Balta1701

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 09:16 AM) Heh. I don't have to "put" myself there, I AM there. And I WISH our jobs were 9-5. ETA: The day care/school our kid is at switched to all organic a few months back, we even got to sample the foods. Case in point. Out of curiosity...is that a public or private or religious school system? (Feel free to say you don't want to answer).

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 09:12 AM) I wouldnt trade Brandon Short as a throw-in. I'm interested in seeing how he might develop. I'd of course trade him, but if he was at "throw-in" level I'd try trading someone else first. The problem we have right now is...we have some guys who might develop into something useful and valuable as they get to higher levels...but most of those guys right now are basically throw-ins. The guys that we have that teams might want...we have places on the roster where we need them right now or at the worst within a year or two. The injuries in last year's draft class and the lack of investment in the draft have really killed this system. If you're not willing to give up Hudson, Flowers, Viciedo, or Morel...basically everyone else is a throw-in at this point. And 2 of those guys are already in the bigs. And the 3rd...we really really need to have him in the hole next year in case AJ departs. And i have zero urge to give up Morel right n ow.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 08:47 AM) Both good posts. I with SSI's general thought, but bmags is right in that certain farm subsidies are making things worse, and that IS something the government should do something about. There's a couple serious lifestyle issues here too worth considering. Not just as a matter of ease...but think about what has happened to the American family over the past 50 years...we've gone from being able to support a family on 1 income to barely being able to support an average family on 2 incomes. So, put yourself in the situation where you've got 2 parents, both of them working 9-5 jobs, having to then pick up the kids from school/day care, get home at 6-7 after an hour in traffic, and then find a way to feed the kids before bedtime. Oh, and a decent restaurant isn't an option, those are too expensive for the average 2 income household. On top of that...a lot of kids are getting the same frozen processed faux-food in school that they're getting at McDonalds as well.

I'll still hold out hope, but there's no way I'm going to think that delaying the integrity tests is anything but a negative omen.

QUOTE (KipWellsFan @ Jul 13, 2010 -> 11:54 PM) Then BP shouldn't have paid. Politicians have put political pressure on people and organizations for eternities, and always will. That, and most Americans wanted Obama to be hard on BP. It's a no-brainer. Kap just wants all of the victims of this who lose their jobs and their health to wind up on government assistance for 5-10 years while the courts sort things out, where they belong.

Except of course, there's the downside of being at Purdue.

QUOTE (Cali @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 02:24 AM) Don't know if any one else said anything but those new helmets are terrible... I'm so not usually a traditionalist baseball fan, but they couldn't make them safer without making them look so stupid? It even took me a while to get used to the ones with the slots in them, now these f***ing things? Really, no, they can't make them safer without making them bigger.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 12:28 AM) That was quite a shot down the line. Did McCann face Thornton in the Sox-Braves series this year? Surprising he could smash it like that off Matt. I doubt he'll let this carry over. Can't imagine Matt Thornton being fragile mentally. I thought it was a dull game but I was somewhat distracted during the game. Didn't seem like a classic of any kind to me. Thornton seemed like he wasn't totally up for that game or at least not warmed up when he came in. He couldn't get the fastball down, esp. to Byrd, and he left it out over the plate to McCann. He also didn't throw anything offspeed the whole time. McCann started swinging early to catch up with the pitch and caught one right down the middle.

