Balta1701

QUOTE (GoodAsGould @ Aug 31, 2012 -> 02:01 AM) More talent than AAA but doesn't have all the veterans who have the experience. Pitching's a bit lower quality since the real top pitching talent doesn't go to the AFL most years. The AFL winds up getting pitchers who missed part of the year for some reason. Guys who worked a full year aren't going to go tax their arm more. Rienzo is a great example.

Every time this thread gets bumped, what you read is worse than the last round.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 30, 2012 -> 11:06 PM) He has a bad ankle and weighs around 300 lbs. Just pause and think about next year when VMart is back and they legitimately have to put one of them in the field all the time.

Royals haven't swept Detroit in 3 years.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Aug 30, 2012 -> 10:19 PM) all men are created equal women voting ruins everything Well, some men are only 3/5...

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Aug 30, 2012 -> 07:01 PM) He is saying Obama said he would keep the plant open and he didn't. Ryan didn't ay it would have been a good thing if he used stimulus to keep it open, or any such thing. And it doesn't matter what you infer. Just that Obama broke a promise. And you can cry about 'effective' dates all you want, factually it closed in 2009, under Obama, after he said he would keep it open for 100 years. Same with the debt commission. It doesn't matter how Ryan voted, Obama set up this commission then ignored everything they said. Defend it with a reason WHY he let the plant close or WHY he ignored the commission, not your old 'well they did it too' argument. The commission did not issue a report.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 30, 2012 -> 08:06 PM) Usually...at least in the past, I thought every team in MLB was allotted 6 spots? And we have...6 people. So that's correct.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Aug 30, 2012 -> 04:54 PM) I know someone who is able to hold a full-time job because he was educated through high school. He will never live on his own, but he is a nice guy and not ostracized in public when attending weddings, family parties, etc. I also have a friend who teaches high school special ed. Treating them as human beings deserving of education the same as everyone else makes a huge difference. That's a real good point...what happens to the special needs person who doesn't receive the attention that he or she needs while in school? Isn't the answer to that question too often going to be some combination of being on the streets/being in trouble with the law or winding up in some sort of institution? Both of those would put substantial costs on other parts of society. Even if you try to turn your back to avoid spending anything extra on them, you still have the problem of dealing with them in terms of law enforcement, which isn't cheap.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 30, 2012 -> 04:01 PM) Rienzo to AAA too? Sheesh. A significant number of minor league pitchers for this team are already on the 40 man roster. Including: Axelrod Anthony Carter Castro Deunte Heath Leesman Jhan Marinez Nestor Molina Daniel Moskos Brian Omogrosso Leyson Septimo Rienzo is ready to go right now and could take the next open spot in the rotation, possibly even covering for Axe if they had to move people around. They also just had a double-header.

QUOTE (Jake @ Aug 30, 2012 -> 03:07 PM) There is a little you can learn from 15 games' numbers. There is a lot more you can learn by watching the games and I assume our scouts did that. If he looked like he could clearly compete at that level, 5 worse games or not, then he must be have looked like he could hit AAA pitching. If a guy had to put up good numbers and a valid sample size at every level, lots of players would be wasting times at too low of levels. You just have to trust the guys getting paid to do this. I'd bet that no matter what their eye tests saw, none of this would be going down if the Knights didn't have playoffs and the Sox were out of the race. It's pushing an inordinate number of roster moves and so now everyone's getting promoted to crazy spots to cover those positions.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 30, 2012 -> 02:48 PM) And yet we outspend both of them. Go figure. The OECD put out a report on teacher pay/work hours a few years ago. Numbers are late 2000's. Bottom line is...teachers in the U.S. spend more time teaching than in any other country. Their pay is not at the top, but is above the OECD average by a small amount. However, if you also adjust for the country's GDP (basically, share of the economy going to teacher salaries), the U.S. falls to below average. Of course, one potential caveat is benefits, which are hard to count, particularly since health care is so much more expensive in the US than everywhere else in the OECD and in general public retirement benefits are less. Of course, if you start noting that the public retirement and health benefits are less in this country, then you suddenly have a big impetus for why teachers would want some sort of tenure system...to protect them until the point where they can qualify for benefits, rather than having to worry about being fired for something like being too expensive. The other thing to take from that is that although the U.S. does spend quite a bit of money on education...it doesn't filter down to the teacher salary level.

At least it wasn't Lew Ford...

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Aug 30, 2012 -> 11:11 AM) The team seems to be winning with Gordon Beckham in there. I wouldn't be so quick to move him. Who do we replace him with in our system? A good glove man with a weak bat? Next year, Sanchez might be getting close to a position where he can push for a roster spot.

