I miss so many grills and lounges that I’m probably listing only things that were already linked to, because they are pretty old
1. It’s only one letter, how much difference can it make?
2. I need a new camera
3. When seventeen naked people come to your house the next time, have some paint ready
4. For all the drama and torture poor Giants fan had with Zito’s inexplicable performance decline, most people don’t realize that Giants got exactly what they bargained for. Zito was basically the same pitcher in his last three years in Oakland as he has been in the six years in San Francisco.
3. Wow! Also, the accident damage kind of looks like ozzman’s car. Maybe he should suggets that his insurance company send 17 naked people to replace it.
airbags/boobies comment, etc
Thanks, and go As.
Can I choose who those 17 people are?
And yeah, it does look like my car. Which will be fixed. The insurance company is gonna have to shell out $4300, and it’s gonna take 2-3 weeks.
Happy birthday, Josh!
Yeah, Happy Birthday.
(Which Josh?)
Oh, just nobody in particular
You mean that eccentric late night radio personality?
That light of Leftist Liberation?
one of my Favorite Freedom Fighters against Feudal Fascism?
all of them
The Sultan of Socialist Revolution?
Ps whats your pasta recipe? I cant find it and I have been unhappy with the jamie oliver one I have been using
Per person about 100-120 grams of flour, one egg, and a big spoon of olive oil. I basically don’t add any water, very little if really needed and of course salt.
the recipe I had was 5 eggs 4 cups of flower salt.
It was kinda fail blog .org
Ooh yeah, that’s a lot of eggs, and a lot of pasta. I’m pretty much like ec, except I just use a cup (I have no idea how many grams that is) per egg (and use the eggshell to measure in the olive oil). That’s enough for pasta for 2-4 people. It should be drier than you think it should, with just enough water to hold it together after kneading. I wrap it tight and refrigerate for an hour or so before rolling out. Pretty much from Alice Waters’ CP pasta book.
Ive got a a butternut squash filling for ravioli. But the whole think kinda got all fucked since it was way too dry and wasn’t holding together well with out the oo
If you have a chance to catch it, last night’s Colbert Report was scorching hot hilarity. He did a five minute bit composed entirely of questions, mocking the Fox News style of phrasing statements as questions to claim it’s journalism (e.g., “Is it possible that Pres. Obama deliberately let the Libyan embassy be attacked to score political points?”). Also hilarious: his invitation to pay Donald Trump $1 million to suck his balls.
I just did. Loved it
I did watch it. Great work.
That said, the highlight of the week was Stewart showing the two Michelle pictures to Obama.
The first link for #4 shows only 1 year.
While his FIP and xFIP are almost identical when comparing 2004-2006 to 2007-2012, the league (facing pitchers instead of DHs) and park effects make a big difference in value – he averaged 2.4 WAR in his last 3 years in Oakland, and 1.2 WAR in his 6 years in SF. That’s huge, and it’s even bigger if you use b-r WAR (based on actual runs allowed) instead of fangraphs WAR (based on FIP).
very true
I’m actually really surprised that there is such a big difference in WAR.
Some 15% of it can be attributed to decrease in innings per year.
Over the last 9 years, average NL FIP was 4.20, average AL FIP was 4.32. So, I don’t know, chalk another 15% to that.
Can there be that much difference in park factor so that it would make same FIP be worth 60% more in terms of WAR?
What about league-wide decline in offense over those years?
Good point. Average FIP in 2004-2006 AL was 4.46. Average FIP in 2007-2012 NL was 4.13.
On the other side, I’m assuming fWAR uses the park factors they have here and these make Coliseum and AT&T virtually identical.
So, that .34 delta must account for about 1 WAR/year. It is probably not linear, as Hudson and Minor had about the same WAR differential, although there was a .60 FIP differential
.33 R/9 * 200 IP/9 = 7.5 runs, so a little less than a win.
Isn’t the whole point to remove defense from the equation though, so use FIP instead of actual runs allowed?
Thanks, and go As.
fWAR does that. bWAR doesn’t. I think the truth is somewhere in between, probably closer to the fWAR, as some of the factors for the RA/FIP differential can be attributed to the pitcher – holding the runners, pitching from the stretch, his own fielding. Only thing is, that it is still rather hard to quantify them.
Yeah I know, but for the purposes of WAR, to determine an individual player’s value, you’d want to remove variables out of the player’s control as much as possible?
Thanks, and go As.
I guess B-R feels that by including those additional variables they increase the precision more by additional talent evaluators than they decrease it by adding noise.
You want to remove the variables out of his control but include the ones in his control.
fWAR treats everything that happens to balls in play and sequencing as things out of the pitcher’s control, rWAR treats them as in his control. As ec says, neither of those extremes really makes sense, and I’ve never seen a really convincing case for either as a better measure of talent.
I’m not using it as a measure of talent though
Thanks, and go As.
In that case the argument for using RA instead of FIP is even stronger.
not really. I still want to know how well the pitcher performed, whether or not that is his actual talent level isn’t relevant.
Thanks, and go As.
Now we’re getting into semantics.
If you think “how well the pitcher performed” means only K, BB, and HR, and that anything else is his fielders or “luck,” then yes FIP is the right measure.
If you think “how well the pitcher performed” means not allowing runs, then how many runs he allowed (with an adjustment for team fielding, which is part of b-r WAR) is the right measure.
I tend toward the latter interpretation.
but also fWAR is based on innings which has a component of defense. If you have good defense you would get out of innings faster increasing value, even if the FIP doesn’t include defense (more batters faced more likely to give up HRs/9)
I don’t know the exact formula but I shouldn’t the innings at least partially be removed from the equation? FIP is a rate state with innings pitched in the denominator and WAR than uses some sort of FIP times the innings pitched…
(HR*13+(BB+HBP-IBB)*3-K*2)/IP
If you face more batters per inning because of shitty defense your numerator stats go up and your denominator stats go down.
That’s true for most pitchers. The very best will actually profit from shitty defenses, though.
The same is true for stuff like K/9 or BB/9. It would be better to use PA instead of IP, but the difference is not really that big.
Because if their K/BB rate is > 3/2 then yes.
Actually if their K*2>BB*3+HR*13, but yes, that’s the idea.
you guys are wasting your time, I have looked at the pictures. Its the same guy.
Tina Fey.
Thanks, and go As.
I want her. Badly
Kevin Drum on the California propositions. I agree with him across the board.
as usual, I am voting No on every prop.
Thanks, and go As.
Too much work to actually figure them out?
Kinda.
Its the legislatures job to make laws. that is what a republic is all about. I get the historical significance of the legislative process, but it has gone the way of the Bayonet.
My default is no. I do vote yes on a lot, though.
My default is No as well, as is Drum’s, but there are certain instances where because we have this stupid system a yes is the only way to get important stuff done.
Agreed.
Default no’s with occasional yesses.
I wish we could just vote to get rid of the initiative process once and for all.
I basically agree with this. The mass electorate is stupid, or at least horribly susceptible to base persuasion. However, since I have to live with the outcome I do make my best effort to vote for what I perceive as the best policy.
As a good Yes vote example, Prop 34 would repeal the death penalty. I don’t expect it to pass, but it’s important in the historic continuum that we continue to prove that support for the death penalty is eroding. Staking out our place in the trend of history does have meaning.
I agree, most props are things that should be voted on by the legislature and not the public.
But there are also instances (perhaps none this time) where the legislature has already passed them but the state constitution requires that the voters then approve them as well. The default should be yes for those, for exactly the same reason that it is no for other cases.
The initiative process would make more sense if it required a super-majority. The absolute worst case is something like Prop 13 that passed by only a simple majority itself, but requires a 2/3 vote in order to be overridden on a local level. I don’t see how that is legal/constitutional. (I mean, I get that it is apparently constitutional in the narrow sense that there’s nothing in the constitution that says a proposition can’t do that. But it makes no sense, even as an expression of direct democracy.)
Having now RTFA, 30, 36, and 39 are all examples of what I was talking about in the first paragraph.
Like prop 39 which is a prop because of the 2/3 thing
Basically what Ed said. My own personal little protest.
