Balta1701

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Nov 1, 2007 -> 04:45 PM) I'd rather not see Castillo in a Sox uni. He's become the ultimate singles hitter and doesn't have much left in his legs so he doesn't steal many bases. If next year his OBP next year is below .350 his OPS will dip below .700. He's also looking for a 3 year deal. So you'd be signing a guy who's a risk to put up a sub .700 OPS and steal 15-20 bases. KW would be regretting that signing by 2009. Richar seems like, at worst, he'll be able to give us those OPS numbers this season for the league minimum. And Danny will probably put up significantly better OPS numbers than that given a little more work. He put up a .695 OPS this season after coming up as a very raw talent, and he put up a .752 OPS in September (his 2nd full month).

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Nov 1, 2007 -> 04:56 PM) That would be great, expect then what? Granted, I don't have high hopes for 2008, but if the Sox are in fact in playoff contention near the deadline, what do you do if you move Joe. Move Fields back to 3rd? At that point, it's safe to assume Josh would have spent all ST in LF, along with all of the 2008 season, until Joe is moved. While that wouldn't be bad enough, then what do you do in LF? Too bad the Sox really have no one on the cusp of making an impact in AAA... Kenny has some serious work to do. Hopefully he has a plan.... At that point, if Mr. Crede has played so well that it has pushed us into contention, then Mr. Crede has hopefully played himself back into being at worst a type B Free Agent, or hopefully a type A Free Agent, and suddenly we're looking at draft picks if he walks at the end of the year, which is certainly better than nothing. And in 2008, you move Josh back to 3b, maybe stick Sweeney/Anderson into the OF if either of them shows promise this year...or if not, then try to go for a stop-gap solution in LF. Hell, Manny Ramirez will be a Free Agent at the end of 2008, and I can imagine there being a few other LF options available; it's an OF slot, there are always OF's available, and sometimes even at reasonable prices.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Nov 1, 2007 -> 03:59 PM) (I can't remember who else the other restricted FA is). You need to hang around TalkBulls more often. They resigned Pavlovich the other day. And the Bulls started what, 3-9 last year and still wound up 1 win away from the #2 seed.

QUOTE(southsideirish @ Nov 1, 2007 -> 03:39 PM) Then he will sign with someone else. He wants 5 years. Someone will give him 5 years. Pretty simple. And whoever does will regret it 2 years in.

Luke Walton

Well, this is certainly interesting.

F***.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 1, 2007 -> 12:07 PM) I have to say, some of these fundraising things with Hillary are looking quite sketchy. This has been going on for months. Where are these people with no money coming up with thousands of dollars? It just screams proxy. And I wouldn't be surprised if other candidates are doing similar things. Actually, I would be somewhat surprised if other candidates were doing similar things, because aside from Obama no one is even close in the money race (and Obama has a much larger group of small donors than Hillary)...and perhaps more importantly, we haven't yet heard of any of them despite this race having been on for nearly a year. That is one benefit of such a long campaign; if you're breaking the rules, there's plenty of time for the press to find out, and the press is generally more than happy to get an above-the-fold piece on illegal fundraising shenanigoats.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 1, 2007 -> 12:12 PM) Which is why I would recommend, if you have the money for it, this is a good time to invest in real estate. Make low offers - some will be rejected, but some will take it out of desperation. People made a lot of gains in the last 10 years, they are still making out well today, unless they overextended their credit. I know it seems harsh, but, when there is blood on the streets... If I had the money to do that, I'd still wait. IIRC, the peak of ARM Mortgage resets, the month that most of these sub-prime ARM mortgages see their rates jump, doesn't even happen for another 6 months, so there is a lot of bloodletting still to come before things even can begin to even out.

QUOTE(Cknolls @ Nov 1, 2007 -> 12:03 PM) But they keep soliciting people with credit card offers in the mail on a daily basis. And when the s*** hits the fan, they'll be wondering how it all happened. No they won't. They won't wonder that at all. Because in most cases for the credit lending companies...the people with bad credit wind up being by far the most profitable people. They'll lose some money on some of those deals, but that's what the repo guys are for, and then they can go right back to making more money off the people as they try to rebuild.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 1, 2007 -> 12:01 PM) I blame the consumers more than the banks. But yes, the banks deserve some of the blame. Thankfully...the banks haven't yet eliminated the last recourse of many of these consumers, bankruptcy! Oh wait, that's right...

