Balta1701

QUOTE(Chombi and the Fungi @ Oct 18, 2007 -> 11:00 AM) Did it plummet to Brian Anderson's level? If so, make a swap. Money Ball! You know, I'm not sure, but one more injury and I'll bet that swap would work. And we'd be constantly furious for having to spend a couple million a year on a guy who gives us 20 innings.

QUOTE(Beastly @ Oct 18, 2007 -> 10:55 AM) I'm not much for minor leagues, but out of these guys, who do we expect to be back on (or in contention for) the White Sox 25-man roster? Are we still under the belief that Richar will start next year? What are your guys' thoughts on the bullpen next year? What kind of moves do you expect Williams to do this off-season? I think it's 95% sure that Richar will be the starter next year. He may wind up with a platoon partner if we find someone who hits from the opposite side, although I think that's a mistake (and I think we can use Pablo as his backup if Pablo is alive). Heath Phillips is out of options next year, and so he either is traded, released, or makes the 25 man. I haven't a clue what the result will be. Based on people's performances this year and contracts, if you look for a 6 man bullpen, I think 5 of those roles are filled. Jenks clearly, Thornton and MMac are under contract, and Logan and Wasserman did their jobs well enough this year to earn a role next year. For slot 6, and any potential slot 7, I'd say right now it's entirely a crapshoot. It might not be the worst idea in the world to spend some money on that spot, even if all you can get is Linebrink, just to put one veteran in the bullpen. Otherwise, it's going to come down to who earns it out of Day, Broadway, Aardsma, Masset, etc. Masset is, I believe, also out of options next year, so same for him as for phillips. If a starter is moved this winter, and at least one should be, I have no inside info, but if you put me in that chair, Gavin Floyd starts the season as our #5 starter next year. He is also out of options, but he pitched well enough this year, esp. down the stretch, to earn a shot next year. Lucy: Beats me. Probably AAA next year with him. We still have 2 catchers under contract. Sweeney and Anderson I lump together as "Depends on a lot". Right now, our OF next year is Fields, Owens, Dye. It is also possible though that we'll spend some money on a FA OF this offseason. IF that happens, then Owens becomes OF #4, and Anderson and Sweeney both are blocked even more. Neither one of them can possibly be considered a starting option next April. Either/both of them have to have a good start at Charlotte before we even consider a callup. If Crede were to be moved midseason or get hurt again, or Dye were to go on the DL, then either one of them could be an option in the OF if they perform well. However, many people have said that the administration has completely turned on Anderson, and right now nothing he could do would earn him a callup next year, so it's entirley possible he will be moved soon. Broadway may have a shot at a bullpen slot, but it's likely he'll return to Charlotte for one more year. IMO, KW's biggest job this offseason is finding a shortstop. I am a large fan of using Jon Garland as the trading chip to fill that role.

The House of Representatives failed to overturn Mr. Bush's veto of the SCHIP program bill. The vote was 273-156, 13 votes short of what was needed for the override.

QUOTE(Chombi and the Fungi @ Oct 18, 2007 -> 10:21 AM) Yea. Sheets and Harden to me should be on the block. To me, they are better versions of Kerry Wood and maybe Prior. You can't keep planning to win while having your best pitcher constantly hurt. It's time to deal them. No one's giving up anything of value for Harden right now. Not after this season. His value plummeted when he got hurt again.

CNN on whether Stephen can actually get on the ballot. The conclusion: For the R's, yes if he spends the money, for the D's, maybe, it's actually a bit tricky as their rules require him to be actively campaigning for the nomination.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Oct 18, 2007 -> 09:57 AM) There are a few more of these guys I wouldn't miss if they dropped out either. The herd could definately be culled a bit to streamline the candidates and messages. Guys like Duncan Hunter and Tom Tancreto are just wastes of spaces. It will really be interesting after Iowa when the first big names start to bow out. I think Tancredo is actually a bit dangerous to you guys as a potential 3rd party running spoiler.

The Democratic Senate appears ready to completely cave on Mr. Bush's warrantless wiretapping program, legalizing everything he's done and could ever want to do and simultaneously giving amnesty to all of the telecom companies who violated the law in the past 6 years (starting, according to the CEO of Quest, in Feb. 2001). There is at least a faint hope that one of the Dem. Senators (the Blogosphere is hoping for Sen. Dodd) will step up and put a hold on this bill, stopping it at least temporarily in its tracks. And so, clearly the point of the 2006 election was that the President should be given every single thing he wants. And people wonder why the Congress has had its approval ratings tank since they started caving on the Iraq war.

The rumors about a third party run led by the anti-choice and religious segments of the Republican Party if Rudy were to win seem to have picked up a lot of steam lately.

