bmags

To balta's point, the push from progressives and some republicans was to increase the direct payments and it came at the cost of the UI. I think UI was more important. $600 did a whole lot of good, but $450 covers up to 80% of income for people making up to 60k which is a good portion. Depends on states but it's around there. It also offers an increase in money for a good portion of that.

Mlb pipelines rating on sanchez was absurd

They don't do tool grades. This is part of why I trust BA more, it's hard to get a read on Cespedes because he's apparantly transformed his body a lot since training, but also hasn't been able to do much the last year. Unfortunately we are just going to have to wait until this guy plays to really know more. Let's just hope he's not in the DR all year - PLEASE "Report: The 23-year-old brother Yoenis Cespedes, Yoelki looks to be ticketed to the White Sox for around $2 million, the latest in their run on Cuban players that includes righthander Norge Vera also in the class, following shortstop Yolbert Sanchez last year for $2.5 million, and outfielder Luis Robert and first baseman Jose Abreu before him. Cespedes played for Cuba in the 2017 World Baseball Classic, but it’s hard to relay an accurate, reliable report that’s up to date like we normally would. Cespedes has been training at his brother’s ranch in Port St. Lucie, Fla. and hasn’t been scouted much due in part to the coronavirus pandemic and MLB’s scouting ban on international players that ended in September. He played for Granma in Cuba’s Serie Nacional, batting .273/.353/.400 in 289 plate appearances with 17 walks, 42 strikeouts and six home runs in the 2017-18 season. The next year was his final season in Cuba and he hit .319/.355/.389 with two walks, 18 strikeouts and no home runs in 77 PAs as a 21-year-old. He has a shorter but strong, athletic frame with added bulk since leaving Cuba, showing good bat speed and a strong arm from the outfield. More depth will probably have to wait until Cespedes gets tested and scouted against more live pitching."

Out of curiosity, I'd be interested if people could quote the below and add their thoughts on what there should be more of and what there should be less of. This is the most recent bill that has been agreed to, sans additional $1400 per person +++++++++++++ Direct Payments - $166 billion (Increase/Decrease) - $600/pp in household (including dependents). Family of four $2,400 - Phases out at 75k - Uses 2019 income Jobless Aid - $120 billion (Increase/Decrease) - $300/wk supplement to state unemployment insurance - Extends jobless benefits from 26 to 50 - $300/wk supplement ends March Rental Assistance - $25 billion (increase/decrease) - Extends federal eviction prohibition to 1/31 - Provides assistance to renters in arrears, applied for by landlord Childcare - $10.25 billion (increase/decrease) - $10 billion in grants for child care providers - $25 million for head start program Schools - $82 billion (increase / decrease) - $54 billion for K-12 schools - $22 billion for higher ed/private - $1.7 billion for HBCUs Covid-19 Mitigation: Vaccines / Test & Trace - $53 billion (increase / decrease) - Money to states for testing and tracing programs and covid-19 mitigation - $2.5 specifically earmarked for rural and communities of color with higher hit disparities - $20 billion to BARDA for vaccine distribution - $9 billion to CDC - State and federal funding for vaccine distribution Airlines - $15 billion (increase / decrease) - Covers airlines to march - Brings 30k+ airline workers and contracters back to work that were furloughed in October Banks - $12 Billion (increase/decrease) - Provides $12 billion to small lenders focused on low-income and minority communities including buttressing minority-owned banks Save our Stages (independent venues) - $15 billion (increase/decrease) - Money to assist theaters, music venues and cultural institutions Farms - $12 billion (increase/decrease) - Targeted at farms that served restaurants and have had to plow over fields of crops Rail and Transit - ~$25 billion (increase/decrease) - Money for Amtrack and local bus/subway systems who have been hit from lack of ridership Small Businesses - $325 billion (increase/decrease) - PPP rounds for small businesses to cover rent/payroll - Allows businesses to claim deductions on federal assistance in 2020, saving estimated $200 billion for small businesses USPS - $10 billion (increase/decrease) - $10 billion infusion to cover additional resources needed, restructure what USPS needs to pay Taxes - no estimate - Extends tax credits to employers for keeping employees from CARES Act - Tax considerations to ensure changes of income in 2020 don't affect some eligibility for certain tax benefits - Allows businesses to deduct business meals - Extends federal grants for renewable energy +++++++

