Re: Hey Keith

RedMagma Sat Jan 05, 2008 9:18 am

ledzep121212 wrote:
How is Haren an Ace and Halladay a tier 1b?
Simple. Halladay is getting old. Haren is younger and better. Period. Look at the trends.

Here is my post from last season, same methods.

Quote:
I think this was brought up a while back, but let me revisit the topic.

Not every team has a true "ace". But, given that there are 30 teams, in theory, there could only be thirty "aces". Based on ERA, WHIP, W, and IP, you could find the top 30 pitchers at the given time and declare them the aces. So based upon this, current aces in the game would be (in order):

Peavy
Haren
Penny
Sabathia
J. Santana
Lackey
Maine
Lowe
Webb
Hudson
Verlander
Guthrie
Gorzelanny
Blanton
Sheets
Beckett
Smoltz
Guadin
Garland
Snell
Escobar
Bedard
Harang
Morris
Bonderman
Matsuzake
Hamels
Shields
El Duque
Oswalt

(next after Oswalt, ironically, is Ollie Perez)

So, in actuality, you see that some teams have an ace, have two aces, or don't have any. The Athletics, for example, have three pitchers pitching like an "ace" (Haren, Blanton, and Gaudin), where as the Mets and Tigers have two each (Maine, El Duque and Verlander, Bonderman [respectively]), and some do not have a top thirty pitcher, like the Nationals or the Rangers.

RedMagma Sat Jan 05, 2008 9:20 am

Blanton and Houston Street for Heilman,Fmart,Gomez,Niese,and Guerra. Do It Omar, send all the prospects to Oakland

RedMagma Sat Jan 05, 2008 9:26 am

let us know what you think about ESPN's message boards.
Read ESPN's message board rules here.

Theo Slacking?
DaisukeMatsuzaka Post #1: 12:03 am Quote | Report Violation
Total Posts: 854

Do you think Theo is slacking this off-season? The team as it currently stands is good enough to compete for a World Series in 2008 but I think there are some issues that need to be worked out.

The Sox currently have 6 viable starting pitchers for 2008 (Beckett, Matsuzaka, Schilling, Buchholz, Wakefield, & Lester). I Personally, and I think most people, would rather see Buchholz get the 5th spot over Lester but given Lester's seniority in the major leagues I don't know if that will happen. It is possible that Buchholz could start in AAA which would be ridiculous but could very well become reality. It seems the only way to guarentee Buchholz makes it on the major league roster without demoting anybody is to trade Jon Lester.

Also, the Ellsbury - Crisp situation needs to be worked out. I'm afraid if Theo keeps Crisp that Tito will at least split his playing time with Ellsbury when Jacoby is clearly the best choice to be the Sox's center fielder and leadoff man next season.

Theo needs to get to work and find creative solutions to trading Crisp & Lester by opening day while getting equal value for the pair.
yankeeclippard1 Post #2: 12:59 am Quote | Report Violation
Total Posts: 1250
Didn't know the offseason was over
ClueHaywood Post #3: 1:06 am Quote | Report Violation
Total Posts: 126
I thought it was pretty obvious that Theo's hands are kind of tied until the Santana situation shakes itself out.
Skeeter2410 Post #4: 1:00 am Quote | Report Violation
Total Posts: 4670

Do you think Theo is slacking this off-season? The team as it currently stands is good enough to compete for a World Series in 2008 but I think there are some issues that need to be worked out.

The Sox currently have 6 viable starting pitchers for 2008 (Beckett, Matsuzaka, Schilling, Buchholz, Wakefield, & Lester). I Personally, and I think most people, would rather see Buchholz get the 5th spot over Lester but given Lester's seniority in the major leagues I don't know if that will happen. It is possible that Buchholz could start in AAA which would be ridiculous but could very well become reality. It seems the only way to guarentee Buchholz makes it on the major league roster without demoting anybody is to trade Jon Lester.

Also, the Ellsbury - Crisp situation needs to be worked out. I'm afraid if Theo keeps Crisp that Tito will at least split his playing time with Ellsbury when Jacoby is clearly the best choice to be the Sox's center fielder and leadoff man next season.

Theo needs to get to work and find creative solutions to trading Crisp & Lester by opening day while getting equal value for the pair.

