Bleacher Bums Forum

I thought that he already had an interlock device and had disabled it.  That was part of the seriousness.  It was multiple DUIs, not one.

No, DelMarFan, it was one DUI conviction within the last two years, and then another from about October of last year.  The One DUI incident from last fall was what he pled guilty on yesterday.  That incident was broken down into four different charges, but all were from the same DUI, and under Arizona's sentencing law (which is the same in most other states) even if he had been convicted on all four counts, the sentences would have run at the same time, meaning that many of the news reports about how much time he faced in prison were nonsense since the reporters added together the possible sentence for each offense and totaled them -- that is NOT the way it is done.  Additionally, while everyone kicks Grace while he is down, his blood alcohol level was less than .10, which until very recently was the standard level required to create a presumption that the driver was impaired.  That has been reduced in many states in recent years, generally to .08, and Grace was above that limit.  At Grace's body weight, three beers would put him at the level he had.  So far, in all of the coverage, I have seen nothing about why the cop stopped Grace in the first place, and a great many stops are made without actual probable cause, and with a good defense attorney and a judge who follows the law, those cases should be dismissed.

A great many other stops are made with proper legal justification for the stop, but without anything resembling evidence the driver was actually impaired.  (For instance, a tail light was out, providing a basis for the stop, but no probable cause that he was impaired since the driving observed by the officer was fine.)  And in those cases, a good defense attorney, and a sympathetic defendant, will often result in not guilty verdicts.

In other words, while Grace never should have been driving on a suspended license, and as someone who clearly has a history of trouble with alcohol he also should never have been driving after drinking ANYTHING, and while what he did was foolish, unless his driving was in fact impaired (and at the moment I have seen nothing to indicate that it was), there is no reason to condemn him for putting the lives of others at risk, and there is a good deal to commend him for in entering the guilty plea to accept responsibility for his stupidity and to move on.

Mets have signed Marlon Byrd to a minor league deal.  He was released by the Red Sox before his PED suspension last year, I think.  So does that mean he has to sit out 50 games before he could join their team, or did he somehow serve the suspension last year?

Prince Fielder agreed with the Tigers on January 24 last year.  We're now more than a week past that date and Michael Bourn still hasn't signed. 

I'm not surprised a centerfielder fell through the cracks this offseason, but I am surprised that it's him.  I thought it would be Victorino or Pagan.

Here's one of the least surprising things ever: Hawk Harrelson and Steve Stone don't get along.  With Harrelson annoyingness and Stone's ego, it's a surprise it took a couple years for them to develop problems.

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/02/04/white-sox-announcers-hawk-harrelson-and-steve-stone-havent-gotten-along-for-two-years/

It's hard to find a broadcast team with two bigger egos than those two. 

Well except for Joe Buck and whomever Joe Buck is broadcasting with, even if the other broadcaster is Mother Teresa.

Brandon Webb has finally decided to retire.  At this point, he'd probably be a long shot to make it back even if he was completely healthy.

I LIKE IT!

I LIKE IT!

Hahaha, is it too late to trade back?

I thought his fantasy points would bump, primarily because he sat out half the year last year, but this is an improvement.