caulfield12

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 20, 2015 -> 07:09 AM) Nice move of the goal posts + name drops. No, plenty of other teams go underslot with their top picks. Yeah, like the Cubs with Schwarber. Let's see what happens to the 3-4 young pitchers they were consequently able to afford in the first ten rounds and compare it with Spencer Adams in three seasons.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 20, 2015 -> 06:01 AM) Carlos Rodon. Aka 1 Keppinger or Bonifacio at $800k x 5-6 Rodon overages. Color me blown away. Was there any other choice dealing with Boras where they would dare not sign him? Just the cost of doing business at the top of the draft and not some radical or newfangled trend. And Abreu or Rodon have little or nothing to do with investing in guys like Yoan Moncada or Eloy Jimenez or Eddy Julio Ramirez that are under the age limit.

Cueto was terrible. Worse than terrible, really. Baseball-Reference's database goes back to 1903, and includes no record of a starting pitcher ever giving up eight or more earned runs while collecting six or fewer outs in a playoff game before Cueto. The man made history here. Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-colum...l#storylink=cpy TORONTO A stadium full of rowdy Canadians scream out more than two decades of baseball frustration, presumably fueled by Molson, the energy coming first as heckles, then with mockery, and finally with heckling mockery and a touch of humor. This is what Johnny Cueto's failures sound like, the voices reverberating around this strange old dome: WE WANT KWEY-TO... WE WANT KWEY-TO... WE WANT KWEY-TO... They chanted this after Cueto had left the game, his night finished, by any measure turning in one of the worst starts in more than 100 years of playoff baseball. They wanted him back on the mound here, and who could blame them? Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-colum...l#storylink=cpy

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Oct 19, 2015 -> 05:22 PM) When I see posts like this I wonder what "real middle class" means...I consider myself middle class and I'm able to do all of these things, and the only debit I have is my mortgage. I don't know, maybe I'm upper middle class and I don't know it...is there some sort of number that defines these classes? Some have argued $50,000 per year for a single person, some $75-100,000 for a married couple with kids. Of course, it depends on which city/market you live in, cost of living, etc. A teacher's salary of $44,000 in Kansas City, Missouri, is much different than Chicago, LA, SF, NYC or Boston, for example. I make about $3200 after tax per month here in China (international school) and my wife earns somewhere between $800-1600 USD per month (pre-tax) working for an insurance company (she gets sales commissions randomly). I guess we're upper middle class, but we don't own a house of our own or have a car (take the subway or private taxi). It would be something like $5500-6000 USD per month pre-tax. Of course, having a 7 month old baby is very expensive in China....on average, we spend $1250 per month on milk powder, diapers, special foods/fruits, clothing, etc. Those are the two highest salaries I've ever made (that and teaching in KCMO). I don't consider myself "upper middle class," although I suppose I should because of traveling to 30+ countries in my lifetime. We had this debate before (with my young co-teachers when I worked in Colombia), anyone who has enough disposable income to do that theoretically is upper middle class. Of course, it's different when you're single. Back then, I didn't spend much at all on clothing or really anything for myself beyond food, travel and entertainment costs. Others might say I have to classify myself as "upper" because of having two Master's degrees, but that's pretty ridiculous just to equate a Master's/MBA or PhD with upper class. Kind of snobby or elitist.

As Donald Trump would say, about declaring bankruptcy 3 or 4 times, he was only taking advantage of the system as it was constituted. Now, of course, the system often works to the advantage of the large market teams, just as it does to the billionaires who can hire lobbyists to influence the legislation that eventually protects them. Did he break the rules? Of course not. As long as the consequence for declaring bankruptcy or overspending on Latin American talent isn't too onerous, teams will continue to do so. Is it immoral or unethical or somehow inherently "unfair"? Well, that's a much tougher question to answer. Just like giving teams like the Tigers and Cardinals competitive balance picks when they both operate much more like a large market team than the Sox over the last decade or so.

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If Perez doubles there or homers, things suddenly get REALLY interesting. As it is, that's definitely game, set, match. Nice comeback game from Goins after being the #1 goat of Game 2.

