Balta1701

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jul 6, 2009 -> 01:46 PM) I support the infrastructure part of the AR&RA 100%. I just hate that every single road I drive on (355, 88, 294, Touhy, 75th street in Naperville, 290, Devon in Elk Grove, soon the Throndale exit on 355) is under construction right now. Makes it a big PITA. So basically, it's a normal Chicago Summer traffic-wise?

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Jul 6, 2009 -> 01:51 PM) The first two players Riccardi would ask for would be Beckham and Danks, almost positive on that. Also positive in saying that Kenny wouldn't trade John or Gordon. Honestly, since those names wouldn't work, I'm sure Tyler Flowers and Poreda would have to be involved. I think the only way something between us and Toronto would happen is if our package at least involved 3 really good prospects and at least another solid one. Maybe a package like: Flowers, Poreda, Allen/Dayan and Richard. I still don't know if the Blue Jays would do that but I really think they'd want at least something along those lines. There is no way I'd give up anything close to that package for Halladay. We're better off with the kids and the money to go spend on FA's.

QUOTE (WilliamTell @ Jul 6, 2009 -> 12:44 PM) I would guess the Jazz wouldn't have much interest for Tyrus, he doesn't seem like a Jerry Sloan type player from what people said about him on this board. Could be wrong though. The Jazz need someone who can play PF if they lose Boozer, which they're liable to do anyway next season. Both Okur and Boozer are FA's next offseason (along with Korver and Harpring), and if they resign Milsap this offseason they won't have room under the cap to add anyone major. They're facing a very vacant front court if they can't re-up with people or make a deal beforehand, and Utah's traditionally a team that doesn't like to spend a ton (their owner is always one lobbying for limiting the spending of the big money teams. Doesn't look that good for him if he goes in to tax territory himself).

Cubs send Freel to the Royals in exchange for a PTBNL. Appears to be a salary clearing move; Royals will cover a part of his remaining contract. Freel was DFA last Thursday.

QUOTE (chisoxfan09 @ Jul 6, 2009 -> 12:35 PM) Balta, I share everyone's concerns that he may be an over worked horse but you gotta get return on your investment. Just thinkin 2 more years to keep this core together until the end of 2012. By Core, what exactly do you mean? Because if we make an offer to blow away the Jays, we may not have much of a core other than the old guys that people are trying to move on from.

QUOTE (chisoxfan09 @ Jul 6, 2009 -> 12:28 PM) But Halladay has to agree to an extension. :-) Do we really want to extend a guy who'll be 33 years old at the time?

QUOTE (dasox24 @ Jul 6, 2009 -> 12:26 PM) Where'd you read that? I would be completely ecstatic about trading for Boozer if we were also able to get rid of Deng's contract somehow, allowing us to still be a player next off-season. I don't think re-signing Boozer would be much more than Deng costs, would he? You should visit Talkbulls. I doubt they'd do a Boozer for Deng swap right now. It'd be more like Boozer for Tyrus and either James or Miller, something like that. Either way, it would still allow the Bulls to be a full player next offseason, possibly even for 2 contracts if they used Boozer in a sign and trade or simply resigned Boozer after signing someone else.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 6, 2009 -> 12:24 PM) Because I want Getz to develop and see what he can do. We know what Guzman can do. He's hit .320 in Washington with a .790 OPS (107 OPS+) over the last 3 seasons. That's not bad at all.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 6, 2009 -> 12:15 PM) Coming off of the bench, I wouldn't mind. Why has he only played 66 games this year? Injury or platoon?

QUOTE (chisoxfan09 @ Jul 6, 2009 -> 12:01 PM) I tend to agree but as noted before he is turning 33 next year. But I am also optimistic that at least KW will pick up the phone and start a dialogue maybe centered on Poreda/Richard. That is a starting point. A lot going against Toronto (Yearly 4th place finish forecast for at least another 3-4 years minimum, Halladay getting older and wanting to be on a winner, they are losing money, etc). Just possibly the right ingrediants that may make Ricciardi ponder it enough. Plus Chicago s pretty close flight time to Toronto which is Roy's permenant home. I know I mis-spelled the last name before, sorry. I wouldn't give up any of Viciedo, D2, Allen, Hudson, Beckham, or Flowers for him. If we could do a deal centered around Richard and/or Poreda that's fair. But it's those 2 PTBNL's in the Peavy trade that worry me; if the list of PTBNL's included anyone like Hudson or Allen, then we can't offer that package. I'm not sure how they feel about Richard and Poreda, but I'd probably part with both of those lefties straight up for him. I wouldn't go much beyond that though, not at his age and with only 1.5 on the contract.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 6, 2009 -> 09:59 AM) Good question. Sounds good on its face, but, how do you enforce that? People would use that as a reason fraudlently. Do we let religious groups opt out of paying taxes for other reasons? For example, no country in the world currently allows people to opt-out of paying taxes to support the military based on pacifist religious views. Ditto things like abortion, capital punishment, etc. We do allow people to sign legal documents saying that they don't want specific types of care in the event of an illness (Living wills, etc.). That's the legal framework through which you have to process those type of objections; if people have an objection to being treated then they don't have to be treated, but that doesn't mean they're not accounted for by a truly universal system.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 6, 2009 -> 10:03 AM) Absolutely, and for so many reasons. But, since war spending doesn't actually count, it might be the only way we can get additional spending actually passed.

