caulfield12

Moving Rodon now makes ZERO sense unless the offers are more for him than Q (and the odds of that are what?)...but he's one really solid season away from his value skyrocketing. Obviously, he could go town with TJS as well, but the only reason this even gets mentioned at all is because of Boras and the fact we know that Carlos is incredibly UNLIKELY to sign an extension into his FA years.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 15, 2017 -> 08:33 PM) Pence isn't that old, he isn't even 60 yet. Perception. Because of his views, he really feels like someone from Trump's "Make America Great Again" 1950's sitcom world. You could see him serving in the Eisenhower Administration or playing the father figure on Leave It To Beaver. He's not the type of Republican who can win a national race with the changing demographics working against him. He's certainly not going to attract the independent and moderate voters at all.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 15, 2017 -> 08:23 PM) You realize how few Republicans you just listed? How many Republicans can afford to have the outright white supremacists turn against them in their next election? And it works the other way for Dems in more moderate/conservative states, or ones in states with a particular industry (like pharmaceuticals) that needs to protected. See the recent drug importation vote, you'll never get Washington State or New Jersey Senators to go against their own industries, despite what's "right" for the majority of the country. The problem here is that "all politics is local" has now become "all local politics is national" thanks to Twitter/social media. At any rate, for the five or six GOP Senators we can list, you might have 10-15 Dems who are back on their heels and the fact that there are so many more Dem seats under fire in 2018 compared to this past election. OTOH, if Trump's presidency starts out as a disaster, the DEMS have a huge opening to exploit public outcry over health care, Social Security cuts, immigration, the environment, education, 1% vs. 99%, etc...they just have to figure out how to use Obama's mailing list/database infrastructure and obviously new "non-Clinton" leadership must emerge. Whether it's Schumer, Warren, Sanders, Ellison, Barbara Lee...the old guard of Pelosi/Reid needs to be pushed out the door. And the more that I think about it, the more likely someone INSIDE the Trump administration like Mattis becomes a hero of the left and takes the opportunity to run against Trump. Whenever there's a constitutional crisis, it feels like Americans trust former military leaders to get them through it, moreso than career politicians.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jan 15, 2017 -> 08:15 PM) I think he resigns or the corruption becomes to much for the Rands, Rubios and Grahams Ted Cruz will be interesting to watch to, as he dances from "supporter" to "antagonist" with the political winds. Really, all those guys like Rubio, Kasich and Ted Cruz each find themselves in quite uncomfortable positions at the moment, but it's up to them to figure the way out of the wilderness. Basically, Trump replaced (or outmaneuvered) the Kasich-friendly head of the Ohio GOP out of spite, so it's a weird situation in terms of Trump and Kasich both competing for control of the state. Plus, we know Trump won't let a good grudge die quietly. If Ryan can successfully "replace" ObamaCare and sell it effectively to the American people, then he becomes the heir-apparent as Pence is too old and out of touch to most (well, not to mention his extreme social positions).

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 15, 2017 -> 07:50 PM) The best statement of how good of a politician that Bill Clinton was is that Hillary Clinton almost became President simply because she was married to the guy. Until Donald Trump showed up on the scene he was easily the best con artist I have ever seen operate. I barely remember Nixon (more Ford), but he has to rank right up there....although he did accomplish more positive results than Dems typically would like to give him credit for because Watergate tends to overshadow everything else looking back retrospectively. John Edwards also belongs in this conversation somewhere...except he wasn't nearly as good at playing "populist crusader" act while earning millions of dollars as a lawyer and cheating on his wife at the same time. It was inauthentic for Gore to use that approach as well. Actually, the last Dem to pull it off pretty effectively was Robert F. Kennedy in 1968.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 15, 2017 -> 07:52 PM) I wonder how many people stayed home because of the media narrative over the last few weeks that Trump had no chance of winning? The argument is that Trump's "on the fence"/independent supporters were energized the final 10-11 days by the Comey letter and the tide shifted (Clinton had been ahead for most of that time by 3-5% in national polling). Conversely, that it was the final nail in the coffin for young (especially Sanders supporters) and African-American voters who had been previously considering voting for Hillary, depressing votes on the other side. It was something like a 2 or 3X/1 margin for those late-deciders breaking for Trump, just off the top of my head. But it would be interesting to interview all those who didn't vote and see how many would have voted for Clinton (if forced to choose), and how many GOP/independent voters were so turned off by the Access Hollywood/Billy Bush stuff they just gave up on the election altogether at that point..

