caulfield12

Not seeing Engel as an everyday player unless he can OPS 675+. He's really going to have to fight to earn that spot...Tilson, even moreso. Assuming Avi and Leury aren't traded... OF Leury, Avi, Delmonico/Cordell.....huge battle for backup spots. Davidson, Anderson, Moncada, Abreu Catching stays the same, rotating DH. Saladino should be gone (which means he will stick again), no idea what happens with Yolmer and Hanson. IMO, SANCHEZ deserves a chance to play everyday on another team probably.

Wonder if they bother recalling Fulmer in Sept?...we'll get Guerrero and Danish, but I'm not sure how sending Adams out against MLB hitters will help, unless Cooper can figure out a way to amp up his velocity.

https://sports.yahoo.com/byron-buxton-shows...-192913367.html This Buxton inside the park hr is tons more exciting than all the action after the first...Twins and Angels tied for second wild card, btw. Guess we will see if Moncada can top it...definitely won't be at Guaranteed Rate unless the fielder goes down like Mazara on the Delmonico bid.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/18/opinion/...col-left-region The week when President Trump resigned, as thorough a take down as you will ever see written...sad that it has come to this, with no end in sight. http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/19/opinions/jar...nkin/index.html Writer wants Jared and Ivanka kicked out of their synagogue for moral failings... https://thinkprogress.org/rush-limbaugh-say...a1a3fe/?ref=yfp Hopefully the end of Limbaugh as well... Limbaugh’s comments were laced with anti-Semetic tropes, blaming the violence in Charlottesville on “people like George Soros and any other number of international financiers whose objective it is to take the United States out and down as a superpower.” Limbaugh built on Trump’s efforts to deflect blame for the violence in Charlottesville from white nationalists to the left. “None of this that is happening on the left is random,” Limbaugh said. Rather, “[t]hey showed up in Charlottesville to create mayhem and cause hell.” According to Limbaugh, people did not show up in Charlottesville to protest Nazis but to “erase American history.” He cast the counter-protests in Charlottesville as part of an “ongoing effort to erase America by discrediting the entire premise of our culture, our history, our founding.” Limbaugh blasted Trump’s Republican critics. He said that they “are unwittingly participating in the effort to cast America as indefensible, particularly with Donald Trump as president.” Limbaugh describes media coverage of Trump and the Charlottesville white supremacist rally as an effort to “distort information to wipe out from the vestiges of our history and our memory any collection of stories that testify to the greatness of America and her people.”

Between the scout/s who recommend Holland, Shields and Covey...better hope he was also behind Kahnle and Swarzak. And Bourjos actually has been a fairly productive contributor for the Rays, fwiw. On the plus side, Leury, Avi, Delmonico and Davidson (sort of).

QUOTE (JPR @ Aug 18, 2017 -> 11:34 PM) I find it funny that people were calling this young baller slow just a few days ago then he goes and done did hit an inside the park homer He really died coming around third....

Let's hope Delmonico lasts longer than Trayce as a legit everyday player...both got off to amazing starts compared to their career minor league profiles.

Kahnle just gave up four against Red Sox, two were inherited...inning still going. Frazier hit his 20th, Devers his 7th (.347)

Trump won places drowning in despair. Can he save them? https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-won-pl...-150001937.html Hard to read story about Aberdeen, Washington (Kurt Cobain's hometown).

QUOTE (ron883 @ Aug 18, 2017 -> 07:55 PM) Delmonico single handedly destroying the tank Except for the odds of the bullpen holding any lead are at best 25%

So now do all the FDR statues come down because of the Japanese internment camps during World War II and an unfaithful marriage? If that's the case, Jimmy Carter might be the only one left we can't assail, yet the president with probably the fewest statues/monuments/schools named after him other than GW Bush. And should President's Day be cancelled? Six states considering legislation to protect drivers who hit protestors http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/18/us/legislati...ters/index.html North Dakota because of the pipeline I would guess... (CNN)The death of Heather Heyer in Charlottesville, Virginia, has renewed focus on bills that surfaced this year in a half-dozen state legislatures that proposed limited protections for drivers who cause injury or death to protesters. None of the legislation has passed so far. Lawmakers in North Dakota, North Carolina, Florida, Tennessee and Texas proposed bills that would make it legal for drivers to hit protesters if the driver did not do so willfully, according to Mick Bullock, a spokesman for the National Conference of State Legislatures. A similar bill also was introduced in Rhode Island, according to the state General Assembly's website.

