Chisoxfn

QUOTE (fathom @ Jan 28, 2016 -> 01:09 PM) Who do the Sox have to trade that's as valuable as McGee? No one that is easily replaceable. He's a 28 year old reliever, who is not a proven closer (and yes, that matters). Yes, he's been good (he's also had some down years too) but it isn't like he's under team control for cheap for 5 years either (he's already in his arb years and is a FA in 2018). So in isolation, Rockies paid Parra roughly 10M/yr (who is worse than Dickerson) and than got a reliever. I'd have argued if they wanted the reliever, they'd have been able to spend Parra's money on something more valuable than McGee (while keeping the better player in Dickerson). I see no logic in where that combination of moves was a good use of Rockies resources. None. Unless they know something none of us do about Dickerson's injury history.

Okay...so you give Parra that money. Dickerson is a better player than Parra and you could have found another reliever for a lot less. This juts totally baffles me (unless they are getting a pretty darn good prospect as well). Over past 2 years, Parra has put up a collective WAR of

So I don't get it. You trade a quality young outfielder for a good reliever. Makes no sense to me. Is a highly thought of prospect also part of this trade with the Rockies? If not, I'm extremely dissapointed the Sox weren't interested in Dickerson. He is young, cost controlled, and when healthy has been a much much better ballplayer than Avi Garcia.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baske...0130-story.html I thought this was an interesting read on Tyrus trying to make a comeback and about his ups and his downs and how he got to where he is now (which is a very good place).

I think more just using the premise for a show (not necesesarily using Lloyd and MJF...I'm going to guess they wouldn't be interested or at least MJF wouldn't be. Lloyd very well might).

Is anyone surprised a network hasn't made a back to the future TV show?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 28, 2016 -> 10:09 AM) Ha, there was enough name dropping in here to make Caulfield proud. The points made are all valid. The excuse that Thibs caused injuries was a poor one. The fact of the matter is, the Bulls happen to have quite a few guys that tend to get hurt. It has been proven consistently. Now Niko's injury has nothing to do with anything and is no indication of him, in particular, being injury prone. But in relation to Rose / Noah / Taj / Hinrich (at this stage), those guys are injury prone. That is a reality.

You are both wrong. Vietnamese. A lot of people think she is Filipino though.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Jan 27, 2016 -> 09:28 AM) Buying/selling used is differently, if business/private sellers want to do that then fine, there shouldn't be as much regulation there. But a new car shouldn't be any different then a TV. Go do online research, do some test drives at designated dealerships or manufacturer's test drive sites, then purchase online or in person at your preference. Dealerships would still have a place in the car selling world, just like Best Buy, Target etc still have a place in the entertainment product world. But having hidden costs, crazy negotiations, etc is just stupid and we should move past that. Saturn did that and while some people liked it, I think others didn't like it. And the reality is, TV's are on sale, etc, all the time. Very easy to have one person pay substantially more for a TV than another, because one person bought from here during X sale or had X coupons, etc. I don't actually think it is that much different than having people negotiate, other than you can more easily see the "sale" price of the TV at the variety of stores or use a tool like froogle or yahoo shopping.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jan 27, 2016 -> 09:06 AM) I hate that it has the reputation of scamming as well. Not everyone scams but negotiation certainly feels like it sometimes. I literally negotiate everything that I possibly can. The Harley dealer I bought my bike from this summer almost told me to leave. I got them to buy back my used Ducati for way more than I paid for it. I don't really think the sales people are all that scummy...its the finance situation and I'm not sure that Tesla solves that issue. I honestly have no idea how the finance people can lie like they do. It is ridiculous.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jan 27, 2016 -> 08:09 AM) My little brother tries this. It doesn't work always, but he does have success sometimes and as he says, "what's the harm in asking? the worst they do is say 'no.'" Yeah - depending on what I'm buying, I'll still just negotiate and ask if they can give me x% off or what else can they do.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Jan 26, 2016 -> 02:34 PM) Yes! I geeked out when I saw the graininess of it. I actually hope they keep it to shorter seasons, more British in style. They don't need to do 24-episode seasons anymore. We have 200+ episodes already. Just do the best storylines you have. We don't need filler at this point. The 6-episode run gives them a chance to do a larger arc while staying on point and throwing in a couple stand alones (which were usually the best ones). Maybe limit it to 12-episode seasons. Fully agree with your point on shorter season. Make sure you get quality. 6 is tough cause it almost doesn't feel like enough, 12 might be a little on the long side. I feel like 8-10 is perfect. Ensures every episode is quality while still being able to follow the greater arc. I honestly had forgotten how original this show was and when I saw the initial intro fire up (I haven't watched xfiles since I saw the last of the movies years ago) and it instantly brought me back to when I was a little kid and would watch the show in its earliest years(and sometimes it would cause me difficulty sleeping, haha...parents, what the hell were you thinking). Freaking show aired when I was 10 years old....unbelievable.

