Jake

http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=...0&sort=17,d Players with a better wRC+ than Mauer since 2009: Cabrera, Trout, Votto, Braun, Pujols, Bautista, Fielder, Holliday. Since 2005, his rookie season, among players with 4500 PA or more: Pujols, Utley, Cabrera, Wright, Holliday

At first, I thought this was going to be "my photog was horrible, here's how to avoid my pain" Then...you said you got the "engagement session" and I thought it was going to be a deal like "so the photog was going to film us...consummate." But then it was just a nice story...

He has a career 134 wRC+. Paul Konerko's is 120. Paul Konerko's best was 158, Mauer's was 170. Depends what you think a prime PK was worth, I suppose

I'm not convinced that Mauer has been a good defensive catcher for a while now. He's being overpaid now, but there is no need to fret about him being at 1B. He's going to hit really well. The trick for the Twins is to find a supporting cast now.

I like how he got an endorsement from his cousin in Iowa, who anyone else would have presumed to be a prominent local ex-politician by the same name

I like how he got an endorsement from his cousin in Iowa, who anyone else would have presumed to be a prominent local ex-politician by the same name

I like how he got an endorsement from his cousin in Iowa, who anyone else would have presumed to be a prominent local ex-politician by the same name

If I wanted leverage, I'd sure say that I had no more money to spend and that I'm happy with all of my players

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Nov 11, 2013 -> 04:54 PM) whoops, forgot the link to the article. http://inthesetimes.com/article/15849/teac...er_the_problem/ I think it's the latter. The original study from the SEF is more helpful. You're basically seeing something that I've seen since moving to the South. When I first got to the South (coming from Illinois) for college, I was shocked at how the vast majority of the people I met from the South went to secular private schools. I literally can't think of one of those in Illinois. Of course, in Illinois, a lot of non-Catholics go to Catholic schools so that they can have a private education, but that is beside the point. In the South, though, everyone just said "the public schools are terrible." Oh, okay. I realized later that "terrible" meant filled with poor black kids. What I have observed, especially in Memphis, is a great deal of hostility toward public schools that is rooted in fear and bias against black folks. You get all kinds of people sending their kids to private schools to get them away from the "bad public schools," and then you have a bunch of people who hate funding their local public schools. No s***! Maybe if you sent your kids there and let them mingle with other kinds of people, the entire community would feel invested rather than just making it a factory to poop out people for those quasi-segregated communities to remain in poverty. There is absolutely no coincidence that the South looks the worst in so many of these metrics, especially that 76% of school districts are majority low income in the South. There is a sense of desperation among people there to invest any amount to get their kids into a private school. I worked with a girl in college whose parents made less than 100k/year, yet were paying 20k/year in tuition to send her to an academy in her rural town.

FWIW, most of my life has been supported financially by a trucking business and the government is not perceived as a challenge to its existence. Conglomeration and vertical integration is a much bigger problem.

The only thing that makes any sense is that perhaps by charging it again, I recalibrated the battery. I just don't know why it would have been at a point where it was completely useless and suddenly, magically, gotten all of its juice back.

I think the team and the team-related press benefits by the Sox having interest in free agents. We may or may not try to sign Salty, but either way you want articles like this so that fans are constantly checking for more news and thinking about the White Sox during free agency.

I think the most progressive thing we saw from Bush was his funding of AIDS-related initiatives in Africa. With little to gain politically within his own party, that seems to be a thing that simply meant a lot to him.

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Nov 10, 2013 -> 04:46 PM) JR isn't going to pay 7-15M for a prospect. The only way Hahn trades Dunn is if he really wants and thinks we can make a run at the World Series next year and he decides Dunn's general performance is counterproductive to that goal. Which is a legit possibility but I'd say not likely. If we trade Dunn that means we are in it to win it baby! Just teasing!

