Balta1701

QUOTE(longshot7 @ Mar 20, 2007 -> 12:03 PM) Who cares about the cubans? What I think is funny is that crazy Christians are going to have to vote for Romney because there's no one else who's religious in the race. C'mon Pat Robertson - let's hear that "Mormons aren't Christians" claptrap now. The Republicans care an awful lot about the Cuban exile community vote in and around Miami. The Dems will also occasionally make efforts to go after it. It gets a lot more emphasis politically than the .5% or so of the U.S. population it makes up...but an awful lot of it sits in Florida, a swing state, and the media has a habit of paying extra attention to them.

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Mar 20, 2007 -> 10:32 AM) the problem is that much of our work force is in no way ready to do high tech jobs. our education systems sucks at teaching the mathematical and engineering sciences. we have to bring in people from other countries to do a lot of high paying engineering and computer work. But then of course we limit the number of visas we allow for those type of workers to a number quite a bit below what could be used, cause you know, we can't have them taking our jobs.

Now this is just funny. A month before Duke Cunningham agreed to plead guilty on corruption and bribery charges, a group of 19 Republicans in Congress sent a letter to the DOJ complaining about the fact that Carol Lam, the U.S. Attorney prosecuting the Cunningham case, was being too lax on bringing immigration-related charges against people. One of those 19 signatories? You guessed it. Duke Cunningham. (gigantic document dump last night. We should have days worth of fun on this one) Also this morning, the Senate passed a bill that will overturn the Patriot Act provision that allowed the White House to replace these attorneys with political hacks without having to go through the Senate.

Chuckles. Edit: and here's the cover: link to host

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Mar 20, 2007 -> 08:37 AM) Apparently Prior and Wood are both starting the season on the DL. Ah...baseball season never truly begins for me until I read that sentance.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Mar 20, 2007 -> 07:16 AM) That explains the discrepancy between the BP article on Russell and his actual delivery. I thought his tailing fastball was confusing hitters yesterday, and he keeps his velocity up. If he starts in AAA, i expect big things from him I think that either starting him in AAA or even considering him for the bullpen/5th starter job at this point in his career is pretty foolish, given the way our team is constructed right now. I think Russel falls somewhere around 6th or 7th in line for the last spots in the big leagues right now. We ought to be penciling him in for mid-08 or start of 09.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Mar 20, 2007 -> 08:35 AM) Jesus f***ing christ. Anderson has no f***ing shot Am I the only one who noticed that the DeLuca story gave all of Anderson's spring numbers and none of Erstad's spring numbers? From talking about Anderson's slow start, to him getting up to .348 a week ago, to his recent 0/8, it's all in there. But Erstad's 0/4 3k day yesterday gets no mention, his .635 OPS gets no mention, but his planned 500 at bats do.

QUOTE(jackie hayes @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 07:48 PM) Edit: And Vidro's gonna bat third for the Mariners, sez Hargrove. Wha? What the heck happened to Ibanez? And Sexson? Why in the world do you bat the guy with 7 home runs and 47 RBI 3rd when you have a guy with similar average and OBP but 33 home runs and 121 RBI, and a masher like Sexson to sit behind them?

QUOTE(BearSox @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 07:34 PM) He did give up a run, but that happens. I thought he looked pretty good today and I liked what I saw from him on saturday. Not sure if it includes today, but his ERA this spring is 9.45. That's almost bad enough for him to join the starting rotation.

QUOTE(BearSox @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 07:35 PM) I highly doubt it, as Pods, Erstad, and Owens are all lefties, and that would pretty much screw us vs. righties. In other words...Owens is batting 3rd. So long JD!

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 07:18 PM) I hear he was taking a piss during both AB's. (ozzie walks back out) OG: Great, Darin hit a home run! BA: Actually chief, that was me. OG: QUIET YOU! (WHAP!) Cora: Really, Oz, that was Brian. Darin struck out. (Machine gun fire is heard) 10 years later... KW and OG talking to the press KW: After that, we did the only humane thing we could do OG: We tied BA up in the attic of the cell and fed him a bucket of fish heads every night. KW: It saved our season!

QUOTE(BearSox @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 07:30 PM) And surprisingly, I also like Haeger. But I am a bit uneasy about having him as a starter. I'd like him in the pen, but right now, IMO, it seems like it will be Masset and Aardsma the other two righties. I believe Aardsma gave up another run today. I think he's done absolutely nothing to earn that last bullpen spot, and I think it may well go to Charlie.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 06:56 PM) of course he is. So is Luis Castillo I always thought that being a "Grinder" involved being a guy who doesn't have the greatest natural talent. Otherwise, why isn't Thome a grinder? How many guys are there in baseball who run as hard to first as him? He just also hits the ball really really hard.

