Balta1701

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 10:22 AM) If only their pitching staff wasnt total garbage compared to us and Detroit. Adding a LH pinch hitter doesnt make them more dangerous to us at this point. Adding O-Dog would however. They still cant match up with our arms though. Do they still have Pavano? Baker Slowey Pavano Blackburn Duensing Liriano Isn't a threat to us with the guy at the top, but that's not exactly a bad rotation there.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 10:13 AM) 328 down the RF line What are the power alleys like?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 10:13 AM) And as usual instead of trying to solve the root causes, you are trying to get the government to fix the problem. And as usual, you conclude that the root causes can only be solved by the very people who created the problem in the first place.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 10:12 AM) Balta I don't recall you ever actually answering that question, FWIW I actually did have an answer, although its not going to satisfy 2k5 because he's going to argue that my answer is impossible because a private market is always the most efficient system. 2k5's argument is that we can't afford to bring everyone into the system because covering everyone would require additional doctors. A corollary of this is that covering everyone requires more doctors per capita than the U.S. has. This is not born out by data. Some countries with nationalized health care systems (i.e. France) have more doctors per capita than the U.S. (in France they drive to your house. It's fun) while other countries (i.e. the U.K., Japan) get along with significantly fewer doctors per capita than the U.S. does, and they do so without being held up as an example of horrendous wait times as well. The issue is therefore not one of capacity, it's an issue of how the capacity is used. Like virtually everything else in the U.S. system, the additional capacity is used up by how the profitability in our system is used up; its more profitable to spend your time doing expensive treatments on the well-insured than it is doing preventative care before people get really sick. I'm not opposed to allowing additional doctors into this country on Visas, that would be fine by me. My argument is, it's unnecessary. The necessary capacity in the U.S. system already exists, it's just deployed in inefficient ways due in no small part to the private nature of our system, where the ultimate goal is profit and positive health outcomes are a side effect.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 10:03 AM) This has always bothered me. When people say "this is the biggest movie ever", they are often going by income from the movie... failing to take into account that the price of a movie ticket in 1939 is DRASTICALLY different than it is today, even if you factor in inflation. So, while Avatar is the highest grossing movie, it is far from the most SEEN movie. That title is still owned by "Gone With the Wind" (1939) which sold an amazing 202,044,600 tickets! Here's the Top 20 movies of all time ... by number of tickets sold: So you're looking at number of tickets sold without taking into account population changes? And I'm willing to bet Gone with the Wind is so high up because of multiple releases/continued showing in various settings, rather than having all 130 million Americans in 1939 (including children) having seen it 1.5 times on average.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 10:02 AM) Who said that wait times weren't a problem now? Not me. Also, try adding 10, 30, 50, 80, [or whatever the number of the day] million people to the waiting rooms and tell me how that will make things better. I have asked this all along, but where exactly is all of the spare capacity in the system? So basically, you're an advocate of rationing care as a means to keep wait times from increasing. Rationing! You commie-Nazi!

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 09:48 AM) Either that or one of those friendly left wing groups is going to pay me a "visit". They're too busy getting high and having abortions. You're not a fetus are you?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 09:49 AM) I don't know why I would think that... What between the long waits in the emergency room, months of waits for specialists, crowds in the doctors offices and all... But wait, I thought that wait times weren't a problem in the U.S.? Best system in the world, after all, right?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 09:34 AM) Unless they got a second half Thome production because he doesn't seem to produce unless he plays full time. He got a whopping 17 AB's for the Dodgers. At his regular pace, he would have just about been due for a single HR in that time. The difference between him putting up great numbers and putting up crappy numbers in 17 AB's is probably whether or not he got ahold of a single HR ball.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 09:30 AM) The Twins are continuing to build teams that fit their ballpark and you could see this coming all the way back to the Young-Garza trade, although that one didn't work out. But what a concept, huh? Fit their ballpark? Their new park is going to be similar to the new Yankee Stadium in RF?

