Balta1701

LAT

American League...you guys are in trouble now.

QUOTE(The Critic @ Feb 20, 2006 -> 07:19 AM) With the Cubs it's all about pitching health. If Wood and/or Wade Miller give them anything this year, they can win the weak NL Central. The Cardinals have lost most of their middle bullpen, 2nd base is weaker (Junior Spivey and Aaron Miles), and their corner outfield spots are up for grabs. Rolen's health is a question mark, too. The Astros are weaker IMO, and the Brewers are a year or two and a starter or two away. If the Cubs get off to a good start, I can definitely see them contending for the Central. Beyond that, I don't think so. There's your real key. The Cards won 100 games last year without Scott Rolen. They get Rolen back and get almost a full, productive season out of him...and suddenly it won't matter that they've lost strength at their corner outfield slots. He doesn't come back strong, or he spends significant time on the DL, and it'll come down to Pujols, Carpenter, Mulder, and Izzy. That may still be enough to win that division, but that'll depend a lot on the luck of the other teams. Yadier Molina could also be mighty important...lot of room for improvement with the bat for that 23 year old.

We also don't know how being at least 1 full year off of steroids will hurt him. We saw Giambi have his first season off of the juice fall apart with a tumor, then we saw him recover last year and still hold onto some of the steroid-related strength. Bonds improved even more than Giambi thanks to the stuff...the question is how his body, which is even older than Giambi's, will hold up without the added chemical assistance.

Interesting piece on the U.S's. construction of the "Damn these are going to be here for so long they even have a Subway and a Starbucks but they're really not permanent" bases in Iraq and the U.S. media's refusal to ask any serious questions about them.

QUOTE(Punch and Judy Garland @ Feb 19, 2006 -> 08:41 PM) Yes I am aware of pot being an illegal drug. Think that most jobs, if they even test, do so when you are hired and then not really again. I don't know why sports would or should be any different. You might be doing illegal drugs after getting your job but unless your performance is hindered (and Williams' never was) then it shouldn't come up. Ricky Williams was never caught by the police, just the piss man. I'm just saying the piss man shouldn't exist If Ricky Williams wasn't a famous NFL player with gobs of money...do you think he would have as easy of a time not being caught?

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Feb 19, 2006 -> 04:42 PM) I think Bonds would've been a great player regardless. He was a multiple MVP award winner long before anybody thought about steroids. Steroids don't give you the sick plate discipline/eye he has. But, yeah, his overall career will always have a ? over it. You know, I'm even going to take some issue with that statement. It's never been backed up with the evidence of say, global warming or evolution by natural selection or something like that, but there are repeated reports out there that steroids may also have some significant effects on visual acuity. But, since they're quite illegal, and they have this habit of causing significant amounts of harm, no one's ever going to be able to perform a truly unbiased, double-blind study in a large population to see what each and every effect of each and every steroid is. Hell, even if all they did was strengthen your wrists to the point that they could respond quicker, they'd have an effect on hand-eye coordination...your wrists could catch up faster.

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Feb 19, 2006 -> 07:04 PM) Do you suppose their favored nominee would publically voice opposition to the Iraq War? Or express sympathy towards Iran's nuclear program? I'm merely suggesting if the United States uses its position within the United Nations to heavily influence Annan's successor, don't be surprised if the appointee cators to our ambitions--present and future. On the other hand, is it possible that through efforts to bend the U.N. more to our will, we'll wind up splitting ourselves from the people we should be working with, and strengthening those we should be working against?

QUOTE(WilliamTell @ Feb 19, 2006 -> 03:27 PM) As sick and wrong you think it is, it helps the family cope with the death of a loved one. I never said I thought it was sick or wrong.

QUOTE(The Critic @ Feb 19, 2006 -> 03:23 PM) Yeah, but look at the MLB totals between those two seasons: AL NL MLB Year 1,776 1,262 3,038 1992 2,074 1,956 4,030 1993 You could make the argument that Palmeiro's jump was indicative of a wider league-wide jump in power. I'M not necessarily making that argument, just saying it could be made. You could also say that the league wide jump in power totals could be related to the same force which drove palmeiro's numbers.

