mac9001

Giolito's curve ball is absolutely filthy. If he gets his fastball command back there's a lot to be excited about.

Thank you for putting this together (and sharing it). I had to dig my password out of the back on my head somewhere just so I could express some gratitude. It's been a few years since I've religiously checked minor league box scores, but this time around I might have to spring for MiLB.TV just to keep up with all the young promising arms we've assembled. I'm almost as excited about the Baron's starting staff as Charlotte's.

I have read and agree.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Apr 28, 2010 -> 11:43 PM) I am cherry-picking here, but they EARN far less than they CONSUME in benefits and what they SAVE they send out of the country to prop up Mexico which is why that hellhole won't do anything to stop it, or THEY go broke as a country. (Cue tex's response about sending my kids to be migrant veggie pickers or something, and a slight rant about businesses needing illegals, while completely ignoring that most have called for a valid, workable guest worker program to alleviate that issue, including me). On a different note, you also said Sometimes you have to slap a hysterical person in the face to get their attention. Arizona has been asking for help for years to stem the flow of illegals from the feds, and getting nothing. maybe this is just the slap in the face to say 'hey feds, wake the f*ck up, we are SERIOUS here'? I've seen the they cost more than they contribute argument before and it simply doesn't hold up when looking at it form a wider perspective. Illegal immigrants are far less likely to consume public resources then legal residents (which helps off-set their lower earnings). I've seen studies that claim illegal immigrants pay roughly 65-70% (which is a stat that comes up a lot in relation to illegal immigrants) of their expected tax contribution. Health, education, infrastructure spending isn't nearly as significant as revenues gathered on social security, medicare and medicate taxes. The IRS graciously accepts such tax payments from illegal immigrants and holds all that revenue in escrow accounts (worth tens of billions). For the federal government illegal immigrants are fairly profitable commodity, however, that certainly is not the case at the state level. While the federal government is pocketing billions state budgets are being burdened by costs associated with illegal immigrants. But taxes are still only a small slice in a much broader picture. While their consumption may not be particularly impressive on an individual level and their savings ends up mostly as remittances to Mexico, their aggregate consumption and savings still end up being fairly significant. As i illustrated in my previous post it's easy to get caught up thinking of illegal immigrants on a individual level, but once you actually conceptualize how much money they control on an aggregate level you realize how incredibly significant they are to the economy as a whole. They've contributed billions to local economies and have created demand for additional business and housing. But lets examine the situation beyond just taxes; even if on a tax basis illegal immigrants cost more then they bring in, their aggregate contribution to consumption is vital for many business. By removing illegal immigrants you could be condemning millions of Americans who depend on their consumption and savings as revenue for their business. Certainly those loses would not be evenly distrusted and many areas would probably see economic benefits, but once again and i can't stress this enough, on a aggregate level the removal of illegal immigrants would cause much more harm then good. They're simply too integrated economically to assume you can remove hundreds of thousands or even millions on the national level and not suffer severe economic instability. To put things in perspective you if you to suddenly remove just 5 million illegal immigrants at lets say an assumed per capita income level of $20,000, that's a $100 billion dollars you just pulled out of the economy, granted some of that would probably be made up by gains realized from removing 5 million illegal immigrants, but that $100 billion serves as conduit for hundreds of billions generated through connections that most of us just don't visualize. You're talking about playing a dangerous game of dominoes and you can never be certain what unforeseen consequences arise from the removal of that many individuals and money. Mass deportation can potentially lead to another financial crisis, a decade ago few people would have said poor judgment on the hands of a few mortgage lenders and brokers would eventually lead to a trillion dollar global financial crisis. Given a wide variety of options mass deportations present the greatest potential for harmful unforeseen consequences conspiring against our interests. Given the cost to simply hand out blanket amnesty would probably cost pennies on the dollar when compared to a what is basically an impractical solution in mass deportation, such as the Arizona bill contrives. It comes down to a basic risk analysis, it's cheaper and easier to hand out amnesty after amnesty if the only other solution is increased enforcement of ineffective immigration laws.