The real question I have is, are there people that actually go in and just buy the car and don't do much negotiating? The fleet mgr that sold me my car did have an interesting story. When I told him I wasn't financing and was going to pay for it, he asked me over the phone are you going to bring cash and I'm like no, I'll just write a check. So when I went there I asked him, do people really show up with 20+ grand in cash in a suitcase (vs. just writing a check) and he told me about a guy who came in a year ago with a briefcase full of 160K to buy 6 new cars for his family. He wanted it to be a surprise and had to make sure that the total of all 6 cars added up to that amount. Fleet mgr said him and his team were at the dealer until like 3 AM counting the cash (as they aren't a bank so they aren't really equipped to do it). Guy was coming back from doing independent contractor work for the government in Iraq or something like that.

The Powell example is why it will take 10+ years to generate any sort of return, which indicates that the up front costs prior to any potential pay-off are significant. To be able to get these to work, you have to reach the youth cricket levels and convert those top players into baseball players and build them up from there. Than you are going to have to hit some guys who actually make majors, to create a potential pathway for others to look / gravitate towards. All the while you might put in this investment only to see an international draft pop up and thus all that money was spent for not (other than you do have additional contacts). The reality is for this to be successful, baseball should invest in putting together facilities and resources in these parts and make it an MLB platform, leveraging MLB scouting channels and specific teams could send reps, etc, out and provide resources, but the best path to success is MLB driving this vs. individual clubs (and if you are going to grow the game, one can argue this is a good use of MLB's resources (i.e., all the owners essentially pay for this together butin theory benefit from it together as it provides potential path towards expanding market / driving global game).

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 26, 2016 -> 01:29 PM) That isn't just who he traded. It is who he passed up to draft less expensive players, and the draft picks they gave up to sign players. It isn't as simple as who they traded away. I would bet that during Kenny's time the Sox actually got more picks or close to more picks than they gave up (excluding last year, which would fall under "Hahn's reign as GM"). Now the whole what you are willing to pay / how much they invested in draft, is completely fair game. I'd also be one who said Sox needed to scout and draft better, but I can argue Kenny did a pretty good job giving up guys at there peak value and getting something for them. Rarely, if ever (Gio is by far the biggest exception), did the Sox give up a piece who turned into an above average big leaguer.

QUOTE (shipps @ Jan 26, 2016 -> 01:38 PM) It has a USB port but doesn't give USB connection option on my monitor. I looked through all the screens on the car monitor and no option for USB connection. Doesnt make sense. What kind of car. Just google how to play pandora through bluetooth on my 20XX Ford Pinto

QUOTE (Brian @ Jan 26, 2016 -> 12:41 PM) The only thing I didn't like about the first episode was Joel McHale. I associate him with comedy too much I guess. Will watch ep 2 later. Yeah - I was going to say, I can't stand McHale in it.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jan 26, 2016 -> 11:42 AM) So how much did you save off the TrueCar estimate? edit: NM, see that in your prior post. So from the true-car / costo / car guru estimate, ended up move them down close to an extra thousand (and my actual price paid was lower than the furthest recorded sale range that they had in there database for my area). I was actually surprised that the costco price was the cheapest starting point of the three. Theoretically, if someone didn't want to spend the time, just using the car services gets you pretty darn close already.

