Balta1701

I worship the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Jan 12, 2006 -> 05:33 AM) Now, let's think about this, though. If Roe v. Wade gets overturned, what happens? It doesn't mean that abortion is illegal!! WHAT A CONCEPT! It cracks me up how everyone just assumes that. All that simply means is that the STATES will determine their own law... which is the way it should be anyway. Interesting slant? Just curious what you think about that (no matter what your belief on the ISSUE is). But, if Roe v. Wade were to be overturned, what would be out there to stop the Republicans from seeking a national ban? In the short term it would fall to the states yes, but if the Republicans still held solid majorities in the House and Senate, and could get a few of the pro-life Democrats in the Senate to vote for cloture, it could very easily happen.

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Jan 12, 2006 -> 01:09 AM) Contreras for Brazoban and a couple pitching prospects? It's a deal that might make sense for us, but I don't think it makes sense for the Dodgers. They already have 4-5 starting pitchers depending on who's healthy, and they're hoping to bring up Billingsly at some point this season to start working him into the rotation, and Contreras would just be in the way. The Dodgers do have a bunch of lower-level talent though which could make it work if Coletti wanted to.

Here's an interesting little nugget from the Washington Post. It seems that one of the Colonel's running Abu Ghraib accepted an offer of immunity in exchange for testimony in a couple of the court martial cases involving the dog handlers. Right after that, General Miller, the guy in charge of "Gitmo-izing" Abu Ghraib, invoked the 5th amendment and refused to testify in that case. Couple of notes so I don't sound stupid...First, Miller didn't actually invoke the 5th amendment, he invoked article 31 of the uniform code of military justice, which basically includes the same right against self-incrimination as the 5th amendment. Secondly...I never knew the 5th amendment granted you the right to not testify on the grounds that the questions have gotten annoying. Is that something the military threw in to their rules?

By the way, quick question, stolen from a blog. Remember that Iraqi election about a month ago? Um, who actually won that?

A few weeks ago someone said that one possibility they were considering for Lopez was putting him at 1b. Seems like this would throw that possibility out the window. If people stay healthy and Tejada doesn't slow down at the 1/2 way point it's still a pretty good lineup. Not a great lineup, but a pretty good one.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Jan 11, 2006 -> 08:01 PM) Sadly, the delta isn't that close. Manufacturing workers on this side of the river, on average, make $8-$9 per hour. Real wages, with government mandated and union mandated benefits, on the Mexico side are $6 to $7. But add up thousands of hours a week times 52 weeks and the difference between US/South Texas and 20 miles south in Mexico makes economic sense. Now in some ways this helps us by opening up markets for our intellectual property and eliminates some of the desperation that temps Mexicans to risk their lives coming to the US as illegals. Um, Tex, with the $.4 an hour, they weren't talking about moving stuff to Mexico, they were talking about genuinely overseas, i.e. to Asia.

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Jan 11, 2006 -> 08:31 PM) I agree. They try and filibuster Alito and the gloves come off. Ok, now this one is in all seriousness...what exactly can the Republicans do beyond what they've already done except for the nuclear option, which they'd do in response to a filibuster anyway? They're already passing bills in the middle of the night, totally rewriting bills in conference committees, holding votes open for many times the usual voting period, preventing any sort of investigations of anything they've done from moving forward, and saying that any question other than "Iraq war, great idea or greatest idea?" gives aid and comfort to the enemy. What else can they do? And if they do that, are they willing to tolerate the shutting down of the Senate in response? Even as a minority, don't underestimate the power that the Senate rules give to each side - remember Harry Reid's invoking of Rule 21 (I think that was the number)? There are a dozen procedural tricks that each side can use to totally hamstring the other if it comes to that, but almost none of them are ever employed. So what exactly can the Republicans do to "Take the gloves off"? Sending the Democrats to Gitmo? Anywho, almost certainly a moot point because I can't imagine the Dems being able to hold together a filibuster on this nominee, if the best thing they can throw at him is "Oh, back in college 30 years ago you joined this stupid group and you put it on a resume 20 years ago." Oh, and to the person who said 55-45...I have 1 word for you...Lieberman.

