caulfield12

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/16/us/politics/trump-undocumented-immigrants-animals.html The meeting was a lot more nuanced than simply applying this "animals" label to MS-13. https://www.vox.com/2018/5/16/17362870/trump-immigrants-animals-ms-13-context-why No matter how Trump is portraying his policy, his administration is not focusing on deporting people who have committed particularly heinous crimes; gang members; or people with criminal records. From Trump’s inauguration to the end of 2017, ICE arrested 45,436 immigrants without criminal records. To be sure, ICE arrests of immigrants with criminal records ticked up slightly from the last year of the Obama administration (in which immigration enforcement was subdued compared to previous years) to the Trump administration. But arrests of immigrants without criminal records have also spiked. During President Obama’s last year, about 16 percent of ICE arrests were of noncriminal immigrants; each month since July 2017, between 32 and 40 percent of arrestees have been noncriminals. The Trump administration is still deporting fewer noncriminal immigrants than the Obama administration did circa 2011, and the proportion of deportees who are noncriminals is usually smaller than the proportion of arrestees who are. But the Trump administration is aiming not just to ramp back up to the deportation peak of Obama’s first term but surpass it, and that’s going to require arresting and deporting a lot of immigrants without criminal records. If Donald Trump understands his own administration’s policy, he’s never acknowledged it in public. He sticks to the same rhetorical move every time: refer to some specific criminals, call them horrible people and animals, say that their evil justifies his immigration policy, and allow the conflation of all immigrants and all Latinos with criminals and animals to remain subtext. This is who Donald Trump has been for his entire political career. The worst-case scenarios about his dehumanizing rhetoric — that they would foment large-scale mob violence or vigilantism against Latinos in the United States — have not been realized. But neither have any hopes that Trump, as president, might ever weigh his words with any care at all, especially when encouraging Americans to see human beings as less than human.

Yeah, let's see where the Cubs, Yankees and Dodgers are after this season. They go after Harper or Machado HARD, it's going to be difficult to run up our risk tolerance to where we can outbid them when the Cubs are already generating $250-300 million more (per year) than the Sox just opening the gates. That said, Heyward/Darvish and trying to keep Bryant/Baez/Contreras all in the fold is going to become prohibitively expensive...they're eventually going to have to make some tough choices (they've been pretty fortunate with being able to obtain closers as well, that string of luck won't continue.) As far as relievers go, I'm not even sure how confident I would be throwing a $50-75 million contract at Andrew Miller with where he is at this point in his career, and how much hard usage he's undergone the last half decade. It feels like Kimbrel or bust on that front. Or we go after someone who falls out of favor, which is quite possible with Ken Giles' future in Houston (obviously, that's the lesser choice.)

Obama TRIED to fix a broken process and ran into entrenched interest groups that have only become harder to move in the days since Citizens United. The final ACA was actually to the right of the Romney Massachusetts plan. The fact of the matter is there were many “holes” in that particular law...but that it makes a heckuva a lot more sense to fix those holes (and spend a little more money, mostly for those couples earning $50-100,000 per year) rather than blowing the whole thing apart. There are going to be just as many, if not many MORE...coming out with Tea Party-ish stories and articles in media that show just how bad the system has become now after Trump (CNN had a really top-notch story about a woman fighting for her life and who was denied a transplant over and over again and how hard it was to get insurance companies to work together proactively with the doctors instead of instinctively denying any procedure that would hurt their bottom line and then daring someone to go to court while the clock ran out on their life)...but I’m not necessarily for Medicare for All unless they can figure out a way to cut down/negotiate the drug costs or push out the insurance/health care industrial complex AND control rising hospital costs/tests. Good luck! But I’d rather do that STILL than fight wars in the MIddle East and Asian Pacific. Somehow, I have a feeling a moderate/centrist health care plan would just be an incremental improvement...but the idea that corporations making billions in profits and recent recipients of huge tax cuts shouldn’t be at least 50% responsible for their employees’ health just doesn’t fly with me (and probably most Americans). To me, the legacy was not apologizing too much, but not using his first two years of political capital to make the RIGHT changes...flubbing or punting on a lot of important foreign policy areas (due to lack of interest or better solutions)...and running the national party into the ground with huge losses in the House, state legislatures, governors, local elections, gerrymandering, etc. His ego and aloofness/coolness kept him from being a great president, but he was in a terrible position on race relations because anything other than taking an alt-right stance would have caused him to be perceived as a member of BLM to conservatives. In the end, he thought his cool factor and popularity could run over Republican resistance...and his choice to be reasonable and attempt bi-partisanship turned out to be a disaster on many fronts, from not getting Merrick Garland onto the Supreme Court but also basically having his agenda hijacked by the Tea Party movement from 2010 onwards. And he probably was too comfortable with Wall Street to really be in touch with those same voters who originally supported him in 2008 in Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania. They mostly felt he wasn’t really looking out for their best interests, especially on the trade policy front. They were taken for granted, that they would continue checking the Dem box during elections, and that was a huge tactical mistake, to confuse popularity on the coasts, in Hollywood and Europe with being a leader for ALL of the US, especially flyover territory.

https://www.milb.com/milb/news/san-diego-padres-fernando-tatis-jr-homers-twice-for-san-antonio/c-276891566

https://www.yahoo.com/news/thwart-trump-progressives-democrats-show-willingness-bury-hatchet-224636441.html In order to thwart Trump, progressive Democrats show willingness to bury hatchet with centrists/moderates/DLC

Of course, this completely flies in the face of the "Trump (No) Plan" for preserving the environment and EV industry. It doesn't help that Elon Musk isn't doing himself any favors with his relationship with both Trump AND the press...along with some of the recent high-profile accidents involving Tesla and/or autonomous drivers. Individual states like CA can obviously do their part, as well, but they still need to move beyond 9 states to get closer to "critical threshold" level.

