Balta1701

QUOTE(Queen Prawn @ Mar 10, 2006 -> 10:48 AM) If it was just maryjane he was selling, again community service and probation (jail cells are at too much of a premium to waste on some dude selling weed). Problem is...one of the big reasons they're at such a premium...marijuana.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Mar 10, 2006 -> 09:30 AM) Keep the politics out of it and play ball. The signs should be removed. It's a fan. As long as he's not preventing the fans around him from seeing the game, or taking any act which actually interferes with the play on the field, who cares? Do people get tossed out of games for heckling?

QUOTE(YASNY @ Mar 10, 2006 -> 10:34 AM) Agreed. The kid deserves more than a slap on the wrist. Maybe a slap upside the head would be more appropriate, if you catch my drift. It always comes back to torture with you guys doesn't it?

I think that if you can verify the kid was only dealing the ID's to kids who wanted to get into bars...this case does suggest leniency as presented. Anything beyond what is presented here...like additional people involved in getting supplies or stealing ID formats, or a wider sales market, and you have to consider something larger in terms of charges. But I think community service and probation here is probably the right maneuver. A long term of it, but I just don't think jail time fits.

I love how much people are struggling to avoid actually having to take on the issue which is trying to be discussed by the hypothetical.

Let's turn on the juice boys!!!

QUOTE(knightni @ Mar 10, 2006 -> 10:13 AM) Anderson 3.5 blue stars 58 contact 60 gap 55 power 34 discipline/eye 27 Avoid Ks Sweeney 4 blue stars 52 contact 48 gap 50 power 39 discipline/eye 38 Avoid Ks I have absolutely no idea what those numbers mean.

QUOTE(SoxFan101 @ Mar 10, 2006 -> 09:58 AM) You are optimistic. We can afford to be fairly optimistic right now, with Thome, Konerko, Buehrle, Garland, Jenks, and BMac around. Those guys seem good enough to cover up a few other deficiencies in the next few years if they do crop up.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Mar 10, 2006 -> 08:52 AM) I'm more concerned with 2006 than trade bait in the off season. So am I, but if we can all come to the agreement that the difference between Gload and Borchard for the 25th guy slot is going to be so small it's doubtful picking the wrong one will even cost us as many games as Timo did last year...then I'm willing to take other stuff into account.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Mar 10, 2006 -> 09:10 AM) Well, who was responsible for Uribe's improvement and his timing mechanism? In 2004, after seeing what happened suddenly to the bats of Uribe and Rowand, I was ready to proclaim Walker to be a deity. In 2005, I totally lost that perception. Yes, Uribe added a timing mechanism which helped. Yes, Crede showed a few brief flashes. But as far as I'm concerned, I heard last year things like AJ saying how Walker is helping him try to pull the ball more, as AJ's average gradually declined. And I saw guys who had the same weakness. It wasn't that right handed pitchers were able to dominate us because they were right handed, IMO, they were able to beat our bats because our guys all had the exact same hole in the swing...they were trying to pull that outside stuff, not being patient, and either grounding out to the right side or popping out. It seemed to me like every single one of the guys who struggled last year had this exact same problem...they were flying open on pitches and trying to pull the ball when it was thrown outside, instead of staying back and trying to drive the ball wherever they could. When guys started doing that (Konerko after June 1, the Rally Crede, Uribe during his good 2 weeks) they just hit like crazy. But they spent so long doing things in a way which is so obviously failing that I just don't have confidence in Walker right now.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Mar 10, 2006 -> 08:33 AM) Cheaters are always going to look for ways to cheat. I respect football for at least putting in things like *gasp* rules and *godforbid* penalties for things like drug usage and illegal activity, while the sports of baseball and basketball have acted like they done exsist and even become complicit in their coverups. It might not be perfect, but its better than the joke that my favorite sport became. Aside from Jim Miller being suspended...how exactly do we know that football has actually enforced those rules and not been complicit in the coverups? Like I said, we've got at least a couple major examples of guys in recent years who were juicing and who were never caught. A couple of them played in the Super Bowl. How exactly do we know that football hasn't been complicit?

QUOTE(YASNY @ Mar 10, 2006 -> 08:44 AM) Anderson has acknowledged that he currently is expanding the strike zone. That tells me he recognizes his problem and is working through it at this point in time. That's why his swing looks so poor. When you are locked in, you look good. When you're not, you don't. We really need to give this kid a chance to get his feet wet in the majors and see if he can adjust. Only problem I see is...the person who has to teach him to stop doing that is Greg Walker...and I lost a ton of confidence in his ability to teach that last year, when we saw batter after batter after batter have exactly that same problem on the big league squad.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Mar 10, 2006 -> 08:38 AM) You'd have to think that a team that has maybe a thinner OF would take a flyer on Borchard. Washington, for example, has some injuries and some player disputes. Why not give Borchard a chance to play everyday. If he could hit around 260-275 with 30 bombs, he would be worth it IMO. Well, another side of this token is which of the 2 might be more valuable in the future. Say we give Gload another 200 at bats, and he hits .300+ with a few dingers, like he did at the end of 04. Then say we give Borchard 200 at bats, and he hits .250-.260, with like 10-12 home runs, which is what he's been doing all these years in the minors. Which of them would have more value to us as trade bait next offseason?

