Balta1701

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Feb 26, 2008 -> 11:02 PM) I still expect the Indians to win the division. Possibly the best pitching staff in the AL, and assuredly the best pitching in the AL Central, and an underrated offense - people seem to forget that the Indians scored 811 runs last year while Travis Hafner sucked compared to his usual standards. I'm still just not sold on their pitching staff. Their bullpen went from being ranked 11th in the AL in ERA in 06 to 4th in 07. Their bullpen ERA dropped by nearly a run, and their starters put up the best ERA in the AL. One of these teams in the Central, maybe more than one, is going to step up and win a ton of games. But right now I just don't have a clue which one it will be. Each of them has issues that could catch up with them.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Feb 27, 2008 -> 03:41 AM) Not really a ringing endorsement is it. You've got to have some mobility as a QB to make it in the NFL nowadays. Well, if you define "Some" mobility as "more mobile than Drew Bledsoe was in his last few years" I'll agree with you. But there's no reason why most QB's that haven't totally lost their legs can't learn to make that step. Just watch guys like Manning, Brady, and to a lesser extent guys like Palmer, Brees, etc. One of the things that makes them so good as passers isn't that they're scrambling out of the pocket every time there's pressure on them...it's that they make their O-Line better by feeling the pressure before it gets to them and taking a few steps in the opposite direction to buy an extra second or two. Unless you're Drew Bledsoe, you can do that. Not every QB has to be Tony Romo/Michael Vick on a scramble to be effective. That said...I still would prefer the Bears resign Grossman and maybe wait until the 3rd/4th round or even next year if they're thinking of taking a QB.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Feb 27, 2008 -> 07:10 AM) I'd be curious to hear the candidates asked this question. Many of you spoke of ending subsidies to oil companies as prices and their profits hit all time records, not to mention talks of windfall taxes. Now with basic food prices at the same point, would you support the same for farmers? If not, why are energy prices more important than food prices? The "every couple year" farm subsidy bill that comes through Congress is, while not as big in monetary value as the defense department/Iraq war boondoggle that comes through yearly, it's right up there in terms of awfulness. Encouraging farmers to overproduce things like corn, pushing down the prices of processed food while at the same time making healthier options like most fruits/vegetables more expensive, encouraging overproduction of the land, the tilt towards large scale factory farms, the emphasis on over-use of pesticides, the failure to encourage water conservation in key areas, the suppression of crop prices worldwide due to our subsidies, etc. The 2007/2008 version looks to actually be slightly better than normal in some of these areas, so there's slow progress being made, but it's at a snail's pace.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 27, 2008 -> 08:52 AM) If Clinton doesn't pull a pretty big win on 3/4, PA won't matter. The WaPo gives a summary today of the CW on what it will take for Clinton's campaign to not have it's obit written next Tuesday.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Feb 27, 2008 -> 08:08 AM) Francisco Liriano, Juan Salas, Willy Aybar, Joel Guzman, Tony Pena, Juan Cruz, Juan Gutierrez, Jesus Colome, Luis Ayala, Jose Lopez, Jesus Flores, Francisco Cruceta, Dennys Reyes, Tony Armas Jr, Jorge Julio, Fernando Tatis, Alfredo Simon, Carlos Maldonado, Romulo Sanchez, Henry Rodriguez, Omar Beltre, Alexi Ogando, Robinson Diaz, Pedro Lopez, Hector Luna, Alexi Castilla and Carlos Martinez have ALL had visa problems. So at least 28 players have shown up late to camp. I don't get it. Does Liriano have options left? Clearly his absence from camp is intolerable and he should start the season in the minors. How many games did Uribe miss last year because of that whole shooting thing? How much time has Podsednik missed in the Spring the last few years before still winding up the starter? Hopefully Danny's been smart, stayed in contact with the team, and done some workouts. But you'd be crazy to send a kid to the minors because he missed the first week of ST because of immigration issues.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Feb 26, 2008 -> 09:00 PM) Crede himself was a Class A player at one time. Just sayin Given that right now we actually have more guys than we can play at several major league positions, and our pitching staff has several guys who are running out of options, I wouldn't mind at all if we got back minor leaguers for Crede. At least there'd be some chance of them developing into something useful a couple years down the road when we have more need of people to fill slots. For now we at least need a year or two to see what we have in the guys we just picked up.

