Balta1701

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I think you're all missing the most important consequence of trading for Cantu. It would give Nancy Faust dramatically more opportunities to play "Anything you Cantu I Cantu better". Make the deal.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 5, 2008 -> 08:59 AM) Great stuff. Could be used to store energy for even-flow solar electricity, or to generate hydrogen compressed energy for, say, cars. Here's the sarcastic/angry counterpoint to that work from a few months ago when it was originally announced. The simple reality is that compared to every other energy collection and storage system, hydrogen as an energy storage mechanism is still vastly more expensive than the other options currently available and there's little reason to expect those costs to decrease as rapidly in the near future as other methods.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 5, 2008 -> 08:42 AM) Unlike the banking industry, the auto industry doesn't have a group that oversees them and shuts them down if they aren't meeting their financial requirements. They would go into bankruptcy just like thousands of companies have done before and will do again. They can and would continue operating during a bankruptcy filing. The rest of it is propaganda. People would still buy cars and trucks, jus tlike they havein the past. The steel industry did it pretty much wholesale, and their steel still got bought. The airline industry is doing it, and people are still flying on the bankrupt airlines. A complete collapse is a gross exageration and misrepresentation of what would happen if they don't get a bailout. Mostly its the unions trying to justify their existence. There's a problem with that though, and that's where all of this comes from. If the auto industry went in to bankruptcy at any other time, they'd probably be able to weather it, because a business going through bankruptcy typically is able to take out some fairly large bridge loans using parts of itself as collateral. Right now though, it's virtually impossible for any of the auto companies to get the kind of financing they'd need to make it through bankruptcy because the banks destroyed the credit markets. Thus, they'd try to go in to chapter 13 bankruptcy, but they'd be unable to find the financing to do so, and hence would wind up in chapter 7 where they can do nothing but pretty much shut down and start selling off their remaining assets. I'd be interested in hearing your response to this, because before I did more reading I had the same opinion as you, that unless there was something wrong with our bankruptcy system then the automakers should be going through bankruptcy. But after reading the financing argument, I was forced to change my mind, because of the fact that they couldn't get the credit lines they needed and thus in this case because of the frozen, unattainable credit markets, they wouldn't be able to survive through to the end of a bankruptcy process. So hence, my understanding of this "Bailout" is that they're trying to use the only people still lending money; the government.

QUOTE (knightni @ Dec 4, 2008 -> 05:34 PM) Konerko to Red Sox or Angels (loser of Teixeira signing) for a SP and a minor leaguer. Who plays 1b?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 4, 2008 -> 05:20 PM) Supposedly he has gained a lot of weight in recent years, and 19 year olds tend to fill out even more. I'm sure the Sox weighed him and when the scale said "ouch" they told him to drop some weight. One of the other threads today includes a press conference note of the Sox telling him to drop 10 lbs.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Dec 4, 2008 -> 12:50 PM) Get over your f***ing hatred for once, Balta. Holy s***. It's right in front of your nose. This is George W. Bush's fault? X 100. This is the most catastrophic economic f***up perhaps EVER (time will tell...) that we are witnessing, and one man is responsible for it? I believe that exact quote there was trying to put some significant blame for the debacle that is the bailouts themselves on the people who are handling it in the executive branch. Not necessarily the entire collapse, that's clearly another matter.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Dec 4, 2008 -> 12:17 PM) the Democrats voted for this thing in full. They are in control of congress. Look towards your own party for once. The Democrats are totally pro-bailout. You know what? I'm not totally sure that the bailouts couldn't have been done correctly, in a well planned, well administered way, if there were good people actually at the top running it. But hey, the guys in Congress keep doing this. George W. wants to invade Iraq to protect us from terra? Who are we to say no. George W.'s guys want an infinite amount of money to save us all? Who are we to say no?

QUOTE (Flash Tizzle @ Dec 4, 2008 -> 11:48 AM) Williams and the rest of the organization has to be absolutely furious right now. It's hard to plan your moves when you have a potential $10 million dollar salary hanging over your ballclub. He sure as hell hasn't dealt Vazquez and Swisher to free up salary for Cabrera's return. I'd just go out and tell Cabrera (or his agent) forthright that the team doesn't want him, and if he's playing here next season he'll be on the bench. Let them decide whether or not he's bluffing. Couldn't he have asked beforehand?

QUOTE (Flash Tizzle @ Dec 3, 2008 -> 07:04 PM) TORTURE1!! BUT WHAT ABOUT HIS RIGHTS?! India tortures prisoner. Prisoner blames Pakistan. India blames Pakistan. Central Asia becomes uninhabitable for about 5000 years. Prisoner somehow survives, later says that he gave false information up under torture. I don't see the problem, do you?

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Dec 3, 2008 -> 08:43 PM) Which secret trillion? There's about two or three of those that I'm aware of. Does anyone understand at all what's really happening here? It's just plain frightful. There are a couple people who are at least tasked with the job of finding out what is going on, Dr. Warren is one of them, she was in the news yesterday saying that there's pretty much no plan at all for how this is being done. In the original bill, there was a position created of an inspector general whose job included oversight of the bailout. That nomination has been hung up by a hold in the Senate. We think that Senator Bunning may be the one who is holding it up (haven't checked the news fully yet today)...but so far, the Treasury Secretary has pretty much what he asked for; complete authority to hand money to whomever he wants, with only limited numbers of people looking over his shoulder. Somehow, I find this to be a very fitting denouement to the last 8 years.