Thanks, and go As.
There are a lot of good Yeses this year
30 Prevents a School Funding Apocalypse
34+36 Save the state a ton of money while preventing innocent people from being executed
39 Closes a tax loophole that encourages companies to leave California and hire less people
40 Prevents Republicans from hijacking a non partisan commission that was created by a Republican just last election (something I opposed but whatever)
30 – I’m sorry but I’m really sick of the tax increases because zomg think of the children. This state has proven repeatedly that it does a shit job managing a budget and spending, and continue to ask taxpayers for more and more. Fuck that. Couple friends of mine are teachers and voting no for this.
34 & 36 are protest votes, although 34 creates a $100M fund that is given to law enforcement agencies
39 is setting budget via ballot. Again legislators not doing their FKing jobs.
40 I will probably abstain on. It’s a dead prop anyway and it’s backwards, no is a yes vote and yes is a no vote.
Thanks, and go As.
I’d be more inclined for a yes on 30 if Moonbeam wasn’t pushing ahead with the train to nowhere project.
it will create jobs and leverages federal money that we wouldn’t get otherwise
While spending a ton of state money that could be put to better use? No thank you. That’s like those shitty infomercial deals: Buy 1, Get 1 free! Just pay the additional shipping and handling which conveniently costs twice the cost of one + shipping which you get to pay twice!!! But it’s a deal!! And we’re giving it to you free!!!
30 First you realize that its only a tax on super wealthy people right? And that you will never pay that tax? Ok how about ZOMG our state takes in almost no revenue compared to its costs (most of which are like skyrocketing increases in things like constitutionally required educational services for children with developmental disabilities, increasing health insurance costs, etc) so pick something else, give their money to schools and then say its a tax for those things if you don’t want taxes for the kids.
34 36 Im not sure what you mean about this
39 It would technically be a tax increase so it would require 2/3 vote which is unrealistic. It would raise an additional $1bn.
40 What do you mean by dead prop?
30 Well, to be fair, there is the 1/4 cent sales tax too, which we will all pay for four years.
This is true.
I was talking about the income tax hike.
also, nice dig.
Thanks, and go As.
Sorry, couldn’t help it. I’m not nearlt at the DFA-level of scorn for people who opt out of electoral interest, but I do think that when the dickheads in politics get someone to tune out, that often means they win.
It’s certainly not tuning out. I also generally vote against every incumbent regardless of R/D. Shit needs to change
Thanks, and go As.
But what about problems that can’t be fixed in 2 or 4 years? This method would just lead to a lot of switching back and forth with very little progress.
What really needs to change: Constitutional Amendment to get rid of the 2/3 budget and taxes requirements.
Yup
My default is No, because I think the whole initiative system is FKed. For example, the fact that many of this year’s measures are backed by a single extremely wealthy individual. But there are occasions to vote yes, including 40 this year, where the people who initially got it on the ballot for the purpose of having people vote No are not even promoting that any more.
This.
I haven’t looked at what CA is voting on this year, but (sorry DFA) the ones that aren’t backed by a couple of rich people sometimes are written by unions (notably teachers and nurses to my recollection) in pursuit of their own self-interest as well.
NV differs from CA in that an initiative has to be passed twice by the voters to become law. If we voted for one this year (there aren’t any on the ballot) it would have to be passed again in November 2014 to become law. So initiatives aren’t all that common in NV; it’s too expensive to run two campaigns. Regrettably one that passed in recent years became Article I, Sec. 21 of the NV Constitution in 2002:
The tourist industry hates that for obvious reasons and when the time is right their money will be behind the repeal effort.
unions (notably teachers and nurses to my recollection) in pursuit of their own self-interest as wellPlease show me a proposition by teachers and nurses unions that is self serving and doesn’t have a significant public good.
By voting no, nothing changes (exception is 40), so by default, nothing can get worse.
Not sure that’s true. If your boat springs a leak and you do nothing because doing nothing won’t make it worse, eventually the boat sinks with you along with it.
I agree on all but 37. I support labeling the GMO foods, even though the initative could be better.
Worried that Prop 35 will pass because it sounds good (who doesn’t want to stop human trafficking?), though in reality a whole lot of people whose lives are focused on helping the victims of this activity oppose the initiative, because it has the effect of making it harder for victims to report their abusers.
I am on the same page as you, including on 35. I was sort of on the fence about 37 because of the way the bill is written, but in general anything that Syngenta and Monsanto are spending millions to defeat is worth voting for.
Wondering how you (and other Berkeley FKers) are voting on Measure T. I’m a strong supporter…Berkeley needs to create opportunities for businesses that could employ significant numbers of people to come to town…the lack of something like this is why we lost Clif Bar, for example.
Yeah, I’m going to vote for it. I can see the need to master plan some larger parcels, and seems to me the area can handle some increased housing density. It hasn’t exactly killed Emeryville. And the OMG 75 foot buildings as far as the eye can see rhetoric of the opponents is ridiculous. As for displacement of artists etc., some of that would probably be inevitable, but I’m hoping the combination of increased housing stock and the fact that some (most?) parcels will not actually be redeveloped for some years will alleviate pressures on rent enough to allow them to continue to live/work in the area affordably.
Yeah, the new Berkeley Bowl didn’t exactly kill the neighborhood the way the Measure T opponents said it would.
Also true.
Ionno… the new Berkeley Bowl brings unsavory characters like DFA to Berkeley all the time.
I’m voting no on 37 for the reason Drum cites. That kind of thing should be passed, if at all, by legislation, not an initiative. I’m also not that freaked out about GMO foods.
Same.
35 was an easy no for me because of the general changes to sex offender stuff. That part of CA law is so awfully overused already that any expansion is a nonstarter.
That’s roughly how I voted (though I voted for both 30 and 38). I fully agree with his stated biases.
Magary:
:(
i am a very nice person.
:(
Yes, yes you are. That’s why you moved here, away from all those horrible Pats fans.
It’s the 85% of the apples which are rotten that are making the rare sweet ones like you look bad.
I personally have no issue with Pats fans. I just loved the Caro reference.
awww, you are all so sweet. i can vouch for about 7 other nice pats fans out here, too.
Me, too.
I’m sorry. =(
Of course I don’t dress up in spiked shoulder pads and eat the hearts out of children, etc so I can feel your pain.
I can’t really say much. It appears that 49er fans are becoming major douchebags as well.
Super secret mission revealed:
I expect that to be filled with a lot of hard hitting questions.
Thanks, and go As.
how great was the A’s year?
I know you won’t go out and say it, but you must feel some vindication in having shown the world that you truly are the greatest.
Maybe Blez is positioning himself as a post-Fosse sideline reporter.
He needs long blonde Erin Andrews hair if he ever hopes to compete.
He went to the Ray Fosse school of interviews.
PS: I am not reading it. I read it in 2005, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.
Same damn thing.
I remember Beane seeming candid and interesting the first couple of times, and increasingly bland in later ones.
Yup.
Shocking.
I never get tired of this picture:
2 in the pink, 1 in the stink.
Before I saw the username, I was 100% certain Mike made that comment. Color me shocked.
This is the best line in the entire thing.
Thanks, and go As.
You made that up
That is ridiculous.
He must be assuming that haters refers to SBN and Toonces haters.
Not even going to touch the “intelligent” part.
Don’t – it could be contagious and we for sure don’t want any of that “intelligence” thing around here
Seen on a market in Xi’an, China.
It says “Serve the people”
ITS A COOK BOOK!
hee
Awesome.
OK, so I went over to see the interview, glanced over it and opened the prospects FanPost (btw. they have completely redesigned the site).
And in that FanPost, I saw sc00by reference my pitch blocking metric and say explicitly that I did it. Toonces than chimes in and says something like “The problem with that metric is that it can’t measure catchers blocking very high fastballs and I remember how I watched Suzuki and there was nothing like him in blocking those”. Of course, the metric very much measures that. Some things never change…
I hate that I am tempted to log in just to say “this would be a great point to bring up with the creator of it, what ever happened to…”
Do. It.
heh
Slusser kicks ass.
God, Selig is such a dick.
