Balta1701

QUOTE (daa84 @ Feb 2, 2009 -> 11:54 AM) also do you realize baseball prospectus is a sabermetric and statistical based website, that could care less about Dave Wilder when putting together a list? While I agree that Viciedo is probably better than a three star prospect, I haven't, and I suspect you have never seen the kid play (short of a few 30 second you tube clips). BP probably hasn't seen much of him, and I know they have very little statistical data to use, so it wouldn't seem prudent to me to give a guy 5 or 6 stars based solely on the value of his signing bonus. The ranking that actually surprises me most is that Flowers isn't ranked higher. But I think I pointed this out earlier...because they're doing mathematical projections and seeing a kid they think is 17 playing in rookie ball, their projections might be skewed a lot more because they're projecting mathematically based on that number, while someone with actual scouts eyes on the kid might think something completely different. Therefore, they might be particularly vulnerable to the type of manipulation that has been suggested to have occurred with these kids.

Oliver Perez tentatively back to the Mets, 3/$36.

We still don't know how it's going to play out, but here's a worthy primer on what exactly Daschle's tax transgressions appear to be.

Too early to compare Phelps to Rosa Parks?

QUOTE (False Alarm @ Feb 2, 2009 -> 11:20 AM) goldstein's heavy on tools and silverio has them. that's gonna be more important to him than performance in rookie ball. he even says in the intro that after our top 5 there's a huge dropoff and everyone's almost interchangeable. people are freaking out over the placement of grade-C prospects. I would imagine that BP may well put more of an emphasis on the age number than any other prospect evaluation. So if there was some, let's say, fuzziness, in that number, they'd probably be the place that would show it the most.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Feb 2, 2009 -> 11:15 AM) I can easily see the Burnett deal, the length/$ of their commitment vs. his injury/inconsistency history, going down as Cashman's next huge blunder. Sabbathia and Texeira will be good, but not the best necessarily at their positions, and they'll be nearly impossible to trade while in decline later in their contracts; especially if the recession is lengthy and payrolls continue to contract. This will cause to Yanks to eat much of their remaining salary in trade, making them that much more expensive. Did Tex get an opt-out clause? Every other long term Boras deal has seemed to sneak one in that suddenly becomes relevant 4 years down the road.

During the stimulus debate, the House GOP put together a gigantic high income/corporate tax cut that would probably wind up blowing a much larger hole in the deficit than the Democrats version. The House GOP claimed this would create 6.2 million jobs, roughly double what the Dems are saying the Obama plan would create. They based this off of some fuzzy math and cited one paper in particular by a couple of economics Ph.D.'s, Dr. & Dr. Romer. The math was fuzzy in that the paper argued for much larger multiplier effects of everything the government does in this sort of liquidity trap, but the Republicans decided to only use the numbers for that paper for tax cuts, while using standard assumptions for growth related to spending programs. The fun of this of course...is that when you cite someone's work, you can go ask them if that's an appropriate use of their work.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Feb 2, 2009 -> 11:00 AM) In short, BA = trash. Law and Callis' rankings are much, much more accurate, and say what you want about them, but at least these guys aren't making rankings based off organizational hype only from a year ago. Some douche at BA opened the White Sox file cabinet and pulled out a sheet of paper that had some scribbled Dave Wilder hype on it and then decided to use that as a base for a list. Garbage. I'm actually shocked Broadway didn't make this list as bad as it is. You do realize that this list was put together by Baseball Prospectus, not Baseball America?

QUOTE (onedude @ Feb 2, 2009 -> 10:51 AM) look about 10 or so posts up I posted about 5 or 6 of the superbowl trailers before the game. That one has already been pulled off the Youtubes by Paramount. I didn't check the others.

QUOTE (SoxFan101 @ Feb 2, 2009 -> 10:49 AM) Yeah I really hope they rework the roughing the passer penalty. I do think it is important to protect the QB's of the league, but over the season it gets ridiculous on some of the ticky tack s*** they call it on. Also Id rework roughing the kicker penalty too, half the time you can tell the kicker puts on an act job and its a penalty anyways. There used to be the ol' 5 yard running in to the kicker option, but they recently got rid of that, so that basically, you can't touch the kicker, and even if it is an acting job, you can't touch the kicker.

Happy birthday! Now get off my lawn!

