he gone.

I think we have common ground there. I'm not trying to say it's a currency *yet*. All these type of things take time. I'm not sure if this will copy and paste well ... But in general the reserve currency is in place about 100 years - add some technology and the USD probably has more run in it than just 100+ years. historically there's a buildup period which makes sense. My proposition is that there's a chance we're in that buildup period. The world is shifting to techology, connectivity, etc. The world is on the internet, it would make sense to have a native internet currency - at this point, the leader in the house is bitcoin. that's not to say that is the end game. Very strong chance it's something else, and there's many arguments and hurdles that stand in front of it (mainly the US Government, it's ability to ban Bitcoin (as they have done with gold in the past). That being said, the payoff for an investment, if correct, can be life changing. Like anything though, it has to be risk appropriate. Just as someone who is 60 probably shouldn't be pouring into Tesla, I don't think someone at 60 should really be pouring into Bitcoin either. However I'd make a strong argument if you're a millennial that your risk appetite should probably include bitcoin in their portfolio. I think at this point, Bitcoin is a experimental store of value. I also think it's handled itself unexpectedly well throughout 11 crazy years. If it truly is to be some sort of currency it will likely be 20-50 years down the road as you say. I also think it's likely that the traded currency will be built on top of the Bitcoin network via Lightning or another avenue with bitcoin being the store of value as gold was with US dollar. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning_Network That coin would have more utility/use case for your cup of coffee, etc. based on speed, transaction fees, etc. but backed by the fundamentals of bitcoin. We're talking decade(s) though before this becomes even semi-normal. It's going to be kids who grew up on the internet who usher in any new wave (if it even happens). The older generation still has home phones, go to the bank to deposit checks, etc - that generation has no use or interest in bitcoin and that is fine and understandable. I wouldn't either.

I wonder if Madrigal healed quicker than we thought - there was talks about him back in action right? If he's back, don't need Goins, now Gonzalez?

I'm thinking about starting a new topic - Yermin v. Moncada -- not much of a difference if you ask me. Sometimes when I'm at Sox games I'll hear people talk a few rows back about topics like this and I go ... where do these people come from? the answer I guess is SoxTalk.com

All countries are going to go to a digital offering - their own crpyto essentially. It really isn't anything much different than what they have now. It comes back to what is that offering backed by? It's just a digital fiat at the end of the day.