Good recap...you're obviously following the international scene more closely than nearly everyone here. Looking to Asia just makes (extra) sense if we're locked out of signing Latin American players until next summer. Supposedly, Seibu doesn't really draw well and could really use the expected $15-20 million posting fee to subsidize their franchise into the future. https://friarsonbase.com/2018/03/13/san-diego-padres-yusei-kikuchi/ Why the San Diego Padres should NOT go after Kikuchi... According to those who closely follow the NPB, Kikuchi was expected to become the first Japanese player to forego the NPB draft and sign with a Major League Baseball team. He ultimately decided to hone his craft in Japan. I’m not going to deny that he is a fantastic pitcher. Kikuchi features a four-pitch mix (fastball, slider, change, and curveball). He holds the NPB record for fastest pitch by a left-hander, just over 98 mph. His slider is the strikeout pitch that has commanded the most attention. Injuries have routinely held him back from reaching his full potential since his NPB debut in 2011. He missed his entire rookie season with a shoulder injury. The shoulder issues returned in 2013, causing him to miss two months. Injuries aside, in 2017 Kikuchi showed the world what he’s capable of. He allowed a career-low 5.9 hits/9 innings, and cut the number of walks allowed in half compared to 2016. Current Fangraphs contributor Sung Min Kim said last year that the Seibu Lions will post Kikuchi after the 2018 season, should he record double-digit wins in ’17 and ’18. If Kikuchi is posted after this season, he will be 27 and in the prime of his career. The international bonus pool system rules won’t apply, meaning an unlimited bidding war is sure to break out. If he posts a similar, or even better, season than he did last year in Japan, the winner may find themselves paying well-above the $100 million mark. A large portion of Padres’ fans have been adamant about “sticking to the plan” since the signing of Eric Hosmer. Don’t be tricked into thinking that the Friars are instant World Series contenders in 2019 with Hosmer and one big starting pitcher. Dedicating more than $100 million to Kikuchi, plus $15-20 million posting fee to the Seibu Lions (depends on final contract amount) just isn’t worth it. San Diego has numerous pitching prospects that the organization believes will be major league contributors. Let’s give these guys a shot and hope they live up to the hype. Giving a unknown pitcher $100+ million (plus posting fee) doesn't seem to fit into the White Sox playbook, but they almost did it with Tanaka...and this guy would be 27 and fills a need as a LH starter. (The usual caveat is that he would have to pass all the medicals to even be considered for the first $100+ million deal in franchise history.) That's why Rick Hahn makes the big bucks, right? Personally, I would rather give out $300-350 million to AJ Pollock, Kikuchi, Kimbrel/Miller and Moustakas than putting it ALL into the Harper or Machado basket. That kind of move would make or break the franchise for a decade...so Hahn's going to take the measured approach IMO and spread the money around. In that sense, it's like buying a mutual fund vs. "going for it" with one particular high growth stock.

Are we talking Miles or Mikal Bridges? Because both of those guys are looking like #6-12 picks. Have seen the likes of Jaren Jackson, Bamba, Porter Jr, Carter in that space...Bagley Jr. as low as 4th. Will be interesting to see what happens when/if Trae Young ends up with that Cavaliers team.

Take the best hitter available and just stick him in the line-up at 3B, CF, LF...it doesn't really matter. From all reports, Madrigal is an incredibly dedicated practice player and will do whatever it takes to be the best at his position. Alex Gordon, for example, impacted tons of games from LF with his defensive abilities. He's got some of the fastest hands ever tested at the OSU training facility, so he'd do fine at 3B as well. Why do we have to settle for two so-so corner outfielders when we can have Madrigal and Luis Robert paired with the best all-around outfielder to emerge from Winston-Salem (or we target AJ Pollock this coming off-season)?

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/2017-world-baseball-classic-top-10-prospects/ Time to start signing some Japanese/Korean players...throw EVERYTHING at the wall and hope some of it sticks.

At least Cubs' fans can quit freaking out about Yu Darvish for 5 days...

Lopez owes Beck a steak for bailing him out tonight. Beck, fwiw, has his fastball into the 96 mph range.

Call has passed Rutherford in OPS. W-S's offense has hit a bit of a lull. Zack Collins 2/2 in k's again tonight. Jimenez 1 for 2, an ordinary single.

The week of skyrocketing ERA's. Lopez, Kopech and Cease.

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).