caulfield12

https://variety.com/feature/2021-oscars-best-picture-predictions-1234768047/ Top 20 picks for Best Picture. Have seen 13 so far. Nomadland is still the one that sticks out, along with The Trial of the Chicago 7 being so topical it’s gaining all the momentum that was once with Ma Rainney. Minari victimized by debate over whether its a foreign film or not.

Ryan Sweeney? Wilson Betemit? Sox fans have witnessed plenty of HoF springs.

Skole? Over the trade that shall not be named? That’s Top 5 hyperbole here, from an expert in it. It’s the third string back-up QB syndrome all over again.

https://www.mlb.com/news/these-teams-won-2021-mlb-offseason?partnerId=zh-20210213-156906-MLB&qid=1026&bt_ee=8nawCQiordVRl5%2BL%2FVoXjstPXkJ2B4xDN01TC7hPecQd5ni7SvSJSst8g4locH5N&bt_ts=1613220197008 Discuss.

It’s going to be so uniquely White Sox if the fate of these COVID-19 era teams is not unlike 1994 team. That the window never is fully opened because of the loss of “unprecedented financial flexibility.” Of course, if they wanted to give Giolito a fair market value extension, they still could do so. It’s just that now they have a convenient excuse to hide behind. It’s kind of hard to imagine what happens to the franchise if they don’t at least get through one round of the playoffs. Every time the organization is presented an opportunity to make up some ground against the Cubs...

Not to mention the idea was Odorizzi for either 2-3 years, locked in, so you don't have to get into a bidding war for FA pitching whenever the CBA is resolved and revenues can be more accurately projected based on full attendance. Don't see a team like the White Sox giving $16~18 million for one season for some reason.

Frank Thomas says hello. Or Robin Ventura.

Or Mike Trout. It seemed completely improbable for a NJ kid that was hardly noticed to become a better player than Mickey Mantle... Another example would be Pujols going from Maple Woods CC in Kansas City (not noticed by the Royals but their hated in-state rivals.) Piazza, although he never totally escaped steroids accusations, and still might not have been drafted were it not for the connection with Lasorda. PS: Also wondering how Jose Ramirez went from a 625 ops hitter for half the season last year to the best player in the game the second half.

Where did he rank Brinson or Broxton? Luis Robert? Just trying to remember the evaluator who was all over the “holes” in Robert’s upside despite the obvious potential.

Yes, I’ve already argued that elsewhere. The counter is that the Rangers have one of the better scouting groups in the game, and that Lynn has already peaked. Odorizzi is three years younger, and you have the added advantage of taking him away from a rival...even though it doesn’t look like the Twins now can afford him as well. At the beginning of the offseason, he was projected around 3/$39-42. Essentially, you have him through 2023, and you keep Dunning. Of course, Lynn would be $5-6 million cheaper for 2021.

Signing Lynn to anything beyond 2 additional years with an option for 2024, or using him as leverage...just don’t think JR is going to take that kind of risk with a pitcher in his 30’s with Keuchel already on the books. After all, he’s turning 34 early in this season. An extension for him would be more surprising than Giolito. Even if he has a great season, how many huge long-term contract offers will he get? Could also just give him the one year QO. Then again, he’s a former Cardinal who dates back to TLR. Signing Odorizzi to three years and keeping Dunning would have been more logical, which indicates they were probably happier to give up talent than take on any more additional salary. Shocking, right?

4.4, 2.0, -0.5 over the last three years for AB. If you look at averages, he’s a 2, but look at the path of those numbers. Eaton 1.9, 2.4, -0.5 (but missed quite a few games for a counting stat) That would give you just a 1.3 as the average. Of course, 2020 was a shortened season. Not a huge difference in salary, $6.6 million (AB) closer to what the Sox should have paid if Rosario’s only at $8 million. But that would force Jimenez off the field and to DH, and Benintendi can only play LF. Which means you’re still blocking Vaughn unless you’re just writing off either Eaton (or Benintendi) already for the second half of the season. In which case you’re once again wasting money/resources. And you’re putting Jimenez back in the field after sitting all that time.

Beckham only really had those 3-4 months is his rookie campaign. He’s around a career 5 war, 80+ ops hitter, with a lot of that value derived from his defense. Benintendi has double that value already, with a 107+ ops, but almost all of his value coming on the offensive side.

It’s 75% better than 3-4 years ago when Moncada was struggling and Benintendi looking like a perennial All-Star. After all this time, Yoan and Kopech still retain the volatility that was the partial reasoning behind the trade from the Boston perspective. To their detriment, though, Benintendi has regressed. He was the quintessential high floor, but limited ceiling collegian and Hahn rolled the dice. Devers was never going to be included as the third piece. Guessing it would be a 50/50 split or maybe even slightly leaning Devers if you had a poll asking who you’d prefer as a White Sox fan to have between him and Moncada from this point forward. Also, speaking of DH/1B/3B, Miguel Andujar would be an ideal add, but the Yankees aren’t stupid...even though he currently has no place to play.

