he gone.

Off by a few years. Fits exactly with the mindset I"d expect though. Everything went well for him. Every other generation has left it better for the next except now. But that's the mindset of many 60-75 year olds. Who cares that Social security wont be around for the next generation. Too bad that pensions are underfunded with no way out except for tax hikes, property tax hikes, etc. Enjoyed the benefits personally, so who cares about the next generation.

Yikes. Houses as a savings vehicle? Where? This isn't 2000 anymore. That ship has sailed. Go look up Dennis Rodkin for Crain's. He focuses on real estate in IL. Houses are selling in 2020 for what they did in 2004. They just ran an atricle about house prices and time on the market there were like 12 neighborhoods in the whole entire state that improved in 2019 -- news flash they were all small towns with median home prices at like $140k a house... I can tell just from your post .... let's peg you at 50-60 years old? You graduated from a Big Ten school, have a had a nice mid-tier job making 6 figures for a while. You saved into a 401k and have watched the stock market take off during your career -- really hitting it's stride post 2008 when you started having more disposable income. Now your 401k exploded for 12 years and the system has worked well for you. Social security will still be there when you retire. Am I close? I've got a thousand bridges to sell you - because this system is a damn mess. We're not even on fractional reserve banking anymore. We're on the trust us, its all okay banking system. I can talk finance and economics with you until the cows come home. If you don't have a problem with companies like Boeing funding stock buy backs with debt and then drawing down on a $13B revolver then you're part of the problem. Boeing knows because of their role in defense budgets that they are free and clear from ever going bankrupt. They are exempt. They can be the biggest crooks in the world and the government pays for it. Let me ask you something. What's your definition of money? What is the dollar - and what is its worth? How is that worth determined? In this homework assignment, I'd like you to research the history of the dollar.

For a period of time? Ha. My god, this whole financial system is a mess and the little guy, the average citizen has no effing clue. None at all. Airlines are an easy example to explain ..... They cut planes, run at optimization -- fine, good, that's how business is done. They cram you in, give you shit service, charge you to bring a bag, to move your seat up, to board early, to sneeze. Oil drops, they keep prices the same. THe consumer pays and pays and pays and they make bank. They free cash flow out the ears. Then they take that money and buy back stock. They don't save it for a rainy day, they buy back stock because the C-Suite people have stock incentives in their plans. They don't have customer happiness plans.. they don't have employee hapiness plans. They don't give their employees more money. They don't up their 401-k match ... nope they buy stock. Hell, Boeing issued debt to buy back stock. All to prop up prices and so they could get fat bonuses and buy their 5th house and another fancy car. Then shit hits the fan -- and look, no rainy day fund. But what will we do without airline companiesss??@!!?. Fuck them. fuck all of these companies. let them learn their lesson. let Bezos buy an airline for all i care. Companies need to learn their lesson. But nope, we'll bail them out... the taxpayers do it again. They'll spin this as too big to fail and that they'll pay back with interest. It's all horseshit. The Fed is a joke that just prints money devaluing hard earned savings. These companies are like cracked out addicts. The Fed is the enabling parent. Instead of saying no, enough is enough, no bailout, no money. We give it to them. And they go out and use/buy. It took 12 year for a repeat. There's no consequences to leveraging up a balance sheet to the gills. Worst case scenario they bankrupt the compayn, chapter 11 and repeat again. or get a bailout. We've learned nothing from 2008, just heads in the sand as citizens. This county is full of sheeple. Just follow whatever clown in congress or in power and act like they're smarter and know what they're doing. They dont. and wont. Ever. All events like this do is create bigger wealth divides. we're doing what we did in 2008 on a larger scale. how sick is it that we are 4 weeks from an all time high stock market (fake numbers -- terrible P/E ratios) but nonetheless 4 weeks from the top to the largest bailout in history? It's a sham, always has been.

Hey look at me - what a smart guy. 17 months ago did pretty well calling it.

funny to look back less than ONE WEEK. 40% said to press forward. May 15 - Closed spring training - at home ball park - split squad games - televised. Memorial Day weekend - Opening Day. There you go. And that's assuming this is all ran its course as hoped.

