Balta1701

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Apr 1, 2009 -> 05:58 PM) No doubt. He's a lot like Jack Cust in that there was never any doubt that if given a full time job he'd hit 25 or 30 homeruns in any stadium in baseball you just have to hope that he doesn't kill you with the rest of his quite unpolished game (since getting his shot post-30 Cust has proven to be an incredibly valuable player). I'd feel a lot more comfortable with Dallas McPherson in Charlotte this season (hitting maybe 50 HR) than Ben Broussard he just has no business ever playing the hot corner again. What kind of OPS do you think he'd put up in the big leagues if he had the DH role?

MSNBC will now have as many hours of leftist hosted programming as they do of Joe Scarborough hosted programming. That's positive.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Apr 1, 2009 -> 05:37 PM) Yea I remember him from the Angels org. when he was the next big thing. Citadel guy as well, pretty high potential and still has. Can be a real late bloomer, still hasn't really gotten a "true" shot at the bigs. He'll help Charlotte's playoff chances that's for sure not to mention a potential callup if Fields struggles or if Viciedo isn't quite ready though i'm sure he'll probably be pretty low on their depth chart.. Charlotte gets to use a DH right?

QUOTE (knightni @ Apr 1, 2009 -> 04:49 PM) It would be a good investment for roads that get heavy traffic. You're assuming it makes them last longer, and does so by an amount that would offset the cost. The biggest benefit right now is that it gets rid of giant piles of rubber tires.

Another doozy from the Republican budget version. It includes this graph. Enjoy that last part? Here's our best guess about where it comes from.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Apr 1, 2009 -> 04:50 PM) That's what I thought. You have to vote on the whole damn thing, and that is inherently bad on multiple levels, as I've detailed before. The bolded part though, I am not sure what you are referring to. Can you elaborate? If you don't like an earmark in a bill, or hell, any part of a bill, you can bring a motion to have it struck from the bill either in committee or on the floor of whatever house is doing the voting. Fairly commonplace.

QUOTE (knightni @ Apr 1, 2009 -> 04:43 PM) I think that a rubber-based composite would be durable. I don't know how slip-resistant it would be though. Some amount of rubber has actually been used in asphalt for decades. The 1993 The federal Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act required that a certain amount of the nations roads were paved with rubber containing asphalt. California's been experimenting with it since at least the early 80's. The big problem is...it's expensive. Significantly more expensive than rubber-free asphalt. By up to a factor of 2 depending on the exact mix.

QUOTE (qwerty @ Apr 1, 2009 -> 03:55 PM) Our left handed bat can be found via free agency. If dye is anywhere close to his numbers last season, this season, there is no doubt in my mind he will be back. The market for outfielders is not exactly thin next year, which would give us the option of making dye the dh, as he has been one of the very worst fielders in the league for several years now. Dye has an $11 million option for next year. After we saw what the market for older, weak on defense power hitting OF's did this season, where Abreu and Dunn could barely find jobs on short deals and where Dye became untradeable and expensive, it's going to take an economic miracle for Dye's option to be picked up. The only way he'll be back is if he really, really wants to stay and will take like a 1 year, $5 million deal after his contract is bought out.

Stallworth charged with felony DUI manslaughter, could face up to 15 years.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Apr 1, 2009 -> 02:55 PM) Get over it Detroit, nobody wants your worthless #1 pick. I'd love to see what happens if the team with the #1 pick couldn't get someone to agree to a contract before the draft and decided to start dropping a few slots to save the cap room. Without a major adjustment to the rookie pay scale it's only a matter of time.

QUOTE (JPN366 @ Apr 1, 2009 -> 03:44 PM) Are you implying that McPherson would be a good replacement for Thome? If he could stay moderately healthy and hit like he has in the minors, sure. I have no idea if either of those would be possible.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Apr 1, 2009 -> 02:02 PM) OK, either you are incorrect, or I am not explaining what I mean. An earmark is not voted on. The bill its attached to is voted on. That's what I'm saying though. The bill is voted on. The earmarks aren't attached after all of the voting is complete. If people have problems with an earmark, they have the opportunity to challenge it and have a vote on that specific language. If the bill is voted on, then there's a vote on the bill including the earmarks. I just have difficulty seeing how Congress spending money on a specific program is any worse than the Executive Branch writing in amounts of money for specific programs and then having Congress pass the budget for that branch. The only question is who exactly is making the final decision. There's opportunity for corruption in both mechanisms if they aren't properly regulated. And frankly, the executive branch has more than enough power as it is.