QUOTE(The Critic @ Feb 19, 2006 -> 03:12 PM) Maybe he did, but he didn't appear freakishly large. Plus, he was a base stealer and a more complete player when younger. I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for his Pittsburgh years at least. Rafael Palmeiro never appeared freakishly large either. There are plenty of steroids out there which can help you add muscle mass but in a limited fashion, that can keep you healthier and make you recover faster from all those bases you steal, maybe help your eyes a bit, etc, and do so without turning you into a ripped giant.

QUOTE(The Critic @ Feb 19, 2006 -> 03:08 PM) An incredible hitter who PROBABLY could've done most of what he's done without "chemical enhancement". Sadly, we'll never know. I don't believe that at all. If you assume he didn't use the juice until the balls started flying like crazy off of his bat in like 2000, he probably would have hit somewhere between 500-600 home runs in his career. But, since there are plenty of steroids out there which make you stronger but don't make you explode...if he was willing to use the cream & the clear, why should we believe that he didn't use any sort of enhancement in his first decade in baseball?

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Feb 19, 2006 -> 03:03 PM) Doesn't help a murdered victim much. Neither does the death penalty.

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Feb 19, 2006 -> 03:01 PM) Don't count on it. He is an incredible hitter. He's a miracle of modern chemistry.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Feb 19, 2006 -> 02:28 PM) I'm talking middle of the order. Ozzie has said last year he likes to break them up in the heart of the order. Whatever though, this is really a pointless argument. Except for when we were facing Santana, that's what Ozzie did most of the season last year...Everett was at least a switch hitter, so he hit lefty quite often. Anywho...right move. The numbers back it up. And our lineup is going to be murder on pitchers next year.

QUOTE(Al Lopez's Ghost @ Feb 19, 2006 -> 02:13 PM) Well, this is gonna totally screw up Soxfest 2013!! We'll still have 8-peated before then, so i think things will be ok.

So, last year, when Cleveland signed him, suddenly they became a trendy pick for the AL Central. If we sign him, does that make those same peopel who picked Cleveland into chisox backers?

Shame it's not after 2000.

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Feb 19, 2006 -> 10:57 AM) Very true. Thank god vicious criminals have someone to look out for them. Too bad their victims dont. :rolly Yes, because there is no such thing as a "Victim's rights" organization.

QUOTE(Rex Hudler @ Feb 18, 2006 -> 09:38 PM) I'll be curious to see how the process goes, but at this point, there seems to be no end to the speculation. Now I just hope they don't go out and lay down @ Illinois tomorrow. Something tells me you shouldn't get your hopes up.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Feb 18, 2006 -> 05:30 PM) Hmm ok. Guess they think we overpaid for Konerko and Garland based on last year and that Thome is done. If that were the case...then we'd have appeared on the "Worst" list. Somehow I get the feeling that those moves will turn out to be the best ones of the offseason, even better than the Vazquez deal.

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Feb 18, 2006 -> 06:18 PM) The Reds can't afford to get rid of decent pitching. Hancock was listed at 6'3", 207 pounds so if he gained 17 pounds he's still only 224 pounds. 6'3", 224 pounds is hardly overweight. Another team will pick him up in no time. Dude, it's the Reds. 1 decent pitcher with major health problems is not going to suddenly save their season. Otherwise I'm sure the Cubs would let them have Kerry Wood for a song.

That's the same day Mulder discovered that the aliens would return to take over the earth! He must be right! Can i be the first to say that this is your brain, this is your brain on the juice?

Woo-Hoo. Good job Ozzie doing the absolute 100% correct thing. Mark...GET YOURSELF THAT DAMN AWARD THIS YEAR. For all of us. We've been waiting a few years to see you get it. You know which one I'm talking about. The only questions, of course, are how many runs the Sox will give Buehrle in support of his shutout, and how long the game will last.

QUOTE(BHAMBARONS @ Feb 18, 2006 -> 07:54 PM) On this case I have to agree with Minors in cases where there was such a disrespect for human life, I can't have much sympathy for him. I also had no idea it costs $92 dollars a day to house an inmate. This has really made me take a look at capital punishment Did it make you rethink capital punishment in that you're now more supportive of it or more in opposition to it? I don't have the numbers right now (And i'm on dial-up, so I'm a little too lazy to run through Google) but I'm fairly certain that in almost every case it costs massively more to put an inmate through the death penalty procedures than it does to just jail them for life, because in part of all the legal filings associated with death penalty cases, the extra guards, the arrangements, etc.