Balta1701

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 19, 2010 -> 11:34 PM) The problem is that once you get out of our top few guys, we have s*** in the minor league system. It is at a time like this that the big injuries have killed us. That's why I think KW winds up doing a "Blum" type move, something that helps us out in a small but unexpected way.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Jul 20, 2010 -> 09:01 AM) I think I'd really like to hang on to Dayan though. He's looked way more impressive than I thought he would for being just 21 and recently removed from his home country. That's the problem with our system and all the injuries from our 2009 draft class. There's just no one other teams would want that I'm comfortable giving up on. All of the top 4 guys in our system have roles that they should fill within the next year or so.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jul 19, 2010 -> 06:11 PM) Those are the guys under their current front office with Dayton Moore. I think the Rays underwent a change of philosophical direction in 06 or 07. It took a couple of years for them to surprise everyone, but Dayton Moore's been on the job for 3 years and they're still pretty much the same team they were when he took over. Definitely true that there was a severe change in direction there...but they also did that direction change with pieces from the previous regime too. Worth noting is that the change in direction, IIRC, corresponded directly with a change in ownership for Tampa. They did give up players for Ben Greive and some others if I went back through the list.

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QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jul 19, 2010 -> 05:53 PM) For some reason, Jon Rauch came to mind when I saw that. Wasn't he was traded just days after he stormed out of the clubhouse during the middle of a game? While it was a terrible thing for a rookie to do, I find it a bid odd they'd be so quick to get rid of him considering how highly-regarded he was at the time. I feel like he may of had some attitude problems. Yes, that happened to Rauch. But it happened in 2003, so it would have been before Ozzie's time in Chicago, so I ruled that out.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jul 19, 2010 -> 05:51 PM) This is a team that went out of their way to get Yuniesky Betancourt, Mike Jacobs, Jason Kendall, Willie Bloomquist, and just about every other piece of crap player imaginable. You didn't see that in Tampa. Outside of Billy Butler, what other great hitting prospects have you seen in KC that you think would have a good future there? They may have some nice prospects coming down the line, but until the Royals get a GM and a front office that is capable of realizing there is a whole world of great tools to evaluate talent out there for free, they're going to be stuck in the mode they are right now and that's suckitude. I can give a pretty entertaining list of some of the signings by the Rays from the early part of the decade as well. John Rocker, Tino Martinez, Fred McGriff, Greg Vaughn, it was a nice place to go to end your career on a 50 win team.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jul 19, 2010 -> 05:41 PM) On page 12 and 13 they rip my organization pretty good. Although it's pretty oversimplified in the way they say it. If you don't know something, you don't know something. The FBI is really, really good at shifting blame when they f*** something up and making everyone believe they were actually doing a great job. btw: even though this is not my real identity or anything, I'm really not supposed to be speaking on this in public at all (Soxtalk would be considered "public"). If you want to know about what I think you can ask me in private, on Facebook or whatever. I was genuinely interested to hear your thoughts on the article. I'm happy to wait until all 3 parts have come out.

QUOTE (goblue5699 @ Jul 19, 2010 -> 05:09 PM) Rafael Soriano has been really good for pretty much his entire career. Not nearly this good though

QUOTE (Chet Kincaid @ Jul 19, 2010 -> 04:56 PM) You know, I bet the Yanks and the Red Sox thought the same thing about the Rays before 2008 and look what happened. For all we know, the Royals could wack Dayton Moore and hire some hot new GM (like Rick Hahn) to work with that deep farm system, and BAM! We'd have a team similar to the Rays right in the AL Central. That scares the hell out of me. Think for a moment though about how many years of good drafts it took for the Rays to turn into that Juggernaut. And not just good drafts, good drafts combined with good trades. Carl Crawford was drafted in 1999 Delmon Young (who was traded for Garza), 2003 BJ Upton (2002) Wade Davis (2004) Evan Longoria (2006) David Price (2007) On top of that, you've got to add in remarkable turnarounds like Carlos Pena, Ben Zobrist, now Rafael Soriano, etc. Yeah, they had some busts in that time (Josh Hamilton, Elijah Dukes, Dewon Brazelton)...but it really took the better part of a decade to build that team through the draft, and it really didn't turn until they nailed their 2006 #1 pick.

QUOTE (MattZakrowski @ Jul 19, 2010 -> 04:45 PM) Pavano (if he stays healthy and mustashed) is probably better than MB, but I have no doubt that our pitching (starting and relief) is the best in the race. And he keeps his .259 BABIP.

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Wow. A local news affiliate in Alabama stars sampling water and sand in places where kids are playing, regardless of whether or not there is an obvious oil sheen. They detect it everywhere. They took one sample in particular. When they tried to analyze it...it exploded. The idea that you can judge whether the water is safe by how it looks or whether seafood is safe by how it smells is just ridiculous.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 19, 2010 -> 03:21 PM) Yeah, but there was action by the Obama admn to make it more popular - the gigantic stimulus no one wanted to pay for and the overhaul of healthcare to a form most people don't like. And really at the rallies I've been to, they don't really differentiate between Repubs and Dems. Yeah, the people that attend are probably 80% Repubs, but the message is anti-Washington (Congress specifically), not necessarily anti one particular party. Hate them all you want, and continue to believe that the "Obama is a Nazi" faction is a part of the "movement," but they're really not. They're the extreme fringe that shows up. The discussions and lectures are very much in line with 1980's conservative thinking. It's not exactly radical - government is getting too big and needs to get out of my life. I'm guessing most tea partiers didn't care for the way Bush increased the size of government either. First of all...I believe I just argued that the tea party was basically just the activist 20% of the Republican party. So although they certainly attract the "Obama is a Nazi" and the "I'm going to write an email from the coloreds to Abraham Lincoln and think it's a good idea" segment of the country, they're clearly not all of it...but they might want to take a moment and figure out why that group is so at home in the Tea party, just like the Dems had to deal with the fact that ANSWER was the group organizing the anti-war marches. Secondly, the anti-war marches were just as anti-Dem as anti-Republican because the a good segment of the Dems were just as happy to roll along with the Iraq war as a good segment of the Republicans were to roll along with the Bush bailouts. And third, when they're reliable, every time Republican voters, it doesn't matter how angry they are with the Republicans. You think a lot of the Democrats are happy with how Obama sold out the public option and has dramatically escalated the Afghan war? They're just not in the streets right now. But they're still Democrats. The only difference is that there isn't a whole news media dedicated to selling left-leaning protests as a remarkable new movement.