“It’s only the 3rd year of the Blue Ribbo Panel, calm down.”
“Are we there yet?” “NO, we’ll be there when we’re there, now sit down and shut up or I’m turning this car around!”
Im in the 8th year of my Pabst Blue Ribbon Panel… It shows not sign of coming to completion any time soon.
That used to be cheap, shitty beer. When did human taste buds suddenly change?
pbr and black star have the best price to taste ratio in the low cost beer market.
Never tried Black Star, but even broke college students wouldn’t buy PBR when I was in college (the first time). Well, things change.
what cheap beer alternatives do you prefer?
I don’t really like beer, and the ones I tolerate aren’t really cheap. I’m not into the high dollar, high gravity ones either.
I don’t like steak but hanger steaks a crappy cheap cut?
Blue Moon was the new PBR at my college.
Back in my day it was Henry Weinhard’s. What the hell ever happened to that crap?
It’s still alive and well. I’ve seen a 12-pack in the store in the last couple of days and had that nostalgic temptation to grab one in the moment before better judgment prevailed.
I also remember back when the Coliseum had beer vendors, the guy in the bleachers always knew to drop by our section about 20 minutes before first pitch to sell about a dozen Henry’s.
Henry’s was definitely that beer; around the same price as Bud and infinitely better. Shiner Bock was that way in Texas, back when.
I like Shiner Bock.
When I lived there, Lone Star was the local version of PBR, and Shiner Bock was definitely the more upscale alternative. I believe now Lone Star and Henry’s are owned by the same parent company. Anybody else remember Rainier from the same era? Much better than Oly, imho.
Also, too, I now prefer Rolling Rock as the cheap lager alternative.
it still exists at the smart and final! my old upstairs neighbor still buys it sometimes.
I honestly think that one sip of that stuff would transport me back to vomiting in a dormitory bathroom.
I think its delicious
It may well be. That’s just the association I have with it.
I loves me some Henry’s
I still drink it. Loved that stuff when I lived in OR where it is brewed. Its much harder to find down here, but essentially it tastes like microbrewed PBR
(Pokes nose outside. Sniffs.) Still going strong. I prefer his Henry’s Root Beer, though.
are you in the pearl?
I work downtown on Pioneer Courthouse Square, live on the east side. I was maybe embellishing a little bit, but anytime I go to the Pearl, the smell of the brew pervades.
east sideis where its at anyway
The great thing about this town is that there’s coolness in just about every quarter (quintile if you separate North Portland from NE Portland. Don’t know how long it’s been since you’ve been here, but lots of cool districts have popped up in the not quite ten years I’ve lived here. Right now, Burnside just east of the River has turned into a mini-Hipster hood with some cool restaurants, a nicely refurbished club/motel (Douglas Fir Lounge) and a lot of cool boutiques. Lots of other examples throughout town.
I left in 08 was back for a visit in early 11. I miss it.
I use to hang out on burnside at Rontoms a lot.
Green Dragon in down that way
I lived on the east side out by Pied Cow and all the Hawthorneyness.
NW has some cool stuff in terms of breweries and the like but SW is really boring.
NE and N have some quality hipster establishments/restaurants/Alberta Street fair.
A good friend of ours lives off of NE Alberta. Love the Tin Shed for breakfast. Great little wine shop nearby. Lots of other cool stuff in the hood.
the Detour had the most amazing breakfast creation in 08… it just wasn’t the same last year. It was this biscutty egg sandwhich.
I ate one like every day.
SW has a few gems, but agreed they are few and far between. I never had any reason to go there until we started sending our kids to school in that vicinity.
Gravy on N. Mississippi has the best breakfast now including very awesome biscuit sandwiches. Enough food to keep you going until dinner.
that sounds awesome. I miss it up there.
ew blue moon… coors… no thank you
The same conglomerate that owns Weinhard’s. And brews PBR.
fucking a really?
thats more depressing than the giants winning
Well sort of. There is a MillerCoors “joint venture” running both, though it looks like it isn’t a complete merger of SABMiller and Molson/Coors.
STOP FUCKING WITH MY BEER I CANT TAKE THIS
No more hipster beer for you!
Lagunitas, Stone, and Sierra are all a Californian needs.
and Russian River too
And Anchor…and North Coast…
I could live without Anchor, but I’m a hop whore and that’s not how they operate.
♥ Pliny
Thanks, and go As.
Oregon beer >>> CA beer
Not a chance. Russian River, Stone, North Coast, Lost Coast, The Bruery, et al. are way better than Ninkasi, Deschutes, Rogue (one of the most overrated breweries in existence), and whatever else Oregon has.
You’ve only named the most commercial of our microbrews; there are gads of smaller ones that are better. I tend to agree with you on Rogue, though.
I’m not sure I’ve had a Rogue beer that I enjoy. I was super excited to find Oaked Double Bastard one time and it was disgusting.
Thanks, and go As.
Rouge is super over rated. But you under rate the rest of Oregon beer significantly
Their Morimoto beers are pretty ok
I’m kinda anxious to try something from Altamont Beer Works
They’re here in LibMo.
Thanks, and go As.
What are some of these Oregon beers that I’m apparently missing out on? Can you only find them in Oregon itself?
(I don’t think the Deschutes or Full Sails and such of Oregon breweries are bad by any means; I just think there are much better California brewery options)
Hopworks Urban Beer is the first that comes to mind – I doubt you can find it outside of Oregon.
Also, Lucky Lab and Bridgeport (which you probably can get). Hair of the Dog is reputed to be great, but I have yet to try.
If anyone going on a beer run to Oregon and into cider, Anthem is tasty. (I get in cider moods in the summer)
And I appreciate you, Dial C. Rogue’s okay, but SO freaking overrated.
OMG. cider. please. right now.
I have heard positive things about Hair of the Dog actually, although I’ve never tried it. I’ll keep an eye out for the others, just in case I run into them. Thanks for the suggestions, PDX.
At least Blue Moon was created at Coors Field, so it’s got a baseball connection.
Not to mention Odom
Blue Moon is delicious, I find that acceptable.
Agree with this. Back when I was buying Kegs, the options were Natty Light/Natty Ice/PBR/Icehouse/Schaefer’s for the $55/keg range. Even name brand shitty beers were more like $70.
PBR is the clear winner in that category.
Local microbrew kegs are often cheap compared to lesser-quality national brands.
Before my wife had to quit drinking beer, we used to get kegs of Monkey Knife Fight Ale (4.9%ish) for $125. The Eye Of The Hawk keg for my wedding was almost $200.
that kind of rambled on a bit and didn’t make as much sense as I thought it did.
I’ve been writing dialogue all morning, so that would explain why.
Sure. But this was college frat party beer, so that third digit is an instant disqualifier.
Beer pong is not played with local microbrews.
I went to something once that felt like a college frat party with beer pong, except it was all lesbians between the ages of 18 and 30… and me… and Bloomie… I think we stayed for about five minutes.
I’m intrigued and would like to subscribe to that newsletter.
Thanks, and go As.
That scenario sounds hauntingly familiar.
Man, I haven’t bought a keg in quite a long time. Used to be a pretty frequent occurance.
I have a keggerator in my garage, unused and unplugged.
Man at one point I had plans to convert one of my garage cabinets (old 1950s metal kitchen cabinets I repurposed) into a kegerator. Was going to use the guts of a kegerator, insulate the cabinet, and have enough room for probably 3 different 3 gallon soda kegs at a time.
Thanks, and go As.
That would have been pretty kick ass, for sure.
another time. It’s not like it would take a herculean effort to make it happen
Thanks, and go As.
Simpler Times beats them both.
never been to a bar with it, so it is dqed
It’s can only.
What and you think i get my pbr on draft? lol
You only drink in bars?
at home I generally drink higher quality beer.
That was often the go-to in college for me.
PS Why wasn’t Delmon Young nontendered last offseason?
My patient is 80 y/o. Why do I need to know his sperm count?
That does seem a bit silly.
I need to explain this in my paperwork. I’m at a loss.
I would guess it’s so the hospital can bill for some unneccessary cancer tests.
Answer: You don’t. Whoever ordered this test should be fired.
