Balta1701

QUOTE(WCSox @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 09:03 AM) Agreed that it's a shame, given that his God-given talent allowed him to become the greatest position player of our generation. He was a first-ballot HOFer before he started using that junk. I see your point about his arrogance. Then again, I don't see how it makes him any more of a cheater than Sammy or Mark in their attempt to break Maris' record in '98. It doesn't make him any more of a cheater than them. They are all in the same crowd in that respect. I don't like any of them, and I hope they all wind up out of the HOF. I'm moderately sickened thinking about how I bought into the lies back in '98, and I really took pleasure in watching those guys crash and burn before Congress. Bonds, unfortunately, is still playing the game though, and that makes him the current focus of my Ire. The one way that Bonds is making it worse is that currently, it is all about himself. At least Sosa and Mac had the cover of no one really knowing for sure. Now everyone knows for sure about Bonds, and he's not nice enough to just shut his mouth and slip away. The best thing McGwire is doing now, unless he wanted to sit down with George "Whitewash" Mitchell and tell everything, is just shutting up and going away.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 20, 2006 -> 12:25 PM) Dems are having a hard time deciding on a spot for the 2008 convention - Denver or New York. Given that Colorado and the mountain west generally are the new frontier for the Dems, and NY is either a given for the Dems or a given for Giuliani, I think Denver is the better choice for them. Plus after the GOP had it in the Big Apple in 2004, it seems like the Dems are just following them around. And it's Denver. The right choice.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 08:56 AM) "ESCALATION". Nice buzzword of the day. I will call it a surge when I have some indication as to exactly when it will end. Doesn't even need to be a date, just a benchmark would do fine. Some suggestion that it might actually not be a permanent troop increase other than saying it won't be. Congress may well be able to attach enough strings to the funding to turn this into a surge rather than an escalation, but from having read the speech last night, thus far, there is nothing that makes it temporary other than Mr. Bush saying that it is. And considering that last night he also openly threatened Iran and Syria, with no suggestion of any diplomacy at all any more, he's also threatening even further escalation.

QUOTE(Rex Kicka** @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 08:51 AM) Here's the other thing to consider... he might have failed an amphetamine test but who's to say it was even involved with the sport. He might just have a drug addiction. In that case, he's still getting a competitive advantage through chemistry. So who the Hell cares what the circumstances are? QUOTE(WCSox @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 08:48 AM) I'm not giving him a free pass for that. I'm just saying that he's no worse than Canseco, Palmiero, Sammy, McGwire, etc. when it comes to cheating. I don't consider those guys to be bad human beings. But the way that Barry has treated people throughout his career has convinced me that he's a very poor human being. In my book, that's a lot worse than being a cheater. I consider him to actually be quite a bit worse than any of those, simply because he's the one who's body worked well enough with the drugs to give him a shot to challenge for that record. And he also will not simply slip away from the game to preserve a little bit of its shattered dignity - he actually wants the record, and seems to think he deserves it, despite what he did to get there.

On Erstad, he's on paper not the worst option in baseball history, but he's not a real solid one either. He hasn't been able to stay healthy at all these past few years, his production will be several steps below what Gload was able to give us even if he is healthy, and his defense has worsened as his health has decreased. That said, a lot depends on the price and what he's willing to accept. If he wants a chance to be a starter, he shouldn't get it in Chicago. If he's willing to accept starting at most 30 or 40 games in the season, and he's willing to take a very cheap contract (Which, if there are 6 teams after him, he may not be willilng to do) then it might be a decent move. Then again, it might just be a mistake to give Ozzie a left handed backup CF, because Ozzie might decide that every time there was a righty on the mound he needed to be out there. Again. Because BRIAN ANDERSON IS A FREAKING COMMUNIST AND EVERYONE KNOWS COMMUNISTS CAN'T HIT RIGHT HANDERS. AND MEN CAN'T GROW BEARDS IN SPACE.

