Balta1701

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jun 6, 2005 -> 05:39 PM) Garcia's got him by 1 point. I wonder which one of them is the better bunter...

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jun 6, 2005 -> 05:35 PM) LINEUPS ARE IN: Podsednik LF Iguchi 2B Rowand CF Konerko 1B Dye RF Uribe SS Pierzinsiki C Crede 3B Garcia P Yay...Nothing I can complain about! Hey...you want to know something scary...guess which is higher...Freddie Garcia's career batting average, or Joe Crede's batting average this season.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jun 6, 2005 -> 05:28 PM) If this is true then the Cubs have the worst advanced scouting in Baseball. Well...you know the Tribune company...if they don't have to pay to get MLB Extra Innings in the locker rooms at Wrigley...they won't.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jun 6, 2005 -> 05:32 PM) Overbay = f***ing huge pricetag Name a person available for trades this year who won't have a huge f***ing price tag.

I think the most amazing thing about the NL East right now is that it seems almost certain that the wild card will come out of the Central or the West. Think about it...right now there are 5 teams in the NL East above .500. Each of those teams has to play the teams in its division 19 times. That makes nearly 80 games for each and every team there against a team which is currently .500 or better. There is no one, like the Royals for us...for those teams to beat up on. This gives teams like the Cubs, DBacks, Padres, etc. a huge advantage - they can go to Colorado, Pittsburgh, and so on 19 times during the year, and beat up on those terrible teams, while those 5 in the NL East slug it out with each other for the division. It'll probably be a heck of a run in the NL East, but I wouldn't want to finish up 2nd in that division, because it just might be close all year.

QUOTE(JUGGERNAUT @ Jun 6, 2005 -> 03:41 PM) You are confusing opportunity with action. They often extend invitations to those who are expected to give rebuttal opinions & those invitations are declined. You hear O'Reilly say this often. Extending the invitation is in keeping with being fair & as far as being balanced they do what they can with the people who are willing to speak on the network. If some of those invited are gutless what's a network to do? They had the highest ratings for both coverage of the DNC & RNC amongst cable networks. That pretty much squashes the belief they short-timed the DNC. So your second claim is simply nonsense. They showed more of the Republican convention than the Democratic convention, but had high ratings for both - higher for the RNC convention of course. How exactly does having high ratings for both justify giving 1 party significantly more time than the other one? Or, let's take the October 18th speeches by both candidates last year as another example. Both John Kerry and George Bush gave campaign speeches that day. Neither were overlapping. Other networks showed almost as much of each speech. But not Fox. MSNBC CNN FOX Bush speech 43:27 36:42 47:14 Kerry speech 39:35 35:25 9:40 Or how about we look at the Content of stories run about each candidate during the campaign. And finally...to fire back at the O'Reilly part...your quote is... If some of those invited are gutless what's a network to do? Well, it seems that the answer to your question is "give them a prime time news show." You see...Mr. O'Reilly has long had a bunch of fairly vocal critics over at Media Matters for America, run by David Brock. Mr. O'Reilly has even compared MMFA to the KKK and Castro for keeping an eye on what words are comign out of Mr. O'Reilly's mouth. Mr. Brock has repeatedly offered to appear on O'Reilly's show to address the content of that show. Mr. O'Reilly has claimed that he has had "trouble" finding people to appear on his show to disagree with him, but has never shown any willingness to face his well-prepared critics at MMFA. Fox News is the single biggest audience in terms of cable news shows. No self-respecting politician would turn down the opportunity to appear on their shows, even if it were a challenge. There are plenty of guests waiting to appear on those shows who never are asked. Their panels are remarkably unbalanced. Their coverage is hugely slanted to the pro-Republican perspective. Their leadership sends out memos telling their anchors what angles to focus on in particular stories. The numbers and the facts simply do not lie.

QUOTE(JUGGERNAUT @ Jun 6, 2005 -> 02:59 PM) You still don't know what fair & balanced means. It means for every opinion they express on the news shows they offer time to someone who might have a counter opinion. Nothing more. This is simply not true. Not in the least. Fox News makes it a point to give far more screen time to Republicans, and cherry picks Democrats for many of their topics who already agree with the Republicans on the issue they're discussing. For example, the Terry Schaivo case...1 person in 2 nights opposing congressional involvement...12 supporting it. The Minutemen project along the southern border...the only opposition voice on the screen over a 6 day period on 1 show was 1 clip of a border patrol agent. Fox Aired far more of the Republican Convention than the Democratic Convention last summer. On Special Report with Brit Hume...they have a segment where Mr. Hume does a 1-on-1 interview. And the makeup of that interview? "[a]mong ideological guests, conservatives accounted for 72 percent, while centrists made up 15 percent and progressives 14 percent." And not infrequently, the Democrats who do come in either come in like Bill Clinton, talking about something like the tsunami and not politics, or they come in as another Congressman did talking in favor of Bush's social security plan. Fox News is in no way fair and balanced. The numbers do not lie.