Like most of Obama's proposed banking reforms this is a good idea, I'm just not sure it goes far enough.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Jul 6, 2009 -> 09:26 AM) Well, those I-Phones are more important to buy and have plans for then health insurance. Think about it. I love how the argument for why we shouldn't have mandatory subsidized health insurance is that sometimes people have other priorities. First of all, yes, some people do buy things like iphones rather than health insurance. That doesn't mean there aren't more than a few cases out there where it's the opposite. You think I have a fancy cell phone? Second, the fact that people are making that choice is a big part of the problem; because eventually everyone needs health care, allowing people to opt out to go buy that cell phone is a way for them to outwit the system; they opt in for Medicare when they're actually more likely to get sick, and opt-out when they're less likely. Thus, the cost of covering them when they're sick goes up towards infinity because they've taken the money out of the system. And then on top of that, sometimes the unexpected does happen, jobs are lost or people get unexpectedly sick, and it winds up costing even more to treat them and does damage to both those people and to the economy as a whole. You can't allow people to opt in and out of having car insurance depending on when they're getting in to a crash. That's a recipe for the broken system we have now.

QUOTE (dbaho @ Jul 6, 2009 -> 09:26 AM) Right now I think we'll end up with either Davis or Bass, probably the latter, although the Hornets are after Bass also. Although Otis Smith has said he's gonna go into the tax and split the MLE over a couple of players. But don't forget Ryan Anderson, who's a PF who can stretch the floor with his shooting ability. SVG likes him a lot apparently, and he was 1 pick before Courtney Lee in the draft last year. The Magic just basically need a C and a PF. Pietrus can backup at the 3 (and also play the 2), while Redick can be the backup 2. Eh, right now you're not successfully selling me very hard on the Carter for Turkoglu swap being one that improves the magic a lot. Getting a healthy Nelson back next to Carter will strengthen the backcourt, but your arguments aren't convincing me that their front court hasn't weakened significantly.

QUOTE (dbaho @ Jul 6, 2009 -> 09:23 AM) I dispute that. Albeit, Blake was a starter, here were the numbers from last season; Blake - 11.0PPG, 5A, 1.6TO Hinrich - 9.9PPG, 3.9A, 1.7TO. I think Bulls fans think he's still the player of 2 seasons ago when he hit 16.6PPG, shot a decent percentage etc. He'd dropped off quite a bit since then although he's had a few injuries. Is he a $5M better player than Steve Blake though? No I don't think so, and hence why Portland is going after David Lee and Andre Miller instead of trading Blake for Hinrich (which was rumored a few weeks back). Hinrich's real bad season was 2007-2008, and 2008-2009 he had 1 major injury that sidelined him for about 2 months. Part of the reason his scoring and so on were down last year was that the Bulls drafted another pretty good PG who took away 1/3 of the minutes Hinrich was getting. Hinrich played 5 minutes less per game than Blake as well.

QUOTE (soxfan3530 @ Jul 6, 2009 -> 09:12 AM) Since there is a love of JD love being thrown around in this thread (and rightfully so) i'll ask the age old question. Do the Sox really let this guy walk next year?? I hope not. I think its entirely possible JD gets re-signed.

QUOTE (dbaho @ Jul 6, 2009 -> 09:07 AM) If the Magic sign a PF, Lewis move to the 3 spot, and you've got Pietrus and Redick playing off the bench. People will say that Carter + a FA like Bass is 1 - If the Magic had signed Hedo to that 5/56 deal, there's no way they could have afforded to keep Gortat when he's getting the full MLE. Would have been one or the other. 2 - The Magic HAD to deal Alston. I've got no doubt he would have complained about his role as a backup if he was kept. Right now I think the Magic could actually go after Glen Davis and try to make the Celtics weaker after they signed Sheed. His mid range game wouldn't look bad at the PF spot next to Dwight. So basically, right now you're telling me that the Magic don't really have anything solid to fill their frontcourt hole created by Turkoglu's departure. That's a risky place for them to be, although grabbing either a SF or PF would work. Do they have anything left that counts as an expiring deal they could trade for a PF/SF if they can't find one that will sign for the MLE? (I bet the Kings would jump at moving Nocioni's contract if you could offer them something. He could be a really good fit there given his typical ability on defense.

Another blurb on Escobar.

QUOTE (santo=dorf @ Jul 6, 2009 -> 04:49 AM) I can only see Up being nominated when the time comes, but it would be impressive to see if Star Trek was selected ala Raiders of the Lost Ark or Star Wars from years ago. With a 10 movie field, it's actually possible. That's half the reason they expanded to 10 films.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jul 6, 2009 -> 07:18 AM) I just find it hilarious, and slightly dismaying, that war drumbeaters are almost always the same people who are concerned with excessive government spending. War is ridiculously expensive, a 3rd war for us would make the stimulus bill look like my tax refund. If it wasn't for the damage that the world economies would take due to the loss of Seoul and the sucking up of oil by the military, I could be game for a war-as-stimulus right now. Especially since my knees are now so bad that no one would ever draft me.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Jul 6, 2009 -> 07:08 AM) You gotta be kidding me. So someone finds a better system/provider for their needs and as a result are "punished" by the federal government for doing so? GMAFB No, that's not it at all. The penalty would be for not being insured at all. Doesn't matter if it's through the private or public system to me.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Jul 6, 2009 -> 06:37 AM) why would they tip their hand? "Oh sure, absolutely we're investigating her. I sure hope by saying we are investigating her that all the documents we were hooping to get dont accidentally end up in a fire" It worked while they were investigating Blagojevich. Everyone and their grandmother knew he was being investigated and wiretapped and all that did was encourage him.

QUOTE (rangercal @ Jul 5, 2009 -> 07:55 PM) That's an upgrade , but a slight upgrade and adding a piece without losing much are two very different things. Who takes over at SF for the Magic next season? Cover Turkoglu's minutes with someone who's at least average and putting Carter at SG will be a major upgrade.

How many games do the Cubs and Cardinals have left against each other?