Balta1701

QUOTE (PlaySumFnJurny @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 10:26 AM) "So you're telling me there's a chance. Yeahhhh!!!!" I think Ozzie must have a clause in his contract entitling him to subject one player each year to the wrath of the fans by grossly and excessively misusing him. Kotsay continues in the grand tradition of Rob Mackowiak, Andy Gonzalez, Erstad, and Wise. With a couple of your examples..."Grossly and excessively misusing them" translates to "having them above AA".

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 10:23 AM) I know someone will point out the Red Sox are starting the likes of Mike Cameron and Marco Scutaro...that you can't field a team of All-Stars at every position. That we have a budget, that our team needs to be more versatile, etc. Scutaro put up a .380 OBP last year. Based on OPS+, Cameron has been an above average OF bat for the last 11 years.

QUOTE (Tex @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 10:20 AM) No. But given the resources to do so, I would travel the globe for who I felt offered the best chance of sucess. I don't blame him for that.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 10:16 AM) Maybe I'm ignorant, but why did Vista make everyones lives a computing disaster. I agree that I wasn't a huge fan of the OS system, but it still worked, was functional, and I've never ran into any significant issues while operating with it. It was a resources hog though. First of all, being a resource hog is a bad thing. Secondly, it was at war with itself. Every time I tried to install something on it or run something on it, it screwed up something else on the system and produced never-ending errors. If you tried to uninstall something, it was even worse. It wanted to be the only thing on my computer; putting any other software on there just made it angry, getting rid of software that I had put on there made it even angrier. It reminded me of the incomplete/crappy version of Windows 98 that I had on an older Gateway PC...it eventually reached a point where I got it to an adequate number of errors that I could cancel out of every time in order for the computer to run basic functions like Firefox, but nothing beyond that, and I just let my wife use it until an upgrade to Windows 7 was available.

QUOTE (Tex @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 10:14 AM) He made decisions that he felt were in his best interest. I know I wouldn't trust my medical decisions to my employer. Would you trust them to Scott Boras instead?

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 10:08 AM) Skiles is a tremendous coach. His schtcik just doesn't last more than a couple seasons cause the primadonna players now a days will tune him out. His style would have worked so well a generation ago. I still think Skiles could be a tremendous college coach. He could coach up his players and from a recruiting standpoint if I were a parent I'd love to know that skiles would be molding my kid into an adult. Skiles doesn't seem like the type of guy that is afraid to teach his players lessons and help them grow as players and people. In hindsight, the thing that destroyed Skiles in Chicago was the Ben Wallace signing. They signed a guy who was just unwilling to work within Skiles's system any more, and it broke apart everything else.

I'm reading that one of my Alma Maters got a shoutout last night on Lost.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 10:02 AM) Now I happen to think Peppers probably does slack off from time to time, this isn't a guy that was just waiting for a pay check. He turned down big money multi year deals in the past and went with short term deals. He doesn't have attitude issues and is a hard worker. Are you talking about when he played for the franchise tag? I got the impression he was really working to try to get to FA for that big score he just got. Edit: BTW, I should point out I still think signing peppers was 100% the right move for the Bears. I just brought him up there because the description may apply.

Vernon Wells is 5/7 with 3 HR and 6 RBI.

Oh, and Don Nelson finally passed Wilkins for the most wins of any coach, which means he can finally retire at the end of the season again and the Warriors can finally set about a genuine rebuilding.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 09:16 AM) Ozzie's basically been after this type of player I guess for a while. They went with Erstad for a season a while back, and now they're basically got v2.0 of him in Kotsay, who's being put into a situation where he basically can't win, even if he puts up say a .292/.340/.430 line etc. That's certainly an interesting and probably accurate way to describe the role Kotsay's being put in...a situation where he can't possibly succeed.

