JUGGERNAUT

On principle alone I will avoid ever using the ignore feature. If all persons are created equal in terms of their right to speak & be heard then I should not discriminately choose to ignore one over the other. However; I do see merit on a temporary basis when a discussion gets out of control.

Defensively they say Soriano is good when healthy & energetic. But as the season wears & he becomes tired he is prone to lapses. He's not going to win a GG any time soon. But he is good at turning DP's & helps a team more than he hurts them defensively. The biggest question mark is his health. At midseason in 2003 he was on pace to win the AL MVP. But he digressed a little from that point on & tore a tendon in his hamstring in late 2004. He opted not to have it surgically repaired this winter. Still, given the money we spent on Luis & what we are offering to Iguchi I would have much preferred Lee being traded to Tex for Soriano than Lee being traded for Pods, Luis, & PTBNL. Money wise it would have made no impact on the signing of El-Duque & AJ.

As a leadoff hitter he posted a 907 OPS. Up 30 pts over his career avg of 874 OPS. 2002-04 avg's: Apr .354A, .399O, .565S May .253A, ..296O, .490S Jun .307A, .341O, .494S Jul .257A, .293O, .511S Aug .275A, .317O, .504S Sep .301A, .348O, .556S Soriano has proven over the last 3 yr's he can be a very effective leadoff-hitter. But with his power it's a waste to use him as such. He is more suited as #2, #3.

Let's look at the facts shall we? As a prospect BD was heralded as the next J Bench. His stock was much higher than that of AJ's. Athletically he possesses more talent than Bench did. He has speed, power, & quickness w the bat. He has a strong arm & was at one time considered one of the best defensive C prospects in all of the ml's. Now BD has not been given the chance to play everyday but he did have considerable success in the ml's. Athletically he is superior to AJ in every way. He has not been given the opportunity to prove what kind of hitter he could be. He hit in ml's. Then struggled with Seattle & did better after moving on to the CWS. So I do not think it is impossible for BD to post a better OPS, & CERA in ST than AJ. Nor do I think it's impossible that in doing so he might impress Ozzie enough to win the starting role. Now you obvious think it's impossible so it would be best just to agree to disagree. But I will say this much. I would prefer an average hitting BD over a good hitting AJ. BD's speed will equal more runs than AJ's strength. Provided that BD can hit reasonably well to get on base.

Soriano all the way. He's from the DR & he speak Japanese. Perfect addition for the clubhouse.

I see it being the cubs. The Mets are in a very enviable position over the cubs right now. They can bid against them for Maggs & they are the only real option for trading Sosa. So they can use that as leverage in the Sosa trade negotiations. I think the cubs will meet the Mets price & trade Sosa for Floyd then sign Maggs. Their OF will be Floyd, Patterson, & Maggs.

This is the latest I could find. http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/sports/baseball/10474697.htm Long-term deal interests Soriano Soriano, represented by SFX, a three-time All-Star who earned $5.4 million in 2004, said Tuesday he would be all ears if the Rangers approached him about a long-term contract. Rangers assistant GM Jon Daniels said. "Soriano is, a little bit different case. But right now, I don't have any reason to believe that we won't be able to work a contract out." If what you said was true then why the hell didn't KW trade Lee for Soriano? Based on everything I read the Rangers were looking to add strength to their OF. KW could have given them Lee+Harris for Soriano. Maybe a middle prospect as well. He takes care of power & leadoff in one move. That's why I just don't buy it. I think the Rangers were simply demanding too much based on Soriano's star status & no one met their price. That's not the same as actively shopping him. No team is going to trade for him w/out a 72 hr window to sign him long term. That includes Houston. So the Rangers will demand a king's ransom in talent to get him & then the team will owe him a King's ransom to sign him.