It was part of a URINE sample, which was even weirder.
You’re counting the sperm in his urine? Maybe you’re trying to see if his balls have sprung a leak?
Which they probably have. If he’s 80,he probably steps on them every time he walks.
Do your ball hang low? Can you tie them in a knot? Can you tie them in a bow? Can you throw them over your shoulder like a continental soldier?
Wait. Are you calling me old?
Yes.
Get off my lawn.
You don’t have one.
Adrian Beltre is safe from this.
“His balls sprung a leak.” That’s what I’m going for.
I asked my REAL nursey friends, and they said it was due to a residual from a recent ejaculation. I cried.
Now comes the real question: did he have sex, or should you not have shaken his hand?
Or, what exactly am I in for tomorrow?
Brown chicken, brown cow.
Also, I think this guy owns the building I live in. Free rent?
It’s not worth it.
I’m working 1 day a week. It would be worth it.
You say that now. What till you see an 80 year old’s junk. Some things can’t be unseen.
Do you know how many times I’ve seen an 80 y/o’s junk already?
Any number greater than 1 is too much.
>10
If you need help gouging your eyes out, just let me know.
Oh, your ass is getting pinched. One way or another, it’s getting pinched.
Not likely. I have yet to have a patient pinch my ass. I usually get the mean ones who say things that make me cry.
Just tell me who they are. Me and my Louisville Slugger will pay them a visit.
Well, my patient said he loved me. He had dementia, and couldn’t remember the nurse who took care of him the last two days but he remembered my name. He asked for me, and when I got in there he asked for me to wipe his ass because the aid didn’t do it… She did do it. I think he was trying to get off.
Ew!
But come my time of dementia, senility, and decrepitude I probably shouldn’t make any promises.
Taken a step further. If it comes up positive, it means that while he was laying in bed with his hands tied up, he’s very easily aroused.
Good for him, but it doesn’t answer the question of why you need to know his sperm count. Seriously, I think a lot of this is “just run the test and we’ll charge Medicare”.
Because your boss thinks it will be funny. Your boss is right. This is funny.
School
Ok, replace “boss” with “instructor.”
Low sperm count can be a sign of other health related issues?
But I think it can also be a sign of being 80 years old.
If he had an overly high sperm count he’s probably doping.
Two words: Zvonimir. Rogoz.
WHAT did you just call my mom?
Cue the Aybar-McCarthy replays.
Fister just took a liner off the head, but miraculously seems to be okay.
Where exactly did it hit him?
It was a little above the right ear, but not so much a direct hit as McCarthy got because the ball continued in a straight line (horizontally) out to short center field, so it apparently skimmed off the head rather than conking him.
Ok, just saw the video. The ball drastically changed direction after it hit him. I am shocked he didn’t come out of the game considering the McCarthy precedent. That ball hit him very hard.
I’m assuming they pulled him anyway, just as a precaution?
nope, now hes hitting
Huh. Seems like something you shouldn’t mess around with.
Wow, incredible.
I’ve seen what I’m pretty sure is the ghost of a cat in this house. Right now, it smells like that damn thing just used it’s ghost litterbox.
Smokey & The Bandit II is on.
I know this isn’t a tagline, but wouldn’t it be awesome if we could have disposable taglines that came up only once or twice and then erased themselves, ‘cuz if we did, this definitely would be one of the!
No house.
Thanks, and go As.
:(
FK. Sorry.
I continue to be befuddled by your disappointment at not being able to
buyget your name on the title to a house when you repeatedly say you have no money.Lenders forcing loans on people like you, who were more than happy to accept them, is exactly why we’ve had a housing crisis for the last several years.
Maybe he means he has no money other than what he’s set aside for a down payment and mortgage payments. We don’t know his financial situation at all, and it’s not our place to judge.
He’s said plenty about his financial situation. I’ve been a single 30-something guy in the Bay Area and I didn’t have any illusions about buying a house by myself unless I would be willing to work 3 jobs, which I wasn’t. He thinks he ought to be able to buy a house without any money because he could do that 10 years ago. Thank goodness those days are over.
It can be done under the right circumstances. But your options are very limited and you have to be willing to make compromises wrt what you can buy. Assuming you can have a big/medium sized house with all the fixing will get you into trouble.
I have no idea what kind of houses Mike is looking at, and I’m not comfortable assuming that I know what he’s thinking.
Me neither. But from the sound of it, he’s not looking for bells and whistles but he may still be going over his means just the same. But like you, I see no reason to make any assumptions about any of it.
I do have an idea about the houses and about what’s he’s thinking because we’ve had several conversations here such as this one. They’re all full of self-pity and it just gets tiresome.
I’m not trying to change your mind, but he’s angry and frustrated and disappointed and he wants to vent. I don’t really have a problem with that.
Yes, Mike. People are on the internet are arguing about your life. You’ve made it, son.
I don’t enjoy being an asshole but sometimes friends need stronger feedback than “Gee man that really sucks, I’m sorry”.
I agree. I like it when people do that to me. Also I do that to plenty of people and then they hate me (see bed, sir).
However, in this particular case Mike’s problem is that he won’t leave his kids and that renting and paying a mortgage are basically the same cost in the area he is living in. If that is true, there really isn’t a good option.
You’re so convinced I hate you…I don’t even know you, and you don’t know me.
Are you denying that you dislike me?
I don’t really think about it. I know on AN I probably rec’d you more than any other person. I don’t hate you and I never have. Sometimes we get along and sometimes we don’t. If we met in real life I imagine we’d get along fine.
OK, we need to get deepr into this. When you say you recced him more than any other person, do you mean that nobody else recced him more than you or that you didn’t rec anybody else as much as you did him. Hmm? HHMMM?!!!
Dan!!!!!
This would be who I rec’d the most…my guess is I rec’d DFA, Dan, Oz, Pam and you, elcroata the most. I went with people who entertained me. It didn’t matter if it was about baseball or not. I rec’d quite a bit on AN.
What about me?!? Asshole.
I totally think you two would get along just fine in person.
DFA’s sweet and nurturing side comes out more in person than in print. He’s gonna make a heck of a father someday.
I appreciate the father comment.
That being said I find it interesting that you assume concerns of us not getting along would be because of my personality.
You FEEL different in print than in person. I didn’t even need a large sample to figure that out.
Well, the starting premise is your assertion that Bed hates you, so it kind of follows from that.
I don’t think it does.
Two people are involved in that decision.
The main thing I want to make clear is that I have no problem with anyone on this site. If I post something that any of you don’t like, just tell me. I’m here to have fun, not to have problems.
I don’t like that you write too much about VORP. TOO NERDY, PAL!
mikev is one of my favorite people on here.
SuSlu, is that you?
I have no intention of going around and around so I will simply say your assumption is incorrect and that is that…
If you have some sort of problem with me or what I post, I invite you to do one of two things: a) Come out to a gathering and we can have a beer and shoot the shit, or b) fuck off and don’t bother replying to me any longer. I don’t particularly care which, because I have a whole fucking shitload of other things to do with my life as opposed to defend myself on the internet when all I want to do is put a roof over the head of my kids.
Now I’ll go get another beer and log off for the night.
Thanks, and go A’s.
Thanks, and go As.
Oh sure, you’ll go have a beer with that guy!
That was one hell of a bunt just now.
I’m resigned to the fact that the universe just wants good things to happen to the Giants.
Fuck the universe.
Like Sandoval’s belly, it just keeps getting bigger.
Like Sandoval’s belly, the universe has recently (re-)entered a phase of exponential expansion, which might ultimately lead to an event called the “Big Rip“.
Hah.
Astronomers are predicting an increase in the number of Coronal Mass Ejections in the future.
ewww
You don’t think the Baseball Gods are just trolling Giants fans?
No.
It’s their sick, twisted, horribly fucked up way of giving the fucking Tigers comeuppance… instead of giving it to us, they’re screwing us. Fuck the baseball gods.
Sigh. It doesn’t seem like it. Though I’m holding out hope that since in each other series they started flailing and then had to win 3 straight to avoid elimination, they’ve messed up their M.O. and the reverse will happen.
