NorthSideSox72

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 27, 2012 -> 01:23 PM) Out of curiosity, any word on whether Morel is playing anywhere this offseason? I checked the rosters and stats for all four Caribbean leagues, as well as the Aussie leagues, and didn't see anyone outside who I covered in the article. There may be some guys in Arizona, but I don't have any way of knowing that.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Nov 27, 2012 -> 10:36 AM) To what end? To protest his sham speech instead of lying to the American people and the UN in order to gain support for an unnecessary war. If Powell had resigned in protest of the weakness of the rationale for the Iraq war, perhaps the damn war never happens. At the very least, he doesn't sell out yet again to please those in power. Powell is excellent at "just following orders" and has a long history of doing just that. He stated the case presented to him despite his own intelligence team calling much of it into question. He stated that there were "no doubts" and used strong, definitive statements like "we know" and "it is a fact." He intentionally and knowingly overstated the case and ignored multiple warnings on many of the claims. He may have been questioning everything behind closed doors, but when it came time to present the case to the public, he questioned nothing. Yes, Powell is a complete and total coward. He tried to cover up the American atrocities at Mai Lai. He lied about his knowledge of Iran-Contra, once again covering up for an administration. He lied in his speech to the UN, giving what was the final push for the Iraq war and his aura made it so that the press wouldn't really question his claims. Him being there did nothing to make things better and only solidified popular support, both among the people and in the press. I really don't understand how anyone can keep excusing this man who has so many examples of dishonesty in his record. OK, I find your views on this bizarre and lacking consideration of the realities of the job. I also think you are placing blame in entirely the wrong place. But clearly I won't be changing your mind. QUOTE (Jake @ Nov 27, 2012 -> 11:14 AM) Look, now you're talking about Susan Rice! Except people want her head on a platter. Colin Powell followed his marching orders and all we got was countless deaths, a lot of wasted money, an increasingly antagonistic Middle East, etc....but everybody loves Colin Powell! The real question to be asked is whether the CIA is doing nearly a competent enough job given the amount of scandal it has produced versus useful information. I think the whole Susan Rice thing is much ado about nothing. When the administration said what is probably something worth reviewing, and internally they should strive to communicate better... but this drum beat from the right that is hinting (clumsily) at some sort of conspiracy is ridiculous. It just isn't a big deal. Your last sentence though, is key to BOTH situations. CIA not using the information it has in the way it should, and jumping the gun too easily.