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 1, 2007 -> 11:59 AM) Seems to me they might be grooming Jason Bourgeois for that role. He hits righty, and even though he is a SS/2B by trade, they started playing him in CF in Charlotte, and he's been playing there almost exclusively in winter ball. By the way, he is hitting .325 down there. That would be absolutely excellent. Then all we'd need is Furcal at short and I'd be happy with the lineup as it stands (barring a Crede trade)

QUOTE(Vance Law @ Nov 1, 2007 -> 11:48 AM) Under-the-radar, pretty darn good OBP guy I'd love to have back to sub at all the corner outfield and infield spots: Mackowiak 558 plate appearances with Sox .285/.360/.771 11HR I think Mack would be an ideal pickup for this team again, esp. if he were actually used to spell the corner OF and infield spots (given that we, right now, have righties at all of those positions except 2nd base, and our other utility guy is Pablo). That'd leave one thing missing from the bench though; a guy who could hit from the right side and play CF/other OF spots in particular behind Owens.

Signs that John Stewart truly has taken over the world: Those are Dick Cheney's dogs.

QUOTE(Allsox @ Nov 1, 2007 -> 09:47 AM) I'd rather overpay for Hunter than overpay for Aaron Rowand. Hunter has more power and at 35 would still be better in CF than the PA$$ION. And I have no idea why Uribe's option isn't picked up already. David Eckstein blows and while Uribe's OBP is terrible, his D and 20 HRs make up for it. I'd rather have Jerry Owens in CF for $400,000 than Torii Hunter in CF for 40x that amount...but I contend that you can't put Owens in CF if you don't fix your SS spot.

Either Hughes or Chamberlain are the starting points, right? Seriously, ask about Cabrera. That's a matchup that might fit both teams.

We've heard enough of these guys that I figured this might as well be posted.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 1, 2007 -> 09:24 AM) Because Rowand is a little better than Crisp, but will cost a LOT more. Not sure if that's a good idea, if you want to make serious improvement at SS. Rowand also costs us a 2nd round pick while we're at it.

I still want another sequel consisting of nothing but Chris Carter sitting in front of a camera telling me what the hell was going on.

So, for those with more experience in this whole arena than me...a simple question for you. When's the last time that you felt more hawkish on inflation than the Fed?

QUOTE(RME JICO @ Oct 31, 2007 -> 07:21 PM) You really see SF? I guess it would depend on if they take Bonds back. SF said repeatedly and emphatically that they were moving in another direction this year and it was time for Mr. Bonds to move on.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Oct 31, 2007 -> 07:16 PM) In this particular conversation, I'm really not trying to be the typical Kaperbole ™. I'm asking a serious question as to where the line should be drawn and I want to hear your perspective (and others). In an ideal system, your argument leads to the classic "Laffer curve", the assumption that we're on the right hand side of which has been the driving force behind Republican economics for 30 years now and which has helped us build something like $8 trillion in debt. Not to just bash though, I think that curve and your argument gives the answer to your question. For every individual, there is a tax rate beyond which they will decide that it is not worth their time to work more hours because too much will go to the government, and in this case, the high taxes will depress the economy, and therefore, increasing beyond that tax rate does in fact do you no good. On the other hand, the other driving force is that if you cut taxes, you will stimulate the economy somewhat, but you will also have a lower rate. These are 2 forces that move in opposing directions, and therefore, it must be possible to find a tax rate that maximizes revenue to the government by balancing those 2 forces.

QUOTE(Rex Kicka** @ Oct 31, 2007 -> 04:06 PM) I just don't see how rate reductions at this point would be a good thing for the average American. The "average American" is, in very few cases, who these rate cuts are designed to benefit, except through the concept of growth in the economy generally being a good thing.

QUOTE(Brian @ Oct 31, 2007 -> 04:04 PM) I don't totally agree that Wallace wouldn't fit in with the triangle. He is a very good passing Center. Longley wasn't exactly a big threat in the triangle and we did ok. I think, when it comes right down to it, comparing the other parts in that setup, Michael Jordan is just slightly better than Ron Artest and Scottie Pippen might be just a bit ahead of Odom.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Oct 31, 2007 -> 02:47 PM) Still, I have no problem with Erstad on the Sox its just he can't possibly be doing anything more than being a defensive replacement/pinch runner/once a week at most starter. You know the problem with that as well as any of us do. If the most Grindy man in the world is on this team, he will be expected and required to do more than that. He'll play CF on a regular basis even if he's not the best choice. He'll play 1b when there's a righty in the lineup and Mr. Thome will somehow be the guy resting that day despite Thome's L/R splits. It's just how things work.