Balta1701

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 5, 2010 -> 10:48 AM) He has to win a title this year, or he will be the laughing stock of the NBA. Same with Bosh and Wade. "Being the laughing stock of the NBA" doesn't seem to bother him.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Oct 5, 2010 -> 10:53 AM) I'd think it'd be incredibly hard to resist an offer to fix the Mets. Although the Mets have a lot of resources, their ownership situation hasn't exactly been of the sort that leaves one riddled with confidence lately. If I recall correctly, they got hammered in the housing bust.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Oct 5, 2010 -> 12:02 PM) Then Hahn should have gotten some salary relief for getting a pitcher in return that was struggling mightily against the NL. Huh? Hahn should have gotten Jackson to renegotiate his contract after the trade?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 4, 2010 -> 11:35 PM) Or over-draft protection... "I'm sorry sir, your card has been maxed out. I'm afraid I have to kill you now."

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Oct 5, 2010 -> 09:20 AM) I think he was saying it's time to stop respecting the Twins and start treating them like true rivals...like the Red Sox and Yankees do to each other. Even if the players sometimes rip ARod...don't you also get the impression that there's a grudging respect between those 2 teams, and they're always building their own team with an eye to out-doing the other team?

Contador fails second test for different substance.

QUOTE (IamtheHBOMB @ Oct 4, 2010 -> 10:30 PM) There is no way the Joker can be considered corny unless you are talking about the old 60s TV show. He has been maiming and murdering people in a variety of ways for decades in the comics. There are many well wrIitten stories exploring the intricacies of that character. The Riddler is pretty one dimensional in comparison, but with good writing and casting he could be interesting. With that said, it is going to be really hard to follow Neeson as Ra's Al Ghul and Ledger as the Joker. Nicholson's joker was corny in some ways but it was a very creative and dark corniness. It totally worked and was a very interesting interpretation of the character too. If you're going to use the Riddler...you have to totally divorce him from the Jim Carrey and the Frank Gorshin versions if you want him to fit into the Nolan universe...but you have to do so in a way that's different from how it was done by Ledger with the Joker. It's an interesting challenge for an actor. I'd hope that someone unexpected would get the role so that it could go in a way we didn't expect.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 4, 2010 -> 10:23 PM) Extra pink on the NFL uniforms this weekend got me wondering if the Bears O-line thought it would be sexual harassment to touch the people across from them during the Giants game... Few times they dropped those random dark pink towels...referees kept thinking challenge flags had been thrown. Was kinda funny.

QUOTE (Whitewashed in '05 @ Oct 5, 2010 -> 12:20 AM) I didn't know a concussion could affect someone that much. Sucks for him. There have been baseball players who have had their careers ended by concussions. Football players even more commonly. They'll still have symptoms 10 years later. Hell, if you listen to Troy Aikman as a broadcaster, he'll occasionally just totally lose his train of thought in a way you don't hear from most broadcasters, and that's probably a post-concussion issue.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Oct 5, 2010 -> 01:32 AM) That was a different LeBron. That LeBron wanted to match Kobe/MJ and I don't know if that fire is still there. And he's had better talent every year since that Finals. But he no longer has the "If I win a title here it'll be harder for me to leave, so I ought to just quit" thing going for him.

QUOTE (3E8 @ Oct 4, 2010 -> 07:44 PM) By fWAR, Floyd had more value in '10 than Fielder (4.3 to 4.2). Floyd makes $5M in '11, and in '11 Prince gets a raise from the $10.5M he made this year. Floyd is under team control for three years, Prince just the one. A straight up trade does not make sense even assuming Fielder is a win more valuable than Floyd. If you trade Floyd, it should be for younger player(s) with not much service time established The 3 things you might get with Fielder that could make it worth your while...1. You get 2 draft picks if/when he walks. If you're good with drafting, that adds in. 2. You get a leg up on signing him. 3. You fill a position of weakness on your roster by dealing from a position of strength. The other thing worth considering is that the 4.2 WAR for Fielder was something of a down year, and he's impacted negatively by his glove which might not matter as much if he's DHing part of the time, but all those are complications.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 4, 2010 -> 04:56 PM) Robin Williams? A 60 year old supervillain?