Dammit, as far as I can tell based on the fact that KW reportedly said that...the first thing my mind told me was that this means Hermy is worse than we know.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Jan 11, 2006 -> 06:24 PM) Yea, the f***ing bumper sticker to the organization had on it "we are racial, bigoted assholes who profile against minorities of all kinds... future supreme court nominees need not apply..." and Alito signed right up to become a part of a huge ass witch hunt 30 years later. GMAFB. :rolly (I don't really know if I care about this thing, and I'm starting to agree with your GMAFB, but this one is to play devil's advocate for a moment.) So if this was some pointless organization he joined, why did he feel it was important enough to include it on later job applications?

QUOTE(AirScott @ Jan 11, 2006 -> 04:54 PM) this offseason has left the Angels weaker, but not too weak to contend. the AL West is definitely going to be tight (especially if Beltre pans out for the Mariners), and if the A's sign Big Frank I'd say they're the favorites, but don't count out the Angels. Mathis played well last year in AAA (.276 and 21 HRs in 427 ABs), so if he can contribute regularly for the Angels right away the offensive drop-off from Bengie shouldn't be too bad. Bunch of points in reply. First, even if Mathis shows good power in the big leagues, that may very well not be enough to compensate for the loss of Molina, mainly because of the way the Angels are built. Unlike the Moneyball teams, the Angels are built to be a "get em on, get em over, get em in" club. They always have one of the lowest OBP's in the AL every year. They sacrifice people, they use up outs getting people into scoring position, etc. While I think this is a fine strategy, it does mean 1 thing: If you're hitting home runs, you will drive in less runs with a team like that than with a team that draws a lot of walks. The Angels scored their runs last year by being basically the best team in baseball hitting with RISP (or the 2nd best right next to the Bosox). They scored almost as many runs as us, while hitting liek 50 less home runs. Molina was a big part of that. With RISP, Molina hit over .290, and he hit over .360 in those key 2 out RISP situations. Mathis could very well hit .270 with 20 home runs and drive in less runs than Molina did, because all his home runs could be solo shots. Furthermore, the big dropoff for the Angels this year doens't look to be offense, it looks to be pitching. The Angels were in the bottom 5 in offense in the AL last year, just like us. They made the playoff just like us...because of their pitching. Their starting pitching has lost 2 key guys, they have 1 2nd year guy in there, and the health of another guy is in question. Their pitching may take a giant step back next year. And if that happens, the only thing that could make them competitive is their offense, and that means they need to not just be almost as good as their (poor) offense last year, they need to be significantly better. And it'll take major performances from all of those young guys for that to even be possible.

QUOTE(kevin57 @ Jan 11, 2006 -> 05:22 PM) KKK? You mean like Senator Robert Byrd (D. WVa.)? "WAR!"

Michigan State is currently shooting like 59% for the game. Hypothetically they have to cool off sometime right?

QUOTE(Mplssoxfan @ Jan 11, 2006 -> 04:46 PM) Marcus Vick=UFA Book it. Somehow I just doubt that...if it gets to the last round and he's still on the board, it'd make some sense to go ahead and take the risk on him even with those problems. Unless he's in prison long-term by then of course.

My real worry about Boras isn't as much the FA Market, I think the Yankees screw that up more than anyone, including Boras. My concern is the draft. Over the last few years, the only way to really build a successful team without being the Yankees and buying everyone you could dream of has been to draft well. Once you do that, you can move drafted pieces to fill holes, or to further build your farm system. But, the last few years, we've seen more and more young guys signing with Boras before they're even drafted, and when a guy signs with Boras, he tends to drop precipitously in the draft until you get to one of the 4-5 teams who can afford Boras's signing bonus. In other words, just because of Boras, the richer teams are able to afford better drafts - they get top 10 pick talent in the 30's, for example. Yeah, there's always going to be standouts, like our starting pitchers from the 17th and 38th rounds, but at some level you can't build a team entirely off of lightning striking, and that's my real worry. If teams like K.C., Oakland, Minny, etc., can't build through the draft because they can't afford a player's signing bonus, then the only teams building through the draft on a regular basis will be the ones with big money, and then we might as well just toss the league out the window.

Sweet Jesus that class is loaded. Aikman, White, Thomas, Monk, D. Thomas, and Moon.