Not much Theo can do when the two "problems" you cite are part of a potential Santana trade - which the Twins are dragging their heels on. Would getting Santana for the package curently on the table solve the Crisp/Lester diemma? Only partially. Then you'd have a new "problem" of shoehorning Santana into that tight starting rotation. That's a problem any GM would love to have to deal with - how to get a five-man rotation out of a former (and possibly future) Cy winner (Santana), last year's Cy runner-up (Beckett), a former (and still productive) ace (Schilling), a youngster with great stuff who already has a no hitter, the $100M import that everyone still has high hopes for (Daisuke), and Wakefield, who will give you 13-15 wins a year (as long as you can play TB a lot of times).

iPhraud Post #6: 11:03 am Quote | Report Violation
Total Posts: 3105

Do you think Theo is slacking this off-season? The team as it currently stands is good enough to compete for a World Series in 2008 but I think there are some issues that need to be worked out.

The Sox currently have 6 viable starting pitchers for 2008 (Beckett, Matsuzaka, Schilling, Buchholz, Wakefield, & Lester). I Personally, and I think most people, would rather see Buchholz get the 5th spot over Lester but given Lester's seniority in the major leagues I don't know if that will happen. It is possible that Buchholz could start in AAA which would be ridiculous but could very well become reality. It seems the only way to guarentee Buchholz makes it on the major league roster without demoting anybody is to trade Jon Lester.

Also, the Ellsbury - Crisp situation needs to be worked out. I'm afraid if Theo keeps Crisp that Tito will at least split his playing time with Ellsbury when Jacoby is clearly the best choice to be the Sox's center fielder and leadoff man next season.

Theo needs to get to work and find creative solutions to trading Crisp & Lester by opening day while getting equal value for the pair.

Seriously, you're mostly joking when you post from this account, right? Right?

Good god.

RedMagma Sat Jan 05, 2008 9:41 am

yay, the yanks are getting santana. yay. another reason to say they rule ny. yay! mets are second rate…yay! 3rd place….yay!

gotta hand it to hank, he knows how to get it done. he walks the talk. but omar and wilpons are impotent and all talk (which is cheap). yay!!!!

RedMagma Sat Jan 05, 2008 10:17 am

Details

* Title: 聊斋志异 / Liao Zhai Zhi Yi
* Also known as: Liaozhai Zhiyi, Strange Tales of Liao Zhai
* Genre: Supernatural
* Episodes: 36
* Broadcast year: 2005
* Related TV shows: See Liao Zhai

[edit]
Synopsis

Liao Zhai Zhi Yi, or Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, is a collection of nearly five hundred mostly supernatural tales published during the early Qing Dynasty. 6 stories are selected in this 36 episode series.
[edit]
Xiao Qian 小倩
Xiao Qian
Enlarge
Xiao Qian

On his way for a delivery, Ning Cai Chen met a beautiful woman, Xiao Qian, in the woods. She asked him to stay with her for the night and he did. Unbeknownst to him Xiao Qian was a fox demon who seduced men into staying and sucked their soul while they were sleeping. Fortunately for Ning, he was rescued by the Maoshan taoist priest, Yan Chi Xia. Ning's near death experience didn't deter him from falling in love with Xiao Qian. Instead, he tried to save her. He found out that Xiao Qian was controlled by Lao Lao, a tree demon who used Xiao Qian to gather men's soul. Because Xiao Qian failed to obtain Ning's soul, Lao Lao punished her by marrying her to Heshen Lao Yao, a powerful skeleton demon. Ning, with the help of Yan, planned to crash the wedding and save Xiao Qian.
[edit]
Cast

* Yang Mi as Xiao Qian
* Hu Ge as Ning Cai Chen 宁采臣
* Eric Kot (葛民煇) as Yan Chi Xia 燕赤霞
* Yang Min Na (杨旻娜) as Lao Lao 姥姥
* Li Chen (季晨) as Chen San Tai 陈三泰
* Wu Zhi Min (吴稚敏) as Bing Er 冰儿
* He Qi Jing (何倚静) as Xue Er 雪儿

[edit]
Judge Lu 陆判
Judge Lu
Enlarge
Judge Lu

In the realm of the dead, there were four judges. One of the judges, Lu, disagreed with others as to the punishment for Bai Yang's father, who was executed for selling fake drugs. Judge Lu believed that the father was only a fool and not inherently evil. If he were smarter, he would not have fallen for the fake drug scam, which led to innocent people's death and his own. To test this theory, he and his colleague made a bet to switch the heart of a fool, Zhu Er Dan, to see if he would do good or evil with his newfound intelligence.

