Balta1701

Thankfully, the deputy editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page has figured out what we need to do to solve all of our economic problems; we need to say "Merry Christmas" more and screw those other holidays around the same time.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Nov 20, 2008 -> 04:13 PM) I like this move, but you don't pay that kind of money to someone to play AA or AAA. Maybe part of 2009, but my guess is he will be in the bigs real soon if not opening day. If he plays 3B where does Josh Fields go? At this point...presumably that depends on Josh Fields. If Josh Fields plays like Josh Fields did in 2007, putting up 30+ home run power and frankly not sucking at 3b, then either he'll have a role with the Sox somewhere or he'll be moved for another solid piece.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Nov 20, 2008 -> 04:14 PM) Does Viceido get added to the 40 man as well? The Tribune reported he signed a major league contract. Therefore, yes.

A fairly brief WSJ report on why the cards seem to be lining up in favor of a major health care overhaul actually passing early next year.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Nov 20, 2008 -> 03:52 PM) The fact that is fastball suddenly jumped from the low 90's to the mid 90's and even touching 96 is a bit suspicious. Hopefully less so these days. The minors IIRC actually tend to test a little more stringently than the majors.

QUOTE (DukeNukeEm @ Nov 20, 2008 -> 03:49 PM) Rafael Furcal. Signing him and blocking Beckham/Viciedo for 3+ years for more money per year sounds just about as bad as signing Hudson to do the same thing.

Harold Myerson on the Waxman of old times...

Well, there we go. You know...Senator Obama, you really need to look in to ending that Cuban Embargo. It looks like it would really help the Sox.

Link.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Nov 20, 2008 -> 02:11 PM) So wait a minute: are Jerry Owens and Lance Broadway better than any of these guys? Quite frankly, yes.

If the cost was Lance Broadway and they were paying 1/2 of his contract, why not. P.s. Edited topic title because I saw the name of this thread and figured somehow someone already had inked Tex.

Stark

QUOTE (flavum @ Nov 20, 2008 -> 12:12 PM) He never went four games without starting until these last four. Considering they were contending for the division, and he has been on fire of late, it's surprising he was shut down after Saturday. Sometimes, winning truly isn't everything.

QUOTE (PlaySumFnJurny @ Nov 20, 2008 -> 12:15 PM) I swear I can't even remember the plot line from the last season, and I know I watched every single episode (like always). What was it even about? The Chinese? The Plague? Well, it has been 2 years. The various elements included Abu Fayed orchestrating a multi-week terror campaign against the U.S., Wayne Palmer starting as the president, Valencia, California being vaporized by a nuke, and ends with James Cromwell discovering warp drive playing Jack Bauer's father and trying to run off to China with his grandson.

QUOTE (103 mph screwball @ Nov 20, 2008 -> 12:12 PM) Couldn't the Sox just sign Viciedo after the rule 5 draft? Could that be why he hasn't signed yet? Certainly could be. Also, there's no reason why a guy like Viciedo needs to be signed to a major league contract requiring him to be put on the 40 man, unless some other team is silly enough to offer him that right away.

The European Union appears ready to send some serious firepower in to the area.

QUOTE (flavum @ Nov 20, 2008 -> 12:02 PM) www.baseball-reference.com is your friend. For some reason I've been totally unable to reach B-R for the last month or so.

Chase Utley will need hip surgery and may well be out until June.

Ok...so...who does this leave exposed in the rule 5 draft?

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Nov 20, 2008 -> 10:38 AM) This has been almost as hard of a wait for this to be back as it is with Lost between seasons for me I haven't had that much difficulty with the wait, because the last season or two has been such a downgrade especially compared to seasons 1, 2, and 3.

I think the thing we should all take from these games is that as of now, it's pretty much useless to pay attention to how the votes shift in this recount, because as long as there are more challenges than there is margin of victory for either candidate, the exact rules for every ballot are going to be key in deciding which of the challenged ones go where, and there's going to be serious litigation on that matter for the next couple weeks.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Nov 20, 2008 -> 11:12 AM) My numbers are based off a class on energy production I took two years ago, but coal-fired power plants are ridiculously cheap ($/kW) compared to just about anything else. If they regulate them to the point that they either jack up the prices to compensate or are replaced with more expensive alternatives, we'll see higher costs. I just fear that Democrats are going to regulate the energy sector and set energy policy without really analyzing the consequences beyond the current "green" buzzword. They're ridiculously cheap because of the fact that they don't have to bear the external costs associated with the production of that electricity. Most notably, it's ridiculously cheap because they can release enormous amounts of pollution in to the air without having to pay for that externality. Furthermore, they don't have to pay to deal with most of the issues related to the mining itself, i.e. you can destroy a whole mountaintop in West Virginia to get to a thin coal seam, dump that mountaintop in a river and thus dramatically pollute that river, and you don't have to pay for the cleanup. There are also huge indirect subsidies paid for with coal by the government, things like the funding of railroads, ports, and electric transmission lines, that keep the current ones running. Even without taking in to account the huge environmental costs of coal, depending on who's estimate you read, the reality is that renewables (Wind and Solar) are RAPIDLY catching up to coal on a kwh basis when you factor in the full lifetime of the panel/turbine (most of the costs of those are borne out at the time of installation, whereas coal most of the costs are taken up gradually with time). Depending on who's estimate you read, and frankly how much money we put in to subsidizing the startup costs of a solar construction and installation industry (The more solar you buy, the cheaper it gets), you pretty much hit that tipping point within the next 10 years guaranteed. Even without an appropriate carbon tax.

QUOTE (jasonxctf @ Nov 19, 2008 -> 05:54 PM) my guess, is that he's just trying to set presidence. (spl?) So if similar situations come up on Franken ballots, he can have them honored as well. Here's about 10 more examples of challenged ballots from Minnesota Public Radio. I think this one is my favorite:

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 20, 2008 -> 09:17 AM) Um did you see the headlines blastered all over the place and the blustering Congressmen taking shots at their expense? And the reason it was believable was that AIG had clearly thought they were doing something that deserved that sort of blustering.

QUOTE (Cknolls @ Nov 20, 2008 -> 09:14 AM) I can't wait to see how this affects the economy. Right now, it's probably about the only way out of the banking mess.