DBAHO

Rio Tinto's an Aussie Based Company PA. Largest Iron Ore company in the world, for which there is a HUGE demand for in China and India.

QUOTE(vandy125 @ Mar 5, 2008 -> 01:22 AM) The Uribe money was basically so we were not over a barrel to get OCab (or at least find someone better). I don't mind 4.5 million to do that. I'll wait and see what the roster looks like when the season starts before worrying too much about this. What was the timeframe b/w the signing of Uribe and the trade for O-Cab FWIW. If it was only a week or 2, you would have thought KW would have had at least some discussions with the Angels about the trade before signing Uribe. Maybe he thought he could trade Juan? I don't know, maybe he still does?

Somewhere John Madden is distraught. Favre had a great career. Always had that gunslinger mentality, which cost him sometimes, but he was always fun to watch. Guess this means Aaron Rodgers gets his chance now.

And a couple of other snippets about the Vancouver win from a blogger;

Found this post on Hockeys Future regarding the draft;

QUOTE(greasywheels121 @ Mar 4, 2008 -> 03:46 PM) Donatello was the worst, simply because he was the worst turtle to be in any TMNT video game. /debate Disagree. You could always cheat with Donatello, put him on a high ledge, attack downwards, and game over.

Where does Fields play then in that scenario?

TX - Obama + 4. OH - Clinton + 5. RI - Clinton + 8. VT - Obama + 24. Clinton to stay in despite the defeat in Texas, unfortunately.

Except they had a reach of half the size of his head. Michaelangelo had a lot of things going for him, but the weapon, I would say no. Donatello > Leonardo > Michaelangelo > Rafael

There's a lot of "pie" related jokes you could use for Felix there. As for Balta's post above, I completely agree. Just look at what people are predicting for the Rays this season. But unfortunately, Angelos just has absolute no patience whatsoever for ebuilding. He knows that'll mean attendance will drop etc. and he'll lose money, so he doesn't want to go down that path, even though it's the right one.

I liked Donatello. He always had the best weapon out of any of the Turtles. Who wants to use nun-chuks, when you have that large stick to use against your enemies.

People have been saying that this is the best episode of the series so far, so looking forward to catching it this week.

QUOTE(Leonard Zelig @ Mar 4, 2008 -> 01:24 PM) If the Sox hold on to Crede he won't be on the bench. Oh yeah certainly. Although then Fields would start in AAA, which would just be stupid, considering he's likely the better player b/w the 2 in 2008. But my point was, the Sox have basically put 9.5M towards 2 players who aren't going to start for them. They're likely to trade 1 for prospects, which is a start. However, they should do that to the other also. Jason Bourgeois could play the role Juan Uribe could, it's not like you need to replace Orlando Cabrera late in games, and although he'll need a rest everynow and then, you could always sign a stopgap in FA for much cheaper. Put that money to better use, is my overall point. Don't throw money around at guys who are not going to help you win a division. Use that money to get guys who can do that for you in the future instead.

Well I think Owens is capable of having an OBP over .330 at least, I projected something around a .350 OBP is possible for him. Still that's not really that "good", I mean it's ok, decent for a leadoff hitter, but I think the offense still performs better with Swisher leading off (in a Grady Sizemore kind of leadoff hitter role), and having Cabrera at #2, and Quentin lower down the order, putting up an .800 OPS. The Erstad signing was a mistake, and he should have never been given a starting role. So much for the "grinders" we needed hey. Grinders have now turned into "OBPSC". On Base Percentage Sufficiently Challenged. Hopefully the new guys we have brought in put a stop to that problem.

FWIW, right now from the draft 2 years ago I think it went like this for the 1st 4 picks; 1 - Erik Johnson (D) - STL 2 - Jordan Staal (C-LW) - PIT 3 - Toews © - CHI 4 - Nicklas Backstrom © - WAS I wonder if the Blues would have that pick over again. It's a pretty damn good group though. Not on a Ovechkin - Malkin top 2 picks level, but still very good. Also Backstrom is back in the league for the rookie scoring title, he picked up a measly 4 points tonight. Helps when you have a guy named Ovechkin on your line though.

I think he's making just a tad too much. I'd rather Lowry, and that's even after today's shambles of a performance. Why wouldn't you just sign Kyle Lohse instead without giving up talent for around the same price?

Well he only had 5.5 sacks and 2 INT's, so he wasn't exactly a game changer on defense. JMHO though, you would have seen more of him than me. Of course not having a good NT, wouldn't have helped either. At least Ferguson will provide a decent stopgap, if he's got something left.

Washington could do some damage in the East if they make the playoffs. Ovechkin would have to get hot, and Huet to be pretty steady in goal though.

I'd think the Giants and Orioles would be the 2 teams who would take on Uribe if the price was right, and depending on other factors. The fact remains, if you keep Joe Crede and Juan Uribe on the team (very unlikely I know), that's $9.5M you have on the bench. How many extra wins are those 2 players going to give this team in 2008? Not many at all I would have thought. Hence, why I threw up that original idea in the 1st place, about trying to trade those 2, and allocate those resources better. We know that KW likes to wheel and deal, but to do that we need prospects, and quality ones at that.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 4, 2008 -> 10:14 AM) MacDougal is out of options, plus with his contract, the team won't want to send him down even if they could. The better move, I think, is to see if anyone has interest in trading for him. He does have that good "stuff" people like to talk about, so maybe some other team can get is head in the game. I thought MacDougal had 1 option left that the Sox could use? If not, I'd rather trade him also, but it'll be hard to get decent value for him the way he looks ATM. If he does have an option to burn, keep him in Charlotte for a couple of months, and let him find his own way back.

Sanchez plus a decent spect not named Velez will do me just fine for Crede.

I'm still majorly peeved that they never brought Major League Power Pros out here. Instead we get "The Bigs". A lot of previews went up for GTAIV as well recently, only 2 months now until it comes out.

McDougal needs to start the season in Charlotte. Let him sort his stuff out there, and not with us. Ramirez has been promising, but is still definitely a work in progress. Still inclined to have him start in Charlotte also, if he doesn't win a starting job at 2B for the Sox. As for the Linebrink discussions, I wasn't a huge fan of the signing at the time. His K/9 rates have decreased over the past few seasons, and his numbers with the Brewers weren't great, and he had excellent splits at PETCO. KW seemed to think, he would use his sinker more to good effect at the Cell, but we'll wait and see. He'll need an ERA below 4 to justify the signing, and I don't know if he can do that. I'm more confident in Dotel, if Octavio can stay healthy (but that's a huge IF also).

Porter was what in his low 30's though, when you gave him that contract. I just don't like the idea of throwing that type of money around for an aging player, unless he's an absolute stud. You could argue that signing Porter to that type of deal, didn't allow Miami to fill holes elsewhere, and they obviously don't have a lot of depth. As for Griese, decent work by Angelo to end up getting a pick for him. Jon Gruden just has too many QB's. What happens if Jake Plummer decides he wants to play again?

The Porter signing was a terrible one in the 1st place by Randy Mueller. At least Pace is coming into his prime now. Guess Chris Long is back to being an option with the #1 pick now (and they'll probably keep Jason Taylor also).