Balta1701

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Dec 30, 2009 -> 04:26 AM) Jason Bay's a pretty good player and all, but is he worth $16M a season for the next 4-5 years, I doubt it. He's a 30 year old who's put up an .894 OPS for his career, 131 OPS+ for his career, and has basically done nothing but be a very good hitter every year since he came up. And it's also New York money, so it's not like they're going to be strapped for cash because of this deal alone. It's possible he might wear down a bit when he's 33-34, and his defense probably will leave something to be desired in that large ballpark, but for a RH bat, he's a solid addition, and he'll probably play right to that contract.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 29, 2009 -> 09:27 PM) I agree with you. Andruw Jones has hit .207 combining the last 3 seasons. I don't know where people are expecting him to be the Andruw Jones who could command $15 million a year. He signed for $500k with Boras as his agent. Brian Anderson got more guaranteed cash. I wouldn't mind Vlad, although the rumor is he's Texas bound. Is there a RH hitting OF that hasn't been rumored to be Texas bound? They're going to have an OF with Dye, Hamilton, Sheffield, Winn, and a few others if all these come true. It'll be a sight to behold, the 7 OF lineup.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Dec 29, 2009 -> 06:15 PM) they were reporting a fifth year option on the Score It's a vesting option, so presumably if the Mets have any intelligence they've protected themselves in case he gets hurt several times and doesn't make the AB"s.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Dec 29, 2009 -> 04:40 PM) I think what you'll see is a sacrifice of the batting average (hit .294 last year) for more long balls. In the end, an .850 OPS out of our DH and some much needed power. My question in reply is...do we look at Vlad's numbers last year and think "This is vastly better than we'd get from Jones". I'm just not sure I do. Jones's numbers are only 10 points of OPS below Vlad. Played in less games due to injury, but he's also 2 years younger and hasn't spent time playing on the turf in Montreal The one thing I can see being a legit upgrade is a LH bat rather than a RH bat. Ozzie loves the platoon, we already know that, and there are guys on the market he can do that with. He can't do it with Vlad, and that really creates a RH heavy heart of the order unless Teahen steps up big time.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Dec 29, 2009 -> 04:11 PM) Twelve full seasons, and he's played 140 or more in all but two of them. If he's at DH, I'd have little worry. My worry is that he only put up a .794 OPS in the games he was playing for last year. There's reason to worry that the injuries might be slowing him down. He only got 394 AB's last year so he got a lot of time off too.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Dec 29, 2009 -> 03:51 PM) I think this sets up Holliday with a 5-6 year deal at $17-18 million per. Simply because, Holliday > Bay. Supposedly the Cardinals already offered Holliday something like 5/$80, right in the range you're talking about, and they're refusing to negotiate against themselves by bidding again.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Dec 29, 2009 -> 03:34 PM) I know the Mets don't have the greatest luck with FA signings, but I really like this move. Bay is a very productive player. That NL East is going to be tough again, the Phils, Mets, Braves and Marlins all have a chance at being very good, and the Nats made a few moves in the pen to make them at least pesty. The sad thing with the Mets is...just about every one of their moves the last few years, you could look at it and say "This is it, this is the move that'll put them over the top". Then all the other pieces fall apart around it.

You gotta like Brett Favre losing if you're anyone except an ESPN employee.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Dec 29, 2009 -> 12:36 PM) A Vincent Jackson on one side, DA on the other, with Knox/whatever as a 3rd down receiver/kick returner. It's funny that you bring up Vincent Jackson here, because I think he's exactly the guy the Bears should keep in mind when looking at the guys they currently have. Look at Jackson's catches per year: 3 27 41 59 68 It took him 3-4 years before he turned into a legitimate receiving threat and basically until this season where he would qualify as a #1ish, go-to type receiver. And that was with Rivers as QB, Tomlinson in the backfield, Gates and others also on the team, and that great Offensive talent developer Norv Turner as his coach. That's the kind of patience the Bears need to show with some of these guys.

According to ABC, if the bomb had been prepared properly it would have been more than enough material to blow a hole in the side of the plane.

SI

Someone show Carlos this poll. Make him angry.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Dec 28, 2009 -> 09:47 PM) lol. And then I get fired, totally awesome. Put it this way, I'll give an example of what one would look like. Say you have a guy coming to work and he sees an Arab dude walking back and forth at his train station that he hasn't seen before. The Arab guy stops to look down the tracks and periodically stops to look at the various signs on the platform. Eventually the train comes, he steps in the doorway, looks around at the passengers, and boards the train. So Mr. I'm Being a Good American calls the FBI and says "I saw a Middle Eastern Male conducting what looked like pre-operational surveillance." Um, no guy, he was pretty much going to work or otherwise going from Point A to Point B, checking the schedule to see when his train would arrive, and looking down the tracks to see if the train was coming. You're supposed to report UNUSUAL activity, being a brown stranger doesn't count. Also people will report things like a person taking pictures at tourist attractions where other people take pictures. Those make me laugh. It sure seems like the right lesson to take from this is Obama hates America and personally strapped the bomb to the guy's balls that the hodgepodge of watch lists, no-fly lists that catch more Ted Kennedy's than terrorists, and random nuggets of information that the government has spent the last 8 years building up with no obvious plan for how to use it is officially now a weakness that can be exploited. Information overload.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Dec 28, 2009 -> 08:03 PM) How would you have reacted if this guy sat down next to you on a plane? No matter how crazy you are, there is going to be some nervousness in your body language and actions, did the person sitting in the same row notice anything? Would you tell someone? How many people get nervous on a plane during takeoff/landing anyway? My wife always does. Imagine if she weren't white...God help us all, that plane isn't going anywhere.