More info on Soriano (stuff you probably don't know): Soriano has it all (power, speed, & a picture-pefect swing). In 2004 he helped the Rangers go from bottom feeders to playoff contenders. No other player was marked as having a more significant role in the Rangers rise than Soriano. Soriano was named MVP of the 2004 MLB AS Game. Born in the DR in 1976, Soriano has been playing baseball since he was 6. Grooming himself to be a big league SS. At 18 he signed with the Hiroshima Toyo Carp of the Japanse Central League. There he became a better baseball player, learned to speak Japanese, & learned to eat a better diet. After signing with the NYY in 1998 Soriano became a superstar just 4 yrs later being the first 2B to join the 30/30 club (30HR, 30SB) & was a finalist in 2002 for league MVP. His combination of speed & hitting makes him one of the most dangerous leadoff hitters in MLB. He was voted to start at 2B in both the 2003, 2004 AS Games. I was not aware of his Japanese baseball roots before looking it up. I think he would make a fine addition to the CWS if we could afford him.

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/tex/news/tex...s_tex&fext=.jsp As a World Series hero, an All-Star Game MVP and a Silver Slugger Award winner, Alfonso Soriano has experienced many thrills in baseball. On Dec. 7, the Rangers second baseman proudly walked on to Alfonso Soriano Field, a renovated youth baseball facility in his hometown of Quisqueya, in the Dominican Republic. http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/tex/news/tex...s_tex&fext=.jsp The Rangers will revolve around a young infield that has become the pride and joy of the franchise. Soriano is the best offensive second baseman in the league. So I strongly disagree with your assertion that the Rangers are actively shopping Soriano. If a great deal comes their way they'll take it because they have no chance of signing him long term. Steinbrenner had the NYY's considering a deal before the winter meetings to get him back. But when news surfaced of RJ wanting out of the AZD the NYY's shifted gears. So I repeat if the CWS has the opportunity to get Soriano & sign him to a mutli-year deal they should do it. He is far above any other talent on the list.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6689542/ The All-Star second baseman is eligible for salary arbitration and likely will get a raise from $5.4 million to $7.5 million or more. “We’re very comfortable with Soriano, comfortable with our club where it sets up with him there,” Hart said Thursday, a day before the winter meeting. That doesn’t mean Hart isn’t willing to listen to offer. But there won’t be a deal unless “somebody was to overwhelm” the Rangers. That doesn't sound like a clubhouse cancer to me. It seems more like a team that knows that if he's all-star in 2005 they have no chance of signing him as a FA. The bottom line is this. Soriano helped make this team more competitive than A-Rod did.

The problem is the system. It's corrupt to no end because of greed. Re-design the system so that it's less corruptible. Common sense. Refer to the miranda rights. If you can not afford an attorney the court will appoint one for you. No where does that imply the defense as a right to bilk taxpayers for lawncare services! And I agree wholeheartedly on capping the prosecution as well. It always comes down to weighing whether the value of their prosecution is worth more than the cost of their prosecution. In the OK city bombing case prosecuting Nichols is probably worth the cost but in most cases it's probably not. Like medical fees, legal fees are skyrocketing out of control as well.

Oh man! You guys just won't let this die will you! Well as the self-proclaimed #1 supporter of free speech, free assembly, & right to be heard on this board I have this to add: Until a moral relativist can provide me a link strongly supporting their believe that the majority of dago's, mick's, japs, aussies, pollacks, nords, swedes, frenchies, brits, & germs find those terms offensive I will look at their objection as nothing more than their attempt to impose their moral relativist ideas on the rest of us. Political correctness w/out majority support = thought control & censorship. Moral relativists feel a need to do this because they lack the talent & power to influence the majority into their way of thinking. Since the majority think their full of s*** they then resort to defining their way as the correct one. It's that elitism that pisses most people off. Let me clue you in on a relevation of humanity: there is no correct way. Not now. Not ever. We are a species that is driven primarily to fullfill our unquenchable desires. When we fill our desires we become board & seek new ones. That's why the only constant in our race is change. That's why even the english language itself undergoes radical & revolution changes in slang. It is molded by each new generation not out of efficiency but rather the desire to escape boredom. Hence we now have new definitions of the words "verb" & "word" that we never would have conceived a generation ago. That's why there are black people in black circles calling each other "n"'s & hoes. The popularity of which has white people in white circles calling each other the same exact names. You may not like it & you may find it offensive to your ideas of what those words mean to you but you have no right to compel them to conform to your ideas. That's the essence of what free speech is all about. The free expression of ideas whether you strongly agree or disagree with them. It's a general principle upon which there should never exist a relative morality as a filter. To the moral relativists out there, why is it ok to make references to biatches, m-fockers, whores, & hoes, but not gays? Are not all of these terms sexually-oriented slurs? It seems you object to a reference of gay but not the others. That's a double standard. How do you reconcile that? If someone uses gay in a non-sexual context (as that poster did) is it then not wrong to use these other terms in a non-sexual context? We are a creature that is best defined by that which we do to escape our own boredom. That is what seperates us from every living organism on this planet & quite possibly our solar system our universe & the very boundaries of our space time itself. Every other creature on the planet needs only that which it requires for physical existence. We need more. We need to escape boredom. It means more to us in many cases than our physical existence itself. Color is what defines us. All the colors. The ones you like & the ones you don't like. Don't be breakin' other people's crayons.

