Balta1701

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Feb 9, 2010 -> 09:32 AM) Rios is WAY too high. ? Even last year he was still 24/29 on stolen bases.

The official instructions once people started realizing this was a problem are to put the car in neutral and to break hard - do not pump the breaks, break constantly. That assumes, of course, it is actually a problem with the accelerator pedal and not a computer problem.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 9, 2010 -> 08:17 AM) I have not yet read the linked article, but I can tell you right now that your synopsis is not particularly close to reality. The whole MBS and swap debacle just didn't happen in that way. I'd say 75% of what you typed is not reality. I reread the article again, and my synopsis sure sounds like reality to me. GS buys coverage on those MBS contracts, already being bearish on the housing market. GS starts demanding payment on those contracts GS demands higher payments than AIG thinks is appropriate GS refuses to negotiate, starts writing down the value of their assets and of the assets of other companies that have insured things with AIG, bringing in more creditors GS publishes report asking things like if AIG “is not in a position of weakness, why would it accept anything less than the full amount of protection for which it had paid?” AIG's stock tanks AIG's other creditors swoop in The government seizes AIG and pays the full amount that GS is asking for The value of those securities begins to recover once the fed buys up $4 trillion in mortgage backed securities, and GS profits both on the way down and on the way up. Doesn't excuse AIG, but the case of how GS worked to bring this whole mess to the forefront looks quite strong.

QUOTE (chunk23 @ Feb 9, 2010 -> 01:07 AM) Yeah, I guess the Sox feel that at their number it makes more sense to go for fit over bpa. I'd go for bpa too though. We need pitching and hitting pretty much equally though. The reality is...unless they really like someone who drops, saying "BPA" in the MLB draft at this position probably puts you with a selection of 10 guys, any of whom could be considered the BPA on a particular day.

Jay Leno

QUOTE (knightni @ Feb 8, 2010 -> 06:20 PM) http://tv.yahoo.com/blog/letterman-wanted-...wl-ad-sofa--975 Letterman wanted O'Brien to participate with him and Leno - Conan's people never confirmed. Frankly, if I were him, I wouldn't either.

The NY times this weekend ran a nice piece on the inner workings of how Goldman played its role perfectly in bringing down AIG and then played the federal government for suckers to the tune of billions of dollars. The summary version is: Goldman buys up lots of mortgage-backed securities they think will lose value, then insures them through AIG. They start to lose value, and Goldman demands large payments from AIG. Furthermore, Goldman claims the securities they owned were worth less than AIG claimed they were worth, and refused to let AIG or any outside group audit them to determine how much they were actually worth. Then, the real fun begins. Goldman then releases press statements saying that AIG is struggling to meet its obligations and its creditors are refusing to negotiate. Goldman pushes other AIG creditors to demand the same thing. The main creditor that was refusing to negotiate, of course, was Goldman. AIG's stock tanks, panic sets in, and the government winds up seizing AIG. (that, of course, may well have happened without any Shenanigoats from G.S., but that has been disputed before Congress in public testimony) Then, former Goldman CEO Paulson steps in and says that the government will cover AIG's creditors to avoid a panic...and pays Goldman the value on their assets that Goldman insisted they were worth, not a negotiated intermediate value, nor the value that AIG said they were worth, 100% on the dollar based on the G.S. estimates of their worth. G.S. makes a killing. The price of those securities then rebounds after the Fed starts buying them up, creating a market for the paper that already had insurance paid on it. Goldman can then make money by selling those securities at elevated rates to the Fed, even after they already had been paid the insurance on their decreased values. (Basically, they got a 100% payment on a burned down house from their insurer, then they sold the house to the Fed at 75% of its pre-burned-down value) Nice gig if you can get it.

I think the White House liked the Q & A session so much that they're going to try to score a similar moment focused solely on Health Care, if I am reading the subtext of this article correctly.

Anyone willing to share a presale code?

I had no idea that the defensive numbers of either Hudson or Young were nearly that bad.

A good one for modern times...Jack Bauer.

QUOTE (longshot7 @ Feb 8, 2010 -> 12:46 PM) People are overreacting to this move. Hudson is a good player, but he's not an elite 2b anymore. I mean, this is the guy who got benched in the 2nd half last year for Ronnie Belliard. He's not Chase Utley. Wasn't he also hurting for most of the 2nd half?

