NorthSideSox72

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jan 15, 2009 -> 03:16 PM) The Edge Excellent and underappreciated movie.

QUOTE (G&T @ Jan 15, 2009 -> 02:50 PM) Hypothermia will set in before that plane sinks. Yes. My concern about the sinking is that if it goes down, with the boats next to it, its possible it will pull the boats down with it. That plane is very heavy and shaped in such a way as to cause all sorts of weird currents.

First news link.

Flight 1549, LGA to Charlotte. I hope that plane doesn't start to sink with the boats right next to it, that could be really bad.

Images on the news - ferry boats getting passengers off a plane in the water - don't see that very often. Not much detail yet.

QUOTE (TheBigHurt @ Jan 15, 2009 -> 01:03 PM) Wow, when you have to mention names like Pedro, Freddy, Bartolo and Uribe you know your team is in bad shape. Every team in baseball has some number of players like that. No such thing as a team that is 100% full of all-stars.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jan 15, 2009 -> 02:04 PM) The problem is you won't be able to find someone with qualifications for this job that has clean hands in the financial collapse unless you go to some economics professor who predicted the whole thing. This part is true. Still doesn't excuse the tax evasion.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 15, 2009 -> 12:38 PM) Richardson and Clinton's actions are admittedly a lot more gray. In this case we would literally be putting a should-be felon into the cabinet. And yet, we hear so much more about those two and their issues, because they were so much higher profile people to begin with. Sort of strange.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jan 15, 2009 -> 12:46 PM) this is a really good point. At some time you need to break the pitchers into the MLB and they will suffer for a little while but you can usually see the ones who can make the adjustment. So ,even though they have a tough year, you know they will improve. The question then is, how many of these do you want in the rotation? If you break CP/AP in the bullpen in may benefit them and they can hit the ground running in the rotation later. I'm good with 1 in the rotation at any given time. 2 is 1 too many for me.

I know its unlikely, but, think about this for a minute. What if Colon and Freddy were both actually healthy for most or all the season? That makes the rotation pretty sick. Not likely I know, but, fun to think about.

Rickey Henderson says he is available to play. A GM just has to call. Do we know any teams in need of a leadoff hitting outfielder?

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jan 15, 2009 -> 11:38 AM) It's too bad, because Geithner is otherwise an excellent pick. The guy skipped out on thousands in taxes over multiple years, and took offset money for payments he didn't make. And, again I point out, this is the TREASURY secretary nominee we are talking about. I don't care if everything else is perfect, to me, this make him a non-starter. Unfortunately, he will probably be confirmed anyway. Its funny, people yell about things like Richardson maybe steering funds to a certain campaign-friendly construction company, or the Clintons getting campaign money from places that were benefited by government actions. Those are accusations unproven, and even if true, are not (IMO) at as bad a level as knowingly evading large amounts of taxes, which is what Geithner did.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jan 15, 2009 -> 11:10 AM) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...9011403682.html not really. Geithner isn't a democrat pick, he's one of the most qualified candidates for this position. further, there is 58 (soon 59) dem. senators, you think any of his people are really going to fail? The fact that he was a bridge pick makes it even more likely he'll run into problems now. GOP'ers will be upset, Dems were already not so happy. And if they want him in (the Dems), obviously, he gets in. That's my point. If they want him to fail now, they may elect to let him fall out that way. If, again, that is what they want.

QUOTE (Cknolls @ Jan 15, 2009 -> 10:14 AM) Will this pose a problem? http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YzJjO...jhlMWQ2MWZiNTA= Filling out re-imbursement forms for taxes you didn't pay seems like more than an oversight, no? This has the potential to take away some of Obama's cross-aisle political capital. The smart move here is to ask Geithner to withdraw, and then Obama gets another nominee. Or do the same thing via the back door - quietly allow Geithner to fail in the confirmation process.

QUOTE (LVSoxFan @ Jan 15, 2009 -> 09:47 AM) I concur that I'm willing to gamble with the pitching lineup--youth and experience--as long as we don't forget job #1, which is speed and percentage with the rest of the team. While last year ultimately ended better than I thought it would, please don't ever make me have to watch another big-bopper dependent lineup with no speed and prone to streakiness. That was uber-painful. Speed is not job #1. Its a nice-to-have, all else equal. Pitching, pitching, pitching, OBP, power and defense are all more important. And what do you mean by "percentage with the rest of the team"?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 15, 2009 -> 08:19 AM) Its amazing already how many of the pointless arguements have switched side, yet the things that remain important aren't really changing. Am I the only one thinking that after the 8-9 weeks between the election and inauguration? I see people trying to make it that way, but I haven't actually seen it happen. I don't see Obama supporters on here that are using arguments that were used to support Bush, or ignoring arguments used against Bush. I just see a lot of people talking about "wait and see, it will happen". So far, it hasn't.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jan 15, 2009 -> 07:23 AM) Wow, total garbage response. Once again cementing your unwillingness to put aside your personal feelings to look at another viewpoint. Its pretty obvious that your lack of experience in the issue is clouding your judgement. Wouldn't a lot of experience also cloud one's judgement?

