Quin

...do you not want the #1 international prospect?

That's pretty difficult. The only prospect in recent memory who I can think of that was thought of as highly as Robert (coming from Cuba) was Yoan Moncada.

Anyway, here's Cespedes' grades from MLB Pipeline: Hit: 50 Power: 55 Run: 60 Arm: 60 Field: 55 Brief blurb:

@Y2Jimmy0, question as old as time, where do you slot him in your Top 10?

Yeah, this stings.

Landing Cespedes is a big move in and of itself. If Hamburger is right, than Marco Paddy is making big time moves.

Well, that's the beauty of forgiving student loans. Due to the racial wealth gap that exists in the US, Black households have to borrow more money on average than white households. Now student loans are punishing them for that. So for families that might never have had college as an option in the past and then had to incur massive debt to attend, this is righting a wrong. Here's the research for that. Yes, most student debt is owed by higher income households. Here's that research. But, in this same research from Brookings. And none of these proposals are saying that they need to wipe out all student loan debt (because Democrats would need to win both Georgia seats and convince Manchin to get on board). They're proposing set numbers — $10k is the commonly floated number, $50k on the high end — to provide a modicum of relief. So those with the majority of debt (the highest income households) will still owe some student debt.

Yeah, I worked 28-hours a week across three university jobs (TA position + two other jobs. The university capped it at 28 hours to prevent benefits of some sort) and that was enough to pay for rent, gas, and groceries.

Fine. Drove recklessly with a BAC over the legal limit.*

We can - and should do - both. A big step would be making it so that schools aren't funded by local property taxes. My high school was broke compared to our rival a town over despite being a similar size. We were using outdated textbooks, etc. That alone leads to a massive disparity.

So, I was lucky in that my parents were able to pay for my tuition (and I was able to get tuition waivers for grad school because I was teaching courses as a TA). That's allowed me to get a good paying job for my field / advance rapidly. Basically, the only debt I've had to worry about was medical debt because once I developed epilepsy, I kept finding myself waking up in emergency rooms for ambulances I didn't call (if I was lucky, I woke up in the ambulance or ER and could deny service. America!) My parents (baby boomers) were able to go to school when it was significantly cheaper and both have graduate degrees, my dad being a lawyer with his own firm for the vast majority of his career. My parents also began saving for my tuition from the time I was born. The cost of tuition has risen exponentially - more than 3,000%. Not everyone is lucky enough to be in my situation. Communities of color don't have generational wealth where every parent can afford the asinine increase in tuition (I'm not trying to paint every person of color with the same brush). My best friend had to rely on massive scholarships and huge student loans to get where he is - and that was just to attend Illinois State. Those degrees are needed to enter the job market (I'm talking about both white students and POC students now). A lot of jobs (even entry) require years of experience and degrees, so unless someone has a solution that fixes this massive oversight that society has built, it needs to be addressed. It would be far better for the economy than tax cuts that never trickle down, because people who are no longer burned by never ending student loans (because of the interest) would be able to invest in local businesses, save up for housing, etc. I'd like someone to riddle me how the GOP tax cuts (which have a poison pill set to go into effect in 2021, so middle class taxes will go back up) are better for the economy long term.

Damn. Not even the cold cuts.

@maloney.adam, please tell me something is going on on the Chicago food scene.

Welcome to the big leagues, rook.

Defense kills him.

Also, if this turns into a Buehrle thread, I need to share one of my favorite articles ever: The Curious Case of Mark Buehrle It's essentially a breakdown of how Mark was able to defy every single bit of conventional wisdom when it came to pitching. These two paragraphs are a fun nugget.

Career: Buehrle Peak: Sale Hitter: Konerko (Both bWAR and fWAR argue Robin over Konerko here, but 2005 alone tips the scales towards Paulie)

Alright, I'm about to nerd out because after Season One of Mandalorian my fiancee and I decided to watch the animated stuff, because we felt The Darksaber was a sign that Mando was about to tie into the larger universe big time. So gonna add in what we did. I'd recommend watching the entirety of Clone Wars in chronological order. It was released out of order, so if you watch it in release order, characters will die and then come back to life. If you skip any arcs, skip the "D-Squad" and "Water War" arcs. https://www.starwars.com/news/star-wars-the-clone-wars-chronological-episodeorder While this has the essentials, it's missing a lot of the character development that sets up Ahsoka, Rebels, and makes Revenge of the Sith an absolute gut punch. The problem with Clone Wars is it doesn't hit its true stride until Landing at Point Rain. Then you suddenly have a massive tonal shift from a sort of kid's show to massive battles, decapitations, al-Qaeda-esque hostage situations, and just all around some of the most tense situations in Star Wars. This video contains (seconds long) spoilers, but basically is "get ready for lots of animated violence." Rebels explains how the Rebel Alliance got formed and wraps up loose ends in Clone Wars. It's fun in season one, but focuses on setting up the latter seasons. Season Two's finale onward is some of the best Star Wars content out there and will most likely be the setup for the plot to Ahsoka's show, based on her mentioning Thrawn in Mandalorian. The show also has a ridiculously stacked cast - David Oyelowo, Jason Issacs, and Lars Mikkelsen are all regulars. Resistance can be skipped.

Alright, it was worth an attempt.

Yermin's defense is worse.

It's basically the Elvis taking the polio vaccine, but for MAGA people.

My completely hair-brained idea is to pair them up on the major league roster and have Crochet-Kopech days. More logical: Similar to Balta's plan, but Crochet in AA, Kopech in AAA. Once Crochet has 100 IP, he comes to solidify the MLB bullpen. Kopech is kept in AAA until he's at 6+ innings consistently (minimum 3 starts), then he's up.

Oh lord, this again.

Completely normal thing to do.

One thing that has always irked me is people saying Magic wouldn't have formed a super team. Dude totally would have if he wasn't on the Lakers. Then he demanded a trade in 1981.