As usual many of you are grossly oversimplifying the election process. At every polling place there is suppose to be an equal number of GOP & DEM election officials. They are suppose to work together to make sure things run smoothly & honestly. They serve as checks & balances against one another. The problem is .. the pay sucks .. and in most polling places they can not find enough people to take up that job. So what usually happens is on election day there is a shortage of officials & the balance does not exist. Depending on the makeup of the region either DEMS or GOP might outnumber the other & in some cases the other might have no representation at all. The only solution is to move national voting day to national voting weekend. The super tuesday thing is a joke. Voting should start on a Friday morning & end on a Monday night. If you have to increase the pay for the officials then do it. More people would be able to take up that job because it would occupy their weekend instead of a workday. But this will never happen because greed runs the nation. Every single aspect of it.

Hey c'mon now. This was expected. Don't be surprised. If people can sue McDonald's & Oreo for making them fat then this guy has a right to sue NBC for making him sick. It's the American way. What still surprises me is that the contestants haven't sued NBC for the episode. Waivers are a nice form of protection but contestants could use video-tape & other sources of evidence to prove that they were placed under extreme situations of stress in making their decisions. That amounts to coercion on the part of the producers & the contestants could then sue for damages as that basis despite having signed a waiver to do so. There is also the potential for class-action suits in the interest of public safety. Suggesting that Fear Factor promotes the belief that eating such strange things is acceptable. Now all they have to do is present evidence of persons having tried such things after watching the show resulting in health problems.

Should I bash my fellow GOP brethren for being happy? Na. I'll just say I envy you. I can not share your sentiments. We are losing the war on drugs, the war on terror, & war on capitalism. All wars we could never win in the first place but dedicate billions each yr to attacking supply rather than address demand. Our kids & some of their parents are becoming ADD drug addicts. A new phenomenon that the capitalist machine that infiltrates our schools choose to ignore. We are losing are capacity to supply basic goods & services such as vaccines. Our health care industry is falling apart with individual insurance rates growing at better than 10% a year. Our unions are losing the ability to fight for the most basic of all benefits to workers: health insurance. Our unions are weakening in numbers each year. I can go on & on but there is a clear trend of decline in America under basically GOP leadership. The separation of wealth has never been greater in this country. That includes the industrial revolution. Now I'm not saying that there is anything better on the other side of the aisle but there is certainly not enough good on our side of the aisle to be happy about.

Well Duh! For those keeping score the biggest impact the Patriot Act has had on terrorism is funding. The PA makes it much harder to donate dollars to terrorists & for terrorists to move & launder $. So when the belt tightens the terrorists naturally will seek new sources of funding. Given their locales & their powerbases as warlords in most agricultural sectors drugs were a natural choice. Now that they are firmly planted as drug suppliers they can now increase their reach & influence over drug dealers. Essentially they just found a means to purchase tough street smart mercenaries. Which gets back to the argument I've been waging on this board ever since 9/11. Why does Jihad Internatial exist? What do they want? Is it because they want power & are aggressive or is it because they want the US to stay out? Do they really want to destroy Israel or do they just want to contain it? Does the US refuse to stay out because of national security concerns or because of capitalistic profit concerns? If you ask people around the world why the US is now looked upon in a negative way it has little to do with Bush or Clinton & everything to do with American companies & American practices. They see the Nikes, Gaps, & Disneys of the world set up shop in their regions & essentially run sweat shops. They see how these same companies use tactics to prevent the formation of unions in those regions. So what has happened during the last 20 yrs is that the world has come to see America as a country that says one thing & then does another. That's how you continue to lose credibility. It's not just Bush. It's the Disney's of the world as well. To most in this world America represents the greediest nation on the planet. It's rheteoric does not match his deeds.

