Balta1701

QUOTE(Greg The Bull Luzinski @ Dec 23, 2005 -> 12:59 PM) He logged some DL time and was slowed by injuries. 489 is his 2005 total, but not at 100%. 489 AB's plus 61 walks, hence 550 plate appearances. For comparison, AJ Pierzynski had 483 plate appearances in 2005. Mauer did have some injury problems, but his biggest issue I still think for most of the year was recovering from his knee problems the year before.

They say time is the fire in which we burn....

QUOTE(Greg The Bull Luzinski @ Dec 23, 2005 -> 12:25 PM) The Cards are quietly having a solid offseason. I see another division title in their future. Pujols.

QUOTE(Greg The Bull Luzinski @ Dec 23, 2005 -> 12:28 PM) I am still waiting to see what Mauer can do in a full season. Not that he is not good, but I would still venture to say that people are expecting bigger things than we have seen so far. His 550 plate appearances last year didn't constitute a full season?

So, 1 question...what exactly is the nature of the relationship between the Congressional Black Caucus and the " Congressional Black Caucus Foundation", the charity in question there? The only thing the article says is that "The Foundation is an offshoot of the Congressional Black Caucus and was founded in 1976." Does the CBC have any actual say over the CBCF? Are CBC members on the board of the CBCF or something? That's never spelled out in the article. I did a brief bit of looking at the CBCF homepage, and while there are several members of the CBC on their board of directors...none of the menbers quoted in that article actually sit on the board of the CBCF. I'm just unsure of how exactly the link works here.

QUOTE(Cknolls @ Dec 23, 2005 -> 11:47 AM) What's the problem? If there was a heightened level of radiation at one of these sites, it would be nice to know. I'm sure if you lived in an area showing elevated radiation levels you would want the gov't to investigate.The problem is that it also appears to be in defiance of established law. Once again, the issue would be that the Administration would have decided that they had the right to not follow the law, instead of attempting to actually have a debate or discussion about changing it...if everything is as seemed here. That would be the issue...instead of debating whether or not the law should be changed, it is just ignored.

US News:

QUOTE(WinninUgly @ Dec 23, 2005 -> 11:10 AM) I wonder is KW is trying to work any multi team deals using this as leverage. Give up Garland and get some top prospects from more than one team. That may very well be the best way to do it...unless the Dodgers are willing to part with one of their guys, Garland is a nice chip for a team to toss into a big deal. KW also has a history of doing it - i.e. the Nomar, Magglio, ARod mess.

Personally, I'd rather the Bulls made a run at Big Ben this offseason instead of Peja (think of the defense with Ben & Chandler in the same lineup) but that's just me.

QUOTE(MurcieOne @ Dec 23, 2005 -> 10:24 AM) well in that case... lets just hand the colts the lamardi trophy... they havent had a history of failing to win the big game or anything... I too agree the colts are the favorites to win the Super Bowl, but to say the Bears have no chance of winning it... is short sighted at best. Just remember this one thing about a Colts/Bears matchup: Almost every time that a #1 ranked defense has met a #1 ranked offense in the Super Bowl...the #1 ranked defense has won. The latest example was Tampa vs. Oakland. Not a guarantee...but don't count out teams based solely on defense in the playoffs.

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Dec 23, 2005 -> 10:57 AM) Tejada has 4 years and $54 million left on his contract. He can also demand a trade one year after being traded. Mark Prior & Rafael Furcal (even at what the Dodgers signed him for) > Erik Bedard & Miguel Tejada The Cubs would have also won more games with Prior and Furcal than with Bedard and Tejada. You know, I don't know about which way the Cubs would be better...because it would all depend on whether either of those pitchers could stay healthy. But of course, given that the Cubs can't get Furcal no matter what, that's pretty much a moot point.

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Dec 23, 2005 -> 10:46 AM) http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/5192008 I didn't really think that losing Damon was the death knell for the Red Sox, but if the BoSox not only lose out on Glaus, but at the same time lose him to Toronto...then the Red Sox will be in serious trouble.

QUOTE(Punch and Judy Garland @ Dec 23, 2005 -> 10:34 AM) I agree that signing Furcal and keepign Prior makes a ton more sense I'm sorry, but with the Dodgers offering $13 million a year...beating out the price for Furcal for the Cubs would just have been silly. He's simply not worth that kind of money.

QUOTE(SoxFan562004 @ Dec 23, 2005 -> 10:04 AM) I just get the feeling that with all these names floating around and rumors of 3-4 team trades (the A's from yesterday, now the Sox, etc...) it seems Angelos isn't jumping on any of the Cubs offers, or it would be done. I dont' think Angelos is in any rush to do things, since their preference would almost certainly be to keep Tejada happy and hold onto him. If they can't make that happen within a month or so, depending on whatever private things they're being told, then they'll probably have heard enough offers to know which one is best. When you've got a bargaining chip like Tejada, there's very little reason to rush into things. A better offer might come screaming along all of a sudden, if someone were to get hurt or someone else were to request a trade, or if someone else (manny) were to be traded.

