Balta1701

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ May 18, 2010 -> 10:05 AM) Its just nice to think of the Bulls as a major player in FA again. If he stays in Cleveland or goes to NY, I will be disappointed but not mad, if he goes to NJ or Miami, I will be pissed off. I will not be mad about anything if the Bulls walk away with 1 of the big 3.

Last year, in 2009, well after the housing bust started, well after the ratings agencies work had been revealed to be garbage, well after the banks had been proven to be idiots, the Wall Street banks got a new brilliant idea. They'd take the mortgages from the failing mortgage-backed securities that were still doing well, slice them up, send them off to the ratings agencies, and then they'd have created another AAA backed security by re-slicing up the mortgages one more time. And after all..everyone had learned their lesson right? The Banks weren't going to invest in garbage mortgages again, the ratings agencies had learned their lesson and were only going to rate AAA stuff as AAA. That's capitalism at its finest; if it's good at anything, it should be able to learn from a mistake that happened a few months beforehand. Thankfully, we have the Congress and the White House protecting these guys and their vital jobs.

QUOTE (Controlled Chaos @ May 18, 2010 -> 09:44 AM) Excited for the series finale next week.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ May 18, 2010 -> 09:41 AM) Dude's 32 next year and has a history of injury problems. You don't sign somewhere thinking "oh yeah, I get to play with that dinosaur for a couple seasons before he retires!" Yeah, but with a normal franchise, you'd also look and see Griffin, Kaman, and Gordon and think that you'd make a solid top 5, and the team could make a deal for another PG with a fair amount of ease if they were willing to take on salary (Hinrich would actually be a good fit too). But with the Clippers, they'd set up a deal for someone and in the process somehow they'd wind up releasing Blake Griffin and Lebron would blow his knees out the next day.

QUOTE (hogan873 @ May 18, 2010 -> 09:39 AM) Good info, thanks. I suppose a lot of the whispers we may hear are wishful thinking. At least the whispers of change. It's a very frustrating time to be a White Sox fan right now. KW originally said "memorial day" a few weeks back when he was asked about when he'd start seriously considering making changes. Memorial Day is May 31. June 1 is the "super 2" deadline, so that's the day every team out of a race waits to call up prospects for. Strasbourg will come up shortly after that date. AJ's 10/5 trade-veto rights start on June 13th. So....there's about a 1.75 week window there between June 1 and June 13th that, if this team is 10 games back, I think the selling starts. But until then, everything else is setting the ground rules. It'd be foolish to let AJ get 10/5 rights if you're 10 games back and you have someone who'd be willing to take on the last $4.5 million on his contract.

Here's a fun way to start off primary day! Souder's district covers NE Indiana, including Ft. Wayne.

QUOTE (hogan873 @ May 18, 2010 -> 09:25 AM) So yesterday in the game thread there were whisperings of changes coming today or tomorrow. Anyone know anything? I have a feeling Beckham might be sent down...I just hope that doesn't mean Vizquel gets more starts. But of course then the option is Nix. I don't think there's anything to those whispers, the timing doesn't make sense. If you were going to send Beckham down, why start off with the supposed 2 day benching rather than just sending him down? It's too early to make sellers' deals because you don't want to call up anyone (i.e. Flowers) until after June 1 to save the arbitration year.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 18, 2010 -> 09:21 AM) I don't think any marquee basketball player would even care about that stuff that took place with VDN and Paxson. I think I would. Especially given that the front office travails have had impact on the court over the last couple years. But that's still nothing compared to the debacle that is the Clippers' front office.

Against Zoolander? I'll try AJ.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ May 18, 2010 -> 08:57 AM) On paper, they argubly have a more complete team than the Bulls right now (Davis, Gordon, James, Griffin and Kaman vs Rose, Hinrich, James, Deng and Noah), and if Lebron says his main reason to leave is to win, I think he can do that with that team in Los Angeles on paper. But you know what? If I was a player and I had a shred of a choice, I wouldn't go anywhere near that team's organization/front office. They don't just make Gar Paxdorf look competent, they make Gar Paxdorf look downright brilliant by comparison.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ May 18, 2010 -> 09:09 AM) Yay. I'll be there next week screaming "where's the oil?!" like that idiot on Fox. Now's probably your best time to go, it'll take a couple months before it really starts finding everywhere it's going to hit, and maybe a year or two before the full ecological hit is on. I wouldn't recommend scuba diving any more though.

