Balta1701

38 year old Doug Brocail, reliever for the Padres, had an angioplasty. The guy who attacked the Royals Coach at the Cell has violated his probation and will be spending 5 years in jail. Pittsburgh's Chris Duffy and Curt Schilling are unhappy with each other after Schilling beaned Duffy in the head. And the Braves signed Bobby Cox to a 2 year extension through the end of 07.

Pedro Martinez threw 81 pitches off of a mound. Thus putting him about 46 pitches ahead of Mark Prior.

Jack squat will happen until either the Delay trial starts or there are more abramoff indictments handed down. Until then, they're all too happy to ignore it.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Mar 13, 2006 -> 10:52 AM) What did they do with the other picks before that one? Well, in round 7 they drafted Covelli Crisp...traded him along with someone named Luis Garcia to Cleveland for Chuck Finley during a playoff hunt...probably wouldn't mind having that deal back, especially after losing both Sanders and Walker this offseason...other than that, I don't think there's anyone else they drafted in the earlier rounds in the big leagues, at least no one i recognize. So like I said, it's a crap shoot...you have to judge which ones to hold onto and which ones to pass on. Crisp was a PTBNL, so he wasn't the real key part of that deal, but he turned out to be the one you'd have wanted to keep I think. Wow, we drafted Rogowski 4 picks before Pujols.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Mar 13, 2006 -> 10:43 AM) Yes, well at the time, I thought that Garcia was worth more than prospects, especially Olivo and Morse. Reed was the only player worth anything to me, and Garcia heavily outweighed Reed in terms of value. Thats where we disagree. I thought the trade was fair when it went down, and a steal now. I value proven ML'ers more than "potential" any day of the week. See, I can't make that rule as hard and fast as you're doing it. I'd say on weekdays I'll take proven MLers more than potential, but on weekends I'll take potential. Why? Because even though it's a crapshoot, if you get the right "Potential" guy, you could make yoru team a winner for 10 years. For example, where would the Cardinals be if they had traded away their 13th round selection from 1999? Every so often you get lucky with a guy, and you just have to try to figure out which young guy that is before you trade him.

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Mar 13, 2006 -> 10:38 AM) Ask hardcore Bulls fans if two seperate three peats make recent struggles bearable. Yes.

This is only to draw laughs...Roll Call.

So...is there any news around about Vaden's ankle?

QUOTE(aboz56 @ Mar 13, 2006 -> 10:30 AM) He'll be back in my view and with that, he'll be the best big man in the Big 10 next year. CJ link on him being neutral: http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.d...PORTS/603130361 That would be excellent news...and if nothing else, it's a nice little present to offer an incoming coach. He'd be absolutely insane if he leaves...but by threatening to leave, he probably at least will have a little bit of input into who the next coach will be, which is probably why he said so publically.

Hehe, just wait until they get to add MRO images...Google Mars.

QUOTE(samclemens @ Mar 12, 2006 -> 04:45 PM) well the conspiracy to kill milosovic has been exposed. heart failure...the most deadly poison of them all. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4799880.stm Well, the interesting other side to that has come out today. Yes, it was heart failure, but it was heart failure brought on by a drug which was found in his system which was not prescribed to him.

QUOTE(Palehosefan @ Mar 13, 2006 -> 09:56 AM) Minnesota would take one of them. The other could end up falling into someone's lap like Indy or even Pittsburgh. I think that the depth of this year's RB class is 75% of the reason the Colts were willing to let Edge go. More than even the salary cap.

So...uh...Nice to meet ya.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Mar 13, 2006 -> 09:25 AM) 1 out of how many? Right now you have BMAC, Anderson, Sweeney, Fields, Owens etc A couple out of many that didnt work out. For the majority, prospects are just trade bait. Exactly the point...you get those 5, and suddenly you have 1/5 of your team making the league minimum basically for 3-4 years, combined with guys like Konerko, Thome, Buehrle, Garland...and you've got a heck of a lineup. BUT...the trick is, being able to figure out which ones are the worth-while ones even when others may not (i.e. BMac) and then trading away the ones who others may think are worthy but you don't think will be as successful (Reed, Aaron Miles, etc.) Thus far, KW has been extraordinarily good at making that determination, to the point that we wound up with a trophy. He keeps that up, and we'll be in excellent shape.

QUOTE(kevin57 @ Mar 12, 2006 -> 08:12 PM) Completely wrong. The American people pretty much suppose Bush on fighting terrorism. And polls have shown overwhelming support for violating civil rights when tapping phone messages involving Al Queda. Yes, this is true...when you poll whether or not you support wiretapping of Al Qaeda suspects, the public overwhelmingly supports it. But see, the trick in that question is that in the way the poll is asked, you're already presuming they're Al Qaeda suspects. No one in their right mind has a problem with wiretapping Al Qaeda suspects. However, when the question is asked in a way that actually looks at just the program itself, without presuming that the person being targeted is directly an Al Qaeda suspect, support decreases significantly.