Since we almost NEVER have polls here at Filibuster. (And there's no way to fit ALL the potential names onto one poll, so I added all the following names just for discussion purposes.) Couldn't include Bono since he's not American, he's a big name that came to mind right away. Plus, it seems like it doesn't matter if a candidate has political experience/expertise, it's almost seen as a negative in some ways. At least it was the case with Trump. In all likelihood, they're be a tacking back in the other direction, and Americans will decide experience/policy expertise is actually necessary. It's ONE of the reasons Marco Rubio was discounted, because of the similarities to Obama in 2008, fwiw. Angelina Jolie? Kevin Spacey, haha? One of the Baldwins (but definitely not Stephen)? Geena Davis (Mensa)? Jodie Foster? Leonardo DiCaprio? Then there's the billionaire celebs: Bill Gates Mark Cuban Howard Schultz (just stepped down as CEO of Starbucks, a lot of his ideas are quite sensible) Michael Bloomberg Jesse Ventura (just for Greg775) John Elway (GOP) Howard Stern Tim McGraw (Dem) Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos (no hair works against him, haha) Mark Zuckerberg Ellen Degeneres Ivanka Trump Meryl Streep (haha) Jennifer Lawrence Morgan Freeman (because he always plays the president, and the voice!) Stephen Colbert Jon Stewart Chuck Norris (GOP) Clint Eastwood (GOP, too old now) Robert Downey, Jr. Bill Nye the Science Guy Christopher Walken (now that would be entertaining) Michael Moore Bill Murray Judge Judy (I would never vote for her in a million years, she's evil!) Tom Selleck Mark Harmon Tina Fey Denzel Washington Kevin Hart Snoop Dogg Eminem Steve Harvey (new advisor to Trump and Dr. Ben Carson, apparently) Sandra Bullock James Woods (GOP) Gary Busey or Nick Nolte (just for entertainment's sake) James Earl Jones (the voice!) Tom Brady/Belichick/Nick Saban/Matt Rodgers Bill Maher Mark Wahlberg Jimmy Kimmel or Jimmy Fallon

http://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-go...pbzo953flxx5mO/ The entire city of Atlanta joins the list. That last line from Trump signals that he's about to reactivate the passion missing from all those African-American voters who sat at home instead of voting in November. Between that and getting ripped to shreds by CIA Director John Brennan for all the world to see...it's going to be a VERY long week.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trumps-attack-on...-171644389.html Well, Trump has pissed off the entire city of Atlanta, the Congressional Black Caucus and BIGLY increased sales of all John Lewis' published works...ironically, much more than he has helped LL Bean for/by unethically touting them.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Jan 15, 2017 -> 08:07 AM) So I read that the Clinton Global Initiative is closing up shop since donation have dried up. I guess with no influence to peddle, no money coming in. But I thought they did such great work! Why would donors abandon them? http://observer.com/2017/01/the-clinton-fo...iative/?ref=yfp Clinton was the greatest politician of his time, and the most flawed in terms of understanding his own weaknesses...perhaps, ultimately knowing that he could easily manipulate people to forgive him is what led to his ultimate undoing. But brilliant political mind and grasp of policy minutiae, the complete anti-Trump (except in one key way, that both were a boon for reporters/ratings/coverage). Ironically, he knew all along how important states like PA, Michigan and Wisconsin would be but was ignored by his wife's campaign until it was too late. All that because of the South Carolina primary in 2008 against Obama. Sad that even those closest advisors like Band and Huma Abedin ended up as collateral damage along the way. Luckily for Greg there is no Chelsea for president groundswell to worry about anymore.