So if Axe is sent back down, Humber/Santiago makes Floyd's next start?

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Aug 29, 2012 -> 05:32 PM) Deleted Captain America scene in Avengers http://screenrant.com/avengers-deleted-sce...aptain-america/ Are we getting one of these a day now? I could have watched significantly more of that.

QUOTE (CrimsonWeltall @ Aug 29, 2012 -> 04:55 PM) No, it isn't. It's paying the amount the system intends you to pay because it's set up specifically to give those deductions. No one set up the system with the intention of people hiding money outside the US. Are you quite sure about that? Because I'd go so far as to say that's probably...exactly the point. That's why you hire a lobbyist, to make sure that the people writing the tax code leave those loopholes for you to get through, or to make sure that the IRS doesn't have the resources to understand where you're laundering your money. And you have to write the loophole narrow enough/make it difficult enough to cash in, otherwise people will catch on and we proles will take advantage of it.

QUOTE (sunofgold @ Aug 29, 2012 -> 04:21 PM) Yeah. I meant would they put him up like right now. He might pass through. or at least get through to us. He might already have passed through and we'd have no way of knowing.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 29, 2012 -> 09:55 AM) Hmph. Whatever went down, apparently 2 people were expelled and the RNC issued a statement bordering on an apology, saying that the behavior was deplorable and would not be tolerated. Worth noting that CNN appears so far to be unwilling to report on the incident or who was actually involved (details that they really should have), leading to not unreasonable speculation that they're trying to dump/bury what would otherwise be a legitimate news story out of fear of being labeled biased for reporting on it.

QUOTE (sunofgold @ Aug 29, 2012 -> 03:55 PM) Do you think the Phils would put halladay on waivers. Owed $20M next year but that is it. Doesn't Look like 2014 option would kick in. Every player is put on waivers at some point. The question winds up being whether they are claimed. If they pass through waivers they can be traded, while if they're claimed they can be pulled back, so the only question is when you put the player on waivers.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 29, 2012 -> 03:58 PM) Twins are averaging over 35k a game. Dumping Mauer for no return WILL NOT HAPPEN. They also have the 2nd biggest year over year attendance decrease in MLB for this season, next to the Astros. I wouldn't be surprised at all if they were looking at poor season ticket renewals for next year as well and factoring that in

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Aug 29, 2012 -> 03:24 PM) No one really saw that coming; I'm pretty sure most saw that age 26 season and thought they were looking at an all-time great. Injury and a ballpark move sapped his value. If claimed, the Twins would absolutely let him go. To be fair, I think a lot of people thought his legs wouldn't hold up over the full length of the contract as a catcher, but the thought had to involve using 1b or DH as the backup position, perhaps once he was in his 30's.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 29, 2012 -> 03:07 PM) Well why on earth did they sign him to this deal in the first place then? It isn't like most people didn't see this coming... One would think part of their decision to give him this contract is for the exact reasons you are claiming are of no consequence now. I agree with you that I think it would be wise to let him walk. I just don't think it is as easy of a decision as you seem to think it is. Everyone, including me, thought that was a good deal when they signed him to it. They had money to spend and he was coming off an incredible season. Even if he took something of a step back, it would have been tolerable.

Here's what the Trib wrote on the postgame reactions today:

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 29, 2012 -> 02:32 PM) Mauer is still a really good player. I'd love him on the Sox. I'd think his power would return. KW should claim him for the block. There is absolutely no way the Twins ever let Mauer go to the White Sox, except maybe when he's totally washed up. I'd let him walk in 1/4 of a second if I were in Ryan's shoes. Edit: 2010 27 Minnesota Twins $12,500,000 2011 28 Minnesota Twins $23,000,000 2012 29 Minnesota Twins $23,000,000 2013 30 Minnesota Twins $23,000,000 2014 31 Minnesota Twins $23,000,000 2015 32 Minnesota Twins $23,000,000 2016 33 Minnesota Twins $23,000,000 2017 34 Minnesota Twins $23,000,000 2018 35 Minnesota Twins $23,000,000

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Aug 29, 2012 -> 12:09 AM) Interesting about not teaching the players to walk Well, if we think about a number of the guys we've drafted/moved up recently (Mitchell, Walker, TT, Hawkins, D2), taking a walk doesn't seem to be their problem. We're getting guys who know how to work the count deeply, but who also strike out too often. Having them be more aggressive when they get a hittable pitch is a way to help cut down on those strikeouts. This setup obviously wouldn't be the best thing for a guy like Viciedo who would swing at anything, but it might well be a good setup for the type of player we've been drafting the past couple seasons.