Balta1701

Jeff Brantley is leaving ESPN for the Cincinnati broadcast booth. And in one fell swoop, every baseball fan in the country outside of Cinci just got smarter.

QUOTE(Mplssoxfan @ Oct 31, 2006 -> 11:35 AM) That said, I wouldn't throw the book at the beverage thrower or the heckler. "I'm sure that spending a night in jail will help them learn to love the liberal position on gay marriage".

QUOTE(southsideirish @ Oct 31, 2006 -> 11:29 AM) When Derek Lee went down Aramis was expected to pick up some of the slack. As was stated earlier, he didn't. He had a good late second half when the season was over. Meaningless numbers. Plus he is absolutely horrendous fielding 3rd base. He tried to catch an easy pop up and it bashed him right on his big freaking melon head. No, I would not want him on my team. I would love to see him with the Angels. He is not a winner. In fact he will make a good team lose. I think he's one of those guys that really needs to be put in the right situation in order to succeed. Specifically, he can't be the man, like the Cubs needed him to be, he has to be with a team that has the ability to cover for the mistakes he'll make in the field, and the team that has him has to really need his bat. It's actually possible that the Cubs could be in that situation next year...if Lee has a full, good, healthy year, and they have a leadoff man, such that there are a lot of RBI opportunities and he's protecting Lee, and Lee is there to bail him out on some throws from 3rd to first, and Lee is able to be the man on offense, he could fit in quite well with the Cubs. But he's an equally good fit with the Angels...O.C. can cover some ground at SS and make things easier on him, his job in the lineup would be to protect Vlad the Impaler, Vlad is the star and his job is protection, etc. He may not be able to make a team a winner on his own, but he's a useful piece if you understand how to use a guy like him.

QUOTE(SoxPride56 @ Oct 31, 2006 -> 09:55 AM) Why does it seem like everyone wants to get rid of Iguchi? He has been nothing but solid since he came over here. Yea, there are times his head is up his ass, but which player on the Sox hasnt been like that one way or another? Iguchi is one of the best 2 hitters in baseball, and getting a guy like Young will only make him better if he moves down to number 6 or 7 in the lineup, a spot that would make him comfortable. It's not a matter of wanting to get rid of him, it's a matter of Business. Iguchi right now is almost as good of a bargain as there is in baseball, with him getting what, like $3 million this season or soemthing crazy like that? But the problem is, he's a Free Agent at the end of 2007, so he's another guy who will be looking for a nice sized salary increase, and we can only have so many of those at the same time as upgrading other positions. Plus, his salary also makes him a useful trading chip this season if we don't think we can extend his deal - someone else would be happy to take him and his bat for a year.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Oct 31, 2006 -> 10:08 AM) We should feel comfortable with what we are going to get for one of our guys. For exactly the reasons you say...I'm not totally sure it would be a terrible idea to trade 2 of them, given what we could potentially get back, the fact that 2-3 of them will have their contracts up at the end of 07, and the fact that we already have Haeger and Broadway sitting at the AAA level or above.

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Oct 31, 2006 -> 10:15 AM) Controlling sperm production without effecting testosterone levels AND avoiding 'unwanted' side effects? My ass. So many jokes...so many ways to get myself banned...so difficult to resist...

Thank Jesus. This is exactly what we needed. In another 10 years, we'll have abstinence-only education expanded to 65 year olds, and everyone everywhere will eschew sex in service of the lord.

Yahtzee!

Sadly, Mr. Kerry is wrong. Once they finally decide they need more troops, maybe after McCain is elected in 2008, there's going to be no choice but a draft, and then it won't matter how much education you've had.

"This was an act of terrorism committed against Barbara!"

QUOTE(fathom @ Oct 31, 2006 -> 07:57 AM) To me, Cintron is much more valuable. He can play 3 positions soundly enough that you don't cringe every time the ball is hit to him. It's a hell of a lot easier to find a back-up outfielder than it is someone who can play 2B/SS/3B. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge Mackowiak fan. However, his salary is pretty high this upcoming season, and I'd rather try to open up some payroll to sign a legit back-up catcher with the money we can save by getting rid of him. I think the best argument for dumping Rob Mackowiak is also the most simple one. If Rob Mackowiak is not on the White Sox, Rob Mackowiak will never be put in Center Field for the White Sox, which, for example last year, might well have turned into 5-10 more wins for the team.

So, for the past 5 years or so, it's been official NASA policy that Hubble was at Death's door. The Telescope uses a system of Gyroscopes in order to actually know where it is and be able to orient itself. The whole telescope can contain 6 of them, but it only needs 3 to function. Problem is, those gyroscopes have a habit of failing, so every few years they need to be swapped out. After Columbia, it was judged that another Hubble repair mission might be too risky, because sending a shuttle to Hubble would leave the shuttle on a path that would be unable to rendezvous with the ISS in the event of another shuttle emergency, so Hubble was placed on a death watch. Not sure exactly what it was that changed the minds of the folks running NASA, but the ol' workhorse observatory will live on. NASA is scheduling one final Hubble Servicing mission in 2008, which will hopefully let the great telescope hold out until a replacement is built and launched some time about a decade from now. Save The Hubble.com

Nature, Science, Geology, G-Cubed, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Journal of Petrology, Geophysical Research Letters, American Mineralogist. What?

QUOTE(Texsox @ Oct 31, 2006 -> 05:25 AM) They just lost a loved one, 99.99% of the time it wouldn't involve millions and millions of dollars. Hence the phrase "Cases like this" which Rex used. Because very few cases involve millions and millions of dollars, there should be some sort of built in system to deal with those cases so as to avoid depriving victims of tens of millions in damages.