The smarter Zhu Er Dan witnessed Bai Yang's fiancè, Zhang Xiao Man, getting attacked and killed in the woods. Instead of trying to save her, he waited till she was dead and asked Judge Lu to switch his wife's head with the beautiful Zhang Xiao Man's head. Unwilling to resign to a lose bet, Judge Lu fulfilled Zhu Er Dan's request in the hope that Zhu Er Dan would do good in the future. Zhang Xiao Man arrived at the realm of the dead. She refused to be reincarnated because she didn't have a head. Being such, Judge Lu banished her to the depth of hell. Bai Yang discovered his fiancè's ill fate, and with the help of Dong Yue heaven lord, he went to the realm of dead and saved his fiancè. Finally, evil got it's punishment, and good got it's reward.
[edit]
Cast

* Li Li Qun as Judge Lu 陆判
* Huang Xiao Ming as Bai Yang 白扬
* Hu Ke as Zhang Xiao Man 张小曼
* Bryan Wang as Zhu Er Dan 朱尔旦
* Cutie Mui as Ke Shao Rong 柯少容

[edit]
Painted Skin 画皮
Mei San Niang
Enlarge
Mei San Niang

One night, Wang An Xu encountered a woman who looked identical to his deceased lover. He returned home and painted her image on a canvas made of skin. Several days later, he met the woman again and brought her to his den and hid her existence from his wife.

Whenever he's at home with his wife, he wanted to be with the woman. So on the night he supposed to be at home, he sneaked out to the den. He had planned to surprised the woman. Instead, he was shocked by what he saw. She was painting her disfigured face. The woman who looked identical to his deceased lover, Mei San Niang, is his deceased lover. She had died in the fire and came back to haunt him.
[edit]
Cast

* Zeng Li as Mei San Niang 梅三娘
* Kwong Wa as Wang An Xu 王安旭
* Pan Yi Jun as Chen Chu Hui 陈楚慧
* Wan Ni En as Princess Ming Xia 明霞公主
* Luo Lan (羅蘭) as An Xu's mother
* Yue Yao Li as Priest Zhang 张道士
* Li Fei (李飞) as Shi Yi Ming 史逸明
* Wang Lei (王蕾) as Consort Shi 史妃

[edit]
Xiao Cui 小翠
Xiao Cui and Wang Yuan Feng
Enlarge
Xiao Cui and Wang Yuan Feng

About 46 years ago, Xiao Cui's mother was injured in a thunderstorm. However she was saved by Wang Yuan Feng's father. 46 years later, Xiao Cui is sent to where that man lives and help his son have a future, due to his retarded abilities. In the end they fall in love and marry each other, live very happy until the snake demon comes in and puts a spell on him, making him smart and normal, but also evil. Finally, Xiao Cui manages to save Yuan Feng with the "Night Crystal Ball".
[edit]
Cast

* Li Bing Bing as Xiao Cui
* Jimmy Lin as Wang Yuan Feng 王元丰
* Jiang Xin as She Ji 畲姬
* Lin Li Pin (林里嫔) as Yu Ji 虞姬
* He Gui Lin (何贵林) as Wang Yuan Zhi 王源智
* Ji Qi Ling (姬麒麟) as Wang Jin Pin 王晋品
* Zhang Shan as Emperor
* Zhong Liang as Hong He

[edit]
A Bao 阿宝
A Bao
Enlarge
A Bao

Once, there was a wealthy family who had a beautiful daughter named A Bao. An ingenuous and dedicated veterinarian named Sun Zi Chu encountered A Bao while going home one day and was so smitten with her, his spirit flew home with her. Fortunately, a Maoshan taoist priest saved his spirit. Days later, Sun met A Bao again. They spent a whole day together and fell in love. They agreed to meet the next day. However, when next day arrived, A Bao forgot everything about Sun. Sun probed into the reason and discovered that A Bao had developed a strange condition where sleep would wiped away her memory.

