caulfield12

See Nats/Strasburg. Their recent legacy will be having all that talent on one roster, yet never winning a playoff series.

Lopez on the Royals...

https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/10/politics/mia-love-campaign-funds/index.html Yet another Republican in trouble...this time Mia Love in Utah.

The Indians are losing Allen, Brantley, Miller and Kipnis...Encarnacion will be in the last year of his deal, as well. They have enough starting pitching to win 88-90 games, but that assumes full health and progressions from some of their younger guys like Bieber. It’s hard to imagine the White Sox being worse at any position next year...where would it be, other than catcher? Some combination of Davidson/Palka/Delmonico at DH will be fine. Moncada, CF, Abreu and Jimenez should put up much bigger numbers. Anderson, about the same, probably better than worse, especially from a defensive standpoint? Donaldson or Moustakas make sense depending on price. You can pretty much say for sure that Yolmer and Avi aren’t in the long-term plans at this point, same with Leury Garcia (too many nagging injuries.) Even without Kopech, difficult to imagine being worse. Hamilton might surprise as closer right off the bat, although I’m not sure they’re ready to anoint him until he has at least a half season under his belt.

He’ll lose half of whatever he wins when Julia Chen divorces him...

KC’s starter acquired from Moustakas trade...

Is Lopez going to turn out to be a decent starter? Let’s wait and see how he does against a playoff-caliber roster...and it’s not like Walker is projected to be a Gold Glove level outfielder, he’s a better version of Call/Fisher from previous drafts, sure, but how much better and where does he play? For every “Walker was the best pure hitter in the draft” argument, there will be the retort that we said the same thing about Zach Collins, who isn’t currently listed on any Top 100 lists. You can make the argument we need a starting pitcher at the back end and a higher upside CFer a lot more over the next 2-3 seasons, unless we are going to completely write off 2020 as well. Before long, we will be arguing that we need to trade Moncada because we’ll only be competitive in his three most expensive arbitration years. Then, we’ll basically be the Pirates.

Why did we even trade Sale, Eaton and Q if that was the best fallback plan when things didn’t go according to plan? No, the next thing we’ll be hearing is “keeping the powder dry” and not allocating valuable resources for placeholders...or that we’ll really be able to sign some high quality players when the new tv contract begins (skipping over the fact that Moncada and Kopech excelling in 2019 was one of the biggest selling points for getting a better tv deal). Now you’re putting all your hopes in Jimenez and Machado/Harper are arguably the only two players who could move the bar significantly in terms of fan interest. Trade for Ohtani to shake up the franchise? They need to earn their money and reformulate something interesting, that’s for sure. More Shields, Yolmer, Engel, Delmonico and Davidson puts the Sox in the “they might as well relocate to Charlotte or San Antonio/Austin” conversations.

Collins, Zavala, Basabe, Hamilton, Burdi

Ptac, would you trade Rodon this offseason, try to hold on for next trade deadline...or just cross your fingers from here on out and roll the dice on Carlos staying healthy and productive through 2021?

There’s another obvious counterargument to Hahn and Company. The fate of the 2015-16 Mets’ super rotation. One possible Cy Younger winner left in de Grom, lots of “what could have been” with Syndergaard, Harvey, Matz, Wheeler, etc.

Ohtani was already a huge red flag with his elbow the day they signed him. I think he might have already even had that platelet injection. Just like expecting a starter who tries to throw 98-100 not to ever get hurt (other than Nolan Ryan or Randy Johnson.) The fact of the matter is that the Royals, Cubs, Astros...heck, even the Indians...most teams other than the Braves (who might have the best current talent in Acuna, Jr.) chose to rebuild more on the position player side and add free agents or via minor league depth trades. If there’s any fault, it’s thinking the Sox record of keeping pitchers healthy was going to miraculously hold up during an era of baseball where overuse and guys trying to throw the ball through a wall (think Bauer or Kopech) adds up to a long line of billable hours at the offices of Dr. Jobe, Andrews, etc.

Even Nolan Ryan was tuning in...

Other than John Danks and Rodon, and neither were TJ...what starters have gone down in the last decade? Burdi, but he’s a reliever. We cut bait on guys like Hudson and McCarthy well before they got hurt multiple times. Statistically, the rate should be much higher for the Sox. And, for all we know, some of the damage to Kopech was done while he was still in the Red Sox organization. The following article was from 2013, over five years ago, well before every other pitcher in baseball was throwing 95+. “One-third of current MLB pitchers have had Tommy John surgery. Of the about 360 who started the season, 124 share the all-too-familiar triangular scar. How surprising is this number? It stunned me! In recent talks with baseball officials, none guessed more than the one-in-nine number I had often seen quoted over the last decade (and quoted myself). Worse, none of us had any idea when this change had happened or noticed the acceleration. With the help of research assistants, I arrived at the number 124 by going through current rosters and searching news reports for each pitcher, looking to see if he had had Tommy John. The players are listed in this PDF, along with the year of their most recent surgery (players with italicized years have had more than one elbow reconstruction). For a different look at all the names, check out the illustration below.”

What about the Angels with Ohtani? At any rate, Sale and Price need to win a World Series for Boston before they can really start crowing. And that’s exponentially harder than emerging from the NL field of contenders.