QUOTE(GreatScott82 @ Jan 11, 2006 -> 02:42 PM) If you don't like the Angels out of the west than who do you like? Its a weaker division, but I think the Angels are still the favorite. The A's on the other hand could be a surprise. If they pick up a 'healthy' Frank and with there solid young pitching to go along with Zito they might take the west. I think right now the A's have to be viewed as the prohibitive favorite out there...they've improved their offense (Albiet in a risky fashion) by adding Bradley, their young guys who made a run at the division last year are a year older, and some people have had time to recover from injuries. That could change rapidly though, depending on whether or not Beane holds onto Zito and whether or not Crosby can stay healthy. I honestly put Texas a close 2nd right now, because Thanks to Texas's offense, they only needed to add a little bit of pitching to stand a real good chance, and they've added a little bit of pitching. May not be enough, but they didn't need all that much anyway. Seattle might have an outside shot, but they need the Adrian Beltre from 2 years ago to kill the Beltre from last year, among other things. The Angels should still be better than them.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Jan 11, 2006 -> 02:20 PM) They do have an assload of talent in their system however. But if they wait to let that develop, then some of the older players will be used up. Vlad, Colon, Lackey, Erstad, cant all play forever. Vlad will only turn 30 this year and he's under contract with them for 3 more years. Lackey will only be 28 this year. Erstadt...well...several people would say the Angels would be better without him anyway, since he's not really an asset with the bat and he gets paid a ton.

QUOTE(WCSox @ Jan 11, 2006 -> 02:13 PM) When you're a freaking 15-year-old, it is. In our society, given how it has developed, it's probably considered inappropriate, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Other societies may not judge it to be nearly as inappropriate.

According to today's LA Times, the LA Angels, having missed out on PK, seem to have decided that their best move for this year is to start going with a youth movement and bringing up some of that massive talent they have sitting in their minor leagues. Given that it seems Ramirez and Tejada are off the market, and that team needs bats, they're going to take a shot by moving Erstadt back to Center Field and giving 22 year old Casey Kotchman chance to play at 1b. Kotchman put up good power numbers last year (7 home runs in 126 at bats), so they do have some hope. There will be more youth in their lineup too, with rookie Jeff Mathis getting playing time behind the plate along with Jose Molina, and Dallas McPherson splitting time between DH and 3rd base as his injury recovery allows. The Angels biggest problem, and I think this is obvious to everyone right now, is their starting pitching, where they have Colon, Lackey, and Ervin Santana as their top 3 guys, and potentially 2 former bullpen guys in Kelvin Escobar and possibly either another rookie or Hector Carrasco (who has started 7 games in his career, 5 last year with the nats) in their 4-5 starter spots, to say nothing about the fact that Colon's "David Wells workout tapes" seemed to start taking their toll on him last year. Overall, to me this seems like a good plan for the Angels in the long-term, because they start working in some of their highly talented minor league guys at a low price, and wind up keeping their costs down next year. However, it sure looks right now like the Angels are probably going to be taking a step backwards next year, and that division may now officially be open for Texas and Oakland to make runs at it next year. That could change with big years from Kotchman and McPherson, but they have a lot of losses to overcome.

Man, someone has to calculate the ratio of Sammy-Hops to Sosa Home Runs if he goes to a place like that. I bet it would approach like 7-1. If he's smart and really wants those numbers, he goes to Colorado and asks "What will you pay me"?

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Jan 11, 2006 -> 01:24 PM) Until Drew Rosenhaus comes to the MLB. "What do you have to say about the allegations of your client using steroids?" "No comment." Dude, the phrase is "NEXT QUESTION."

QUOTE(GreatScott82 @ Jan 11, 2006 -> 11:25 AM) Contract year or not I expect Jose to have a dominant season! IMO he truly figured it all out. Crede on the other hand- I expect the same: .250-.260 avg ~20 hrs, 60 rbis, solid defense and clutch hitting. Personally, I am going to continue to hope for the season Crede keeps teasing us with in 1-month versions. He'd have been a damn good hitter last year if somehow he could have eliminated his months of May and August. I'm not going to expect or plan for it, but I'm sure going to hope for it. A little consistency from that guy and suddenly he's one of the best 3rd basemen in the AL.

Toyota placed a factory in Canada instead of the U.S. because the health care costs in Canada were dramatically less and the workers are vastly better trained.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Jan 11, 2006 -> 09:34 AM) Why does this all have to be about "bait and switch"? And I mean that both of the questioners and the answerer... I think that comes about because of this stupid rule where the nominee is allowed to claim that he won't talk about business that might come before the court while he's on it. If you could just come out and ask a guy how he would rule on a hypothetical, that would make this vastly easier, but instead, we're left with all these little word games which try to get answers to exactly those sorts of questions without really asking them.