Balta1701

QUOTE(hitlesswonder @ Mar 9, 2007 -> 01:56 PM) If he's the best bet to put wins on the board, he better be starting in the bigs. Some players can handle "being rushed" (Bonderman certainly has survived). I assume the worst case would be Danks heads north and gets slammed and is repalced in the rotation by someone like Haeger. I would hope that Danks would have the resilience to survive and pull himself together in AAA. If he doesn't, that's a sign he's not the guy Williams thinks he is. Just for reference, McCarthy debuted when he was 21 (Danks is 21 now) and got hit hard. And then he came back from AAA to be lights out down the stretch in 2005. If McCarthy could do it, Danks should be able to as well. I think the worst case for Danks is that if he's rushed he could wind up turning into Gavin Floyd.

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Mar 9, 2007 -> 01:45 PM) 2nd DP turned behind Danks ends this afternoon. He just completed his third scoreless inning. If Boone Logan wasn't here and acting like Boone Logan last year, I might be tempted to call Danks this year's ST Boone Logan.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Mar 9, 2007 -> 01:29 PM) Danks is really working his way into the 5th starter mix. I still really don't want to rush this kid...

Seriously, MLB, DirecTV, I know 1 of you is owned by Newscorp and that gives a great comment on your intelligence...but do you really think that if you start waving a red cape at the guys in Congress, just begging them to start talking and actually do something that will make their constituents happy, they won't come charging in? Link.

Paul Krugman's column this mornin', stuck behind the infamous NYT subscription wall, made an interesting point. If the DOJ is firing U.S. attorneys for political reasons, what does that say about the people they're holding onto? Here's the largest excerpt i've been able to find. Mr. Krugman also cites a most interesting study of who the U.S. attorneys are successfully prosecuting on corruption charges. Here's the relevant data on investigations undertaken: It's certainly possible that the Democrats at the state levels are 700% more corrupt than the Republicans, despite the fact that the Republicans had majorities in an awful lot of area of hte country until the last election or two. But that certainly does seem to be an interesting set of things to think about when considering their prosecutor purge.

QUOTE(Rex Kicka** @ Mar 9, 2007 -> 01:18 PM) That's a big difference IMO. Compare Coulter to anyone - and there are people like Ted Rall that are worth the comparison... but Molly Ivins might have been bitter or aggravated, but she seemed much more like a crank, and less like Ann Coulter. God I can't stand Ted Rall.

QUOTE(Capn12 @ Mar 9, 2007 -> 12:53 PM) I know, I know...its Spring Training, working on pitches..blah blah blah....but.. Is it too much for one of our guys, just once, to go out there and have some success against Arizona? The last time we played Arizona in the regular season, didn't we absolutely murder them in 1 game? Like it was the 2nd game in a row where Arizona had allowed 11 runs or something like that, back in 05?

The Mets have sent Duaner Sanchez home for the last 2 days of camp for disciplinary reasons.

After learning that Mike Hampton was going to miss an additional 2 months wiht a strained muscle, the Braves went out and signed a 2006 All Star pitcher.

The NY Firefighters on Rudy.

So, a little summary of this mornin's news. The Patriot Act gave the FBI the ability to use something termed "National Security Letters". Basically, they allow the FBI to take action in the classic "Ticking clock" type scenario; in the event of an emergency, the FBI is allowed to get their hands on phone records, internet records, and so on, without having to go through the process of getting a warrant. Here's a summary of what they do from the WaPo. Of course, this morning, in something that should have come as a surprise only to people who have been in suspended animation for the last 6+ years...it turns out that the FBI has been misusing the new authority. Issuing NSLs without proper authority, failing to record and report thousands of NSL's to the government, and so forth. Interestingly though, what only a few folks have noticed this morning is that what the FBI has been doing is not only expressly prohibited by the law, it's also exactly what Mr Bush said he would do when he signed the Patriot Act reauthorization a year or so ago. Bush said he'd be willing to defy parts of the law requiring the FBI to report on NSL usage to oversight agencies, and voila, the FBI turns out to be defying those same parts of the law. So, in other words, here we go again.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 8, 2007 -> 07:18 PM) Oh I agree that Domenici's actions were ethics violations, like I said earlier. But the firings are just more poorly timed is all. It was stupid before, and now its both stupid and insulting. If nothing else, its almost certainly going to lead to a revision of that clause that Specter slipped into the Patriot Act allowing unlimited appointments of replacement attorneys without Senate approval, and that's something.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Mar 9, 2007 -> 06:54 AM) Ah yes, it seems good old Newt was getting his groove on, while chasing after The Great Bill Clinton for doing the samething. I really hope he stays mired in the bottom of the polls, because I don't not want to see him as the nominee. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/G/GIN...-03-08-23-04-49 Um, didn't we already know exactly that? Wasn't that exactly why he resigned? (forgive me if my memory of my high school years and politics isn't perfect, but I could have swore that the december 97 sequence went: impeachment articles come up before a House committee, Gingrich's affair exposed, Gingrich replaced by Livingston, Livingston's affair exposed, Livingston replaced by Hastert)