They need a CF. If they want to play Bryant/Schwarber or Baez/Schwarber at the corners, they need a premiere defender in center. Just depends on who they want to play 3B, and how long they want to hold onto Castro and Baez. They don't have to trade any of them yet, they could go with many different infield and outfield combinations. However, in the end, they're going to have to trade either Baez or Soler if they want to go with the approach of loading the outfield with offense first players...unless they want to take the chance of selling high on Schwarber right now and hope it doesn't come back to bite them. Theoretically, paying Castro that much to play 2B doesn't make sense...but they don't have to trade him until they find a better replacement, and it's nice to have two back-ups for Russell in both Baez and Castro.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Oct 19, 2015 -> 07:22 PM) The Royals are 6-3 in their last 9 home playoff games. That's a LITTLE bit misleading simply because no team in baseball was going to beat Bumgarner the way he was pitching last post-season. One thing's for sure, I wouldn't dream of taking Cueto and I'd hesitate on David Price (now 0-7 in 7 post-season starts) if I was the GM of an AL team. It would be Greinke and Zimmermann, with the focus on Jordan because of relative affordability. Price, to me, isn't worth $200 million, not at this stage in his career. Maybe if the contract was awarded 4 seasons ago, it would be somewhat justifiable. Around age 30, forget it. The Cubs will eventually regret the Lester and (potential) Arrieta deals as well. Cueto, little bit of PR advice, probably not the best time to laugh and smile at the crowd when you walk off down 7-2 in the third #BlueJays He's about as popular now with KC fans as Alex Rios, Dunn and LaRoche in Chicago. He did at least put them in the ALCS, so there's that one accomplishment to fall back on. But if he ends up losing Game 7 at home when they were up 2-0, he'd be advised to take the red eye back to the Dominican before the local media can corner him.

Well, now it's a series at least...some drama/excitement. Strange that the Blue Jays weren't prepared 100% going into both series (Rangers in ALDS) but seem to have the ability to catch fire at a moment's notice and put their foot on the gas. One thing is for sure, even if they sweep three games in a row, and that's certainly possible...it's not going to be easy to win at KC, either. Not like the Metrodome in 1987/1991, but close. Of course, Royals' fans will be ultra nervous again the next time Cueto starts a game. They thought he was over the hump finally and now he laid another huge egg and is back to a semi-goat again.

Back and forth game so far. 3 two-out runs scored for the Blue Jays, KC fights back and has an opportunity to take the lead in the top of the 3rd. Will be interesting to see how long they stick with Stroman in an absolute must-win game for TOR, and who they bring in...also being cognizant you need a semblance of a bullpen the next two games as well.

Greg's also right there is a huge sense of insecurity from the real middle class...inability to save or lacking the discipline or methodology to invest, lack of confidence in the future, flat wages but luckily inflation hasn't kicked in yet. Largely living paycheck to paycheck with a mortgage possibly underwater and lots of credit card or student loan debt. Corporations are making tons of profit, but still largely sitting on them while hoping for a GOP president to come along and provide them even more advantages and loopholes.

Abreu and Tanaka or even Shark (if that long-term deal was actually offered) aren't comparable to spending on a Viciedo, Puig or Soler...younger guys who are mostly projections. Cespedes is the closest comp in terms of being a veteran guy close to his prime. We have Adolfo, but that's still a lottery ticket, moreso than Semien's comp pick even....

Rios isn't a big deal because they can use Gore, Orlando and Dyson. Duffy is also more erratic...they think they can muddle through a Young start, he is a huge change in approach/speed/delivery from Cueto/Volquez/Ventura, and Duffy as a lefty would be pitching into the teeth of a righty dominant lineup for the most part. Going with Guthrie or Medlen wouldn't have shocked anyone...after how much they trusted Guthrie last year in the postseason, but not the same pitcher this year by a longshot. Cubs' fans feel they are forfeiting Hammel and Hendricks starts as well. Not every rotation has four great starters.

The irony is that there's a security flight to US Treasury notes...many more Americans are confident enough in their own country's solvency they're willing to accept a measly 2% rate of return. Ironically, everyone thought China dumping USD would give them a financial stranglehold over us. That said, bonds and T bills won't finance your retirement unless 60-75% is invested growth oriented equities, assuming you're under 50 and have a longer time horizon. And very few are projecting another doubling of the market the next seven year cycle. It might be like 1998-2009 and be essentially a lost decade of overall stock market growth, where we took three huge hits over that time period.

QUOTE (bmags @ Oct 19, 2015 -> 01:43 PM) What about this postseason has supported the thesis that home run hitting teams are worse? The Royals weren't much ahead of the Sox in homers....and they don't walk much, but they run, field, make consistent contact to manufacture runs and then have that historic bullpen to close out 1-2 run leads. Plus the current White Sox can only dream of a bottom 7-8 of Perez and Gordon. Rios hitting in the middle of our order instead of 9th, that's far easier for us to imagine. They can also string together a rally with 4-6 consecutive hits. They've done thst twice in the past week...and also came back from an early 4-1 deficit in another game they won in the Astros series.

