Balta1701

QUOTE (bucket-of-suck @ Nov 5, 2010 -> 02:14 PM) Martinez made $7.8M last season. That's just over $1M more than AJ. If you offered him say 3/$30M that's still less then what Konerko will command and certainly less then both he and AJ would resign for. SI's Heyman asked around a month or so ago and gave his estimate and a couple unnamed exec estimates of the salary that these guys will command. Here's the guess numbers on Martinez. You're below all of them.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Nov 5, 2010 -> 02:31 PM) There's no doubt he screwed up. I just dont like the policy. (Keith isn't a news host as most people think of it. He's, in many ways, a political commentator. I don't see anything that could plausibly be viewed as wrong for a media company to want to know beforehand whether or not their hosts are making political donations. That's not a prohibition, that's them asking to be informed. The information on large political donations always becomes part of the public record. They're going to know about it eventually, a requirement to tell them first is a smart move.

QUOTE (Tex @ Nov 5, 2010 -> 02:13 PM) It was a Civil War in a couple different ways. Both versus the British and domestically. At any time allegiances fell with who was winning at the moment. Not just that though, allegiances also fell based on where the war was. There's a rule of thumb in civil wars. Give or take, 10% of the population is adamantly on 1 side, 10% of the population is adamantly on the other side, and 80% of the population just doesn't want to die. Yeah, the numbers bounce around, but order of magnitude. The South, for example, was basically quiet in the war to first order until Cornwallis's troops landed. Some people volunteered and went north, some people left the country, but things didn't open up until the army got there. Once the army arrived, the Loyalists started taking revenge for any family issues they felt they wanted to deal with, the British troops didn't do anything about it and in fact encouraged it, and suddenly the remaining 80% was either casually or actively aiding the colonials, and the British were faced with a seething, determined guerrilla campaign that eventually did major damage to their forces.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 5, 2010 -> 02:24 PM) I disagree, I think people should be able to contribute to anyone they'd like (within the legal limits), and their employer should have no say in it whatsoever. NBC's official policy was that people were not prohibited from making political contributions, but their on-air employees were required to notify management beforehand. If he didn't notify his superiors beforehand, he definitely violated company policy and probably explicitly violated his contract.

QUOTE (Cali @ Nov 5, 2010 -> 01:57 PM) Beltre seems like THE definition of Contract Year player... Does anyone in the world think he'll put up similar numbers next year if he gets a nice fat deal? Might depend on where he winds up playing.

A number of folks on the left are noting that the claims of widespread, organized voter fraud have seemingly vanished since Tuesday. Think that means the correct side won?

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Nov 5, 2010 -> 01:28 PM) Didn't know you could trade a player's rights within the 5 day window so his option could be declined. Who did that happen to?

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Nov 5, 2010 -> 12:34 PM) If I am sending out cover letters and resumes, what is the commonly accepted/preferred model of delivery: E-Mail or Snail Mail? Probably depends on the job.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 5, 2010 -> 01:18 PM) Which is pretty much my point. People here know in detail what the White Sox do, but can they really claim to know in detail that 29 other GMs don't follow the AFL enough to make moves based on it? I seriously doubt it. I'm betting that the other 29 teams follow it quite specifically. I just can't come up with examples off my head of guys like Gavin Floyd who looked like busts in the upper minors or big leagues, were grabbed after a good AFL performance, and then turned things around in the next season.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 5, 2010 -> 01:06 PM) I bet if taxes and other costs of living weren't so high people could provide more! Probably true. Assuming you're talking about those Socialist Swedes.

Caught some of the highlights of the 3 point barrage while I was at the gym. Was absolutely amazed at how often the wide open 3 was due to Derrick Rose being totally out of position and having the pass go in behind him. Every time it seemed like Rose was flailing in to try to get back on the shooter.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Nov 5, 2010 -> 12:52 PM) HAHA. Touche. If Jim Hendry is fired, he ought to be fired not because of what he did pre-team selling, it should be because of what he does after the team was sold. They won a couple division titles, sold out the park nearly every game, established methods of increasing revenue to high-demand games like the ticket brokers, etc. Now, his job is to rebuild and clear salary while still trying to put together a winner, a harder task. However, his team got on a roll at the end of last year, they have an interesting manager, and they appeared to flash some serious young talent last year.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 5, 2010 -> 12:56 PM) The US is still the most charitable country in the world, and it's not even close. So I think we do a pretty good job of helping/looking out for others. It depends on how you count charitable. The U.S. gives the most but the U.S. is also the wealthiest by far. When you ratio the total amount given to indicators of how wealthy the nation is, the U.S. drops significantly down the list.

Does anyone have a list of the guys that we have to add to the 40 man roster in order to protect them from the rule 5 draft?

