Jake

There has been a lot of talk about how enthusiastic Nieto has been with working with the pitching staff. Very inquisitive, busts his balls learning each pitcher's strategy, etc.

Anything not being spent on tuition or absolutely mandatory student expenses (nope, that Macbook isn't a mandatory expense unless the school requires that every single person in your program/class has it) is taxable income - no payroll taxes, but taxable as income tax.

Welp, this is why I added that caveat. I hadn't checked since there were 2 or 3 games left in this season.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 27, 2014 -> 12:22 PM) Bostic played most of the year with nothing around him. I want to see him around real NFL linebackers, hell real NFL defenders, before making a good judgement This. Also, FWIW, he rated exceptionally as a pass defender per PFF. Best pass defense from a MLB in NFL since vintage Urlacher in their rating system last time I checked

The players union has no reason not to like keeping the good players out of the league another year

The most compelling argument regards injuries, but honestly it is far rarer for an NBA player to have their career derailed prematurely by injuries than in other sports where nobody questions more restrictive processes.

There are always going to be out-of-nowhere guys that put up great years. "Aces" and similar guys will always fall off the map. I wouldn't try too hard to predict the future of pitchers.

He has looked competent. It might work out fine, even if he never develops into a starter

I can't imagine there is anything preventing you from releasing an injured player and then proceeding to pay him his guaranteed contract

QUOTE (raBBit @ Mar 24, 2014 -> 03:45 PM) I really hope everyone doesn't expect our #3 pick to be on the OD '15 roster. Agreed. That would be a failure if he isn't helping us by September

I want the Tigers to sign the guy. The more 6+ year deals they sign starting pitchers to, the more f***ed they'll be in a year or two or three.

Too bad about Bellamy. I thought he would have been in MLB by now, but I guess he wasn't the same after those injuries.

If his ST affected his price, he should get a new agent

This gives Jose a hell of a lot of room for regression/injury/etc, too. To earn this contract, he doesn't have to be nearly as good as he has been.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Mar 24, 2014 -> 09:24 AM) Eh, I would, but I just don't think I have the time. Door's always open for you. If you ever feel moved for just a single guest post/topic, that's cool too.

Last solicitation I'll put on here - several posters in here could easily contribute to my young blog, Getting Things Tech. The "concept" so to speak is to "get" your tech in the sense that we help non-geeks understand their gadgets. On the flip side, there is also the aim to use tech as a productivity tool, to get things done. This can take a lot of different forms and so far I've been contributing a few different things: some tutorials on things broadly and narrowly useful, app/software recommendations, distilling tech news into something that might seem more relevant to regular people, and buying guides to help people make decisions on their tech purchases. I have an interest in making a lot of privacy content, but you need not. Blog is new and there is no commitment. Built on Wordpress, if you're familiar with that. I am in the process of monetizing, but there is no certainty I ever get my investment back, let alone be able to compensate writers, so view this as a hobbyist venture -- however, if we do generate revenue, I would eagerly spread it to the writing talent.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Mar 23, 2014 -> 11:16 PM) The idea that Andy Wilkins will be the everyday DH for the White Sox is pretty much preposterous. This is where minor league statistics are just ONE tool in analyzing a prospect. Theoretically, he could be part of a platoon, but that's like arguing that Conor Gillaspie and Tyler Flowers are surefire everyday players and will be on the White Sox roster in 2016 and 2017 when they're really attempting to compete with the rest of the AL Central. Wilkins hit LHP better than RHP last year, FWIW. Look, people in the MiLB forum know I'm a big fan of Andy Wilkins. He has no business on the big league club. He might become a big league player, but he has lots to prove in AAA before he gets there.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 23, 2014 -> 05:45 PM) RF? I thought he was an IF? Primarily 1B, but he actually started at SS last week in a B-game

QUOTE (chw42 @ Mar 21, 2014 -> 11:17 AM) The Moto 360 is rumored to use an OLED display, so Motorola can use its active notifications. That should help battery life. It's also rumored to have wireless charging, which I think makes a ton of sense for watches. Yeah, those both make good sense. Moto X was a very clever design in terms of battery usage

I did my first non-institutional presentation a few months ago. It was fun, all told, but between travel and everything else, I was pretty stressed out until afterwards.

He played so badly, but focusing on strikeouts is misguided. Just focus on all of the hits he didn't get and walks he didn't take

Trade Rose, start Jimmer

I think a lot of politicians have altruistic aspects to them, especially as you move up the foodchain. They realize that there is a game you have to play to make a difference and figure it's better that they play it than the bad guys. They do some bulls*** with hopes of being viewed fondly by history and taking care of pet issues that mean a lot to them. The problem is your "ugh, I can't believe I just did that" threshold bumps up slowly, over decades. First, it's hiring your buddy's son/daughter/mistress/whatever. Before long, you're trumping up evidence for war

QUOTE (ptatc @ Mar 19, 2014 -> 06:05 PM) Its done on the chemical effects on the body not in a comparison of how much is smoked. I posted only studies that looked at the chemicals and their effects. I don't know about how it compares to alcohol. The effects on the cardiovascular system are different. My comment was only in relation to using money from it to bring in tax more tax dollars. Over the long term I don't think it will be much of a net gain. The decriminalization side of it rather than the tax side of it may be what benefits the state both financially and otherwise.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Mar 19, 2014 -> 04:27 PM) Its interesting to look at the law historically to try and find when exactly people gave up the right to ingest whatever they want. I doubt what I do is healthy, but who exactly is the US govt to tell me not to? People can eat bad food, they can drink things that kill them, so why do we arbitrarily draw the line. Crazy to say it, but there are likely more deaths attributed to drinking too much water in a single day than smoking too much weed in a single day. A great deal of legal and political philosophy is based on the idea that people know what is best for themselves and act somewhat rationally pursuing whatever it is that is best for them. This is why children, the extremely mentally ill, and the senile do not get this benefit of the doubt. It is also why we don't like applying those terms too liberally. The reason we ban certain things is because they put us in a state where we no longer can act for our own good. You don't just try meth - you have it once and, usually, you never get the chance to return to Earth and start wondering about the pros and cons of what you've done. This has consequences for more than just you, too. When you aren't in a mental state to decide whether what you're doing endangers me or whether you mugging me for drug money could make you go to jail, everything starts falling apart. When we craft our laws, we try to balance a concern for letting you do what you want with these concerns for your likelihood to harm others as well as the kind of self-harms that come from your activity. This is why I'm cool with legalizing marijuana, beyond the technocratic concerns like revenue, cutting prison costs, releasing a racial underclass from prison, etc. There are a million points of return with weed. Every time you smoke it could probably be the last time. When you are high on 'potenuse, you aren't much of a hazard to yourself or society. While health effects aren't great, they accumulate slowly enough that they need not be outright banned to protect you and those around you. Other public policy efforts like labeling, age restriction, etc. can act as nudges to make people tread lightly with the health concerns. There are no big "you have pretty good odds of killing yourself in the midst of use" concerns here. It's even less than alcohol, which I'd argue falls below the "it must be banned!" guideline in terms of the immediate health effects of use. The Phillip Seymour Hoffmans of the world just never have a reefer by their side when they are found. Another way to think about it: people that use meth aren't choosing to remove themselves from society, they choose to use meth once or twice before losing their ability to really make many choices at all. You might be able to think of some potheads that are unproductive citizens, but chances are they chose being unproductive citizen first and marijuana second. This is why there are lots of successful, normal people that like to blaze up sometimes (or all the time).