caulfield12

Dylan Covey has a 2.37 ERA in AAA...never thought that would be possible. (No ER in 5+ IP tonight.) At least we do have SOME options (Volstad/Santiago, etc.) to protect the young starting pitching down the line.

Well, the long-debated Lopez "regression to mean" is taking place tonight. Now what? Just tune out except for Moncada at-bats I guess. Meanwhile, Williams has a lower average velocity than Giolito but can't do anything with him.

https://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2018/05/15/are-electric-cars-worse-for-the-environment-000660 Are electric vehicles actually WORSE for the environment (and for the poor/lower middle class)?

Just looking at his stance, he is a bit reminiscent of Moncada with that bat wrap (albeit on the RH side)...you better have incredible whip in your swing/hands to get away with that at the MLB level.

Deadpool 2 is getting mostly positive reviews...around 81% at RT when I read some of them yesterday.

But he saved all those jobs at the companies in America that supply to ZTE...don’t you get it? We should be grateful for his intercession, and overlook the fact that it’s almost unprecedented for US presidents to overrule their Commerce Secretary on situations like this, where pre-existing Iranian sanctions were flouted (heck, the Chinese employees of ZTE got bonuses) and a 7 year ban/$1+ billion fine was levied. Then he will turn around and get the farmers their ag exports (sorghum/soybeans) back and declare a win when nothing at all has changed substantively on the trade front (or trade deficit, for that matter.)

If you’re an M’s fan...and haven’t made the playoffs since the 2001 team, you’re (further) sickened. On top of the broken hand, adding insult to injury. Now what do you do? King Felix is a ghost of his former self, Cruz is slowly aging, Haniger has been carrying the offense. Trade for Yolmer or Leury Garcia, because God knows Beckham won’t be able to hold down that position for long? With the Astros and Angels in the same division, good luck.

Vieira made the MLB Pipeline list for the week for his performance...have to be a Top 30 guy in your organization to be eligible for selection.

Why do you assume he has to play 2B? Where did I say that? If you can find a player who can play 2B/SS/3B...runs and fields at a very high level, and is an excellent hitter to boot...they don’t exactly grow on trees. Besides, by your argument, it SHOULD have been possible for the White Sox to easily supplement the core of Eaton/Sale/Q/Abreu with the likes of players listed above...IF IF IF it was so easy to do, then why couldn’t the Sox come close to managing that feat from 2009-2016? You’re also leaving out the fact that NOW acquiring Albies, Moncada, Cano (contract) and Altuve would be prohibitively expensive for other teams. Btw, would you NOW support bringing in Lowrie at age 36 or Cabrera at age 32/33 to the White Sox next year, because you have included them on your list...?

I surveyed 29 people at a Chinese Hooter’s and they all said Trump is an orange buffoon with strange hair...and they also said he’s ADDING alligators to the swamp instead of draining it.

Jared/Ivanka for President of the United States on America in 2024 over Pence/Lieberman, lol... Okay, Pence/Ryan, although I’m not sure if he can stomach being a VP on another ticket. He’ll undoubtedly go after the nomination himself against Pence. For the Dems, Chelsea Clinton and Amy Schumer (just to get Greg’s goat).

A lot easier to find another Quintana or Junior Guerra on the scrap heap than find a guy who can run, hit and field like Madrigal...

Traditionally, more NFL and college football, NCAA basketball tournament pools, horse racing, boxing, etc. Baseball...see 1919 Chicago Black Sox/Shoeless Joe Jackson and Pete Rose scandals.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/gambling-can-help-make-baseball-americas-pastime-043408160.html Imagine all the quants out there who will be 1) getting involved in the industry whereas before they might have only looked at Wall Street, 2) the resurrection of daily fantasy sports (again), and 3) the competition between MLB teams and capitalistic "niche exploiters" looking to profit... Meanwhile, baseball viewing/ratings should increase dramatically with this new avenue to growing the game. Young people, in particular, with a love of statistics/analysis will be drawn to it because of the extreme amount of data baseball generates compared to all the other major sports. Somehow I managed to embed a link to the topic and can't delete it, lol. Oh, well. Industry experts are unanimous in their predictions. Higher revenue. Higher television ratings. Higher engagement with fans. Higher advertising and sponsorship deals. Higher everything. ... Now? The league (NFL) has money to make and so much of it that whatever remains of the protests against the league is likely to fade or be completely meaningless. Sorting out this gambling thing is about all these billionaires are going to care about. “I think everyone who owns a top four professional sports team just saw the value of their team double,” Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban told CNBC Monday morning. https://www.yahoo.com/sports/angst-colin-kaepernick-player-protests-will-washed-away-supreme-court-ruling-sports-gambling-takes-root-205116911.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/03/opinion/future-american-left.html?action=click&module=Associated&pgtype=Article&region=Footer&contentCollection=David Brooks The Future of the American Left The first would be to rewrite rules to redistribute wealth. In an anthology called “Reflections on the Future of the Left,” Baker imagines ways this might be done: impose a tax on financial transactions to weaken Wall Street’s power; change monetary policies to give full employment priority; shorten the workweek to tighten labor markets; and change corporate law to make it easier to cut executive pay. The second task would be to ensure economic security for all. This would involve raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour, providing universal basic income and having the federal government provide a paying job to all who want one. I would disagree with this agenda on pragmatic policy grounds, but at least it would be humane. It’s a positive, universalist agenda that aims at social solidarity and national cohesion — we’re all in this together. It would be, as Sheri Berman writes in Dissent, enchanted with a radical idealism. Nonetheless, I don’t think this is the leftism we will wind up with. Tribalism is in the air, on the left as well as on the right. It is based on a scarcity mentality, the idea that life is a zero-sum war between us and them. It emphasizes division and conflict, not solidarity and cohesion. It draws out the authoritarian tendencies in any movement. On the right, tribalism brings us the ethnic authoritarianism of Donald Trump. On the left, it seems likely to bring us the economic authoritarianism of a North American version of Hugo Chávez. You can see authoritarianism entering the left through two avenues. The first is nationalism. Not long ago, most of the American left tended to think transnationally — partly because problems like climate change are global, partly because it’s hard to regulate a global economy nation by nation, partly because progressives used to be psychologically averse to nationalism. But national sovereignty is not withering away. Left-wing hostility toward European Union-type multilateral organizations is at record highs. Now a lot of progressive economic thinking is nakedly nationalistic. Bernie Sanders in 2015 derided a more open immigration policy as a “Koch brothers proposal.” It’s the old xenophobia — us or them, screw or be screwed. On trade, the left-wing populists sound like Trump. The second stream fueling economic authoritarianism is identity politics. It used to be that big political divides were defined by economic interests; now, the cultural dog wags the economic tail. Identity politics defines the core political divides. When many progressives talk about economics these days, they take the habits of mind they developed when talking about identity groups and apply them to economic groups. It’s the same Manichaeism: oppressor versus oppressed, privileged versus underprivileged, hegemon versus victim. Conflict is inevitable. The apocalypse is near. Preserve the purity of the group. Shut down the other side. It’s sectarian politics to the nth degree. In Venezuela we saw how a politician used demagogic sectarian rhetoric to establish an authoritarian regime and then destroy a people. I’m sure many of my left-wing friends believe that that sort of tribal us/them mentality won’t hijack and corrupt their own movement. But as someone who lived through the last 30 years of conservatism, I’m here to tell you, it can. Politicians these days have decided they don’t need the thinkers anymore.