FK it already.
I’d almost rather they just sweep it and get it over with rather than drag it out to 6 or 7 games.
That’s where I’m at now. Just win it already. I’ll deal with the parade hassle next week. And then it will be over. The Giants have caught breaks, but when they destroyed Verlander, I assumed it was a done deal.
The Giants are proof of how .500 seasons kill your franchise. By being bad rather than mediocre from 05 to 08, they got 13.4 WAR this season from their top 10 1rst round draft picks from those drafts.
Though being bad for a number of years in a row isn’t exactly a panacea as Kansas City Royals and Pittsburgh Pirates fans will attest.
you have to not draft luke hochaver its true
You need a Buster Posey to be there, and you need to be smart enough to take him if he is there.
Lincecum and Bumgarner were drafted 10th overall. Cain was 25th. It’s evened out by the fact that Choice, Russell, Weeks were 10th, 11th, 12th respectively.
Posey is the only “proof” as he was the only pick significantly higher than what the A’s have had.
And of course the A’s had the 24th pick in the Cain draft.
and took Blanton
Thanks, and go As.
Which is not that huge a fail by MLB drafting standards, but still, imagine the prospects we would have gotten for Cain by now!
I’d prefer to imagine how many fewer WS championships the fking Giants would have by now.
There is only a 7 WAR difference between the two
We had one year at 10
They had 6 5 10 and 10.
Yes. How dare the A’s win 91 games in 2004.
And 88 games in 2005.
And 93 games in 2006 and go all the way to the ALCS.
Thats not what I am saying at all but 2007-11 we didn’t suck enough.
The 07 draft was decimated by injury (Simmons) and FKing retirement (Desme). 08 brought Weeks and Ross; Weeks might still work out. 09 will forever be the Hindsight is 20-20 Why-Didn’t-They-Draft-Trout?!?! year but Green/Stassi/Krol + Straily still has potential. 10 is Choice + Griffin. 11 was a loaded draft and landing Gray at 18 was a boon. As for 2012… knowing what you know now, if the A’s could re-do and pick #1 overall, who would you rather see them take besides Russell???
Other than 2009, where did the A’s invest serious capital (either cash or prospects) into the MLB team? Chavez was a sunk cost by this time frame, as was Crosby. Harden and Blanton would get traded by the end of the year. Those represent 4 of the top 5 salaries on the roster at the start of 2008. (Street was the 6th highest, for what it’s worth.)
Arguing that the A’s should have drafted abysmally prior to 2007 so their teams would truely suck in 2008-2011 in the hopes that they’d draft well during those seasons seems rather unrealistic.
You are completely missing my point.
The A’s haven’t drafted well. Look at the number of their top prospects that were drafted by the organization v outside. However that isn’t my point.
I would argue that in both 09 and 11 the A’s made moves to help contention that shouldn’t have been made because we should have just bit the bullet .
I think the the A’s have drafted well in terms of what they received in relation to what they invested. Yes, there were drafts that we both wished would have seen more of a finacial commitment from management, I’m not denying that. But if Weeks rebounds into a starting caliber 2B (or gets traded to a team for a return commensurate with a starter) then I don’t see how you can give a failing mark to the A’s recent drafts.
You know I’m not going to defend 2009.
But you’re wrong on 2011. Beane acquired Willingham and DeJesus for pennies on the dollar at a time when the organization had a critical need in the OF. They offered immediate production plus the option of using them as trade chips or to earn additional draft picks. Fuentes was a gamble that did not pay off but Balfour has. McCarthy hit. Kouz lost it, but he appeared to be a solid Plan B when the run at Beltre fell short.
The decision to not invest in the draft is Beane’s decision and that is on his head. Basically you are taking a starter that has one outing where he pitches well and strikes a bunch of people out and then blows out his arm for the year and saying “Well he is a good starter when he is healthy.” That doesn’t matter though when you are looking at overall contribution to the team.
We earned 1 supplemental pick from the whole thing. We got some meaningless production in a year where we sucked. We should have been playing someone cheap that had breakout potential.
Fuentes was a disaster.
Balfour has been worth his salary but hasn’t been worth his salary plus the draft pick that we gave up for him.
McCarthy was a scrub. We should have been picking up scrubs and trying to find if they hit.
When the Beltre ran fell short the A’s should have cashed their chips in and tried to completely rebuild.
Balfour has been worth his salary and was a key contributor in this year’s success.
DDJ did not perform as expected/projected.
Pig didn’t have the hoped for trade value in July, 2011.
The question is: did Beane make sound, responsible moves to acquire these players? He gave up a pittance to get them; he came out ahead at the buying point. Its too bad the end result wasnt the boon hoped for.
The A’s should have been playing some unnamed players with breakout potential. Sound point.
As for the draft, Beane has had to balance the big league roster and the draft with a strict budget. He’s had some success doing that; he’s also had failure. I don’t deny that but you seem to continually ignore that point. The irony is your Harden analogy gives more credit to the successful contributions of the example than you give the actual person.
See this is the biggest croc of your argument.
You cant say that we paid nothing for Pig and DDJ when we spend $13m on them and spent almost nothing on the that draft. Without the cost of the prospects, if you are gutting your draft budget for MLB upgrades in a year that you are
As for high upside scrub types how bout Cameron Maybin who was acquired for almost nothing that offseason and is probably the best example. Someone’s former top prospect that hadn’t hit yet that would either be great or awful. Melky Cabrera was signed for just money. Nyjer Morgan was acquired super cheaply. Jonny Gomes or Andru Jones. Or letting Carter or Taylor do it.
Maybin was a CF and the A’s had Crisp already under contract. Melky was coming off a -1.1 fWAR season in 2010 and had amassed 2.5 fWAR for his career prior to 2011. If Beane’s plan was to get some COF production in 2011 AND potentially convert that into draft picks/prospects than Melky Cabrera was a bad option. Gomes was still under contract with Cincy and had posted a -0.1 fWAR 2010. Jones could have been an option, assuming he wasn’t chasing a ring when he signed with the Yankees. Nyjer Morgan… eh, maybe. Hindsight makes him look prettier than he did after 2010. Taylor bombed in AAA and Carter, as you’ve said, in the OF is BAD.
Your argument is that Beane should have gone cheap in Oakland and dumped his cash into the draft. I admit that’s a fair plan; with the caveat that you’ve still got to hit on your picks AND those draft picks probably aren’t going to develope while Anderson, Cahill and Gio headline the rotation.
(Irony. I know.)
What is also a fair plan… investing cash into the big league roster with the idea of turning the short term rentals into more advanced prospects in July OR, as a fail safe, draft picks in 2012. DDJ flopped horribly in terms of earning the A’s long term value, such is the risk when making a trade. But Pig netted 2 draft picks in 2012. But neither COF put the A’s into a long term fiscal hole and considering the early returns of the 2012 draft the extra wins they added to the 2011 team did not hurt Oakland in the long run.
You are conflating a bunch of issues.
First the A’s went cheap in the 2011 draft when it was the last draft that they could have spent money on. If you take 13m from Pig and DDJ in 2011 and invest it in the draft without penalty, you could go way over slot rather than spending next to nothing on the draft last year. I bet those prospects would be close to helping this wave.
Which I why after failing to get Beltre I suggested that we blow the whole thing up and trade Cahill and Anderson (Gio I wanted to keep because I thought he would improve his stock for a later trade) along wtih getting rid of Bailey and anyone else of value. Further, even if DDJ and Pig were good it wouldn’t have been enough to make the A’s contenders during the reign of CAG. But even if they hit the shit out of the ball, they were only going to be around for 1 year and the A’s wouldn’t have had the ability to sustain a run anyway. It was a terrible plan because even if it worked out it would have only meant 1 year of possible contention while sacrificing more than that with losing the investment in two drafts.
You’re always advocating blowing the whole thing up and the fact is, there are other ways to build a winning team. Adding DDJ and Pig on the short term allowed Beane to try and put a winning team on the field AND help him add pieces for the long term. The long term addition of two draft picks was not nearly as drastic as what you suggested he do, but could still pay dividends down the road.