A lot of projections have Asche as the DH, Avi in RF and Tilson in CF. Lawrie over Saladino at 2B, presumably to trade him if he makes it into the regular season. Fwiw. It seems that Asche, Liriano, Avi and Davidson are fighting it out for two and potentially three spots depending on whether they want to go with Leury Garcia as the 25th man. Asche's 689 ops in the NL East...guess we'll find out how he fares against the AL soon enough.

Cory Booker, 12 other Dems put local interests over national ones...could have taken a step towards potentially lowering prescription drug prices significantly. http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/201...rats?yptr=yahoo http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politic...-newstopstories Full list of all the senators who went against 72% national approval for allowing importation to lower prices/increase competition.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/astros-pitche...-053419644.html Astros pitcher Collin McHugh http://www.chron.com/sports/astros/article...on-10858488.php Article on McHugh and Bregman Mad Dog Mattis could quickly become a media star in his own right if he doesn't get fired first for crossing his new boss. Rep. John Lewis Richard Burr-NC Rubio McCain Paul Graham Collins

https://www.yahoo.com/news/some-democratic-...-225356015.html At least 13 Democratic lawmakers (and growing) skipping the inauguration. Surely Trump will have Twitter threats for all of them. Should keep him busy this week. https://www.yahoo.com/news/cowardly-donald-...-170120332.html Backlash over Trump attacks on Lewis on MLK weekend https://mobile.twitter.com/BillKristol/stat...src=twsrc%5Etfw When Bill Kristol sides against you...

Is there market distortion or disequilibrium caused by a lack of remaining franchises that are hard-pressed financially, looking to compete the next 2-3 years AND have stocked farm systems that they're willing to wipe out? Have the Shelby Miller and Eaton trades caused a sort of fear or inertia to set in? Those are a couple of arguments against traditional supply and demand analysis, along with losing a lot less when signing QO players. Maybe the whole...he's so undervalued he becomes overvalued or is more valuable to the Sox effect as well? Other than Pittsburgh, Houston and Colorado...most of the farm systems discussed (Boston, Cubs, Wash, NYY, LAD, Texas) in the last six months have been upper-tier in terms of revenues. I suppose Atlanta with their new stadium, but they will fall off to a predictable pattern if they don't win in 2017 and especially 2018. Unfortunately, Pitt, Houston and Colorado aren't in the same division. St. Louis could also make sense, but won't part with Reyes and it's very doubtful we'd take Wong, Grichuk, Adams, etc., back. Plus, they would be extremely unlikely to deal Piscotty...so kind of a standoff imo.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jan 14, 2017 -> 11:45 AM) Draft dodging, orangutan man kicked off MLK weekend by attacking civil rights hero John Lewis on Twitter. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-...m=.6f72cd0b182a And this also happened. https://www.yahoo.com/news/changing-nationa...-160343558.html And this...DC National Guard leader to be replaced in the middle of Inauguration Day. Petty. I'm going to bet none of those representatives fighting to remove youth paintings or Trump will take the time out of their busy schedules to watch Hidden Figures with their families, though. Not even on MLK weekend.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Jan 14, 2017 -> 11:37 AM) Stop making your mission to bring trump down. Your mission should be to report, good or bad. Not taking anything you can and finding the worst angle to put on it. Just report, good and bad. Didn't they do the exact same thing to Clinton when he was first elected? Why were all the birther stories and theories reported for so many years on Obama, or about his religious beliefs and patriotism? In the end, circumstances matter. Clinton had numerous personal scandals hanging over him and didn't even have 40% of the popular vote, you could convincingly argue he would have lost without Perot in the race. Obviously we know all about Bush/Gore/Nader in 2000. Other than Obama and Reagan, most recent presidencies have started out with plenty of controversy. Trump is off the charts for good reason. Heck, you even have Fox News defending CNN against Trump attacks, for god's sake.

For example, Rep. John Lewis from GA called Trump an "illegitimate" president (because of the Russia stuff, mostly) and said he will skip the inauguration for the first time since his congressional career began. Is that fake news or not worth reporting? If Trump is already going to call CNN as the Clinton News Network, what will his response be to foreign journalists who assail him? Have the CIA or Putin disappear all of them?