QUOTE(dwalteroo @ Jan 10, 2007 -> 01:59 PM) Maybe I'm wrong, but I wouldn't be surprised if we went with 12 pitchers, and kept it with 4 bench guys. With the #5 start up for grabs, I could see it. That leaves us with no backup in CF, which is a situation I just can't imagine KW putting this team in again, given that I think having Mack in CF last year cost us a playoff berth. And besides, Ozzie uses his bullpen the least in baseball anyway, and that includes 2005 when El Duque kept falling apart in the 5th starter slot. Ozzie lives and dies by his starting rotation, which it's a safe bet he'll do again this year.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 07:37 AM) Sisco. Whoever earns the spot.

QUOTE(WCSox @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 08:35 AM) This is a good example of what the pro-Bonds crowd doesn't seem to understand. It's not about the steroids, growth hormone, or amphetamines. He's no more a "cheater" than many of his peers. It's about the way Barry treats people. Barry Bonds could treat people like crap and as long as he's not breaking the law or the rules of MLB I couldn't possibly care less. The fact of the matter is, Barry Bonds is about to break perhaps the greatest record in American professional sports. And he has done so by breaking the law and breaking the rules. That is all I care about. I don't care one bit about him being an ass to the media, or the media whining about him being an ass, or him whining about the media being an ass to him. Doesn't concern me one bit. I just don't want to ever have a son who comes up to me and asks me why there's this asterisk beside the home run record.

So who were the 5-27 people we killed with this attack (depending on who's statement you read)

If you ingest something which enhances your performance illegally, who the hell cares where you get it...you're still getting an artificial advantage over everyone else who isn't on the same substance. QUOTE(Steff @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 08:03 AM) It's not the stars fault they are hounded. It's the group of the public that wants and buys the trash that's dug up. Bonds is not to blame for those with such pathetic lives that they have to dig in his garbage. Those that do the digging and buy the s*** are. Oh boo-hoo, people are digging up trash about celebrities. Like I should give a rats rear end. You want to be famous, have tens of millions of dollars in your bank accounts, have vacation homes, and thousands of people cheering for you, then you better be ready to accept the negative part as well. Don't give me that sh*t. If it's such an undue burden on any of these people, there is absolutely nothing stopping them from giving all their money to Katrina relief and taking a job working 9-5 somewhere or joining the military and heading to Iraq.

QUOTE(klaus kinski @ Jan 10, 2007 -> 07:27 PM) One thing to consider about 100M payroll, in time, that WILL BE small market payroll, unless something drastically changes Do you seriously think that the payroll will not gradually grow with inflation as ticket prices increase and radio, tv, merch, and internet revenues go up? If the payroll stayed at $100 million for 20 years, yeah that'd be pretty darn obnoxious.

Senator Chris Dodd (D Conn) to officially throw his hat into the race.

That game against Minnesota that Loaiza started while sick which simultaneously cost us the division and him the Cy Young was pretty rough. Just in 06, the lowest point of the year to my eyes was also against the Twinkies. The game where Dye hit the game tying home run off Nathan, first time he's ever blown a save against us, and then the Sox manage to do nothing for the next few innings and lose in like 12.

QUOTE(PAUL KONERKO 14 @ Jan 10, 2007 -> 06:49 PM) If we don't have the best pen in the majors, how can we have the best all-time? Trade for Mariano Rivera.

Damn Mrs. Pelosi, she really should have stopped this fight. I hold her personally responsible.

Sam Brownback comes out against Bush's escalation plans. Brownback is in the 08 running for the Republicans, so it might be worth asking which way he thinks the winds are blowing. Seriously, Congress has to be able to do something to at least force Mr. Bush to show some progress rather than just dumping people in. Sen. Kennedy's proposal to prevent more forces from being moved to Iraq without Congressional approval ought to have a veto-proof majority given how many Republicans have given opinions in the negative on this. QUOTE(Texsox @ Jan 10, 2007 -> 06:30 PM) Well we sent in 170,000 troops to one country to stop terrorism,in this country, so this seems just as logical. fixed that for you.