Citigroup has now joined the ranks of the companies that have lost huge amounts of customer data that can be incredibly useful in identity theft. This includes such data as Social Security numbers and birthdates. It seems that Citibank decided it would be a good idea to just ship unencrypted data using UPS. I have 2 credit cards with Citibank. I'm sitting here today wondering if their incompetence might someday jeopardize my ability to buy a car or a house. It seems now that almost every week, there is another reported case of a major U.S. company being incredibly careless with its customers personal data. THIS MUST STOP. The federal government gave a massive handout to the credit card companies a few weeks ago in the form of a bill making bankruptcy more difficult for all but the richest Americans. Now its time we get something in return. There must be federal legislation passed to give companies a reason to protect the private information of their customers. Right now, the only thing that can happen to punish Citibank for this is that they may lose some customers, while in the meantime, if someone gets their hands on that data...3.9 million people could have their credit histories permanently screwed up, and have to spend years of their lives paying higher costs for credit before they get them fixed. This situation can not stand. This must be fixed.

I think a much more valuable poll question would be "Who would you NOT trade to upgrade at the deadline".

I disagree with the 2 statements that either confidence or warmer weather is what Shingo needs right now. What Shingo needs is control. Plain and simple. The only pitch he has been able to get over the plate on a regular basis is his fastball. Now, that's ok if you're throwing 98, but not if you're throwing 88. What I've seen from Shingo this year is that he'll throw the hook and the change up and more than half the time he'll miss the strike zone, so he'll have no choice but to throw the fastball. He'll fall behind hitters, and then they can just sit there on a pitch and wait for it. Let's face it...he's not going to overpower anyone; he needs to outthink them. He needs the hitter to be sitting fastball and then be able to throw the changeup at the knees, forcing the hitter to swing. He needs them to think changeup and see fastball. He needs them to think fastball and get curveball. That was what killed everyone last year; they saw pitches coming but had no choice but to swing because they were going to be strikes often enough. If he gets those 2 pitches over for strikes, there's still almost no one who can hit him. Without those 2 pitches, he's a batting practice pitcher.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Jun 6, 2005 -> 11:30 AM) Where does he mention his "pull ball" philosphy? I never saw anything where he says I want guys pulling the ball? In all seriousness...I've been wondering about this lately... Can anyone tell me anything about how Greg Walker was as a hitter? I'm honestly too young to remember watching him. This team's had a ton of trouble staying closed or hitting the ball the other way (Crede, Konerko, etc.) and we've heard quotes about how he might have suggested to A.J. that he open up his stance to be able to better pull the ball. Would Greg Walker's hitting style have fit in on this team right now? Was he a "pull first" kind of hitter?

QUOTE(Whitesoxfan56 @ Jun 6, 2005 -> 11:18 AM) You might want to re-read his post LOL there you go!!!....i have to admit i had to read the post 3 times b4 i understood what he said Heck, I had to re-write the thing about 3 times just to get the wording factually correct. Ever run into a phrase that just comes out wrong every time you write it? For some reason, that was one of them.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Jun 6, 2005 -> 10:00 AM) Boston was shopping for a 1B, maybe we can get their SS prospect??? Boston is simply not going to trade Hanley Ramirez. They are totally adamant about it.

QUOTE(maggsmaggs @ Jun 6, 2005 -> 11:04 AM) What Ozzie needs to do is pitch Shingo every other dayish, when the Sox are up big or down big. Let him get rhythm and then ease him back into tough situations. This will work, but unfortunately the Sox haven't been up big or done big, so Ozzie has got to put him with a lead and hope for the best. There's 1 wee problem with your thinking. Can anyone around here tell me how often we've been up big or down big this season? Last time was Texas, I think, and that was over a week ago. Right now, Ozzie's basically been doing exactly that - bringing in Shingo when the game isn't on the line or isn't close. But with all of the close games we're in...that means he works like once every 10 days. Either he'll have to pitch when a game is close, or he will pitch every 10 days. It's basically that simple. A side note...does anyone else kind of think that Coors field isn't the kind of park that goes well with a struggling Shingo?

QUOTE(retro1983hat @ Jun 3, 2005 -> 05:49 AM) I hope so. I am scared that the Twins are going to be within a game of us or even overtake us by the All-Star break. That friggin team is relentless. They're also just about as banged up right now as we were coming out of Oakland. They're primed for a skid, like the one we've been on where we're playing barely above .500 ball. Of course...they are also playing the Yankees...fresh off a sweep by KC

QUOTE(tonyho7476 @ Jun 3, 2005 -> 06:48 AM) My thoughts exactly...I'm hoping Timo gets a shot at third tonight. I think tonight Timo can really get some good work in out of the bullpen.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jun 3, 2005 -> 06:31 AM) I can't believe anyone wastes 50 cents on the Sun Times, but that is just me That is why God invented the internet...

