Balta1701

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Sep 22, 2009 -> 05:43 PM) wonder if the tigers are going to be like the cards were in 06...sneak in as the worst team and then win it all. Always plausible but I kinda doubt it...the Cards in 06 were a much different team in the playoffs than they were most of the regular season. Got some people off the DL, etc.

QUOTE (Chet Kincaid @ Sep 22, 2009 -> 04:52 PM) Eh... I thought it was kinda funny. I guess my skin is a lil thicker than others. I would be scared to say something like that though. I wouldn't wanna get smacked with a banstick... We tend to not ban for things like that. I doubt that would have crossed the line for anyone. Wasn't going to pick a fight, wasn't calling anyone out, wasn't ridiculously obscene.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Sep 22, 2009 -> 04:43 PM) Our main needs are pitching and defense because we need to complement our strength (starting rotation) in 2010. But if we need a lead-off hitter, hell, Getz's rookie OBP is 64 points above his batting average. A healthy Getz hitting .285 could get on at a .350 clip and steal 35 bases with an even better percentage than Crawford has. Why trade an assload for some other guy to do it? Because: we also have a hole at OF, and Crawford would fill that hole very strongly.

QUOTE (Chet Kincaid @ Sep 22, 2009 -> 04:08 PM) LMAO... From an admin guy too... sweet There was nothing inappropriate about that one. Ok, maybe a little. But it's about as logical as any other reason I've heard.

FWIW, it'd be Crawford they'd trade unless blown away because of the FA issue. I'm not sure they'd be interested in Jenks, for the same reason that we're trying to move him. Getting expensive and going backwards. If they were, then a package built around him works...if we're also willing to spend some money on another reliever this offseason. I kinda doubt they'd go for his salary though. You can't move Alexei for him; you're patching 1 hole by creating another. Unless you think Fields can take 3rd.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 22, 2009 -> 04:05 PM) Missile defense systems are pretty much just socialism for military/ weapons companies. They don't work except in heavily scripted tests. I've gotten the impression that the Aegis system and the short range interceptors actually do a fairly good job.

Your opinions are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

QUOTE (Chet Kincaid @ Sep 22, 2009 -> 02:56 PM) Why would Rios be in RF and Podsednik in CF?? Because you touch yourself at night.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Sep 22, 2009 -> 02:46 PM) He was pre-1976, but I think Ford was a solid president. He came in at a tough time and really didn't do anything too stupid. And yet, which President gets remembered as a bumbling fool for falling down the air force 1 stairs?

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Sep 22, 2009 -> 02:17 PM) I think it would be an ideal solution if the "caretaker" Senator would be considered ineligible for the special election. Isn't that exactly what this bill says? That was specifically how the late Senator requested it be done.

QUOTE (DukeNukeEm @ Sep 22, 2009 -> 02:30 PM) Yeah but the effects of 9/11 (credit crisis, the wars, domestic liberties) were more than enough to overwhelm patriotism-induced ratings. None of the 3 things you cite were 100% guaranteed responses to 9/11, since you made the word "War" plural.

QUOTE (DukeNukeEm @ Sep 22, 2009 -> 02:24 PM) Dubya wasn't a very good president, but he was probably dealt the worst deck of anyone in a long time. He also had a base that demanded he cradle the balls of Reagan's policies... not good. OTOH...so many of those things that you could say were a part of "Dealt a terrible deck" are things that his administration could have prevented or made much less severe. 9/11 could have been stopped by either his folks or the Clinton folks months in advance. Katrina could have been prevented if we'd spent some money on retrofitting. The response to Katrina could have been a thousand times better; hell the botched response to Andrew by his father was a major injury to Bush1. Iraq was a debacle of their own choosing. Afghanistan became a debacle because they chose Iraq. The economic crisis grew out of policies that either he supported or that he did nothing to fix.

QUOTE (robinventura23 @ Sep 22, 2009 -> 01:20 PM) See if you can throw against the Sox lineup. Since they'll facing you for the first time.....

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 22, 2009 -> 01:15 PM) And as much as I am glad to see a replacement done quickly, I despise the way it was done. The Mass Legislature basically did it one way for a Republican a few years ago, and then another way for a Democrat now. They should really put on a Constitutional amendment for their state that requires a big majority, pick a way to do it, and stick with that. While it was obviously done in a partisan way, I'm going to counter you here and say that the system itself was improved. Yeah, they took away from Romney the right to appoint a permanent successor, but appointing a permanent successor through the governorship is a terrible way to do it (see: New York, Colorado, Illinois). Yeah, they gave Patrick the right to appoint a temporary successor, but leaving the seat empty for 6 months while you organize a special election is a terrible idea (see: Minnesota). There's a few tweaks they could still do (i.e. require that the candidate is chosen from a list of names selected by a committee from the same party as the deceased/resigned Senator, so that you can't just have the governor find the next Roland Burris and nominate him so that he'll embarrass the other party). But other than that, they've gotten it closer to correct at each step.

Tex, this one's for you.

The Massachusetts senate today joined the Mass. House in giving governor Patrick the ability to appoint a temporary replacement for Senator Kennedy. The Democrats could be back to 60 Senators tomorrow.

The Republicans anti-ACORN funding bill was written in such a vague way that it prevented the government from doing business with anyone charged with any sort of fraud. This of course, includes just about every big company out there. Including the entire defense industry. And the entire energy industry. And the entire health care industry. Basically, the Congress just voted to de-fund Lockheed, Boeing, Northrop-Grumman, GE, Halliburton, etc. Yay!

The EU today seems to have decided that the bluefin tuna shouldn't exist any more.

I'm told there are 2 in the U.S. with my first and last name. My dad has the same first and last name as me.

Really, this got moved?

QUOTE (WCSox @ Sep 22, 2009 -> 12:02 PM) Aside from the fact that (barring injury) Rios and Quentin will be much better next year, keep in mind that the Sox were pretty mediocre offensively in 2005. They hit a lot of homers, but their team OBP was terrible. There's also no reason to believe that the AL Central will be that much better next season. With Peavy and Garcia replacing Contreras and Colon in the rotation, they have a legitimate shot. I'd think there's a good shot that the Twins will be better next year, assuming Morneau comes back and Mauer doesn't start the season on teh DL. Their pitching staff under-performed this year, and how often does that happen to the Twins?

I'd say it's like 80/20 that he's back.

QUOTE (docsox24 @ Sep 22, 2009 -> 10:46 AM) Are you saying that you are confident he will hit 280 next year and that you would be happy going into next season with the same offensive players? No, because we need a RF and a DH. If the DH was Thome, I wouldn't complain. Other than that...yes, I'd be somewhat happy going in to next season with the same IF, LF, CF, and starting C.

QUOTE (docsox24 @ Sep 22, 2009 -> 10:20 AM) Rios is not good. He has always been overrated and never close to the 30/30 that was projected of him. I don't think he will be as awful as this year but he won't hit 280. Thus, the balancing of those 7 players will be close to a wash. Rios is a career .280 hitter and has only had 2 seasons in his career where he's hit under .280: this season (.242) and his 2nd year in the bigs (.260). He hit ~.295 for a 3 year stretch from 2006-2008. Tell me again why he's not a .280 hitter?