Balta1701

Remember to grab folks for AAP's while they're available!

QUOTE (Chet Kincaid @ Jun 11, 2010 -> 08:39 AM) So it would be better to keep A.J., waste money on him when we're not going anywhere this year, and end up just getting another draft pick for him when he signs with another team next year? THis is about the 4th time this has been repeated this week. We will NOT be getting a draft pick if AJ Pierzynski signs with another team. Why? Because he is earning $6.75 million this year. If you offer him salary arbitration, then his salary is likely to stay at that level or go even higher next year. No team is silly enough to pay him that much for an additional year at his current age. Therefore, no team in MLB would offer AJ Pierzynski salary arbitration, unless he hits .350 with 25 HR the rest of the year. No team will get any draft picks if AJ Pierzynski signs anywhere else.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Jun 11, 2010 -> 08:11 AM) Out of MLB, NHL, NBA and the NFL. I would say MLB. You got one team that hasn't won it in 100 years. Two teams that went over 80 years without winning it and all three of those teams are the big franchises, not small market teams. A lot of teams have never come close to winning it. I think its because of the small amount of teams that make the playoffs every year and the time it takes to rebuild a franchise. Some of that too is just going to come from statistics and the fact that MLB has had more teams for longer than any of these other leagues. You can't really talk about teams with 100 year droughts in the NBA, because it hasn't been around for 100 years.

I think it depends on how we define "Toughest". No one is going to say that baseball players come out of the season feeling as beaten up as hockey players. But the more teams there are, the "Harder" it could be to win things. Or, if you have a team like the Yankees, that can make it harder for the other teams. And stuff that happens every 4 years is by definition harder to win than stuff that happens every 1 year, but aside from the guy that got that headbutt, I'd say NFL players take much more of a beating than them too.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Jun 11, 2010 -> 08:34 AM) It depends how much. I imagine Kenny could get Jerry to bite on something like 1.5 million dollers if it meant legitimate return from a deep Rangers system. I dunno though...last year he picked up part of Thome and Contreras's dollars, but he didn't do so until he threw in the towel completely, and he still didn't get much back in return. KW might price himself out of this deal if he has to send in cash. And I'm not sure I'd be mad at him for doing so.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Jun 10, 2010 -> 11:48 PM) But..but.. it was taken out of context! I think you're being sarcastic here, but you're 100% correct if you're not. I'm impressively disappointed that we're still talking about this.

It's difficult for me to care less about this season than I do right now. Kick their asses all over the park.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Jun 11, 2010 -> 12:02 AM) I imagine, given the timetable, that this is going to move very fast. Luckily, the Rangers have a fantastic system, so a fair transaction is doable. I wonder how hesitant KW will be to include $ in any deal if he also has to cut payroll though.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 11, 2010 -> 08:27 AM) Oney has suddenly announced he will not tweet anything good or bad about the White Sox, and threw in the kicker that all previous tweets were true. I'm now 100% certain what KW and OG were arguing about. Yeah, this is probably a correct linkage between events.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jun 11, 2010 -> 08:04 AM) There's nothing wrong with Kotsay being on this team, in and of itself, he's proven that he's a good pinch hitter/bench player. The problem is that he's much more than that on this team and obviously not very good at what he is here. If we look at the stats, the problem isn't Kotsay at all any more. Unless you think the problem is that Kotsay can't pitch.

Seriously?

Based on continuing analysis of the video feeds, the government has increased its official estimate of the leak rate from the oil well, prior to BP's line cutting exercise from last week, to somewhere between 20,000 and 40,000 barrels per day. The most recent estimate was 12,000 to 19,000 bpd. Assuming a constant leak rate since day 1 of the spill, that gets you somewhere between 3 and 6 exxon valdez spills currently in the Gulf, up to a week ago when BP cut the pipe to try to install their top hat. Also, if BP's estimate for a 20% increase in leak rate upon cutting the pipe was accurate, and the higher of those numbers is also accurate, that would mean an 8000 barrel per day increase in the leak rate upon cutting the pipe. The newly installed hat has been collecting somewhere in the range of 10,000 barrels per day. Secretary Salazar the other day estimated it had been a 5% increase, but no one knows where that number came from. Finally, it's worth noting that higher estimates than this number still do exist. This number could be increased again in time.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 10, 2010 -> 01:02 PM) Did Bud Selig pass a ruling that the Cubs must face Dave Bush in every series between the teams? Heck, he got demoted to the bullpen, and he's still finding a way to start against the Cubs! Brewers win on a Cubs error on a bunt with Carlos Gomez running on the play.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Jun 10, 2010 -> 05:37 PM) I like you, Balta, but I f***ing hate your nicknames. I have no problems with this.

Some semi-good news. The Senate resolution expressing disapproval over the EPA using its powers to regulate CO2 emissions failed today, with 47 votes in favor, including a handful of Democrats. If nothing else, that means there's not currently a Senate majority in favor of blocking the EPA from doing so. That could change come November. But it also means there's certainly not a filibuster-proof majority in favor of blocking the EPA, so it's entirely possible, with the collapse of any sort of climate bill, that the administration will start pushing this route. Technically, by court ruling they're required to do so by current law.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jun 10, 2010 -> 05:34 PM) Exposing him to RHP may end up ultimately lowering his value. Castro was acquired for Lance Broadway for a reason. That's about all you'd be able to expect in return. There's nothing wrong with that kind of return.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jun 10, 2010 -> 05:32 PM) Just got the call. It's a no go. Sorry BS.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jun 10, 2010 -> 05:17 PM) That's what's keeping him from entering that upper echelon of LH SPs (i.e. Jon Lester). He's in that second-tier right now. John Lester has averaged 6.6 IP/start this year. John Danks has averaged 6.4 IP/start. John Lester has averaged 108 pitches per start. John Danks has averaged 108 pitches per start. John Lester has averaged less than 1 out per start more than D1: the pitching Danks this year.

QUOTE (zenryan @ Jun 10, 2010 -> 04:58 PM) wow, that is huge. I have an urge to go start bumping old college football season threads and saying "Ha! Look, Notre Dame won this game 1-0!" or something like that.

QUOTE (Knackattack @ Jun 10, 2010 -> 04:50 PM) True that. Gotta hope for some kind of a discount, I would be totally comfortable with moving Buehrle and offering Danks about 70% of the salary that we save on Burls. D1 has shown zero signs of offering any discount. If he was willing to give any discount they'd likely have signed him by now. D1 I'm sure is sitting there realizing he'll hit free agency as a 27 year old if he doesn't sign anything. He gets in the right groove one of these next 2 years, and he could be talking about nearly Sabathia type money.

QUOTE (Knackattack @ Jun 10, 2010 -> 04:47 PM) He is worth it. He's worth it to a team that can afford it. If your total salary hangs at $95 million, then that's >20% of your salary on 1 player.

Eu* is used by some writers as a method of expressing the Eu anomaly due to plagioclase fractionation/assimilation.

Soxnet.net game wrapup.

Farmer had a deal going with AJ where he promised to yell "Throw the confetti" when AJ hit his next HR, and I believe they actually threw some