Balta1701

It could very well be an actual PTBNL depending on performance, couldn't it?

There also seems to have been chatter about the Braves spinning off Wickman now that they have Dotel.

QUOTE(frankie5angels @ Jul 31, 2007 -> 12:26 PM) It just baffles me that there is no market at all for Dye. All you here is Boston and that is it. I hope KW didn't fall in love with the idea of getting WMP and Delcarmen, and now is gonna be stuck with Dye. I have to believe other teams were interested in him, but you know how KW falls in love with certain players. IMO, the difference between Pena + Delcarmen and the 2 draft picks we'd get if JD simply walked is not huge at all. So anything below that in overall value and I'd have to say you really don't beat the draft picks (Delcarmen was a 2nd round pick, for example, so he'd actually have been the lower of the 2 picks).

QUOTE(southsida86 @ Jul 31, 2007 -> 11:36 AM) If I find out that Jon f***ing Daniels got someone like Bowden, Bard, Buchholz, etc. for Gagne I'm going to be seriously pissed off and call for Kenny's head immediately. If Daniels can get that type of guy for Gagne, then there is no reason why Kenny can't get the same guy for Dye.

So, on one of those ethics reform packages that sailed through the House and Senate earlier this year... The Senate Republicans seem to have decided to have a little fun with the thing. After the bill passed the Senate by a vote of something like 96-2, and almost as overwhelmingly in the House, the Senate Republicans launched a filibuster of the motion to send the bill to a conference committee, thus allowing them to vote for it but still preventing it from actually being enacted because it would never go to the President for a signature because no version could be hashed out matching the wording of the House and Senate. Well, the Dems are trying to beat this procedural maneuver with one of their own. The House and Senate are now going to pass bills that are already written in exactly the same way, so that there will be no need for the usual conference committee, and the Republicans will either have to filibuster the bill itself or let it pass.

QUOTE(GoSox05 @ Jul 31, 2007 -> 11:14 AM) Rowand will make 14 a year and never hit over .275 ever again. I don't know if anyone will push it to $14, but you're not too far off.

QUOTE(GreatScott82 @ Jul 31, 2007 -> 10:50 AM) Jones and Hunter are going to ask for an arm and a leg, and we know how reluctant the White Sox are to spend big money. The difference between what what those 2 get and what Rowand gets is going to be disturbingly small.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 31, 2007 -> 10:04 AM) I realize you are a scientist, but I think you are bending the rules of statistics here. In fact, statistics indicates the opposite here - the larger the pool, the further the margin of error shrinks. Therefore, any result is more likely to be accurate. That's a basic tenet of survey or vote stats. Also, as you say yourself, its a lot easier to lose 10k votes than 500k, and since using the electoral college exagerrates the effect of a few specific districts in a few specific states, those errors are in fact magnified. Therefore, again, the electoral college method means that any election result is LESS likely to be accurate than a true national vote. I think that was exactly my point...that keeping the electoral college around vastly increases the likelihood that an error in counting in 1 state can have a major impact at the national level, so the thing you'd want to do to prevent that is make the pool as large as possible. When you sub-select into 50 groups smaller groups, each with a certian margin of error, it's much more likely that one of those states will simply wind up being wrong than it is the full national vote.

QUOTE(fathom @ Jul 31, 2007 -> 10:12 AM) That's such bulls*** though....it's such an excuse being stated by KW. Milwaukee and Atlanta had no problem giving up highly rated prospects for players. KW is HORRIBLE at trading veterans for prospects, end of story. I'm not looking forward to the excuses we'll hear in the press tonight if nothing happens. Fathom, seriously though, if Boston won't give up Delcarmen and Pena for Dye, and that's the best offer we're getting for JD, what more is there to say? JD didn't fit Atlanta's needs, and it seems like JS is the only guy willing to give up prospects at positions where he's strong in order to improve his team now, if this truly doesn't happen? I wouldn't be thrilled with Delcarmen and Pena for Dye, but if that's the best deal out there I'd take it. But if no one is offering anything better than that, then seriously, give me the damn draft picks and let these other suckers rot in the playoffs when the Braves beat them.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Jul 31, 2007 -> 10:08 AM) It depends on what Kenny is asking for. He could of very well Tampa Bay'd his trade talks this year. Just with what we've been rumored, seriously, Pena and Delcarmen/that other pitcher? I can't believe Boston wouldn't meet that price, esp. when they get draft picks back next year. I mean, that just blows my mind.

