Jake

The one thing about Boras's system that you'd have to address is the possibility that players intentionally become uncooperative so that they can choose their team. An Eli Manning situation, basically

Also, while we're on the subject of Cuba, this is a patently outrageous statement given that it came from the US State Department: Not only are the particulars of that statement factually false as Cuba's defense spending fell dramatically while healthcare stayed stable, it's coming from the United States of America that spends on the military at the expense of anything and everything, including the dire need for healthcare improvement

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jul 26, 2014 -> 05:33 PM) It's just a bad documentary because it's filled with so many lies I don't have time to go over them. And he completely falls off the rails when he does his whole fake Cuba thing. If Cuba was so awesome, people wouldn't be leaving there under the risk of death...which they are...so he should have used a better example. Michael Moore is a hack, and he's been exposed by many of his works of fiction by bending reality so it agrees with him, instead of just presenting facts. When I said there were "several problems" I was specifically thinking of Cuba - mainly because there are some dark sides of their healthcare system though his posse received a pretty authentic experience of what outsiders should expect. The whole point of the Cuba escapade was that despite how s***ty and supposedly evil Cuba is, they have no problem having low healthcare costs and far better access than what is the case in the USA. For instance, they have far better infant mortality rates in Cuba than USA. Why? Because they don't f*** over the poor people who have children, leaving them at risk to experience infant death. The same is true of under five years old mortality rate. Cuba also generates tens of million dollars (a huge amount of money in their deflated economy) in healthcare tourism every year, so it's not a fiction that people, including Americans go there to get healthcare services that are otherwise unavailable (usually due to cost barriers in home country). Kofi Annan had this to say about Cuba in 2000: "Cuba's achievements in social development are impressive given the size of its gross domestic product per capita. As the human development index of the United Nations makes clear year after year, Cuba should be the envy of many other nations, ostensibly far richer. [Cuba] demonstrates how much nations can do with the resources they have if they focus on the right priorities - health, education, and literacy." Of course, the problems of Cuba in general extend into healthcare as well. You have very little right to privacy as a patient and different healthcare issues can be highly politicized (that's not unfamiliar to us). The poverty of the country extends into healthcare too, with many facilities in shoddy conditions and doctors very underpaid. The US embargo makes things much more difficult, considering the manufacturing of healthcare goods in the USA. But the entire point was not to say that you should move to Cuba or install Castro as the head of HHS. It's that a country with so little could compare so favorably to us. The film highlights many of the shortcomings of the US system, most notably many of the problems which were remedied just over two years later in the ACA. Details are missed and there is an obvious focus on negatives in the USA and positives elsewhere. You could also criticize him for completely ignoring the huge uninsured persons problem in the USA that existed at the time, since he just mentions it at the beginning and says he'd rather reveal what happens to people who think they are insured. What the movie has going for it is that the USA indubitably has a terrible, inefficient, and unequal healthcare provisioning scheme that pales in comparison to most of the rest of the developed world and is shamefully poor when considering the vast resources available to the USA that other countries lack. There is a limit to how untruthful you can be when you are making that argument in some way, shape, or form. QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jul 26, 2014 -> 06:50 PM) Here is another in a long line of anti-fact "documentaries", though this one isn't by Michael Moore (who pretty much started the biased/lie filled "documentary" fad), http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/gmo_omg/ Nothing scientific backs any claims made by this docu, yet people eat it up. These being called documentaries seriously needs to stop, it's like labeling fiction as non-fiction in a book store. There is no objectivity to strive for. You can't present facts that are absent of bias. Of course, you can try to reduce bias, account for it, not outright lie, etc. I am, however, with you in that the alarmism over GMOs has become very tiresome. Still, with the corporatization of the food industry and the countless illegal and morally questionable tactics of groups like Monsanto, I understand why people would be skeptical of mainstream messages about these things.

How many thousands of dollars would you turn down if all you had to do was kiss a man and perhaps simulate some humping?

I would admit that FIP is highly contestable but that's not an insignificant difference there

My gut feeling is that nothing happens for us at the deadline. Alexei is the most valuable, but he's most valuable to us too. He's remarkably consistent and healthy year-over-year and is one of the best shortstops in the game on a very reasonable contract. We could very well see that position become a black hole for years if we move him. There aren't as many adequate MLB shortstops as there are teams.

That could easily be a death knell for Saladino's career. There is a lot of luck and timing involved in breaking through as a mid-level (or worse) prospect, and the time for him was probably now. He might be in a position next year where it simply doesn't matter how well he plays.

The difference between Eaton and Quentin is that Eaton has very little injury background. He had a torn UCL last year and a pulled hamstring this year. That's it for his injury history. He just seems like a player who is at high risk for injury. All speed players will have people talking about hamstring health because a slight problem can become a big one for them - look at, for instance, Scott Podsednik in the second half of 2005. I'm going to judge Eaton on the games that he misses due to injury, not the little annoyances that will be over-scrutinized because he's a small speed player who people fear will get hurt.