QUOTE (MHizzle85 @ Dec 28, 2009 -> 11:02 PM) From what I remember didn't Paxson tell Collins the job was his until Reinsdorf put the axe on it? Same with D'Antoni if I'm not mistaken. I think D'Antoni was more of the Bulls not wanting to pay him. I think if you're gonna give the great GM duo the blame, Reinsdorf has to take his share as well. It's obvious the Bulls are just his cash cow while the Sox are his baby. I believe Collins was the other way round...they offered him the job, he took a couple days stewing on it, while the offer was out there the press learned of it and reported Collins would be the next coach, and then while that happened Collins decided he didn't want to coach.

Lots of random points about the Bears from watching last night's game. 1. Anyone who tells me the Bears don't have talent at WR doesn't know this team. Not just Aromashodu. Hester's a solid 2nd option if he's healthy, Bennett and Knox, that's 4 good receivers, several of whom could become very good with some development. They need time with Cutler in this system and coaching. 2. I've heard so many different pronunciations of Aromashodu in the last 24 hours I feel a bit dizzy. 3. The biggest thing that has hurt the Bears in the last 5 years has been the injury to Tommie Harris. And I'm not sure how they could replace him. A D-Line upgrade this offseason seems in order, but I'm not sure where to find it. 4. You were blind if you couldn't see how much this team missed Urlacher last night. In the 2nd half, it seemed like 2/3 of Favre's yards were gained on check-down passes underneath down the middle, which is typically right where your MLB plays in that system. 5. If I never hear Mike Tirico utter the phrase "Brett Favre" again it will be too soon. My God, the amount of smoke blown up that guy's arse in the 2nd half....ARGH. 6. Angelo's biggest mistake the last 5 years has been the failure to plan for the aging of his 2005-2006 offensive line. He got hurt in other places, like the extension to Harris, Brown's injuries, Grossman and Benson's failure to develop, but if you want a reason to fire him, it's the O-line. It needs reinforcements next year. Legit reinforcements, not Omiyale type backups.

QUOTE (Jenksy Cat @ Dec 29, 2009 -> 01:30 AM) We could have had almost a minute on the clock if he used timeouts at the end of reg. We could have (if JC wasn't actually hurt) taken a shot at the endzone instead of settling for a p**** FG like we always do. So sick of that s***, go for the endzone one time, its not that difficult or dangerous. If the long ball isn't there it isn't there and you throw it away. I liked Lovie not calling his TO's there. He was riding it on his defense, and with Cutler's propensity to throw picks, I'd rather take my chances on the D stopping them on 4th and goal than on Cutler running the :45 drill.

QUOTE (Chet Kincaid @ Dec 28, 2009 -> 03:47 PM) Is Cleveland ready to give up on Travis Hafner yet? What is his salary like? Nasty. For a DH who hasn't put up a .850 OPS since 2006...Thome's put up better numbers and we spend 1/2 as much on him each year.

QUOTE (Chet Kincaid @ Dec 28, 2009 -> 03:36 PM) I wonder how pissed off Quentin would be if he were made the everyday DH. Good. Me like Angry Quentin. Me no convinced Jones is everyday OF. And me also want another LH bat.

I'm also going to note that the TSA is currently leaderless, seemingly thanks in no small part to, guess what, the U.S. Senate. Both sides given here; the response of Sen. Demint's office in italics. The candidate to head the TSA was nominated in early Sept.

Thome. Or at least a big, high OPS bat from the LH side, such as Thome.

It appears that we may now be back to the point where flying while non-white is an offense again.

QUOTE (beck72 @ Dec 28, 2009 -> 09:21 AM) Maya makes a lot of sense for the Sox. He's likely behind Hudson in the depth chart, but ahead of Hynick and Torres. Without having seen Maya throw vs. MLB hitters, I don't see the sox trading their top pitching prospect. However, I could see a scenario where Freddy would be traded in ST, if Maya shows he can be a SP in the bigs. More than likely, Maya would start the year in AAA, and be ready to step in if needed in the rotation or bullpen. If the Sox can wait until mid-June with Garcia in the rotation, then that likely buys them an extra year pre-arbitration with anyone they start off in the minors.

I've had DirecTV for years now. The weather issues have decreased in the past few years and I seemingly almost never have problems any more (5 years ago a major storm would kick it offline for a while sometimes, now I almost never have that problem). In general, I've gotten the impression that it costs about $10 more a month for the same service than you'd get with Dish network or a cable provider. However, you can probably make some of that up by bundling the service; they have a plan available with AT&T that I just signed up for myself. The sports programming is DirecTV's best aspect IMO, although I haven't used other services. DirecTV has a monopoly over the NFL sunday ticket package and offers pretty much any package you want; the MLB one, the NBA one, NHL, College football, College basketball, the NCAA tourney, Tennis, whatever. There's a pretty good sports channel package that doesnt' include premium games but will give you things like NBA TV and out of market sports-nite broadcasts. Of course, every one of those costs money; the MLB one is about $160 a year for all the games, the NFL one is over $200 a year, but they're good if you want it. I use the DVR service and again have no complaints. Occasionally I'll have some issues with the hardware where it decides it needs to restart for an unknown reason, but this is rare and only happens a few times per year. DVR works fine, doesn't give you the AT&T style option of viewing it in different rooms though. Do not have an HD tv so I can't speak to their HD quality. It's available and they brag about it a lot in commercials, but others do as well. They've supposedly invested quite a bit of money in bringing it up to standard. They do have one of those loyalty/referral programs, so if you were interested in signing up, you can pick a friend from here and earn them $50 (hehehehe).

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Dec 27, 2009 -> 09:59 PM) If he wasn't drunk, he should probably still use 'I was drunk, sorry' as his excuse for a speech so laughably bad. And for his health care bill negotiations.