Balta1701

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Feb 5, 2010 -> 02:11 PM) This is the best thread ever. It's about my left hand...

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 5, 2010 -> 11:24 AM) Well, what about them? Are they immune to changes? And is every person on the team a Mauer or a Morneau? Of course not. The change in stadium will undoubtedly effect their play. That is what I am saying. And my response to that is...Mauer and Morneau are not their only 2 good hitters. Kubel and Cuddyer still put up OPS numbers of >.800 on the road. Span still was a .300 hitter on the road last year. Minnesota was the #5 offense in the AL at home last year, and the # 6 offense in the AL on the road last year. Minnesota pitchers had a 4.49 ERA at the dome last season and a 4.51 ERA on the road last season (their pitchers went on the road better than most pitchers in the league actually, their ERA was #4 in the AL on the road and #12 in the AL at home). It's entirely possible that moving out of the dome could make them better, not worse, depending on how the park plays.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Feb 5, 2010 -> 12:14 PM) I just hope that our number 2 hitter gets to actually hit and not be a glorified bunter. Our #2 hitter to start the season is probably going to be Beckham, IMO.

Thanks to the moderate El Nino this year, last month was the warmest January ever in the satellite recorded temperature records. We're also basically at the temperature level recorded in the monster el nino of 1998, even though this is a moderate El Nino and it didn't peak last time until later in the year. Remember all those articles a year or two ago, probably somewhere in this thread, about how global cooling was a serious threat because that really cold december showed that the Earth's temperature was now rapidly declining? Based on that argument, in 5 years the earth is now going to be as warm as Venus.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Feb 5, 2010 -> 09:59 AM) It's ok, though. You all explaining that the (especially top) Democrat party hasn't moved left at all explains volumes. Yet, leadership can't quite seem to get their s*** passed through. I wonder why that is? It couldn't be that voters don't want the bulls*** that they are trying to force us down, could it? Or it could be because one party has been allowed to totally break 1 of the 2 houses of Congress and wasn't called on it at all by the media.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 5, 2010 -> 09:52 AM) LOL, OK. They have two very good hitters, therefore the entire team will be immune to the transition? Whose argument is a "fail"? (Raises hand)...um, sir, I believe I disagree with your definition of the number "2".

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 5, 2010 -> 09:43 AM) Emerging markets. Water tech of all kinds. I'll stake myself on this one - pretty sure that water is the next big world resource problem, after the current wave of alt energy. I'm struggling to see how the issues you cite, particularly "Water tech of all kinds" is going to drive the price of water up and not down. I can see how emerging markets will drive demand upwards, but a lot of water tech is now devoted to producing reasonable supplies of clean drinking water at low cost, since the lack of that kills a couple million people per year.

You know, if this system actually worked the way capitalism is supposed to, then pretty much every wall-street firm out there would have been wiped out by having their prices under-cut by competition. They can thank their lobbyists for making sure that doesn't happen.

Senator Shelby shuts down the Senate until he gets his earmarks. Thankfully, I'm sure he'll be called on this by all the people screaming about how bad the deficit is.

QUOTE (daa84 @ Feb 5, 2010 -> 08:36 AM) i'd be interested to see how the break down was....I would have to imagine that AJ and Alexei saw tons of breaking balls. I know I certainly wouldn't throw a first pitch fastball to either of those guys I think a whole lot of this stat relates to Alexei. There was one point I recall one of our annoucers saying on a pitch to Alexei early in the season "Curveball, strike, Alexei looked like he'd never seen a breaking ball before"

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Feb 5, 2010 -> 09:11 AM) I used to include Viciedo in all of my Gonzalez trade hypothetical’s, but lately all I’m hearing is the three names. And if that’s the case, and it really is a standing offer, I’m not sure what the holdup is, That San Diego isn't stupid?

