caulfield12

Donnelly has voted 62% of the time with Trump...

Speaking of taxi services, the Chinese Uber had their second murdered passenger (first a teacher, now a flight attendant) in three years We are deeply saddened by and sorry about the tragedy that happened to Ms. Li. No words can express our deep remorse in the face of such an enormity,” Didi said in an updated statement today. “Our special task force is working closely with law enforcement agencies with the utmost effort. The murderer needs to be brought to justice; and Ms Li and her family deserve a just answer.” Directly referring to security concerns surrounding its platform, Didi said, “Please be assured we will review thoroughly all our business practices to prevent such an incident from happening again.” On Thursday evening, Didi issued a reward up to CNY1 million (USD157,600) for information leading to the perpetrator’s arrest and published the suspect’s name, identification number, phone number and photo. ... However, Didi stressed that the company has closely cooperated with police to conduct background screening of vehicle owners, to exclude criminal record holders, fugitives, drug addicts, and people with a history of mental illness sufferers. They can only take orders on the platform after they pass the review. Didi served 7.4 billion user trips last year while the number of daily fare orders exceeded 30 million with 40 million trips completed, according to data released by Didi Chuxing CEO Cheng Wei. The huge scale of orders also means great security challenges. In many cases, Didi not only has to bear legal responsibilities, but also should consider social and moral costs. As a travel platform, Didi cannot operate by using all of its own drivers like a taxi firm. Even if it is able to strictly control all drivers, it cannot guarantee that all drivers can comply with the law during the course of their work. In March of this year, Didi announced the launch of a security service based on the existing security system. However, this service only covered its Designated Driver and DiDi Express services, without including the car-sharing service. The lesson for Didi this time is that while continuously improving Designated Driving and DiDi Express security systems, it also need to constantly update security mechanisms for its ride-hitching service. http://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/didi-faces-security-challenges-after-murder-21-year-old-flight-attendant

“I think he'll be pitched a little bit differently when he gets to Triple-A," Hahn said. "There'll be a bit of a more veteran-type staff. Double-A tends to be primarily a prospect level. Lot of guys with real good stuff who are trying to harness that stuff, speaking in general terms. And in Triple-A, you see a few more veteran types who might keep hitters off-balance, get them to expand the zone a little bit more, are a little more on the finesse side of things or at the very least have some more big league experience. Those, they tend to approach or attack hitters a little bit differently. "I do think he'll be attacked a little bit differently once he does get to Charlotte, and that'd be beneficial for him."

Isn’t Mize the only clear choice at 1-1...with 5-7 following in any order?

He hasnt even had any setbacks or adversity to deal with... Kris Bryant, for example, had 68 AA games at age 22 and 70 AAA games and then debuted at 23. That’s still basically the AA All-Star Break for Jimenez to reach half a season of AA ball.

Frank Thomas played 109 games in AA...he’s nowhere close to that. Only 38 in his career so far. He’s also not even 21 1/2 yet.

Jimenez should be up to AAA with Zavala on June 20th or 21st. All-Star game for Southern League in Birmingham this year...Sox won’t move them up until then.

