mental slumps. He's had 2 of them now; 1 for the first 30-40 at bats of his career, and 1 for the first couple months of last year. Outside of those, he's been an exceptional hitter.

QUOTE (sircaffey @ Dec 4, 2010 -> 04:08 PM) Ok, you discuss in make-believe-land. Others will stay in reality. Didn't really need the insult there, sir.

QUOTE (mcgrad70 @ Dec 4, 2010 -> 03:46 PM) Interesting info. My only point was the owners could at anytime they choose add payroll. It's no more complicated or simple than that. They are restricted only by their willingness to do so. We shouldn't have to be masters of finance in our discussions on how to improve the team. We only need owners on the same page. No, they're also restricted based on the value of the loans that they can get. That's what sent the Rangers into bankruptcy. They weren't exactly spending like the Yankees, but they spent a number of years spending beyond their means, and wound up a hundred million dollars in debt, with no one else willing to lend them the money based on the available equity. If the Sox spent $25 million more than their revenues for a period of about 5 years, they'd be in legitimate trouble.

QUOTE (knightni @ Dec 4, 2010 -> 03:20 PM) Flowers and Viciedo? I'd think that was an overpay.

QUOTE (DirtySox @ Dec 4, 2010 -> 03:36 PM) After his first disappointing season in the minors, Flowers is a candidate to be outright waived? Hyperbole much? He has 1 minor league option left. He comes out of the gate struggling this year, and that could be it. He has a down season again, and he will be gone next offseason.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Dec 4, 2010 -> 03:15 PM) Not just Flowers obviously, but he'd probably have to be the main piece. If we don't trade Viciedo, the next best thing we have is Flowers. Unless we want to trade Mitchell or Morel. After the terrible season he just had, Flowers is probably looked at as a likely candidate to be outright waived at some point this season, rather than as a useful trade chip.

QUOTE (mcgrad70 @ Dec 4, 2010 -> 03:15 PM) How do you know the current owners of the Chicago American League Ballclub can't afford a 180 million dollar payroll? If you believe the Forbes numbers, they could probably get by with it for 1, maybe 2 years, but after 3 years, they wouldn't have the revenue to sustain that and their debt position would become bad enough that they couldn't get the loans they needed to cover it. They'd wind up like the Rangers from last year. Forbes numbers suggest that something in the $120 million range might be sustainable.

QUOTE (sircaffey @ Dec 4, 2010 -> 03:14 PM) Viciedo is on a major league deal though. He makes millions currently and is arbitration eligible soon. Rizzo is team controlled for years. That's a big difference. That's not how Viciedo's deal works. He's getting a couple million a year, but he still has the full set of pre-arb and arb-eligible years. Viciedo is under Sox control for 6 years.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 4, 2010 -> 03:13 PM) Not to mention the Sox most likely aren't in a position to pay Gonzalez $20 million + per year the next 6 years. They're going to pay Dunn + Konerko more than that for the next 3 years. Gonzalez + Viciedo will cost less for the next 4 years, probably better offensive production, a lot better defense.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Dec 4, 2010 -> 03:10 PM) I would hate to make that deal. Give 'em Tyler Flowers instead. San Diego's pretty thin at catcher aren't they? Flowers for Bell? Ok...I know that they lost badly on the deal with Boston, but that'd be pretty darn embarrassing.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Dec 4, 2010 -> 03:08 PM) Am I crazy, or do I see somewhere around 15 outs made at the wall there that would be homeruns in US Cellular? OF course, on average, only 1/2 of those games would be at the Cell, then it's over 2 years, so that's maybe 4 extra HR a year based on the walls.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Dec 4, 2010 -> 03:07 PM) Sale beats Kelly easily in my opinion. We can't trade Sale yet, and even in a few days when we can PTBNL him, we have that mess where he can't be moved out of our system until June but he's actually property of the Padres. Hudson + Viciedo...if Hudson had had a similar August/September for us to what he had with AZ, might have actually been close.