The New York Post says that the cubs have upped the $ offer to make a swap of Floyd for Sosa financially even for the Mets. But the Mets want more & they might just get it. The Mets are in a position to blackmail the cubs into offering more $ with Sosa in exchange for the Mets dropping out of the Maggs bidding. The Mets are prepared to out-bid the cubs for Maggs. Wth NY, BOS, ANA, & LAD soon to be tapped out financially that leaves the cubs & Mets as the two biggest bidders for Maggs.

It's done. Green is a member of the AZD. It took an extra 2M from the LAD. LAD is now expected to sign Lowe to a 36/4. KW's prices for starters is now beginning to make a lot of sense.

Yep. I read the same thing. Money-wise it was a wash. McLane had upped his offer to 108/7. The Mets offer (after deferred $ considerations) is 115/7. The difference in taxes betw NY & TX actually equate the Astro offer better than the Mets. But the Astros were offering only a 2yr no-trade clause. The Mets were offering a full no-trade clause. But the Astros didn't stop there. To make up for the limited no-trade they offered an 8th year option at 16M w a 2M buyout. Upping the total value to 110/7 guaranteed. I think Beltran allowed Boras to fast talk him into signing a deal that makes Boras a richer man. No-trade clauses are over-rated in this day & age. Look at the Vazquez situation. He doesn't have the clause but as part of the MLBPA contract he can demand a trade in the middle of a multi-year contract. So essentially any player that has substantial value can simply speak his mind & have a similar impact as a no-trade. The bottom line is this. If the Mets still suck & Beltran struggles bye-bye endorsement money. Whereas the Astros never suck. They field a competitive team yr in & yr out just like the CWS. He knows the field & has enjoyed success hitting there. The endorsement money was a near lock. Beltran would have earned more with Houston. Boras stole that from him.

It would be stupid to take that bet. On both sides. The risk of injuries to C's is higher than other players. Since they are both competing for the lead role they might not disclose such injuries to the team.

I'm not knocking AJ for his GIDPs. All I'm saying is that there are enough question marks surrounding AJ & KW's confidence is that high in Davis to where it's not a slam dunk for AJ to beat out Davis & get the majority of starts. I hope AJ's being here helps Davis. It would be good for the CWS to not see that much of a drop-off between them when Davis pinch hits or pinch runs for someone.

Where did you real that? I've read they've been trying to sign him to a multi-year deal ever since he arrived.

Why is Soriano's name keep coming up? Did he say he wants to play for the CWS? Of all the names in that list the most likely to win an MVP or be an all-star is Soriano. Month to month consistency is what separates the solid players (Soriano) from the flashy ones (Sosa). 2004 April .341A .381O .432S May .235A .279O .426S June .325A .358O .487S July .239A .292O .523S Aug .286A .333O .518S Sep .254A .301O .522S 2003 April .370A .436O .630S May .229A 290O .466S June .268A 302O 415S July .240A 270O 427S Aug .275A 325O 505S Sep .348A 387O 670S I think he would have his best yr yet at the Cell.

Why is Soriano on the list? If we have any reasonable chance to get him & sign him to a mutli-year deal then we should do just that. You would have to be a fool to pass up that opportunity. He's w/out question the best player on that list & his potential at the Cell is unimaginable.

Does someone have a track record on how often these Phillie related rumors turn out to be something? Who are the Phillies happy with? All we ever hear is how they aren't happy with productive players. Why? Is it money?