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Nov 5, 2010 -> 11:47 AM) He really isnt that good at anything. They had one of the highest payrolls in baseball the last several years and have nothing to show for it. You ought to know better than this Rock. Jim Hendry did exactly what he was supposed to do and they have everything to show for it. Jim Hendry's job was to maximize revenue coming in so that the team was sell-able at a good price, and the ownership didn't care one bit whether he had to mortgage the future or hamstring the next ownership with a few bad contracts to do so.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 5, 2010 -> 10:06 AM) This is such a crazy statement. How would you know how much scouting that other teams do specifically in the AFL? How many other teams do we see trading for guys that perform in the AFL but struggle at other levels?

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Nov 5, 2010 -> 10:02 AM) Haha, exactly. I don't think I've seen anyone blowing up Flowers. In fact, it seems that everyone is expecting a very minimal contribution from him. We're all very down on his prospects, at least for next season. It'd be really nice if we could turn over the catching spot to him next season and get a low .700's OPS out of him (i.e. similar to what AJ gave us most years), but even the optimist here (me) wouldn't bet the farm on that one. He might have just had a really bad year and might recover instantly...but I'd say he's much more likely to look like Brandon Wood if he came up and was just given the job right now.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Nov 5, 2010 -> 09:50 AM) Not all of that was on the guards though. Alot of the pick and rolls were horribly defended by the entire team. If the Knicks dont knock down 70 percent of their 3's though the Bulls win that game. You don't knock down 70% on contested 3's.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 5, 2010 -> 09:49 AM) Oh come on now mr. stats, you pick March because it includes the one obviously aberrant number - the one unusually high spike. Do it from April, and its a clearly positively moving trend. You could go back to Jan, or to last year, and see the trend obviously moving upward. The curve is moving in the right direction, its obvious from the graph, and that's all I was pointing at really. Also, there was a steep drop in UE claims two weeks ago, then a return to previous the next week, which may or may not be a trend starter (next week will tell for sure). Look at that graph - you picked the one month out of two years to start your analysis that would result in the appearance of flat. Pick any other starting place since the bottom, and the trend is positive. This is the definition of cherry-picking. You're probably right on the gradually increasing since May numbers. My brain didn't catch that visual part. I will grant you that point. There have been steep drops in weekly UE claims repeatedly over the last 8 months or so, but each time it's been balanced out by unexpected increases.

I caught this piece from earlier this year this morning and it made me think of the 50% tax quote from earlier in this thread.

Here's the "U6" (counting everything) number, graphically.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 5, 2010 -> 09:00 AM) Been a few of those lately. Plus some happy small business numbers. There are signs in the past couple months that maybe the recovery is picking up speed. But obviously its too early to say for sure, and it is certainly a delicate situation. Here's what the "Private sector only" job numbers look like. Upon a 3rd look, it's relatively consistent with hovering at 130-150-ish/month since March, with public sector losses imposed on top of it. It's about enough to maintain 9.6% but not enough to push that number down or to increase the overall employment/population ratio. Pretty much constant, slow private sector growth and public sector job cuts since March. That's what, 8 months at that level?

QUOTE (daa84 @ Nov 4, 2010 -> 11:17 PM) Rose horrendous defensively, unstoppable offensively. no doubt thibadeau was trying to send a message, though i don't agree with it . Unfortunately for some dumb f***ing reason he sat Taj (who had a great 1st 8 minutes) and played Scalarbine for like 7 straight horrendously played minutes in the second. Thibs is to Scalabrine as what Ozzie is to Kotsay it appears.You have to figure that is only a temporary situation, when (if?) Boozer comes back Scal's minutes have to be the first to go. Even if Gibson is playing well though, I don't mind being a little bit careful with his minutes, after he's already dealt with the foot problems last year. The Bulls' backcourt is killing them right now. They're getting a ton of production out of the PG spot on offense, but they're not getting any O out of the SG spot, and neither guard position seems to be doing anything productive on defense.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 5, 2010 -> 09:03 AM) The whole article was about the Sox wanting Danks, but I am glad you got your usual plug for yourself in there. There's also a cost-benefit analysis to the pitcher going on here. D1 probably makes himself about $10 million or so every time he stays healthy for a full season in terms of his FA contract value...but all of those gains could evaporate if he felt one pop in his elbow. He might not have been willing to sign for the value they offered a couple years ago, but he'll guarantee more money if he signs now, and he wouldn't have to worry about the injury bug hitting him.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 5, 2010 -> 09:03 AM) LOL @ bolded. Seriously, every politician wants job growth, because no growth means their jobs are on the line. Its a question of how to do it, and an understanding that government can't be the creator of enough jobs to power out of a recession. It has to set the table for private industry to do most of it. (that was deliberate hyperbole...but I think both sides of the aisle would agree. My side wants the government to get out and build things. The other side wants less regulation...basically, both sides can offer arguments that a big problem right now in creating job growth is happening at the government level).