Balta1701

I don't like the Finley idea for 1 reason...you're paying $3 million or so on a total experiment and just hoping against hope that his numbers somehow improve from last year. I just don't see that as making sense. And on Erstadt...I believe he was moved to 1b just because the Angels didn't have anyone else who could play 1b, if memory serves. But he's getting paid way more than his performance justifies at that spot, and he's certainly not tearing it up with the bat. He might even be a downgrade from Anderson for a lot more money.

I swear to God...you give them good press for doing the right thing for steroids, and suddenly every single bloody issue in sports suddenly is a matter of Congress.

QUOTE(LosMediasBlancas @ Dec 2, 2005 -> 12:52 PM) Stapp the Christian boy, eh? From a few months ago...yup.

QUOTE(Rex Kickass @ Dec 2, 2005 -> 12:52 PM) Ah more fake outrage. Here's some of the ACLU's anti-Christian court cases that they helped with since 2004. But hey, I'm sure they'll hate all the Christmas cards. What I think is great is that Bill O'Reilly, hater of the word "holiday," had an O'Reilly Factor "holiday tree ornament" for sale on the Fox News website until two days ago when it was quickly changed to "Christmas Tree Ornament" in the middle of the night. Furthermore...know why it was changed? Because one of those "Liberal hate websites" O'Reilly always b****es about...one of the guys doing diaries @ Kos, discovered it, posted it, and it made the rounds on those liberal websites, with each and every one of us laughing as we saw it.

Link. Personally, I'm more primed to believe 311's version of the story, because how the Hell could someone actually make up a guy coming up to you and saying "311, I am ready to fight." Hell, I'll believe that version just because it's funnier.

QUOTE(fathom @ Dec 2, 2005 -> 11:49 AM) I actually agree with you. I think it's time we give one of our young outfielders the chance to prove themselves, and it starts with Anderson this year. Wow, Fathom and I are in total agreement on something.

QUOTE(Felix @ Dec 2, 2005 -> 11:15 AM) Same here. I mean, I felt like s*** when Rowand left here.. I can't even imagine how the Marlin fans feel with just about everyone on their team leaving. The Marlin fans went through this in 97, and all it got them was another title in 2003. Unless you have Yankee dollars, every team winds up needing to trade people off and restart/rebuild at some point. Few teams do it as drastically as the Marlins...but few teams win 2 World series in their first decade of existence either. The Marlin fans have to feel pretty bad right now...but if that team manages to stay in Florida, in a few years, there's a good chance they will be in vastly better moods.

QUOTE(KevHead0881 @ Dec 2, 2005 -> 10:53 AM) With their top of the order set, and pretty good pitching from top to bottom, I think the Twins are a slugger away from making the Indians a 3rd place team in '06. Just a hunch. I don't even know if it'd take that...they'd just need a good season from Morneau. If the Indians lose significant amounts of pitching and can't replace it, they could take a step back next year (They could also take another step forward if their offense becomes more consistent)

I saw this and just couldn't resist pointing it out. According to ESPN, tonight's game between the Raptors and the Hawks is the most pathetic meeting ever to take place in NBA History based on team records. The remarkable thing is...their combined winning percentage is guaranteed to increase tonight, because 1 team is guaranteed a win.

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Dec 2, 2005 -> 10:32 AM) Peter Gammons is reporting on ESPN radio that the deal is done. Twins get: Luis Castillo Marlins get: minor leaguers Travis Bowyer and Scott Tyler Anyone know anything about those 2? Please tell me the Twins are trading pitching away. I'm so sick of them magically making these 96 mph+ fireballers appear out of no where.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Dec 2, 2005 -> 10:25 AM) Agreed and agreed. The good thing is they still have no punch in the heart of their order. That makes some assumptions about the performance of Mauer and Morneau not improving which I doubt will be proven right in the end.

QUOTE(sec159row2 @ Dec 2, 2005 -> 09:53 AM) http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47680 # of U.S. troops in Iraq: 160,000 Population of California: 35,893,799 :banghead

QUOTE(bmags @ Dec 2, 2005 -> 09:16 AM) shouldn't there be a difference between news and politics? So what happens if I use some piece of posted news to make a political point? Like if I were to say "This is why we can't trust outside contractors with major public works construction projects" or something like that?