I can't believe that one of these teams won't meet the price on JD. I mean seriously, it's absolutely insane for teams in the pennant chase to not take a flyer on a guy of his talent level at this price level.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jul 31, 2007 -> 09:57 AM) Maybe they just want to get him as much time at 3B as possible, he needs to develop defensively at the position he will likely be spending the majority of his time playing for the rest of his career. At this point they don't even know if Crede will be back with the team next year, it would be kind of silly to take Fields away from his natural/future position to get him some time at another position that he may never even play. LF isn't exactly a tough position to play, if Crede shows up healthy to spring training then Fields can get his time in LF in Tuscon, there shouldn't be much of a learning curve with the switch. ^^^^. On that, I certainly Agree. I think if Joe is brought back, it's on like a 2 month "try to rebuild some trade value" plan next year. If we come out and tear the league apart, maybe you hold onto that lineup all year, but that's how I'd hope to set things up next year. Put Fields in LF, Owens in CF, and someone else in RF, unless a better option appears, Crede at 3rd, give it 2-3 months. If the Joe of 06 appears with the bat next year, deal him in June/July to someone looking for a bat at 3rd (There's always, and I mean always a few of those folks) then move Fields back to 3rd, and viola, you've added talent, kept Josh in the big leagues, and maybe even given Sweeney, or, God forbid, Anderson a couple more months in AAA to work on stuff. And if Joe struggles, you lose a couple million, but you dump him and move Josh back to 3rd whenever you finally give up.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 31, 2007 -> 08:46 AM) Ok, let's narrow it to your statement then - why, exactly, is it short-sighted? Putting history aside, looking at the future, why is it needed, and what future problem is caused by it? It certainly makes it much more likely that an election will fall within the margin of error of voting machines. It's really hard to lose 500,000 votes nationwide, and that's in a very, very close election. But it's an awful lot easier to screw up 10,000 or more votes on a state level, and it's much more likely when there are 50 different chances for it to happen every cycle. That's at least one argument I can give about future problems; it makes Florida 00 vastly more likely. Florida 00 losing 20,000-30,000 votes doesn't matter in a national election decided by a few hundred thousand.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Jul 31, 2007 -> 08:05 AM) So it's better to leave NOW (or in the next 60-90 days, depending on what Democrat you talk to...), right? I do agree that we can't babysit their government - they need to get off their ass. But I think the cost is too great to just pull out. I may as well point out that virtually every bill brought before Congress gives at least 8-9 months before withdrawal needed to be complete. And I'll absolutely guarantee you that if Mr. Bush came out and said "give us a few more months, make it some time in late 08 or even in 09" the Dems would pass that exact date in a quarter second.

QUOTE(Alpha Dog @ Jul 31, 2007 -> 09:41 AM) The whole point is just as Kap summarized, that good news in any form is bad news for the Dems, since they are hanging thier hat out with the nutroots. I just adore how the people who were right on the war from the moment the Administration started marketing it are still considered the nutty ones.

Randy Moss has the ability to heal Knee injuries? Oh Mr. Moss...heal me!

That deal only makes sense if the Yankees fully expect ARod to walk. Unless Proctor is hurt or something.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jul 31, 2007 -> 09:27 AM) Fields is only hitting .250, that's not very good. You need to look past more important numbers like his .744 OPS and concentrate on how often he hits singles like Gimpy. June: .218 .274 .333 .607 July: .277 .346 .511 .857 Hopefully, that's a sign he's learning and improving with time.

I think that you can likely write in Fields and Owens into at least 2 of the spots.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jul 31, 2007 -> 09:34 AM) Or he could get creative and find perhaps a more raw but talented leadoff talent on the trade market. f*** this, I'm not going to be satisfied with Owens, Podsednik or Erstad leading off for a contending team. I'm sick of hearing how there's no one available in free agency, this team needs a real leadoff hitter in order to compete and I don't even consider any of those 3 to be mediocre options let alone competent ones. If he has to he should overpay for some talent, this filling the leadoff spot on the cheap s*** is getting real old. I know he hasn't put up those numbers for a full season yet, but can you seriously complain about the job Owens has done for the last month, in a rookie campaign where he's still learning things and hasn't even mastered the bunt yet?

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Jul 31, 2007 -> 09:28 AM) After tomorrow if we made this trade. It should be Owens in CF, Sweeney in RF, and WMP in LF. Pods should be either traded for a class A prospect or designated for assignment, Erstad should be designated for assignment. I dunno, I'm starting to become more and more convinced that Ryan just isn't ready yet, and that possibly the best reason to take a flyer on WMP is that it gives you another RF who can be thrown out there next year to give Ryan one more year in AAA (with a starting OF next April probably of Fields, Owens, WMP, whether we like it or not). Btw, from the ESPN chat:

QUOTE(IowaSoxFan @ Jul 31, 2007 -> 09:20 AM) If we do acquire WMP for Dye today, what does our OF look like tomorrow? Pods, Owens, Terrero ? or do we play WMP in CF or maybe even RF? Obviously he would be best suited for LF but I dont think Ozzie will play him over Podsednik. I think that WMP poses the biggest threat to Owens at this point. Our OF tomorrow would be Pods, Owens, Pena. WMP should not be put in CF, and is not even close to a threat to Owens if JO keeps hitting well. Ozzie is going to have his small speed guy at the beginning of the lineup. Everyone should accept that, and unless someone can find a better option on the FA market, which I certainly can't see, your choices are Pods, Erstad, and Owens. I sure hope, therefore, that Owens keeps hitting.

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ Jul 31, 2007 -> 09:10 AM) Without going back and reading this whole thread, why not trade Thome and resign Dye for 2 years as our DH. I would assume Thome might actually get something back in return since no one really wants to offer anything for Dye. Thome still has that pesky no trade clause...and nothing I've heard has suggested that he'd be interested in waiving it even to go to a contender (although, who knows if anyone has bothered asking him).

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jul 30, 2007 -> 07:20 PM) Blanton to the Dodgers. I was going to quote Balta but his post has since disappeared. I figured that since it was just a rumor, it wasn't anything new beyond what was already being discussed here.

SI