As it turned out, A Bao's memory lost was a curse placed on her by Chai Shao An, a man A Bao rejected. Chai was furious that A Bao chose Sun over him and bended on sabotage. He didn't stop there, he also kidnap her. Luckily, A Bao's loyal parrot alerted Sun. He and Maoshan taoist priest broke the curse and rescued her from Chai's control. With this ordeal behind them, Sun proposed marriage to A Bao.

Chai, again, tried to sabotage by putting a death curse on Sun, who immediately died of sudden illness. The grief stricken A Bao committed suicide there after. When they both arrived at the realm of the dead, they begged the god of the dead to show them justice for their untimely death.
[edit]
Cast

* Rainie Yang as Zhao A Bao 赵阿宝
* Yuan Hong as Sun Zi Chu 孙子楚
* Cheung Tat Ming as Chai Shao An 柴少安
* Cheng Pei Pei as Granny Miao 苗奶奶
* Ma Zhong De (马忠德) as Lu Ben Shan 陆本善
* Liao Qiu Wan as Gao Jun Ning 高俊宁
* Zhou Lan as Xiao Rong 小蓉

[edit]
Xiao Xie and Qiu Rong 小谢与秋容
Tao Wang San and Xiao Xie
Enlarge
Tao Wang San and Xiao Xie

Tao Wang San's world is full of shortcuts. If the shortest way to become rich is to marry the rich, then he would do just that, even if it means he has to live in a haunted house to do so. No amount of severed heads, flying furnitures, or ghostly pranks is going to scare him away. His unwaivering determination persuaded Xiao Xie and Qiu Rong, the resident ghosts, into letting him stay in their domain. For a while, him and the ghosts not only live in peace, they also help one another. However, their peaceful cooperation is shattered when Qiu Rong regains the memory of how she died. The rich woman Tao is courting is the great-granddaughter of the man Qiu Rong loved. She and the man's love was not accepted by society, so they decided to commit suicide. She died, but the man betrayed her and lived. After a hundred year of forgotten memory, Qiu Rong remembers the source of her hatred and why she is trapped in the realm of living.
[edit]
Cast

* TAE as Tao Wang San 陶望三
* Huo Si Yan as Qiu Rong 秋容
* Leila Tong as Xiao Xie 小谢
* Margaret Lin as Jiang Qian Qian 姜芊芊
* Li Nan (李楠) as Priest Tian 田道士
* Hai Bo (海波) as Minister Jiang 姜侍郎

[edit]
Production Credits

RedMagma Sat Jan 05, 2008 10:38 am

If the Mets don’t get Santana, it better not be because they held back on any of their prospects. The only excuse would be because the Twins insisted on Reyes.'

can all Yankee fans and sympathizers please report to the
nearest highway, there is traffic to be played in, thank you

Hank Steinbrenner didn’t waste any time revealing himself to be a simpleton, did he?

RedMagma Sat Jan 05, 2008 11:31 am

Medieval China: Soulstealing

http://www.iras.ucalgary.ca/~volk/sylvia/Soulstealing.htm

In China, eighteenth century and earlier:

Possibly because of feng shuei, carpenters and masons were associated with sorcerers. Proper ritual construction of homes was essential. It was believed that bridge-builders could steal a man's soul by clipping off his queue, or take a woman's soul by clipping a piece of her collar; the stolen soul was placed on a piling of a bridge under construction and hammered into the river-bed, killing the victim but ensuring a sturdy bridge. Soulstealers were believed to operate in gangs, paying petty thieves to collect pigtails, with evil sorcerers lurking somewhere to use the stolen souls.

The Lu-pan-ching was a popular carpentry manual in Ch'ing times; it contained rules for proper ritual construction, but also baleful charms for builders to hide atop rafters or under floors; and also charms to be used against such evil builders. This manual was thought so powerful that when a copy was sold, the bookseller always faced away from the book; anyone who opened the pages had to inflict magical harm on someone, or else himself suffer. From this book:

1. "A drawing of a broken tile inscribed with "Ice melts" <half of an expression 'Ice melts, tiles scatter' eg collapse, dissolution?>. Appended is a charm: 'A piece of broken tile, a jagged edge, hidden in joint of roof-beam, husband die and wife remarry, sons move away, servants flee, none will care for the estate.'" (To be hidden in a joint of the main roof-beam.)