Sale has been promoted to AAA. His final line in Winston-Salem: 4 IP, 3 hits, 2 runs, 1 earned, 4 k's, 2 BB's. All of the damage other than 1 walk was in his last outing.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 13, 2010 -> 06:05 PM) Thanks for the post ptatc. I just think my above quote summarizes my feeling on the Carlos Quentin topic today. You know what strikes me about this discussion? I didn't exactly come on here, or come in this thread, to rant about Quentin's defense. I doubt many of us did. But when we see someone say something we believe is clearly incorrect, even if its on a subtle point, we're going to bring that up, and if the original poster decides to challenge that his point is right, then we've got a discussion. We might be nitpicking, but that doesn't mean you're going to convince us you're right.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 13, 2010 -> 06:04 PM) Joe Morgan from what I've heard is a strange cat. I've never loved anything as much as he loves David Ortiz's shoes.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 13, 2010 -> 05:53 PM) i mean, s***, you really only would need 3 to be healthy around playoff time, playoffs should be a lock. Even with Kirk gone, I think we'll at least be as good defensively as last year. And I feel like with BOozer on offense, Noah can really focus on being the best D player in the league next year. Yeah, if Boozer and Deng both missed the whole season or nearly so, the Bulls still ought to be a playoff team. Gibson and Noah proved to be a decent frontcourt, Rose is a dominant PG and even last year he was basically average for 2 months because of that ankle so that alone is an improvement, replacing Hinrich with Reddick and Korver would downgrade your defense, but it would supply a massive need last year; someone who can shoot the 3 ball off of Rose's side. That, and the Bulls upgraded their head coach massively (I'd say that with about anyone hired), while at least 1 of last year's playoff teams probably lost 30-40 wins and will probably miss the playoffs as well.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 13, 2010 -> 05:39 PM) Glad Asik's finally a bull. I really like that addition. Ugh, such a fun team to watch. I have to say, i respect this roster GarPax is putting together. If there was ever an underdog team who could win it, i think it would be dabulz If the Greenland Icecap were to suddenly go and Miami instantly flooded, I could see the Bulls having a legit shot if these things happened: 1. Rose takes a major step forwards from last season and stays healthy 2. Thibodeau is as good of a defensive coach as we've hoped 3. Boozer and Deng stay generally healthy. It would have been a fun season to watch.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 13, 2010 -> 04:55 PM) I agree with this. Tons of potential, a lot of growing to do. One noteworthy worry...If by some miracle Deng and Boozer both stay healthy, there's not a whole lot of minutes available for him. Even less if Miller comes back. And as I sure some remember, I'm a strong adherent to the belief that there's very few things that help develop a young player as much as NBA minutes.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Jul 13, 2010 -> 04:37 PM) Actually if I remember, Sam Mitchell's system was predicated on the Raptor perimeter defenders forcing the guy to the lane where if everyone rotated correctly help would finish him off. He also ran the triangle if I'm not mistaken, so his players had to have had a high I.Q. Problem was, most of his players gave no effort in alot of games and pretty much tuned him out/gave up on him. Bosh even with a block a game, was very well known as a lazy defender when he was in Toronto and only turned it up at certain times. I don't want to defend Mitchell, cause obviously he had alot of flaws as well and well deserved to get the axe, but he did get a pretty raw deal. The question then becomes...if he doesn't have to give 100% every game on offense because, say, he's playing alongside 2 of the other top scorers in the league, what happens when he tunes it up on defense. It's the same game you play with Wade and Lebron.