QUOTE(The Ginger Kid @ Feb 26, 2008 -> 08:15 PM) Like Konerko said, they need to get this resolved soon. On that we agree. This is going to be one of those things that just saps morale as time drags on and the questions keep coming.

The general impression I seem to be getting is that this one counts as an Obama win, but the real loser of this debate is Tim Russert, who seems to have just come off as an embarrassment.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Feb 26, 2008 -> 06:40 PM) The trade imbalance and cash sent to Mexico beg to differ... According to this article, found via a quick Google search, direct aid to East Germany basically paid for by increased taxes (i.e. nothing like NAFTA where there are actually goods being produced/exchanged) cost somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.5-2 Iraq wars since reunification, and it's been done by a much smaller country.

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Feb 26, 2008 -> 06:35 PM) I like how she wants us to have an economy more like Germany. Maybe she doesn't realize they have an unemployment significantly higher than ours. If you actually count them the same way, the majority of the difference vanishes. The U.S. has been finding ways to exclude people from the unemployment count by considering them out of the work force for 30 years. There is still some difference, but I'll also add that the U.S. economy hasn't been trying to completely rebuild newly annexed Mexico like West Germany has been.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Feb 26, 2008 -> 06:02 PM) This will be the most cut-throat debate from the Clinton side you will ever see. She's going to swing, and swing hard. Can Obama counterpunch? I bet he stays defensive. I can't see this one, I wish I could. Keep me up to date, ya'll. I'm stuck at work. So far, every time she's gone hard, it's hurt her more than him. I really hope he doesn't try any counterpunches and stays positive. It'll make for an intriguing contrast.

QUOTE(jenks45monster @ Feb 26, 2008 -> 05:19 PM) Oh i know. lol I'm doing an interview right now with Chris Rongey, The Score's pre-game and post-game host. Should be posting that in a bit. Dude, you so have to call him "The Ranger".

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 26, 2008 -> 04:09 PM) That all certainly makes sense. But that also conflicts with the loyalty issue. Ultimately, Richardson is a very, very ambitious guy. I thought, back when it was a tighter race, he'd make a play to for a high level office (SecState, SecEng, maybe even VP) to both of them, and go with the best offer. But if neither had much to offer, he'd stay out - which he did. Now... I'm just not sure. You might be right. But I think its more likely he just doesn't endorse at all - I'll revise my view to that. I think i agree pretty strongly with you that he will stay out of the endorsement game, but if he gets in, I don't think there's a chance he'd endorse anyone but BO right now, because of the potentially large downside. I think Chris Dodd's a pretty good example. A few weeks ago, the race was so much in flux that if he got in early, and the candidate he endorsed were to lose, he'd potentially have made a powerful enemy. But now he can still get in with Obama while his endorsement still looks useful to the candidate, and now he can give the President a call and say "Can I count on your support for the majority leader position?" when that race comes up in the future. That's why Obama's the hot endorsement lately...because now you can still get in before he has everything wrapped up and therefore still have him owe you a favor.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 26, 2008 -> 11:43 AM) I'd be surprised if he didn't endorse Clinton. He's just got too much history with them. I hope I'm wrong of course. The question is...how much of a gambler is Richardson? It's entirely possible that he could endorse Clinton and she could still lose badly at this point, and therefore he'd have made himself an enemy in the Dem Nominee by trying to go for his throat just as he was about to secure the thing. If Richardson, or hell, anyone, was going to gamble on endorsing Clinton, they would have done so some time ago before things got so bleak and when they wouldn't have to risk alienating the President. No one is going to endorse Hillary until after Ohio and Texas, and that's only if she can pull off the upsets again.

