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Well, at least they pay their writers and don’t quash their effort to unionize.

One thing that I like, I don't recall before reporters drilling down timelines of how a deal gets put together as much as they do now and it's something that I really get entertained by. With Eloy, it's confirmed now that Eloy and Cease were confirmed Tuesday night, Wednesday was finding the back two, and it was confirmed wed night but they waited since it was too late.

Finally had time to go through this. While there are always elements that are the same in any interview with Hahn I found this really entertaining. Greenberg did a great job.

Sox may be playing a bit of the Braves last year. Didn't seem like they were ready but were still putting offers together for each big trade candidate.

QUOTE (Jose Paniagua @ Dec 22, 2017 -> 09:55 AM) It would take Kopech as a principal i'm sure, if not Moncada. Yelich is under control at an acceptable price for awhile and is elite. Yeah. I’m honestly just feels weird to trade Eaton only to trade for a controlled OFer with talent (meaning prospects) a year later

It may in fact hurt to try. Without knowing prices it's always hard. What the Marlins have gotten back so far has been uninspired, but if you look at the Ozuna deal, those were good and high-level prospects. Increase them. For Yellich, would fully expect a Gio/Lopez, Dunning/Hansen, Burger/Collins return at a minimum. I would not trade him for any less.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Dec 22, 2017 -> 09:34 AM) No it doesn't. The gross amount is still there. I guess everyone else discussing here is stuck on the % and who it actually is. I'm just stating the facts. The top 1% of everyone had actually paid taxes, pay 25% of all tax revenue. If the people you claim don't pay they aren't included in the group. That's because gross is a bad way to measure it.

Manfred is also in charge of overall health of the league. While in general I don't think he should step in and dictate payroll, the history of the Miami Marlins and the screwjob that stadium just pulled on the city should dictate not actively screwing the city again. Miami could be an incredible baseball town. It is the town that virtually all of south america, carribean and gulf islands enter the United States. Did they really think having a celebrity point owner is better than creating another vital baseball hub? How'd Michael Jordan work out for Charlotte? It was a bad decision that Manfred is taken aback by because he never talks to anyone but his rich owner friends.

The top group pays vast majority of taxes. Undoubtedly. The vast wealth that the top group is able to accumulate would not be possible without the stable and effective government of the United States. Their shrieking that they pay too much and don't even consume most of the services misses the greatest service provided to them of all, a country that has enforced high access to any market they want, has stabilized brutal regimes to protect American wealth, and has allowed an incredible domestic economy to tap into.

Said it before, say it again, then pulling him off market was the best case scenario.

Yeah, you know as disappointed as I am that they can't make tighter scripts, I have to say I'm more excited to see this again than I ever was to see TFA. However I was excited to see Rogue One again and man it was hard to get through the first 2/3s.

Dan Clark reiterated that Machado is not getting traded anymore. Again - best case scenario. We let our intentions be known. We kept our guys. Let's find deep pockets next year.

Unlike Clinton, Gillibrand has good and honest answers to her clinton connections and past stances and these charges don't stick to her like they did to Hillary, who would collect them like girl scout badges and show them off.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 21, 2017 -> 01:11 PM) It does - that's 5 guys for 3 positions, not counting the DH. The problem is Jiminez. He will not be down for long and he will not be a part time player when he comes up. Someone will have to leave from that group after 2 months because Jiminez is taking one of those starting positions. So who only gets 2 months as a part time player to sink or swim? See I think it's do or die for Cordell and Delmonico to establish themselves as every day players in the first 3 months. There are tiers to prospects and some dont have the luxury to develop at MLB level because they are older and required more development in minors.

Seriously though, it seems these are better regulated but a kid from my high school lost reported hundreds of thousands when one of the online poker scams closed shop. You never know how well they are keeping your money.

How I'd handle the OF: Opening Day Leury Cordell Engel Garcia Delmonico AAA Tilson W Garcia Gillaspie May If any of Tilson or Gillaspie tear up AAA, we find space. But we prioritize Cordell/Delmonico and give them the space to show off. Some Arizona performance can play on this. But doesn't this seem manageable even with Avi? I think we can find plenty of ABs even if all stay healthy. edit: SHould be clear I through Gillaspie in there to show he would not compete with DH.