Update on Sox players and prospects so far in the winter leagues, on FS. Enjoy.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Nov 27, 2012 -> 09:21 AM) He could have simply refused to give a bulls*** presentation. He has a job that's ultimately responsible to the American people, not the President he is currently serving. He's forgotten that multiple times. Powell and Tenet should both go down for that presentation, but you're making excuses for him. Powell didn't cause the Iraq war, but he was a critical part in building public support for it. He had an (undeserved) reputation that was exploited, and he allowed it to happen at best. QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Nov 27, 2012 -> 09:34 AM) He didn't express any doubts whatsoever in his speech: Regarding aluminum tubes: INR memo to Powell: Here he uses Saddam's dead son-in-law to bolster his claims: However, Kamal was killed in 1996. He had been referring to weapons programs from 1991 and said that they had all been destroyed. You wouldn't know that listening to Powell's speech. There's a bunch more examples of Powell repeatedly overstating the case and explicitly ignoring INR memos on his prepared speech if you would like them. The man is a coward who lies to protect power over and over again. He did it with Mai-Lai. He did it with Iran-Contra. He did it with Iraq. What was he going to do... quit? To what end? Someone else, someone less circumspect, would have replaced him. He knew that having himself there was the best chance for things to be better. He stated the case presented to him. He didn't know it was bulls***, he was doing what CIA should have been doing - quesitoning everything. But in the end, he had to go with what they told him. He just made sure they fully staked it, which is all he could really do. The person who could have done much more was Tenet. Coward? Really?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 27, 2012 -> 08:13 AM) Yes. He knew better. He had better information sitting there staring him in the face, fought with the administration because he didn't trust what he was saying, and went out and said it anyway. I don't think he's an idiot...but he would have to have been an idiot to not know why he was the one giving that presentation. He had credibility that no one else in the administration had, so they had him give that presentation because he was one that the press would trust and not question the next day. He staked his reputation on those words, on that little glass vial. He sold their war. Whatever his reasons were, the blood of thousands of American soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis was spilled because he was willing to go out and sell a story that he seemingly never trusted. They used him to start their war, and he said ok. If a man who threw his medals over a fence to protest an unwinnable war is unqualified for Secretary of Defense, then the man who sold out his entire career to start one is unqualified for everything. Sold out his entire career? Where do you get this stuff? Powell was the one guy in the close circle with Bush who tried, repeatedly, to talk him and the others out of going into Iraq. He questioned it from multiple viewpoints, and tried to sell his reasoning to Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and others... to no avail. The policy direction was set, and he could not control that. So, he was given partial charge of getting the intelligence associated with Iraq's bad intentions. He shot down multiple of these as well, and was even accused of hiding some of it from the administration. Finally, when that frat boy who was running CIA had what he called the evidence that was needed, Powell pressed him hard. Frat boy gave the now-infamous "slam dunk" response - the head of the CIA said the evidence was a slam dunk. Powell, at this point, was STILL skeptical, but knew he had a job to do. So he said, fine, I'll show this stuff to the UN and the world... but you, CIA guy, are going to stand right be-f***ing-side me while I do it. If I go down for this, you are coming with me. Now... tell me how, that person, instead of the dozens of others who feverishly pushed the war machine into Iraq, is somehow responsible for starting the war in Iraq. And tell me how he sold out, when he clearly tried every avenue available, and still had a job to do. Powell is the guy LEAST responsible for any of that s***. And his performance during it, is exactly why I think he'd made an excellent SecDef for Obama.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 27, 2012 -> 07:55 AM) People are mad at John Kerry for disavowing a disastrous, war crime filled war. Colin Powell sacrificed his own dignity to start one. If John Kerry is unqualified to serve as Secretary of Defense, then Colin Powell is unqualified for everything. He should never, ever be allowed to live that moment down. Do you have any clue how all that went down? If you did, you'd think otherwise. Have you read any of the Woodward books? Or Curveball? Or anything else that actually detailed what happened?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 27, 2012 -> 07:51 AM) Your point being?

Powell would be good, if he'd take the job.

Not sure if this was mentioned, but... apparently, Keppinger broke his fibula falling down some stairs in his home. Hopes to be ready for ST, but... not good timing for him. Link.