Oil is washing up in Key West. That means it's gotten into the Gulf Stream, and it's going to go the whole way round Florida. Hope you took your Florida vacations already, you won't be wanting to take another.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ May 17, 2010 -> 10:53 PM) You have to hope Lebron is looking at Kobe and the insane amount of help he has and getting PISSED the f*** off. Dude, more likely what's been happening is Kobe's been hearing about how important Lebron james is for the last week and so he decided to drop 40.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 17, 2010 -> 06:56 PM) Don't lose much on offense? We gain a lot on offense. You and I have very different definitions of "A lot".

QUOTE (knightni @ May 17, 2010 -> 06:24 PM) Earlier, I figured that he'd just re-sign. But since the playoffs, I'm leaning towards the Bulls because LeBron's pissed about their failure to build a team for him in Cleveland. Plus, the Bulls are the only other playoff team with cap room for him. I think Houston has room for a max deal as well.

This guy is probably sad the spill didn't happen 2 years ago. He could have walked away with a medal.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ May 17, 2010 -> 04:40 PM) How do you not put the Cubs on this list? Because everyone loves being a Cub fan. You don't have to know anything about baseball, and there's beer.

QUOTE (Chisox_fan @ May 17, 2010 -> 05:01 PM) Beckham sitting out the Detroit series. cst_sox: Plan with Beckham is to sit him both games in Detroit, get back to Chicago and move forward. No plan to demote him. I think he should have added a "Yet".

QUOTE (fathom @ May 17, 2010 -> 04:59 PM) How about someone like Dunleavy who will just catch and shoot? That's exactly what I think we need next to those 2. COuldn't care less about someone creating his own shot, want him to make an open 3 at a high rate. THat's all. And next to those 2, if you give me a 2 guard who can shoot the 3 at a high percentage, and basically a PF and a C who can play defense, rebound, and control the lane (yes, I'm actually thinkng of Taj and Noah here) I think you've got a roster that can win it all.

Lexi

QUOTE (fathom @ May 17, 2010 -> 01:55 PM) No reason to sign Castro for 1.2 mil next year, just let Lucy back-up. Then your starting and backup catchers both hit RH

Good post, but a couple points. First...I wouldn't be surprised at all if D1 is close to a $10 million arbitration player as a first year arb guy. Second, you're still holding Randy Williams in the bullpen. That is approaching unacceptable based on his performance this season. Third, you have bugeted $1 million for another relief pitcher. You'll note that the relief pitcher we brought in this year, Putz, is at $3 million. The other FA reliever on the roster makes $5 million+ next year. I'd argue you're seriously underpricing a RH setup man. Fourth, you've priced 2 backups at $1 million each. I believe Vizuqel and Kotsay make slightly over $1 million, so that eats into your total by another $750k or so. Fifth, it's possible Quentin could get more than that in arbitration as well. Basically, I'd argue that up and down the list, you've systemically left the Sox more salary room than they will actually have. Because of that, signing guys and still holding a $100 million payroll becomes more possible in your scenario. Finally, the last thing to consider is that the Sox's outgoing salary this year is $98 million. You've assumed a $3 million increase...but where is that revenue coming from? THis team is collapsing this year, there is no sign of a revenue shot coming in. If anything, a payroll decrease appears more likely. If the total salary drops to $95 million, and you add in a couple million on a few of those guys as I argued you need, then you're looking at filling your 1b and DH spots with about $8 million total to play with.

QUOTE (chisoxfan09 @ May 17, 2010 -> 01:38 PM) Any one think Danks is worth considering if we nose dive and he does not sign an extension? If he has a semi productive year with no run support he could be an Ace on other teams and would fetch a nice bounty. I'd be open listening but I'd demand the kind of offer the Padres are looking for for Gonzalez or that the Brewers would want for Fielder.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ May 17, 2010 -> 01:22 PM) (Only moderates can respond to that ) Great! Since I know that in reality 75% of the country agrees with everything I think, I can respond, since I'm the definition of a moderate! (channeling 95% of the country)

QUOTE (Controlled Chaos @ May 17, 2010 -> 12:35 PM) She's as far left as they come only without the paper trail. This is why she's the perfect candidate for Barry. There isn't much to vet her on, but make no mistake, Obama knows where she stands. It worked for John Roberts.