That's one Hell of a lineup.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 09:09 AM) The Twins are turning into the Sox. The guys who are regulars for us go to the Twins, the guys who bust go to K.C.

QUOTE (CryptviLL @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 09:09 AM) I like it - Because I see him being traded mid season for prospects. The negative is the high salary... So much money means there is much risk involved, but if anything is half-right, and he stays half-healthy in a good oakland system/park, they could turn him into a good return come mid season. That salary though will limit the number of teams willing to trade for him midseason for several reasons. First, any team with budgetary constraints is out; unless the A's add in money, he's not going to the AL Central outside of Detroit, for example. Second, because he's already getting $10 million, unless he's Cy Young good in the first half...teams that trade for him likely won't be able to count on getting draft picks if he walks, because he'd be likely to accept arbitration on that contract.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jan 23, 2010 -> 09:37 PM) Ok, spill it Balta. What happened? Nailed every question they asked me, and of course therefore didn't get a callback for the show. Was pretty clear that people who could actually win wasn't what they wanted.

Link

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 08:59 AM) If Hudson were willing to take a part time role for cheap, he'd certainly seem to be a good fit for Ozzie's bizarro DH/IF needs. Given that he wound up last year hurt, that seems like the ideal role for him. With this roster, I'd look at him easily getting 300+ PA's if he stayed healthy and could play a decent SS/3b.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 10:18 PM) And at the end of the day, it is a lack of supply that has caused the medical field to get so expensive. Disagree.

QUOTE (CryptviLL @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 05:43 AM) Love the deal for the A's. Little bit of a Risk, but if anything goes well with sheets, they make out big Disagree. Even if everything goes well with Sheets, based on his history the odds of him living up to that contract are low. Secondly, they could easily have signed 2 or 3 other guys for that money who would give them more performance than Sheets. I'd rather have signed Piniero for that money.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 08:53 PM) He sure didn't have any luck with Reyes... Except for that world series?

QUOTE (joeynach @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 08:59 PM) I believe in the same theory, this is a process. A strategic shift from penicling in a lift and pull baseclogger from the DH position to one that can say do some more. A good stopgap that meets both parties halfway would be Damon or Blalock becuase they provide 20+ HR pop from the left side, can play the field, and arent ur typical basecloggers. I also thought Tejada or Atkins wouldnt have been bad either. Though I do believe the white sox would love develop or acquire a player that can be a rotational DH and play the field well too. Im thinking along the lines of a better Mark Tehean type. My gut tells me this could be Alex Rios if Jordan Danks develops into an everyday OF or say the sox go after Carl Crawford next year. A better "Meet the parties halfway" guy is Hudson.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 08:03 PM) Because I saw him hit in the first half? Also, maybe playing less in the field and spending more time at DH would be good for his legs...which means better strength at the plate? What's the rules though on signing someone you didn't offer arbitration to? Also, how do we know this doesn't mean Carl or Robbie aren't coming back? Dye is simply a terrible fit for what our lineup could use right now. We have a ton of OF depth and a ton of guys who can hit with power from the RH side. We're limited on IF depth, guys who can hit LH, and guys who take a lot of BB's. JD just doesn't fit.

QUOTE (dmbjeff @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 12:49 AM) they need to go get Branyan and have him hit the righties, he posted a .905 OPS vs righties last year, while playing half his games in a very spacious park. the guy needs a job. Kotsay can't be the starting DH vs RHP, he just can't. The question with Branyan is his back. If anyone thought he was healthy I'm 95% sure he'd have been signed by now.

QUOTE (scenario @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 06:31 PM) Possible that the Twins could trade Delmon Young, put Kubel back in left, and start Thome at DH? That's an awfully over-run-with-LH-hitters lineup.

Thome to the Twins.

QUOTE (Chet Kincaid @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 05:49 PM) But what would that mean for Beckham? Where would he bat? Would he try swing for the fences much more often than he would hitting in the 2 hole? I for one don't think it'll be long before Beckham is hitting in the 3 spot anyway.