Uber drivers definitely aren’t in it for the money. A new working paper from researchers at Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reports that drivers for the ride-hailing company earn a pretax profit of only $3.37 an hour (or $661 a month) after expenses. Lyft drivers took home similarly paltry sums. As a result of this meager payout, 74 percent of drivers earn less than their state’s minimum wage. And 30 percent of drivers actually lose money once vehicle expenses are taken into account. Drivers earning the median amount of revenue make $0.59 per mile driven, but since average expenses work out to $0.30 per mile, the driver’s overall profit is only $0.29 for each mile. The conclusions are based on a survey of over 1,100 Uber drivers. Researchers analyzed drivers’ revenue, how many miles they drove and what type of car they used. They then compared that information with car insurance and maintenance costs from Edmunds and Kelly Blue Book and data on gas prices from the Environmental Protection Agency. http://observer.com/2018/03/uber-driver-profit-stanford-mit-study/ The Future of Work in the Uber Economy http://bostonreview.net/us/steven-hill-uber-economy-individual-security-accounts For example, suppose Donna is employed twenty hours a week by a hairdresser, contracts for 10 hours a week with TaskRabbit, and drives 10 shifts for Uber. She would earn 50 percent of her benefits from the hairdresser, 25 percent from TaskRabbit, and another percentage based on her wages driving for Uber. That would amount to earning over three-fourths of her full benefits (based on a forty-hour work week). Or suppose George contracts for 14 hours a week with Upwork, drives 10 shift for Lyft, makes 15 deliveries for Postmates and does seven gigs cleaning houses for Handy. He would earn a percentage of his benefits from each company, prorated to the number of hours worked or a percentage of his wages. How much would all of this cost? Surprisingly, implementing such a multiemployer safety net based on Individual Security Accounts would not be that expensive. We can make pretty decent estimates, including the amount of employers’ contributions for each worker, by looking at how much employers pay now for their regular employees, which the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics calculates on a regular basis. Based on those numbers, a basic safety net for most 1099 workers (who tend to be services, sales, and office workers in the private sector) could be implemented if employers chipped in less than $2 per hour into each employee’s Individual Security Account. That minimum basket would be composed of worker supports that are already legally required for regular W-2 employees—in other words, Social Security, Medicare, federal and state unemployment insurance, and injured workers compensation. If we wanted to make the safety net a bit more generous—to also include health insurance, long- and short-term disability insurance, and five paid sick days and five paid vacation days—employers would need to pay only about $2.27 per hour for service sector workers and $4.19 per hour for sales and office workers to pay for the entire safety net package. More expensive plans could be offered, depending on one’s ability to pay i.e. Gold, Silver and Bronze Plans, much like the Affordable Care Act’s setup for health care. We could also phase in certain benefits over time to get a program like this up and running, and then build on it over the years (that model reflects the history of Social Security, which initially in the 1930s had modest benefits. Over time, as it proved itself to be economically useful as well as popular, it was expanded). That’s a small amount of money for employers to pay into their employees’ ISAs to provide a safety net for millions of 1099 workers who currently have no benefits or job security. What it comes down to is this: there’s absolutely no reason why a business should be able to evade paying a couple dollars more per hour per worker to provide a safety net, just because that business hired a freelancer, temp, contractor or franchise. And regardless of how many employers a person works for, a worker should not be denied the civilized and modern-day necessity of having access to a support system she needs for herself and her family. The principle of this system is simple: the 1099/independent contractor loophole must be closed.

Pulled into 2nd pick (percentage points ahead of the Reds)...Baltimore clinging to 1st pick, but there's always this weekend to catch up.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/democrats-no-answer-trump-tax-cuts-171540438.html Democrats/Pelosi with no answer to the Trump tax cuts The way she's going, her (Nancy's) name will permanently be connected to wanting to raise taxes...in the same way that Paul Ryan's is connected to wanting to tear down Social Security/Medicare/Medicaid. It feels like for the first time that Trump (if he survives Mueller) has at least a 50/50 chance to keep the job in 2020. (I won't go quite so far as Greg to speculate about Ivanka or Donald Jr. being next in line, like his never-ending concern about Chelsea haunting his future.)

The previous TJS makes McClanahan adds an additional layer of risk, and Hahn is usually risk-averse in these situations...especially witnessing Giolito's struggles overcoming mechanical struggles (now) years after TJ

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/national/trump-voters/?utm_term=.02bf6783145e One of the longest articles I've ever read...but still must reading for any Democrat (and those who are concerned about Trump winning again in 2020). Tracks a large number of Trump voters in NW Illinois, SW Wisconsin, SE Minnesota, NE Iowa over the last 16 months...their changes in attitude (not as many as you'd think) about how Trump is doing, it's fascinating stuff, and a reminder that no matter what happens on the two coasts and even the Southwest, the Dems still have to figure out a more effective message to win back the Heartland and Rust Belt.

Passed ball by Collins allows a run to score...

If you WERE to sign AJ Pollock (costing probably $100-120 million on the open market, 5 or 6 years)...we wouldn't be THAT far off in terms of offense if Luis Robert also becomes a star-caliber player. That would give you a monster 2020 line-up of: 2B Yoan Moncada RF AJ Pollock 1B Jose Abreu LF Eloy Jimenez 3B Mike Moustakas (FA deal for 2019-2021) DH Collins/Davidson/Zavala/Moustakas C ??? Grandal/Zavala SS Tim Anderson CF Luis Robert Of course, that doesn't account for Basabe, Rutherford, Adolfo, Sheets, Burger, etc. Nor does it rely on them making it. Still leaves you money to go out and sign a veteran starting pitcher and a closer. Biggest question (offensively) to me is STILL whether Yolmer can stick as an everyday player...versus the upgrade of a veteran like Moustakas, Asdrubal Cabrera, Lowrie, etc. There's a strong argument on both sides, and no obvious solutions once you get past Machado/Donaldson/Arenado.

MIGHT be the RH side of a platoon at DH with Collins? Probably his best case scenario if he is going to stick around during the contention period.