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jan 14, 2017 -> 12:59 PM) If you believe Reed is a legit bounce-back candidate, this trade sets up our lineup nicely. 1B: Reed 2B: Moncada SS: Anderson 3B: Donaldson (more realistic than Machado) LF: Fisher/Call CF: Basabe/Call RF: Tucker DH: Abreu C: Collins Even with the addition of a guy like Donaldson, we'd still have plenty of money to work with to plug other holes, most likely in the OF or at DH. And we'd add two more promising young starters to an organization that already includes Rodon, Giolito, Lopez, Fulmer, Kopech, Adams, Stephens, Hansen, & Dunning. Throw in Burdi and that's a f***ton of pitching talent. Other than Fisher/Call most likely being fourth OFers on a playoff roster, we're looking pretty good. Obviously, we've got the draft, more trades, FA's, international players, etc., to address those holes, too. Jones, Frazier, Jennings and Robertson all have varying degrees of value and can hopefully put up solid numbers in the first half. How old would Donaldson be again upon signing a multi-year deal?

http://www.espn.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/...ediocre-veteran http://www.espn.com/blog/the-gms-office/in...r/post?id=13725 Thought it was worth a further look, with all the talk about trading Abreu, Cabrera and even Frazier (albeit to a lesser extent) fitting pretty closely with this profile (not to mention Dunn and LaRoche). We have definitely seen more of a MLB trend towards multi-dimensional players with defensive skills emerge, compared to the slew of 1B/DH and corner outfield types. Of course, attempting to "reload" every year with bargain veterans has become one of the themes for the Sox in recent years. Losing some of those 2-3 war/cost-controlled players like Semien and possibly Thompson has hurt a bit too, in the sense of that current trend being to find 5-6 of those young guys to surround 2-3 higher paid superstars in a line-up. Of course, you could argue that if we just picked Torres or Eloy Jimenez instead of Adolfo we'd be in even better shape than having Semien at 3B and Thompson in CF. At any rate, this filling out the roster with cheaper younger players instead of costlier declining veterans is coming at the perfect time for the rebuild (and Hahn, as opposed to KW). And even if we had rebuilt after 2013, we arguably wouldn't have the centerpieces in Q and Eaton to trade, so there's that positive of trying to compete every year.

Deprecating? https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-tweet-ethi...-223149866.html Speaking of white male privilege. LL Bean might not be picking up many lower middle class/blue collar customers, but Trump is succeeding in making a hero out of this guy from the Ethics office at least.

QUOTE (Middle Buffalo @ Jan 14, 2017 -> 08:01 AM) Nobody was beating Trump this year. Trump would have done the same thing to Biden, Sanders, Warren, etc that he did to Hillary and all the Republicans he beat. He would have made it about personal attacks. Normal politicians don't know how to respond to that. Trump won the nomination of his party and the presidency without offering real, substantive plans for his presidency. The voters didn't care. They don't care that since the election, he has already backed away from and changed many of the plans he did run on. It was the perfect strorm. It should be an interesting few years. Otoh, all those states like Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Iowa were states that Sanders ran well in against Hillary. West Virginia would be another example...Sanders beat Clinton 51-36 there after she walloped Obama, and in many of those aforementioned states in 2008. Sanders also would have turned out more of Obama's young voters. It would have come down to Sanders convincing African-American, Hispanic and Asian voters that he was the more comfortable choice. The problem would be Trump would basically argue he wasn't beholden to the big banks like Hillary and Sanders' only remaining issue would be giving away college tuition, which zero Republicans support anyway...and most realistic Americans realize is pretty impractical from a financial perspective. Trump also wouldn't have been vulnerable on foreign affairs because of Sanders' lack of interest and expertise in this area

The Cubs don't desperately need Q for another year...it's also much easier for them to trade for someone like Duffy as a two-month rental in July and then extend him later if they think he's worth the FA money. The only bad contract they'll have on the books is Heyward and potentially Lester in time.

Prediction: Hidden Figures beats LA LA Land for Best Picture. Patriot's Day is pretty darned good, too. Peter Berg is improving.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/ap-source-trump-...--politics.html Trump and his advisors making it harder and harder by the day to respect them...