If they want to sell any tickets next year, they’re going to need to add a couple of significant pieces via free agency. If it’s James Shields again, or Miguel Gonzalez, good luck getting anyone to tune in. Everything is pretty much riding on Eloy Jimenez being a breakout star from Day 1 in April of next year. Otherwise, the tv ratings will be even worse than Houston’s in 2011-13. Likely means we won’t get much of a boost from the new tv deal as well. Just business as usual. Let’s also not forget that our best pitching prospect in Cease has already had TJ, same with Giolito...pretty sure the list of MLB pitchers who have made more than 50 starts after multiple surgeries can still be counted on one hand. Of course, Rodon, Dunning and Hansen are also far from certainties at this point, as well. But like a double-header that goes on too long, having the operation a second time doesn't work out nearly as well, according to new research released Tuesday. When surgeons Robert Keller and Bill Moutzouros of Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit looked at 33 pitchers who had the surgery a second time, they found that only 65.5 percent were able to return to pro ball. The ones who did had shortened careers and threw fewer innings than 33 statistically matched pitchers who hadn't had the surgery. Their performances, as measured by baseball's copious statistics, were about the same. With one Tommy John surgery, "there's a good chance you're coming back," Keller said in an interview. "You're probably not as good as you were before, but you're near to where you should be. "When you have a second one, you may not come back, and if you do, you won't pitch as much and you won't pitch as long." https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2015/03/25/two-tommy-john-surgeries-may-be-too-much-of-a-good-thing-for-mlb-pitchers/?utm_term=.91b9bbdfebfc

If it originated on the military/defense side...it follows that it would be much easier to keep quiet than a “traditional” politician/staffer or supposed GOP loyalist taking on the president.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/donald-trump-run-president-gwen-stefani-michael-moore-thinks-101753426.html Michael Moore: Trump ran for president because Gwen Stefani was paid $1 million more by NBC “He’d been talking about running for president since 1988, but he didn’t really want to be president,” Moore told the publication. “There’s no penthouse in the White House. And he doesn’t want to live in a black city. He was trying to pit NBC against another network, but it just went off the rails.” While it’s true that there’s no love lost between Trump and his former network — just days ago he tweeted that NBC’s “journalistic standards [are] worse than even CNN” and suggested that its license be yanked — it’s unclear why Stefani specifically would set him off. Sources claim that the No Doubt frontwoman was paid $12 million for her time on The Voice, versus the $13 million reportedly doled out to Adam Levine and Stefani’s boyfriend, Blake Shelton. Maybe he’s just not a fan of “Don’t Speak”?

Once again, that line of thinking (group/cabal) follows the military coup ‘d etat line of thinking...military/industrial complex conspiracy theories, deep state insurgents, etc. Steady connotes near permanent bureaucracy.

One would easily surmise he has to have asserted something similar about Puerto Rico in the past as well? Of course, Hawaii also has/had unique ties to Obama and his upbringing, Birther Movement, etc.

Gen. Kelly’s the other “at this point, what the hell...why not?” candidate to be looking at, keep thinking it has to relate back to someone with a military/service background. He’s much more likely to be on the way out the door anyway, compared to Mattis or Gen. Dunford of JSOC.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/05/politics/donald-trump-mystery-op-ed/index.html 13 most likely to have written the piece...although someone directly under Mattis makes more sense, as it’s about patriotism, foreign affairs/standing abroad, etc. Coats also would be another logical choice, and his intelligence background would certainly involve trying to use key words like amorality and lodestar to kick suspicion in the direction of Pence. Jared and Ivanka aren’t clever enough. Melania’s speechwriter would make it the best story of the year...especially if she initiated divorce proceedings against him soon.

If you consider there are roughly only 3-5 players (out of, let’s say 40-50 per year) on each minor league affiliate that will even make the majors (some just “cups of tea”) the cost benefit analysis isn’t going to work. Not to mention so many modern players (including most first rounders/high picks) are pushed by agents and trainers to eat a healthier diet and have off-season fitness regimens...and lots already started to do so at university, just maybe not quite so well as the premiere D-1 football and basketball athletes, but even that gap has closed a bit.

Trump’s personal twitter feed, lol 3h Kim Jong Un of North Korea proclaims “unwavering faith in President Trump.” Thank you to Chairman Kim. We will get it done together! He likely won’t get Erdogan of Turkey (anymore) since we’re partially responsible for their currency crisis, but maybe Putin and Duterte? “The numbers are not looking good for a president who has made reducing the U.S. trade deficit one of his main economic goals. Worse still, signs are emerging that President Donald Trump’s trade wars are starting to hit economic growth, not just at home but around the world. New data out Wednesday showed the U.S. trade deficit in July widening at its fastest rate since 2015 as monthly deficits with China and the European Union both hit new records . In the year so far, the U.S.’s overall goods and services deficit is up by $22 billion, or 7 percent, versus the same period last year. The data coincides with Trump’s moves to escalate his battles with China and efforts to badger Canada into signing on to a new Nafta, highlighting what economists have argued is the incongruity of his trade policies. Even as he launches his battles in the name of reducing the U.S.’s imbalances, he has been causing the overall deficit to grow by increasing public spending and encouraging domestic investment. “The policies of this administration are policies that may not have been designed to increase the trade deficit, but that is their effect,” said Philip Levy, who served on President George W. Bush’s council of economic advisers.” yahoo.com/finance

Cooper has one more year to get things turned around and going in the right direction...you would hope they would make a change with both him and Renteria if we don't at least end up in the 73-77 win zone next year. Ah, forget it, Cooper has a lifetime contract, it's like being a fan of Iowa football and thinking there will ever be pressure to replace Kirk Ferentz or at least have a 21st century offensive approach. Amazing how coaches can live forever off past successes (see KW as well).