Balta1701

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Jan 5, 2007 -> 04:47 AM) That's what I 1st thought when he was acquired as well, but it seems the indications from the Sox tend to indicate that he's probably going to start off the year in Charlotte. And I mean at his age, and with that HR rate he had last season, that might not improve much at a higher level. I thought he'd start off at Charlotte too, but If the team wants Sisco working as a starter, there might not be room. Haeger/Floyd, Danks, Broadway, Phillips, Gio, Sisco. 6 guys, unless we move another starter somewhere.

Today's edition of "Poorly Worded Headlines I wish I could see in real life" Stallone Attacks Mexican Border Fence This has been another edition of "Poorly worded headlines I wish I could see in real life".

QUOTE(greasywheels121 @ Jan 5, 2007 -> 08:24 AM) I'll be back in Bloomington later on today; I'll try and check this out as I'm unpacking. Stop by Jimmy Johns for me.

I've said it before and I'll say it again...PETA does more to hurt the cause of animal rights in this country than any other group possibly could. They may hurt their own cause more than any other group in the nation.

Taylor Hanson. Soledad O'Brien.

I think the White Sox got more talent in return for Garcia than the Yankees did for Johnson. That said, to me, Johnson has significantly less value to start with than Garcia did. He's more than 10 years older, has 100% less cartiledge in his knees, is coming off major back surgery, actually had a worse season than Garcia last year, and did not show signs of improving like Freddy did at the end of last year. And on top of that, Garcia is signed to an affordable deal, while Johnson's is ridiculous for a guy who put up a 5.00 ERA last year. If I were the D-Backs, I wouldn't have made that deal talent wise just because of all of the negatives along with Johnson and his status, or at least I would have held out a little for more money, but if it helps them put more fans in their stadium it may balance out for them.

Jake Peavy arrested at Mobile regional airport...cop told him he couldn't park somewhere, told the cop to just write him a ticket, Cop arrested him for disorderly conduct, Peavy paid the $350 bail.

"No back rubs" - German Chancellor Merkel to George W. Bush at a press conference today.

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Jan 4, 2007 -> 07:33 PM) personally, i don't care what either did. I do at some level. If a person tried something once or a couple times, I could live with that, but I don't want a regular user or recovering addict in the White House. Edit: For example, if say, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court spent a decade addicted to dubious painkillers which caused hallucinations to the point he tried to leave a hospital in his pajamas, well, that's something I'd care about.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Jan 4, 2007 -> 07:17 PM) All of them I hope. Hall is a pretty good defensive catcher as well, and throws out runners better than AJ. If a small platoon is built and combined they hit .300+ I would say it was worth it. Well, some of them are certainly against bullpen pitchers...and it's hard to sub a catcher in a close game if you only have 1 on the bench. But otherwise, yeah, there's very little reason not to just treat it as a platoon, unless one catcher simply can't work with a pitcher.

I'm sure someone will start a thread for this soon, but hey, i'll have it here first. Bill Cowher to step down.

I seriously Can't wait until this guy's in jail. He'd probably already be there had the DOJ not done that search of his Congressional office last year - that's kept this case tied up in court for months, so that the indictments haven't yet come down.

QUOTE(NUKE @ Jan 4, 2007 -> 04:51 PM) Much as I love Bush and the Republicans, one of the things that REALLY pisses me off about them and the oil companies is the massive subsidies they get from the government for all means of whatever. Time has come to take that cash away from them ( I think they make enough now ) and transfer it into a crash alternative energy program. This makes good sense from both an environmental standpoint as well as a national security standpoint. If the Democrats have 2 brain cells to bounce off each other they'll forget about this socialist windfall tax idea of theirs and take away their fat government subsidies away instead. Nuke, I could not possibly agree more. Suddenly I feel so dirty...

Rep Goode's office (or at least one of them) today: Link

QUOTE(Reddy @ Jan 4, 2007 -> 04:09 PM) why would he do that? not like he wants dems to win in 08... if he had 'waved his hands and made oil skyrocket' it would have severely hurt the GOP The few people who do think that think that the story is that Bush pushes oil higher whenever he can to please his corporate masters but then arranges a drop in oil prices in the fall in order to help his party win elections because see, the President's got oil prices down. Of course, oil prices are cyclical in exactly that way because of the more expensive blends used in the summertime to avoid evaporation of gasoline in summer temperatures which can be a major contributor to air pollution, but for some reason the people who believe that it's all Bush's doing and those who shoot them down are the ones who keep getting heard. By the way, should I toss in the "warmest year in recorded history" prediction and do an anthropogenic climate change nudge nudge wink wink here?