QUOTE (docsox24 @ Jul 19, 2010 -> 02:58 PM) yeah besides having a horrible DH, we also have the worst 1-2 hitters of any AL contender. not a good combo OTOH, I'd still say we have at least 3 of the best 5 starting pitchers of the 3 teams, maybe 3 of the best 4, and we've got 2 of the best setup men in the division, and the middle of our lineup (depending on Qhealth) can hang with the other guys.

Let me put it to you this way in response... We're in first place (albeit barely) with a Jake Peavy who is 7-6 and who has put up a 4.63 ERA on the season. Yes, he's been better of late...but that run only counterbalanced the awful, awfulness of the first 2 months. We got to 1st place despite those terrible 2 months. I don't think a .500 record and a 4.6ish ERA is totally out of the question the rest of the way for Hudson.

QUOTE (Tex @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 06:18 PM) This is going to be interesting. Basically the fun part is if Michigan, Wisconsin, and Indiana can show economic hardship and sucessfully sue to have the locks closed. I love a state versus state fight. Link

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 19, 2010 -> 02:41 PM) I wouldn't call Jenks barely a mediocre closer. And if he fails 2-3 in a row we can turn to Thornton or Putz to close. If we got Soria, it's obivous we'd trade Jenks to the Phillies. Obvious? I'm not sure why the Phillies would want to take on his salary, for one. And frankly, yes, I'd call him a mediocre closer. If all that a closer can do is come out and barely escape the 9th inning, and he's 100% useless outside the 9th inning, then he's a mediocre closer.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 19, 2010 -> 02:33 PM) They have a better team than the Sox and Detroit You say that as if it's so clear cut.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jul 19, 2010 -> 02:34 PM) Why do we need Soria again?

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Jul 19, 2010 -> 02:29 PM) I think those were the numbers I read tht could be offered to Jenks. At this point in time Putz probably has earned that, but not Jenks Jenks would get $10 million next season if he was offered arbitration. MLB GM's aren't that stupid though. Jenks won't be offered arbitration by the Sox, and no one would trade for him at that salary level or sign him at that level. Jenks right now makes Fernando Rodney's numbers look good, and he got 2/$11 from the Angels.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 19, 2010 -> 02:23 PM) Well, I think what you describe is the popular wave that jumped on the bandwagon. And unfortunately, that has given the movement a whole bunch of rudders going different ways, which is kind of a shame. I agree its reality, but I don't agree its what got it started. Without the popular wave though, it's a handful of Ron Paul supporters yelling about the gold standard...it's the activist libertarian wing making noise just like the activist left did during the Clinton/Bush years.

QUOTE (tonyho7476 @ Jul 19, 2010 -> 02:17 PM) Kenny made a comment about how it was infecting everyone in the clubhouse...can't see Anderson infecting anyone with anything. BMac got run out of the clubhouse for associating with Anderson pretty quickly.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 19, 2010 -> 02:02 PM) I said Tea Partiers, not Sarah Palin. Palin is in many ways the opposite of what the Tea Party activists have wanted, but she glommed on when she saw the media exposure it could buy her. She doesn't want individual freedoms, she wants some sort of retarded Stepford Wives nation. But of course, herein lies another issue that the Tea Party will have to deal with - no clear leadership, really just a groundswell of similarly minded people speaking out, which was then sort of taken over by the likes of Palin and Bachman for their own gain. They've been co-opted. Speaking from TN, the tea party here is riled up over a similar evil effort to build a Mosque in a Nashville suburb. You're not going to agree with me but I'm going to say it anyway. The tea party is no different from any "Republican revival" we've seen in the last couple decades. They're 80% Republicans, the other 20% are Republicans in spirit who want to call themselves independents. They get mad when a Demycrat increases the budget deficit, but not when a Republican does it. They're fine with taking away anyone else's rights but their own (see: SB 1070). They're simply the activist portion of the Republican party. But they've had 8 years where their guy has been in power, so they're a new force in that it's ok if a Republican does those things. It's as if I started saying in 2003 that we needed to pay attention to this vibrant new anti-war movement and it must represent a totally new and unique strain of American politics. No it wasn't. It was the activist portion of the left doing what it would do if Obama started campaigning for a new war. Hell, I could make a case that the anti-war marches were vastly more cosmopolitan than the Tea Party (they had guys like Crazy Pat Buchanan and Jon Hostetler on their side, name a Demycrat teapartier).

Btw, do have to give Props to Cooper on by far the best line of the show. To paraphrase: "Sorry, I wasn't listening to all that, is this going to be on your twitter account later?"

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 19, 2010 -> 01:35 PM) That's not going to stop other organizations from asking for him. Sometimes, setting your asking price so high that the other side flat out walks away isn't a good negotiating tactic.