And yet Paxton's strikeout % did not see declines that correspond to these metrics, he still struck out nearly 29% of his batters. In 2016 that was 22%. You can be worried that paxton will not stay healthy, because he probably will not stay healthy. If he was "topping out" at 94 in mid december after recovering I am not worried about that at all.

He was declared a FA today I believe

He’s a mid 90s pitcher. He was low 90s last year. We weren’t at session but I doubt this means what you jump to thinking it does.

Not sure but I remember the Mariners literally drafted a player out of MIT to move them into the scouting dept.

Season start's tonight.

What?

I'm not ignoring it. These things take time. Per your bolded, let's be clear about how this goes. The billionaire owners weren't plucking people out of finance and ivy league business schools and putting them in president and GM roles. Luhnow is probably the closest to a story like that and he was put in charge of scouting. They started getting hired into the analytics and ops positions, were successful at showing these competitive advantages, and then got hired into those roles. Then they hired people who they thought could do the new strategies. Then billionaire owners hired people out of the successful front offices to lead their front offices. So now we have the new breed of former players who are fluent in player development and use of data, and are now being targeted as the group to move into front office and management roles. My contention is this is not going to stop. Is there a president that wasn't a former GM for years? There is going to be a lag. But instead of GMs going to people like Elias and Girsch, you have people like Fuld and Young making their way in, and in a different direction, you have someone like Ng. Is she an u of c analytics hire, or an example of someone whose been around the game for a long time getting a shot.

@Y2Jimmy0's latest tweet helped me find out that they do not have the same rep. I was wondering if Sanchez was a favor of sorts.

This is such silly garbage. First your point is that these new GMs are some sort of unicorns because they are well educated, as if there isn't a plethora of baseball pipelines from top schools like Vandy, Stanford, Duke and Notre Dame, and many across smaller programs like Tulane, ivys, and more. But then its that not all baseball players want to be GMs. It's weird how so many former players are willing to sign on to become coaches, starting out in minor league cities driving a bus, being away from their families for 6 figure salaries after making millions - but they wouldn't be able to find baseball players willing to go to the front office in the same cities they've played, and getting paid more. Thank god we have the finance/consulting pipeline. Two industries that are very well known for handling criticism with class.

I'm very excited for cespedes but I have to say that mlb pipelines international rankings mean less than nothing to me.

So is Vanderbilt. I wonder if they get any players to MLB.

Cool I bet you are wrong. And stanford isn't ivy league.

There wasn't an either/or there. We could have participated in last years class, they for some reason were not successful at getting the top tier talent out of it, though it turned out they found some interesting players that weren't well represented in top 30 lists.

I didn't say they were. These aren't the first smart baseball players in history. The new front office crop are players that retired and learned modern baseball strategies in a variety of different positions and now are the leads for manager and front office roles. And I think that is a good thing instead of teams pulling from consulting and finance industries. And I'd much rather it than agents moving into f.o. roles.

Maybe there is room for nuance in this world. Not on this board though.

I'm sorry does saying "players" indicate idiots?

It may have been a necessary transition, but I'm glad it's now swinging back to the players developing into front office.

just fyi only mods/admins can see this forum in winter months.

I swear to god Soler is going to have a nelson cruz career where teams finally just move him to DH but he keeps hitting 50 bombs a year until he's 40.

Exactly. And there have been quite a few good Cuban players that have not signed with Sox, obviously. But I do think it means something that he stood on the table for Robert, Abreu and we did not for Yasmany Tomas.

Really hope he signs with us so we can try to make some tortured attempt at naming him RC Colas