QUOTE(Rex Kicka** @ Feb 26, 2008 -> 02:03 PM) She can't just win both and do what she needs to do in a delegate situation. She has to win both convincingly, 10 point margins. Unfortunately, Clinton's campaign is all machine, Obama's ground game is amazing. I think he wins Texas by 10 points or so, Ohio goes either way, Vermont goes Obama by 35 points and Rhode Island goes Clinton by 20. For the delegate situation, she's actually still in trouble even if she starts reeling off 10 point wins, because for the past 2 weeks Obama's been winning by 20 or so. His Wisconsin win was by what, 18, and that was the smallest margin since Super Tuesday? She's actually been pushed back in to a corner where she needs to start winning everything by 15 and then have the remaining superdelegates sense a lot of momentum from her side and fully push over to her, in no small part because of her campaign's failure to try to wring every vote/delegate they could out of those states.

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Feb 26, 2008 -> 03:44 PM) NBC news just did another doom and gloom economy report. Interviewed some lady who was 'feeling the pinch'. She said maybe she should cut back on the $850 a month she spends on groceries. yea, that would be a good start. How big is her family?

QUOTE(WCSox @ Feb 26, 2008 -> 03:14 PM) I'm still not convinced that Fields can't be an every-day LF. If Carlos f'n Lee could do it without becoming a massive defensive liability, I don't see why Fields couldn't. And I imagine that a guy who has the arm strength to play 3B could probably play RF as well. Dye to DH after Thome's contract gets bought out this winter? Josh Fields at 3b and Carlos Quentin in LF, both making the league minimum, is more valuable, by a long shot, than Josh Fields in LF and Joe Crede at 3rd base with Joe making $10 mil a year.

QUOTE(GarlandFan20 @ Feb 25, 2008 -> 07:03 PM) Aw, that broke my heart. If Kenny actually told him that, he should have spent the last year living out of a suitcase, because that's almost a guarantee that he was going to be moved.

QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Feb 24, 2008 -> 02:18 PM) and Balta breathes a sigh of relief I was wondering why I felt a sudden surge of happiness when we went past San Quintin on Sunday. Now I know why. Floyd, Danks, Egbert, Broadway, don't let me down.

Didn't it seem to anyone else like last year was one of those years where every major break seemed to go the Cubs's way?

QUOTE(WilliamTell @ Feb 26, 2008 -> 10:15 AM) According to ESPNews, Yao Ming is going to miss the rest of the season. If that's true the Rockets are done. Still want to bet on them DBAHO? It's really starting to seem like his body just isn't going to ever be able to take the pounding of being a gigantic man playing in the NBA.

FWIW, there is now at least one former McCain staffer on record by name confirming a key part of the NY Times report...that McCain's staffers approached him in 1999 and complained about his relationship with that lobbyist, and McCain confirmed that there was something improper going on.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Feb 21, 2008 -> 01:51 PM) Oh my god...I'm in love. Now the team needs to get rid of Ben because I actually like Larry Hughes. In fact I like Hughes a lot. The only major risk is health. Geeze am I excited. There's no way this team would have traded for Hughes and his contract if they also intended to sign Gordon. I think the writing on the wall is that Gordon is one odd man out at the end of this season.

My God...a deal Balta actually LIKES!

QUOTE(Soxbadger @ Feb 21, 2008 -> 11:55 AM) It doesnt matter, the visa is the key to his entire life. He has an agent, which means he has an attorney in the United States. Its just plain negligence to not have your attorney on that type of thing. I mean if I had a client who worked in the United States and needed a visa, i can guarantee that I would keep myself updated on all visa laws regardless of how new they were. Laws change all the time, city of Chicago changes laws all the time, if its important enough you make sure that its not a problem. I work with visas and attorneys who do immigration, our clients arent MLB players but we some how manage to make it so their visas dont expire or have problems when they are reentering the US. Link