If it had worked out as planned the A’s would’ve had a winning season in 2011, up to 4 extra draft picks, and the financial flexibility to make the moves they ended up making this last offseason.
That would have been a good outcome.
Except when I suggested going all in with Beltre twice and then trading the entire farm for immediate upgrades. I also would have gone all in this year and this offseason. The thing is for most of the time that you and I have known eachother that was absolutely that right course.
I’ll rephrase: You’re always going to extremes. Paying whatever to land… Chase Headley (seems a good example) this July would most likely have been foolhardy. What the A’s really needed was another quality bullpen arm, as I thought relying on Scribner, Blevins and just adding Neshek was going to bite Oakland in the ass. Adding a relief arm would not have pillaged the system.
And for most of the time we’ve known each other blowing everything up was not the right course.
Well not blowing shit up didn’t work very well.
And as close to blowing shit up as we have ever gotten resulted in this playoff run.
What we needed was Hanley Ramirez and Marco Scutaro. Which was available for essentially nothing.
HanleY :(
Thanks, and go As.
You think last off-season was blowing shit up?
I mean true, Cahill has kept improving but he got swapped for a near ready SP with similar (or more, depending on who you ask) upside and a near ready RP with a big fastball.
Gio brought back a metric shit ton; including a big league ready SP replacement. I thought he still had a bit of upside but not a nearly 2 Win bump. I think the Nats made Beane too good an offer to turn down, regardless of the state of the A’s.
Bailey was a closer. How many times has Beane traded his closer?
So sure, the Cahill trade was a bit of a shock but Beane didn’t part ways with Crisp or Suzuki or even shop Weeks and he made a big money gamble on Cespedes. Beane’s 2011 off-season, as a whole, was much more a middle-of-the-road course than an extreme turn. (Admittedly one involving something of a lead foot.)
Scutaro got ridiculously hot in SF and produced ~80% of his fWAR value during 61 games with the Giants. Yeah… I didn’t see that coming. I’d love to know who was discussed in a potential Hanley trade and what kind of money was involved because there’s a legit question as to whether he’s going to be worth what he’s going to get paid for the next couple seasons. So I liked Hanley as a short term rental but the long term was scary.
No matter how happy MikeV woulda been this summer.
Hey I’m rarely 100% completely sure about baseball stuff, but goddammit I was RIGHT about Hanley and about Matt Kemp.
YOU CAN’T TAKE THAT FROM ME
Also how close are you to Davis? I’ll be up there the 9th and 10th.
Thanks, and go As.
40-45 minutes away. I work the 10th but have Sunday off.
Another things… you need to factor in where the A’s were coming out of the 2010 season. They finished 81-81 and only got ~ 3.3 fWAR from their outfield (factoring Cust’s 2.2 fWAR at DH). COF was the obvious weakness on that team.
The 2011 OF earned 6.3 fWAR (factoring Matsui’s 0.3 fWAR at DH). The 2011 squad also got 2.9 fWAR more from the SP and 2.7 fWAR more from the bullpen than the 2010 squad produced.
What killed the 2011 squad was the starting infield of Barton, Ellis, Pennington and Kouzmanoff combining for 15.1 fWAR in 2010 and then dropping to 1.3 fWAR in 2011; that drop only partially mitigated by the addition of Weeks and Sizemore to the tune of a combined 3.6 fWAR in partial seasons.
I remember folks talking about some regression concern in the 2010 infield numbers but nothing like what actually happened. SHould Beane have seen the infield collapse coming? I think that’s asking too much.
Actually many of us predicted the collapse of Kouz (I had him at 1.5 WAR going into the year) and Pennington, who I had at 2.5 WAR, Ellis being hurt and being a black hole wasn’t surprising at all considering his injury history and I only gave him 2 WAR and Barton I had at 3.
So yes I expected them to produce 9 WAR rather than 15 so even if you increased the value of the OF by 6 WAR from the acquisitions it would have just gone back into the regressions by the INF.
Our definitions of collapse seem to be different.
Kouz losing half his value is serious regression. Going from 3 Wins to replacement level is a collapse. Same for Ellis. Same for Barton.
Semantics aside, if all the improved outfield production did was replace the regression of the infield then the 2011 A’s would have still been ~4 Wins better than the 2010 A’s thanks to improved pitching.
YAY an 85 win team!!!! WOOT!
Ellis was always a huge injury risk
Pennington had offseason shoulder surgery.
Kouz had a bum back.
That screams collapse risk.
Yet you projected 2 Wins, 2.5 Wins and 1.5 wins, respectively. Go figure!
The 2010 team was also 4 wins under their Pythagorean W/L projection. Hell, 4 wins here, 4 wins there and who knows what happens. I don’t recall what the preseason W/L projections said about the 2012 A’s. I remember whispers about a 100 loss season but I don’t know if that was based on any calculations.
Point is this… when you put the best possible team you can on the field sometimes you get a payout greater than what you might have expected. Could Beane have done the slash and burn program you advocated prior to the 2011 season? Absolutely. Would the A’s be where they are today? Not very likely.
this is why i prefer the Mystery.
What benefits to todays team did the 2011 season have?
We had to find two new corner OFs. Enter Reddick and Cespedes.
Thanks, and go As.
Off the top of my head: If DFA got to Nuke the A’s
Crisp would be gone.
Balfour would be gone.
(That’s 4.5 Wins that the A’s needed in 2012)
Weeks would be gone. (Hey, not every move woulda been a negative!)
No idea if Sexy Pants makes his way to the Green & Gold.
Doubt Seth Smith shows.
(There’s another 4.5 Wins off the 2012 roster, assuming Smith wasn’t on the DFA drawing board… and kudos if he was.)
I could see Moss and Gomes fitting into your plan, but not Inge ’cause you’d have let MikeV convince you to move Barton to 3B.
Seriously though, Beane kept a core from that 2011 team to build around. He quadrupled McCarthy’s salary in spite of the risks. He kept Balfour instead of looking to make a salary dump. Suzuki, Weeks, Pennngton, Crisp and Sizemore headed to ST with starting jobs. The short term money invested in DDJ and Pig gave Beane the means to pursue Cespedes.
I approve this message
Thanks, and go As.
im going to move this to a seperate thread to answer because we have reached the edge.
OK. I’m calling it a night.
The Giants being successful one way proves that there’s no other way? I guess I hallucinated the A’s also winning 94 games this year.
Let’s wait until they repeat that before believing it isn’t an anomaly. Fk you baseball gods, but you damn well better make sure this is a trend, assholes.
Except the giants have been good for a while.
I mean, they weren’t actually very good in 2010.
Political ad of the year. Elcroata, watching this will explain much about current American politics.
I.. HUh???
Thanks, and go As.
You sound suspiciously pro-corn dog party. Obviously not in touch with South Dakota values.
Frankly if you’re not pro-corn dog, you’re anti-america.
Thanks, and go As.
That’s what I would have thought. It’s deep fried, it’s on a stick, and its primary ingredients are corn and pig parts. Doesn’t get much more American than that.
Bacon-wrapped corn dog.
That’s right. I saw your American. And raised you America FUCK YEAH.
Was the umlaut in Jagermeister was meant to signify the essential foreignness of the beverage, or was it a tipoff that the person who made the ad was a rootless cosmopolite for hire.
Uh…I shouldn’t post at the same time as I’m on the phone unless I’ve had more than four hours sleep.
I’ll take one. Hold the corn dog.
I would have thought so. Apparently being a democrat is evil enough to trump even a love of corn dogs.
Corn dogs are gross
Agreed.
Alton Brown disagrees
Thanks, and go As.
Alton Brown’s food is gross
right
Thanks, and go As.
Srsly.
That’s durn right.
Oh, there are a few that are way, way worse (hello, swing states!), but that one is pretty goofy on its own.
I fully expect an anti-GOTV ad ominously threatening would-be voters, funded by some suspicious independant expenditure committee, to the tune of Four Dead in Ohio.
I am pretty impressed by the production values of that ad.
“Vote for me, I’ve never traveled outside my home state or talked with anyone with a different viewpoint than my own!”
Tounces, is that you???!!!
