Balta1701

QUOTE(WilliamTell @ Jan 15, 2008 -> 02:15 PM) I'm hoping both will be successful. Maybe it'll come down to who's the #5 starter, that way they're matched up against worse pitchers. Pretty close race though. After the first week and first rainout that won't matter much. #5's will be facing off against Johan, #4's will be facing off against Bonderman.

Given our other hot thread right now, somehow I found this amusing. (Link with the answer)

QUOTE(Athomeboy_2000 @ Jan 15, 2008 -> 11:54 AM) oh me too. I'd laugh so hard. it wont happen, but it would be great. It'll finish a VERY strong second though. I think that would tend to bolster the "if you aren't voting for Hillary, you are voting against her" idea. They dislike her so much that even though she runs unopposed she STILL doesn't get 100% If it wasn't an open primary I think that might well have happened, that she'd get below 50%. But because they'd even let me vote in the Republican primary there, I may as well make my vote count for something, so I'm not going to bother with an "Uncommitted" vote when there's actual voting to be done.

In case you missed it, one aspect of today's Congressional hearings with Selig, Fehr, and Mitchelll turns out to be that Miguel Tejada is now squarely in the crosshairs of Henry Waxman for potentially lying to Congress in the Rafael Palmeiro case. Link. Those answers are directly contradicted by accounts in the Mitchell Report.

QUOTE(Jimbo's Drinker @ Jan 15, 2008 -> 09:53 AM) You have to believe they will fire Paxson too?? Start over. IMO, Pax still has a bit of a grace period, simply because my eyes tell me that Pax did a good job in totally overhauling a team that was just garbage under Krause. But I expect to see significant improvement next year. But then again I think that a key element in building championship teams is consistency with time and allowing people to react within a system to fix problems that arise. If this team is not a high level playoff team next year, then it's probably time for a new GM.

QUOTE(Jimbo's Drinker @ Jan 15, 2008 -> 09:36 AM) This team is a mess On that we can all agree. And my oh my I am amazed at how rapidly it went from looking like a championship contender to looking like a mess.

QUOTE(Reddy @ Jan 15, 2008 -> 09:30 AM) Obama became a Christian because he wanted to be a senator/president. Oh now come on, you're seriously buying into this whole "Obama is an evil Muslim who switched religions to run for office back in Kindergarten!" crap? My word.

You know the interesting thing here? I think that while Bureau may have an interpretation of the constitution and the commerce clause that is as valid as mine, but I think his interpretation shows the flaw in it through the example he's trying to defend. Specifically, in that last clause, Bureau says "slavery was NEEDED in the south to maintain their economy". Whether or not that may have been correct, if the South judged that to be the case, then that institution was going to continue until either the south judged that it needed to change or until something was changed to force it to happen. Considering that I judge slavery to have been a crime against humanity, I consider the fact that the federal government was able to stop that crime through whatever means necessary to be a solid argument as to why the federal government should have that level of power over commerce. I can take that example farther, to things like simple workplace protections, environmental protections, and so forth, but the key element I find here is that if defending that particular interpretation of the commerce clause requires one to defend the institution of slavery and find it to be a problem that the federal government could act to get rid of slavery, then I have a clear problem with that interpretation of the commerce clause.

QUOTE(Pants Rowland @ Jan 15, 2008 -> 08:47 AM) Sorry to have started a war of words. Here is a question for you. What were the primary reasons for the United States' status as a developing (if not established) power in the mid-19th century? Was it the agrarian system of the south or the industrialization of the north? Or, the opening and availability of the vast natural resources of the west combined with the industrialization of the north.

QUOTE(SoxAce @ Jan 14, 2008 -> 06:06 PM) Swisher was the main example of the book. Hopefully he didn't "get an edge" in the minors/majors. I'm still surprised Beane traded one of his last/main Moneyball player(s). Supposedly, Street and Chavez will be next. IMO, you have to hold on to Chavez...until he actually has a decent run of games where he's healthy. Despite the cost, basically you'd be giving him away for nothing and paying for another team to take him at this point.

QUOTE(MurcieOne @ Jan 14, 2008 -> 05:43 PM) Did anyone catch Rivers jawing at some Colts fan at the end of the game, and then the Colts fan gave him the finger right in his face? Priceless. He still laughed last.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Jan 14, 2008 -> 04:37 PM) I didn't think it was necessary since I pasted the whole article and cited that it was from Slate. My bad. The more of an article you cite, the more appropriate it is to make sure you include the link. In general for-profit websites will get very annoyed if you post the majority of their articles, but they'll get especially pissed if you start posting full articles without linking to their cite, because then they get zero of the ad revenue for the read. Not a problem here, just note for the future...hyperlinks are important, they're basically the currency of the net right now.