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Dec 2, 2005 -> 02:08 AM) That's Kobe. Now did his teammates actually give a s*** tonight? Kobe fouled out in OT and one of the guys who's name I can't remember hit the GW shot, if that counts.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Dec 2, 2005 -> 10:09 AM) Phils fans are saying Abreu for Schmidt TIFWIW You mean Jason Schmidt of the Giants?

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Dec 2, 2005 -> 10:06 AM) And they won't be next year? At some level yes...you can have starting pitching, but you can only have so much. The Yankees right now have Johnson, Mussina, Pavano, Wright, Wang, and I think 1 more I'm forgetting who fill out their starting rotation. I don't know all of their contracts, but I doubt they'll have more than 1 opening (Mussina?) to fill after next year. You can sign 5, maybe even 6 starting pitchers if you're the Yankees, but at some level you just can't afford $10 million a year for a guy who'll be your 6th or 7th starting pitcher in case other guys get hurt. Even the Yankees can't just buy starting pitchers and pitch them 50 innings a year out of the bullpen.

QUOTE(maki @ Dec 2, 2005 -> 09:21 AM) new rumor has pierre headed to the yanks. as reported by espn radio this morning. don't know what show it was on. for henn and proctor. I already noted this in the FA Thread...Here's the post... the original article was in the NY Post this mornin.

QUOTE(LosMediasBlancas @ Dec 2, 2005 -> 07:19 AM) Juanito in the 2 slot??? http://www.suntimes.com/output/sports/cst-spt-sox02.html I don't think it's out of the question...in 2004 Uribe got more than 1/2 of his at bats in the 2 hole and he hit .285. Yeah, last season he was terrible with the bat most of the year...because he was flying open on balls and striking out or popping up a lot. Those things are correctable...if Greg Walker does his job (I was singing Walker's praises in 2004 for his work with Uribe. He needs to do some more of that. Or Balta will be very very angry). Here's an interesting factoid...Juan Uribe only went to a 3-0 count 4 times in 2004.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Dec 2, 2005 -> 09:45 AM) I'd actually argue that it is harder on Jenks than it is on Anderson. Anderson has 8 other guys in the line up to hide in, and two other OFers to help him out. When Jenks is on the mound, odds are the game rests on every pitch he throws, pretty much everytime he is out there. I am just making the point that teams do what they need to do to fill their holes, and balance their spending. For a team like the Sox, that means they need a few cheap guys to balance out their big money contracts. There is nothing wrong with Brian Anderson or whoever getting a chance on a defending World Champion team, as they Sox have the entire rest of the line up as veterans, and an incredible pitching staff as well. it isn't like we are pulling a Florida Marlins and pulling the plug after winning a WS.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Dec 2, 2005 -> 09:42 AM) You want to explain last years starting pitching contracts to me then? The Yankees needed starting pitching. There, it's explained.

QUOTE(qwerty @ Dec 1, 2005 -> 09:32 PM) Fish these guys then. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/spli...2&type=batting3 Edit.. It says they were going from 2002-2004 but it was actually 2003-2005... Ok, what I'm trying to figure out about that one is how exactly Thome could have put up exactly the same numbers "Total" and "As a Left Handed Batter", including 96 home runs as a left handed batter...but also put up a "0" in "Runs scored as a left handed batter." Overall AB R H Total 1279 234 333 As LHB 1279 0 333

Not trying to pick a fight here...only trying to understand the new rules...why does this get a thread instead of being posted in the "Politics" thread?

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Dec 2, 2005 -> 02:24 AM) Last year it was starting pitchers. Now the market's gone crazy for relief pitchers. And the White Sox probably have something to do with that. Teams saw the success we were having a good bullpen, and getting someone like Hermanson who had closer experience to a good deal, that would be below market price right now. That won't be happening again. That, plus you can look up and down the list and see teams that wound up being in much worse shape last year because of their bullpens, and it reads like a "Who's who" of baseball teams. The Braves, the Red Sox, the Yankees.

QUOTE(Punch and Judy Garland @ Dec 2, 2005 -> 07:00 AM) Apparently thsi isn't over. THe Rangers are back in it. THey should just let him go I don't know about that...any time you can make something more expensive for the Yankees it helps you in the long run (ARod), and Farnsworth might very well be a good fit in Texas. Herschiser is still there as the pitching coach, and he might very well be good enough to keep Farnsworth's pitching under control.

QUOTE(Middle Buffalo @ Dec 2, 2005 -> 08:21 AM) I'm still trying to figure out how a guy who is basically a walking muscle plans to lose 40 lbs. Is he planning on dropping muscle? How? Do I really need to answer this question?