We have no DH. We can easily cycle plenty of playing time among 3-4 corner outfielders, DH, and AAA to evaluate. If the dodgers can find playing time for 40 actual major leaguers, prettys ure we can find playing time for our 4-5AAAA bats.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 21, 2017 -> 12:13 PM) Then my one remaining question is - are we confident that, after 2019, we have the resources available to replace Garcia and Abreu? Because that's my main issue. This team is going to look like a force going into 2020. But, if our 1b and corner OF, and the #4 and #5 hitters in our lineup depart as free agents, a team that should look like a force is going to be trying to plug holes rather than trying to get better. I'm uncertain whether or not we will. In that case, the one thing your math is missing is - playing Avi prevents us from playing and developing potential replacements for Avi. I am certain that we will for a big main reason: Real actual continued depression of veteran corner OF/1b market Do I see that turning? not really.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Dec 21, 2017 -> 11:50 AM) Let me ask a question...do people think our actual corporate tax rate was appropriate? Staying away from individuals for a second, do we think Corporations are taxed appropriately? This is somewhat of a loaded question because some of this is dependent on what industry the Corporation is in? No, but I would have lowered the rate and raised cap gains to fund gains on lower end.. Conceivable bill. Lower corp rate to 27%, raise cap gains to 19% and 25%, I don't know what math looks like, maybe raise top two brackets to 36.5 and 41. Increase EITC and Child Tax credit, cap MITC and eliminate 529s. Raise standard deduction, keep personal exemption.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 21, 2017 -> 11:59 AM) If we're not going to extend Garcia, are we going to get better than that at the deadline? Maybe if he's on fire the first half again, but the tiniest slump in the first half or a minor injury and that's better than anything we'll get for him next offseason. okay let's play some game theory. - We trade Avi Garcia now in a terrible sellers market for a 50 FV, 22 year old average speed light armed outfielder and pray that he finds power or an arm. - We hold Avi and he sucks, and we have to hope that Alex Call fills the void for 22 year old average speed light armed outfielders. We non-tender Avi. - We hold avi and he's great, and we trade him for maybe the same sort of outfielder or a backend starter. - We hold avi and he's great, and he stays great and then he leaves at FA - We hold avi and he's great and stays great and then we re-sign him. I look at all of these and see very little difference between the first 3 bullets to care. I choose door number 4 where we just get more time to evaluate, knowing that I risked very little. We risked a lot holding on to Quintana and it paid off. We risk very little holding onto Abreu and Avi. I'm just not threatened by the stakes.

I would not consider keeping money in a sports betting account safe, but that's just me. Not after what happened in the online poker world.

Ramos is the only giant that is remotely interesting to me. His highlight film at the draft was awesome. Maybe you want a light power, weak armed CF prospect in Bryan Reynolds? Some slow, poor OBP outfielders? It's ramos and a bunch of questionable SP that are likely BP arms. blech.

Some very good news, Ryan J Reilly reporting on twitter that the J20 defendants all found not guilty on all counts. For those unaware, a group of protestors were charged with felonys from inauguration day protests after graffiti and vandalism occurred, except the feds had no evidence that these people were responsible and admitted as such. It was scary and crazy and luckily justice prevailed. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-...0881becafe2?mp9

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Dec 21, 2017 -> 10:56 AM) Labor force participation rate declined from 2008 and has been flat for several years, but how much of that is due to Boomers aging out of the workforce? https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/...ticipation-rate U-6 is basically back where it was in 2006. It was lower for about two years in the late 90's. 8% U-6 may not be the lowest ever, but it's still really low. There is still slack, but there will be shocks industry by industry. Construction and Restaurants feeling it now. Quit rates getting higher in construction. I still don't see us at full employment yet, partially because of the restructuring from retail to other industries.

I have followed the principle of increasing my 401k/retirement savings by 1% every year which has suited us well. Luckily our work has great 401k options and had a CFO who made a point to finding us lowest fees and index fund options.