iamshack

QUOTE (G&T @ Aug 2, 2010 -> 04:11 PM) Domestic partner rights are quite common in states. Not so much federally. Can't anyone co-sign a loan for you? It doesn't have to be your spouse, does it?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 2, 2010 -> 05:05 PM) John Lackey was 31 when he signed that deal. D1 will be 27 when he hits FA. That should tell you all you need to know about contract lengths. Well unless you pay Danksy $20 million a year for 8 years or something, he's not going to want too long a deal either. He's going to want another shot at signing a long-term contract once he hits 32 I would think. I think you either sign him to an extension this offseason...something that pays him above what he would get in arb, and slightly less than you project in his first 2 FA years, throw an option on there for a 5th, and call it a day. If he refuses to work with you on that, you deal him. 4/$48 extension with a club option of $18 million for 2015.

QUOTE (girlslikebaseballtoo#26 @ Aug 2, 2010 -> 05:02 PM) That's not true at all. My kids' dad cheated on me with the daycare teacher 2 1/2 years ago ..they just had their first child and got married in April ...she is miserable and knew before she got married to him that it probably would not work out. She did it for the baby! I believe you have to have better reasons to make that kind of commitment to someone. He cheats on her all the time and she just deals with it ...stupid decision on her part IMO, but it's whatever. If they get divorced neither of them OR anyone else will be shocked by it. You can tell when people actually, really, truly love each other ..with them, I hate to say it, but it's just not there. Never should have married. Ok, there are cases like that, but the vast majority of divorces are people who honestly believed they wanted to be with one another but were either just wrong, or are bad in relationships. I think most people, when they stand on that alter or in the courthouse, honestly do believe they will be married for the rest of their life to that person.

QUOTE (girlslikebaseballtoo#26 @ Aug 2, 2010 -> 04:54 PM) Divorce was frowned upon and people just didn't do it. These days, people don't care ..they get married and divorced 4-5 times in their lives ...I think it's disgusting what people have turned marriage into. If you're not going to actually be there for better or for worse then don't say that you will be ...that just makes you a liar and a fat mouth. Let me ask you this, Bren...yes, divorce was frowned upon, but the same problems we have now still existed then. People just didn't talk about them as openly because it was a social stigma to be divorced. So if we're admitting that the same bad symptoms still existed, only that the overall problem wasn't dealt with because of a social stigma, is that really any better? Again, should you really put yourselves through the really bad times in the name of marriage? Is a legal title really worth being unhappy over? What is wrong with human beings not staying with a partner for their entire lives? What about that is fundamentally wrong? You're arguing that people should "stick it out" for the sake of upholding some tradition and a legal title. Maybe, just maybe, that tradition is foolish? Maybe that legal title is silly, if you have to be unhappy for any significant amount of time to uphold it. Is this a challenge of who can put up with the most unhappiness in the name of refusing to admit they made a poor decision in the past? It just makes so little sense to me...it seems like going through a whole lot of trouble for something so unimportant...wouldn't it be much easier to just throw out the silly tradition and be with a partner for as long as you want to be with them? And then when you no longer do, then you leave? Why is that inherently bad?

QUOTE (girlslikebaseballtoo#26 @ Aug 2, 2010 -> 04:49 PM) I said "if you're going to spend your life with someone" ..meaning, you aren't going to give up and throw in the towel like a little wiener who runs at the first sign of hard times. Everyone who gets married thinks they are going to spend their life with someone though...the problem is, people are usually wrong...

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 2, 2010 -> 12:26 PM) He is looking at a seven or eight year deal if he hits the open market. The guy doesn't miss starts and is left handed. In this day and age, that is worth about 10 million a season all by itself. Throw in the sub 4 eras, the way less than a hit per inning, and not many walks either, and you are in the 17/18 million a year range. If that is what his camp truly expects, then he must be dealt this offseason. There is simply no way we can afford, nor should we pay any SP that kind of money. My limit on contracts for pitchers would be the one Lackey got this past offseason. I would offer Danks $5/80 million, and if he's not cool with that, than sayonara. These long-term deals for SPs never seem to work out for the club....do you ever hear about the club wishing there were more years on these contracts? Like, "darn, if we had only locked up so and so for that 8th year..." Never... Take a look at Johan Santana's contract, which was just signed 2 years ago, and it already looks absolutely horrible for the Mets...