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Oct 4, 2010 -> 06:21 PM) Or the complete opposite. These teams are so evenly matched. I dunno. I feel like they've been going the complete opposite direction for the last month. Giants are 19-10 over the stretch run, Braves are 14-16. The Braves really lost a lot when they lost Larry, but the Giants are peaking right now.

Now replace "fire department" with "Health insurance".

The Republicans here are going to hate it if they click through to it and disagree with everything, but I think the lefties will actually want to read this if they haven't seen it yet. Matt Taibbi's Tea Party article from this month's Rolling Stone.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Oct 4, 2010 -> 05:40 PM) And there are several others I could think of too. Bet he'd be an upgrade if you put him on the Bears O-line though.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Oct 4, 2010 -> 04:08 PM) I really agree with you. I've long been a huge proponent of drafting the lines. Angelo has done that with the dline, but ignored the line that protects your franchise player. It really is dispicable. I hope the Bears have some FA money to throw around because we already know we'll use at least 1 top pick on a lineman and probably 2. I'd be perfectly content if our 1st and 2nd round picks went oline and we signed a FA olineman. Unfortunately...whether they have FA money to throw around or not really doesn't matter one iota, because there won't be a free agency period next year until a CBA is signed. The current CBA will allow for there to be a draft next year, but no contracts can be signed until a CBA starts, and nothing happens after the draft.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Oct 4, 2010 -> 02:46 PM) If there's going to be an upset in the first round this year, this is going to be the series. Why? Because this is the only series that isn't somewhat evenly matched, to the point that "upset" loses its meaning?

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Oct 4, 2010 -> 02:59 PM) Yeah I doubt that would lead to any lawsuits if he deliberately lied about people being in the house and a fire fighter or two died while attempting to find them. So he should go back into the house and become trapped.

QUOTE (fathom @ Oct 4, 2010 -> 02:25 PM) Just seems like Dodgers could find a team willing to give up more for Kemp. If they can...then let them...and go make the Floyd for Fielder + a prospect offer. If some team offers more for Matt Kemp than Gavin Floyd...that team is making a mistake.

QUOTE (knightni @ Oct 4, 2010 -> 02:28 PM) It's not as much of a "biggie" as if it would have happened on opening night and he'd have been out for 30+. OTOH...then he'd have had the chance to practice with the team for a month. Gibson and Noah could have benefited hugely from that. Johnson and Asik possibly as well.

QUOTE (fathom @ Oct 4, 2010 -> 02:17 PM) Am I the only one who thinks Floyd wouldn't be enough to get Kemp? Then the Dodgers can look somewhere else. Seriously. Young pitcher under control for several years at fixed cost compared to a young player hitting arbitration with no stable contract and attitude issues? Not even close.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Oct 4, 2010 -> 02:10 PM) In other words, gotta look on OBP, not so much on AVG, I still don't want anything to do with Pena unless its for really cheap. Pena takes a lot of walks, he's taken 87 each of the last 2 seasons. The difference for him is going to be in the average; if he hits 35+ HR, that pushes his average upwards and his OBP goes with it. If he hits 28 HR, his average plummets and his numbers go with it. It's actually kind of remarkable. Almost the same number of AB's for Pena the last 2 years. 12 more hits for him in 2009 than 2008, 11 of which were HR. Nearly kills his total OPS. A couple fewer doubles, but those 11 HR made the bulk of the difference.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Oct 4, 2010 -> 12:42 PM) Yeah but that didn't pan out. I think Wurtz Al Davis needs to pass away for the team to finally make sound decisions again. Zany is one word I'd use to describe that owner.

QUOTE (striker @ Oct 4, 2010 -> 01:42 PM) That lineup would still lack the left handed run producer that we need, and Pena would not qualify as he hit under .200. I'd rather have someone that bats .300 and hits 15 HRS (ala Julio Franco) than someone that bats .200 and hits 30 hrs. Care to supply a name suggestion so that we can compare actual stats? (to be more specific...it's not just batting average and HR that count. You loved Franco's 1994 season...but he also put up a .400+ OBP that season and as such a >.900 OPS). Pena only hit .227 in 2009, but he put up a .893 OPS because he took 87 walks and hit 39 HR. This season some of those HR's stayed in the ballpark, and his total OPS plummeted.