Balta1701

QUOTE(U can putitontheboarrrrd...YES @ Mar 6, 2007 -> 01:24 PM) And ya gotta love a stance that basis all pitching contracts longer than 3 years becoming a total flameouts based on ONE player. Can you please name for me the last Free Agent Pitcher who signed a big money deal for more than 4 years who has earned his money? Some examples who come to mind immediately: AJ Burnett Mike Hampton Darron Dreifert Kevin Brown Carl Pavano

QUOTE(FlaCWS @ Mar 6, 2007 -> 01:20 PM) I'm pretty confident he's not kicking anyone's ass this year. When has he ever kicked ass in the past 5 or 6 seasons? He is garbage. I don't like this move at all, unless it makes it easier to trade him. Let's hope so. 2003. That's well within the past 6 years.

QUOTE(Hideaway Lights @ Mar 6, 2007 -> 01:19 PM) If Vazquez tanks, this will look like one of the stupidest deals in Sox history. I don't understand why people are convinced this guy is moveable if he fails again. Vazquez could put up a 5.00 ERA this year and I think this deal would still be moveable. You wouldn't get top of the line talent for it, but as long as he eats innings, that deal is still moveable.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Mar 6, 2007 -> 01:17 PM) 3 years 34 million reported. A GREAT deal by KW. That's a little more than what I want to spend, but my concerns go away if Vazquez can improve on last year's overall performance.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Mar 6, 2007 -> 01:12 PM) I'm going to completely disagree with you on this. I think it's the complete wrong time to extend his contract. He has done nothing so far for us and yes I know his secondary numbers were solid last year and we all know what kind of stuff he has, but until he can equate that to actual performance(not letting runners score) then he's doing nothing for us. We're giving him an extension entirely based on potential instead of actual performance. I don't like this. I think this is the ideal time to extend his contract...IF...and I mean this is a big IF...we can do it at favorable numbers (Favorable = below $30 million for 3 years). If Vazquez comes out and is mediocre again this season, but he's extended for $10 million a year or less, then he still would seem to have significant value on the trade market. In fact, I'd say by extending him at $10 or less, we might actually push his value upwards. That deal would be moveable as long as he doesn't get hurt. If it's significantly over $30 mil a year, then his contract moves into Gil Meche territory, at which point it's not at all justified based on what he did last year, and it would probably hurt his trade value unless he significantly improved his performance. I don't want to see us pay for what he might do. The benefit of extending him now is that we could pay him less based on his low performance the last few years, and maybe it turns into a bargain, and if we he doesn't improve, people will still give up talent for innings-eating righties with reasonable contracts.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Mar 6, 2007 -> 01:07 PM) He hasn't gotten the job done in his 2 years in the AL, he hasn't spent 2 consecutive years with the same team since '02-'03 let alone the same league. Give him back to back season in the same league with the same team and he'll flourish, this is mine and KW's thinking obviously. Of course if you wait until the end of the season to give him an extension and he does kick ass this year it's going to cost you insane money to keep him around. This way you sign him to a potential bargain price in hopes that a second year with the team will do him some good. He could anchor this staff for years to come if they could just get him in a comfort zone. And IMO like I said before I really don't think a 3 year deal worth around $35M guaranteed is that much of a risk. Has the $35 m number actually been reported anywhere? That'd be more than I'd be wanting to offer him at this point personally.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Mar 6, 2007 -> 01:05 PM) ugh, I dont know if I would compare Meche and Javy. Javy got his first big contract based on 1 great season, Meche got his based on 0 good season.

The quality of this deal will depend entirely on the money. I'm pegging my good deal/bad deal dividing line at $10 mil a year. If he gets more than that, bad, less than that, good.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Mar 6, 2007 -> 12:30 PM) Javy doesn't exactly look like a Gold Glover. Perhaps we can trade him to Detroit for Verlander. They could use the defensive upgrade on the mound.

