southsider2k5

QUOTE (Felix @ Jun 12, 2009 -> 01:15 AM) People actually expected something from Marquez? Did they not see his numbers prior to this season? It could just be me, but I never expected him to do anything on the team, which is part of why I've felt that Swisher deal was so awful from the very start. I also saw Gavin Floyd's numbers before he got here... Jose Conteras's.... Matt Thornton's... DJ Carrasco was on the freaking minor league scrap heap. I know for some it is cliche, but the Sox have a way with pitching. Position players they haven't been as lucky with, but pitchers they get.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Jun 12, 2009 -> 11:33 AM) So what's the over/under on the next test based on these "tough" sanctions? I say 10 days from now. Supposedly they believe NK was prepping a third test and that is why CHina and Russia signed off at the UN level.

QUOTE (SI1020 @ Jun 12, 2009 -> 11:53 AM) Looking at the entirety of the thread I've got to believe you had me in mind when you posted this. Maybe not just me, but I get the point and can easily remedy the problem. It wasn't aimed at anyone person. It was a general statement of frustration that has been because of a long history of being compared to WSI everytime we try to fix on-going problems. To be honest, you haven't posted a lot, so you wouldn't even be in my mind to think of.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 12, 2009 -> 09:19 AM) For anyone really worried about this... we will not become WSI. We are not even thinking of some of the overly strict restrictions they have on that site, and we do not want a pack mentality. Be negative if you want to, no one here is going to label you a dark cloud. Just follow that last sentence from YASNY's post, and you will be fine (and, the board will be better for it, for all of us). Thank you. Soxtalk has been around for almost 6 years now, and nothing we have done resembles WSI. It is disrespectful of the job that they admins and mods have done here to mention WSI everytime that having some decency and standards gets mentioned here. I have full faith that we can have a better posting enviorment without being like that. It amazes me that people who have been here for a long time don't believe in the people who bring this site to you enough to think that this would turn into WSI.

QUOTE (joesaiditstrue @ Jun 12, 2009 -> 01:54 AM) I don't like Kenny's definition of "Impact", i.e. Lillibridge, Getz, Fields, Owens. Beckham doesn't count, he wasn't in our plans for this year until we started playing like trash So how about Viciedo, Gilmore, and Flowers?

QUOTE (Chet Kincaid @ Jun 11, 2009 -> 08:40 PM) Are we that sure that Tyler Flowers is a lock to contribute in the big leagues in the next few years? I mean I think with Orlando Hudson at 2nd playing like he has been for the Dodgers and with Javy playing like he always does we would definitely be in first place in this division. There is zero chance Vazquez would be having the same kind of year here. He is a mental midget. After the ass-kicking Ozzie gave him at the end of last year, he would have had a horrible year here, because he would have been too tight to be able to function.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 11, 2009 -> 10:31 PM) Jeff Marquez hasn't pitched in a month and a half...he's suffering from bone spurs in his pitching elbow. I have no idea on a timetable for his return, but I'd imagine he's been struggling with that injury for a while now and it probably related to how he performed early in the year (his last outing was the last couple days of April). Frankly, when I heard what he was on the DL with I was somewhat surprised they hadn't opted for surgery, although I don't know much about his case. I hope it is an injury. This organization for some reason really seems to be right on pitching prospects. The entire planet had given up on guys like Jose Contreras, Gavin Floyd, Esteban Loiaza, and DJ Carrasco. But somehow we turned them into studs. When they started talking up Marquez, I listened, based on their history.

So huge to see both Gavin and Danks looking like their 08 versions. This team can make a move if those guys pitch like top of the rotation guys, instead of backenders.

Jeff Marquez. I expected something from him.

QUOTE (tommy @ Jun 11, 2009 -> 02:04 PM) Ozzie said Paulie will be back Friday. I heard that too, I was just curious if things were worse than expected, what people would like to see.

So who do you believe the Sox should (not will) recall if Paulie goes down to the DL for a couple of weeks?

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Jun 11, 2009 -> 12:55 PM) Cowley speculates that Jermaine Dye, Octavio Dotel and even Bobby Jenks could be traded by the deadline. Also, speculated by Joe Cowley? That Nick Swisher and Orlando Cabrera suck, and AJ can't throw. Sorry, to drop that bombshell on everyone. It was more intersting to hear him destroy some myths, like Ozzie has a personal problem with Brian Anderson, or that Ozzie has lost the clubhouse. For the most gossipy type writer in town to take on those make believe things, it is more impressive than any of the regular columnists.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 11, 2009 -> 11:14 AM) See, this is a great example of why our current system is broken...this argument focuses so much with the short term costs that we're willing to pay 5x more down the road to avoid them. The data is quite simple; preventative care saves a crapload of money over the long term. Great. So when are we moving everyone out of California, the Gulf coast, and the Atlantic coast? After all we KNOW that there are going to be natural disasters there that are going to cost trillions more than if we just deserted those areas. We KNOW that many, many people there are going to be harmed. Why don't we force everyone out? Why did we pay to rebuild, and maintain places like Louisana when we KNOW that more Katrinas will happen in the future. It would just be preventative care, right? It would be saving people from harm, right? Nope, sorry, I don't agree with the logic. People are free to do what they want, and I shouldn't be forced to subsidize it, even though I pretty much am.

Between Q not coming back for a month, and PK being hurt, on top of the RISP struggles, I am Sox depressed. I hardly have the heart to watch this one right now.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jun 11, 2009 -> 02:29 AM) OBP doesn't mean s*** when you are staring at strike 3 right down the middle. If you are getting on base 45-50% of the time, you aren't really staring at strike three that often...

