DBAHO

Yeah I don't think it got close to Australia, Indonesia would have been the southern most point it hit, but if it did come to Australia, it would have been to the north and the west part of the country. I'm down here in the south - east in Melbourne. And yeah that area is pretty desolate, lots of deserts and open country, not really a capital city very close, about 1000 - 1500 miles away.

This graphic I found, sums it up pretty well;

My parents were both in Penang in Malaysia about 6 months ago, on a holiday while my Dad was working over there. I too was in Malaysia earlier on in the year, but I was only in the capital of Kuala Lumpur. All of the footage you see just amazes me more everytime, and then there's the stories of those who survived, like a 3 month old baby on a mattress floating on water, I think I recall hearing. This is going to be one hell of a global aid effort to get things back on track, and then there's other aspects to consider like the economy and tourism etc. And something like this could happen in Australia as well, if there was an earthquake off near New Zealand, they were saying a couple of days ago. You don't think it would happen, but hell, who would have thought something like this would have happened.

I think it's somewhere between 25 and 30 inches.

I suppose it would depend on whether or not there could be takers for Lieberthal and that contract of his as well (Dodgers?). I think he's a 10/5 player as well so he can void any deal.

I expect one of Mike Lieberthal or Polanco to be traded, as Philly does need to get under budget. Their payroll will be lower in 2005 than it was in 2004 I believe.

I think he's a Houston native, and the Astros' don't have much in the way of replacements, so it's probably unlikely they'll trade him. Stranger things have happened though.

Pittsburgh would most likely get Navarro and another prospect or 2 from the Yankees, and possibly 1 from Arizona, or a 4th team would possibly have to get involved. The Pirates would love Navarro though, I think Santiago is their catcher now, he's in the final year of a 2 year deal I believe that he originally signed with the Royals.

Arizona were also rumored to be interested in Craig Wilson and Kip Wells from Pittsburgh. Could be a good time for Littlefield to trade those two, get some real good prospects, and start building the team for the next few seasons.

Lucy hit .239 for Great Falls in rookie ball in 50 games. Had 17 BB's and 36 K's, which lead to an OBP of .312. He did hit over .300 for Stanford in early 2004 though. In contrast, Francisco Hernandez hit .326 for Bristol in rookie ball in 53 games, and even hit .333 in 3 games for Kanny. It's good to see the Sox signing more Dominican Republic prospects like Hernandez after teams such as the Dodgers have usually had the bulk of the young talent that comes from that region over the past decade. The Sox also signed an outfielder from there, and he's got good wraps on him. If only the Sox sended out more scouts to Australia now. Quite seriously though, the 3 main teams that have scouts down here are the Red Sox, Padres and Mariners, and Seattle especially have some real good Aussie prospects on their team like Travis Blackley and Chris Snelling, before he got injured. Back on the thread topic though, Zaun wouldn't be a bad idea if the price is right. The Blue Jays will definitely try to resign him, and my thinking is he'll probably stay there if they can hammer out a suffcient deal that will make both sides happy.

I don't think there's any question Valdez can play some solid D, that's his forte and why Ozzie wanted to trade for him in the Koch deal. It's whether Valdez can hit for a high enough average in the majors, because he never takes a walk, and that is going to kill his OBP.

Meh, long - term it could be a better move to sign him after he gets used to the game at the MLB level, because we all saw the adjustments Kaz Matsui had to make. But it's more likely they sign Cora or Cairo, which I'm very hopeful for if they don't sign a catcher.

Happy Happy Happy Happy Birthday A.J!!!

Ok following on with the XBOX theme, I am indeed the brand new owner of an XBOX console along with a nice big 64cm TV for my room. Now I did buy a XBOX Live Starter Kit, but I have a few questions on how I need to set it up. I have a wireless network at home with a wireless router in another room downstairs, now do I need another access point so that my XBOX can connect on-line? And yes I did purchase Halo 2, and lemme just say it's taking me some time to get used to the whole moving with the 2 analog sticks theme.

Eddy "Clutch" Curry.

Looking at Baker's stats, he certainly is an interesting proposition to consider. He's hit pretty well at every stop he's been at from his 3 years in the minor leagues, although it looks like he needs to improve his BB / K ratio in the higher levels, to improve that OBP of his, but that will definitely come in time. What would Billy Beane want from us in a trade though? Most likely, young pitching. A young arm like Arnie Munoz could be used perhaps in a deal, as it would give Beane the flexibility to have him as a starter or use him like a reliever using Cruz as an example.

Oakland also drafted Kurt Suzuki in the 2004 draft, I remember a lot of people wanted us to select him instead of Donny Lucy during the draft, so the A's are absolutely stocked with bonafide catcher prospects. I found this on the recent A's BA chat on their prospects; Baker was also put on the A's 40 man roster at the beginning of the month.

Haven't seen this around anywhere, apologies if it has been posted, but I saw this tidbit in the New York Post today;

Found this in the Boston Globe, it'll be interesting to see if someone does decide to buy the team, what type of effect this will have on payroll;

Boys vs. Skins. Now there's the game to watch today.

Yeah he's probably the only catcher on the market still possibly worth considering, and he did have a nice OBP of .367 in 2004 for the Blue Jays. He did really struggle in 2002 and 2003 though, so his 2004 stats wise could just be an anomaly.

I'd love to see the hits per person for each user of the site, think it would be really interesting. And of course, all of you posters here thanks for making the site so great for what it is today.

The problem is, the Sox probably would have filled their need at catcher instead of an infielder, if there was more out there on the FA market, but there isn't. Obviously KW has shied away from Pierzynski because of the potential problems of him being a clubhouse cancer, and besides him, there is really nothing out there starting wise, unless you can pull a trade. At least with infielders, there's still Alex Cora and Miguel Cairo still on the market. Mike Lieberthal is another guy I just thought of to possibly acquire, as Philly has budget problems, and we could probably get him quite cheaply, is making $7.5 million in 2005 I think though.

Keith, I'm getting an XBOX tomorrow so I'll have to start playing you, Tony, Jason and Alex multi-player with Halo 2 as that'll be the game I'm getting with it most likely with XBOX Live. And you'll be able to talk an Aussie, (folks there's an incentive). Shooter wise I had a look at the reviews of games on Gamespot, usually I definitely look at the review from them before I purchase or even hire a game. Ninja Gaiden is a great action game, but it ain't a shooter. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2 got an 8.5 and that came out last month, probably best to ask Jason first as I think he likes that game, not sure if he has that one or the first one though.