Alright, I'll unpack this finally. It has been a long few months just haven't been as active on message board as in past. Bitcoin vs. regular currency. Why it's superior - I think you first have to be able to zoom out. If you research the history of the US Dollar you'd come across a lot fun facts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_dollar -- I don't want to parrot everything there, but we're 11 years into Bitcoin, and sure things move faster in a digital era, however that's really a blip. How was the US dollar doing in 1803? The wikipedia page isn't going to be your most in depth article, but it's a nice start. Below is a fun chart. r Equivalent buying power 1775 $1.00 1780 $0.59 1790 $0.89 1800 $0.64 1810 $0.66 1820 $0.69 1830 $0.88 1840 $0.94 1850 $1.03 1860 $0.97 Year Equivalent buying power 1870 $0.62 1880 $0.79 1890 $0.89 1900 $0.96 1910 $0.85 1920 $0.39 1930 $0.47 1940 $0.56 1950 $0.33 1960 $0.26 Year Equivalent buying power 1970 $0.20 1980 $0.10 1990 $0.06 2000 $0.05 2007 $0.04 2008 $0.04 2009 $0.04 2010 $0.035 2011 $0.034 2012 $0.03 So I'd start you there. Bitcoin is in its infancy. its not going to be a medium of exchange as you noted until its taken seriously as a store of value. you dont become a store of value in 11 years. So as you mention there's going to be wild swings in value, but in general, that value has gone up in the past 11 years. as price goes up, volatility goes down. at a point, instead of 10% swings from $10k to $11k, you'll have tiny swings from $250,000 to $251,000 which represent less than a half of a %. Now you may think that price is crazy, however we're not going to be denominating in a bitcoin -- at some point, just as we have broken down the USD into different amounts, the same will happen for Bitcoin. Satoshis or sats will be the norm, and maybe even broken down more from there. Now, does this happen in our lifetime? Who knows. It may take 10, it may take 20, it may take 50 or 100 years. Now to answer why is it superior to regular currency? Key to currency - portable, fungible, verifiable, durable, divisible and scarce. USD checks all the boxes pretty well, as do most modern day currencies - outside of scarce. its why you see gold prices going up, but gold isn't the other stuff - it's not divisble, portable, etc. it's why you had the US dollar pegged to gold for so long - it solved all the problems. but then we got off the gold standard. So why is BTC good? it is all of those things above. simply put there's a finite, set amount of BTC that will ever be produced. It's also peer to peer, eliminating the need for a bank to settle your transactions and its recorded on a ledger. so although one may argue the Fed has done a good job during the crisis (TBD), what you can't do is audit the Fed. They're printing money now, at the expense of the future, something they've been doing for sometime. Now that's all fine and well now, but there's no such thing as a free money tree. debt is money we owe and that will come at the expense of future generations. inflation. the reason we can somewhat get away with it is the fact we have the global reserve currency - also the rest of the world is just as fucked as us. monetary policy changed in the early 70's and has generally been pretty of hand. everybody likes to spend before they have it, that includes the government. so you have governments who are basically saying their money is good, and to trust them, but really nothing backing it outside of the power of your military. The us dollar is essentially the power of our military. It is also powerful because it's what oil contracts are settled in. There's a reason we haven't been diving head first into green energy - because for the last 100 years our power is also the dollar/settling oil in USD. we fund and give guns to the middle east, look for allies, and basically control the oil for the world. it's the reason we go to wars, it's the reason we're in everybody's business and it's worked out tremendously - now none of this is forward thinking or sustainable for a long game - were just the 800lb gorilla that's bullying the world via our position in both USD and oil. But at a certain point just like coal, were going to start moving towards cleaner energy/renewables. It presents a real struggle for the US once oil is not as valuable (again this could be 100+ years to play out, you still have coal being shipped to Asia in droves, the poorer countries will always be the last to adapt and utilizing the cheaper/dirtier energy). I'll take a pause there. I think our differences at this point maybe lie in TIME. i think it would be silly to think a new internet currency would be instantly accepted as a store of value in 11 years. Just as we've been really messing with the USD for 50+ years now - these things take time. The world reserve currency generally holds up for 150-250 years and has repeated itself over and over. The USD is on that path in my opinion and likely will have a slow bleed for 20-100 years while the next reserve currency takes hold. In my opinion bitcoin has a chance to be that. and if indeed it has a shot, then the alpha on a bitcoin trade is just too high to pass up, especially dependent on your age. my opinion is it needs to be part of a portfolio, albeit, just 1-10% based on your risk tolerance. Now there's the whole currency war angle -- and that's another convo. The smartest move is for the US to be snatching up Bitcoin just in case as they print these trillions, but they wont do that. instead it'll be a long, rocky battle because if bitcoin is ever adopted by a China or Russia, then it starts a run at the USD. I could easily see the US then banning bitcoin here, much like they once banned ownership of gold.

You dont HAVE to sign a pitcher, however it would be nice. Positives? You enter the WIN RIGHT NOW strategy. This weird year kind of already put us in that in some weird way, but in a regular season we'd have a lot of ups and downs that would be highlighted over a long season. The downside is that you tie up a lot of your money into a single guy. Ideally that rotation has Cease above Keuchel in a year and Dunning/Kopech do their jobs. Post 2021 season I'd ideally see the rotation as such. Giolito, Cease, Kopech, Keuchel, Dunning. But if we do go outside the orginization i think it's all but clear the obvious candidate in Bauer. 1 year contracts, even if inflated, are JR wet dreams. 100% for him. The rest of the list is a bunch of okay pitchers, but none that give you a better chance of winning a WS than in house candidates. Lopez to the bullpen as a 7-8 inning guy has always been my plan. Rodon? Sucks cause i like him, but i think you have to move on and let him probably flourish elsewhere.

We've been told in our office to not expect coming back until June 2021. I find it hard to think of a scenario where restaurants, downtown businesses, etc. survive 18 months (backdating) through Covid, through a winter of only take out/no outdoor dining, etc. I continue to say we're in like inning number 2 of a 9 inning ball game here. The real pain has not and will not start until the spigot of government funding is turned off. Everybody is a wounded duck right now.

I think all you have to do is read this message board and one can see why this isn't going away.