QUOTE(WilliamTell @ Jun 2, 2005 -> 07:08 PM) I don't want to see Willie go down either. He deserves to be up here. He's really getting a good eye at the plate. The average is right around where what is expected of him. And I haven't heard any stories about him complaining recently either. I think he's accepted his role. Willie also supplies us with a lot more speed than Timo...hence he makes a much better pinch runner than Timo when Frank or Paulie get on base in the 8th inning and we're down by 1 run. Speed and defense means Willie stays. I hope.

QUOTE(Jabroni @ Jun 2, 2005 -> 06:18 PM) Roger. So the move to bring up Gload will likely be made by the end of this weekend. We head to Colorado on Monday and we will need another 1st baseman by then. Hmph, I figure Colorado is the 1 place where I wouldn't care if we had another 1st baseman. That's the 1 park in the league where I want paulie to have a chance to hit. As much as humanly possible. It sure can't hurt a slumping offense to visit Coors field. The only 2 moves that make sense to me for this team are moving Willie or Moving Timo. Both of them have people who play their positions, and moving either of them would leave us still having backups at each spot in the lineup.

I hope it's Timo either being sent down/designated for assignment, but I just don't think it will be. I read one article today that strongly suggested it could be Ozuna, which really freaking scared me. It wouldn't even leave us a backup 3b aside from Widge. With Everett in the outfield as a 2nd order backup behind Ozuna, the only one that really makes sense is letting Timo go, because he's an outfielder, and Ozuna and Everett can both play his spots. I just don't know if it will happen.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Jun 2, 2005 -> 05:17 PM) Ramon Hernandez is the Padres' catcher (he used to be on the A's, they either traded for him or picked him up via free agency). The D-Backs also have Kelly Stinnett as their veteran catcher, I think. And I doubt they even have money to spend after what they did in the offseason. I don't think Kendall is going anywhere. The D-Backs do have that Stinnett guy, but he's got all of 1 at bat this season. Yeah, I agree Kendall not going anywhere unless someone gets hurt. Especially given how much he's been struggling to start the year.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Jun 2, 2005 -> 04:53 PM) He was asking what team would trade for Kendall. He wasn't sayin the Sox would. Right now, assuming Oakland doesn't want him in the division (Texas)...about the only contender I can see right now that could use an upgrade at catcher would probably be Arizona. That is barring a major injury to someone like Posada, Varitek, or Mauer. Almost everyone at the top of their division has a firm catcher who's either entrenched or hitting pretty well. Yankees - Posada BoSox - Varitek Orioles - Lopez (on DL) Braves - Estrada Marlins - LoDuca Twins - Mauer Angels - Molinas Us - A.J. Cardinals - Yadier Molina San Diego (I don't know the guy, but he's hitting .299 with 6 home runs) Texas - Rod Barajas and Sandy Alomar Jr. Arizona - A rookie named Snyder who's hitting about .220. I could also see the Dodgers making a shot at him, if they want to stay in the race in the NL West.

QUOTE(gettysburg32 @ Jun 2, 2005 -> 04:47 PM) OK, good call. If the choice was Crede or Chavez, I'm all for Chavez, but not if McCarthy's gone too. The suggestions of Anderson/Sweeney/etc I'd go along with. McCarthy's my real sticking point. On that point, I wholeheartedly agree. We're gonna need that kid before the end of this year.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jun 2, 2005 -> 04:46 PM) Unless AJ breaks his neck... NOT A CHANCE. And Widger does too.

QUOTE(gettysburg32 @ Jun 2, 2005 -> 04:32 PM) Offensively, no doubt Chavez is a better player, even given this year's abysmal early stats for Chavez. But on defense, laugh all you want, but in the last 2 years + 50ish games, Crede's made fewer errors in more games at 3B than Chavez, and no one in MLB makes the number of tough plays that Crede does. I fully said Chavez is better, but not so much so to sacrifice McCarthy. There's a statistical reason for why Chavez has more errors than Crede: he covers a larger range than Crede. Chavez had 1 more error than Crede in 03 and they had the same number in 04. However, both years, Chavez had a higher fielding percentage than Crede? Why? Well, either their pitching staff is such that Chavez is getting more ground balls hit to him overall, or he covers more ground. For that, we can look at the range factor, where Chavez clearly wins 2003 2004 Chavez 3.16 3.10 Crede 2.56 2.43 Chavez clearly has more errors because he covers more range, and therefore has more chances to field the ball.