QUOTE (NCsoxfan @ Dec 4, 2008 -> 11:37 AM) ^Agreed. Hopefuly it doesnt have long term affects. Didnt anderson have a lingering wrist injury? Yes. I believe he had a surgery last offseason to hopefully finally correct it, but it cost him a lot of playing time in 2007.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Dec 4, 2008 -> 10:39 AM) Quick question, confused by the whole compensation thing. So if a team signs your type A free agent, you get their first round draft pick?? So if the Nationals signed Texieria, the Angles would get the #1 overall pick from them? Sounds like a lot to give up for the free agent signing.. No. The first 15 picks are protected. If you're drafting #1 and you sign a type A free agent, you lose your 2nd round pick, not your first round pick. Same thing for any pick between 1-15. If you're drafting #15 and you sign a type A free agent, you lose your 2nd round pick. If you're drafting #16 and you sign a type A FA, you lose your first round pick.

I looked back a day or so and didn't see this posted anywhere, Keith Law's take, with some nuggets about the 2 guys we haven't heard much about yet.

It's an odd question...because it always depends on how you count the money, like the money still presumably coming in for Thome. It's also difficult to figure exactly how to count things like signing bonuses for kids/people from out of the country. How do you count Beckham, Viciedo, D2: the Mighty Danks's signing bonuses, how much will we set aside for the draft this year (we may have 4 picks in the top 100). And there's a number of guys (Q, Jenks) who could be due for extensions/arbitration bonuses this year as well.

Khalil Greene is likely going to the Cardinals.

QUOTE (Lemon_44 @ Dec 3, 2008 -> 06:34 PM) How about Abreu instead of Dunn,bat him second, and move Getz to 9th. For some reason,i think we'll sign either Dunn or Abreu. I know most people want Furcal but i can't see KW spending the money on him with all the middle infield prospects he's acquired. Personally, I just can't see KW trading away a JD to clear the way to sign an Abreu. But I've been surprised before.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Dec 3, 2008 -> 04:43 PM) IMO these need to be long term changes not just a quick fix which will be reversed after they get the billions of bailout money. The US auto companies need long term stability. One could have wished someone would have had the same concern about the banks and their hundreds of billions of bailout money.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 3, 2008 -> 03:56 PM) We'll see what numbers Renteria gets with the Giants. Cabrera would still prefer the certainty of 2-3 years from ANYONE else, rather than swallowing his pride and coming back to Chicago and Ozzie. At his age and with the beating his takes, he has to be concerned about an injury on a one year deal precluding his ever signing another big, long-term deal. When we see how much Abreu, Dunn, Griffey, Burrell and Rivera get, that should be another clue....along with the second tier of pitching, Wolf/Garland/Oliver Perez. And I'm still not convinced the A's are "frontrunners" for Furcal. It seems to be a smokescreen to me. The Renteria rumor is something on the order of 2/$18.

The Giants are reportedly quite close to a 2 year deal with Renteria.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 3, 2008 -> 03:39 PM) The Dodgers would be the best bet, they don't want to pay Furcal's asking price or years. Or the Twins could factor in, although if they sign Blake, I don't know if they will bring in two pretty high-priced FA's in one offseason. I'll be somewhat shocked if it occurs. The Dodgers have that beautiful looking #17 pick in next year's draft that makes me really, really want them to sign Cabrera.

QUOTE (Ron @ Dec 3, 2008 -> 02:34 PM) If Richard works on his curve, I can see him working his way into the rotation during ST. Marquez, based on the scouting reports, seems to have a repertoire that would work in The Cell. I think Poreda is best served getting his feet wet coming out of the pen, for now. IMO, if Poreda doesn't make the starting 5 out of ST, I'd rather have him start off in the bandbox in AAA, giving him innings to work on his changeup. Might not be the best thing short term for the team, but I think that'd be the best long term move, because he needs to get the innings to work on that 3rd pitch, and he's not going to do that out of the bullpen where you can get by with 1 pitch if it's good and 2 pitches if they're decent.

QUOTE (Markbilliards @ Dec 3, 2008 -> 02:53 PM) When is the deadline for accepting/rejecting arbitration? Dec. 7, 2008, day before the winter meetings start.

QUOTE (Cali @ Dec 3, 2008 -> 02:19 PM) 4 - Marquez 5 - Poreda It's quite obvious Richard is more suited for the pen as a long man because he falls apart in the 4th or 5th inning every start. If either guy falters, Jose will take their spot mid-season. You know, I just checked his stats, and you're actually shockingly right. OPS against Richard: innings 1/3: .686 Innings 4/6: .965 Innings 7/9: 1.350 (4 at bats). Those are some pretty impressive splits. He goes from being really good to really bad the 2nd time through the order. That looks like a sign that a guy might need another pitch or two to keep hitters more off balance. Either that or he's just really hard to hit your first time against him and once you see his stuff you jump on it.

QUOTE (CanOfCorn @ Dec 3, 2008 -> 01:47 PM) False...unless you consider former Sox pitcher Al Levine a celebrity. The person below me drops it...like it's hot. True. The last time I dropped a container of 800 degree C silica grains, it burned a nasty hole in the floor. The person below me needs to use the restroom.