I haven't posted on this site in a while, but this thread caught my attention. After reading through the first 10 pages or so i noticed no one brought up what the consequences may be if this law actually succeeds in removing illegal immigrants. After taking a few minutes to examine the underlying purpose of this legislation it occurs to me how incredibly shortsighted and reactive people have become on the issue of illegal immigration. Putting the emotional hyperbole aside lets examine a few basic illustrations if the underlying intention of mass deportation succeeds. I've seen estimates of roughly 500,000 illegal immigrants in Arizona. I've read studies which claim illegal immigrants make roughly 65-70% the per capita income of a US born residents. Hypothetically if they somehow managed to to deport all 500,000 illegals, assuming 65-70% of Arizona's per capita income of $32,953 in 2008 you get a economic impact of roughly $10.7 to $11.5 billion dollars. Now those billions are used to support numerous business (restaurants, grocery stores, gas stations), so the economic impact can probably be magnified substantially. Then you have the issue of reducing the aggregate population by several hundred thousand residents. When taking that into context the already devastated local real estate market you drastically reduce demand and increase the supply. Housing markets are incredibly sensitive and surprisingly interconnected, a large decline in potential renters/home owners will severely depress housing prices. Furthermore cities with rapid population decline struggle to attract investment and as a general rule create incentives for others to leave (declines home prices are a guaranteed way to keep potential residents away). Now i can continue for hours illustrating potential consequences of each successive variables (many of which could potentially be positive), but the point i'm trying to make is despite how some people portray illegal immigrants as insignificant they are indeed inclusive residents of this country. They earn income, they consume, they save, in the case of Arizona they constitute a substantial percentage of their population and as a result their production and consumption. While each individual illegal immigrant may seem insignificant, when you suddenly have half a million on your hands you can't simple remove them and not expect severe economic consequences, mostly negative consequences. While it may seem i'm defending illegal immigrants i can assure you that's not my intention. I don't support the principle of illegal immigration, i have nothing against mass deportation on purely moral grounds, these people have broken laws and they don't particularly deserve our pity or mercy. But the sad reality is, particularly in states such as Arizona, illegal immigration is simply too big to fail (sort of becoming a general trend with issues in our country). You can blame two decades of government indifference and incompetence for allowing the problem to get out of hand, but at this point we have just as much to lose as the illegals. The supporters of this current legislation need to put their emotional attachments to this issue aside and look at it this from a practical perspective. We're probably not going to stop illegal immigration anytime soon, so at the very least lets take steps to ensure we're not hurting our own interests through reactive legislation primarily motivated by frustration. There has to be a compromise somewhere between mass deportations and amnesty and until our elected leaders sit down and at least attempt to address the situation we're leaving the decisions in the hands of those whom have shown no real commitment to finding a practical solution to this mess.

QUOTE(BamaDoc @ Apr 4, 2008 -> 01:58 PM) What does the pFX symbol on MLB gameday stand for? "The "Pitch-f/x" value is the measurement of the distance between the location of the actual pitch thrown over the plate, and the calculated location of a ball thrown by the pitcher in the same way, with no spin; this is the value MLB.com provided in Enhanced Gameday last season as "Break." Essentially it's the amount of vertical movement opposed to a ball with no spin. I believe a standard no spin pitch has about 30 inches of vertical fall. Thus when you get a pFX number of 10 it means 10 inches of rise opposed to a standard no spin pitch. Thus, the smaller the number the greater the sink. That's why curveballs have low pFX numbers, because they sink faster than a ball without spin. At least that's my understanding of the whole system.

QUOTE(chisoxfan79 @ Apr 5, 2008 -> 04:05 PM) I think Gavin forgot to read a scouting report on Inge he is a white Uribe just throw him some sliders and change ups Actually Inge was only a .200 hitter against fastballs last year: http://baseball.bornbybits.com/plots/bat/Brandon_Inge.html

Actually the reason the US Dollar has maintained strong value and reliability is because of it's wide acceptance as a international medium of exchange. More foreign trade can only help increase the value of the dollar, in fact the reason the dollar has slid in comparison to the Euro is the wide acceptance of the Euro in international oil and gas sales. Countries in the EU and major oil producers such as Iran, Venezuela and Norway prefer the Euro to the dollar, likewise China and Japan have been diversifying their foreign currency reserve. In short the biggest threat to the dollar is the Euro and in the future the gold dinar.

