Dan Gould

No way he goes on waivers and the Yanks get a chance to claim him. Waiver wire goes to teams in reverse order of standings, and to the same league first. In other words, the Yanks get absolutely the last chance at him. If he were put on waivers, without a doubt, the Red Sox put in a claim, if another team doesn't themselves, even on the chance that Arizona doesn't pull him back and they're "stuck" with his salary. No way the Yankees ever get a chance at him. Plus, even if he went in full pout mode, after all this, and a total lack of interest in what the Yanks might offer, Arizona just puts him on waivers and gets nothing for him at all? Whatchoo been smokin', son? Arizona will make Johnson available in the off-season, where, after free agency shuffles things around, there will be more teams who think they have a chance, and will especially think they have a chance if they can have Randy Johnson for a full season. And that means better offers to Arizona.

Shawn, pardon my ignorance but what are DSP functions? I have to say, the newest goldwave does many cool things, and very quickly (part of that, I'm sure, is the upgrade we just got in processing power). Much better than the version I started with.

to my recollection, the wettest rainy season since I moved to south Florida, and we haven't even seen a tropical storm or hurricane yet.

Good move, Jim. And great picture for your avatar! She grows cuter every day.

How can you tell?

This hardly helps when considering a vinyl purchase of a never reissued, and probably never to be reissued recording.

Too bad for Bud. Surely its the Festival's loss ...

Aren't we about ready to start the discussion thread?

Wow. I really chuckled when I saw that deal on the hotel TV somewhere in the Pacific NW where I'm vacationing. I thought it was a terrible deal for the Bosox, this Yankee fan having a very healthy respect for Nomar. I guess the seeds were planted during this past off season when Nomar realized that he was a valuable pawn in the unsuccessful attempt to land the infamous A-Rod. Big mistake by the precocious Theo, IMO. As for the Yanks getting Loaiza for Contreras, you're right Dan, I am ecstatic. Loaiza is a BIG step up AFAIAC. He'll pitch big in pinstripes, I feel confident of that. As for Jose, maybe he'll eventually adapt to pitching in the big leagues, but he would not have done that in the pressurized cooker that playing for Steinbrenner represents. Loaiza needs to prove he's a real pitcher. The word from Chicago was that he was back to his old stuff, that last year may have been a fluke. Most interesting stat I saw in the head-to-head comparison between him and Contreras: Opponents Batting Average against: Contreras- .255 Loaiza - .280 It may be an upgrade in terms of overall consistency, but Loaiza has to figure out how to pitch like he did in 2003 or Steinbrenner will be all over his ass in a heartbeat.

http://www.goldwave.com Goldwave is a fine audio editing program-I just got the newest version and it does a lot of cool things. But if you don't want to pay (its only about $40US nowadays, they have a shareware version you can download. Assuming you can take the recordings as a wav file, its easy to split up. The only thing about the shareware version-you get 30 clicks of the control buttons per session. Then it pops up a message reminding you of how great the program is, and don't you want to buy it? If you don't want to buy it, just save what you've done and close the program and then open it again, and you've got another 30 clicks. That's assuming their shareware works the same as it did six years ago when I had it.

Evan, You need an audio program like Goldwave (I recently downloaded the newest version and its very good, and its only about $40 and that gets you all future upgrades, too) http://www.goldwave.com Then, you need the kind of sound card that can handle two different audio sources simultaneously, and then you can just run the audio from the speaker plugs into the line in plug, and, as Kelly Bundy would say, viola!

Well, it looks like the trades are all announced at this point, and this Red Sox fan is furious. The best they could get for Nomar was Orlando Cabrera and Doug Mantkiewiz? How the hell did it go from Nomar for an excellent starter like Clement, to getting a part-time first baseman and OK, shortstop, neither of whom hit their way out of a paper bag??? Management said they're going for it this year, how does this improve the team? Fucking ridiculous. Yeah, yeah, the guy from Minnesota helps a lot defensively at first base, but guess what? With Nomar gone, you gotta have Ortiz and Millar in the lineup, and where the hell do they play? Only one can be a DH. Nixon may be out for the year-if you stick Millar out in right field, you're gonna watch a lot of balls fly all over the place. Cabrera can field, no question, and defense has been a big problem, but what about Pokey Reese? Unless his rib cage injury turns out to be a bigger thing, we already had defensive help on the way. Last point: was it coincidence that the offense got it in gear when Nomar returned? I don't think so. This is horrible. Young Theo should be strung up by his balls off of Pesky's Pole for making this trade. The only good thing is Nomar playing for the Cubs, which my father has wanted for a long time; he'll do great things for the Cubs offense and since the Cubs are my "other" team, I hope he stays with the Cubbies. All of those doubles off the Monster will be home runs in Wrigley, same with the shots to the triangle in centerfield-in Fenway, they were long outs or doubles/triples, in Wrigley, they're out on the avenue. Meanwhile, Marty and Dave James will probably be pleased to be rid of Contreras, but the guy they got has gone from Cy Young runner-up right back to being mr. journeyman. Whether Louiaza can handle pressure is unknown, too. I haven't seen him throwing the lights out stuff that Contreras had flashed.