So...I think in general, it should be regarded as a bad idea to purchase naming rights on any baseball stadiums in Texas from this point forwards.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 06:23 PM) (OPS/(AB/SB))*GLC (good looking catches) + INF 1Bs Is Ichiro a grinder? Because IIRC he often destroys that category.

QUOTE(TLAK @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 06:19 PM) They want to see if he will break down or lose his effectiveness. When/if they decide he's their man they will back him off and just get him ready. He's still under the microscope for the present -just like Brian. A .635 OPS is virtually no effectiveness. Brian Anderson was around .610 in the first half last year, and .690 in the 2nd half. One more bad day and he's into "First half Brian Anderson" territory.

QUOTE(winninguglyin83 @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 06:21 PM) i thought I read in the chicago papers that Russell would start the season in the rotation at Birmingham. charlotte will have phillips, perhaps Gio, the loser of Danks/Floyd, and two others. Russell started last season at Winston-Salem, A ball and ended going 3-3 in 10 starts in AA with a 4.75 ERA. During the half season at W-S, he went 7-3 with a 2.66 ERA. If KW does choose to move a pitcher at Midseason to fill a hole on the big league club (ahem...LF), and don't rule that out especially if Phillips is out of options...Russell might well make AAA before the end of the year. But, right now, there looks to be a very strong rotation in Charlotte already (Floyd/Haeger/Danks, Phillips, hopefully Sisco, Gio, Broadway). So McCullough and Russell may wind up spending the year at AA, or even more than a year if AAA remains that crowded.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 06:02 PM) KW is ballsy not retarded. Ergo...he will be traded for the balls of a grinder. Possibly Rowand. We're just not sure yet.

QUOTE(Reddy @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 05:31 PM) i agree with you man, what has erstad done except GRIND to show that he belongs in our CF over Anderson? NOTHING. For the love of God anderson finally looks like he's pulling his s*** together and we send him to AAA? wow... i'm just hoping Erstad goes down early and hard. How sad is that? I spent most fo the 2nd half last year hoping Mack would get hurt adn being really really mad at myself for it. It sure looks like I may be spending another season hoping for an injury to someone I should be cheering for, and I like it just about as much.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 04:36 PM) Steroids were going on long before the "late 1990s." You can't deny that there was an offensive explosion in baseball in the late 90's. That's the key point...there's lots of causes for it (smaller ballparks, better training, and of course increasing steroid usage)...so when Greg Maddux puts up an ERA of 5.6 in his first year... In 1986, Maddux's first year, the NL average was 4.18 runs per game. in 2006, it was 4.76, and no team was even at 4.18 runs/game (the lowest was Pitt at 4.27). In other words, there was an offensive explosion that hasn't yet died away.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 04:23 PM) Greg Maddux first 186 innings, 8-16 5.59 ERA Tom Glavine first 245 innings, 9-21 4.76 ERA That's in the NL no DH. And...before the late 90's Steroid and other causes fueled offensive explosion

QUOTE(Hideaway Lights @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 04:04 PM) my point was that some people seem to have a very good idea of where brandon mccarthy is going to be, but "the jury's still out" on floyd...seem hypocritical. here's my main question - how many pitchers have pitched an over 7 era in the NL for their first 100 innings and then regained form to become serviceable major league pitchers? It's not like Garland or Contreras where he's hanging around the high 5s and 6s in the AL, he's in the SEVENS in the NL! Jason Schmidt put up a 6.50 ERA in the NL his first 85 innings. Roy Halladay put up an ERA of 10 in 13 starts in 2000. I'm sure there are more examples out there. The kid may very well wind up sucking, but 100 innings over 3 seasons isn't going to convince me very well.

QUOTE(Greg The Bull Luzinski @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 03:58 PM) How quickly the love for Erstad turns sour. Negative Nancys! Did I ever actually love the guy? I don't really think so.

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 03:54 PM) Uribe and Anderson have combined for 11Ks. Of course they have 4 HR and 8BB between them as well. Ersty has 0 and 2, respectively, though not respectably. Ok, so I think I'm getting the idea here...we put Erstad at shortstop instead of Uribe...given that 7 of those 11 other k's are by Uribe.