QUOTE (Soxman72 @ Aug 2, 2010 -> 12:00 PM) I agree with you 100% The show is even using a ton of stock footage. Many views of the park show a ton of old blue seats. They are also repeating numerous interesting clips from previous shows. There is a lot of filler in each episode and very little behind the scenes. I still think it is fun to watch and I am enjoying them, but I expected more. I really wanted them to get into the Zambrano stuff and the Ozzie point of view, but it didn't happen. The draft episode was the best so far and I am looking forward to the trade deadline episode. I just do not want to sit through a "we love Jackson and we always wanted to keep him" episode. You guys have to realize that they can't be jeopardizing the reputation of players on other teams for the sake of our entertainment. The inside stuff they show is shown to give us an insight on the process, not on the dirty secrets of the players.

QUOTE (girlslikebaseballtoo#26 @ Aug 2, 2010 -> 02:42 PM) I believe in marriage. I believe that it's not just a momentary, "oh, I'll just try it and see what happens" thing. It's something that takes a lot of time and dedication to make it work. ..I think that people don't take it seriously enough and have made a joke out of it. It's also better to be married should something happen to your significant other. (God forbid) Even if you've spent a s*** ton of your life with that person, built a life with them and they die ...you're not entitled to anything. Their family could screw you over big time ..so IMO, if you're going to spend your life with someone anyway, why not make it legally binding??? Because of the number of marriages that end in divorce, and quickly, at that.

QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Aug 2, 2010 -> 03:53 PM) Did my first P90X workout today, and got absolutley destroyed by Core Syn, but I did finish the workout. Hopefully I can stick with things. Congrats Tony! Keep pushing play!

QUOTE (chw42 @ Aug 2, 2010 -> 03:32 PM) The lack of discipline is true. He swings at nearly 40% of pitches outside of the zone, that's pretty bad, but not unexpected. His weakness seems to be the outside breaking stuff...which is not uncommon, as you said. The good thing is, he does actually get his bat on those balls quite often. But if he could just lay off them a bit more...he does seem to lay off stuff inside fairly well, but that could be because he likes to dive across the plate a bit.

Happy Birthday men! Enjoy your day!

QUOTE (chw42 @ Aug 2, 2010 -> 02:07 PM) Pretty good deal for Milwaukee. Even if Hart isn't this good over the next three years, having him at around $9 million per is pretty damn good. These deals seem to work well for everyone involved. Sure, Hart will probably lose a few million $ by not going to FA, but it does give him security for the rest of his life. And were he to get injured, this protects him. He can always go for the big bucks in 3 years when he hits FA and try to make the huge money. I think if I was a pro baseball player, I would choose that route.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Aug 2, 2010 -> 02:18 PM) Somebody over at another forum brought up the idea of Jason Bay for Jake Peavy. Both make a similar amount of money over the next couple of years, Bay has an extra year of obligation. Depending on how Jackson progresses, I wouldn't be all that against such a swap. The problem with that is then the Mets are basically paying out $40-45 million a year just to Jake Peavy and Johan Santana...and they still have no OFs worth a damn, especially if you assume Beltran will suffer another semi-major injury as he always does. I don't think such a trade is worth it for the Mets...

QUOTE (The Beast @ Aug 2, 2010 -> 11:28 AM) Is marriage nothing more than a contract between two people? Yes. Give me one other difference between it and long-time couples who aren't married.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Aug 2, 2010 -> 11:14 AM) Just because Coop likes him doesnt mean we didnt overpay for him. Jackson has been bad this year, there is no denying that, and with the price tag he has you dont give up the only SP prospect that you have that can make an impact on your big league club this year (we have other pitchers, but no one else is close to Hudson's level). Even if Jackson succeeds, we're stuck with a $54 million starting rotation with no clear favorites to replace one of those expensive starters. I would like Jackson if we kept Hudson, because then we still ahve the flexibility to trade a starter in the offseason while having Hudson be the cheap yet potentially good 5th starter. Sometimes you overpay to get your guy. If you really like him, and really have faith in him, then you can afford to overpay because you have immense confidence that he will pay large dividends for you. Let the trade play out a bit...

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 2, 2010 -> 10:07 AM) I'd bet on it. They don't do their own research for the most part they are just an RSS feed. Plus Tim Dierkes has some history with Rosenthal...I think Tim interned or something for him. The Dodgers are falling fast though...they are 6.5 out of the WC behind 3 teams...and they are indeed bleeding money. They are paying deferred money to Andruw Jones still...ugh...

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 2, 2010 -> 09:53 AM) He'll be put on waivers, no doubt. It would be interesting to see if someone did claim him with an eye on 2011. I really doubt that anyone would claim him. No one will touch him. He's owed at the least about $42 million if you buy him out in 2013. No one on earth is going to risk that kind of money on a player whose return is in question. But if someone did, I can imagine Kenny would try to extract a few names just to save face and call it a day...