QUOTE (CrimsonWeltall @ Jan 26, 2016 -> 11:50 AM) My Mazda CX5 uses Bluetooth to play any audio the phone is generating: GPS navigation, Pandora, Google Music, Spotify, etc. Yep...most any of the cars with bluetooh should do it, you just need to make sure when you set-up your phone you also activate the bluetooth audio feature. Do note that to play navigation, you need to typically be on the media section (some cars it will actually interject over normal radio but a lot of vehicles it will only interject on the media connection, meaning over Pandora / Spotify / etc).

Have only caught 1.5 of the 2 episodes thus far, but agree that the 2nd episode totally hooked me. In that said, you needed the 1st episode to put everything back. Loved that they stuck with the retro intro. I truly hope this isn't one and done.

QUOTE (shipps @ Jan 26, 2016 -> 11:26 AM) Gage that is one elaborate strategy to car buying. LOL My wife is the same way though. I get so annoyed in the process that I will usually not buy anything. I don't like salespeople and I always feel like I am being hosed no matter what. Glad you got yourself a nice ride at a good price. Ultimately it is really simple. Step 1: Research (Do your homework and educate yourself in the process) Step 2: Narrow done choices Step 3: Finalize choice (or choices is if it is price dependent) and understand exact packages you want Step 4: Use internet to get lots of dealers in contact with you Step 5: Leverage those dealers amongst each other to grind them down on pricing Step 6: Finalize price and set-up appointment to walk in and buy car (literally a no hassle experience...was done with my paperwork in less than half an hour and the car was detailed out that morning).

