Balta1701

QUOTE (Ranger @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 05:28 PM) Well, smartass, I'm a guy refuting the idea that this season's offense rests in the hands of Greg Walker. People can't spend an entire offseason saying the hitters in the lineup aren't good enough but then say Walker is responsible if it fails. Can't be both. These hitters could be good enough. It's entirely possible. But that requires several of them to take solid steps upwards next year. One way to put together a better offense would be to bring in better hitters. Instead, we're relying on the guys we have to improve. That's rolling the dice on Walker, any way we want to look at it.

Senator Judd Gregg, R-N.H.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 05:07 PM) 90% of what? I assume he meant that 90% of the value of the stock market would be lost and we'd enter a new dark age. (Probably means 90% of the publicly traded stocks go down).

QUOTE (PeavyTime @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 04:52 PM) Linebrink has been healthy. The problem is that he wears down. IMO we would DL Linebrink until the all-star break. And btw, no to Fukodome I was under the impression that whatever started bothering him in the 2nd half of 2008 (where he was on the DL for a long time) was still bothering him in most of 2009.

QUOTE (2nd_city_saint787 @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 04:46 PM) just looked at his contract, have a feeling theres gonna be a lot of no ways. but i know a lot of people talked about a liney for bradley swap what about a liney + spects for fukudome??? Here's the question...how much more valuable do you think Fukudome would be to this team than Linebrink? Frankly, given that we already have a decent number of backup OF's, I wouldn't include anything in the way of prospects and I'd like a lot of money coming back to cover that huge salary. If he's ever healthy again, Linebrink could be a lot more valuable to us than Fuku.

QUOTE (Chet Kincaid @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 04:46 PM) Do we have to pay all of his salary?? Considering that right now it seems like we can't afford $3 million, the right question is probably "do we have to pay any of his salary".

One other random thing I'm thinking; this offense now is officially going to sink or swim based on the skills of 2 people: Walker and Herm. Herm has to keep people healthy this season, good thing is we've got as good of a track record as any team in the big leagues at that. Walker though...when I look at this lineup, I see like 5 people who I'd count as legitimate "This guy needs to successfully work with the hitting coach" guys. Rios and Teahen at the top of that list, Ramirez, Beckham (to avoid the sophomore slump), and Jones. If this team is at the bottom of the league in offense at the end of may, then more than any other season previously, it'll be new hitting coach time. If people stay healthy, this offense will be as good as Walker can make it.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 04:26 PM) Damn I forgot over 65 He turned 56 in December. (one of these times, 2k5 is going to be wrong on something, I'm going to call him on it, then suddenly I'll mysteriously disappear. A few years later a body will be found in a swamp somewhere).

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 04:24 PM) Don't bother unless you are a minority, a veteran, or disabled. But especially if you are a minority disabled veteran... So lostfan should be all over this one. Which one is Bernake?

Um... Based on previous standards, it is my guess that in 8 years, this man will be confirmed rapidly with a 91-4 vote in the Senate when President Palin appoints him to head the FCC. Update: Fox News goes into mourning.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 03:53 PM) I hadn't noticed. Congratulations. This qualifies you for a position on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 03:29 PM) The sad thing is that 20 years ago, saying something like that would have been unthinkable or unimaginable. The Royals under Kauffman were always one of the "model" franchises in the game of baseball. Most younger fans don't remember how good those 70's and 80's ERA Royals teams actually were, they just think of them like they do the Pirates, Nationals, Marlins (minus the two World Series titles), Padres, etc. It's somewhat amazing how good ownership can turn a franchise around quickly, while poor decisionmaking at the top can murder it for so long.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 02:16 PM) Why would their customers lose their jobs? Oh, because the government is "helping". No, because $8 trillion in wealth evaporated in a bursting housing bubble.

It's really remarkable how many people get elected saying they're going to cut waste/inefficiency and then when they actually get into office, they find that the estimates of waste that they came up with before they got elected were always an order of magnitude too large, yet people continue to run with them.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 12:20 PM) Most aren't here, either. They don't want to get caught with their pants down on government interference. Seriously, you think it's "Government interference" and not "my customers losing their jobs" that businesses are afraid of right now?

QUOTE (Buehrlesque @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 01:57 PM) $10 million guaranteed for Ben Sheets. Wow. Basically, it means the A's will pay $4 or 5 million for half a season, then ship him off for prospects in July. Is there really any other way this could go down? Matt Holliday v.2. (Orlando Cabrera too.) Yeah, he could get hurt or struggle and the A's pay for the whole thing.

WTF?

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 11:28 AM) Ah, nice. Thank you. I think that lends itself to the belif that Nix has limited versatility, and yet value if he's played right. Ideally, as the new defensive replacement he might actually save a few runs late in games. The issue is the position that he'd be a positive defensive replacement at is 2b...and quite frankly, we're not bringing in a defensive replacement for Beckham late in games.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 11:24 AM) I also think his disastrous stint as SS, turned a lot of people off on him, and severely detracted from his overall range numbers. I’d love to isolate his UZR from only 2b, and see the numbers i'd get. Fangraphs does that. 4.4 @ 2b, last year.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 11:18 AM) Nix had 3.1 UZR in 2008, a 2.8 UZR in 2009, and is predicted to improve that exponentially next year by numerous projection systems. Given his minor league numbers, and yes, the dreaded eye test, I see him as a good-to-great defender and second base as early as this year. It's the Alexei Ramirez conundrum here as well. Alexei had a 1.7 UZR at SS last year. His numbers would have been better but for his bonehead mistakes. The question is not whether the ability is there, the question is whether the mindset is there. For all we know, Nix gets distracted just as easily as Alexei, and thus if he's coming off the bench most games or moving around to other positions, he won't be able to get the defensive focus down and he'll stay where he was last year, or worse.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 11:00 AM) That is all up to the corporations in this company to feel like it is safe to start hiring again. That's an odd way of phrasing it.

QUOTE (PeavyTime @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 10:53 AM) That doesn't make sense unless you are making fun of someone else I'm making fun of the management's move here, which I find quite silly.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 10:35 AM) AppleInsider- Verizon preps for 'big day' A verizon capable iPhone? Now that's something that might make me buy an apple product.

The economist nails this one too. "Yeah, you remember when I said the time for putting off making hard choices was over? Well, that was before I found out that the Senate was mean".

QUOTE (PeavyTime @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 10:39 AM) That is the 3rd time on this forum in the past 12 hours or so that Nix has been called LH (Some of us may have done that out of sarcasm)