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Feb 2, 2009 -> 10:34 AM) I don't disagree with your analysis, and AP does need a third pitch. Let's just say I like the idea of him working with Coop rather than the guys in Charlotte. Additionally, he might be really good as a reliever, and we'll need another lefty there if Richard beats out Marquez - I think he will. If Richard beats out Marquez for the 5th starter slot, we probably don't have a choice, but that doesn't mean it's the best option.

Springstein's balls vs. camera.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 2, 2009 -> 10:20 AM) So, I missed the Star Trek preview during the Super Bowl. Was it the same preview that has been out there since late last year, or was it a new one? New one. Some repeat footage, some new stuff (Introduction handshake between one Leonard McCoy and one Jim Kirk, for example).

QUOTE (lostfan @ Feb 2, 2009 -> 10:25 AM) I noticed the Steeler OL was holding a lot, because they were getting their asses handed to them every other play. That was some really atrocious play, the Steelers' OL is horrible but Ben covered for them as usual. If Ben doesn't slip all those tackles the way he is capable, the Steelers lose that game. Harrison got held a couple times too. But really there's holding in every game so I don't complain about those non-calls. Really what gets me mad is the roughing the passer calls, ugh do I hate that. I'll agree with you on that call, but frankly, it was no where near the worst example of that call that we've seen. They over-call that foul whether it's correct or not, and defenders need to keep it in mind.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Feb 2, 2009 -> 10:21 AM) This is much better news. I'm hoping AP makes the bullpen at least, and can be groomed for replacing whoever fails/gets injured among the starting five, while facing MLB hitters. I disagree. Based on what AP needs to do to be ready for the show, master a 3rd pitch, I'd rather have him eating up innings in AAA than working out of the pen. Out of the MLB pen he can be successful with 2 pitches. He'll need the 3rd to be a solid starter, and he's not going to be throwing that much out of the pen. I suppose they could focus on having him use it and have cooper constantly working with him, I just think it'd be easier if he gets the innings in AAA. IMO, best case scenario is Marquez pitches well enough to earn the 5th starter spot in ST, Richard takes the bullpen spot (He's another 2 pitch guy, but we don't have nearly as much invested in him as Poreda) and AP starts off in AAA at least for a month or two.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 2, 2009 -> 09:43 AM) AJ is not a prototypical #2 hitter, but he did reasonably well in that position last year. Its not as bone-headed as some are making it out to be, when you have a team full of big boppers like the Sox have. They don't really have great options for #1 and #2. But I think as currently built, the Sox have 3+ guys who would all have to fall apart to have AJ work in that role again. Getz, Lillibredge, Owens, and Ramirez all strike me as better 1/2 spot guys than AJ. Either they are a lot more patient/take more walks, have better speed, make better contract, etc.

D'Oh.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Feb 2, 2009 -> 07:17 AM) I also noticed all of these things. From what I can remember, it was the worst called Superbowl I've ever seen. It reminded me of every single Patriots Superbowl win with every call going against the opposing team and every break going for New England. I think there's a different way to look at it...the refs might have made or missed a couple calls, but overall, it was a really poorly played game, by both sides. For every penalty that was questionably called (the big one in my eyes was the roughing the passer) there was another one or two that weren't called. Arizona in particular really cost themselves with the holding calls. I think it was more a poorly played game than a poorly officiated game. At this level, you can't put the game in the hands of the officials.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Feb 2, 2009 -> 09:03 AM) I've heard, but have not confirmed, that they actually did review the play quickly but the TV crew dropped the ball. But I'm not completely buying it since a review takes at least a couple minutes to make sure it's right. I'm sure that it was reviewed...in the replay booth. They decided it wasn't going to get overturned there/that it was clear cut enough that the ref didn't need to go under the hood.

LOL Patrick and Olbermann just gave a reason why the song would be the most downloaded in ITunes history. Patrick's answer? "The 2005 White Sox"!.

LOL, and now we get "Don't stop believin'" playing in the Super Bowl pregame. We still had it first!

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Jan 31, 2009 -> 02:25 PM) Cowley reporting from Soxfest had this to say: Breaking Bulls news: Chairman tells reporters that he was not calling out Del Negro, but the assistants. LOL. Ok, yeah, I don't buy that at all.

"I don't think that taste is there." Wow.