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jan 21, 2016 -> 10:22 AM) Can you illuminate us on the process you went through? I think that would be a valuable asset. Welp...picked up the car on Saturday (exactly as negotiated and thankfully extremely hassle free). So this time was a little different, since my other car wasn't operable, I didn't get to do my usual longer process to purchase (I enjoy going to auto shows, etc, to research all the different vehicles I'm deciding on and than ultimately conclude on what I'm going to pick). My first starting point was reading the various write-ups, looking at specs, going through the online brochures, etc. Understand pro's and con's of vehicles (roominess, turning radius, horsepower, MPG, etc). From there I than go to the various dealers based upon my write-ups, having came up with a prioritization based upon what I've seen, although my view is to go into the whole process with an open mind...in fact, when I started this process (before online research) I'd have pretty much guaranteed anyone I would have went with a 2016 Pilot EX-L with sensing or Highlander XLE. When I go to the dealer, I told every salesperson that came near me that I am looking at the cars, doing my research, and am not buying anything today under any circumstances. Helps ensure there guard is down and you can just enjoy looking at the cars, taking cars you want on a test drive, etc. Now given I'm not buying that day, I also tell salesman to help someone else if it is a potential buyer and ask them to open up some cars and really let me wander around. Than I take the cars on test drives, etc. Usually in this process, I'll ask the sales people questions, really to figure out if they know anything about the vehicle at all. If they pass my initial test questions (i.e., answer them truthfully), than I'll have them dig in and ask them other questions (as they have passed my smell test). From there I've usually narrowed things down, but want to sit on things for a little bit just to ensure that I'm 100% on my decision or have at least gotten to where it is one of a few cars. At that point, I focus on price to see what the various cars go for. I leveraged truecar and carguru to give me solid "ballpark" estimates of the actual price you'd pay for the vehicle and in this case, my finalist were three options...Pilot, Highlander or Sonata Hybrid. Absolutely loved all three vehicles (Note: My wife disallowed me from considering a minivan....too young for one...blah blah blah). Given our other vehicle is a 2012 Highlander, we had flexibility to go with a car and I happen to do a lot of city driving and have always though a hybrid might be fun (i.e., trying to get the best possible gas mileage during my daily commute gives me something to at least enjoy while sitting in bumper to bumper), but could never get the pricing to make financial sense. Anyway, given the difference between Sonata and the SUV's, I finally decided 100% to go with the car. Ultimately decided I'd rather save the cash for kids 529 or our next house downpayment. Now lets discuss actual pricing process. So I did a 4 process plan, 3 of which are extremely easy. I used Costco, TrueCar, and CarGuru to select the specific vehicle and put me in contact with select dealers in the network, who would than give me there initial pricing (knowing that TrueCar had rough data on what cars had sold for in my area, etc, esssentially giving me my ceiling...meaning I would never pay more than those prices). From there, I also contacted other dealers in the area (going to there websites and requesting quotes from there internet / fleet people). This all was done in a matter of an hour while watching the 1st round of the NFL playoffs from my couch. Over the next day or two, calls and emails would come. None of which I answered. I waited till I had the data (roughly 10 dealers or so) and than once I had the pricing, I gave each one of them a call up, indicated I was gathering pricing, finding out specifics (any differences in the car, hidden fees, exact options / packages, to make sure i had apple to apple basis). As I went through the process, I worked from the highest priced dealers to the lowest priced ones, telling the highest price dealers that they were much higher than my other offers . Some of them claimed other dealers were liars, but I gave each of them my simple pitch, every dealer I've asked, I told them my plan was to finalize my purchase price and pick up the car in a week, but if it didn't work and I didn't get my price, I had time (letting them know I'm a real customer and can be converted, but, don't think I don't have options). I also told them if anything differs one iota from what we discussed when I come in to buy, I'll immediately leave and put up a negative review on your yelp page. During this process, a few dealers that were fraudsters, you could tell, they'd waver, try to force you in, and I'd just tell them no, I'm not and for those dealers, I knew I was ultimately going to stay away, but to the extent they gave me better prices I leveraged them. I should point out, along the way, I always haircut what my lowest price was so that every dealer I called during my initial process got a slightly lower offer than my real offer. After the initial round, I had a pretty good idea of pricing and already knew a rough target price (thanks to TrueCar's data). From there, I waited another day or day and a half (as they were all calling back..again, let the initial calls sit) and than called back saying I was busy at work (which was true) and went through another round or two of discussing back and forth and narrowing price. I also had asked dealers what other benefits they had / could offer (free services, etc). At some point, once I got to where no dealer was moving or only one dealer would go (and they stopped trying to beta a price or refused), I knew I had hit my point and then figured I could at least get some free services out of the deal as well. I than had my preferred dealer the whole time (and I had told him he was that) and thankfully they beat the lowest price I had and after beating, no one else would touch the price (finally one company matched but I didn't care...once you get to where no other dealers are going there, you figure you have done pretty good). From a finance perspective, can't provide much feedback here, I despise the finance people like the plague (so much worse than salesmen) but I wasn't financing so I could give two craps. They gave there song and dance about the warranty and I wasn't interested (you can buy after, so if you want a warranty, don't do it when you are in the room, you can search the car forums and find a dealer who sells the factory extended warranties for practically cost). They also lied about the warranty and I called them on it. (like I said, in general, in the 5 or 6 times I've bought a car in my life, I've never not been lied to by the finance person....its disgusting how they try to screw people who don't understand how credit works or any of this thing works). Anyway, that was my process. If it seems like a lot of work, I honestly don't think I spent more than 2-3 hours (spread out over time...internet helps so much) from a pure negotiation perspective and a lot of it was while watching football. All the rest of my time was researching / checking out cars, which I enjoy. And at all points, I had the upper hand in the process and was never backed in a corner. Key concepts (while are fairly obvious), know what you want going in, understand what the right price is, and get multiple offers. Never buy on the spot without having done your diligence. You should also make sure you understand what incentives are out there (rebates, etc, as you want to make sure you get every penny you can get...also know the incentive expiration dates). Also, make sure you negotiate the price and you don't let anyone run your credit prior to reaching a total agreement (if you are financing, you know your credit situation going into things....they want to back you in that corner and run your credit for everything...but none of that crap is necessary...obviously you aren't going to quality for 1% interest if you have a 400 fico score, but if you have strong credit, you'll get whatever the best credit is and you should understand what your credit union is offering, etc, so you have a concept). Ended up paying about 24K for a car with an MSRP of 31,120. Oh and again, never go in and negotiate by monthly payment. You need to already know what you can afford, but if you go in and are focused on monthly payment, you are a hosed. The payment is just math, you focus on the cost of the vehicle. And if you lease, again, you focus on the cost of the vehicle and the money factor. As far as the car, given I was coming from driving the Highlander (and the Pilot before that), it has been a slight adjustment, but it drives really nice, is super quiet, and is very roomy. The whole hybrid thing is fun. I used to be into fast cars, but eventually decided those were worthless, cause you can't actually use the speed (unless you take it to the track), but the whole fuel efficient is kind of fun, cause you can actually try and drive and test your limits (all while helping your bottom line) and actually do that on the road. We'll see how long that lasts. Hopefully the car lasts a long time as my MO is to buy and own for a while (expect to hold onto this for 10+ years). My kid are lucky as it probably won't be quite old enough for them, that they'll probably end up with whatever we replace our Highlander with in 4 or 5 years. Over the next 4 or 5 years, instead of making a car payment, I just pay myself the funds, which are set aside for our next car.