Cordero is one of those toolsy guys like Adolfo that has never been able to stay healthy and match his raw power with actual HR consistency in the majors. Plus, AB’s getting more and more expensive. And he doesn’t have the arm for RF. For this season though, Benintendi in LF, Jimenez to DH would have been something to consider. Just need to keep Jimenez healthy and out in the field for 140+ games somehow.

Not seeing the Dunning move as a mistake, simply because they have (now at least four) alternatives in Cease, Kopech, Rodon and Lopez they believe can outproduce him this season. They likely never projected him as more than a fifth starter or swingman in the bullpen. They just have to be right on that evaluation. It’s nothing like trading Wells, Fogg and Lowe for one pitcher, then not being able to replace him...or giving up Montas and Bassitt in addition to a future MVP candidate for one year of Samardzija. Those were desperation moves...they simply had to work for the team to compete. What will make most everyone extremely irate is if they use this “window of unprecedented financial flexibility” not to take on any additional salary or fix the obvious roster/depth issues we’re already well aware of at the trade deadline.

Strength of competition difference...

It’s still not clear whether he owed that actual amount of money, whether just his exposure was potentially -$730,000, whether he understood the trades he’d made, or if the brokerage notified they were shutting his credit lines down...or he simply didn’t understand that he’d hedged his positions and could possibly be coming out even or at least not hundreds of thousands in debt. As far a movie deal, it sounds so depressing that I’m not sure who would want to watch. The Redditors have their “stick it to the man” storyline, this would be sticking it to the trading platform that wants to get back at the man but is pretty much an illusion created by hedge funds...that they’re still just getting caught up in the man’s web? Too complicated, and too bittersweet/ironic that the process of empowering individual investors is actually putting them more at risk. Who’s the compelling villain? Greed itself?

Not take down obviously, but it (the situation outlined here) certainly dovetails with the discussions over the last couple of weeks, especially margin trading and short squeezes being terms that the majority of Americans, let alone high schoolers, aren’t 100% familiar with. My guess is the lawsuit was partially a result of recent events, but maybe it was happening all along and the timelines just conveniently converged. And with so many billion+ companies emerging in the last five or so years, there will undoubtedly be even more lawsuits. For example, at what age can we hold corporations at least partially responsible for the actions of customers? Should a 17 or 18 year old be able to set up their own trading account? Why/why not? We certainly wouldn’t have taken the money away had he earned hundreds of thousands. In the 2000’s, despite so many fraudulent subprime loan applications being approved without even simple salary checks, how many of those Mnuchin-esque firms were held accountable in any way? How many homes were foreclosed on? Or student loans taken on that weren’t repaid, or could never realistically be repaid?

What about rain-shortened ones? Melido Perez says hi!

“@soxsi75 it's putting on a bandaid but you could limit the lead off distance after a pitcher maxes out. You could change the rules to where the pitcher has to step back from the rubber to make a pick off move after he's reached his max. There are ways to mitigate. I'm not certain I would like any of those changes.” Base-stealing has been less and less a factor the last decade, but that will change if the homer reliant offenses are forced to once again manufacture individual runs for lower scoring games with a major change in the official ball again. As far as sport popularity goes, one of the big advantages for football or basketball (excitement-wise) has and always be that they’re better suited for gambling...and baseball is so hard to bet on due to day to day variances. Not to mention college football bowl picks, NCAA Tourney pools are culturally imbedded.

But the actual incident/suicide must be a ways back...but now all the knives are coming out for RH because of all the public attention, and potential IPO?

For example, what about high contact sports such as football, wrestling and even basketball or soccer? Will you need a vaccine shot to participate in those? And then trying to get a universally agreed upon standard for both international and domestic travel...I can see a situation where I might be quarantined coming to the US with “only” the Chinese vaccine (of course, part of it’s politics and PR). All of us (here) will eventually have to decide whether to accept being forced to take the Chinese vaccine, with resistance to that meaning we would lose our jobs and likely have to leave the country, or abandon wife/children. I guess the majority will grit their teeth and bear it. Or students from our school going to the UK for study...seems there are issues with AstraZeneca/Oxford as well. God knows the solution, but a stamped Covid passport, CDC or WHO booklet of immunizations (easy to fake), who the heck is going to be trusted to control all that private, quite personal data? How not to create another massive bureaucracy? Especially with all the variants circulating, even one basic shot with booster is going to need constant updating depending on where in the world one is traveling to.

I guess it’s the natural corollary to all the conspiracy theories about leverage JR had over Jim Thompson. Probably involves switching up ownership of the Bulls/Bobcats, so Michael Jordan can return to his rightful throne Chicago.

The only way those not getting the vaccine could counterattack would be on the efficacy and safety of the vaccines. But that’s a slippery slope, and even an effectiveness rate in the 60-75% range has utilitarian benefit to the country as a hole. Of course, the biggest legal battle is going to be over school policies...and whether the “resistors” will be forced to home school or privately educate their kids. (Of course, here in China, you’d end up in jail trying to resist or protest, despite the fact that there is mounting evidence of significant issues in the multiple traditional vaccines offered here.)