Balta1701

This is amusing enough for me to stick somewhere.

QUOTE(jenks45monster @ Dec 28, 2007 -> 02:44 PM) In 07' Fields had 23 homers in just 100 games. Also Fields had 67 RBI's and a .244 BA in 07'. In 06' Crede had 30 homers in the 150 games he played in. Crede also had 94 RBI's and a .283 in 06'. When you compare the stats Fields looks like a better power hitter, but Crede is a better producer overall as in BA and possibly RBI's and obviously defensively at 3rd. But I say let Fields season a little bit and get used to the Major League pitching and he can probably become an all around better hitter then Crede. Well, one big problem with your analysis there is that you're comparing apples and oranges; you're comparing Joe Crede's career best year, by far, to Josh Fields's rookie 2/3 of a season, which is why you conclude that Joe gives you a better BA/RBI number.

This is absolutely classic Bush Administration. We're nearly 7 years into this disaster of an administration, and the people running the executive branch still haven't even figured out the most basic details of how the legislative process works. Think about that for a moment. They've been in office for 7 years, and they're still making rookie mistakes like not bothering to read and investigate clauses in major bills until those bills are passed, well after the point where they could easily have negotiated away any clauses they have issues with, and are vetoing gigantic appropriations bills because of that ineptness. No Congressman would have gone to the floor for this little measure in a defense appropriation bill, yet we have to waste a month or two because the Administration didn't bother reading the bill and seeing if it might interfere with some of their diplomatic initiatives until after it was passed.

QUOTE(shipps @ Dec 28, 2007 -> 12:58 PM) Being able to make the decision to either come in or stay back on a ball especially falls on having the natural ability or not.It is worse than I thought! Are you being serious that you think decision-making like that is not something that can be learned, or is this sarcasm flying over my head through the lack of green?

QUOTE(shipps @ Dec 28, 2007 -> 11:04 AM) His hands arent soft,his reaction time is slow, and if he does dive and pick one he doesnt have the ability to smoothly get in a solid throwing position to make consistent accurate throws.I can tell each play takes 100% concentration on Josh's part from beginning to end.But he will be a hell of an offensive 3rd basemen put up atleast 30hrs so why be so critical about his defense? Are any of those items things that you'd say a player could never improve upon with time? Perhaps the "soft hands" part, but the rest...that's what practice is for.

QUOTE(shipps @ Dec 28, 2007 -> 10:46 AM) Would you not agree that he would have had a better shot at making the most of his tools if he would have stayed with our organization? Well, here's the issue. His biggest weakness has, at every stop, been his performance behind the plate in terms of managing a game and calling pitches. He was bad enough at it that Buehrle, our best pitcher, got himself Sandy Alomar Jr., and a couple other guys IIRC, as his private catcher because he just wasn't happy with Olivo. He had over a year and a half with the Sox to try to improve at that, and the team seemed to feel he wasn't doing any better. The only place where he showed some promise wound up being the Marlins, who just happened to have for a full season a catcher as his manager, where Girardi was probably calling most of the pitches himself. I don't see where he would have had any ability to fix that issue while playing with the Sox. Ozzie wasn't going to be calling pitches, he wasn't going to even have a chance to work with Buehrle, and he'd probably have wound up in the dog house if his bat didn't develop, which it certainly did not do after he left.

QUOTE(Reddy @ Dec 27, 2007 -> 06:58 PM) but then how do you calculate it? is it a system that goes solely on the popular vote? because in that case candidates will only show up in NY, CA, TX, IL, PA and FL kinda lame... So, why does it make more sense to have the candidates spending all their time in a state that's hardly urban, mostly rural, and has a population that is much more racially homogeneous than the rest of the U.S.?

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Dec 27, 2007 -> 06:23 PM) This sort of stuff bothers me about "liberals". It really pisses me off that they're blaming "America" but yet if we get involved, we're the reason everything is s***, and if we sit back, we're the reason everything is s***. How nice. And in return, you know what bothers me? The "Either we must do absolutely nothing or we must do exactly as we are doing" attitude that prevails. I.e. either we must invade Iraq or we do absolutely nothing about them. Just because unconditional support for Mussharraf to the point of trying to use Bhutto to keep him in power and dumping tens of billions of dollars in cash on the Pakistani Security services with no accountability whatsoever has been the Bush Administration's policy doesn't mean that the only 2 logical options are either you support the Bush Administration's policy or you sit back and do nothing.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Dec 27, 2007 -> 06:13 PM) Four political calls since lunch. These got old fast. LOL. FWIW, there's still no earthly reason for 100,000 or so voters from your state to basically decide the entire nomination from both parties, so hopefully this'll be the last time.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Dec 27, 2007 -> 05:44 PM) And what has Wade decided to put in front of it? Kaz Matsui and Michael Bourn. The White Sox won 90 games in the AL Central in 2006 based almost solely on a big 3 of Thome, Konerko, and Dye. Podsednik and Iguchi in front of them were bad and average in that order and their pitching staff was an abject disaster.