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Jan 10, 2007 -> 06:19 PM) Is that large of a hike really necessary? I was thinking of starting a thread on this. How many people making minimum wage are high school students living with parents, college students working a campus job, retired folks bored with their lives, elderly, or people working a second job? I sure hope I get a 40% raise in the next two years. Then again I did get one a few months ago when jumping to a competitor. I bet you also hope you don't have to go 8 years without a single raise, which is what has also happened with the minimum wage. And just because someone isn't working in the highest tech of job, or is a teenager slaving away over a vat of grease, is that a reason why they don't deserve to make $10,000 a year working full time?

QUOTE(WCSox @ Jan 10, 2007 -> 05:03 PM) So what you're saying is that whatever KW, Ozzie, and other members of the organization tell the media is indeed what happened. I'm not sure I buy that, especially when Ozzie was so down on a player that KW was so high on. For all we know, it very well may have been a point of contention between the two. It's possible that Ozzie indeed did talk to KW about acquiring another CF and that the players that were available after the deadline were either mediocre defensively or were a liability in the lineup. So in other words, the only people available would have been roughly the equivalent of Mackowiak and Anderson? Seriously though...as long as we weren't putting Barry Bonds in CF, it'd be really, really tough for anyone we went out and got to be worse defensively than Mack and worse offensively than Anderson was through the beginning of June.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Jan 10, 2007 -> 04:35 PM) Hendrix All Along the Watchtower End of discussion. At some point, isnt' that one just implied at the top? Like how the bestselling book lists always just have the Bible at #1 and figure there's nothing interesting about saying so every single week, month, and year, and then just leave it off the list?

Here's All I could find from Rogers on Rasner: Toss in an article from Some texan site:

Troops from the 82nd airborne are already arriving in Iraq. 800 by tommorrow supposedly. Thankfully, the President was open and honest and happy to deal with Congress in a bipartisan way in this matter. He ignored the opposition on both sides. There are also not nearly enough armored vehicles for the newly arriving troops.

QUOTE(WCSox @ Jan 10, 2007 -> 04:37 PM) Did it ever occur to you that Anderson may have had limited playing time for disciplinary reasons? He does have a history of cocky, immature behavior. First of all, if that were the case, i think it's pretty likely we'd have heard something specific about it...I believe at least Uribe was sat for a game because he didn't run hard to first if memory serves. That's simply not at all what we saw with Anderson/Mack in the 2nd half. After Anderson finally started stringing some hits togehter and Mack went ice cold, Mack was still in there against what seemed like a majority of righties. Anderson was protected from such dominating righties as Bruce Chen, Vicente Padilla, and so on. And almost every time Mack was in CF, he directly led to the opponent scoring another run or two. I will still sit here and say that from what I saw, if Rob Mackowiak had never played CF for the White Sox in the 2nd half of 2006, the White Sox would have made the playoffs. The difference in defense was that huge. So if Anderson was so evil that he was being disciplined 1 out of every 3 games...to the point that it cost us a shot at the playoffs, then Brian should have been sent down or traded at the middle of last season.

Minimum Wage hike to $7.25 passes the House. Checking off #4...

Scott Schoeneweis is close to a 3 year deal with the Metropolitans. Tim Worrell retired after a 14 year career. John Thompson' signed with the Blue Jays, mainly because it seems he can't stand Paul LoDuca. Griffey shouuld be ready for Spring Training. Russ Ortiz to the Giants for a minimum, 1 year contract. Javy Lopez to the Rockies for 1 year, $750k. Jim Edmunds had surgery on his foot. Cal Ripken would be interested in buying the Orioles.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Jan 10, 2007 -> 12:31 PM) The mere existence of the no-trade clause, along with the fact that he's taken mild discounts, suggests he enjoys his time in Minnesota quite a bit, and the organization gets on well with him. They bought a firetruck for his hometown together, so I imagine he'd like to stay for the remainder of his contract. Of course he'd leave if they were offering him such a massive extension but I'm pretty sure he isn't going anywhere. The only thing the Twins could do which would hurt their baseball team more than letting Santana walk for only draft pick compensation would be to just contract the damn team.