Balta1701

Cliff Lee is still having injury issues. Ervin Santana missed a start with elbow inflammation.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 24, 2010 -> 10:06 AM) Or Kobe telling them he is leaving for nothing if they don't... The only way that works is if he's able to sign with one of the teams that have cap room and stuff to trade for him that equals his contract. Unless the Lakers have an interest in Deng (oh please oh please oh please) the Bulls would still need someone to help them on a sign and trade taking on a very large contract.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 24, 2010 -> 09:55 AM) That could be huge theoretically because it would allow us to acquire two superstars potentially by trading for one, and signing the other. They sure need to chase it down, Kenny Williams style. I don't think there's any circumstance in which the Lakers would deal Kobe right now. I can't imagine they'd even work with you on a sign and trade. Maybe if it involved them getting Rose.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Mar 24, 2010 -> 09:42 AM) Um, no. You may not want to admit it, but compared to the rest of the western world, yeah.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 24, 2010 -> 09:31 AM) Consider them "Bridges to Nowhere". As I've stressed before...the bridge that we're failing to build right now is to this no where called New York City. Or Los Angeles. Whatever.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 24, 2010 -> 09:37 AM) Another thing that could be interesting is there was an article written about Kobe possibly wanting to get out of LA... Negotiating tactic.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 24, 2010 -> 09:36 AM) Someone needs to start a constitutional movement to make opening day a national holiday. Always asking the government to do everything for you.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 24, 2010 -> 09:22 AM) This was the chance that something could happen to Ozzie. I figured if anything was going to get him it would be something to do with his kids, and yet this passed over pretty easily. He is going to be here for a while. As much as any of us may think he's made the wrong moves in places, the number speak for themselves. The guy fields a competitive team nearly every year. The guy's teams overplay the projections nearly every year.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 24, 2010 -> 09:23 AM) Thankfully he can stick more to pinchitting this year as Omar will be the primary defensive replacement. You're assuming: 1. Omar doesn't wind up a regular starter/DH 2. Omar doesn't get hurt after being used like a starter the first month.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Mar 24, 2010 -> 03:11 AM) Man, my mood will change so much when the first real pitch is thrown. All the at bats count and all Oz's decisions count and the relievers will be out there to drive me crazy. Then Jake Peavy will take the mound for game 2.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Mar 24, 2010 -> 02:05 AM) Trade Nix for a lefty arm, and use Retherford as the other infielder. DFA Lilli, who really cares. I think they'd do this if they had a willing trade partner. But you gotta remember, there are very few teams willing to give up decent LHP Relievers most of the time. We've been spoiled because KW pulled off perhaps the best LH steal in the last 20 years by getting a guy who's mechanics were screwed up and who was out of options.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 24, 2010 -> 09:02 AM) I have honestly never heard of that. I've known lots that either don't have and never had 401k's (usually small firms), and plenty of people saying that the match level has dropped. But unless the firm is in dire financial straits, I've never heard of matching just disappearing. I'd be curious to see some actual data on this though. I wonder if anyone tracks this sort of thing. Link

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Mar 24, 2010 -> 01:03 AM) Here's a trade scenario I want to bring up. If the Bulls don't get Bosh, Wade, JJ etc. this off-season, would you have interest in trading for Al Jefferson? It's likely that the Wolves see what he's worth on the open market because he's not a good fit in the triangle offense. I'd say the Wolves could have some interest in Deng for instance, as they're not exactly stocked at the 2/3 spots. If the Bulls could move Deng, I'd take ANYTHING back for him. Worst case scenario, straight up move Jefferson for Deng...the Bulls wind up saving money in 2013/2014.

Depends on your defense. You're Green Bay playing the Cardinals last year in the playoffs...you go for the End Zone. You think you can stop them, you kick.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 24, 2010 -> 08:46 AM) In the best case scenario, health insurance shouldn't really be an employment-linked thing anyway. Problem is, as companies drop it, they won't increase salaries to adjust for it, and you just burdened the population with effectively less income. Good news is, most employers aren't going to drop it in the short term, if at all. I'm convinced its here to stay, though there will probably be a few percentage point drop off in the next few years. This bill enshrines employer-provided insurance and actually strengthens it quite a bit by making it possible for small businesses to afford insurance. What no one has said so far in last night's discussion, and I'm half surprised and half not surprised...is that there's a reason why employers still provide insurance...and that's the GIGANTIC tax subsidy for health benefits. Even after the excise tax begins to kick in 7 years down the road, the government is still going to be providing a huge tax advantage for companies to purchase health benefits for their employees by making those benefits tax deductible up to a certain point., Employers are planning to drop insurance because of this bill? That's insane on their part. First of all, if the employer cuts 20% of his or her employees off of his or her insurance plan, and they can't get into the exchanges...their own insurance rates are going to go up because they're less of an important buyer. But then on top of that, if the employee has to go and buy his or her own health insurance, even in the exchanges, the company refusing to provide insurance is at a huge tax disadvantage relative to a company providing insurance. Simple math really. $15,000 a year insurance plan, $35,000 a year employee salary versus $50,000 a year salary, except in the 2nd case, your employee has to pay tax on the full $50,000, while in the former case, the employee pays taxes on $35,000.

I can't believe the Washington Post would publish a column like this, arguing that it's inappropriate for CNN to let Wolf Blitzer comment on Israel for no other reason than the fact that he's Jewish and therefore inherently biased.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 23, 2010 -> 06:46 PM) Andruw did have 130 RBI's and stellar defense. He also hit .207 with RISP in 2005 despite having 128 RBI.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Mar 23, 2010 -> 06:51 PM) lol, that's hardly NSFW It has the Biden word in it.

Obama's pay Czar casually notes that the bankers may threaten to leave their jobs if they have their pay slashed. Then they realize unemployment actually sucks. And they don't leave.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Mar 23, 2010 -> 06:27 PM) If they approve the same set of rules for the regular season in May, they need to consider doing away with ties all together and then go until someone wins. I have no problem with regular season ties.

Wow, we've got a bill signed, and I'm still learning things about arcane government procedure. Did you know that the Senate can only operate after 2:00 p.m. EST if there is an agreement to waive the rule saying that it can't do so? A couple scheduled committee hearings were cut short or outright canceled today unexpectedly. (You can probably guess which party has decided to resist waiving that rule to shut down the senate after 2:00 every day).

NSFW comic, this is SPECTACULAR!

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 23, 2010 -> 06:12 PM) Andruw Jones has been about 1000 times better in baseball than Soriano. Thats why there is actually hope for him to produce. Did you see Soriano's 2006 season? Yes, all of the other things given, but come on. Give the guy some credit.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Mar 23, 2010 -> 06:05 PM) Agreed, I'd pin it around late 1998-99. You can tell just by looking at pictures of the guy. I'd bet he started even before that.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Mar 23, 2010 -> 06:03 PM) Teahen with a sharp single to CF. It wasn't sharp, it was solid.