Exactly. Safety and health first. Both mentally and physically. find positives - build relationships that have been lacking. smile, read a book, find podcasts. enjoy the free time. there will be a lot of ripples ahead, but just float on the best we can. life isn't half bad - and be thankful we have pretty darned good lives compared to most. our worst is still better than a lot of people's best. peace, love, and understanding. money is money is money. it's all fake and made up anyways. relationships and experiences are what you'll care about when you're old and dying.

It's really not that tough to read between the lines -- we're going to go into a full quarantine in the next 10 days max, likely by weekend. Everything outside of essentials will be shut down. However these rushes to the grocery store and for water really aren't necessary. We're not going to be left without food to die. You'll be able to go to the store - but it will be regulated to how many people can enter a store at a time. Also this water craze is weird. We live wtih a clean water supply from lake Michigan. I also think the stock market is going to shut down relatively soon. Everybody just needs to do their part. There will be helicopter money distributed to families to help. There will likely be some sort of forgiveness or suspension of mortgages, etc. They aren't going to foreclose or put us on the streets. Just make sure you have an ample, but not overload of food if that makes you feel safe and secure. Buy some books or rent some on a kindle. And connect with your family. Most importantly take this time to build and form relationships. Find the positives in a bad time.

Was inevitable. June 1 is my best guess. Playing 100 game season. Who knows - just baseball in a vacuum that could be good for the Sox. shorter season may mean a strong run equals a better chance at playoffs. Again, that's the baseball take in a vacuum. Stay safe.

It's just a matter of time until the government steps in and shuts down the stock market.. not the 7, 13, 20% temporary shut downs.. like several week suspension of trade.

Everything follows a pattern here ... Look to Italy and you'll see what's going to happen in the US. We're just starting the freak out phase. Sports canceled, by Monday/Tuesday you'll see schools canceled for the rest of the year or at least through April/mid-May. Then you'll see travel restrictions throughout the US - so no planes, no traveling -- not just to Europe and international, but around the US. Then about 2 weeks from now you'll see a mandated shut down of all businesses except for grocery stores and pharmacies, etc. This is going to be a shut down through mid-May is my guess. Self-quarantine. I've been to O'Hare and just got back from Vegas for a convention and my company is having us self-quarantine for the next 10 days (at-least). It's about to ratchet up and get real in the US - we've just entered the twilight zone -- and it's only going to get more weird from here. Even myself I'm not sure if i have it -- both my wife and I have been traveling a lot and we're both sick with some sort of flu - fevers, the dry cough you here about, very achy ... who knows if i have it, not much you can do - i won't be able to get a test - so for now it's just locking down in my house to protect others. i'm personally not concerned - but concerned about the spread to others. The thing I can't stand is when people are like "the flu kills more people" ... and that's the problem with having a president like we do ... politics aside - because that's not what this is about -- his job is to be the PR for the US. Dividing people around a pandemic is not the way to do it. This is actually very serious ... maybe not for 20-60 year olds ... but for others. It's not about how bad Corona is for me or you, it's about curving the spread so that it doesn't get wild. The hospitals aren't equipped for this. We don't have the space or the staff. So it's not about that - self quarantine is about curving the spread. Ultimately there will be a vaccine. Ultimately this will subside, but it's going to be a wild next 6 weeks here and around the world. The ripple effect of companies, supply chains, servicing of debt, jobs, mortgages, etc etc etc. is going to take a LONG time to unravel. We built an economy on extensive leverage that was very suspectible -- almost like a 75 year old with pre-existing conditions - and the Coronavirus is exposing it. There's going to be massive government intervention for this - but ultimately it's thing people arent even thinking about that are going to really creep up over teh next few years because of this ... pension returns, further erosion of the dollar, negative interest rates, etc etc. we're in the upside down world now.

The same reason D'Arnaud got a nice contract and Al Avila did too. Catcher is thin position. We have a top 5 catcher, plus serviceable backups (multiple) waiting in the wings.. McCann is expendable to shore up another part of the roster ... ss/2b/rf and bullpen.

Also it's not far fetched that Anderson goes down and we need to play Mendick full time. Maybe we should trade for Trea Turner as a backup in case.

