Balta1701

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Mar 13, 2007 -> 07:04 PM) Unrealistic, yes, but those should be the conditions. What good are more #5 starters or bullpen arms within this organization? Either Florida provides their top pitching talent for Anderson or they don't get him. I don't feel trading him, and taking our chances with Rowand, is worth marginal talent. Especially with the possibility Williams looks ridiculous if Anderson actually develops into something. It has to be worthwhile. Does anyone other than me realize that the whole reason some other team might want Anderson right now is that they're hoping to get a potential gold-glove CF who can develop into a good hitter and who costs them the MLB minimum for the next several years at a bare-minimum price because of Anderson's poor last season? You guys remember how the Yankees had Contreras for like 2 years, then traded him for Loaiza? The Yankees made 2 mistakes, they traded for Loaiza before his value went completely through the floor, and they traded Contreras without giving him any realistic chance to hit his ceiling. The White Sox got some nice shiny rings out of that. If Anderson fails, Anderson fails. But he should fail as a part of our team...because right now, its absolutely impossible for us to get value in a trade back equal to what it should be given his talent.

The folks over at Realclimate chime in on the NYT Gore piece. Unsurprisingly, the qualifications of a lot of the people quoted in the article seem to leave a lot to be desired, which for some reason seems par for the course in those sort of articles. Here's an alternate commentary with some other good details, albiet from a less distingushed source. Link.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Mar 13, 2007 -> 06:38 PM) I think Evan Bayh has already been promised that job, which is why he bowed out really, really early. By which candidate?

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Mar 13, 2007 -> 05:21 PM) And what are the odds on BA out performing Rowand this season? Of course if BA moved to a pitchers park, it'd be harder for him to do so. The last 2 season offensively wise are the norm for Rowand I'd say, I don't think there's a that big of a chance he goes back to his 2004 numbers. I would say that given BA's age, minor league performance, raw talent, and defense, there's a significant chance BA will outperform ARow this season. Others have pointed out that in the 2nd half last year, they basically were pretty much equal with the bat in the time they played.

QUOTE(whitesox61382 @ Mar 13, 2007 -> 05:29 PM) Correct me if I am wrong, but doesn't a team have to offer a FA player arbitration in order to get compensation via draft picks if that player signs with a different team? Everyone assumes that the Sox are guaranteed to get draft picks if they lose their players via FA opposed to trades, but that isn't always the case. In fact, based on the Sox track record, I would say it is 50/50 that they offer arbitration so please be careful in assuming that the Sox would automatically get draft picks for FA they lose. Unless Mark Buehrle's arm falls off this season, Kenny Williams should be fired if he doesn't offer either of those guys arbitration. There is absolutely no loss. If they accept...we get them back at similar costs. If they don't, then we have more time to negotiate with them. If they walk, we get back draft picks. The only time you don't offer someone arbitration if you have the option is if you think they'll accept and they made more the previous year than you think they were worth.

QUOTE(SoxAce @ Mar 13, 2007 -> 03:35 PM) I still like Haeger winning it. I haven't said much on who should be the starter but that was my pick and I'm sticking to it. I think Aardsma is pitching Haeger into the Bullpen.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Mar 13, 2007 -> 02:51 PM) Thats changed then from the info we received.. In the original game day, and the original lineups they had Erstad playing LF, Terrero in RF, and Mack in CF. Thats more like it then. Climbing back up onto the bridge after jumping off....

QUOTE(hitlesswonder @ Mar 13, 2007 -> 01:17 PM) I guess you haven't heard...he played football at Nebraska. They may wear red, but they're true blue patriots. Then why is Mackowiak in CF? "I have here in my hand a list of 205 people that were known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party, and who, nevertheless, are still working and shaping the policy of the State Department."

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Mar 13, 2007 -> 01:11 PM) Is Darin Erstad even capable of playing CF? I think Erstad is a Socialist.

I hate my life. I'm going to go jump off a bridge.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Mar 13, 2007 -> 12:23 PM) I am guessing it has something to do with the Asian contingent that follows Ichiro and Johjima. Hmmmm...so if the White Sox sign Ichiro next offseason...they could market every series as a Prime series. (Firing off email to Brooks...)