Lindsay Lohan and Captain Kirk. Dr. Leonard H. McCoy.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Oct 18, 2007 -> 09:21 AM) I think that is exactly right. If that is the other option, if China or Russia were willing to go to war to prevent the U.S. from conquering Iran, then Iran gets the bomb.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Oct 18, 2007 -> 07:09 AM) Man I beat Balta to bad GOP news! Sam Brownback is reportedly dropping out of the Presidental race. Rumor is that he is going to concentrate on running for Gov of KS. I wouldn't actually say that's bad news for you folks. Thin out your race a little bit, concentrate the money more, and give you a comptetive candidate in that governor's race. A big part of me would like to see Mr. Richardson consider doing the same thing for the soon-to-be-vacant New Mexico Senate Seat, which he'd win in a landslide if he ran for it (a seat currently held by a Republican).

QUOTE(Texsox @ Oct 18, 2007 -> 08:58 AM) So it is ok to smear soldiers you don't agree with and destroy the credibility of military honors? As long as your name isn't Moveon.org, yes, of course it is.

Here's my problem with his statement: Why exactly would a war with Iran be world war 3? Not every war the U.S. gets in needs to be called that, and Iran is at most a regional power. Would we be expecting China and Russia to get involved?

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 18, 2007 -> 08:33 AM) Its been said here before... Gore became the victim of his own campaign staff in the 2000 election cycle. It was obvious that his "people" were telling him to put up a hard front, try to look tough and dignified - try not to be Clinton, basically. Except, that didn't work at all. The more laid back Gore is a lot more engaging and likeable. It's also worth noting that the media was about as hostile as you could imagine to him, and that certainly played into those decisions, especially those by his advisors about telling him what to say. I think that even if Gore had tried to let "this side" of him out more or whatever, he'd have been pounded just as mercilessly for it.. Here's that great Vanity Fair piece I linked to a couple weeks back on this subject.

If the Dodgers are going to trade Kemp, which they may (given some of the clubhouse type rumors that have floated around) I think they have to set their sites on nothing less than Johan. They have the talent to get him, the money to keep him, and the Twins have every reason to do that deal.

Well done, Manny.

Rasmussen also has a GOP poll out. In Iowa. It shows Romney Slipping (25%), and a 2nd place statistical tie between Thompson and a now surging Huckabee (19 and 18%)

QUOTE(rockren @ Oct 17, 2007 -> 11:13 AM) Did somebody really say we could trade for Braun? Braun will probably hit 40 bombs a year at Miller and make around 300k for the next 4 years doing it.... I'm sure the Crew would move him for NOTHING WE HAVE. Green text = sarcasm.

QUOTE(rockren @ Oct 17, 2007 -> 11:08 AM) I was thinking B. Anderson and Aardsma for Hall. After the season Hall had and given the salary status of those 3 guys, I wouldn't much like that deal either.

QUOTE(rockren @ Oct 17, 2007 -> 10:47 AM) I've joined your planet palehouse... Join my Bill Hall bandwagon. If Bill Hall is the return, Jon Garland better not be the price.

I just received a spam penis enlargement email. The author's name? Willie Harris. Group 4!

This is the first poll I've seen in quite some time that has a firm leader in Iowa. Rassmussen showing Hillarity up by 10. The gap narrows to 5 amongst likely Caucus goers.

If we're talking Garland, the return must be able to play SS. That is my only demand.

QUOTE(Jenksismyb**** @ Oct 17, 2007 -> 10:21 AM) It's an incredibly small percentage of cases. And really if you want to use that argument then we should just not prosecute people and put them in jail because mistakes have/are/will be made. My personal belief is, just like every other fundamental right we all have, there are exceptions. When you take the life of someone else in the case of murder, you have lost your right to be treated as an equal with the rest of society. If that means death, then so be it. Thus far, the Innocence Project counts 124 people who have been placed on Death Row since the re-introduction of the Death Penalty in the 1970's who have then been fully released with their names cleared. There are roughly 3300 people on Death Row currently in the U.S., over 600 of which are in CA. Neither of those numbers includes actions involving a person removed from Death Row but not fully released (a-la what Ryan did in Illinois a few years ago) which also numbers in the hundreds.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Oct 17, 2007 -> 10:12 AM) Well that is interesting, I wonder why that was left out of every article talking about the campaign fund raising totals, and references to the $3:1 ratio played prominently in them... Because it's the same thing as money I give to a Union or to Moveon.org. It's not actually in the race yet. The campaigns can only report the moneys given directly to them, so the fundraising the NRA is doing, that Moveon is doing, that Christian groups are doing, those don't show up in counts of candidate funds, and for orgs that run as 501©3's, those moneys will be spent but may never be reported at all.