QUOTE(ptatc @ Mar 9, 2007 -> 09:03 AM) I agree. Although, I've been impressed so far with Phillips. I think he may make a decent back of the rotation guy or a reliever. I think adds to the potential depth of the lefty pitcher pool for the bullpen if nothing else. I agree with where you're coming from on Phillips, but if 2k5 is correct and Heath only has 1 minor league option remaining, then if we don't trade him this season, there's a real good shot that KW would be in the Borchard "Miracle trade" position next spring; there's virtually no chance that Heath is going to be able to jump over all of Charlie, Floyd, Danks, Gio, Lance, and maybe Sisco as well to make it into the rotation when there are probably at most going to be 2 spots open. Maybe if KW dealt Garland and 3 slots opened up he'd have a shot, and I don't know what Kenny boy's plans are, but it seems like Heath is in an awfully long line.

That's about 2-3 mph faster than I've seen most people say he throws.

QUOTE(Pods70Rowand33 @ Mar 9, 2007 -> 09:00 AM) I think I saw someone mention MacDougal's name in the trade, but correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't he signed for a few more years at a huge bargain? That just wouldn't make sense for Rowand who is a FA after this season, we'd have to get a little more than just him. Trading Mike MacDougal for Aaron Rowand would be absolutely f***ing insane. He was just signed to a deal that I believe lasts through 2010 at a very reasonable price. Hell, as far as I can see, trading anyone out of our top 7 bullpen guys for Aaron Rowand would be insane. (That includes all 3 lefties).

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 9, 2007 -> 08:56 AM) I agree about Pods' rate. He attempts about 10 to 20 more times in a full year than he should - he forces it. His rate was low 70's in percentage in 2005, then fell to the 60's in 2006. If he is in the 70's, I'm OK with it, though better than 75% would be ideal. He was doing just fine with his steal rate before he was hurt. He was forcing it for the last year and a half, I think, because that's what he feels like he should be doing, and he feels like he should be better at it than he was. Maybe getting his legs healthy will finally help.

Wow, and Ozzie was completely under control. Maybe the sensitivity training?

Oh f***ing great. Another Rowand thread. Well, my day's ruined. Thanks Sun Times. How about the rest of you?

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Mar 8, 2007 -> 06:05 PM) "covert" and "classified". Learn the difference. The end on Valarie Plame. That's exactly the point though. The law makes a distinction between classified and covert in what it defines as a crime. It's entirely worth holding hearings now that a relevant case has appeared to determine, if nothing else, whether or not that distinction should be upheld in the law. The distinction that exists within the law does not mean that the exposure of her name would have done intelligence damage in 1 case and not done any damage in the other. And a little bit more From Newsweek.

QUOTE(BearSox @ Mar 8, 2007 -> 06:07 PM) Looking from the box score along, it looks like Floyd pitched pretty well. He did give up 6 runs, but only 2 were earned. It looked he didn't get much support from the defense (2 E's by Crede and 1 by Valido). Even despite the errors, he got beaten around pretty badly in the 3rd.

Honestly, I was a lot more pumped about our pitching staff pre-05 than pre-07. Pre-05 I felt like we had a lot of guys who we hadn't seen the best of yet, and we got the best out of pretty much each one of them. Pre 07, I feel like we've seen in the past 2 years both the best and worst of most of these guys, and the odds are we're going to wind up getting a mixture of the 2. Edit: oh, and after 06, I'm also really worried about specific parts of the defense really letting the pitching staff down.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Mar 8, 2007 -> 03:52 PM) And the Senate committees that looked into it pretty much said that there were no violations committed. But that doesn't fit the agenda, either, now does it? Did you miss my argument there? One of the things Congress does is hold hearings in order to determine whether or not there is a need for additional legislation on a particular subject, or even barring that, simply to give people an opportunity to present their side of a story. It's fully possible that Congress could hear the testimony of those involved and decide that it needs to rewrite the language of the Intelligence Professionals protection act or whatever it is called so as to make it easier to prosecute people who reveal those identities. Not every hearing Congress does is done with the idea of putting someone in jail. Edit: and anyway, the #2 man in the Vice President's office is now seemingly on his way to jail. If nothing else, that seems like the sort of thing that Congressmen would like to either grandstand about or talk about on the record. There is nothing wrong with holding hearings, especially on a topic of some measure of importance. Edit the 2nd: And oh yeah, Back in 2005, Senator Pat Roberts, Chair of the Senate Intel. Committee, pledged that his committee would hold hearings on the matter and would call Mrs. Wilson as a witness. Since it was Senator "Investigation? What Investigation?" making the promise, of course they never happened, but even Sen. Roberts felt it appropriate (or felt like it would generate good press for him) to promise that those hearings would take place and would be public.