QUOTE(Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 13, 2007 -> 12:17 PM) For being raped by another guy? I can see the guy doing the raping being suspected, but the victim? That seems made up. A crime is a crime, even under military law. Link.

QUOTE(LosMediasBlancas @ Mar 13, 2007 -> 12:11 AM) I'm bored, so I'll dump gas on it. What does this have to do with his ability to do his job?? Why were the police the ones taking the ball gag out of his mouth?

QUOTE(FlaSoxxJim @ Mar 13, 2007 -> 11:43 AM) Seems Miers suggested that all 90+ US Attorneys be sacked at the start of Bush's second term in 2005. Honestly, that might have been a much more logical and rational step than simply cherry-picking the ones that they decided weren't hard enough on Democrats. Anyway, flipping topics since they'll post together anyway...I started off this campaign as an Obama fan, but I do have to admit, Edwards has been running a damn smart campaign. First to pull out of the Fox debate, and now This. Another month and every one of the campaigns is going to wind up following Edwards.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Mar 13, 2007 -> 11:29 AM) Erstad was signed for as the security blanket for if Brian sucks this year. If he is bad or has a real bad start, he will be replaced. Maybe I'm the only one thinking about this, but there's another little option here if we're so desperate to return Aaron Rowand to CF; I'm fairly certain his contract is up at the end of 07, making him a Free Agent. (He'll be on the market along with Ichiro, Jones, and Torii Hunter). Instead of spending talent on a trade, given that we've already grabbed Erstad and could at worst do a decent platoon situation...if Anderson can't cut it for a 2nd year in a row, there's another option.

Rasmussen polls the Minnesota Senate race. Coleman 46 Franken 36 Link Given how early we are in the cycle, that's REALLY dangerous territory for an incumbent to find themselves; only up 10, and outside the MOE below 50%. Favorables on Franken are somewhat troublesome, since he's not exactly an unknown, but he does have the time to turn these around, and that's still a troublesome "Favorability" rating for a guy like Coleman.

You just have to check out the more godless threads

QUOTE(AddisonStSox @ Mar 13, 2007 -> 09:56 AM) In my opinion, Mackowiak would be the odd-man-out--but, Erstad steps in as the backup 1B as well as corner outfielder, and Rowand steps in as the backup center-fielder...looks fine to me. The biggest reason for holding onto Mackowiak, and it's one that's getting glossed over here I think by people who do want Rowand back and can't find a roster spot for him or just want another OF somewhere; Mackowiak remains our best backup option right now at 3rd base. He's a better option there than either Ozuna or Cintron, and Fields should really stay in the minors for at least a good chunk of the season. So, if Mr. Crede's back continues to cause Problems...Mack becomes our best option there. As long as someone prevents him from ever playing CF again.

On the Prosecutor story, it appears that Kyle Sampson, chief of staff to AG Gonzalez and one of the key guys in drawing up the list of US Attorneys who would be removed, resigned yesterday. A bunch of other notes showed up yesterday that are worth writing down here. First, there was a pretty decent document dump which backs up some of the claims being made of White House involvement. Harriet Miers's name appears to come up in emails as having been another key part of planning for their removal. There are also documents released that suggest one of the reasons that a couple of the Attorneys were dismissed is that they were unwilling to bring indictments against Democrats in cases where there were a few in the GOP trying to get voter fraud allegations to stick. The fired attorney from Washington had this to say in response: "There was no evidence, and I am not going to drag innocent people in front of a grand jury." AG Gonzalez is supposed to be holding a press conference within the hour.

QUOTE(FlaSoxxJim @ Mar 13, 2007 -> 08:42 AM) Pace was awarded the 2006 Congressional Medal of Honor Society Patriot Award, which is supposed to be given to a "distinguished American who has exemplified the ideals that make this country strong". A shame to see bigoted homophobia in there as one of his ideals because it's certainly not one that I think make this country strong. The ironic thing to my eyes is that all Pace has done here is push "Don't ask, don't tell" right back into the limelight. It's clearly a stupid policy and there have been gradual movements to improve or do away with it for the last decade, but he may have just given it more front page articles than anyone else since the Clinton years.