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 10, 2009 -> 09:11 PM) I was told tonight we're confident we can sign Thompson, but Goodwin is about a 10% likely signee. LIke I said, we wouldn't have drafted a guy that early if we didn't have a real good hint about signing him.

Well Fields just got a whole lot more important with the injury to Pauly.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jun 10, 2009 -> 05:18 PM) I had a hunch that the SOx were going to trade for Randy Johnson a few years ago. Hopefully your hunch is as wrong as mine was, lol. I also have a hunch that we'll see Jordan Danks by the end of August, more likely by July. They tried really hard, they just couldn't get Johnson to agree to come here.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 10, 2009 -> 09:19 PM) Do you really and truly think that individuals are currently making health care decisions? That the decision is not being made by 1. the individual's doctor, 2. the individual's insurance company, and 3. at a long distance back, the individual? And frankly, do you really think individuals are qualified to be the ones making health care decisions? I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I'm not. Trying to scare me with the idea of a bureaucrat making decisions about health care doesn't work when it's already happening...just happens to be done by a person who's job is to do everything possible to make sure that his or her company doesn't have to pay the bill. Furthermore...saying "Everyone can get health care now if they want to make that choice" is a wonderful straw man...because that's not the issue. The issue is that the way people are being forced to get health care is vastly, VASTLY more inefficient than the alternatives. Not going through preventative care is vastly more expensive than having to deal with something major that could have been avoided. Going to an emergency room for care is vastly more expensive than being able to see a regular physician. So the brilliant solution is to add "50,000,000" people to the system for free, well at the riches expense, and that will fix things. We have a fixed number of care providers, facilities, and drug companies. If we are complaining that our system is bad now, how is adding 20% more load, while reducing the incentive to be better by the people providing the goods and services going to make it better? The answer is it won't. Wait times will explode. Quality of care will plummet, and the number of people willing to work in the sector is going to dry up because any monetary incentive will be destroyed by the government. We will kill more people with government health care, than we do with the evil private system we have now, mark my words.

QUOTE (tommy @ Jun 10, 2009 -> 04:33 PM) Quentin wants to be back before All-Star Break. Ozzie said very unlikely. There's also a chance Quentin could be shut down all year. If the Sox are out of it post All-Star, Guillen said why should they put Quentin out there. per Cowley Updated the thread title.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Jun 10, 2009 -> 03:38 PM) You really strongly believe in social utopia, don't you? From the cradle to the grave.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 10, 2009 -> 03:20 PM) To answer your question of where you said it...it's a corollary of your view that people should be able to opt out. If you allow that, then you're rejecting the concept of a health insurance risk pool. There's no way around it. The argument I'm trying to make is that by living your economic life how you please...you're actually hurting others and hurting yourself at the same time. Not helping is different than hurting. There is a big difference. As Americans we have the right to not help.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 10, 2009 -> 02:53 PM) So then in that case I have to ask the question the other way since you don't support health insurance...what happens to the person who is working a minimum wage job at Walmart and actually gets sick or hurt? Gets in to a car accident, develops cancer, etc.? Just let them die because their job doesn't pay them enough? Again, where did I say I didn't support health insurance? Quit putting words into my mouth. Believe it or not, economic freedom was probably THE primary motivation for the creation of this country. Sure freedoms of speech and religion get most of the talk, but in reality, the s*** hit the fan over money. I believe that my freedom to economically live my life how I please, without harming others, is just as important as any of the other rights in this country. In that right, I do not have the obligation to support the rest of the country. Could other people benefit if they took more of my income? Sure. But to me, just like in a right of privacy, there are people who could be harmed by my ability to do what I want in my privacy. I could be building a bomb, and without due cause, no one would ever be able to find out. That could harm people to. Does that mean we should get rid of the rights to privacy? People can be inflamed by hate speech. Should we not allow people to hate other races publicly? The country was founded on a different set of ideals. Sometimes people pay the price for them.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 10, 2009 -> 02:30 PM) That's exactly the point. The entire concept behind health insurance, or any sort of insurance for that matter, is that the people who don't need the services are paying for the ones who do. If you allow the ones who have a very low probability of using the system, say the young and healthy, to opt-out and keep their money, then the only ones in the system are the sick ones. That drives the price of insurance towards infinity. I'm a perfect example; I've been to the doctor about 3 times in the past 6 years, 2 for knee injuries and one for a wrist injury, both times just having x-rays to make sure I didn't break them. But my employer has paid an enormous amount more in health insurance than I have used. It would be a huge benefit to me to keep the money they've spent on health coverage for the next few years until I'm older and my probability of disease goes up...but if that money hadn't gone in to the pool, the insurance rates for the people in it would be higher. More people would therefore have reason to opt out...and as more people opt out, the higher the costs go and the more people are forced out. Which still doesn't explain why someone should be forced to provide health care for someone else, such as citizens of other countries. I understand how the pyramid scheme works, God knows we have created enough multi-trillion ones of those in this country, I just don't support it.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Jun 10, 2009 -> 02:11 PM) I hope, for him, that as soon as his career is finished he's flown to Cleveland and given the royal treatment in a celebration that retires his number and mends the wounds brought on by that classless fanbase...otherwise known as the population of Cleveland. Jim and his wife did so much for that community and that organization. He deserves better than what he got there. They were lucky to have the guy.