This is our only evidence so far: 1) Bidding for Tanaka (ace in prime control years) 2) Abreu 3) Luis Robert 4) Paid top dollar for Dunn (for DH's) and Robertson (for closers) Of course, we've never gone much beyond the $65-70 million range for a single contract. Danks, Abreu, Konerko, Buehrle and Ordonez were the biggest deals (if I'm recalling correctly) in terms of total value. https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/mlb/diamondbacks/2018/05/02/aj-pollock-arizona-diamondbacks-free-agency/575785002/ How much could Pollock be looking at? Coming off last year’s strange free-agent market, that’s a hard question to forecast – but two recent deals for center fielders could provide a framework. First, there’s the five-year, $80 million deal the Brewers gave Lorenzo Cain, a player who is two years older than Pollock but has tended to generate relatively similar production. More recently, the Rockies gave Charlie Blackmon a six-year, $108 million extension. Perhaps the biggest hurdle for Pollock to clear as a free agent is his reputation for being injury prone. Staying healthy over the final five months could go a long way toward convincing clubs his past injury issues were more an aberration than the norm. As for the power he’s displayed, it would seem to bode well for reasons perhaps beyond the obvious. This is Pollock’s age-30 season, meaning that whichever team signs him will be paying market rates at a time in his career when he figures to be entering a decline phase. This is especially pertinent given that, because of his position (center field) and offensive profile, his speed is a significant part of his game. But if his power surge is real, teams might feel more comfortable with a long-term deal knowing he has the bat to profile on an outfield corner. “From an offensive standpoint, he could hit one or two in your lineup or he could slide back and hit fourth or fifth,” a scout with an American League team said. “There’s the ability for him to move throughout your lineup; there’s an element of run scoring and run production to his game. “From a defensive standpoint, he can still play center field, and if he slows down a tick or two, I think there’s enough offensive production that you could move him to left field. If he’s a guy who could hit 20 (homers), get on base, score runs and play really good defense, that’s a good player.” Some scouts seem more likely to buy the power jump because they believe in the improvements they’ve seen from Pollock at the plate. They think he might still be growing into himself as a hitter. “He’s a different player than he was a few years ago,” another scout from an AL club said. “He’s continued to make adjustments. He’s still kind of an underrated guy, but he shouldn’t be.” Once free agency gets underway, Pollock still will likely take a backseat to Bryce Harper, Manny Machado and Clayton Kershaw, should the latter opt out of his contract. But he could work his way to the top of the next tier. “If he remains healthy and continues to produce the way he has,” the second AL scout said, “there’s no reason to think why he couldn’t.” This will be great for the Diamondbacks’ season, but bad for their future. Unless they surprise everyone once again.

What America is this? Feel like my binge watching of the current season/s of Homeland and The Handmaid's Tale is bleeding over into real life...or reality is reflected right back at us by the dystopian vision of today's television shows?

To nobody's surprise, Trump is STILL dominating the world conversation and MOST of his foreign policy decisions...at least for the moment, seem to be breaking his way. Would probably hold back on that Nobel Peace Prize for now though. The Democrats still haven't rearticulated exactly what they are for...except the opposite of everything Trump represents, fighting for workers' rights benefits, health care, protecting Social Security, etc. I don't think the Dems have a clear idea or consensus on any of these foreign policy issues, either.

When they had Cease and Dunning, you had a strong argument that Winston-Salem had more future Sox players than the current big league roster...still, the most interesting team to watch in the organization (and will especially be the case when Robert debuts.)

In an ideal world, they'd bring in one more outside high level expert/consultant (maybe even from another industry like football or basketball), but I doubt we get that. I would LOVE to think there were a number of people in the front office (Haber, the analytics guys, etc.) pushing back against trading for James Shields in 2016, signing Derek Holland or even drafting Burger, but we'll never know. That kind of healthy back and forth is productive for an organization...and I'm not 100% we have that with the current KW/Hahn dynamic.

If you consider Bregman and Tucker a botch of Aiken...who they wisely passed on when more medical info was forthcoming.

Example of a player drafted 100% to fill a hole in that draft year’s flawed big league bullpen...

There’s no choice but cautious optimism, really One way or the other, this franchise is going into uncharted waters. Hahn and KW will sink or swim. No middle ground.

Whoever buys into the vision the front office is selling...it might take a 5-10% premium for now. That said, the untapped potential is clearly there. It’s likely going to require 2-3 leaders from other teams to get us over the top. But to answer the question, why did Hosmer sign with the Padres? They’re the exact same reasons for signing here, other than geographic location.

Can't believe that was written by George Will...or rather, that the political world has changed so much so that a mainstream Republican like him no longer has a big tent to shelter under.