QUOTE(My Dixie Normus @ Mar 9, 2006 -> 08:22 PM) The problem with EL is that he dosen't add the missing dimension to the WRs, speed deep. I really liked what Bradley showed me before getting injured but El is not much different than Muhammad as a WR. He does provide a return man and can throw the ball but that is not really the Bears style of ball control and smash-mouth defense. If you can get him, great. But I would not spend $12.5 million for him. He doesn't do that much for you. The Bears played ball control/smash mouth offense when they had Orton because even with Muhammad that was basically all they could do...you gave Orton a 3rd and 4 and he was guaranteed to end the drive. Grossman...a guy with a decent arm who can spread a defense out more might benefit from having extra speed on the outside...and that speed would really open up the running game as well (and I still hope Benson can have a better year next year, giving the Bears a genuinely dominant 1-2 running threat, a-la the Broncos last year). But of course...that requires Mr. Glass to stay healthy.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Mar 10, 2006 -> 07:27 AM) Personally, i woud love to have Culpepper, the guy would be the most talented QB in chicago in a long time. I dont see the vikes trading him to us however. I also saw that Javon Walker asked to be traded, I wouldnt mind picking him up either. Coming off an injury-plagued season with the contract renegotiation he signed just before the season after a "Next Question" inspired holdout...I think Walker isn't a smart investment right now. If he's 100% healthy, he'll earn his money, but he sure won't be a bargain, and if he's not 100%, he won't earn it.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Mar 10, 2006 -> 06:12 AM) It didn't help Bush, because they fileted the hell out of these ads. Show the ad, followed by some angry democrat or journalist blowing steam out of their ears. EDIT: On second thought. The ads themselves did, in fact, help Bush. As Kerry started to go into a defensive mode instead of an attack mode. However, whether or not the coverage helped one or the other is not the point. The point I was making was the media attempted to derail the effects of the ads. The ads, given as a comparative example to Rathergate is, as I said before, laughable. The media, aside from CBS, sure did a damn good job of destroying the CBS memos also. As soon as other media outlets, specifically the WaPo and LA Times got their hands on the memos, they utterly shredded the work CBS had done authenticating them. Most of the statements by bloggers about the memos, i.e. claims that there were no typewriters which could possibly have produced those memos in the 70's, were simply false. They probably were produced by Word, but the claim was that they only could have been produced by word, which was wrong. However, once other media outlets got their hands on those memos, they fact-checked them, found obvious, glaring contradictions, and even blew CBS's supposed authentication of the signature on the documents away. So, CBS made one incredibly stupid, probably biased move, and they were punished harshly for it. The Swifties were rewarded quite handsomely for their work.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Mar 10, 2006 -> 05:57 AM) Again, this is MLBs fault for acting like the problem didn't exsist for decades. If they take a stand initially like football did, this problem would not have gotten to the point where people are writing books about it, and feel the need to investigate it. Yeah, because the NFL did such a great job of making sure people weren't on the juice. Bill Romanowski and the 2003 Carolina Panthers certainly appreciate the effort.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Mar 10, 2006 -> 06:55 AM) So Prior doesn't even to get his first chance at a SIMULATED game win until mid March. Wow....they are being quite careful considering he's perfectly healthy!! How exactly can they expect a pitcher to be ready for opening day when he doesn't face live batting until like a week and a half before the season starts?

The one thing which still blows my mind is that people are to the point of showing more confidence in a rookie who's never played above AA than they are Anderson, who at least has put up good numbers in AAA. How exactly did people get THIS soured on Anderson? We've barely seen him take 50 at bats with the big league team including this Spring. Oh, and 1 more thing...Isn't Sweeney usually coming in at some point after the first few innings of these ST games...where he isn't always facing the opponent's starting, big league pitcher, but instead is often getting their backups/end of the roster/minor league guys?

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Mar 10, 2006 -> 08:17 AM) Thanks for my Beatles fix That damn song is gonna be stuck in my head all day now...

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Mar 10, 2006 -> 08:09 AM) Carl has the right to his opinion, unlike a certain DH here, he hasn't been a primma donna asshole and clubhouse cancer for several years with the Sox. With that said, I have the right to respectfully disagree with him. He hasn't? Spouting off again and again on his random political views in the middle of a season? Complaining about being moved down the lineup? He hasn't been A-Rod, but no matter whether or not you agree with him, I can't imagine people like seeing the names of their teammates pop up all over the place in random articles about whatever pointless thing he wants to complain about in the middle of a season. When we really did hit that losing skid, I still think part of the reason is that the team assumed they had it wrapped up, lost focus, and started complaining about things like how many people were in the stadium, where they were hitting in the lineup, lights in Center Field, etc., instead of playing their asses off like they should have been. What Carl is missing is that chemistry can happen in spite of some people in a clubhouse, not because of them.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Mar 10, 2006 -> 08:05 AM) Well thats not me. I'm fully aware it takes players develop. Hell, I have to be one of the most patient people on this board. But I know if you went around asking scouts who would be the better player 10 years from now, almost every one would say Sweeney. Which is why we should try to make sure we don't start Sweeney's arbitration clock too early...so that he's with us 10 years from now.

QUOTE(FlaSoxxJim @ Mar 9, 2006 -> 11:27 AM) Sounds like a job for. . . Haliburton! Simon Romero (business reporter for the NYT) and Norm Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute on PBS tonight: .....

Yea, great job the Yankees did keeping their core together. Thank God they didn't screw with their Chemistry by adding Roger Clemens after they were already winning.

QUOTE(AddisonStSox @ Mar 9, 2006 -> 06:22 PM) This is one of those rare cases where I endorse over-paying for a talent. I think Randle-El would add such a unique threat to an otherwise stagnant offense that he would pay for himself. Whenever you have a defensive coordinator spending time on another player like that, it opens up some other aspect of the game. It sounds like he wants to be here. Bring him home. I think you're right in the overpaying...because aside from T.O., there doesn't seem to be an obvious candidate to fill the role of a speedy receiving threat on the Bears this offseason. The draft doesn't have a big number of WR's who seem late-first-round sort of guys, and the Bears have other draft needs (TE, DB). If the Bears can fill in their secondary and pick up a TE through other FA's and the draft...then Randle El is probably worth some extra green.