QUOTE (Alexeihyeess @ Aug 18, 2017 -> 09:34 AM) So now there's a call to "blow up" Mt Rushmore, rename Balbo Dr. and a Lincoln (!!!) statue was vandalized. Hasn't even been a week and the left has taken almost universal public sympathy and ruined it by going insane with nonsense. Trump won Charlottesville. Bannon was right. Its crazy how the opposition cannot get out of its own way to get the guy out of office. Go to sleep and the world goes off the rails...

Pressure mounts on lawmaker who posted Trump assassination comment https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pressure-mount...nation-comment/ KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A Missouri lawmaker acknowledged Thursday that she posted and later deleted a comment on Facebook about hoping for President Trump's assassination, saying she was frustrated with the president's response to the white supremacist rally and violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. Democratic state Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal said she was wrong for writing the post and didn't mean what she said, but she refused calls to resign. She said she wrote "I hope Trump is assassinated!" in response to a post that suggested Vice President Mike Pence would try to have Trump removed from office. "What I wrote down on my private Facebook page, was it wrong? Absolutely," she told The Associated Press. "But I am going to continue to talk about the anger and the frustration that led to that." The post drew a swift rebuke, including calls from top Democrats for her resignation. Among them were Missouri Senate Democratic Leader Gina Walsh, who condemned Chappelle-Nadal's post as "horrible." The chairman of the Missouri Democratic Party, Stephen Webber, said the comments were "indefensible" and the party "will absolutely not tolerate calls for the assassination of the president." "I condemn it. It's outrageous," added Democratic U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, the state's senior senator. "And she should resign." Missouri's Republican Gov. Eric Greitens and the state Republican party also called for her resignation, but Chappelle-Nadal said she had no intention of doing so. "I refuse to resign for exercising my First Amendment rights, even though what I said was wrong," she said. The U.S. Secret Service released a statement saying it looks into all threats against the president, "whether they be direct, implied, or comments in passing." Chappelle-Nadal, from the St. Louis suburb of University City, said constituents in her predominantly black district are concerned about how Trump blamed "both sides" of the clashes in Charlottesville. The violence included a man slamming his car into people protesting against the white supremacist rally, killing one woman and injuring more than a dozen other people. "By our president saying things such as he does, supporting white supremacy and the Nazis and KKK, it's causing a lot of trauma," Chappelle-Nadal said.

"The Democrats," he (Steve Bannon) said, "the longer they talk about identity politics, I got 'em. I want them to talk about racism every day. If the left is focused on race and identity, and we go with economic nationalism, we can crush the Democrats." That is as succinct a reading of what happened in the 2016 as any. It is also a prediction about the enduring power of Trump's strategy. And Bannon may in fact be right -- Democrats, including Bernie Sanders, have made the same argument that the left focuses too much on identity politics, to its detriment. Yet, in mentioning "identity politics" on the left, and suggesting that no such thing exists on the right, Bannon argues that it's the left alone that "is focused on race and identity," and not Trump. ..... The late Gwen Ifill, in what now turns out to be one of the most salient exchanges of the 2016 debate cycle, noted that "when we talk about race in this country, we always talk about African-Americans, people of color." But she wanted to turn the topic on its head. "I want to talk about white people. OK?" It was a jarring comment for many people, followed by this question: "By the middle of this century, the nation is going to be majority non-white. Our public schools are already there," she said. "If working-class white Americans are about to be outnumbered, are already underemployed in many cases, and one study found they are dying sooner, don't they have a reason to be resentful?" Democrats are still sorting out their response to this question, while Trump has emphatically settled on his. http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/17/politics/tru...tics/index.html