So let's see, thus far, this deal works out for the Yankees as: The D-Backs get: Brad Halsey Dioner Navarro Javier Vazquez Something in the neighborhood of $9 million in the first deal Roughly $2 million in this deal The Yankees get: Luis Vizcaino Ross Ohlendorf (10-8 with a 3.29 ERA at Double-A Tennessee last season, made southern league all-star game) Alberto Gonzalez (a 24-year-old right-handed hitting SS, batted .290 in 129 games with Tennessee with six homers, 50 RBI and 20 doubles, supposedly solid defense, and is currently serving as the Attorney General of the United States) and potentially Steven Jackson (8-11 with a 2.65 ERA in 24 starts at Tennessee) 2 years of mediocre pitching from Randy Johnson, and 1 beaten up cameraman. Yeah, I'd say the D-Backs made out pretty well in that. Especially when you replace Javy with Chris Young. Still, I wouldn't have made the deal to get Johnson back.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Jan 4, 2007 -> 02:33 PM) It says alot when Barbossa takes the last second shot for the suns, and Arenas does for the Wiz. John Paxson and Steve Kerr = MVP's. Booyeah!!

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Jan 4, 2007 -> 02:40 PM) I dont know. I think this is a guy who is a better closer than an SP. Plus he had shoulder problems at the end of last year, I dont know if I feel comfortable with him carrying even more innings. That may well prove to be the case, that he's a better closer than a starting pitcher, but when you do the math, you're looking at a guy who pitches 60 innings versus a guy who pitches 200 innings. If the performance levels are similar, in almost every case, the starter who gives you 200 innings would be more valuable and useful. That's the logic, and it's pretty sound. The question will be whether or not Papelbon can give a decent performance as a starter. If he comes out and puts up an ERA in the Josh Beckett range, then clearly he isn't fit for the rotation. As much trouble as Boston has had with their starting rotation the last few years, I'd say its' a reasonable gamble. As the White Sox have proved, it isn't ungodly difficult to find a decent closer if you look in the right places (Shingo, Hermanson, and Jenks all filling that role in 05, the White Sox have probably 5 people who could close in 07, etc.) And anyway, shoulder problems can crop up from a multitude of things. Some pitchers seem better able to handle short bursts every other day than they do working long amounts every 5th-6th day. Think Smoltz and his surgery issues...he was better off in the bullpen right after the surgery, then moved back to the rotation once he was healthier.

QUOTE(hammerhead johnson @ Jan 4, 2007 -> 02:30 PM) God damn man, they have a guy who is arguably the best closer in the game, and they're trying to put him in the starting rotation? That closer-by-committee crap could be the difference between 90 and 95 wins. So could having a Papelbon in the rotation.

Doug Mientkiewicz reportedly about to sign with the Yankees. Probably not a bad move for them, with the bats they have in that lineup, they can probably afford to basically be an NL team and have an automatic out in the 9th spot for some games, as long as it gets Giambi off of 1st.

So, as far as I can tell you guys actually are wrong...Contreras, Garland, and Vazquez do not hit FA all at the same time. Jose hits after 2009...this is the first year of his 3 year deal. The first year of Garland's 3 year deal was last year. Both Garland and Vazquez hit FA at the end of 2008, and they still have JC for 2009.

Mark Loretta signs a 1 year, $2.5 million deal with the Astros. Will serve as basically an infield utilitiy man/backup for BGO.

QUOTE(Iwritecode @ Jan 4, 2007 -> 10:48 AM) OK, one thing I want to know... Is an actual Madden disc with porn on it or was there an actual porn disc inside the package? One would think the kid at least looked at the top of the disc before he started playing it. Presumably, the disk would probably have to have had the madden label on it for anyone to give this story enough credibility to publish.

According to one Arab news source, the actual noose that hung Saddam has ended up in the hands of Muqtada al-Sadr. And a Kuwaiti businessman is trying to buy it from him.

QUOTE(EvilMonkey @ Jan 4, 2007 -> 10:29 AM) So having a rate increase ceiling means that postal workers take a pay cut? That's sure the way the article makes it seem, when in fact, what it does is force them to have to become more efficient, in their operating systems and hiring practices. I work with the PO every day in running my printshop, and let me tell you, they suck. Just about everyone at the 2 I go to should be fired. Half don't know beans about bulk mailing, which is less than I know! Most are very indifferent or rude and customer service seems like an oxymoron. And the stories I hear from my mother-in-law, who works at the Gary processing center? Oh boy. 20/20 should go do a hidden camera story there if even 10% of what she tells me are true. Gimme a break, that's the first story that popped up when I googled the bill to see what the focus of it actually was, and at least it outlined what the actual goal of the reform bill was (clearly not to give the President authority to open mail under whatever it defines as "exigent circumstances.") Anywho, flipping topics again, since I had a different article I wanted to post anyway. On October 19th, 2006, George W. Bush signed a bill requiring the White House to appoint a "Policy Coordinator" for North Korea within 60 days. It has currently been 79 days since Mr. Bush signed that bill into law. The position remains unfilled.