Thank [Diety] We’ve Grilled All Our Prospects ← FREE KRAUT!

Thank [Diety] We’ve Grilled All Our Prospects 42

If we had any, they’d be stuck in the minors. Other news broken by Slusser’s piece:

Carter, the A’s top power-hitting prospect, doesn’t appear as if he can buy a roster spot.

A’S EXPLOITING NEW MARKET INEFFICIENCY: SALE OF ROSTER SPOTS

Michael Taylor, texted him to say, “What are we going to do now?”

OBAMA URGES TAYLOR: LEARN TO HIT BASEBALL

“I have faith in myself,” Blevins said. “But it’s a competition. The jobs are out there.”

BREAKING NEWS: BLEVINS TO APPEAR AT COMIC-CON

Other links:

  1. DFAIS
  2. This is a fascinating comparison. IP is, of course, not exactly like feudalism, but there are a ton of similarities. My hope is that ebooks bring popular attention to the issue when people realize they’ll essentially never get more free books.
  3. The economy isn’t exactly catching up.
  4. OBAMA URGES AMERICANS: WTF


[Diety] is watching. Guard your stuff.

42 thoughts on “Thank [Diety] We’ve Grilled All Our Prospects

  1. nevermoor Jan 28,2011 10:06 am
    "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
  2. nevermoor Jan 28,2011 10:12 am

    KZ for Figgins? Good idea, bad idea?

    "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
    • sslinger Jan 28,2011 10:25 am || Up

      If the A’s do this they are really giving up on the long ball (and the “chick” demographic). I have no attachment to Kz, and Figgins is enough removed from the Angels that the stench is mostly gone, so sure, g’ahead. Nice finish:

      So, as Figgins would continue his tour of the AL West, Kouzmanoff would continue his tour of home stadiums that are absolutely miserable fits for his skillset. Somebody up there really hates Kevin Kouzmanoff.

    • lenscrafters Jan 28,2011 10:57 am || Up

      Marginal upgrade with a chance to be a significant upgrade…not ideal, but I think the A’s have to take the risk.

    • FreeSeatUpgrade Jan 28,2011 10:59 am || Up

      I like it, especially since the A’s appear to have somehat addressed the power outage through other moves…not that Kz was contributing a whole lot in that regard anyway.

      Big question would be payroll implications…Chone’s due something like $9M a year for three more years, right? I’m never one to be overly troubled by incursions into Wolffish’s profit margin, of course.

      "Kraut will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no kraut."
      • nevermoor Jan 28,2011 12:17 pm || Up

        Yeah, it’s the opportunity cost I’m worried about

        Figgins is probably 0.5-1 WAR better this year. But older.

        "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
    • mikeA Jan 28,2011 11:36 am || Up

      Certainly would be a good move for this season, but trouble after that.

    • mother pucker Jan 28,2011 2:56 pm || Up

      I approve.

  3. sslinger Jan 28,2011 10:18 am

    This movie looks fascinating.

  4. monkeyball Jan 28,2011 1:11 pm

    WE’RE ALL GONNA [DIETY]!!!

    you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
  5. monkeyball Jan 28,2011 1:20 pm

    2. I really don’t think that Holbo and Yglesias have actually thought this angle through. The whole “feudalism” bit is clever agitprop designed to peel off some of the leftward margin of the most philosophically committed of the libertarians — but (a) libertarianism writ large is founded on the philosophical justification of private property, and (b) where does this argument stop? That is: why is IP any different from “normal” (real) P? If I decide I can make money by selling off my neighbor’s yard, why should some cartel or set of outmoded and competition-squashing regulations stand in my way? It also should put MY and Holbo in the position of defending foreclosure mills (and banks/financial institutions more generally), as what they do/have been doing the last 10 years is on the bleeding edge of breaking down IP feudalism by (a) taking what doesn’t belong to them (or what they can’t actually lay title to, which amounts ot the same thing, in both senses of the phrase), and (b) coming up with creative ways of transforming real P into IP, thereby demonstrating the illusory nature of the very idea of “property.”

    you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
    • nevermoor Jan 28,2011 1:32 pm || Up

      The difference is that IP is a right granted by the government for free, whereas RP is something obtained from someone else in a transaction.

      RP used to be granted by the government too, under feudal systems.

      The distinction you’re asking for is that your neighbor’s yard belongs to someone else (your neighbor) so you selling it would be theft. IP didn’t exist before it was invented, and only belongs to the inventor based upon statutes.

      At a time when RP in this country was not fully owned west of the Appalachians was stolen from the indigenous inhabitants who had neither legal nor military tools to stop the expropriation, it was essentially distributed for free to whoever wanted to use it (land grant programs, homesteading acts, etc.) Now, though, I believe every square inch of US territory is owned by someone (including, of course, the government) so you can’t “invent” any new RP.

      "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
      • monkeyball Jan 28,2011 1:44 pm || Up

        But what’s the statute of limitations on the origin story for each type of property? As you point out, RP used to be granted by fiat — not as recently as IP, but IP is accepted by law, convention, and the market now, so why/how could we waive it any more easily than RP?

        I mean, either all property is theft, or it’s not.

        you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
        • nevermoor Jan 28,2011 2:06 pm || Up

          IP protection terms have changed over time. There is no magic in the current scheme, and the property right is essentially different from what lawyers call “fee simple” in that it does have an end date.

          When you buy a house (usually), you obtain fee simple ownership of the RP. In other words it is yours forever. IP is never yours forever, but is instead granted for a determinable term by the government. Shortening that term would reduce the value of your IP, thus at least theoretically your incentive to produce IP, but also the dead-weight loss to society resulting from your monopoly. If you want to call that theft, fine, but then you think nearly everything governments do is theft (zoning, environmental laws, etc) and you’re Ron Paul.

