hogan873

Yes. Our health and safety manager worked with the county health department to set up a clinic here.

Getting my first shot tomorrow. Originally was supposed to be Moderna, but we were just informed it will be Pfizer. Happy to get the ball rolling.

Hard to imagine Anderson not leading off. Anderson Moncada Abreu Jimenez Grandal Robert Vaughn Eaton/Engel Madrigal

Unless he's being traded... ?

Not sure. It certainly could be.

A lot more people will be vaccinated by April/May, not just health workers and at-risk folks. However, I agree that we won't see a proof of vaccination requirements for game attendance.

With a 60-game season that didn't start until deep into the summer, it's hard to justify comparing 2020 to the predictions of a full 2021 season. Many players (like Jose) didn't have the early season slump. Others never experienced a mid-season slump because of the length of the season. There was no cold weather to deal with. And on and on. Still, I wouldn't be surprised to see a WAR drop from Jose, and placing his projection in line with 2019 seems logical. I do think, if 2020 had been a full season, we would have seen better results from Jose. He obviously couldn't have kept up the pace for HRs and RBIs over 162 games, but he looked totally locked in last year. I expect a very good 2021 for Jose and a higher WAR than predicted.

My wife was able to set up an appointment to get her mom the vaccine by calling the Mariano's pharmacy at 11:00 PM. We wouldn't have known to do this except her aunt asked someone in person at the pharmacy how to get an appointment. Apparently they open registration at 11:00 each night, and as long as you are one of the first callers, you can make an appointment to get the shot. I imagine other pharmacies are doing similar things. There's no real information out there, so you have to hunt around and be creative.

My daughter is a nursing student, and she recently received the second shot. She had a fever, the chills, and some nausea for about 12 hours. But, that seems like a small price to pay.

Sorry...I meant more teams in the playoffs.

I like the idea of more teams for the same reason. There are too many teams that are close that don't make the playoffs, and there are way too many teams that are essentially eliminated from contention early in the season. I do think, however, that the number of teams that tank each year needs to be reduced/eliminated. I know that it a much bigger issue that ties in salaries and potential caps, etc. But I still feel that teams that play good/great baseball for 162 should have a better chance to make the playoffs.

He's having a banner off season.

On a lighter note, Nightengale made an ass of himself again last night re-tweeting his own tweet about IF the union and MLB agree on universal DH and expanded playoffs, and saying in his retweet that it is now official. Needless to say he got destroyed. I'm beginning to think he does that kind of stuff on purpose. I like the 7 inning doubleheaders but not the runner on second in extra innings. Seems like the universal DH would have been agreed upon before that, and maybe it would have if MLB didn't tie it to expanded playoffs.

Before the vaccines were a reality, things looked really grim. Now we have two vaccines approved (for emergency use) and several more coming within months. Things look brighter today than they have in close to a year. Going to a baseball game is going to be a reality this season. Maybe not right away, but I can't imagine there no being at least limited fans by May. Hopefully...

People will feel safer, a lot safer. There's no indication that new vaccines will be needed by fall. The thought is that booster shots may be required annually. So far, the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are showing to be effective against newer strains. That's not to say they will be effective against all strains, but so far it's encouraging. Remember that the idea behind the vaccines is to prevent severe disease. The majority of the population gets vaccinated, people can still get sick but will endure mild effects. Hospitals aren't overrun and people stop dying. Regardless, I believe the safest way to handle getting fans back into the ballparks is to require proof of the vaccine to attend. I don't think they'll do that, but it makes sense.

That's good news.

I imagine regular boosters will be necessary even after getting through this year. Many are saying COVID will likely be endemic.

There is a lot of differing opinions out there regarding the vaccines and now quickly we can get to herd immunity. The latest I read hinted that we're going to end up with a surplus of vaccines due to supply outpacing demand. Most polling says that slightly more than 50% of the 16+ population is eager for the vaccine. Then there's a smaller percentage of "maybes" and another chuck of the population that believes the government is injecting us with spyware or whatever. The concern is that we'll get most of the eager folks vaccinated pretty quickly, say by April/May. Hopefully a lot of those on the fence will see that it works and opt to get the vaccine. Only then will we reach the herd immunity magic number of 75% or so. What happens when we get to 65% to 70% of the population vaccinated with the rest refusing? Can we truly allow this small percentage of the population to limit when we can start getting back to normal? Can we delay allowing fans into sporting events and concerts because of the minority. I see this being a potential problem soon. You'd hate to say to those COVID anti-vaxxers, "You're on your own...sorry." But where do we draw the line? Does requiring proof of the vaccine for admittance to sporting events make sense at that point?

Yeah, I agree. Especially those who have been vaccinated will be eager to go to sporting events, concerts, movies, etc. Personally, I will be buying tickets as soon as fans can start attending.

In this case, at least, it was more likely a minor league deal vs. a major league deal. But, yeah, I'm very surprised they haven't signed a trash heaper yet.

Throw enough cheesy beefs at the wall, something is bound to stick.

If he throws 200 innings, he'll be making $200,000 an inning. That's insane.

It's almost guaranteed he'll opt after the second year. Unless something odd happens.

That's...that's heavily front-loaded.

He's not having a great off season.