QUOTE (jasonxctf @ Nov 26, 2012 -> 07:13 PM) couldnt agree more. No offense to the prior poster, but just because someone makes their wealth in farming, over investments, business, real estate, etc, doesnt mean that they should have special rules about inheritance. Just to throw this in for discussion... there is a key difference between land holdings, and financial investment instruments: liquidity. If you inheret some big farm or ranch, and suddenly owe a large tax bill on it... how do you pay for that? You can sell the land itself, but that defeats the purpose of inheritance (in part). If you are given money, or stock, or bonds, etc., you can sell it in part to cover the taxes. I realize that, on the other hand, the land also has value and is therefore a large income by device. Perhaps the solution here is, for illiquid assets, allow for a long-term payment schedule of taxes. You could put a tax lien of sorts on the property, like a tax mortgage or escrow type scenario, and allow for percentage payments over time. At least that way you won't prompt rapid sales that diminish the value of the relatively illiquid assets.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Nov 23, 2012 -> 12:52 AM) Saw Lincoln, it was not what I expected. It was good though, could have been better I think. (edit) And they used "Battle Hymm of the Republic" sparsely, which was slightly disappointing. Much of the music, composed (read: stolen) by John Williams, the greatest musical thief of his genre. Most of the music is "inspired" by Copland's Lincoln Portrait - a spoken-word piece with orchestral backing. The movie had a lot of good in it, defintiely recommend it... but it was also schmaltzy and ham-fisted at times, and I felt they could have done more with it as well. Lewis, Jones and others are worth watching - some excellent performances. QUOTE (Brian @ Nov 25, 2012 -> 11:22 AM) Life of Pi was incredible. Ang Lee's best, IMO. I read the book, and I just have a hard time imagining they could get it right in a film. Did you read the book before seeing it?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 25, 2012 -> 05:32 PM) Worth remembering...both of those are hurdles that are getting worse with time, thanks to aggressive Israeli settlement in those territories. So it's much, much harder for Israel to give up that land now than it was in 2000, because there are hundreds of thousands more Israelis living there that would have to be forcibly evacuated. Basically, I think what's likely to happen is continued Israeli expansion, punctuated by periods of violence, feeding terrorism and extremism throughout the region...for the rest of my life, because Israel will never believe that giving up land will produce peace (correctly), and no one will ever be strong enough to force Israel to give up that land, even to a neutral party. I'd agree there is a good chance a lasting peace is not happening any time soon. I was just saying, if it IS going to happen, the framework under which it would have to work.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 25, 2012 -> 05:26 PM) (and you may as well have the 40 man roster completely full when the rule 5 draft happens if you're not planning to select anyone). Agreed. Though honestly, I'd rather protect someone like Shoemaker than Carter, but that's a very small argument.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 24, 2012 -> 12:08 PM) So yeah, I wasn't posting for the actual MF Global downfallaversary. Happy 1 full year of staying out of jail despite stealing a few billion dollars! Definitely taking too long. Still going to be some heads rolling. The thing that bothers me is just how long it is taking to sift out the facts and prosecute. I still have no doubt it will happen. But this says a lot negative about the SEC/FINRA/CFTC capabilities, as well as the supposedly helpful regulations and rules about data integrity that obviously didn't work here.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 25, 2012 -> 04:51 PM) Buried in that sentence is the first reason why that wouldn't have ever worked...Jerusalem was taken in the 1967 war. Israel will simply never, ever give that back to the palestinians. And buried in there is another reason, which has developed a lot more in recent years: the 1967 West Bank borders enclose a heckuva lot of Israel. They've settled a huge portion of that territory and pushed the Palestinians back into narrow, fence-surrounded enclaves. (Btw, you won't find a version of this map from a source that anyone will like, but this is a good summary of how it has gone, particularly in the last 40 years). You're basically asking Israel to give up 2/3 of the land they've taken. Half a million Israelis currently live in West Bank territory you'd be asking Israel to give up, including 200k in Jerusalem. Don't ask me what the answer is, I can't offer one, but there's your 2 reasons why that is no longer a reasonable starting point. Under virtually ANY solution for long term peace, Jerusalem has to be a neutral or divided city. I realize that is asking a lot of course, but it is the only way. So I don't call that unreasonable - I call it the only path to peace. As for the shrinking Palestinian lands, there will have to be land swaps involved, no matter what. So again, I don't think that makes it unreasonable - it is a hurdle no matter the solution.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 25, 2012 -> 05:05 PM) Humber is probably gone as well. He would fall into the million dollar range to keep around. True, forgot about him too. Point is, even though the 40-man is theoretically full, there are a number of guys who could be dropped at a moment's notice with no effect on the team.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Nov 23, 2012 -> 10:49 AM) Do you just ignore all the politicians, news media, imams, school texts and so on that call for the destruction of Israel? The daily death threats from Iran? You have nothing like that towards any arab country from Israel. Jews treat Palestinians in their hospitals. What treatment do you think a wounded Jew would get in a Pali hospital? The only way this will be solved is with a brokered deal involving basically all regional parties and multiple superpowers, then enforced by people other than Israel and Palestine. Suadi Arabia actually has put offers on the table on multiple occasions to give Israel full state recognition across the region, and security, in exchange for giving back all lands taken in the 1967 war and creation of a Palestinian state. Interestingly, both Israel and Palestine rejected it... but I do think if you had the entire block in there pushing it together, it could get done.