See that the A's are going to release Barreto - would seem to make sense in my mind to explore a trade there. Probably doesn't take much to get him at all, but based on our record we wouldn't be high on the waiver priority. I like Mendick and Leury fine, but if our scouts see anything in Barreto it could be a nice 3-4 week tryout. Former top 50 prospect i believe. All eyes have been on Barreto since he signed a $1.45 million deal with the Blue Jays as a 16 year old in July 2012. That scrutiny only intensified in late November 2014, when he was the key prospect in a deal that sent star third baseman Josh Donaldson to Toronto. Despite the pressure, Barreto has met or exceeded expectations at every turn. After getting a taste of the big leagues last season, Barreto seems on the verge of establishing himself as a big league regular at the tender age of 22. Since joining the A’s before the 2015 season, Barreto has been challenged to play up a level. He spent his age-19 season in High-A with the Stockton Ports and his age-20 season with Double-A Midland. In both cases, he shook off slow starts to put together solid years. http://oaklandclubhouse.com/oakland-athletics-2018-top-50-prospects-franklin-barreto-ss-2b/

The treasury and fed are merging as one in the same & it's happening right before our eyes. And this was neither speed nor precision. This was Donnie giving his friends new trucks. The CEO sits on the Economic Stimulus Board, gets in the ear of Mnunchin & they make up a fake reason why this business is needed. In this case - delivering food ..... yes, because how can you find another company to do that? And as if the food wouldn't be delivered during Ch. 11 BK. Those are revenue producing contracts & would continue. What happened here is YRC just got free trucks from the government. aka tax money if you want to believe that. but really from printing/devaluing our currency. The company is still going to go go BK in 2-4 years, however now they're going to come out the other side with a new fleet setting up Mr. Hawkins for a nice pay day on the other end. It's quite literally a joke and they're not even trying to hide it. Its an indefensible use of funds clear and simple. And I can guarantee it will continue to happen because not enough people understand finance. Donnie is gonna continue to drop money into Florida, Michigan, Wisconsin, etc. under the guise that it's for the good of the economy when he really doesn't give to flying f's about anything other than trying to buy this election and remain in power. Not saying the other side is any better - its the same. I mean, hell this stimulus thing is a joke - i've called it going back to may/june. The second stimulus was always going to be held up as long as possible and as close to the election with both side blaming the other and then when it finally is sent out -- they both will try and take credit. They don't give a sh*t about their constituents, they care about taking credit and remaining in power to they can leverage their power for personal wealth. The next stimulus will be approved in 2-4 weeks, then sent out 2-4 weeks after that. They want the money to hit bank accounts in October so that its next to the election. This way it coincides with stock market pumping, etc. to act like all is good and well.

Man I feel for Rodon. I've been on his side & really would love him to be successful with the Sox, but I'm starting to think that's never going to happen

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/03/us/politics/yrc-coronavirus-relief-funds.html I mean, this article basically highlights everything i said a few weeks ago. maybe your LOL response won't be so snarky this time. But whatever, sounds like that $700mm was put to good use. Can't think of a better way to utilize that $700mm at all. Nope none.

Competition is your answer. You've got a handful of choices and on your next flight if United is $200 and American is $300 you'll be right back on the United plane. I have a few colleauges that are very big into their airline loyalty programs and I never get it. I'll go with whatever is the cheapest, direct flights, and time of flight in that order.

Nicky is still on this team just because of depth. If Anderson doesn't get hurt you have Leury as your 5OF and Nicky is gone. But as currently constructed he's going to be on the team a little while longer. The day we get rid of all of our old 2017 guys, the happier I'll be. No offense on them, but it's time to turn the page on the Nickys, Palka, Leury's, Engels of the world. They're dime a dozen players that you can replace for cheaper with a strong system. I will say Engel has grown on me over the past few years with his defense and growing bat. Leury is fine too, just at a certain point he's going to get older, cost more, and lose a step.

That's the sad part. But also glad this is where we are in life. 2 years ago he'd have a solid chance to be 2020's Daniel Palka. Truth is both guys have SOME talent & are nice guys. But they belong on the 2017 Sox or the 2020 Royals. There's a chance they turn out to be a late bloomers and the real deal, but likely a Palka year is the best you'll ever get out of them - not part of the real future. He probably should've gotten his shot late last year and then tried to flip him in the off-season. Wish him well, but in this current state, you've got to get those AB's to EE, McCann, Collins in that order. Hopefully he can catch on with a bottom dweller for a few seasons and make a bit of money for his family.