QUOTE (lostfan @ Feb 8, 2010 -> 12:25 PM) The term "global warming" was never accurate and is misleading. Balta could explain that much better than I could The simple version of why is that "Global warming" as a phrase implies that the entire planet warms by an equal amount. This is not the case. With what we're doing currently, some areas warm an awful lot (the poles shoot upwards in temperature), some areas warm mildly, and some areas either warm not at all or even cool off (i.e. the Eastern U.S. and Western Europe).

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Feb 8, 2010 -> 12:15 PM) So NBC let Leno be part of a promo for his old/new late night competitor? Yeah, that was plain bizarre.

Are we in trouble? Yes, we certainly could be. The Twins have a better offense on paper than us, a better bullpen on paper than us, and a better defense on paper than us. The Sox have better starting pitching on paper than the Twins. Would signing Damon change that? Well, it wouldn't change the bullpen, it would probably make the defense worse if anything. Would it be an upgrade with the bats? Yes. How much of an upgrade? That, I don't know. While he's still a good player, Damon last year put up career numbers in a ballpark almost perfectly tailored to his skill set, and he's still going to be a 36 year old this year. His speed isn't much to write home about any more. Is he an upgrade over Kotsay against RHP? Last year he put up an .889 OPS against them, so probably, although Kotsay put up solid numbers in his 2 month stint with the Sox. Is he an upgrade over Jones against LHP? Last year, he put up a .776 OPS against LHP, so probably not. Signing Damon would be, IMO, a small to moderate improvement with the bats. Is it a game-changer? No. Is the Twins signing Hudson a game-changer? No. One line drive off a pitcher's elbow or an odd step by Mauer running to 1b and the season totally changes. You're sick of talking football, I'm sick of being angry about our DH situation, so I'm just going to live with it and hope either Jones and Kotsay step up big time or KW can make a move midseason to fill that hole.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Feb 8, 2010 -> 11:19 AM) Don't tell me you though I was serious. I know you weren't, but look at the next post. You're just encouraging them.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Feb 8, 2010 -> 11:26 AM) Pssh, easily the greatest my ass. I hate Brady, but I'll take the guy with 3 rings in 4 tries versus a guy that consistently loses in the playoffs, despite nearly always having a first round bye and home field advantage. He's basically Favre, a guy that you want because he's a winner and makes nobodies into somebodies. But he's not the greatest because he didn't win when he had the opportunities to. John Elway had zero super bowl wins and a long list of playoff losses when he was Manning's age, I believe. It'll be interesting to see where the Colts go this offseason. They really can't afford to lose Brackett. But they've also had a number of young guys step up unexpectedly to fill positions that they now won't have to worry about for a long time. WR, DLine, Secondary. Esp. if Sanders gives they most of a season next year, they could easily be even better next year.

1/4 of the U.S.'s nuclear plants are leaking tritium.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Feb 8, 2010 -> 10:55 AM) Makes those global warming fools look stupid now. (Punch)

KC has an article on this today. I really do hope one thing...that they never turned down a trade offer because they didn't want to give up Thomas. Because you could see this building towards a boiling point over 2 years ago.

QUOTE (Jenks Heat @ Feb 8, 2010 -> 09:44 AM) I kind of agree with the Manning thing. If not for Rex throwing the big int and the Bears inability to stop the run, Peyton has nothing to show. Bah, if the Bears had been able to stop the run the Colts probably wouldn't have kept running the ball. I will agree that if Harris and Brown had been 100% though that might have done it.

So, last Friday we were treated to Robert Gibbs making a big deal about the fact that Senator Shelby had basically shut down the entire Senate in order to get a couple of his earmarks inserted into the budget for this year in an unprecedented use of the Senate's rules. Thankfully, the media is on the Democrats side, as 2k5 just noted, so they clearly went crazy about it on the Sunday talk shows. * NBC's "Meet the Press" ignored the story. * CBS's "Face the Nation" ignored the story. * ABC's "This Week" ignored the story. * "Fox News Sunday" ignored the story. CNN actually gave it mention. And their reporting of course defended the Republicans and was flat-out incorrect by going with the "The Dems did it too" when the facts, of course, disagree. Thank God the Media is on my side. If it wasn't, then they might have covered that matter even more incorrectly.

Why would anyone ever think that anyone on Wall Street could make a stupid decision.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Feb 7, 2010 -> 11:24 PM) Not that I think The Who is not good music but ever since we saw Janet Jackson's nipple, it feels like it's too much to ask for to get an artist who's had a hit single since I was born (1982) I'm struggling to figure out what aging rock stars they have left they haven't used. KISS comes to mind.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Feb 8, 2010 -> 07:41 AM) I like The Who and I thought it was a very mediocre show. ^ that. Very cool stage though.