QUOTE(Controlled Chaos @ Mar 13, 2007 -> 09:43 AM) My only thing with regard to this topic is there are a lot of scientitsts that disagree with Gore's views on global warming. I'm not talking about Joe Quack. I'm talking about people that have been in the field for years. Clearly there is disagreement among many regarding the facts. I'd just like to hear both sides get some equal play and let people make they're own decision on the facts provided. This has been a one sided debate since it began. Whether they disagree with some bits of how Mr. Gore phrases things, I'd like to once again stress that within the scientific community, there is virtually no debate left over climate change being caused by CO2 emissions related to burning of fossil fuels. It's the classic 2500 scientists in the IPCC versus about 3 or 4 other guys. In the scientific community, the debate has been one sided because there's no debate left about the cause, only about the consequences. Pretty much everyone at this point agrees on the how and the why, and that's not because they're forced to by some orthodoxy; that's what every scrap of data people come up with is saying.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Mar 13, 2007 -> 07:39 AM) The problem with anything to do with Hurricanes is reliable data barely dates back to the 60's. Its hard to make an accurate historical trend with about 50 years worth of information. I think we can gather more based on things like tempature trends from around the world, and things where we can get more lengthy information. More than that, almost none of the models actually predict that there will be an increase in the total number of hurricanes due to anthropogenic climate change. What the models do predict is that if you do get hurricanes...because of the warmer surface waters which store more energy, they will be able to gather more strength and therefore hit with greater force. Having, for example, the 2 strongest hurricanes in recorded history appear within 1 year would fit well with that trend. Doesn't prove it of course. And 2006 shows the nastiness of trying to tie single events to global climate change; 2006 was a year with a very small number of Atlantic hurricanes. Why? Because 2006 was an El Nino year, and the ENSO pattern tends to drive strong winds over the Central Atlantic that serve to shear and break up hurricanes, preventing them from forming. QUOTE(Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 13, 2007 -> 07:02 AM) We gotta start this discussion back up. Never enough bashing on Gore for me. This article pretty much sums up my view of the whole global warming thing. Yes there is a problem that needs to be addressed. But it's not happening tomorrow. He's a fear mongeror, just like Bush/Cheney/Rumsfield were to the left a few years ago. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/13/science/...and&emc=rss You are right in that it isn't something that's going to destroy the world tomorrow (or ever, for that matter). But here's the other side of the token; the more time we take before taking strong action, the less time we have to actually figure out a solution. Making genuine cuts in CO2 emissions now is a defense mechanism. We're not going to stop the earth from warming at least another degree C, and we can't really get back the Degree C or so that we've already done, but beyond that, nothing else is guaranteed. If we take strong steps to slow down our emissions, then we can buy ourselves some time to come up with an actual solution to prevent the situation from becoming quite disasterous. There's a reason that no real sane person is calling for us to totally give up using Fossil Fuels tomorrow; that is a solution that is more damaging than the problem. But when you weigh the cost of making some small shifts in our behavoir versus the extra 10 or 20 years that those changes could buy us, I think the cost/benefit analysis turns around the other way.

QUOTE(WHITESOXRANDY @ Mar 13, 2007 -> 09:02 AM) IMO, as this team stands, the Sox won't see the post season. If they added Leiber and Rowand, I think they would win the divison. However, I wouldn't give up a whole lot for them. The divisional race is going to be very close but the difference for the Sox will come down to the 5th starter and another outfielder. If they could get Rowand cheap, then I would send BA down to Charlotte. I totally disagree. The difference between Lieber+Rowand and BA+Danks or Floyd is so bloody small to my eyes it's not even really worth talking about. Adding a 6th OF and a 7th starter will not be the difference between the postseas and sinking.

QUOTE(Felix @ Mar 13, 2007 -> 08:35 AM) Even Aardsma? A 25 year old with 6 years before he hits free agency who throws in the mid/upper 90s? Hell no, you do not give that up for an OF who's a year away from Free Agency and who has hit about .270 or so the last 3 years...especially when you have a guy on your roster already who can probably give you almost the same production with better defense.

This is just a desperate attempt by Bobby to lose more weight.