There's definitely going to be recency bias here. Ask this a year before or a year from now and i think the answers would be skewed different ways. Hell, even after a few back to back O-fers for Robert. Pitchers will make adjustments like they do with all rookies and the test will be if he can make them back. Thus far it seems like it. That being said - even after watching a few games it's crazy how good the kid is.. he makes Yoan and Eloy look just like regular players. Robert has the talent to be in the categories with Acuna and Trout. I think Acuna is probably his best comp currently. He's Frank Thomas territory talent - while guys like Eloy are Paulie. Robert is HOF talent, while Yoan and Eloy are All-Stars. It's not all free sailing ahead though - Robert has a long history of injuries. If he can stay healthy though he's going to be a monster. Hopefully he can do so over the next 5-7 years. Would be fun to watch.

it's not about that really. solid chance in that all these guys are professional athletes that deaths are unlikely. However, you look at a situation like Eduardo Rodriguez? At the end of the day it's a game - so why not take precautions? Also shows how wildly contagious this thing can be (also how much we dont know about the spread).

the situation sucks, but very highly doubt you'll get anything out of it. as someone who travels (ed?) a bunch for business, a 4-5 hour delay, although not enjoyable, wouldn't make my top 25. sucks that it was their fault and not weather related, but such is life. chalk it up as a small inconvenience in a world of many inconveniences today.

aint nothing going to be humming for a long, long time. half decade long. only reason things are as "good" as they are right now is because all of the propping up of the economy by the Fed and the general public not having a baseline understanding of economics or financial wherewithal. Corporations aren't bringing back these jobs ... this is actually going to look good in comparison to 2 years from now in my opinion.

Vaccine question : like anything I"ll balance the positives and negatives of both taking and not taking a vaccine. I agree though, basically if you thought the mask discussion was tough - that was just putting something on your body. Wait for the vaccine discussion and putting something IN your body. Gonna be a hot mess.

yep agree with your point - no upside to talking to the media. they have a job to do and that is to get clicks. he's been in the game long enough to know this - and should be aware enough to not take the bait. a billionaire, even stating the facts, doesn't do him any good. As someone else said in this thread - we're worried about the next bill, having our kids educated safely, about our parents and the elderly, about our pensions, etc. Baseball is supposed to be a pause from that and when a guy who is going to make over a billion in profits someday (off the backs of all the regular people) says anything about his situation (regardless if it wasn't bad) it's never going to come off well.

Also you didn't read my post very well. In a nutshell I said jerry didn't say anything that bad, but regardless he should shut up because he should be smart enough to know how the article would be perceived.

Clearance prices, you mean like $19mm, the purchase price by Reinsdorf less than 30 years ago? Let's say he sells the Sox for $1.8B. His annualized return is 17% and he's made a 9400% return. Also thanks for putting words in my mouth about what I think about the economy. You don't know me, and if you'd like to talk about the economy head over to the Financial discussion page in the Slam forum. You can read what I've said about the Fed, the economy, etc. My literal job is credit underwriting - I live in this stuff all day & believe we are still in like inning 3 in terms of the true reality to come from this situation. It's all propped up right now, the true fall out is still to come. That is unless it gets propped up again (it will). It's just kicking the can down the road which is really only possible because of our reserve currency status.

Um, rightfully so. These millionaires and billionaires just don't have it in them to shut up. The best way to answer the question from the reporter about how it's going financially is to say - "I decline to go into detail there as I don't think it's appropriate to complain based on the position I'm in" He wasn't that bad in the article, but let's be honest, he should be smart enough to know how the article and title would be spun. These few owners that come out and talk about the losses are absolute idiots. Let me tell you how this works - if it was a bad investment you wouldn't have teams of millionaires and billioinaires lined up to buy the Mets or having the Royals sell for what they did. The fact is, it's an extremely lucrative business. Also surprise surprise that he's trying to cry poor to sign free agents.. It's the same ol' same ol' for Uncle jerry and always will be. It's never about winning, its never about making families happy, it's not about the players... it's about his pocketbook.

Thats good stuff. And imagine thinking you can solve this mask thing. It's literally unsolvable no matter how much people believe its not. Short all religions saying their God told them to wear a mask, Trump doing a 180, and some luck, its not happening. It's not even about science, its about defiance.