QUOTE(BearSox @ Apr 20, 2007 -> 10:18 PM) he pitched today... went 4.2 and gave up 2 runs, I think. yep. only got 1 K, walked 4, and gave up 5 hits... is it encouraging that he can pitch pretty bad but still have decent results? I just hope he builds up arm strength and gets back to 100% by mid season or so. After not pitching for 11 days you'd expect his control to be a little shaky.

QUOTE(bulokis @ Apr 20, 2007 -> 02:11 PM) what happened to Honel? He pitched well the first start but since then, he has not pitch again. Is he injured again? I really hope not, his first start was very encouraging.

What'd the rotation look like? Gonzalez Russell Egbert Honel Whisler? Vazquez? ...and i assume Day will close?

QUOTE(SoxFan101 @ Jun 25, 2006 -> 11:53 AM) It seems that Sweeney is hitting for power finally... I know part of it is due to the Charlotte park but we play in a hitters park as well so its all good. I wouldn't exactly call 5 HRs in 200+ ABs hitting for power.

That picture is pretty f***en sick!

Where is Arnie Munoz?

QUOTE(SouthsideBlitz @ Apr 1, 2006 -> 01:29 PM) I don't mean to be a sour puss and I wish the best for the kid but I guarntee you, he pulled an esteban loaiza. Really? Has he lost 3-5 MPH of velocity and has his hit cutter flattened out? Garland's stuff is fine he just need to throw strikes, so for now i'm openly optimistic.

QUOTE(Cknolls @ Mar 29, 2006 -> 12:52 PM) Why can't we tax the money these illegals repatriate to Mexico? Seems like it would help defray the costs of the social services they swallow. It would also deprive the Mexican gov't from the second largest source of income in their country. Well, that's essentially what the guest worker program does, right?

QUOTE(Texsox @ Mar 28, 2006 -> 10:24 PM) Well, I'm playing catch up, but no surprise, y'all know what a big Dubya supporter I am, and I applaud his guest worker proposal. I wish there was a mechanism for citizenship after the six year program, but it's a giant step in the right direction. From what i saw in a 10 min blurb on MSNBC after the six year worker visa is over the person will be presented with an opportunity for permanent residence if they can meet certain requirements. The only two i remember is pay a $1000 fine and learn English, but there were more.

Didn't Reagan withhlod UN dues? How long did that last?

There's also a good chance the EU would strongly oppose an Iran invasion. Later this year when the Iranian Oil Exchange becomes a reality the EU will have a considerable economic stake in Iran. Countries such as China, Japan and South Korea will most likely invest heavily in the euro once it's accepted along with the international dollar. Simply put we can find out selves in a standoff with the rest of the world and severely damage the value of the dollar. When you take into account our enormous budget deficit and the infalation that could arise for the increased value and accessibility of the euro we could be facing an economic crisis.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Feb 4, 2006 -> 02:58 PM) That was fast. But now it is moving back to wireless with satelite. If cable companies move to fiber optic cables we'll stay wired for a very long time.

TV?

http://www.faithfreedom.org/Gallery/Mo_Cartoons.jpg

I believe the main reason illegal immigrants come to the United States is family connections and the jobs they provide. Thus, creating stiff fines would have little to no effet on illegal immigration since the goverment would only screen major bussiness (like Walmart). The solution is to give them opportunities to become legal residents if they can meet certain requirements. For instance provide immigrants with "work IDs" (for those who don't have SS#s) so they can pay their taxes and can prove they can contribute to the economy. Let's say if they contunually pay their taxes for 5-7 years, they become eligible for green cards. This way you provide them with a worthwhile benefit to pay their taxes and since they come here primarly for family reasons you provide them with the oppretunity to stay in the United States and spend their money here.

Hypocrisy at its finest, unions are becoming a joke in this country.

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Jan 7, 2006 -> 01:51 AM) Even though the Olympics basically covers this. Baseball was dropped as a Olympic sport.