Balta1701

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 20, 2009 -> 06:03 PM) If options are an issue with Gordon, than we are in trouble cause it means he isn't 1/10th of the ball player we think he'll be. The only issues are starting his clock and I believe at this point, starting him now won't really impact him and the next benefit point would be if you called him up like next May or something. Can someone give light to me on that though cause I'm far from an expert on that stuff. Here is a good summary from a Brewers site. More details at the site...but basically, after June 1 of this year is equivalent to any point until about mid-April next year.

Walking Denard Span on 4 pitches strikes me as a bad idea.

QUOTE (Brian @ May 20, 2009 -> 05:47 PM) I really don't wanna waste an option on Gordon this year, unless we get hot and are in contention. We're not going to be in contention until one of our SS candidates starts picking it up.

HD Video of Viciedo from the side during a couple AB's. I believe Samuel L. Jackson was yelling in one of them. I'm not sure if I like his hand positioning yet. It's possible he could be setting himself up for a fair number of strikeouts with how he works those. That's not a problem if he can take a walk as well, and I haven't seen a ton of video on him so I could be wrong but that looks to be a fairly long swing.

Anderson saw one damn pitch. Can we put Lillibridge back out in CF?

QUOTE (lostfan @ May 20, 2009 -> 05:25 PM) Just about every state is hurting financially right now, it isn't necessarily caused by bad governing fwiw. In California, it is.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ May 20, 2009 -> 05:20 PM) I did and it seems Danks and Beckham are coming back to reality with the bats and Vicideo might be picking it up a bit Danks. Just. Got. Promoted. Beckham. Just. Got. Back. From. Injury. Coming back to reality? These guys are going to be really, really good for us...but they need time. Danks was looking better and better in A ball and now they've promoted him and he has to work on the K's again. Beckham just came off the DL. They need time. They're going to be really really good, but they need time and people need to accept it.

QUOTE (kyyle23 @ May 20, 2009 -> 04:51 PM) I dont think the Sox win the division last year with Fields at 3rd to start the year Not unless somehow someone could have put your hands on Josh's legs and said "They are healed."

QUOTE (mr_genius @ May 20, 2009 -> 04:42 PM) Illinos has a big deficit too, taxes are gonna go up. That's what happens when the economy drops precipitously. Either the Feds step in and make up the difference, which we were told was a bad, fiscally irresponsible thing to do in the stimulus debate, or states have to come up with some combination of tax increases and spending cutbacks to make up the difference.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ May 20, 2009 -> 04:32 PM) you do realize California is still f***ed even with the usual stuff the fed provides right? you guys have no one to blame but yourselves. sorrry. Totally agreeing on that.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ May 20, 2009 -> 04:16 PM) yes, definitely a bailout and a bad idea. I believe they would be back in a few years for billions more in bailouts. States need to balance their own budgets. You do realize that no state comes close to balancing its budget without a huge influx of Federal cash right? Even in normal years.

Has no one noticed that Beckham just came back from an injury and is mired in the first slump we've seen from him?

QUOTE (kapkomet @ May 20, 2009 -> 04:11 PM) Those shiny things are going to be his undoing, eventually. With that said, as CK alluded to earlier, California is now on the bailout list. New York will soon follow. Would you consider a federal guarantee of some of the state's debt to be a bailout? (If so, I'm holding you to that definition when the banks try to repay the TARP funds but keep all the other bailouts that they've been given). I think that's actually not the worst idea in the world...most states and municipalities get raked over the coals on interest costs despite the fact that they almost never default, and California's been dumped in to the basket with the worst of the worst.

No one ever reads stuff I put in the catch-all threads.

How this hasn't gotten more press I have no idea. It's a bit long but I'm going to steal from this blog the actual text of the thing being sent to the President...what this commission is charged with. If they actually make use of their mandate, an awful lot of people could go to jail before they finish their work.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ May 20, 2009 -> 03:37 PM) When do the 'Dooms day' spending cuts begin? Or was it a bluff? It'll probably turn out to have been something of a bluff, but there will be major cuts, along with prison releases, etc. Frankly, as there should have been a long time ago. There were going to be significant cuts if everything passed...just a question of what gets cut. The governor is supposed to start sitting down with the legislature again this week. Although, he's been known to occasionally find better things to do. Like if you wave something shiny in front of him.

QUOTE (Cknolls @ May 20, 2009 -> 08:20 AM) http://vote.sos.ca.gov/returns/props/map1A.htm Even Pelosi's county voted against a tax increase. Will wonders never cease. Boy the pro refernda folks spent their 30+ million well, huh. A lot of bang for their buck. CK, re-posting this since I didn't get a response. How familiar are you with CA's government? If you're looking at this as another tax revolt, you're wrong. It's a revolt against the crappy, crappy, crappy design of the state's government and how much damage that has done to the state.

QUOTE (Cali @ May 20, 2009 -> 01:52 PM) It seems like we have Allen at 1B for the near future, so I would keep flowers at C unless they can land a STUD in the draft. Then I suppose you could eventually move Allen to DH, and Flowers to first down the road if that scenario plays out I'm getting the impression with this draft that even if we pick someone, it'll be at least 3 years before we're talking about them being MLB ready and that's on the low end. Lotta developmental guys here. So that way, we have a guy 2 years behind Flowers, Flowers gets 2 years after replacing AJ to see if he can swing it in the big leagues, and if he can, then best case scenario we're in the boat the Braves were in when they moved Salty for Tex.

Not unsurprising but could be a major long-term shakeup in the Bulls Front Office. Paxson is no longer GM, Forman taking over that job, Pax to VP of Basketball Operations.

A couple of bloggers/indymedia people sat down with some folks from the Sox last night, and a key question was asked about Viciedo's contract that is totally good news and worth noting. This is spectacular news, because it means that Viciedo still is under the Sox's control for 6-7 seasons and they don't have to worry about dumping him when he's 24...they can let him have a full year in the minors, or more if needbe, and still be able to get a slice of his prime 27-28 year old years before he really hits the big time. The exact amount of time he's under our control depends on when his arbitration clock is started...if he's in the minors for a while, that current contract could run out before he becomes arb eligible. The Sox would likely try to take advantage of that to buy out some of his arb eligibility with a contract extension if he performs well.

Pitch like we're used to seeing you pitch, Danks.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ May 20, 2009 -> 10:41 AM) Seems about right. Hybrids will, as long as they continue to be a small part of the market, have more volatile sales than other vehicles. Most vehicle types have dropped in sales by half, hybrids have dropped 32% more than that. When they were hot, their growth rate was off the charts. Since gas prices are up the last month or two (since that article was written), and more people are opting for road trips this summer instead of the absurd hassle of flying, they'll pick up pace again. It's also worth noting that there's been some significant overhaul in the Hybrid market in the last 2 months. The Honda Insight has premiered in the U.S., as has the new Prius, and people knew these were coming. If I was in the hybrid market 2 months ago I'd have waited to see what the Insight had to offer. In Japan, the Insight hybrid is already the first hybrid car ever to lead that nation in sales for a month. Of course, I'm still hoping for a Chevy Volt.

QUOTE (Ozzie Ball @ May 20, 2009 -> 12:00 PM) There was a note on Viciedo but it wasn't performance related. http://soxmachine.com/blogs/soxmachine/default.aspx Really?!?!?!? That'd be the best damn news we've gotten all year.

Review

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 20, 2009 -> 06:43 AM) They won't expose him to waivers until after the trade deadline. He will either go to the pen, or he will go to the DL. If the Yankees can get Wang to the DL the Sox can find some reason to get Floyd there.