Aramis filing for free agency ≠ Cubs Lose Aramis. Not yet anyway.

QUOTE(sox4lifeinPA @ Oct 30, 2006 -> 05:40 PM) unfortunately tellers don't have that much money. What I would do is get a teller on the inside to find the top 10 richest bank customers and then fill out transfer slips into a joint account.....Then die in a gun fight with the cops. you could easily land 2-3 millions just like that........for your wife. Of course all of that is for speculative purposes and nothing i would advocate. Wouldn't it be different if you hadn't been convicted before death?

QUOTE(Felix @ Oct 30, 2006 -> 04:30 PM) Hasn't Shaun Alexander taught you anything? Next question.

On a different note...here's how well finally getting Drudge to start running the "Webb's a pornographer!" story seems to have worked for George Allen. Here's the formula the Senate seems to be following. The Dems are going to pick up Ohio, Penn, and RI, barring any monstrous shifts in the next week. The Dems also look like they'll hold NJ, the only seat that they really should have been scared about. Then, there's Montana, VA, Missouri, and Tennessee, and for a simple Majority the Dems need 3 of those 4 (assuming Lieberman for Lieberman doesn't bolt).

QUOTE(Ohio_Fireman @ Oct 30, 2006 -> 02:42 PM) Hi fellas! Indians fan here! lol I know I know! Just wanting to ask you guys about hermanson, is he healthy now? Im sure you guys know about all of the problems the tribe had with their BP this year. Anyhow excellant site! Welcome to the site...and we have no problem with fans from other teams who are genuinely interested in learning stuff or talking baseball. Hermanson is not healthy now. After 2005, he was faced with 2 options, rehab his back or attempt a risky surgery that could end his career. He attempted the Rehab...and when he started in Spring Training, his back went right back out. He attempted to rehab the whole year, and finally got back to the big leagues at the end of the 2006 season, but didn't have much. He'd lost a lot of velocity and his back was still hurting him. Hermanson should not even be signed by the Royals to a major league deal, not with his back. He is a reasonable risk for a team looking for a veteran reliever to fill a hole in a bullpen, but he shouldn't be counted on to either be healthy the full year or to come anywhere near where he was during 2005. That said, someone really ought to pick him up on a minor league deal, just because Hermanson always points at the sky after every save, and it's entirely possible Jesus and another offseason could hold his back together enough to make something of a difference, but that's a big if.

QUOTE(SoxFan562004 @ Oct 30, 2006 -> 02:22 PM) What are the other teams expected to bid high for him? I imagine the Dodgers and Angels would like a power surge. Cubs may catch a small break in the fact that NYY won't be interested if they're really keeping A-Rod, and Boston may be happy enough with Lowell not to be too interested. Also Mets won't need him. So some of the big spenders won't be a factor. With that said, he likely wouldn't do this if he and his agent thought they could get a pay bump. They'll have a lot of pressure from their fan base to not lose him. Houston and LAA are the top 2 in both money and need as far as I can tell. The Dodgers may be in the game, but they may be more happy with Betemit for a full season. The Tigers could use another bat. The Padres could use a bat, but who knows how much they'll be willing to spend. The Phillies could have some interest. Ramirez's agent has said that there are 7-10 teams interested.

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Oct 30, 2006 -> 02:26 PM) well, i have a feeling you'll change your mind on the ID issue once fanatic evangelicals start voting 50 times each to ensure their minority opinions are what drives the political landscape. No, because they'll wind up in jail, because as the study shows, the folks who try to do that have a real nasty-habit of being caught.

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Oct 30, 2006 -> 02:14 PM) how do you know this? you know exactly how many faudulent absentee votes are cast as compared to other types of voter fraud? you are guessing. but anyways, i'm also fine with making sure absentee votes are legit. just because there is an abuse in voting in a certain area does not mean that other areas should be ignored (obviously). of course. Actually I posted on this last week. As part of the Help America Vote Act, the government undertook an outside study into what types of voting irregularities and voter fraud actually is discovered. The preliminary results are out, and the study is going to conclude that while examples like what people use to justify those ID laws, that there are huge blocks of people who vote who shouldn't be voting, is actually simply untrue. Current levels of enforcment of the laws have been more than effective in preventing those types of voting abuse, and in fact, they've been on the decline in the past several years. However, Absentee ballots are a much bigger problem, with much more widespread reports of vote-buying, voter intimidation, and double-voting due to them. Link. Quite literally, if you're interested in preventing voting fraud, you forget this voter-ID idea which there simply isn't evidence of a problem it is needed to solve, and you start pushing to reform or eliminate absentee voting.

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Oct 30, 2006 -> 01:41 PM) no. the ones they catch are small number of the total cases of voter fraud. In KC they have already caught around 20,000 bs registration cards. This is a big problem. And yet somehow, absentee voters showing up at polling places and voting twice or absentee voters being coerced are much more likely to happen than someone voting who is not actually eligible.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Oct 30, 2006 -> 01:07 PM) Garcia also has value, and will almost assuredly be lost in FA following the 2007 season, whereas they'll lose Vazquez following 2008. The White Sox do not necessarily have to pick up Vazquez's option in 2008 if I recall correctly, and I believe it was rather expensive given his past performance. If Buehrle can't be signed to an extension, Buehrle must be the first one traded. But then after that...it comes down to Vazquez and Garcia and whichever one of them will bring the most back in a trade.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Oct 30, 2006 -> 01:42 PM) So what happens with Iguchi? Because from everything I've ever heard or read, Michael Young is an average to slightly below average defensive SS, so he shouldn't be playing it with a pitching staff so dependent upon defense. Iguchi is a Free Agent at the end of 2007.