The key difference is if you are logging in on multiple places on different networks. If it is on the same network, you are fine. If you login from work and than from home on different devices, than you'll run into the issue. Just consider it a security protocol to provide additional protection to your account.

Caufield....that was an excellent and well thought out post. I'd be curious of the logistical issues / concerns getting something set-up, but do agree that the concept would be brilliant if done right. Not sure what sort of legal parameters need to be in place / MLB rules, but getting in Cuba before others (if it is even possible...not sure if they would be open to it) and from an India perspective, why not. I see little reason why franchises don't at a minimum enter into partnership type deals all throughout the globe to maximize there ability on potential talent and while you can't hit every country, India would be an excellent place to start. One risk is resources are finite so there are real costs associated with set-up, operating, finding other talented players to play with them (if the quality of talent is super poor, harder to be able to get guys to develop / find resources). This likely means the initial costs before hitting on real talent could be pretty high (as you'd have years and years before truly establishing). Might ultimately mean cost / benefit doesn't pan out, but the general thought and line of thought is spot on, and ultimately good for the global brand of baseball.

QUOTE (farmteam @ Jan 25, 2016 -> 05:45 PM) Bellamy and Mariani can eat a shoe, but I have a soft spot for Meredith. I'd be fine with him being the last receiver. But I agree with your point. WR depth is a good thing, and we need it. I agree with Kyle. There is zero chance Jeffrey is allowed to walk. Maybe they don't go long term with him, but he's getting franchised this year and if after that, they don't want him, they'll either trade him than (after franchising him a 2nd time) or franchise him again and than let him walk. Either way, he'll be a Bear this next year. Outside of an absurd offer, it doesn't make sense to do anything else. In terms of Mariani, he was the best 3rd down receiver I've seen the Bears have in years (i.e., non #1 / #2 wideout who just could be in the right spot and make catches). I see no reason to get rid of him. He was money and if the receivers in front of him are upgraded, it makes him a nice valuable weapon that will be a tough defend (a 3rd or 4th CB might have trouble...Mariani seemed to have that knack to get open on short routes leveraging quick cuts).