Since Pratt wasn't kind enough to provide a link to the full article (everyone, please do so in the future when you're excerpting text)....here it is.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Jan 14, 2008 -> 02:59 PM) Colon makes a ton of sense if the White Sox and their medical team determine Colon is capable of giving you Garland-like numbers for what probably would be a fraction of the cost. If he's healthy, he eats innings, something Floyd and Danks have not shown they can do yet, and if winning is the goal in 2008, that is something this team needs. If Colon was able to give some team Garland type numbers according to their scouts and medical people, he'd be getting $10 mil this year and probably already have signed with a team like the Mets or Braves who clearly have openings for a starter come April.

Bynum out for 8 weeks.

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ Jan 14, 2008 -> 12:38 PM) What experience did she get in the White House? In specifics. How is she different than Barbara or Laura Bush? How does that experience translate to being the leader of the only remaining superpower in the world? Well, look, even as a person who is an Obama supporter I think that comparison is unfair. Hillary Clinton for example was certainly involved much more in policy making than Laura has been...I mean if nothing else you had the health care plan. That's a Hell of a lot more policy work than what Laura has done.

QUOTE(iamshack @ Jan 14, 2008 -> 09:03 AM) I'm assuming he won't reach the PA's he needs if he gets injured as he did in 05'. Ok, so here's the less likely but possible alternative...a late season injury. Gets enough PA's, but things look bad for 09.

FWIW, there was also a bunch of Michigan primary polling done over the weekend. Overall, the result suggests there's no clear leader at all. The average of those polls winds up putting Romney and McCain at 27 and 26.3 respectively. What with the uncontested Dem primary, I think that all these pollsters are having major issues wagering on who's going to vote in the Republican primary, because none of the likely voter screens that worked in the past would be applicable if you get a lot of crossover.

QUOTE(103 mph screwball @ Jan 14, 2008 -> 09:18 AM) I would give him no more than 3 million plus incentives and an option, possibly less if he's failing medical exams elsewhere. I think 8 million would be a foolish gamble and we'd be better off counting on Broadway. And let's face it...some team is going to give Colon a lot more than $3 million a year for a 1 year deal.

Most of the pollsters appear to have decided to simply avoid Nevada after the New Hampshire debacle, but there's a few still attempting it.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Jan 13, 2008 -> 11:44 PM) He hasn't gotten the scrutiny because he's had the success, which was my basic point to begin with. It hurts Romo's performance, but not Brady's? How many times have we seen shots of Brady's GF's or kids with front row seats at Gillette stadium? Fact is, Brady's done a much better job of keeping his private life...private, even given that he's got a kid and such. He's been much smarter about not giving the media stuff to play with.

QUOTE(gosox41 @ Jan 13, 2008 -> 08:35 PM) Hopefully he can shut down the Cubs in the playoffs next year. I hate to predict the Cub will be there, but the only team that might be able to stop that is Miwaukee. Bob IMO, the NL Central still looks pretty much wide open to me. There's no really good team standing out, and a bunch of teams that could be average.

QUOTE(iamshack @ Jan 14, 2008 -> 08:53 AM) And why would we NOT want Jimmy back at $13 million if he has a similar season to his first two here? I think it's something we should be happy about. Couple potential issues. First, if he gets injured again this year...on the scale of his 05 injured season, where he misses much of the year. It's hard to think risking $13 mil for 7 home runs is a good idea. Second, if this team were to fall flat on its face again and actually reach the point of selling off Vazquez, or Konerko, or guys like that...if we were to attempt to save money in 09, then Thome wouldn't make much sense. Otherwise, we get another 40 dingers from him this year, there's no reason not to hold onto him next year.

QUOTE(RME JICO @ Jan 14, 2008 -> 06:50 AM) If Thome keeps his numbers close to where they are at now, I would not mind him back in 2009. You can just move Paulie to DH in 2010. Why would you DH Konerko before Dye?

QUOTE(Melissa1334 @ Jan 14, 2008 -> 07:18 AM) i agree. we need to sign someone like colon, freddy, etc. if both floyd and danks blow then what do u do? 3 things. One, you replace them in the 2009 draft...and 2, you look to the guys you have remaining, like Broadway, Egbert, Sisco, and 3., you try to see if they can't work things out somehow. Here's the other question...what happens if we spend $8 mil a year or so to bring in Colon or Garcia, then both Danks and Floyd wind up pitching well enough for the first 2 months. What do you do when Garcia or Colon comes back? Demote a guy who's done well for you?