Good signing, as long as its cheap. I'd be good with getting Freddy too, but I now doubt that will happen.

Updated the list. Its getting a lot thinner now, after being dead for quite a while. Check out thirdbasemen. Crede really stands out - I'll be surprised if he doesn't sign very soon.

Forgetting the whole gateway concept for now, I see two simple things that make marijuana far less dangerous than hard drugs, or even alcohol... 1. MJ is simply not a major danger to the public safety, in the way the others are. Put another way... marijuana doesn't create a person dangerous to others. Alcohol, and hard drugs, do this quite effectively. Since MJ just isn't nearly the public safety issue that those others are, its hard for me to justfy keeping it illegal. 2. MJ is less addicitve than alcohol, tobacco, and far less addictive than most harder drugs. It doesn't pull people into a dangerous lifestyle in and of itself.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 14, 2009 -> 08:04 PM) New head of the OMB today regarding putting out information about the stimulus package and who gets the money. Response by a Senator: Go ahead, guess the Senator. I'll give you a hint, he's also the committee chairperson. Old Senators don't surf the internets, or use pee-dee-effs. They have people to do that for them. I can see Joementum now, barking at his secretary... Hey, do me a favor and print out this internet thing for me so I can read it!

Khan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Jan 14, 2009 -> 04:10 PM) Last year Hall got 136 PA, only 56 were against lefties. In 2007 Hall got 120 PA, once again 56 of them were vs lefties. So average that out and it's 128 PA per season with 44% of those PA coming against lefties. Seems about right. So take a guy like Armstrong's normal numbers (which would be about 25% against lefties, or less), and change them with his splits so that roughly half are against lefties. His numbers will go down, overall. I have nothing against Armstrong, I think he's the best candidate available, all else equal. But all else isn't equal - Ozzie will tend to use AJ's backup more heavily against lefties than AJ, as your numbers suggest.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 14, 2009 -> 03:56 PM) Armstrong showed enough a bat in the AFL that he could end up on the roster. They're only looking to sit AJ once a week anyway, so it's not really a strict platoon in the traditional sense, more of a Sunday spot and the day games after night games...Armstrong or Stewart would be fine for that, IMO. Toby Hall definitely wasn't worth $2+ million. Hall is gone. Behind AJ, a catcher will get 30 or 40 games in. Armstrong has been showing some good stuff the last couple years, but, it makes the Sox really weak against lefties. I'd rather have Stewart, who will also be had for cheap, like Armstrong. Cole's biggest value right now is to another team, and we should therefore trade him if we can get something of value in return.

QUOTE (MO2005 @ Jan 14, 2009 -> 03:11 PM) O.k. lets be serious here. Do you blame anyone for picking this team to be last in our division? The answer no..We have NOT made our team better than last year. All we are doing is taking our over the hill players and mixing them with inexperienced youth. We have 3 starters and question marks on 4 and 5. Our defense is now worse than it was last year, infield in particular. Crede vs. Fields/Betemit, Getz vs. Ramirez at 2nd, and Cabrera vs. Ramirez at shortstop. In all 3 scenarios I would take last year over this and so would the majority. I'm not sure how Ramirez will do at short and last year we had an experienced guy who has played that position his whole career in Cabrera. Outfield is decent, not great. Anderson will be an upgrade defensively over Swisher, but his bat will hurt us in the lineup. Jerry Owens, in my eyes, will be a wash defensively and his bat will hurt us as well in the lineup. From what I have seen with this guy, he has a hole in his swing, and we all know Greg Walker has problems as a hitting coach. (It is only every year we want him fired on soxtalk) Our bullpen is still promising, but Dotel has been injury prone in the past and we all saw Linebrink go down last year. The only problem I see with our bullpen is outside Thornton, we don't really have a promising left hander in our bullpen and if one of those guys go down in Dotel, Thornton, Linebrink, we will be in big trouble! So we all can agree that pitching and defense win championships, right? Well who the hell would think for a second that this team stands a chance in this division when we have holes in both and can beat teams like the Twins and Indians. The Twins missed the playoffs by one game and their youth is only getting better. The Indians made some moves to tweak their roster and have a Cy Young Winner at the top of their rotation. So to be real, I really don't think the critics will be wrong this time. I want to believe, but I can't because the holes we have are too large. Jerry, Kenny, and Ozzie took the wrong turn on this one and at the end of the season it'll be like we told ya so! Just watch! If no other roster changes are made, then I generally agree, its probably a .500 team (though you never know for sure). But its still far too early to really get a feel. March 31st, we'll have a better picture.