I would do a Hector for Rosario flip. I'd think about Q instead of Hector. I actually wonder if that's enough.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Nov 8, 2013 -> 12:33 PM) That should make the crappy players play better. Good luck down there Dale. Rick Renteria interviewed to replace him, but was turned away

Bush also implemented the PATRIOT Act, which will rank up there with the Alien and Sedition Acts in history. No Child Left Behind, which anyone in education knows has had far-reaching and terrible effects on our public education. This was an Obamacare-like law in its scope, but has been far more damaging than just a bad website that will eventually give people discounted health insurance. Obama's Race to the Top Initiative did a very good job of bringing education back, but much of NCLB is still there. Created Guantanamo Bay's prison for terror suspects, which is another international symbol of the loss of freedom. There is so much fear surrounding the people here that closing it is political poison. Slashed taxes, lowering revenue to its lowest since income taxes were first implemented. These cuts added 1.6 trillion to the deficit by themselves. Cutting capital gains in half for wealthy earners was a particularly redistributive measure that led to a troubling growth in income inequality and generally helped lead to the recession that began in 2008. Deregulated the banking industry, another fun and redistributive measure that had an even clearer role in the system failure in 2008. Meanwhile, he vetoed multiple attempts to enact stem cell research and prevented expansion of the children's health insurance program.

QUOTE (DukeNukeEm @ Nov 10, 2013 -> 08:41 PM) I laughed out loud at that article. Local bureaucrat: "7.8 million? Thats like one smaller sized contracting favor. How am I supposed to get all my nephews jobs holding the "Slow" sign with $7.8m?" But you liberals got the answer, tax em more. Yea, that'll do it! Levy 10,000% taxes on something that is literally in every product you have ever bought and everything you physically own. It protects the precious roads so your rolling deathtraps held together by duct tape and one working brake you get irresponsibly wasted on will have a slightly easier time. You want this plush life of yours where youre comfortable enough to give a s*** about starving Africans or run around with some pretentious "Save the Planet" petition? Thank the trucking industry. And yea, the point of the IHS being a defense project is that it wasnt set out to be some pork laden work project and contracting sweepstakes. The people in charge of it where discplined, smart, and resourceful which is a far f***ing cry from the idiotic, wasteful, spoiled, lazy, entitled ingrates who make up the unnecessary side of the public sector now. "But they maintain the roads, Duke!", no they dont. They go to the capitol begging the legislature there to increase their budget then use that money (after giving themselves big fat raises of course) on private contractors to do the actual work. Its a sham, theyre like big crooked brokers leeching taxpayer dollars without doing jack s***. So what you're saying is that with an essential service like trucking, we should all pitch in to make sure it happens without burdening that industry with too many expenses. This is what governance is all about. There are things that are dearly important and we are all willing to pay a little bit to make sure they don't pay so much that the activity is no longer economically feasible. Since the government owns the roads, it serves the democratic function of allowing people to move around without too much expense as well - not as cheaply as high speed rail, for instance, but still cheaply and independently.

For those wondering... Rosario: Home - 96 wRC+ (.817 OPS) 19% K Away - 113 wRC+ (.785 OPS) 27% K Wonder if that K difference is common for Colorado players. In 2012, he walked 7.7% of the time at home versus 3.9% away as well. This year it was 3.3 versus 3.0, respectively. Not sure why he quit walking or why that is different based on ballpark either.

QUOTE (bucket-of-suck @ Nov 10, 2013 -> 06:51 PM) Upside: Young, cost-controlled power hitter at premium position Downside: Trade cost / Plate disciple / Defensive liability I like to think we're all plate disciples, in one way or another...

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Nov 9, 2013 -> 10:33 AM) The dude won a conference title in his first year at freaken' Kansas State, their first one in 36 years. I would wait more than one game to jump to conclusions. QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Nov 9, 2013 -> 10:43 AM) True. I'm just saying there's nothing to draw from that one game. Love him or hate him, Weber is a flawed coached who has had some awesome successes as a basketball coach. I agree. He isn't someone I'd want to hire at this point, but he's clearly not entirely useless.

I guess we shouldn't get rid of the interstates, as we need them there in case we are attacked. ...what is the most efficient way to keep them up? I've got it! We won't let heavy trucks on them. After all, one loaded semi damages the road nearly 10,000 times more than a car. We will only allow them to be on there if they accept a tax burden 10,000 higher than me for their gas and registration.

You can put this season in the books. I just don't see it at this point. The team is good enough to make the playoffs and really compete there. I just don't think we'll make it. We played worse than we are over the past several weeks and I don't think there is any coming back. We pretty much can afford maybe a single loss from here on out. Disappointing because this team is absolutely loaded. And yes, this game falls on Trestman. Starting Cutler, leaving Cutler in, not kicking the FG, bad play calls for two point conversion

It seems the only reason to hope for Dunn to go away is out of emotional anger over his contract or because of nostalgia about PK. Otherwise, it just makes too much sense to hold him and wait

That Fairley play is a textbook penalty