So, while everyone has been distracted by Libby being found guilty, the House and Senate have been holding their first hearings on the dismissal of 8 Federal Prosecutors and their replacement by Bush Cronies. There are so many posts it's hard to link to any specific one, but TPM and Associated sites have been following this story from the get-go. Here's a brief summary of the skeleton of what we've learned so far:

QUOTE(StrangeSox @ Mar 6, 2007 -> 11:58 AM) I don't know about the pardon, it could potentially piss a lot of people off against the Republicans, and the '08 political season has started already, it seems. There would be a huge uproar if he was pardoned. When has that stopped a President before? Clinton, Bush 1, once they're on their way out after their 2nd term, it doesn't hurt them at all, they couldn't care less, and by the time the next election rolls around it's totally forgotten (seriously, was the Mark Rich pardon an issue in 02? All of the Iran-Contra pardons an issue in 1994?). There are some people even speculating that the goal now for Libby's attorneys is to slow down the appeals process enough to keep him out of jail for a little under 2 years. And on top of that, when has a huge uproar stopped this administration from doing anything? I can think of their Social Security destruction plan, but that's about it.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Mar 6, 2007 -> 11:28 AM) Bush nominates a replacement. Must get majority vote from both houses. Evil laugh...

Statement from Harry Reid's office:

More and more bad news leaking out of the McCain camp.

QUOTE(Soxy @ Mar 6, 2007 -> 09:22 AM) Really? Why? Well, couple reasons. First, its entirely possible that Mr. Libby knows more than he was willing to share, and he could have been hoping he could find a way to avoid the charges but still protect the VP (who was a key element in all of this according to the case, and may not be totally out of the woods yet). It's also possible that Mr. Bush may just want to protect a person who served his administration...I mean, if Tenet et al. can get Medals of Freedom... Bush the First got away with pardoning a heck of a lot of the Iran Contra guys, and now half of them are back in government working for this administration.

Enjoy the jail time, Scooter.

QUOTE(retro1983hat @ Mar 6, 2007 -> 06:54 AM) Sun Times reported today that Bobby felt great after yesterday's session. Hit about 93-94 mph. IIRC, that's faster than he was throwing at this point last spring.

Well, either Wes Clark thinks that his late start in 03 worked so well that he might as well do the same thing this time, or he's not going to be in the game.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Mar 5, 2007 -> 11:53 AM) 1.) Where you're living you can't have a dish (apartment, condo, dorm) This should be broken into 2 categories: a. The place you're living does not allow satellite dishes (apt, Condo, Dorm) b. The place you're living does not have a view of the southern sky. I think the best argument about doing something in this case is that it denies a government-subsidized form of entertainment to people because they happen to live in the shadow of or on the wrong side of a tall building.

Well, I will admit, this is vastly more amusing and less annoying than the stupid attempted Clinton/Obama dust-up a week ago. E&P.

QUOTE(The Critic @ Mar 5, 2007 -> 11:09 AM) The George Lopez Show That show just perpetuates the myth that George Lopez is funny.

QUOTE(nitetrain8601 @ Mar 5, 2007 -> 06:43 AM) Nate Clements? 8 years, $80 mil. He won't see all of it, but that's still a big contract. Any idea how much is guaranteed? ESPN is also reporting that Bly is moderately unhappy with this deal.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Mar 5, 2007 -> 07:30 AM) I am still shocked that people seem to be hearing this for the first time. Maybe its having a Dad for vet, but this stuff has been around for years. Now the rest of the stories are starting to hit the media as well. Its sad, but veterans in this country get treated like crap, and have for a long time, by tons of different groups. Hopefully this starts to turn the tide. The only part of this story I'd heard about were the very long waits that could build up for the VA facilities, but they did a pretty good job of keepign the conditions at the facilities for returning soldiers out of the public eye, at least as far as I can tell. I mean, how many hundreds of photo ops have political leaders had with wounded troops at Walter Reed in other buildings since 9/11? I'll admit some moderate surprise that they were able to keep the other buildings out of the public eye when there's that much media on the grounds.

QUOTE(Alpha Dog @ Mar 4, 2007 -> 05:57 PM) And I don't really think Kerry's joke was 'botched'. I think it became 'botched' when he realized that he just flushed whatever was left of his political life down the toilet, and he was trying damage control. The transcript of his prepared remarks that he gave out to media folks before that speech and the words he actually said were totally different. The prepared version was much less offensive. He paused in the middle of the line and then flubbed it. It wasn't nearly as obvious as the classic "Fool me once", but it was clearly botched.