Balta1701

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 12:41 PM) AJ= player #1. How does that change if they sign Damon?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 12:25 PM) AJ being number one... But how often do they hang out in the front office? That might increase KW's chances.

QUOTE (Cknolls @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 12:31 PM) Has it peaked yet? I think it's currently at a plateau. I'm not sold yet on it having peaked. It could be doing the ^3 style of plateau rather than the ^2 style of inverted parabola. Thankfully there's still serious stimulus dollars hitting for the next 8 months or so.

Who winds up in MLB Mandated sensitivity training from this first? KW Ozzie A player someone else

QUOTE (MattZakrowski @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 12:12 PM) I'd be willing to keep Torres over Williams, I know it leaves us with only 1 lefty, but merely being left handed doesn't justify letting Randy Williams be in a major league bullpen. I would totally go for that, I just don't know if our manager would.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 12:05 PM) Yeah, pretty much. And I realize that you can't carry an 11-man pitching staff on every team (e.g., it would've been impossible on the 2007 squad). But I think that this rotation may be proficient enough and, at the very least, eat enough innings to allow for one less bullpen arm. Time will tell. Unless Ozzie or Kenny have indicated otherwise, I don't see Hudson starting the season in the bullpen. If he's going to occupy the 5th spot in the rotation next year, it would make a lot more sense to get him conditioned with as many innings as possible in the minors. It's worth noting the 2005 format...that year, we started the year with an 11 man staff. We went to a 12 man staff at some points, but only when people got hurt in June or so. We also kept our 6th starter in the minors as a starter, and he wound up being a starter for us several times. The one difficulty with that bullpen style is...you need guys who can give you 2 innings occasionally. The Sox squeaked by a couple times with Vizcaino going 2.1 innings and that cost them at least one game. I don't know if, as that bullpen is set up, there's really any obvious innings-eaters for a game where a starter goes out early or the game goes 13 innings.

QUOTE (bmags @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 10:17 AM) If we sign damon i get rid of kotsay. But I know we won't. I don't want to go into this season without a backup 1b. Not at Konerko's current age.

I wonder a number of things. Will it be a fully fleshed-out, we could pass this tomorrow type bill, or will it be a general outline of one again? How long will it be?

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 10:06 AM) I think I'd rather have Blalock than Nix, if that's what we're discussing. You already have Vizquel to back up the two MI positions and occasionally 3B, and Blalock can cover 3B on rare occasion, 1B more often, but mostly be a DH. If I'm signing Damon, I'd keep Nix and go with an 11 man pitching staff because Nix is a better defensive backup and I don't trust a 44 year old as my only infield backup. If I'm not signing Damon, then I'd so love to go with Blalock instead of Nix and a 12 man staff. That's why I think the context is important there.

Bankers threaten to leave over UK bonus tax...then don't actually leave.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 09:44 AM) Does anyone know what Blalock's defensive competencies are like at various positions nowadays? If the Damon thing doesn't work out, with Spring Training getting underway, I'd be Blalock would sign for cheap. If he can still play 3B and 1B at least at a mediocre level, then he's intriguing to me to be the LH DH component, allowing Kotsay to be the backup OF, and Jones to be the RH DH component. Blalock has played 32 games at 3b in the last 2 years, only 1 last year. He's played 100 games at 1b the last 2 years. His defensive #'s at 3b say he's quite simply bad there. His numbers at 1b in 2008 were poor and in 2009 were ok. HE played 123 games total last year, a lot at DH, and only 65 the year before that. Given that I still think we need 2nd backup IF option, if Damon isn't signed, I would still consider him, but he should be considered an emergency backup at any position other than 1b. An emergency backup IF, of course, is exactly one of our current needs, if Nix doesn't come north with the team.

That's newly elected Senator Scott Brown on Fox, trying to link credit/blame for the plane crash in Austin to his election. When Cavuto says to you "isnt' that a bit extreme" and you're a Republican....

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 09:08 AM) I think, at worst, Clinton and Bush have a very small part of the blame. Lots and lots and lots of other things lead up to that, many of which were beyond their control. Depends on whether you believe Harry Truman's sign or not.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 08:59 AM) Some small part? Sure. In the grand scheme of things though, not really. Bah, I don't buy that and I think I've said this before. The Clintons seriously screwed up by not doing anything in response to Africa, the Millennium plots, or the Cole other than lobbing a few missiles and hitting the wrong targets, and their lack of action was probably in no small part related to Clinton's inability to keep his zipper up. The Clintons also seriously screwed up in allowing the CIA and FBI to spend 8 years each doing their own thing, and by focusing on creating the illusion of security at airports rather than real security in order to avoid pissing off the airlines. The Bushes seriously screwed up by not really caring 1 bit about terrorism or the Bin Laden group until 9/11 and thinking that the most important issue for this country was missile defense. They wouldn't have had the time to do the serious reform that still hasn't happened at the agencies or to launch a serious rollback campaign, but there was more than enough intel out there mid-2001 to disrupt that plot if there had been a focus on it at the top.

So far, the last 2 weeks on Human Target, the Smoking Man has gone to jail and Agent Skinner has wound up dead. It's like Chris Carter has lost his mind and is out for revenge.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 08:51 AM) You're not seriously saying that Bush, or Obama, or Clinton, are responsible for 9/11, are you? 2 of those 3 at least have to share some blame. So that I'm not banned from this thread, I won't name explicitly which ones they are, so that this thread's usual posters can assume I'm blaming the latter 2 on that list. Am I unusually snarky this morning?

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 06:47 AM) i believe the correct term is 'Detroit Diaper Bomber' Because it made all the Republicans soil their diapers in fear?

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Feb 18, 2010 -> 07:36 PM) LOL what tripled it? nice job. The bursting of an $8 trillion housing bubble.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Feb 18, 2010 -> 07:35 PM) really? so, uh, haven't seen the deficit numbers since the Dems took over eh?

If they aren't at least considering trying to bring this up for a reconciliation vote, I don't know what the Hell they're doing. The base is already exhausted with hearing about a public option and then having it snatched away, if they're bringing this up again only to kick their base back down one more time, they're out of their minds.

QUOTE (bmags @ Feb 18, 2010 -> 06:20 PM) because the press now applauds him for his renegadeness. The only people that can change rules of institutions are not the people working in the institutions that have the ability to change the rules, but rather those outside, who can get paid thousands of dollars per speaking engagement. You'll note how much attention the press gives to his statement that partisanship is wrecking washington versus how much attention they give to his proposed solution about the filibuster.

That's soon-to-be Republican Senate Candidate from Florida Marco Rubio, reading from a teleprompter.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Feb 18, 2010 -> 04:21 PM) I just checked in with Southwest (literally just, on my way to the airport, and I get a security document and not a boarding pass. So wtf. I'll be in Group C again. Try being white.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 18, 2010 -> 04:34 PM) There are plenty of things that could be fixed to help the game before a salary cap. #1 would be a world wide draft. #2 would be an NBA style slotting system for how much draft picks can be paid. #3 would be Olympic style drug testing. Can I add a salary floor to that list?