Balta1701

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Nov 4, 2005 -> 03:40 PM) Trouble with that theory is the following. First, the models of F16 we sell to foregin nations is a stripped down version of what our Air force uses. Second, the planes were sold something like 20 years ago and are quite obsolete. I think you would be surprised as to how our "Obselete" equipment compares in design and quality to the modern Chinese designs.

Congrats 2k5

Until I see something more specific about why we know for an absolute certainty they don't like Gload, I still remain unconvinced by these points here. Nothing has been said here that sounds to me any worse than what Marte or El Duque did this year.

Tyco also spent a significant portion of his life lying on his back looking up.

QUOTE(BMac41 @ Nov 4, 2005 -> 01:29 PM) Sorry but were not going to trade for Carlos Delgado.We be giving up way too much for him. I wouldn't rule that one out as easily as some of the other ones...he has a major contract that the Fish won't want to pay for that long, especially when their owner is already complaining about losing money, and now their FA's are starting to leave their pitching staff.

QUOTE(Mplssoxfan @ Nov 4, 2005 -> 01:26 PM) If only some of the planes are operational right now, because of the lack of spare parts, and if we are not selling any spare parts to Venezuela, then if Chavez sells the planes to Castro, they won't work anyway. Lockheed Martin or GE certainly won't sell any spare parts to Castro. Even if Chavez sells the planes to Castro, Fidel still has to get someone to train his pilots how to fly the planes and use their weapons systems, which he probably doesn't have any armament for anyway. Does Chavez have enough pilots trained in the F-16 who are loyal enough to him to ferry the planes to Cuba and train the Cuban Air Force? Chavez is twisting the Tiger's tail, nothing more. There's a lot more value in having an opponents plane than you get just from being able to fly it against the opponent. If you can just get 1 of them to fly somehow, you can rapidly learn its capabilities. Weaknesses, particular strengths, etc. We've done this with Soviet fighters in the past - it's how we learned about a blind spot on one of the MiG's we fought in the middle part of the century (I can't remember exactly which one). You can learn how to beat an enemy fighter by getting your hands on one of them. Or, even worse, there are technical aspects of those fighters that we don't want falling into the hands of other aircraft designers. There's a reason that we monitor the security of them. If, say a Chinese airplane manufacturer got th eir hands on a full F-16, it would not be hard at all for them to reverse-engineer the thing and produce a version of the F-16 that their own air forces could use.

QUOTE(Chisoxrd5 @ Nov 4, 2005 -> 01:16 PM) Where have you heard this 'everything' from? I might go see it tonight, kinda wondering if its worth my time... LA Times, CNN, couple of other places.

Shaq is officially down for 2-4 weeks.

QUOTE(Punch and Judy Garland @ Nov 4, 2005 -> 01:16 PM) The Angels should be commended for not raising their ticket prices. With that in mind, you gotta figure it will be hard to add a Manny. I'm rooting for him to go to the Mets just because then he's out of our league which will weaken Boston. You don't get better from trading a superstar in most cases. I like Glaus and everything, but Glaus and Luis Gonzalez do not make Boston a better team or even nearly as good of a team Boston trading Manny only makes sense if they receive 1 of 2 things back; 1. an additional prospect beyond Glaus and Gonzalez who they can develop, and a good one at that...or 2. Salary flexibility through the dumping of Manny. Yeah, I'm sure they wouldn't mind having the problem out of the clubhouse, but that alone doesnt' make a trade worth while. They need 1 of those 2 things back...which would mean the Angels would have to be willing to take on virtually Manny's entire contract.

QUOTE(Felix @ Nov 4, 2005 -> 01:08 PM) If the Angels get Manny, then the Red Sox will go for Konerko. Either way, one of the two teams will overpay him in the FA market. If the Angels get Manny, the Red Sox will certainly wind up taking on salary...possibly someone along the lines of Finley, Garret Anderson, or Glaus if the Diamondbacks get involved. So they won't necessarily have a ton of money either...if that trade happens, it winds up happening because the DBacks are willing to give up players in exchange for salary flexibility. I continue to say this...the Red Sox need pitching help. This will hinder them from being a big spender on Konerko. Especially if they wind up holding Glaus. They also have at least a couple of decent options at 1b, including that Pettagine guy (sp?) who hit at least 1 HR against us after putting up great numbers I believe in Japan.

QUOTE(fathom @ Nov 4, 2005 -> 01:05 PM) If we're unable to resign PK now because we gave Widger more than minimum wage, KW should be fired! You can't tell me Leo Daigle couldn't be a catcher! When's the last time I threatened your life?

Nobody beats him.

Everything I've heard says that it is very disappointing.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Nov 4, 2005 -> 12:19 PM) That's an interesting one. I wouldn't exactly know how to react if that happened. I guess it would depend on his health and what the Twins give up. That would also almost guarantee that the Twinkies had already given up on Morneau. I've heard he didn't get along with people...that would certainly seal that deal. The Twins would have to dump him if Thome could play.

QUOTE(AnthraxFan93 @ Nov 4, 2005 -> 12:20 PM) I love Abreu, but once he won the HR derby the rest of the season he wasn't the same player. If he can get back hit regualr swing I would love to have him here.. But what his contract situation? # $3 million signing bonus # $8.5 million in 2003 # $10 million in 2004 # $12.5 million in 2005 # $13 million in 2006 # $15 million in 2007 # Either $2 million buyout or $16 million club option in 2008 # Plus these escalator clauses: If he finishes first in MVP voting, base salary goes up $275,000 in each succeeding year, including option year; or $150,000 if second in MVP; or $100,000 if third. Plus: $100,000 for World Series MVP; $50,000 for LCS MVP; $50,000 for Gold Glove; $50,000 for Silver Slugger; $50,000 for making All-Star team; $50,000 for postseason Sporting News or Baseball American all-star teams; $100,000 for MVP (or $75,000 if second, or $50,000 if third). Plus: complete no-trade clause through the life of the contract.

