Balta1701

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 19, 2009 -> 02:49 PM) You didn't just go there did you? Aye, scientology.

QUOTE (knightni @ Aug 19, 2009 -> 02:42 PM) Letting Crow go, costing them too much for Stras. General player suckage. Really on Stras? I still think he was cheaper than he ought to have been.

Xenu.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 19, 2009 -> 02:37 PM) I am suggesting the system is on the verge of collapse as it is from lack of capacity. They won't be able to keep up with the crush of 50,000,000 people getting "free" care. You know, the worldwide Physicians per capita data is actually very interesting, when you consider the total amount we spend on health care. Most industrialized countries have more physicians per capita than us (save the UK, Japan and Canada) and yet we spend more than 2x as much per person on health care as either of those countries. Where's that money going? Either our doctors are making a hell of a lot more than everywhere else, which means that part of the problem is we're not training enough doctors to keep up with demand and push down the costs, or there's something else that is a major money drain. Anywho, if Canada, Japan, and the UK can survive with fewer doctors per capita than us, then the system isn't on the verge of collapse from lack of capacity. It could benefit from more capacity, but that's a different argument. What that data actually says is; those places are more efficient in how they use their capacity.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 19, 2009 -> 02:38 PM) I just want to know why the left isn't saluting his patriotism? Frankly I have no problem with it, the "Politics ends at the shoreline" thing only makes sense in the abstract. But shouldn't you be attacking him for it?

Hell of a casting job getting the T-1000 to replace him though.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Aug 19, 2009 -> 02:32 PM) if ESPN didnt cover it 24/7, you would feel different about him. Your perception is being dictated by the media The difference here is, he actively seeks out the media. No one makes you hold a press conference every time you retire. No one makes you say bat-sh*t crazy stuff about how you coming back is a good thing for the NFL 2 weeks after you made a big deal of telling the press how tired your body was and how you didn't think it would hold up for another season. No one makes you reach out to people in the media as often as he does.

QUOTE (DukeNukeEm @ Aug 19, 2009 -> 02:23 PM) b. We are seeing the comfort zone of relatively extremist individuals being expanded. Right now they feel pretty vindicated and/or proud to be bringing guns to rallies, but what happens when that becomes so commonplace that there is no longer much thrill in it? Where is the line going to be drawn here? If you let people get away with stuff like this over and over eventually they are going to push the limits... what that entails is anybodies guess at this point. Whether for good or ill...the laws state that what they're doing is perfectly legal, and it's perfectly legal for the media to egg them on. We saw where the surge of crazy militia folk wound up taking us last time a Democrat was in office in 1995. Seriously, the Obama admin better be smart about keeping an eye on things that could be used as munitions. You don't want to wind up having something major happen because you ignored a "Summer of threat" while talking about health care.

But he really needed to stop coming back to life at the end.

QUOTE (knightni @ Aug 19, 2009 -> 01:40 PM) Nats GM Mike Rizzo reportedly being fired. Whoa, that's a surprise. Payback for signing Stras?

QUOTE (lostfan @ Aug 19, 2009 -> 01:25 PM) Criticizing American foreign policy while on foreign soil is un-American, or at best, "apologizing for being American" is it not? At least that's what we've been told, so... why is the right pretending Huckabee's criticizing of Obama's policy while in Israel as something else? Because everyone knows he loves America.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 19, 2009 -> 01:42 PM) Gary Busey? Wrong number of underscores.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Aug 19, 2009 -> 01:31 PM) The Yankees farm system is considered pretty good by most. It's produced Cano, Hughes, Joba, Kennedy, Melky and has guys like Austin Jackson and Montero waiting in the wings. Its not on bar with the BoSox but its solid. Add to that, like I said, the number of guys they traded away in their world series's era. Juan Rivera, Ted Lilly, Willy Mo Pena, Mike Lowell, Jake Westbrook, Eric Milton, Damaso Marte, Marcus Thames, Cristian Guzman, Chris Singleton, Nick Johnson, Ricky Ledee fit on that list as guys who at least made it to the big leagues long enough for me to know their name who the Yankees traded away in the post-strike era.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Aug 19, 2009 -> 01:40 PM) Those guys, specifically Dye/Konerko, were due for a slump. They had been pretty f***ing consistent all year. Name me a guy in baseball that doesn't slump and I'd say he's probably the greatest player in the league. G_____ B______ He'll fill in the blanks by next season.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Aug 19, 2009 -> 01:16 PM) Thornton still in??? have the kidney stones returned???? Ozzie playing matchups against DeJesus.

Cardinals nab John Smoltz. This can only help them, with their 5th starters. At worst they put him as the long guy out of the pen.

Freakin Sweet, we scored 4 off Greinke while I was working!

QUOTE (FlaSoxxJim @ Aug 19, 2009 -> 12:57 PM) Your life is a bad sitcom episode. Say hi to Joey Lawrence for me. Whoa.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Aug 19, 2009 -> 09:53 AM) Would they though? I don't think that would happen if there were slottin. Slotting would keep those exorbitant signing bonuses of the top picks down and allow teams in lesser markets who deserve those players to be able to draft them. The Yankee$ and Sawx often have weak farm systems and therefore might not have a lot to trade for those picks. The Red Sox do not "Often" have a weak farm system. Their farm system has been one of the most productive in the game the last few years. The Yankees have also done an excellent job of adding talent to their farm system using their financial resources; for a while you just didn't know it because they were trading away their guys and giving up draft picks to bring in veterans.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Aug 19, 2009 -> 09:48 AM) Isn't that skewed heavily by the fact that AJ caught Jose when he wasn't red hot and when prior to his stint in the minors. That's certainly one plausible way to look at the data. It's also entirely plausible that Jose was red hot because he was being caught by Castro, and his slump resumed when AJ resumed catching him.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Aug 19, 2009 -> 09:20 AM) Didn't Castro catch his last few starts? Jose sucks, period, end of story. Jose's splits per catcher: Castro: .224 batting average against, .625 OPS against. Pierzynski: .311 batting average against, .883 OPS against.

Q

Konerko awakens!

We so should be up big in this game.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Aug 18, 2009 -> 04:55 PM) Oh I'm not sure. How does it work when a player signs a 4 year major league contract? I assume his service time starts immediately since it is a major league contract? I guess he'd still be eligible for arbitration and the standard 6 years, its just that his clock starts immediately? I'm not sure so I'm asking. I'm pretty sure his service time starts when he's called up. That's why Boras had to insert the "Call up this kid this year" clause for Andrew Miller, for example.