I didn’t listen to it, but what I just saw suggested the incumbent was uniquely unqualified for politics.
This is pure gold. Thank you so much
Young Leader Award by the Soybean Association? NOW, I’m jelaous
I was nominated, but was DQed when they found out I was secretly growing sorghum in my back 20.
I actually have some US award somewhere. I think it was called Governor’ Award for Excellence in Science or something very flashy like that. A fella named Cuomo or something
Don’t you dare run for office in South Dakota, commie.
North Dakota, on the other hand…
That is really one of the funniest things in a long while. I’m not sure even Daily Show/Colbert’s writers could come up with a funnier ad.
That was awesome. Who would ever vote for the guy who has traveled and studied? Smart people are so stupid.
wow
CHUG CHUG CHUG MY JÄGERMEISTER
No statement by Mitt Romney, however stupid, ends up actually being true.
The binders full of women were thrust upon him, not requested.
We do not, in fact, have fewer Navy ships than any time since 1917. Credit for that goes to the dangerous anti-American communist Dubya.
Jeep is not offshoring its factories, and there is no way any honest person could conclude as much from the original article.
At this point, maybe we should start cataloging things Romney says that are actually true.
Okay… um… yeah… um… well there was the time he said… Well… He got his name right?… sort of?
As if Romney supporters care about the truth.
Bizarre weather patterns?
Since we know that humans can’t effect the climate, they must just mean God is a bit confused. Also too, XKCD.
I am not looking forward to this crap one bit.
I will be trying to fly from DC to Boston on Sunday night and then from Boston->LA->Sydney->Christchurch on Monday night. I really hope I make it out of Boston before the storm arrives.
fingers crossed
The previous xkcd was brilliant.
Should’ve been Joe Buck.
Or the woman in the panda hat — it wouldn’t have even required cleaning.
So, lot of crap on FOX Live. What else is new?
A’s have announced the coaching staff for next year: everyone comes back except for Rick Rodriguez, who has been replaced as bullpen coach by Darren Bush. Rodriguez “has been offered a minor league assignment in the A’s organization”.
I wonder what the logic is behind the Bush move. Is MLB Bullpen Coach a promotion or demotion over/from AAA Manager?
Going to the bigs is always a promotion, innit?
Thanks, and go As.
Might be different for managers, since they don’t have to worry quite so much about getting it done before going past their prime. I could imagine a career path that goes MLB bullpen coach->MiLB manager->MLB manager. But I’m also just making this up, because I don’t know.
Bleg:
Part of having a new baby coming is that we need to, for the first time, own a camcorder. I’ve narrowed to three: Canon R300, Canon M500, and Sony CX260.
I don’t want to say too much about them, since I’m interested in any unbiased reactions, but I will say the battery life issue with the R300 is not a big factor, since we would be buying extra batteries anyway. I know many of you have far more digital camera/video knowledge than I do, so educate away. If I’ve missed something obvious/better, let me know that too.
Just mount live streaming cameras on the foreheads of everyone in the house, running 24/7, so you’ll be certain to never miss a previous moment.
We actually abandoned most video pretty early on, because the workload of recording/saving/editing/sharing quickly became preposterous and unsustainable. It proved much more feasible for us to just use digital camera stills and the occasional video function.
Whether true or not, and I could certainly see things going that way, it doesn’t change my marching orders.
Understood. I wish I could recoup the time and money spent implementing marching orders which I knew from the start weren’t going to work right. Of course, Nurse U could well say the same about directives I’ve issued.
I managed to raise a child perfectly (mostly) well with a camera that shoots stills, on film. (Even though both of my most persistent/interesting-to-me college majors, including the one that I finally got a degree in, involve moving images… so go figure.)
We were given a Vivitar 426 HD camcorder a while ago – it looks like it was designed to compete with the flip. We’ve never even taken it out of the packaging, and given how I am wrt picture taking, we’re not likely to use it. If you want to try it out you’re welcome to it.
The only thing I have to contribute on this subject is that Canon makes great lenses. However, my experience is primarily with pro cameras.
I didn’t see this the other night, but it looks like we have another LAWN DART winner:
dammit. How did the A’s lose to this team?!?
He got to DH against us.
But he can’t hit either.
-.7 WAR ~ $6.5M
I saw this a few days ago and thought LAWN DART immediately, though this gif lacks the YES logo which makes the original extra-special.
Oh, SuSlu: http://www.theonion.com/articles/baseball-hall-of-fame-getting-depraved-urge-to-ind,30106/?ref=auto
(She’s seen it and thinks it’s hilarious)
Nice.
Is she really VP of BBWAA?
Yes, and in fact I read somewhere that she’s in line to become the Pres soon, when the incumbent retires.
She told me that’s happening tomorrow and she should let the Onion know to change it. ;-)
I assume that all of us already agreed that the Chronicle’s CW Nevius is an idiot. Now we also know that he apparently doesn’t visit San Francisco much either:
However, mad props to the sfgate.com front page headline writer (and gearhead, presumably) who labeled this artcle “Detroit, the Moper City.”
His son though is a nice guy.
I keep reading the title of this grill as “My Small Denouement,” which makes me think I’m going to find out that the epic saga of elcroata ends with a whimper, rather than a bang.
I was going to post a grill called “Your Average Denouement” filled with tales of tragic deaths, but I’ve run out of time and will be gone all weekend.
i totally keep reading it that way, too!
Me too.
Well, you are a tough crowd to please
Why does Heyman keep beating the Alex Rodriguez trade drum?
Is anybody really stupid enough to take on 5/$114M on a 36 year old who just had the worst season of his career?
Thanks, and go As.
yeah but someone will take on 5/60.
I wish they wouldn’t. FK the Yankees.
Thanks, and go As.
meh 5/60 is close to what hes worth. The yankees are still paying 60m for no production
Don’t care. I’m tired of them trying to pay their way out of all the fuckups they make.
Thanks, and go As.
If their luxury tax assessments went to other teams it would be to the A’s advantage for them to eat such contracts. But alas, luxury payments go to the league for various purposes.
I just want them to suffer through having Arod during his fall off the cliff decline years.
Thanks, and go As.
I’m with you.
me, too.
add pujols/angels to that
Moneyball is still, and always be, for losers.
Will these idiots never stop with this shit?
Well, that was a terrible article.
Aieee, the stupid, it burns!
Seriously, I don’t know what is worse – articles like this or Tea Party-like rhetorics. I find both so insulting-to-the-brain and they tend to make me aggressive.
Seriously, WTF?
How did this shit go down in 2008 then, really?
Tellem: So, Dave, I think it’s time to discuss the new contract for my client
Dombrowski: Oh, yeah, Miggy, he seems like a nice kid
– He is the best pure hitter out there, Dave, he averaged over 140 wRC+ over last four years, and that’s including the adjustment to AL
– C’mon, Arn, you know we don’t do these things around here.
– My bad, Dave. The guy is simply a run producer, 130 HR and 476 RBI since 2004, you NEED him in your lineup.
– Arn?
– Umm, OK. He is Mr. Clutch Dave, he batted .600 for you last year with man on second and third. Six hundred, Dave!
– No, no, no! No numbers, please, are we Moneyball here or something. Moneyball, hahaha
– Yeah, Dave, Moneyball, hahaha
– But he does seem like a nice kid
– Very nice kid, yes
– Great smile
– Awesome smile, Dave, you nailed it
– And very funny. He’s someone you can have a drink with and just laugh
– So, how about 150 million?
– Sure.
hi.
hi pretty
<3
I just hate this article so much, it’s really bugging me
You, my friend, have been Joe-Morganed.
I’m moderately surprised he correctly identified the author of Moneyball and didn’t attribute it to Billy Beane and/or computers.
But he did say that it “sold plenty of fans on the idea that the A’s won games because of a better use of computers.”
Yeah, but he left out OBP. Crucial trolling columnist error there.
Nice! I had no idea Stomper tweeted. Also, carving a pumpkin with huge plush hands has got to be hell.
Tweeting with those plush hands must be a similarly daunting challenge.
Make Your Own Animatronic Screaming Skull Brake Lights With Junkyard Parts!