QUOTE (qwerty @ Apr 1, 2009 -> 02:27 PM) He is worse than fields defensively. We're a team who's 1 season away from needing a LH DH.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Apr 1, 2009 -> 01:55 PM) IMO, there are no good earmarks, ever. There are good funding proposals, that get snuck in as earmarks. And if they are good, then vote on them in some useful way. They do get voted on, aside from one or two potentially illegal ones that I think Don Young (R-AK) snuck in a few years ago. They get voted on as part of the normal budgeting process/normal process for whatever bill they're being put in. The thing that defines an earmark is not that it's not voted on. The thing that defines an earmark is that it is Congress itself that is saying exactly what the money must be spent on, rather than Congress allocating an amount of money to an executive branch department based on a budget proposal, where the executive branch is getting to choose what the money is spent on. Passing a bill with no earmarks is no different than passing an earmark loaded bill if the money is all going to the same place. In both cases, with the notable Young exception, they're still voted on following the normal Congressional voting processes.

QUOTE (Melissa1334 @ Apr 1, 2009 -> 01:50 PM) people just dont like him bcuz his horrible defense and he k's a ton. id take him any day though. He also is an interesting case because he's sort of been dragged in to the whole moneyball debate by being almost the ideal moneyball player. Tons of HR, tons of walks, tons of K, no speed, no defensive value. So if you're a fan of specific stats you might love him, if you think those guys are crazy you might take it out on him.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Apr 1, 2009 -> 01:47 PM) Won't balance the budget, but would be an excellent achievement on multiple levels, if they could actually do it (which they won't). Even McCain dropped the earmark pledge repeatedly last summer when it was pointed out by some intrepid folks that things like all U.S. aid to Israel are funded via earmarks, and no, McCain was not in favor of eliminating all U.S. aid to Israel. Didn't get called on it much down the stretch, but every time someone asked him about an obviously good earmark he backtracked.

QUOTE (knightni @ Apr 1, 2009 -> 01:42 PM) Why not use old tires like they do for sports fields and city courts? Mix the rubber with asphalt to create a more durable road surface. They try out new materials for those sorts of things all the time. You probably have driven over some without knowing it at all. You probably have driven over some and wondered "What the Hell happened to the road here?" because they didn't work. Producing materials that can stay strong under a wide variety of stresses and environmental conditions is a challenge.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Apr 1, 2009 -> 01:27 PM) Because they just released him. Somehow, I don't think he'll be wanting to go back there. I know. Was making a point. If the Marlins are releasing him...for the crap they have, at his price...there's a reason.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Apr 1, 2009 -> 01:22 PM) How about giving all the workers over age 55 $1,000,000 tax free on the stipulation that they quit their jobs and either buy a house or a new American car. That would free up jobs for the unemployed and help the over 55 crowd who are getting their IRA's creamed in this downturn. If they can't live for 10 years on a million bucks, even after buying a car of a house, until social security kicks in, then f*** em. The problem is that it's an ineffective rapid stimulus. It'd be difficult for most people to spend that much money rapidly, it'd literally take most 10-20 years under any circumstances, and most of it would be saved. Thus, most of the stimulus impact of it is pushed off down the road, if it is spent at all (much might just be saved permanently and then passed on to children, without being taxed because it's significantly under the estate tax limits). Of course, compared to lighting money on fire giving money to the banks...that's not a bad idea.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Apr 1, 2009 -> 12:43 PM) your pectoralis major muscle is divided into two sections: a sternal component and a clavicular portion. The exercises you are doing work the clavicular portion as it goes straight side to side (medial to lateral). To get to the lower portion or the sternal posrtion you need to lift weight up out in front of you. This is usually done with incline or decline bench presses. Always wondered why I spent the time doing both of those types of machines. Good to know.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Apr 1, 2009 -> 12:46 PM) Yes, to everyone reading this, I realize I'm being waayyyyyy over the top in my previous 50 posts on this subject matter, but it has to stop somewhere. I'm being over the top on purpose to a point, this spending spending spending is WAY out of hand, and it just seems like everyones ok with it, as long as it helps them/their area. This is just another instance in where the more that things change, the more they stay the same. There are some situations where creating money out of thin air is exactly the solution that the system needs.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Apr 1, 2009 -> 12:54 PM) I'd like Jackson a lot more if it wasn't for that whole Trail of Tears thing. Damn I wish we had a national bank. Anywho.

Another great piece by Taibbi tracking the progress of the debacle from the deregulation through AIG and the bailouts. Worth your time if you have 15 minutes or so. I'll excerpt the conclusion.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Apr 1, 2009 -> 12:27 PM) You look at those numbers though, and I'd be surprised if a team didn't offer him a major league deal. Some team like the Mariners or Giants should definitelty have a look at him. Or maybe the Marlins? I wonder why they wouldn't sign him. Emilio Bonifacio can't make anyone that excited there.

Is Richard still in the running for/getting a bullpen spot?