Route 30 is a decent pathway through...but you have to be willing to tolerate stoplights. Someone else can tell you if it's under construction. When I was trying to slip through, the couple of roads I always wound up using were I-90 in Indiana (the toll road...separate from 94 until you get to the Illinois Border...it's also possible to ditch it south to 30 at several points if you don't want to head up on the Skyway towards the city.) There are several other more backish roads that I've taken through there with varying success...Routes 12 and 20 will get you through NW Indiana without terrible troubles at most times, but again you have the stoplight problem. Also, Route 6/Ridge road is pretty useful for getting through NW Indiana, but it dies off when you cross the Illinois border & you'll wind up trying to find an entrance to 394. If I were trying to totally avoid the highways, I would probably take 90 to 294, take that south to Route 6, follow 6 all the way through Gary to either Indianapolis Blvd (route 41) or Calumet Avenue, then take those streets south to 30, and jet to the west the rest of the way along 30/Lincoln Highway. The stoplights get more spread out once you start getting into Illinois...especially once you're through Matteson and the mall there. Side note...if you take Calumet...it actually ends before it hits 30...at the last stoplight you have to make a right & head West 1 street, then that street will go through to route 30.

So I caught Jay Bilas making his picks for this bracket on ESPN this mornin...interestingly, he didn't have a single upset in the entire bracket. Everything followed the numbers exactly. :banghead

QUOTE(kevin57 @ Mar 12, 2006 -> 05:56 PM) When the Yankees do fall, will Torre's job be at risk? Oh, yes, he's one of the greatest managers around, but King George has little patience with his subordinates. The Yankees have "Failed" each of the last 5 years, there are constant rumors over Torre's head, yet every year it seems that they stick with him. I think he's as close to controlling his own destiny as any Yankee coach could be.

QUOTE(iWiN4PreP @ Mar 12, 2006 -> 08:33 PM) was it yanks vs. red sox? Pedro tossing Zimmer's head to the ground.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Mar 13, 2006 -> 08:50 AM) You know it. Getting attached to prospects is ridiculous. We should only develop them to trade a majority for proven ML'ers Well, the one nice thing about prospects, and the one reason to consider getting attached to them...is that if you find one of them that works, suddenly you have a starting position filled for $400k a year for 3-4 years, and for just a couple million a year in the few years after that...which lets you do insane things like giving Mark Buehrle the contract he so sorely deserves, etc.

QUOTE(SoxFan101 @ Mar 12, 2006 -> 01:23 PM) I think if worse comes to worse Dominic Rhodes has shown he could run the ball pretty well... I dont know if he got over his fumbling problems yet but worth a shot. As deep as this draft is, and as hesitant as some teams have been at giving big contracts to RB's...there has to be someone who can help you more than Rhodes, IMO. What'd the Bears have to do to find Jones?

QUOTE(fathom @ Mar 12, 2006 -> 01:28 PM) Ask the Cubs last year what it's like to have a good starting staff, but shaky depth in the bullpen. It all comes down to your closer IMO. Even if the guys before him are shaky, when you have a guy succeeding at closing games, everything looks better. The Cubs bullpen suddenly looked a ton better around May-June of last year when they finally made Dempster their closer. Even the young guys they stuck in seemed to work better.

QUOTE(fathom @ Mar 12, 2006 -> 01:23 PM) Hermanson hurt? Dustin.....the DL is calling your name. Maybe he should have had the surgery in the offseason.

QUOTE(whitesoxin' @ Mar 12, 2006 -> 12:51 PM) New Stadium, great offense, look out. And with the division they are in, I don't see a reason why they can't get the Wild Card because they should beat up on St. Louis and San Fran. St. Louis still might be able to do something. They still have a good running game, still have Bulger, and I believe have a new coaching staff. And in terms of AZ, I'm still not sure I've been impressed by Warner over the last couple seasons, and I'm wondering how much of a difference Edge can make. In fact, with both Warner and Edge in the backfield...I wouldn't be surprised if 1 of those 2 wound up spending significant time injured next season. The Colts are in that Denver mode right now of figuring "we have a good offensive line and passing game...we should be able to plug anyone into that and they'll succeed". But if I were in their spot, I'd be thinking strongly about drafting a RB in the 1st round. Maybe even trading up and trying to go after White. This draft is loaded with good RB's in the upper first round, this is a good year to try moving up a little bit to grab one.

Well, at least the Bears don't have to worry about overpaying for him now. Good ol' Yankees. Wait, sorry, Redskins. So, what should the Bears do about their wideout position now? Anyone else decent left on the FA market or the Draft? What about trading? I think the Bills might be willing to move Eric Moulds if the offer was right, just based on last season (although hopefully he's slightly happier now that the coaches have changed). That would give the Bears 2 vets at the Wideout spots, but they'd be getting up in years.