Seems a lot like Fulmer...in the sense that he is/was a dominant Top 5-10 program collegiate starter whose stuff might not translate well to the majors (as a starter), at least the current version. There's a pretty significant difference between 92-94 (like Fulmer) and "averaging" 94-97, more like a Reynaldo Lopez. There haven't been MANY occasions when we ended up with pitcher throwing harder (later on) than softer. Erik Johnson is another guy that comes to mind right away, whose stuff seemingly eroded over time for no obvious or physically apparent reason.

Of course...3-4 days ago, some were pushing to promote Jimenez, for example. 2-3 weeks ago, Collins was a complete bust. Obviously they're facing some REALLY tough pitching, so the basic idea is to pump the brakes on rushing anyone from AA to AAA until they're 100% ready for the next step. We shouldn't push those guys up...just to push more guys from Winston-Salem so we can accommodate a couple of hitters like Gonzalez and Rivera that are doing well in the SALLY League.

Because the White Sox recent draft record with high school hitters just SCREAMS success? This has most typically been the result:http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/profile.asp?ID=209891 About the only guy who comes to mind who actually made it in the last decade to the major leagues from a HS background is Trayce Thompson...Walker (junior college), Hawkins, Trey M. and Barnum haven't come close to making it.

Another K for Collins...I guess we jumped a bit soon to forecast him and Zavala into big league roles. Not close to ready, at least yet. Jimenez 0 for 3. Gordon Beckham is still alive, btw...just struck out in his season debut for the M's against the Twins, who are still hanging close with the Indians because the division is so terrible. Meanwhile, Byron Buxton can't HIT, yet again (440 OPS, making Engel look positively hitterish.)

Juan Pierre also comes to mind, although he was a Gold Glove defender in his prime. JImenez will be fine in LF...that's the one position that you can hide an average or below-average arm without much in the way of consequences. Eventually he'll DH, but that's in the future.

Cubs' fans already letting Quintana have it... https://sports.yahoo.com/panic-deepens-jose-quintanas-struggles-205326610.html

Walker was a supplemental pick, they really didn't have a first-rounder that year (because of Adam Dunn signing)... This is where he was ranked last August, after summer ball/Cape Cod League 4. Nick Madrigal, 2B/SS, Oregon State Scouts have to get past Madrigal's small stature (5-foot-7, 161 pounds), but they do so pretty easily because he has outstanding instincts in all phases of the game and good tools as well. He is a premium hitter with some gap power and plus speed, and defensively he'll become either a respectable shortstop or a quality second baseman as a pro. At that moment in time, it was Singer, McClanahan, Mize, Madrigal, Griffin Conine (Jeff's son), Jeremy Eierman (Burger's teammate), Travis Swaggerty, Seth Beer, Ryan Rolison and Logan Gilbert for the Top 10. https://www.mlb.com/news/top-10-college-prospects-for-the-2018-draft/c-249819104 Has a video/report from Jim Callis on the best Summer League players

Well, one would be lower exit velocity #’s for batted balls in play...that correlates more with his low/er BABIP.

Not to mention the mid-market teams only get 3-4 real shots. With the talent that Boston, NYY, Houston and Anaheim (now) have to play with, it’s tough/er. Cleveland got to the World Series again, yet much of their fanbase is like ours in 2010/12, waiting for the best teams to win out. It’s an especially tough position to be in for teams like Toronto, Minnesota, Oakland and Seattle, to put all your resources into a wild card run and to be eliminated in just one game. In our division, the Tigers never won it all despite huge talent and even bigger payrolls.

Well, the whole point of the original article was trying to ascertain whether the Royals were losing $30 million this year at a $121 million payroll, breaking even...or actually making about $20-30 million in profit. There’s a whole different category of roughly $120 million in expenses outside of direct/observable payroll.