          "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
          • monkeyball Jan 28,2011 2:17 pm || Up

            IP and RP terms have changed over time (that was your point and mine).

            The government could, if it wanted, put some horizon on your ownership of your estate — and in fact it does (in effect) with HNWIs, assessing a far higher “death tax.”

            Are you occupying the position that Holbo and MY (the former more than the latter) seem to be staking out — that there should be no IP rights?

            you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
            • nevermoor Jan 28,2011 2:23 pm || Up

              No, I’m merely saying that the analogy between IP and feudalism that I sketched out above is interesting.

              If it were me, I would say copyright should last something like 50 years from creation or until the creator’s death, whichever is sooner.

              Your death tax analogy, though, doesn’t move the ball at all. “Estate” there is not RP, but rather net worth. It does nothing to divest an estate of the land it holds, merely requires payment if the sum total of the assets is over a threshold. I think you’re absolutely wrong that the government could convert fee simple holdings into lesser interests (would land revert to the state upon death or something? If so that sounds… feudal).

              "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
    • mikeA Jan 28,2011 2:57 pm || Up

      I agree. Adopting some bold stance hostile the whole concept of IP in a blog post or series of blog posts is just silly. In MY’s original post, his point that standards for granting patents are too loose seems to be true, but does mean everyone should crusade against and try to delegitimize the IP as a whole. Recognizing IP has costs and benefits acknowledged by most people, and not recognizing IP is a radical position that I seriously doubt MY or Holbo actually hold.

      Also, IP certainly has many salient differences from RP, but RP could likewise be intelligibly cast as regime of regulations instead of “property.” And arguing about what to call IP in order to influence a largely non-existent political debate about IP is also silly.

  6. monkeyball Jan 28,2011 1:48 pm

    Another new alt uni shot.

    1. I wonder if Beane actually let anyone spend any labor cost on putting a name on the back of that one.

    2. Guy in the background — is that Glenn Dickey, Captain Kangaroo, or Brian Wilson?

    you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
    • FreeSeatUpgrade Jan 28,2011 2:03 pm || Up

      2. There’s no guy in the background…the new alternate jerseys actually have a replica of Glenn Dickey’s head attached to the left shoulder.

      "Kraut will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no kraut."
      • nevermoor Jan 28,2011 2:08 pm || Up

        WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE… laughing

        "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
    • lenscrafters Jan 28,2011 2:06 pm || Up

      Re1: Heh.

  7. FreeSeatUpgrade Jan 28,2011 2:18 pm

    That Leopold Bloom, he’s a work so hard…

    "Kraut will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no kraut."
    • Leopold Bloom Jan 28,2011 7:52 pm || Up

      you know, I do. And then THAT DAMN MONKEY has to go and try to revoke my FK charter!

      I give and I give and I give some more…

  8. nevermoor Jan 28,2011 2:38 pm
    "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
  9. nevermoor Jan 28,2011 2:39 pm

    This makes a lot of sense.

    Hopefully that settles that little issue, although I’m surprised there were not more details in the complaint.

    "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
  10. monkeyball Jan 28,2011 2:51 pm
    you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
    • nevermoor Jan 28,2011 3:07 pm || Up

      Yep. It’s, quite frankly, disgusting that this “movement” is seen as at all legitimate.

      I bet every single one of them who is old enough takes their Social Security and Medicare.

      "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
    • FreeSeatUpgrade Jan 28,2011 3:32 pm || Up

      FK needs more Foolsh for moments like this.

      "Kraut will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no kraut."
  11. monkeyball Jan 28,2011 3:32 pm

    Guard your stuff, indeed:

    you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
    • nanotrebuchet Jan 28,2011 9:03 pm || Up

      my mother likes to tell the story of the time she took babytrebuchet shopping at the market. in one hand was babytrebuchet and in the other a bag full of just-purchased fruit. a group of monkeys came toward her and slowly began surrounding her, staring menacingly. she dropped the fruit, clutched the baby, and ran away. the monkeys then feasted on their ill-gotten gains.

  12. monkeyball Jan 28,2011 3:36 pm

    Oh, crap, that’s right: it’s the last Friday of the month.

    you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
  13. Poppy Jan 28,2011 6:48 pm
    There's a wild thing in the woolshed and it's keeping me awake at night.
    • Leopold Bloom Jan 28,2011 7:47 pm || Up

      I’ve told you they’re lovely creatures, Poppy.

  14. nanotrebuchet Jan 28,2011 8:23 pm
    • nevermoor Jan 28,2011 8:31 pm || Up

      "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
  15. nanotrebuchet Jan 28,2011 9:11 pm

    Huh.

    Justin Duchscherer will have a public workout Tuesday and all 29 clubs, besides, #A’s have been invited. Poss he could sign before then

    Also:

    Infielder Steve Tolleson, who had been designated for assignment, cleared waivers and was sent outright to Sacramento.

  16. ptbnl Jan 29,2011 7:57 pm
    If this is His will, He's a son of a bitch.
  17. nevermoor Jan 31,2011 9:11 am
    "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
  18. nevermoor Jan 31,2011 9:33 am

    Ray of hope:

    Brenner wasn’t all that interested in costs; he was more interested in helping people who received bad health care. But in his experience the people with the highest medical costs—the people cycling in and out of the hospital—were usually the people receiving the worst care. “Emergency-room visits and hospital admissions should be considered failures of the health-care system until proven otherwise,” he told me—failures of prevention and of timely, effective care.

    This is a great article.

    "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
  19. FreeSeatUpgrade Jan 31,2011 9:45 am
    "Kraut will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no kraut."
  20. nevermoor Jan 31,2011 10:02 am
    "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"

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