Balta1701

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Nov 25, 2008 -> 01:44 PM) In what world is Andy Sonnanstine a more desirable target than Javy Vazquez? Am I the only one who can't understand why teams like this guy? He throws strikes with his junk and changes speeds on it. I'd rather not give up any talent and sign Paul Byrd, who BTW looks like a cross between Kelsey Grammer and a turkey. In the world where he still was pre-arbitration and made $395k this year.

Going back to our next, hopefully-non-cub-fan Treasury Secretary, here's Bloomberg painting a good image of the guy in terms of the disastrous CDS gambling system.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Nov 25, 2008 -> 01:19 PM) Bailey's value has significantly declined so I'd be hesitant at any deal centered around him involving a player of Dye's status. There is no doubting his talent but his velocity has been very inconsistent the past season to season and a half and with that his prospect status has crashed like the market. There is still a lot of raw potential and a great frame on his body but what causes the constant variations in velocity is something to be concerned with. Reds have a pretty solid system though so there could be another guy of value that could make the deal worthy. I don't believe Ryan Freel is that guy, although I think he'd be a nice piece to get, he isn't the type of guy you build a deal around Dye for (nor is Homer Bailey). Both would be secondary chips in my book. I see what you're saying and sort of feel similarly, but out of the guys the Reds have who'd be more valuable than that (Votto, Cueto, Bruce, Volquez, and hell Phillips while we're at it)...I can't see them actually being willing to move any of those guys for JD. Perhaps I could see them interested in moving Aaron Harang's contract, which balloons up this year. But other than their real good young guys, I'm not sure who else they'd have that fits that bill.

Link

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Nov 25, 2008 -> 12:03 PM) 20/8/6 and one of the greatest defenders in the history of the NBA is pretty damn good. He did play too long though. And frankly, he didn't need to score that much more than that, because there was that other guy putting up 31/7/5.

WaPo.

QUOTE (CWSOX45 @ Nov 25, 2008 -> 10:16 AM) This sounds a lot like a KW move. Trading for a pitcher that was a first round pick whose value has considerably declined. I wouldn't be surprised if this were to happen. Totally agree. I'd just be surprised if KW didn't get something else in addition to Bailey along with JD.

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Nov 25, 2008 -> 09:49 AM) Yea.. im guessing K-Rod goes to the Mets and Texiera signs something ridiculous with the Nats. Who knows how they will fill those holes.. probably through trades.... Well, I could imagine they'd probably wind up going with Morales at 1b...but then, aside from Guerrero, that's not a very strong lineup, especially come playoff time. Hunter, Vlad, Matthews Jr., Rivera, Morales, Kendrick, Mathis/Napoli, Figgins, Aybar/Wood. They're right back to lacking power.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 25, 2008 -> 09:53 AM) Interesting. So he did say there was some overpricing, but said there wouldn't likely be a dramatic correction. Guess he was wrong there. And just a few months beforehand, he was actively telling Americans to "Get an ARM".

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 25, 2008 -> 09:42 AM) Greenspan was denying it specifically? I don't recall that. I thought he even said that prices were overinflated, but then also said that a correction was in store. Maybe I am remembering someone else. His word was that there was a "froth", a number of local issues, but that they would go through some local corrections and it wouldn't be a big problem. Bernanke was actually more emphatic in saying there wasn't one after he took over in late 05. Link

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 25, 2008 -> 09:39 AM) I am sure he was aware of the housing bubble. And the article does state his early awareness and expression of reservation on some issues that turned out to be really bad, when others said nothing. Well, I hope you're right. All I'll say about the phrase "I'm sure he was aware of the housing bubble" is that way too many of the guys in charge, including Greenspan and Bernanke, were denying that there was a housing bubble even as late as 06 or so.

Your bailout dollars continue to do their job.

Link

QUOTE (scenario @ Nov 25, 2008 -> 07:47 AM) I don't mind Uribe's swing. I just don't like what he swings at. As Steve Stone likes to say, "If the next pitch is in the ballpark, Uribe will be swinging at it." The ugliest parts of his game come from his inability to avoid swinging at bad pitches. There's a reason though why Uribe swings at everything. It's because he can't see the ball on its way in because of the fundamental flaw in his swing. His head has, as far as I can tell, always moved like crazy as his body dives forwards during the swing. Compare that to a real good swing (I use Pujols as an example because he has one of the most mechanically sound swings I've ever watched)...the guys who do it right, their head might drift to the side by a centimeter as their weight shifts. Uribe's head moves like half a meter forwards during his swing. If your head is moving relative to the ball, then that's going to make keeping your eye on the ball that much harder because your eyes are no longer at a fixed point. So it's almost guaranteed that he can't pick up the ball. Andruw Jones is another prime example. Pre-05, he stood like Uribe, with his legs closer together and dove at the ball. Pendelton got him in 05 to spread his legs out and start shifting his weight with his head not moving, and he went on a 50 home run craze. Uribe is going to swing at a ball with his swing because that's all he can do, he can't tell whether it's going to be a strike or a ball because everything moves during his swing.