2. "A drawing of an ox-bone. The charm: 'In center of room hide ox-bone, life-long toil, life's end death but no coffin, sons and grandsons will shoulder heavy burdens.'" (Bury under center of room.)

3. "A drawing of a knife among coils of hair. The charm: 'A sword worn in the hair. Sons and grandsons will leave and become monks. Having sons who found no families, perpetual misery. Widow and widower, orphaned and childless, do not forgive each other.'" (Bury under threshold.)

4. "When building a house, various kinds of carpenters, masons, and plasterers will plot to poison, curse, and harm the owner. On the day when the roof-beam is raised, offer a sacrifice of the three types of animal, laid out on a horizontal trestle, to all the gods. Then recite the following secret charm of Master Lu Pan <patron saint of carpenters>: 'Evil artisans, do you not know that poisons and curses will rebound upon yourselves, and bring no harm to the owner?' Then recite seven times: 'Let the artisan meet misfortune.' <Then say> 'I have received the proclamation of the Supreme Ruler ordering that I shall suffer no harm from others, and that all will redound to my good fortune: an urgent decree.' Burn copy of charm in private place, especially where no pregnant woman can see you. Mix ashes with blood of black and yellow dog, then dissolve in wine. On day main roof-beam is raised, serve to builders <three cups to boss>. He who is plotting sorcery will himself receive the harm. <Copy in vermilion ink and paste atop roofbeam>."

RedMagma Sat Jan 05, 2008 12:23 pm

It’s only a matter of time before he fires Cashman.?

DId you read Newsday article?

Hank Hearts Cash

From Kat O'Brien -

http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/yankees/ny-spyside075491318dec07,0,5598267.story

"We haven't discussed [Brian Cashman's] extension yet, but he's part of the Yankee family and has been for 21 years. I don't see any reason to not continue that."

"He's busy, we're busy, there just hasn't been any detailed discussion about that," Steinbrenner said. "Is Brian's job on the line because of what the team does this year? No, that's sensationalism to say it's based on 2008 ... I'm very pleased with what Brian and Damon [Oppenheimer] and Mark Newman and all the scouts and people have done with the drafts, with the last three drafts."

Looks like Brian can write his own ticket when it comes to Hank.

RedMagma Sat Jan 05, 2008 12:24 pm

If the “owner” has to make these decisions, as Hank says, I think the Yankees are in a wonderful position to have an even more bloated payroll with aging stars at every position, just like a few years ago. Either the Yankees have no real desire to obtain Santana, in which case they actually have a plan to drive up the cost to other teams or they are just the most dysfunctional front office in baseball, as they always should be.

I think this clown will blink in the end and give up 5 or 6 prospects to get Santana and outbid himself in a 8 year 170 million dollar contract while patting himself on the back like he did with ARod.

Tool doesn’t even begin to describe this guy. He is quickly moving into the pantheon of self important offspring who would be living in the gutter if it wasn’t for their birthright, see James Dolan. Jeffy W looks like a mastermind compared to these guys.

Amazing how 2 minutes in the spot light gives some people dillusions of grandeur.

Keep it up Hank, you make me confident the Yankees will be no closer to another WS than they’ve been since 2000.

RedMagma Sat Jan 05, 2008 12:53 pm

Posted by fan on Tubby's blog...

Hank is a controlling general partner

Hall is the MBA who is also a controlling general partner and he was the one put in control of the finances based on his financial background.

Hall doesnt want to commit 200M (56M luxury tax) to a pitcher & Cashman is also against the move.

Hank can yap all he wants about Santana image, he cant make the move without his brother's approval.

RedMagma Sat Jan 05, 2008 1:21 pm

i just wish Hank would learn to shut up a bit and leave the thinking to Hal and the talking to Cashman.

i understand what he's trying to do, he's trying to have some transparency in the organization. that's cool and all, but sometimes you just have to shut the hell up.

and i'm not so excited about this deal going through. i honestly don't think the red sox will bid for him if we drop out of the bidding because they only want him to keep him away from us. since no one other than the sox and the yanks can offer the twins what they want, santana will probably end up playing one more year, then he's a FA.

that's when we should go after him.
i really want to keep hughes, he can be our next ace.
and trading away melky will mean we'll have to get some old FA CFer for a year before austin jackson is ready to debut.

i like things the way they are now. we need to keep Phil Franchise.

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