QUOTE(NUKE @ Dec 27, 2007 -> 04:52 PM) It IS their responsibility to protect her. Since when did it become our responsibility to go around protecting foreign political candidates? I recognize that this is a sensitive time in that country but that changes nothing. Since the U.S. started dumping tens of billions of dollars into the Pakistani security services that were supposed to do the protecting of her, and perhaps since the U.S. arranged for her return to the country and arranged for the power-sharing agreement that was supposed to stabilize that country.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Dec 27, 2007 -> 05:08 PM) Yep. I don't know if there's a team in a worse position than Houston right now. Both in the short - term and majorly in the long - term. They now have pretty much no farm system. Wade has traded away their best reliever (although he acquired Valverde, giving up more prospects in the process), and made some very weird signings (and overpaid as well). He was hired to do a quick fix, but unless Clemens comes back to join that rotation, I don't know if they can win more than 75 games next season. That team is going to be mediocre for quite a while yet. Based on the last 2 years, I wouldn't rule anything out in the NL Central. If nothing else, their lineup has at its heart Hunter Pence, Lance Berkman, Carlos Lee, and Vitamin B12 Tejada. In the NL Central, that's arguably as potent as any set of 4 guys. And they still have a legitimate ace on the mound in Oswalt, and have seemingly on paper improved their Closer's spot. They've certainly made some questionable moves and wasted some money in the process, but as far as I can tell, the Cubs made a bunch of deals I thought were pretty silly last year, tossed around a lot of money, and wound up the beneficiary of everyone else in that division sucking. I wouldn't count anyone out of that division except Pittsburgh right now.

Well, I posted the 3 Dems making use of the Pakistan issue today, I may as well do a bit of that for the other side. I'm nothing if not fair and balanced, right? McCain there. Meanwhile, Huckabee with a slipup on this one it appears.

And to finish off the triad...here's an Obama Adviser.

Bayh: Bhutto's killing shows why we need Hillary.

Edwards, today.

Huckabee's probably going to be helped by the fact that this will get no coverage. Huckabee, unlike it seems most every other candidate, is still giving paid speeches for money.

QUOTE(knightni @ Dec 26, 2007 -> 09:36 PM) Shouldn't that be in green? Happy Birthday! Mmmm, green beer. Happy B-Day.

QUOTE(MurcieOne @ Dec 27, 2007 -> 01:33 PM) Boylan gets the full-time gig for the rest of the season..... ChicagoSports.com - Bulls Hire Boylan Seems silly to fire Skiles and hire his #2..... lets hope Boylan hasn't worn out his welcome in the lockeroom like Scotty had. Well, considering that the season is 1/3 over, it isn't exactly the best time to be bringing in an entire new system, new staff, and new coach. Any coach you'd hire would expect to have control over his system, be able to bring in his offense and defense, his assistants, etc., And that's really not going to happen in December with most guys. You almost don't have a choice but to play pick an assistant right now.

QUOTE(iamshack @ Dec 26, 2007 -> 01:10 PM) Well obviously he took less money to sign with San Diego- he basically said the hell with the money, I'm going to go where it's most comfortable and try to put myself in the best position to break the bank next season. You may recall did I did mention in a different post that Prior and Towers often take long walks together. So it isn't as though I didn't think it could happen, just that he wouldn't forsake 2-4 million more dollars to sign with the Padres. Obviously, he did. He also took less money in exchange for a 1 year deal that will allow him to pitch in the best pitcher's park in MLB. If he thinks there's a good chance he'll be healthy at the end of next year, then maybe he comes out and hits the FA market next year having put up a 3.25 ERA in the 2nd half or something, helped out by Petco, and he makes up that extra couple million right away.

QUOTE(Reddy @ Dec 24, 2007 -> 01:36 PM) me too, leading the Edwards charge in Iowa City. Just out of curiosity, have you chosen a 2nd choice, or are you Edwards all the way?

QUOTE(Texsox @ Dec 23, 2007 -> 09:41 AM) The levee repairs and other projects that are getting tacked on is the pork. Sorry, I thought I was clear. I assumed people would read the article linked. My mistake. Hmph, levee repair, yeah, what a waste of money. This country's levee systems are fine.

Hotlineblog.

QUOTE(chwhtsox @ Dec 22, 2007 -> 02:20 PM) Whether it's a deal for Roberts or not doesn't matter, any way you look at it Anderson has to be traded. He doesn't like the Sox and the Sox don't like him so there's no point hoarding him in Charlotte when you can try to get something back for him. No one will give you anything at all for Brian Anderson right now.

QUOTE(Harvin4Heisman @ Dec 21, 2007 -> 06:17 PM) He was once one of the top 5 prospects in all of baseball. Only injuries have slowed his career. Actually, at least according to Baseball America, he hit #22 and #20 on their lists in 2005 and 2006.