Here's my basic problem with the way recording industry pricing works. Let's say I want to go buy a DVD of a movie that came out like 10 years ago. Name the movie title, I don't care what it is. Or even a recently released film. Now, when that DVD is first released, if I've been desperate to buy it for a long time, I'm going to go buy it immediately for whatever price it costs...probably something like $20. Now, let's say I don't think it's worth $20. Do I just never buy it in my lifetime? No, I don't have to do that. Why? Because if I wait 2 years, I'll see the price on that DVD drop from like $20 to $10 to $5 to maybe even the $2 bin that they have in the middle aisle of my local department store. This is how DVD's are priced, and studios make quite a bit by making sure they sell things to everyone who is willing to buy. And if I don't think a DVD is worth 1 price, I have no reason to pay that price - I just need to wait. I'm doing this with a ton of DVD's right now...my Simpsons collection is gradually growing as I occasionally see them marked down below $20, as is my collection on a few more TV shows. Now, what happens with music? When a music CD comes out, it costs something like $12-$18, depending on how many disks it is, where you buy it, etc. Now, let's say I listen to it, but I decide it's just not worth $15. What do I do? If I come back a year later, what does that disk cost? $15. 2 years later? $16. 3 years later? On sale for $14. I think this is a disasterous plan on the part of the music industry. The movie industry has proven that time-based-pricing can give you a dramatic increase in sales. But the music industry has never adopted that tactic. I would spend far more on CD's if the price varied with time, so that by waiting I could get more for my dollar.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Nov 4, 2005 -> 12:17 PM) OMG! BREAKING SOX NEWS!!!!!!! CHRIS MOTHER f***ING WIDGER IS COMMING BACK!! YESS! I AM f***ING PUMPED!! YAHTZEE! YOU CAN PUT THAT ONE ON THE BOARD! NOBODY BEATS HIM BECAUSE HE'S THE WIDGE!

QUOTE(Allsox @ Nov 4, 2005 -> 12:11 PM) Heard on the Score they offered somewhere between 4yrs/48 to 50 million....That's a little higher than Sexson got from the Mariners so the Sox certainly aren't short changing Paulie....I don't see how the Angels can afford Vlad, Manny (If that trade goes through) and Konerko since that team doesn't make nearly as much from their attendance as they could since Angel Stadium is 30 yrs old and doesn't have suites.... Sexson's deal was 4 years, $50 million. $6 million signing bonus, $4.5 million in 05 season, $11.5 million in 2006 and $14 million in each of the final two seasons.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Nov 4, 2005 -> 10:24 AM) I think the most I go with Paulie is 5yr 13M per season. If he wanted some optoins fine, but the only way I'd go 7 yrs is if it were a 7yr 70 mill deal and Paulie wouldn't take that. I bet you this is very close to what he'll end up signing for...the 5 year number with options. I can't imagine even the Angels going to 7 years on Paulie - for crying out loud, they only gave Vlad the Impaler a 5 year deal.

QUOTE(Wanne @ Nov 4, 2005 -> 11:50 AM) True...Arte does like to spend the buckos. But do you really think Paulie would be happy being 3rd fiddle behind Vlad and Manny? I couldn't see PK and Manny coexisting very well on any team for very long. He does like to spend money, but he doesn't have that much to spend. HE has roughly $88 million tied up in about 22 guys right now, give or take what people get in arbitration. And that leaves him with no starting catcher and only 4 starting pitchers. He can afford to go for Konerko or Ramirez, because with either one, their payroll will jump from say $98 million this year to roughly $105-$110 million next year. However, to take on both Ramirez and Konerko would cost $17 million for Manny - whatever they drop in terms of Finley, Anderson, etc, so roughly $12 million, plus another $13 million or so for Konerko, which pushes their salary into the $115-$120 million a year range, and I just can't see Moreno go there yet.

Now, while they're distracted...ink Cooper to a long term deal.

QUOTE(SoxFan562004 @ Nov 4, 2005 -> 10:43 AM) FWIW, ESPN Radio 1000 is starting the "Cubs Are Players in Everybody" storyline for the offseason... they said they're after Furcal, Burnett, and Juan Pierre in a trade with Florida I'd love for the Cubs to sign Burnett. I always figured Prior and Wood needed more company on the DL. After all, the more Kerry Wood clones, the better!

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Nov 4, 2005 -> 11:11 AM) Frank McBroke is a joke. He's a joke in terms of a baseball owner. What he is doing is...he saw a team that was not making as much revenue as it could every year. A team with quite a legacy, a team with a great ballpark, etc. So, he's immediately finding new ways to add to the revenue stream. Higher fees for things around the stadium, new seats in the stadium for much higher costs, little marketing tricks to try to bring people in, new staff, etc. Once he gets all these things in place, if he can hire someone who can build him a playoff team 1 year on a nearly $100 million a year salary...he can look at the Forbes list and discover that he's increased the value of the team like $50-$100 million. And then sell and cash out. He's not in that for the baseball.

So wait...how drunk do you have to be to think it's a good idea to eat at a Candian McD's?

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