THANK YOU! I’ve been trying to remember your bro-in-law’s site for years!
Mostly he writes for car and driver now.
One of the few of you I’ve met. :)
You think I could get that guy’s insurance company to pay for this?
Okay, Let’s Cut To The Chase—Which People Do I Know Who You Also Know Who Went To Your School?
HAHAHA
wth.
So I talked to Ticket Services today (because I get lonely and they are my true friend) and got some info some might find interesting (with the disclaimer that if you ask three ticket services reps a question, you will get three different answers)
1) The 22-game pack will be 24 games next season.
2) They apparently just finished hashing out prices for next season a few days ago so we should see it posted soon. I was told that my particular area (Plaza Infield) is going to have the same ST per-game price next year (if this is true, I am pleased and impressed)
3) There’s been over 2,000 new deposits for season tickets (gogo playoff strips)
Also, word on the street from talking to Gigs and then ticket services was that for new season ticket holders, it will no longer be possible to buy a single 22 (now 24) game plan, there will be a minimum of 2 seats on a deposit. Not sure if this extends to any other plans. So apparently the A’s hate single people.
Or they want to encourage dating
You have to hand it to them.
Intra-fanbase spawning is guaranteed to increase attendance and merchandise sales.
I would have to be married for like 10 years before sharing a season ticket account, that’s just way too personal.
So what happens with the unused ALCS tix–do those just automatically refund to your CC or do you have to send them in?
They auto-refund to your CC, no need to send them in, unless you paid with cash (then you have to turn them in).
Postseason strips have complicated voodoo, though.
I was told the same thing about a single ticket plan. But then I probably would’ve just traded in tickets so that my wife and I would both attend 11 games together, which is exactly what they’re trying to avoid.
thats what we always do on our plan.
This strikes me as a bad idea from the A’s (shocking). What’s more likely: People who now buy single 22 game packs find a friend and more than double their season ticket commitment to 48, or those people instead stop buying season tickets altogether, and instead just go game-by-game? I bet a lot more people do the latter than the former. Because unless you must be in the same seat always, and also must be at all high demand games like fireworks and SFGs, then going game-by-game is easy and cheap.
Also if the A’s suck next year and are a boring team (which isn’t that unlikely considering massive regression from Reddick Moss Carter Donaldson and the entire rotation that pitched a hell of a lot of innings) you are far less likely to go to as many games.
Not only is your glass half full it has poison in it!
The A’s absolutely should make business decisions based on what is most likely to generate the most income. I don’t see how it is possible to have that be a good business decision.
Further, Im not saying the A’s will suck, but if they don’t suck, people will want to go to games, but if they aren’t watch out.
I don’t give a damn about the business angle of this sub-thread (Sac + Wildland fire fighter, remember?) I take issue with the doom & gloom in your comment.
Well then Im not sure why you are arguing with a comment about mitigating business risk then.
Do I hope the A’s suck? Obviously not. Do I think that its a realistic possibility? Absolutely and any good prognosticator would.
And any good prognosticator would also mention that young players, especially those with little big league experience, also have the potential to improve on their current level of production.
That’s the part you tend to leave out; thus my mentioning it.
Didn’t know that Brandon Moss was young
Didn’t know that Chris Carter was likely to improve on the best offensive season hes had since 2008 all while competing at the highest level of baseball.
Didn’t know that Josh Donaldson was likely to improve on his 14.5 UZR/150
Didn’t know that Reddick was likely to reproduce a 20 UZR/150 or the 15% HR/FB rate
Reddick had 403 pre-2012 PA over 3 seasons.
Moss 749 PA over 5 seasons.
Carter 124 PA in 2 seasons.
Donaldson 34 PA back in 2010.
Experience matters. The opportunity to learn from failure and success matters.
Is there risk of these guys falling on their faces next year? Absolutely. Is there still upside? Absolutely.
Donaldson is IMO the most likely to maintain production since the offensive production wan’t that high, and it is likely that actual improvement can happen defensively with a full offseason at 3b.
While MLB experience does matter, its not likely to matter when they are exceeding their ARL appropriate minor league numbers.
I would love to see the percentages of what quantity of seats season ticket holders have on their accounts, I think it’d be interesting since I know I’ve certainly met my share of other 22-game-holders who are ridin’ solo (and already had to tell two different friends of mine that were contemplating becoming season ticket holders with a single seat FC plan that they can’t anymore). I feel like, while most people have family or spouses or kids or friends or whatever, we DO make up at least a reasonable number.
Makes me HELLA glad I gave in and got my plan last year, since there’s no way I would have been able to get a plan otherwise.
Just seems weird that if people are all “TAKE MY MONEY”, the A’s don’t want to say “SURE.” Especially since FC plans don’t have consistent seat assignments and can be used to fill gaps in sections.
Not if they are going for the LOOK WE WON HELLA AND WE STILL CANT MAKE MONEY LET US GO TO SAN JOSE approach, which is exactly what I would be doing if I was Wolfe
Talk to our other A’s-loving ex-Cardio-ite friend, who I just talked into talking her husband into putting a deposit on Sec. 215 tix… you guys should share a plan! :)
Ooh! Thanks for the tip!
Just shooting shit – Parker for Moustakas, would you do it? And what would be, in your mind the fairest match for him if A’s were to offer something. His first arbitration year is 2015
No.
care to elaborate?
also, does “no” mean you would not want to trade for him at all?
I wouldn’t do Parker for him. And not really sure I’d want him. His offensive numbers don’t impress me much (granted he’s young and all that), but I’d prefer to roll the dice and see what Donaldson can do there and use any pieces we might trade for something more important. I think Parker has ace potential and I’d rather see that through as well.
Genearly I would trade any pitcher for a similarly good position player. I just don’t think Moustakas is all that good considering his last two years of performance, that he will be 25 next year, and I think the fielding 16.8 or whatever it was is a fluke.
Does anybody have a link to a number of PA with which to regress OBP, AVG, SLG and similar?
Semi-helpful link I found in a quick search:
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/when-samples-become-reliable/
I was out drinking and learned to great pieces of news
1) They turn the clocks backward tonight, giving me an extra hour of sleep
2) It’s Sunday tomorrow, not Monday
We don’t end Daylight Savings Time until the weekend after Halloween. Which works fine for me, because I’m going to the Raiders game the next day.
Shoes-bait.
Ooh. Looks fun.
Mmhmm. SF has events all week long, culminating with the crawl on the last night. A bit more variety as well. This and this, for instance, were a lot of fun.
One more thing. Alan Bennett, he of Madness of George III and History Boys, has a novella called The Uncommon Reader. You can probably finish it over an afternoon. I think you’d love it. Highly recommend it (to anyone who has ever enjoyed reading a book).
Thanks for the recommendation! I have a Barnes and Noble gift card that I’ve been wanting to spend. Now I know just what to get.
Of course.
Let me know what you think.
Fox News puts up truthful headline, of course it was a typo
WTF? Ass-Jack is part of the pregame show for Fox?
Now singing the National Anthem
Zoo
…
ey
…
De
…
scha
…
nel
i wonder if she has a series on FOX?
Oh, Ed. You and your silly conspiracy theories.
Susan Slusser elected President of the BBWAA! Great honor for a much-deserving baseball writer. However, it may not have been worth this:
ewwww. poor suslu. :(
At least she didn’t get Ratto’s vote.
hey! welcome home!!! :D
Thanks – fantastic trip, great to be home.
Awesome. Welcome!
too cute! <3
Aww! He looks contemplative.
She’s a sweetheart, and I’m glad to be past that stage! Maybe it’s just too soon, but calming a persistently screaming baby and dealing with exploded diapers haven’t regained any charm yet.
Yeah, I’m thinking it always be too soon.
Ain’t that the truth.
Oh my gosh so cute!!!
And so is she.
Dig it Silver Fox!!
For those who don’t know, this is a yearly thing that begins and ends with the World Series. Still cool. First female president, and I saw an African-American woman was named the first VP.
Race/gender barriers, keep falling!
How did he grade her hug? Is it on the same level as her tenacity?
grover Bait
Jane does have a pretty smile…