Jake

Jesus, the Rockets getting Melo would be insane. Just the sheer amount of jostling they've done to get Harden and Howard is astounding.

Take, for instance, Jay Ratliff

It affects different people differently. For some people, it ends up not really doing much of anything for them. Others will get a huge boost, some a small boost, some get a boost via fewer injuries/faster recovery. Many of them won't know for sure how much it helped or if it did at all. We'll never know, either.

Yeah, the last polls I saw had all R gubernatorial candidates but one beating Quinn. Huge contingents of undecideds though

If anyone is interested in contributing to my blog - http://www.gettingthingstech.com/ - let me know. It's basically just for fun, so I'm not necessarily looking for a "staff writer" or anything that involves a great deal of commitment. I am especially interested in someone that can contribute content related to Apple products, but anyone with some enthusiasm would be welcome. Feel free to question me about it here or via PM.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 18, 2014 -> 12:17 PM) The thing is, our phones are in our hands already. Now I have to keep it in my pocket and put a nerd watch on my wrist? No thanks. With phones getting progressively larger, this could solve one of the key problems - who wants to be picking up and fiddling with a 6" phone all the time? Now you don't have to. You can check notifications, scores, weather, maps, etc. on your wrist. I think it might catch on. If Pebble had been just a little more capable, I'd have one right now.

I wouldn't have paid him $4M. We had options with similar levels of talent and uncertainty for much less than that. Good luck in Dallas, buddy

That had to have been 450 feet

The main thing I look for from established MLB pitchers in ST is whether they've had a velocity drop. Velo drop is often indicative of a couple months of missed starts before a surgery. Not always, though. Q is good healthwise it seems, so I'm not too worried.

You're looking at a problem with Melo where the most optimistic timing for you to have a great roster is right when you would expect Melo to fall off. How many years of good Melo and good cast will you get? This is without even taking into consideration how difficult it will be to acquire new players through means other than draft with Melo pushing $30M annually by the end

He's been easier on the umpires for a couple of seasons now. It just explodes in 1-2 games a year, as opposed to coming up repeatedly like before. When he has an epic rant, that's fun, so I don't mind. Going on about umps on a day-by-day basis is more tiresome and he doesn't do that anymore

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Mar 18, 2014 -> 09:19 AM) I'm curious but what the hell do Republicans expect Obama to do with Ukraine? Bomb someone? Escalate violence? I see all these Republicans felating Putin as a real leader but Obama as a limp wristed turd. I really don't get what the Republicans want Obama to do here. They would like him to fail in such a way that it leaves a political environment that resembles the post-Bush one

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Mar 16, 2014 -> 09:35 PM) You were in my neck of the woods.. Where were you at? Drove the entire Missouri portion of 55 en route to Tennessee

It does seem off that the excesses of the program tend to be distributed everywhere except the players. The players need not get everything -- Nick Saban, the infrastructure at Alabama, etc. all play a big role in player success and revenue generation -- but it seems like there ought to be some way to spread the benefits to the players. The coaches are in a marketplace that demands higher salaries. The players have a hard cap. Even if it doesn't come in the form of paychecks, can there be some way to cut off some of the excess revenue generation and make it benefit the players rather than fighting tooth and nail to keep it from doing so?

I think the key with the ACA is that even the "losers" are winning because they are getting more adequate healthcare. Knowing from years of behavioral econ research that people have no idea how to budget for their health ("hmm, I don't feel sick right now, so I don't need health insurance!") makes me feel comfortable with the worst-case scenario being that people had to better protect their own health than they wanted to.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 13, 2014 -> 02:25 PM) I get where you're going...but you're just asking for a dozen examples in reply of regulations the left supports that similarly don't do much good except for helping a well-connected industry. Especially when you start reaching the state level they're all over the place. Well, this is why I hate state politics and would like to see them completely delegitimized/disempowered. You at least need enough political opposition that when you have free reign, you act consistently with your stated ideology. In Memphis, the all-Democrat everywhere local government continues to cut pay/benefits/etc to two groups: police and sanitation workers. The number 1 issue facing Memphis is crime. It is probably not as a bad as perceived, but the perception of Memphis's crime is more important. Let's reduce the police workforce! Cut their pay, too! No overtime! MLK Jr. died in Memphis while standing up for sanitation workers. Somehow, in Memphis, a city largely run by black Democrats, they continue to give the shaft to the sanitation workers. It boggles the mind. Even if they were right to attack that part of the budget fiscally speaking, they're still idiots.

The Iglesias trade stunk of desperation when it was made and remains just as baffling. I'm glad we got the elite prospect in that deal

Micah Johnson has been doing a compelling impersonation of a major league ballplayer

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Mar 17, 2014 -> 05:23 PM) Flowers has struck out this spring more than Phegley and Nieto combined. It is a good thing that it isn't a "who strikes out least" contest or else we would have picked the wrong guy

It wouldn't surprise me at all if Flowers ended up posting something like .700-.750 OPS with a better defensive showing than he had last season -- which would be perfectly fine for him to keep his job until an obvious upgrade came forward. I of course wouldn't be surprised if he played like s***, too

There are some serious concerns about Phegley's defense that ought to be addressed on an everyday basis in Charlotte

Hoffman continues to be unimpressive. Not with #3. Whisper in his ear and make him pretend to be unsignable until round 2

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Mar 16, 2014 -> 11:42 PM) Why wouldn't they have filled that position with someone better to begin with, then? Because they're morons who saw a guy with a MiLB career that makes Leury Garcia look like Hank Aaron start off his MLB career with a hot run and assumed the latter was more relevant than the former. And, of course, he's a great fielder. He'll be a well-traveled utility player one day ... think Rey Ordonez as ceiling

This is bad news for Sox fans. Iglesias is a bad baseball player and Detroit will almost certainly fill the position with somebody better

Drove through blizzard-like conditions on I55 in Missouri today. What the hell