Wise made the 40-man roster 40. Which might be a concern, but... Anthony Carter and Deunte Heath are both on there right now. So is Hector Gimenez. Dan Johnson is also still listed, but is a free agent I believe. So there is room to maneuver. I don't see anything from Carter to make it worth keeping him there if something good comes along.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Nov 21, 2012 -> 02:17 PM) I truly love DWise, but his time has passed. Very bad move for the Sox as they start to move forward for the season. Maybe Robin will be able to read his hot streaks and sit his ass the minute he looks like he's entering one of those tailspins. When he's hot he's damn good. When he's not, ugh. I would have gone with Danks (assuming there is nothing else brewing), but I think it is silly to call it a "very bad move". People are itching for news, so this is a hot topic. But really, it isn't a big difference between the two. I think you are way overreacting to this.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Nov 21, 2012 -> 12:20 PM) Ceiling ceiling ceiling, based on what exactly? His minor league numbers? Very similar to Wise's and Wise has shown MLB results. SHow me why his ceiling is so much higher. For 200k wouldnt you want the guy that can actually hit? Based on what? There were reasons the guy was considered a top-2 round talent, and the Sox got him in the 7th as an overslot. Not to mention, Wise has inflated his minor league numbers at the AA and AAA levels because he's gotten a chance to play AAA in parts of TEN SEASONS. Looking at the levels they actually played a similar number of games at, Danks far out-hit Wise. Danks put up pretty good numbers in his last year in AAA, his third - not tenth. And those are numbers. Tools-wise, again, Danks was drafted with a very high ceiling, but also the high bust potential. And I'm saying, I prefer that - on this team as constructed - to a guy like Wise. Wise will do what he does - post a .700-ish OPS, play good defense on the corners and passable defense in center. Danks will provide better defense and speed, and could post a .550 OPS, or a .800 OPS. QUOTE (IowanSoxFan @ Nov 21, 2012 -> 12:22 PM) Remember Danks derping vs the Dodgers? vs Remember Wise making the greatest catch in White Sox history? I know it is unfair to compare Wise's greatest moment vs probably the worst moment of JD's career so far. However, is JD's defense really that much better? Really with this comparison? Seriously? Danks was been noted by scouts to be the best defensive OF in the Sox system most of his tenure in the minors. He's won league-wide awards for it. Wise isn't bad, but Danks is better.

In any case, this is a small deal and a small argument in the grand scheme of things. But I do feel like it may indicate something bigger looming. Having a more veteran guy like Wise may be more important if your outfield gets younger or less experienced. Or less skilled defensively. Through a trade or two.

QUOTE (Tex @ Nov 21, 2012 -> 12:14 PM) Are you suggesting that baseball players should not care where their kids are living or if they are with them or not? I don't believe athletes should give up being good fathers and mothers simply because they are athletes. Sure it's easy to say someone can just switch careers, but that isn't reality for many people. Good and bad come with every job. Can't I have empathy for fireman who have to be away from their families for 48 hours at a time? Or business people who have to travel? Doctors who have to be on call? Maybe you have a family and don't mind being away, but most people do. In Mark's case he accepted a position with a company in a place of his choosing but now is forced to change. Most people aren't forced to relocated without any influence on the decision. I think he's saying (and I agree), when you get to play baseball for a living and will soon have made 9 figure money in your career... you don't have a lot of room to complain about having to be moved. Don't like it, leave baseball. Yes of course it is hard on the kids and spouse - and they are compensated very, very, very well for that sacrifice.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Nov 21, 2012 -> 11:48 AM) Let me ask you this, what has JorDanks done that tells you his ceiling is higher? Danks's career minor league OPS is .746, Wise's is .726. I think the org wants depth and depth that has shown they can perform at the MLB level. Thats all. 700k is not a large number. QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Nov 21, 2012 -> 11:49 AM) The 200K is not significant, and having Wise allows you to stash Danks at AAA in case of emergency. I think some of you are confusing upside with actual results. Clearly, 2012 Wise is a better hitter than 2012 JorDanks. However... Danks has at times shown much more talent, and he's better defensively at this point (and that gap will widen over years). His ceiling is much higher. That doesn't mean for sure that he reaches that ceiling, of course. What I'm saying is, for your 4th OF, when you have payroll issues, sticking with the younger guy with more potential, better defense, and for cheaper... is better, IMO, than a sure-fire mediocre bat for 200k more. I'd rather roll the dice with Danks, even though it may not work out. That's all I'm saying.

QUOTE (YASNY @ Nov 21, 2012 -> 11:38 AM) In a conversation I had yesterday with my dad, I said that it would not shock me at all if Mark hung 'em up. Certainly possible. Had a lousy team experience in 2012, has gobs of money, gets traded to another country where his dog isn't allowed... maybe he will.

Kind of an odd move, unless there are others coming soon. Why not JorDanks for your 4th OF? Saves you 200k or so, and maybe he actually lives up to potential. His ceiling is higher than Wise, and he's under cheap control for a few more years.