Power is the the one thing that you can project the least. Yes, sometimes a guy will suddenly find his power stroke in the upper minors/majors. By and large, though, if you have a player for whom you say "he'd be good IF he hit for power," you're looking at a player who isn't good. Now, Ravelo can bat .320 and have some value, so he at least has that going for him. He's not powerless, he's just low power.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 28, 2014 -> 10:14 AM) It's funny, Jim Callis was really good for Baseball America. And he knows a ton. But I think what happens is, MLB is heavily influenced by input from the clubs themselves. So even with Callis there, you still get a lot of noise. So the list has value, but not in the way you may think - it may tell you how the team is looking at certain players. I think the issue is staff. Jim Callis is great, but BA has people everywhere scouting and giving input on these lists. It very well may be that Callis and Mayo have to come up with these lists with little input outside of themselves.

He was just extended so I doubt he gets fired

There's just no way you let PK run. Having Rienzo do it is not automatically an option; there's a reason you almost never see this, especially in the AL, especially in a non-extra inning game. Pitchers need to have a lot of notice to get their legs loosened up because they didn't prepare to do any running that day. Perkins is an excellent closer and several guys didn't get the job done at the dish. Gillaspie was a pinch hit candidate as well, but of course we didn't do that either. The real issue we witness here, other than just run-of-the-mill guys not quite getting their jobs done, is the continued hamstringing of our bench due to the fact we have two DH-only players.

As often as I've thought that Big Frank bordered on arrogant, that was as much humility and gratitude as you'll ever see on that stage

I cried like a baby

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Jul 27, 2014 -> 02:35 PM) great job Adam. But don't slide into 1st dumbass I actually think that might have been the safer play. He was on track to have a body-to-body collision if he stayed up

I'm going to say that's a good play by Dayan

QUOTE (flavum @ Jul 27, 2014 -> 12:25 PM) Lindstrom shooting for August 7th return. Wow, I think that's as optimistic of a date as I've heard since he got hurt.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jul 27, 2014 -> 10:18 AM) Yeah let's kill discussion on this board again, great idea.

The idea here is that on-screen sexuality is not meant to be actual sexual behavior by the actors. When Actor Y kisses Actress X, that's work. That's two people doing a job. You have every right to not want to do that. There are lots of people I wouldn't really want to kiss. The idea is that if you can participate in all this non-sexual behavior for work with women, but not with men, you're way too terrified of people wondering about whether you're gay because your character did a gay thing in a movie. And again, you can refuse this kind of work all you want. Nobody gives a s*** when women miss out on roles for refusing to get naked and/or screwed on the big screen. I hear this all the time from the right - if you don't like the way you're being treated at work, get a new job! I was almost going to acknowledge that it sucks, whether because you're stuffy or not, to not know what you're getting yourself into in terms of your character. People like to curate their star persona, etc. Actors turn down roles for all kinds of nonsense. But then, maybe, he should have read the stupid f***ing books:

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 26, 2014 -> 06:27 PM) Maybe can hit if you take them out of that park...which is going to be a huge problem going forward assessing our Charlotte roster statistically. Several things need to be said as I hear this Charlotte = Coors Field drum being beaten repeatedly 1. They have always played in a bandbox. This isn't a radical change or even one as significant as the Barons switching from a very pitcher-friendly park to a hitter-friendly park. 2. A confounding factor in evaluating the home run statistic at the new park is that the pitchers on the Charlotte team are awful. Half the time you're looking at basically IL-worst pitchers going for the home team in Charlotte. 3. Most of the players of note on the Charlotte roster have hit better on the road.

But still, f*** the Cardinals too. Especially the World's Best Baseball Fans™

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jul 26, 2014 -> 05:20 PM) Terrible documentary, and completely biased. Biased? Sure. Terrible? Eh, I don't know. There are several problems about the way a few things are presented, but it's a far broader view of world healthcare than you see anyplace else. And I know it's right up Greg's alley of "give me some sad healthcare stories"

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jul 26, 2014 -> 05:17 PM) I know Comcast has crappy customer service and all, but I have to say ... this is a thing of beauty. ...and this is over WiFi... From Chicago to San Jose, CA. There's no ISP that promises over 50 Mbps where I'm moving to. And the standard rate for that ~50 Mbps is around $80-$100/mo. Our broadband in the USA is s***ty. A South Korean would laugh at your 113 Mbps

Josh Fields and Chris Getz killed us for years

QUOTE (MnSoxFan @ Jul 26, 2014 -> 02:27 PM) Charlotte goes up against Axelrod in Game 1. I predict that one way or another, it's going to get ugly