No offense to McCann, but thank the lord. Trade him. He's a nice story on a bad season last year.. We've got our main guy for hte next 4 years and we have backups that are good enough to fill the backup catcher role adequately. Buy low, sell high. Would love to trade him to the Rockies - never going to get the guy I"m going to name .... but I'd love Garret Hampson ... he'd be your super UTIL at 2B (until Madrigal), SS, and OF. I'd throw in a mid-level prospect with McCann to get that done. Hampson is a guy who should be playing 100 games.

Nothing in this thread is confirmed - its the TMZ thread for Jake Burger.

Maybe that was the price for the Sox to let him keep his beard.... I read that article today about JR telling him that he was in team violation - but he was a good guy and to win and it was alright. I'm rolling my eyes right now. JR really needs to stop being all Yankees with this stuff. It's a beard. It's all whatever at hte end of hte day and understand it's not a huge deal - just wish JR would lighten up and change with the times a bit more.

Events like this really let the optimistic and pessimistic personalities shine through. Not saying either are right or wrong.

Exactly. basically lock down everybody and then you avoid having it spread, theoretically ending the spread. But that's rosy. And then if everybody is locked down, then you don't have workers at factories which upsets the supply chains of almost everything around the world. Or in this case, locally, since there are no customers but payments need to continue for buildings. My guess is that a lot of BK's would be spared in the sense that there's no upside for the banks to completely cut off credit if the business was well performing outside of this unforseen issue out of their control. But who knows. Should lead to an interesting 3-12 months in the future.

I like the follow up on Lobster. But seriously thanks for the updates. Certainly very interesting and weird times. Keep us up to date! My questions - and certainly feel free to not answer --- so... everybody is just inside their apartments/houses? Like ... nobody walking around- ghost town? Like what does a normal day look like now? Are people working from home still where possible? But then places like factories are just shuttered? I just find it hard to wrap my head around of what a city like Chicago would look like in this situation, let alone a bigger city that has a ton of (presumably) manufacturing jobs. So essentially it's like a movie in a sense -- people made giant food runs to load up on rice and staples and just sit inside all day? Sounds wild (in a bad way).

My thoughts are this: We'll have thoughts and opinions when this is finalized and people will either say it's a great or terrible extension and the truth will be unknown because we have no idea haha. let's just hope we can keep a core together and that yoan continues to develop into a great player who has a long career with the Sox.

EE, Abreu, Grandal, McCann, Collins, Mercedes. I'm still for exploring trading McCann for RP. And/or Collins.

yikes. aggressive. so angry. not about the money at all. it's about why would lock yourself in. guys like leury are a dime a dozen and cost the same or less. no reason to give a buyout or agree on a price for next year. Look at Scooter Gennett for example - what's his price? Who would you rather have - him or Leury? How about Brock Holt or Leury? Nothing to do with money, why give up flexibility for a guy like Leury .... it's just unnecessary move. That's why it like the Abreu move on a different scale - Abreu isn't going to get more valuable, just less valuable. So extending him was unnecessary - just play it year to year and pay market value and/or see what else the market has to offer at the price.

is the buyout at the end of this year or next? didn't pay much attention but thought it was this year ... which would be dumb - basically guaranteeing more money for no reason. And i stand by my comments - they are on a different scale, but neither did you have to even give an option or extension to. We've seen the best years from both guys, if anything Leury would be cheaper on the free market than $3.5mm next year. He's not going to improve his stock.

kinda mirrors my thoughts. Leury is fine. he has about that vlue on the team, but at the same time almost every year you can bargain hunt for $3.5mm and get a similar player. I like Leury and think he's worth about this, so don't really care either way - but kind of like hte Abreu move -- not sure it was necessary to extend someone for no reason. Both of their values would only go down this year, not up.

I'd love that. For some reason I can't seem to fully believe in him. I can't tell you why. I like his drive. swagger.. attitude. He obviously has the tools, produced the results ... I can't honestly explain why I can't buy in fully.

That's what i said too + hilliard and hampson. they have no room for him. even with domingo santana i think the indians make sense unless they're counting on a healthy season from zimmer. even at that - i think he still even has a spot on that team. They are still my odds on favorite unless Francona really did hate him that much. Orioles to sell seats. Mariners because it's literally the worst team in baseball and he'd play. those are my top guesses.