QUOTE (GoodAsGould @ Jul 13, 2010 -> 04:41 PM) Am I the only one who thinks James Johnson is a very talented player and looking forward to see how he will contribute to the Bulls this season? No. He was thought to be very talented coming out of the draft. The question with him is learning how to use his ability. And I'm sure that contracting a case of VDN for a year didn't help with that.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 13, 2010 -> 04:20 PM) I'm fairly certain that there is a better chance that howard becomes much better offensively than bosh becoming much better defensively. Worth considering though is that Bosh was on a Suns style offensive team...they made it a point the last few years that they weren't going to care about classical defense.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Jul 13, 2010 -> 03:55 PM) FYI, PER isn't the end it all, know it all stat when it comes to basketball efficiency. That is like saying +/- is the end it all know it all stat for hockey in efficiency or even UZR in evaluating baseball defense. It is a good indicator, but like UZR and the +/-, it has it's flaws and should not be the main source in evaluating a player when said player plays in a different system (run and gun, up tempo, triangle, etc..) different bench rotations, etc. Some things you have to look at with your eyes and your head (plus other evaluations like a player's worth) to really get a different grasp of a player. I would think anyone with a brain would never put David Lee ahead of Kobe Bryant PER or age be damned. With that being said though, Kobe will probably never be the same with that finger in overall efficiency. BTW, I also rate Chris Paul very highly on my personal list of best players in the game. People really forget how good he is/was before the injury last season. I know PER isn't everything, but here's my case. I'll give Wade, James, and Durant as above Bosh. Paul...well, I hold injuries against people more than others do. He could come back and put his name right up there. then again, DR1 could take a step forwards this year and do that too. Last year though, if we're talking what other player I put in my top 4 ahead of Bosh, you can fire Kobe at me, but between him already missing 10 games last year and the fact that when I watched him, he was not the same dominant force that he was in the previous years...he's stepped back enough for me to drop him out of my top 5. I think the best player on the Lakers right now is Pau Gasol. The only other one I think legitimately belongs up there is Howard. And between Howard and Bosh, it's a question of defense versus offense. Howard has a bigger body, Bosh is more athletic. Howard is ridiculously bad on offense for his skills. At the very worst, I'd be willing to call it a tie, but I think Bosh is just lesser known because Orlando has done a better job building around Howard.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jul 13, 2010 -> 04:03 PM) We started doing a CSA this year. Here's one that has drop offs in Vegas: http://www.localharvest.org/csa/M25638 How has that worked for you? I know it's certian to be different here, but my worry has been that I'd wind up getting lots of stuff at one time that I wouldn't use, or that I'd wind up throwing out like 1/2 of the stuff I get because i'm forced to take what's there.

Bobby Jindal's hundred million dollar artificial islands are falling apart.

QUOTE (beckham15 @ Jul 13, 2010 -> 03:45 PM) he's gonna look like it after playing side by side with lebron and wade thats for sure Actually, he probably won't. He won't get nearly the PPG or minutes that it will take to look like that level of player. If he's still averaging 24ish PPG next year, then he's probably doing it in quite a few less minutes than it took last year.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Jul 13, 2010 -> 03:38 PM) No way is Bosh a top 4 player in the league. Bosh is not a better player than Howard, Kobe or Durant. I think you can argue that he is as good if not better than anybody else in the league outside of those 3, LeBron and Wade though. Kobe's going to go downhill fast from here, IMO. We already saw some of it last year. He was able to put the injury out of his mind somewhat in the playoffs but it was already hurting him. Kobe had a worse PER than David Lee last year. Howard's weaknesses offensively are as well documented as Bosh's weaknesses defensively. Howard was 5th in the league in PER last year, Howard was 4th. I'd give you that one as a tie, but I will note that Howard was in that case where he has a much, much better roster to cover for his weaknesses. Durant is the one guy I think you're right about and I legitimately put him ahead of Bosh.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 13, 2010 -> 03:33 PM) There's only one thing to do: Bench him. Try Teahen out there. ASAP. Bench him. Frankly, the way he was hitting in May, this would have been a good idea.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Jul 13, 2010 -> 03:32 PM) Agreed. I mean really how much depth was on those great Bulls teams in the late 90s. You had Jordan, Pippen, Rodman and Kukoc who were all great to very good players. But in the playoffs they only played 7 guys over 10 minutes a game. The Heat have two of the best 4 players in the league, a star PF and a damn good player in Mike Miller. Chalmers is a solid player especially since he will likely get an incredible amount of open looks, Haslem is a solid player, they picked up Ilgauskas for depth and will probably add a couple more vets. I would be shocked if depth is a problem unless they suffer a bunch of injuries. I'd rewrite that and say that I think the Heat have 3 of the best 4 players in the league. By PER last year, I'm right.

QUOTE (Tex @ Jul 13, 2010 -> 03:30 PM) Fine, let BP go through the courts and perhaps get a refund. But geez, it sounded to me like a great idea and if the GOP wanted to make points, claim it was too damn little. I can't believe this is going to help them with voters. I think they misplayed this one. In fact, this could have been a great time to stand behind the Pres and show how they will always do the right thing and pout politics behind them. Saving pelicans and sea turtles and the jobs along the coast seems like an easy thing to get behind. BAN OIL!