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 17, 2017 -> 10:35 PM) I don't want him killed. But the hatred in the country makes me wonder if some nutjob will harm him. Didn't some congressman tweet as much then kill the tweet? All I hear is Trump hatred. What did I say that was not on the minds of many? That he could be in grave danger. Just the bringing up of the topic with the A______________N word and the President can trigger a Secret Service investigation, whether it's an online message board or not. Obviously, they have to quickly determine if there's a direct and tangible/realistic threat, but it's in that same category like "bomb/terrorist" anywhere around an airport/plane and "fire" in a crowded building or theatre.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 17, 2017 -> 10:23 PM) I agree about the physical tools. I can be critical but I'm convinced he'll be a star. The team blows so badly I don't know why anybody would be concerned about any individual performances. Right now is not any type of audition. The audition comes on Opening Day of whatever season we are planning on contending. Until then, who gives a f*** how any individual does? Moncada is just as huge a prospect now as he was a month ago in the minors. His physical tools make him a dynamic prospect like Rowand said. And progress isn't going to be linear. Buxton really struggled mightily his first 2-3 call-ups, and finally got it going last year in the final 6 weeks, looked like he was going to come out like gangbusters in 2017. Then, yet again, he fell flat on his face, and the only thing that saved him was his defensive ability and baserunning. He's been a key cog in the Twins' resurgence into the wild card race in recent weeks, and while it looks like he might be more Carlos Gomez than a future MVP candidate, he's at least become a regular contributor that can be counted upon to a large extent. If Moncada becomes that 2.5ish player and not a superstar, we're obviously going to have to pick up the WAR somewhere else...though, it would really sting. (The key point is that Buxton starts every year 1-1.5 on defensive prowess/baserunning alone, something Moncada has yet to master, at least the stolen bases part, where Buxton is 21/22.)

QUOTE (Alexeihyeess @ Aug 17, 2017 -> 08:19 PM) As great as Acuna is, I'll take Jimenez raw power potential (which is basically unlimited) before Acuna's speed/defensive versatility. I'm also a little more wary of Acuna's swing and miss, whereas Jimenez contact ability is off the charts for a guy with his frame. But yea, they are 1-2 in my mind. The only player that rivals them in raw talent is Kopech. A healthy Gleyber Torres has to be somewhere in the conversation...

KKK leader threatens to 'burn' black Latina journalist and calls her a 'n*****' during interview https://www.yahoo.com/news/kkk-leader-threa...-211000053.html

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 17, 2017 -> 08:11 PM) What a stupid play by Moncada. Here comes the implosion What happened, exactly...? Following online, can only read there was an error on a force attempt at 2nd.

Uh-oh, more Moncada defensive issues...

Moncada now 16/82...needs 1/3 to get back to the Mendoza Line. 705 OPS Delmonico 19/50, .380. Wow, an Anderson walk....what the heck is going on?

He might still get there...I think he peaked around 1.8, came back down to 1.6 and back on the ascent. Playing CF instead of LF would help as well, but that won't happen with Engel on the roster. Plus, you know Leury must be extra motivated against his former team.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/17/opinions/int...ston/index.html Has Trump United the Democratic Party ?

QUOTE (KagakuOtoko @ Aug 17, 2017 -> 03:55 PM) Trump math of course. Remember he won the popular vote if it wasn't for 3 million illegals! 5 million! Or 3-5 million, who knows, it changes on a daily basis.

Or then there's Byron Buxton...in all seriousness, I believe he will come out of this in September, simply due to facing so much inferior pitching. Otoh, the Indians, Royals and Twins are all likely to be in the pennant and wild card chases for the majority of that time.