Now I hear that in fact, Tyson tore ligaments in his knee in the first round, so I have to say its possible, even likely, he'll keep going, blaming the injury. Its not entirely far fetched-he tagged the guy early and might have knocked him out. Who knows how much the knee hurt his ability to move, or set himself to throw punches? I know he got beat, and beat pretty badly, but I'd feel he was definitely finished if he didn't come out of the fight with such an injury.

Man I am nothing if not jealous. In south Florida there's one tiny record show twice a year; central Florida may have one decent one a year if you're lucky, and that's really about it. I always thought that with so many retirees, south Florida would have a market for record shows and especially jazz. But it just ain't so.

Did I miss something? How is this guy notorious on this board?

If only Aric were a bit more paranoid, he might see that FBI warning in a more personal way: "Settle up with SS1, punk, or this CD will self-destruct upon placement in any audio device."

More Lockjaw: Smokin' at Birdland (with Stitt) Eddie's Function Love Calls Battle Stations (with Griff) Light and Lovely Leapin' on Lennox Oh Gee Goin to the Meetin' All of Me Very Saxy Train Whistle

No, I'm a fan, too, Paul, just lost interest as the heavyweight ranks have slipped so far.

Now wait a gosh darn second. I could have piled on Chuck like Hardbop did. Instead, I gave a nuanced comment which said that Chuck is often ornery but doesn't deserve this attack: And please note down below that our own Jim R. agreed with my comments.

Buying any player you want is no guarantee of success: ask the Rangers, who finished dead last despite having Mr. $252 at shortstop every year. Or the Marlins, who BEAT the Yanks despite having a payroll that wasn’t even the same stratosphere as the Yanks. But you're still missing the point: The Rangers blew all their wad on a single player and found out that one guy can't make you a winner. If they were like the Yankees and still had money for other stars, they'd have had some success. But the Yankees have virtually unlimited resources to buy anyone, that's why they are a dominant team. The fact that at a particular moment in time, a low-payroll team like the Marlins beat them doesn't change that fact; it just makes it obvious that you have to play the games and win them, and it goes without saying that if you are good enough to reach the play-offs or the World Series, you're good enough to win it all, regardless of your opponent.

Actually, you're incorrect, Marty. Liars are liars, not posturers, and I have no respect for them. After the fight, Varitek said his emotions got away from him, as they did for Rodriguez, and that its not good for their sport. He didn't say "A-Rod started it" and he didn't point out that A-Rod said, more than once, "Let's go". Varitek owned up to it and is a stand-up guy. A-Rod is a punk and a liar, and his lies make him look like a fool. If he had the guts, Watson ought to respond to his appeal not by reducing the penalty but by tacking on a day. That might get would-be fighters attention. But no, A-Rod is A-Rod, and its a pennant race, so the suspensions will be reduced to three games, probably. Kapler got the rawest deal, undoubtedly. If the Red Sox are smart, they'll activate Nixon from the D.L. three days early, so he serves the suspension while he's not able to play anyway.

Funny, I hardly own any box sets that aren't Mosaics. So, because its both good, and the only one I own that qualifies, I'd have to say the Lester Young Verve.

OK, the suspensions are announced: 4 Games for Rodriguez and Varitek 3 for Sturtze, Kapler, Nixon Fines for a couple of other guys. Now, its good to see Sturtze getting a suspension because he was the instigator of that separate altercation. But like the equality of punishment between A-Rod and Tek, Bob Watson is unwilling to penalize the INSTIGATORS more for their actions. Sturtze pulls Kapler backwards in a choke-hold, Kapler responds, and they get even punishment??? Total bull shit. What I want to hear from Yankee fans is, what do you think of Rodriguez' UTTERLY LAUGHABLE "I'm blameless" bull crap? "I was on my way to first base"? What a joke. Can anyone defend this guy? Whatever respect I had for him is long gone.

I don't recall offhand the exact circumstances of Rocky Marciano's retirement, but he DID quit with a perfect record. I don't think guys who are undeafeated are ones who fall in the "kept fighting til they didn't have any brain cells" category.

Actually, this one was recorded after PJJ's death. It's an excellent album, though. Which is why I grouped them under "Dameronia" instead of having the two Uptown LPs under Philly Joe and this last one under, I guess, Don Sickler.