As someone who is not seriously considering an Android phone, I do find the constant new releases of Android phones a bit confusing. I suppose that would not be the case if I were to seriously consider one, but since I have not, I watch these commercials and honestly have no idea which phone on which carrier they are even talking about. All I know is that there are some offers that give you 1 free if you purchase 1 at full price. In regards to the spec wars, I think it's ridiculous. Even the techie people are having a difficult time keeping up with the constant one-upsmanship here. I actually have no clue which phones spec out the best. The vast majority of cell phone users want to do the same few things: they want to text a LOT, they want to check their email, they want to have internet connectivity, they want to run facebook and twitter, they want to take pictures/videos, and they want to be able to load music or listen to radio streaming apps. The manufacturer that creates phones that do those functions well will put themselves in a very good place. Secondly, Apple has done a magnificent job creating a device which is desired as a status symbol and as the "stylish" device to have. Do we really think all these girls and women keep up with the 20 new phones that come out every month? Do they read the tech articles or the forums? No. They see other people with the iPhone and they want it. It seems like every woman I meet has an iPhone. Some of them have iPhones that are 2 years old and beat to s***. But they almost always have iPhones. I dunno how anyone is going to unseat Apple in that regard.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 2, 2010 -> 12:04 AM) The problem is it wasn't a personal shot. I thought Sox fans might pm me with congratulatulations and/or comments about Jenks. I doubt anybody wanted him to fail. Usually the gamethread is a more liberal place as well. Greg, think about it...why would other Sox fans pm you because Bobby pitched well? Are you his new agent?

QUOTE (J.Reedfan8 @ Aug 2, 2010 -> 12:34 AM) Why on earth would it be Pena? Whomever they send down has to stay down for 10 days. So it's not going to be TPain. What they should do is put Kotsay on the 15 day DL retroactive to whenever he last played (Wednesday?) with a forearm strain or something bogus, bring Torres up, then send him back down after the start and bring Chris Sale up. Then bring Teahan back when we return home and send down whomever you feel least comfortable with, Threets or Sale. Send down Lilli or Viciedo after an more extensive look at what Dayan can do when it is time to bring Kotsay back.

QUOTE (chisoxfan09 @ Aug 1, 2010 -> 11:37 PM) OK, gotcha. You would not see any potential value in Beltran if he went unclaimed until it was our turn? Especially if the Mets pick up salary? I assume they won´t at all but just sayin... If we were to claim him, we would be responsible for the $25 million or so Beltran is owed over the next year and a half. Given his production and injury history, there is no way anyone is going to claim him. Now after he passes through waivers, you might be able to work out a deal whereby the Mets eat $15-ish million of his remaining contract, but to be honest with you, Beltran is probably not going to bring you much more than Andruw Jones is offering you at just $500k this year.

QUOTE (chisoxfan09 @ Aug 1, 2010 -> 11:06 PM) Anyone think the Mets would put Carlos Beltran on waivers? His power numbers dipped last year and he is coming off major knee surgery. If he made it to us in the scenario would he be worth the taking if the Mets pay some salary? I would see him as a salary dump as he is a FA after next year? When healthy he does pose a nice threat from the left side but he is owed 18 million next year, ouch!! OK flame away. Every player on every team will probably be placed on waivers. Your question is better phrased as will he pass through waivers unclaimed. The answer is absolutely.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 1, 2010 -> 10:24 PM) Is that something he had written into his contract, or is that something that comes with 10-5 rights? It would be either - I believe they work essentially the same. If a player negotiates for no trade protection, he is protected from exactly that, being traded. Claiming a player on waivers still must technically result in a trade of that player for him to change teams. Otherwise, a player with no trade protection has no protection at all. A team could just place him on waivers and give him away for nothing if they wanted badly enough to get out from under the contract, and the player would be rendered powerless. Now what a team could do is simply DFA the player and the player could then choose to sign with another team or choose to sit on his couch, but you cannot technically force a player with no trade protection to play for another team, as far as I understand.

QUOTE (zenryan @ Aug 1, 2010 -> 11:54 PM) This show has been rather disappointing IMO. I was hoping more of a show that gave us behind the scenes insight in meetings, discussions,etc. Instead its like a highlight show with Ozzie and KW interviews. I would put in my Sox Pride DVD if I wanted to see that. You have a point...the second episode was pretty solid, as it showed us a bit of what goes on in the draft process. I am hoping the last two episodes are more along the lines of that.

QUOTE (J.Reedfan8 @ Aug 1, 2010 -> 11:34 PM) Excellent. I'll have to look on the guide everyday to see what time then. Kudos Mark. I dislike you slightly less now. Great. Now I can sleep tonight. Fathom, I dunno what you want out of this show...I am watching it right now and think the episodes are pretty good.