Frankly, I don't really want Johnson, for the reasons others have discussed. I think the Bulls best bet is an assistant coach on the cusp.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 09:05 AM) Your last sentence pretty much sums up why you shouldn't give out big money free agent contracts unless you know the player is going to work just as hard as they did before they got the contract. I think Haynesworth will end up back with the Titans actually. They get him, they're back to being a contender IMO. Sentence 1...what does that say about one Julius Peppers? Sentence 2...I wouldn't be surprised if it happened, but I also wouldn't be surprised if he was back to being a disaster there too. I also wouldn't be surprised if some other team stepped in.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 09:03 AM) If anything, VDN has given Gibson and JJ more playing time, than what they would probably get on a team in a similar sort of situation. I'm in the boat, you only fire VDN if you are sure you can get an Avery Johnson, Jeff Van Gundy etc. Otherwise I think it's better they stand pat and keep some continuity in terms of the systems they use etc. If the Bulls...with DR1, Noah, and max-deal cap space can't get the coach of their choice...then everything people have been saying about management is true. I can see that argument being made about Gibson. JJ though? The only reason he's seen the court at all this year is because the Bulls have been so ungodly beaten up by injuries.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 7, 2010 -> 09:00 PM) I am not watching a second of it, because I am sick of the Tiger coverage. ^

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Apr 7, 2010 -> 09:24 PM) Well Haynesworth was going to be a disaster, but at the same time, signing him was the right move. They got him in his prime, he was a beast of a DT, and the Redskins needed to concentrate greatly on defense. It just didn't work out. Probably because he had a terrible attitude, is a team cancer, and is lazy. You act like the Skins couldn't have known about any of those latter issues beforehand.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 03:17 AM) That'd be like giving Hakim Warrick big minutes at the expense of James Johnson if he was with the Bulls. So, you're saying he'd do exactly what the Bulls coaches have done with rookies since 2004?

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 08:52 AM) Well I for one will be consistent against the expansion of the executive branch's power. This is straight up bulls*** and it's unconstitutional. And as a "Liberal", I'm going to be open to that particular expansion of government power unless given a good reason why I shouldn't be. If I go and declare obedience to an opposing enemy power during wartime, does the fact that I hold U.S. citizenship protect me from being an explicit target?

QUOTE (BobDylan @ Apr 7, 2010 -> 07:15 PM) Also, since we're already in a tech-geek thread... Anyone want to take a stab at why I can't reply to the forums here in Firefox, but can in IE? In Firefox I can type in the forms and stuff, but I can't move the cursor anywhere. It doesn't show up. I only have this problem on SoxTalk, as well. Some people have been having issues with certain skins in Firefox. Try changing that?

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Apr 7, 2010 -> 09:19 PM) LMAO. That's awesome. That s*** ain't free, unless it's for health care or some other government entitlement. Dude, you're crazy. Defense spending is free. Take a look at this guy arguing that defense cuts are always silly and should be ignored when considering tax rates and such. QUOTE (kapkomet @ Apr 6, 2010 -> 08:30 PM) Peace, man. *SUCKS AIR IN* Seriously, you don't get that? You don't get weapon programs, especially air force weapon programs? Considering, you've got China, Russia, and others developing more technology as we speak? It's ok, though, I see ya'lls point. Nothing will ever happen, and the world is a safe, beautiful place. Dismantle it all and stop the spending. It's unnecessary. We need all that money for social programs so that the redistribution of wealth can continue from the private sector... i.e. the government decides where to put money. Defense spending included, of course.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 08:25 AM) This makes Obama impeachable in my book. The problem BS is that the opposing party thinks this is a great idea and should be expanded.

QUOTE (bmags @ Apr 7, 2010 -> 11:58 PM) you are right of course, but we'll see what happens. I just don't see many others in campaign mode, but in the next year we'll see for sure. Pawlenty certainly is. I'm just not sure anyone noticed.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 05:45 AM) Really appreciate the good work you've done with the previews, OB. I have to say the state of the system is a little worrisome right now (especially with the Mitchell injury). I'm not sure this team is in a position to trade away the few quality prospects we have for that big bat will almost certainly require. One thing that has happened each of the last couple years is that at least one, usually more than 1 player in the lower to middle levels has stepped up, sometimes surprisingly, and made themselves trade-bait. 2 years ago it was DLS and C. Carter. Last year it was D. Carter, Richard, and Hudson.

QUOTE (knightni @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 01:55 AM) Just call them. There's a 75% chance that it can be fixed. Usually everything from MLB.com is a disaster the first week of the season. The Audio was a mess for opening day for me. I can't figure out why it's so hard for them to get the bugs out after 5+ years of this.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 02:55 AM) UNTRUE. Ozzie has a really hard time taking people out of their roles when he establishes them there. And I'm pretty sure Wise only came out of the starting lineup because he got hurt. They pulled Wise from the leadoff spot after a couple of days and some resounding boos though.