https://www.yahoo.com/politics/cia-shrugs-o...9243022390.html Uh oh...CIA not convinced by Benghazi email investigation that top secret national security that would put lives at risk was breached.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Oct 19, 2015 -> 09:13 AM) The reason I said this is because you included Rizzo, who has been a Major Leaguer for 5 seasons. Fair enough, he's only 26 and has essentially played four full seasons...not sure the Cubs trade any of their top 4 for him straight up. Schwarber would be an interesting decision (for Abreu) though....obviously they don't need a 1b with Rizzo. Cheaper/younger/LH and more remaining years of control and can passably play outfield and catch versus 1b/DH. But very few have done what Abreu accomplished his first two years.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Oct 19, 2015 -> 07:29 AM) Yeah, Jose Abreu is no Gleyber Torres! Last time I checked he wasn't closer to age 25 or under...I should have said rookies or guys with 250 or less career at-bats or whatever. Not sure exactly where Eaton would fall. Obviously higher than Anderson, but above Soler? Maybe. Maybe not. I suppose with Fowler leaving and the chance to play both Bryant and Schwarber on either side of Eaton, he would have surplus value at CF rather than a corner. Only Theo knows how high their regard for him remains after this season and his playoff run.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 18, 2015 -> 11:14 PM) OK ... on a lighter note, SNL opened with a political skit again on the democratic debate. They got it right in getting the guy from Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry David, to play Bernie Sanders. Unfortunately he wasn't funny. Bad writing. Alec Baldwin was the closest to being funny and he wasn't. The only chuckle came again from the great Kate McKinnon who usually has at least one funny Hillary line. Her material wasn't really that good either, just the basic funny premise that Hillary wants to be president so badly. Did you watch it? Think it was OK? I'd give the skit a C-. And the Larry David part a D. Sorry SNL. Not funny enough. On a serious note: Guys, I've been thinking more about her email thing. I'm thinking if this was anybody else she'd be out of the race over this issue. I'm thinking she is skating on this one and it probably was serious enough to take down anybody else who had done it. There have probably been 20 things Trump has said, 10-12 that Carson has said and at least 5 that Fiorina has argued (especially the Planned Parenthood stuff) that in a normal year would have wiped out any traditional political candidate before they even got started with their campaign. Her own husband has survived numerous "bimbo eruptions" (Gennifer Flowers, Paula Jones, Monica Lewinsky) and Whitewater simply due to the fact that he was the most skilled politician and also considered likable by nearly everyone in the beginning ("he's like one of us, eating at McDonald's and then constantly struggling with his weight") and being a Rhodes Scholar with encyclopedic policy detail retention probably didn't hurt much, either.

1. Bryant 2. Rizzo 3. Russell 4. Schwarber 5. Soler 6. Ian Happ #9 pick in first round 7. Baez 8. Gleyber Torres We don't even have ONE player that would come close to cracking that list on the position player side. Tim Anderson would be a distant 8th or maybe even 9th...and I might very well be underrating Torres. And some Cubs' fans would/could make arguments for Billy McKinney, Almora and Eloy Jimenez.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 18, 2015 -> 11:09 PM) Yeah there are only so many big market teams. Those teams already have some of the insane contracts. I mean Greinke I read is getting 150 mill for 5 years. That's 30 mill a year. WHoever pays that can keep signing others? Are "normal" payrolls going to be 200 to 250 million and the big market teams 400 mill? You'd think owners would wise up some year. Uh, Minnesota almost made the playoffs. Yes Minnesota. They didn't need no massive contracts cept for Mauer. Ervin Santana $13.5 million Ricky Nolasco $12 million Torii Hunter $10.5 million Phil Hughes $9.2 million $45.2 million + $23 million for Joe Mauer, so you're not far off from our entire 2005 team, maybe $10 million in separation. That's a lot of money for a starting rotation these days, although still cheaper probably than our 2006-08 rotations with Buehrle, Garcia, Contreras, Garland and Javy V.

Except for the greatest rotation in a generation part (not with Shark/Danks/Noesi/Erik Johnson as part of it). You have to be deeper than just 3 starters to have the best in a generation, and Rodon needs to improve and repeat from last year. At any rate, you have the Braves of the 90's (Maddux/Glavine/Smoltz/Avery), the future Mets' rotation (deGrom/Harvey/Snydegaard/Matz/Colon/Wheeler)...heck, the Nationals were supposed to have the best rotation in baseball this season and that didn't exactly turn out, either (Scherzer/Strasburg/Zimmermann/Gio Gonzalez/Fister/Tanner Roark.) I'm sure older fans remember all the hype about Paul Wilson, Bill Pulsipher and Jason Isringhausen with the Mets 15 years ago. Only one of those guys even emerged to have a decent big league career, and it wasn't with NY.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Oct 18, 2015 -> 10:25 PM) Not when we sign Heyward, trade Q for Arenado, sign Buehlre and bring back Ozzie Guillen as bench coach. Milton? Whoops.

Well, I don't think anybody believes having Don Mattingly or Matt Williams would make any difference. It wouldn't sell nearly as many tickets as Puig, that's for sure.