QUOTE(FlaSoxxJim @ Dec 23, 2005 -> 10:16 AM) And YAS is going to continue to ride you for it. Fight the Good Fight. I'm not fighting any fight here, I'm just seriously worried about this...this is exactly the sort of thing which can encourage even more Sunnis to turn to violence...if they feel they turned out and should have won more than they did (many Sunnis in Iraq feel they are genuinely a majority in that country no matter what the real facts are) then that's even more motivation to turn to violence. Especially if old CIA guys like Allawi and Chalabi start encouraging the Meme to try to bring more power to their parties by breaking the religious Shia groups who dominate that country.

QUOTE(Pierzynski 12 @ Dec 23, 2005 -> 10:15 AM) No matter what,the Cardinals will still run away in the NL Central.No matter what the Cubs are doing this winter. Pujols. That's all you need to say to explain why. Pujols.

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Dec 23, 2005 -> 10:15 AM) I love that some retard regurgitating on a keyboard got 8 responses and my two solidly cited quotes from reputable newspapers are ignored. Yours was vastly less entertaingly stupid. Honestly though, I can't figure out why we'd want to do Bedard for Garland in any way shape or form, simply because we already have 6 starting pitchers, and that wouldn't solve the problem. If we're trading Garland for pitching, then I want pitching who's arbitration clock hasn't started yet.

QUOTE(bmags @ Dec 23, 2005 -> 10:05 AM) i have a question about this bedard fellow, its the first i've heard of him, whats he like? Decent pitcher, lefty, decent fastball. Very cheap - only makes league minimum. Probably the O's best pitcher when he's healthy. Had some problems staying healthy in the past though. The O's really started to fall apart when he went on the DL last year. Pitched about 140 innings each of the last 2 years. Had Tommy John surgery a few years ago.

Does this remind anyone else of those annoying threads people made during Sept. and Oct. where it seemed every week someone decided it was a good idea to post those photos of AJ in a bar as something we should all be embarassed about?

QUOTE(Mercy! @ Dec 23, 2005 -> 10:02 AM) I think it will be interesting to follow Obama's career. But he certainly needs some seasoning on the national stage so that everyone can get a better idea of the sort of leader he would be. I can't imagine him leading the ticket in 2008. There is another side to that token though...Obama is a Senator. The last Senator to run for Pres. was John Kerry. What did his long, "Seasoned" record as a Senator get him? Dozens of allegations that he flip-flopped, was a liar, had no convictions, etc. Why? Because that's what you have to do when you're in the Senate. You wind up seeing things like 1 version of a good bill that's bad because someone stuck some stupid thing in, and voting both for and against the same bill, and suddenly you're a flip-flopper and weak on defense. The long record in the senate is not always a great thing. Personally, if Obama runs for the nomination in 08, he's got my primary vote already. No matter who else runs against him. Unless he does something really stupid like marrying Jeri Ryan and divorcing her or somehting like that. He's the best speaker our party has not named Bill Clinton, he's the best representative of what our party should be, he has vastly less baggage than someone like Hillary, and he is just a wonderful story.

Flasoxx seems to be doing a self-chronicle in another thread, and I seem to be doing one here, but I continue to think This is important...

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 23, 2005 -> 09:59 AM) Not to mention that the Yampa/Green river complex has a lot of federally protected wilderness, park area and other restricted space. Plus that area is an gold mine for archaeologists, paleantologists, etc. Yeah, I actually visited a privately owned mine in that shale complex last summer, got myself a couple of really nice well preserved fish fossils. None of that would survive the process of extracting oil. None of it. You'd have to destroy the entire region to get the stuff out. You ever see a countertop with a fish fossil in it? That's where they come from.

QUOTE(Adam G @ Dec 23, 2005 -> 09:57 AM) Contreras, Garland, and Sweeney for Prior? Gag me. That would be absolutely Horrific. You'd have to make it Prior and Santana somehow before I'd think that we were getting fair value. And I'm talking the Santana up north, not the rookie out here.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Dec 23, 2005 -> 08:40 AM) Torii just had a freak injury last year, I'm sure he'll be fine. They improved an infinite amount at 2nd base because Nick Punto and Luis Rivas suck, White is an upgrade over Lecroy but like you said he has to stay healthy. Mauer and Morneau will both be better this season and their rotation is going to be improved as well imo. There isn't a team in the AL that scares me more then Minny to be honest. Yes, Hunter's injury was a freak injury...but so was Magglio Ordonez's Injury. So were all 3 of Prior's injuries. So was Mauer's injury the year before. You know as well as I do that when a person suffers a serious injury, there are always reprocussions long into the future. Hell, both my knees keep telling me that. Mauer and Morneau are, IMO, the keys to their lineup. If they're both "Better" as you say...and if other key people stay healthy...then that team could beat the crap out of everyone except us.

QUOTE(Cknolls @ Dec 23, 2005 -> 09:16 AM) I just read an article a couple of weeks ago that said there may be in excess of 100 billion barrels of oil in the shale deposits of colorado,utah and wyoming. Yes, there probably is something like that much stuck in the Eocene age Green River formation. However, it's even less concentrated than the stuff in Canada. Which means...higher costs for extraction, more pollution, and it even has the negative part of being right in the middle of the U.S., so that all the pollution those plants would belch out would float east and wind up right over Chicago.