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Dec 4, 2010 -> 03:06 PM) Well, they didn't want to accidentally contend...duh! Success on the field is such terrible risk to take. Sorry, I'll find a new track eventually. That whole concept just pisses me off, though. Feel free to be pissed off at this. Padres fans should be.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Dec 4, 2010 -> 03:00 PM) Because having a team in debt would be bad. And it's different for the Sox then compared to the Yankees or Red Sox, because the Cubs happen to also play in this city and absorb most of the city's fanbase. And if they were in the red, which being at a $180M payroll certainly would have them in red, then we'd basically mortgage our future and have to become what the Cubs are; a poor team due to big contracts with high ticket prices to pay those off. Actually, most of the teams in MLB are in debt to some level (often to pay for long-term things like stadium renovations), and the Sox have one of the best debt positions in baseball.

QUOTE (joeynach @ Dec 4, 2010 -> 02:31 PM) Wait how did this become sox send $1.5M to sox send $3.5M, that makes the trade less good. Any replacement is gonna get paid essentially 500K anyway so the net gain is like $1.5M, before the net gain was $3.5M, enough to translate to a real Major league addition. Well, the $3.5 appears to be the real number. I'm not sure who changed it or when.

QUOTE (3E8 @ Dec 4, 2010 -> 02:12 PM) If you look at Dunn's full seasons playing at the Great American Ballpark ('03-'07), which is known to favor hitters, there is a noticeable difference in his HR rate for the home/away splits. For home, he had 108 HRs in 1583 PAs, and away 85 HRs in 1606 PAs. The home HR/PA rate is nearly 29% larger than the away HR/PA. US Cellular has been top-5 in least HR suppressing parks for the last three years, including least HR suppressing of all parks in 2010. Since Dunn will be playing half his games in a park with an even greater HR effect than the GAP, the argument could be made that next season will see Dunn eclipsing the 38 HR total he's had the past two years, and maybe his highest single-season HR total yet. Here's one other thing worth noting...Dunn's HR's aren't exactly cheap shots. He might have a lot of warning track fly balls that aren't showing up here, but when he hits a HR, it goes. He had only 3 that were less than 383 feet.

QUOTE (mcgrad70 @ Dec 4, 2010 -> 02:17 PM) Dunn on the field at cell looked like he wanted the season to start now. Then he realized that white stuff wasn't baseballs, it was snow...

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Dec 4, 2010 -> 02:11 PM) This is entirely possible, but Dayan might benefit from another year at AAA and be in Sox plans for 2012 If Konerko is signed, there's no room before at least 2013/2014 for a 1b/DH.,

QUOTE (scenario @ Dec 4, 2010 -> 01:38 PM) Yeah. The right to negotiate with him does come into play, but the point I'm trying to make here is that you give up alot less when you only get a guy cheap for one year. Which is also one of the main reasons why potential deals LAST year for AG are different than would be on the table this year, etc... and are therefore hard to compare. OTOH...the Padres could actually be believed to be in a stronger position than they were last year...because they actually competed last year, and they've also moved Peavy's contract and cut back their other commitments around him. They could have just run with him this year and probably gotten this good of an offer at the AS break. Instead, they made the move now, which is confusing.

QUOTE (TitoMB @ Dec 4, 2010 -> 01:33 PM) Well, my 53 home run prediction came after a solid night of drinking.. so, let me now readjust my number to be 46. Shoot for that! The thing about Dunn's HR numbers is that it's actually kind of hard for him to increase them because of his hitting style. Over the last decade, he's homered on 10.5% of the plate appearances where he makes contact, and that has varied only by a little (except for 2002, from 10.2% to 10.9%). Ballpark effects, different pitchers, in shape, etc., really haven't mattered that much. Every time he hits the ball, it has a 1/10 shot of leaving the park. Unless something about that number changes...the only thing that would push his HR numbers higher would be fewer strikeouts, which just hasn't been his game.

QUOTE (La Marr Hoyt HOF @ Dec 4, 2010 -> 01:15 PM) Not anymore They still need OF help, and they're still in need of a bat from the RH side (Ortiz and Gonzalez both being lefties, Youkilis being their righty)