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Feb 5, 2010 -> 09:18 AM) I think they'll try very hard to dump either Hamilton or Prince at the deadline / off-seaso without much success also. If Dumars hadn't lost his mind, he'd have been trying to do that last offseason instead of blowing his cap space.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Feb 5, 2010 -> 01:39 AM) Hudson had a 10 game hitting streak from July 31st to August 10th. From that point on, he put up a line of .244/.336/.366/.702. Hudson's a good player, but he's pretty streaky. Wasn't he also really banged up last year though? He's probably a guy that, at this point in his career, needs a lot of extra care/rest, esp. early in the year if you want him down the stretch, he's broken down the last 2 years at least. But the Twins do have a pretty deep team. He might have fit well with a team looking to try a rotating DH that had opening for a PT infielder. Sigh.

So, in case it wasn't clear, this became official last night.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Feb 5, 2010 -> 12:37 AM) That logic will forever baffle me. Seriously. Obviously if you're losing in the playoffs, you would want to acquire a big piece. Not a "I Must Start or Nothing" Allen Iverson/ But...that assumes that the 'Stons would be able to make a move for a piece like that. Billups for Iverson made sense to me and still does. They cleared immediate cap space on a team that was at the time the #3-#4 team in the East and which was on a downhill path. Clearing cap space before they get stuck with an 8 seed that is very old and is paying the tax is a solid basketball move and its one that a lot of GM's wouldn't have the balls to make. Blowing their cap space on Gordon and Villaneueva, with seemingly no thought to how that team was going to fit together, now that was the stupid part, and that's why they're in such a rough spot right now. They'd be better off if they'd have just held their cap space until mid-season here.

QUOTE (EvilJester99 @ Feb 4, 2010 -> 06:30 PM) Its actually interesting when Pace "got hurt" the O line did seem like it improved. Putting Williams at RT was never an intelligent move IMO. I thought putting Pace at RT made more sense.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 5, 2010 -> 09:04 AM) Water. Water is really a complicated bet though, because there's more government interference in that market than almost any other, and governments are willing to do stupid economic things to make sure that their citizens don't have to pay higher water bills directly (case in point, San Diego building desal plants).

QUOTE (knightni @ Feb 4, 2010 -> 10:58 PM) Of course. But, there were a lot of good threads last year. "It's the Hall of fame, not the hall of very good".

It's an honor just to be nominated.

Kap's so far to the right he wants the government running everything that isn't a bank or healthcare company

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Feb 4, 2010 -> 08:31 PM) Which is exactly why GOP won't win, and in addition, the Dems need to stop whining about the SCOTUS decision. They get theirs as well. You do realize that the money spent by the outside groups that SCOTUS just legalized doesn't count at all in those numbers right?

You never read things I post do you?

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 4, 2010 -> 07:05 PM) Bubble Boy Balta? I guess when your career is spent waiting for earthquakes, you just assume that all manners of life are on the brink of catastrophe. And over the last 10 years, how many times would I have been right in calling "Bubble"? If I'd had the money to invest, I could have made an absolute fortune betting against the housing market from 2005-on, if I was a little bit patient. Right now, I'd be betting against China and betting against the U.S. stock market.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Feb 4, 2010 -> 09:19 PM) http://247wallst.com/2010/02/04/us-recessi...nted-by-824000/ Holy crap. What does that mean for April until now? We could EASILY see 12% UE #'s and 20%+ on the U6. Oh but wait... no we won't. Why? Because the 824,000+ have already given up. What idiot wrote this crap? So, they've really existed since their jobs were cut, but suddenly, declaring they exist will cause an unbearable load on the economic recovery? That's too Wile-e-coyote for my taste. We've walked over the cliff, but it's not a problem unless we look down? And the number of people chronically unemployed is higher than expected, thus it costs more to extend unemployment benefits? Really? The government has zero idea of how many people are receiving unemployment benefits, it just sends out checks to anyone who asks? I thought that only Wall Street got that deal.