QUOTE (That funky motion @ Nov 25, 2008 -> 09:07 AM) When is the deadline to offer? Dec 1. Last year, Uribe was valuable enough to the Sox as a backup that he justified the couple million he earned. You'd be stupid not to offer arbitration to both. If you offer Uribe arbitration, another team can sign him and they still don't lose a pick.

That rotation would be sick, but I'd assume that leaves very little money to resign that fairly important 1b bat and that moderately important closer they have.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 25, 2008 -> 06:07 AM) All serious candidates for the Presidency are smart, more so than average certainly - yes, even W. But even among that crowd, Obama stands out. In almost every situation he's been in during his adult life, he has been "the smartest guy in the room". Since you cannot prepare for all things, you need to be that guy, to be effective as President. Obama is that guy, and looking at his cabinet picks so far, he's looking for the same thing in his stable. Its less about ideology, and more about intelligence and thinking/problem solving style. It's not answered in that article, but it would be really, really nice to know that his treasury secretary pick had been one of the 10 or 15% of people who were smart enough to recognize that the housing market was going bubble-crazy and that craziness was what was propping up the economy after the 01/02 recession. I know you can't get everything right. But that one was so easy and missed by so many people out of either greed or silliness that it'd be nice to have a treasury secretary who caught it. Or at least a treasury secretary as smart as me, because I caught it in 04 and was predicting back then that 08 would be a terrible election for the incumbent because the economy would be in the toilet.

QUOTE (YASNY @ Nov 25, 2008 -> 07:47 AM) If they get that 60th senate seat, he'll effectively have a blank check to do implement any and all of his 'agenda'. It's actually fairly remarkable how small the difference would likely be between 59/41 and 60/40 if you have a strong President setting the agenda and a press willing to treat the filibuster as a "bad, obstructionist thing". Remember...2010 is 6 years after the 2004 elections. In other words, there's 1 last group of Bush/9/11 Senate Republicans who have to face the voters in 2 years.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 25, 2008 -> 08:47 AM) Let's hope that Obama is smart enough not to appoint some partisan hack with no EM experience to the job. Maybe he'll just keep the current guy in there - he's a Coast Guard general as I recall, right? To be blunt...that organization needs a complete house cleaning. Up and down the list. It's not just the political appointee at the very top. It's the political appointees up and down the list. Hell the whole DHS disaster needs a house cleaning. I wonder if James Lee Witt might be willing to take the job back.

I believe I've found out in excruciating detail why exactly this crisis has befallen the U.S. economy, why the moves by the government have seemed so foolish and haphazard, why the bailout plans have seemed so corrupt, and so on. The answer is found within this paragraph. Oh. Well, that explains it.

QUOTE (Texsox @ Nov 24, 2008 -> 05:21 PM) One gunman killed the President and hit the Governor. If there was any others shooting, and I do not think so, they missed and their bullets were never recovered. Stone, admittedly, took many artistic liberties with the story and it has left many people with information dancing around their brains as fact, which, at best, are unsubstantiated claims and at worst, are outright falsehoods. And, most noteworthy, that gunman was firing from an elevated position at a distance behind the motorcade.

Frightening potential thoughts:

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Nov 24, 2008 -> 02:37 PM) Anyone ever seen the documentary the Men who Killed Kennedy? That's what really got me interested in some of the theorys going around. I don't really put much stock in the whole it's a gigantic Cuban conspiracy, but i'm more then willing to cast my interest towards the whole grassy knoll Officer JD Tippit story. If there was a man on the Grassy Knoll shooting...he missed.

So, this means Omar Vizquel is available?

QUOTE (Jimbo's Drinker @ Nov 24, 2008 -> 01:47 PM) Are we just taking names and throwing them against a wall?? Why don't we just wait to see what moves are made first? Because then there's nothing to talk about.