100 thoughts on “August 24, 2011: Attention”

    1. The wife had Nancy Grace on last night (OMG) and she took a day off from screeching about Tot Mom to report on the "massive" earthquake in the US.

  1. Let neither of them be buried.

    I hope people always check down the page a ways. There are some days when we have a lot of new content. You don't want to miss it.

    1. There are some days when we have a lot of new content.

      like birthdays and Minor Details, people. Always fantastic.

  2. cc to Cheaptoy. A package has arrived at my house. Inside were two Cheaptoy Blonde Ales. I'm excited to try one tonight - I'll let you know my thoughts.

      1. I will look for it when I get home and crack one open to get me through the cleaning of an empty keg.

              1. I believe that waiver claims (as opposed to a trade) do not violate the no-trade clause. But then the Twins get nothing for him.
                For fan appeal, I'd say he's at least worth his salary for the remainder of the year, so no reason to do that. Plus, that would leave a bad taste in his mouth and make similar Free Agents less likely to sign with the Twins in the future.

                So, it won't happen, but it could.

                  1. If he could make it all the way through waivers and join the Phillies, I'd be absolutely okay with it. But that's not going to happen.

    1. DKnobler
      Besides Upton, some other players who went on waivers yesterday: Liriano, Slowey, Perkins, Nathan, League

      1. Perkins surprises me some, but now is the time to trade relievers to desperate postseason-bound teams.

  3. The always entertaining Baseball Nation Power Rankings ranks the teams based on utility infielders.

    Here's the blurb for the home team:

    4. Minnesota Twins - The Factory
    Luke Hughes, Matt Tolbert, Trevor Plouffe, formerly Nick Punto ... right now the factory of utility infielder is based in Minneapolis. The factories usually shift every few years because of tax codes and cheap labor and things like that, but right now the Twins are spitting them out. The Twins don't even have scouts for the last half of the draft, they just have experts in utility infielder names. "Go with Tony Mason in the 42nd ... ooh, Andy Rando in the 43rd ... Skip Stansilus in the 44th ...

    Sounds about right.

    1. It is an injustice that the Twins aren't number 1. After all, they had Punto and replaced him with inferior talent.

    1. Bummer, I was hoping he'd sign with an NL team like the Brewers or something.
      This just keeps Scioscia coaching longer and looking smarter. I wanted him to suck it.

        1. Pretty much. His comments would be what they'd be most concerned about. They know the top players set the market, so if they don't get all they can, that changes the market in the wrong direction.

    2. "How much more do you need?" Weaver asked about his deal. "Could have got more, whatever. Who cares?"

      That's pretty refreshing.

    3. "It was a rough time for me and my family, going through that process," said Weaver, who also went to arbitration with the Angels last winter, eventually losing his case. "I didn't want to have that feeling ever again."

      Wait. I thought "thinking about my family" meant getting as much green as possible. I'm confused.

  4. It sounds like the Dude has been claimed. Does this mean that Billy Smith is going to trade him for a non-prospect?

  5. Hey Can of Corn, send me an e-mail. I need to get some info for the UAR. freealonzo [at] comcast [dot] net

  6. Well, during the interview they buttered me up and essentially told me everything I'd need to know in order to run the class, going as far as giving me a schedule, but the company finally got back to me and said "You are very qualified but we're going with another candidate at this time. Please keep us in mind if you plan on being in Phoenix on a more consistent basis."

    I'm not sure what happened between Saturday and today. On Saturday they made it seem like they were almost certainly going to make me an offer by Sunday. The ego boost was nice and all, but I wish they would have kept it in their pants if they had other qualified candidates left to talk to, because I feel like I've been punched in the gut.

      1. They got excited during the interview and didn't think far enough ahead, or something.

        Either they had a better candidate after me - I'm convinced that person didn't come in before me, because they talked to me like it was a slam dunk - or they went to a fallback candidate because they thought I wouldn't be around Phoenix enough for what they wanted. I responded that I was sort of looking for an excuse to be with my girls full-time, but I don't expect to hear anything back, since it took them three extra days to give me the email that was supposed to be a phone call.

    1. I've had 3 interviews like that, and the last one I had to meet with the folks 4 times + a phone interview before they rejected me. I feel for ya, spooks.

    2. Mrs. Hayes just went through a similarly disappointing interview process, which was frustrating even by proxy. Keep your chin up, Milkman.

    3. That sucks. I've had a few like that. I actually had the guy who was the owner/big boss tell me I had the job at the end of the interview. When I asked about benefits, he told me someone would call me the next day to go over the details with me. I never got a call back. I called daily for at least two weeks and often more than once a day and all I would ever get was a receptionist saying someone will call me back even after I stated that I was told multiple times that someone would call back and no one ever did. The business was just starting up, so I don't if their funding fell through or what happened. I would have given up sooner but I had been out of work for six months at that point. I'm much better off now than I would have been with that job (or even with the job I was laid off from) but that was hard to get over for a long time.

    4. I've been turned down for one job after what I thought was two really good interviews, and have a feeling I didn't get a job I interviewed for a couple weeks ago. Fortunately, I have a full time job that pays well enough to make it easier. But man, I hate the job search.

      1. yea, it's a close thing, but I'm pretty sure there are more people in the stands than on the field of play.

        I wonder how aggressive the ushers are in keeping people in the seats they paid for.

        1. Just today I was thinking of a show I was in where we did a special Tuesday performance as an industry "pay what you can" night. The thing was, the director forgot to tell the guy who designed our poster, so very few people knew the performance existed; on top of all that, there was a snowstorm. Our cast of twelve played to an audience of nine.

          This is off topic a bit, but there was one guy who joined the cast late in the game, and the director forgot to tell him about that performance, too. He didn't show up, and the director had to play his part while carrying a script with him. At least only nine people saw it.

          1. actually, it doesn't sounds that off topic. i just read that apparently they called an impromptu doubleheader today due to the looming hurricane. also, some writers did a head count: they're up to 300 so far.

      1. You've been to Principle Park, you've seen how close the rivers are. And that was a terrible summer for flooding here. I remember seeing pictures of points during that summer where the field of play was below the level of the river with only sandbags keeping it from being submerged.

        1. Definitely. Reading the story, I think the most amusing part is that major league scouts were allowed to attend the game. They limited the number of team employees in case of evacuation, but the scouts just had to attend.

  7. I just got out of a terrible town hall meeting*. I've come up with a new formula:

    Lbs α 1/(Sjt - Sl)

    where:

    Lbs = Amount of laughter at a joke about some corporate bullsh!t
    Sjt = Salary of the joke teller
    Sl = Salary of the laughter

    The executives would make a absolutely terrible joke about how our revenue streams aren't integrated with the corporate zeitgeist or somesuch and the front row of people directly below them would howl, then the next set of people would laugh, then a chuckle, then us cubicle monkeys wouldn't say a damn thing. There was a very strong gradient.

    *Read: I got talked at for an hour by executives who make at least 10x what I do and consider me OfficeDrone #2384589.

    1. I would never be able to sit through that kind of meeting without hanging myself. I've been party to a couple of similar but smaller-scale meetings and they're the stuff of my nightmares.

      1. I feel like the annual user's group meeting put on by my first post-college employer would have really pushed you over the edge. A "play" was involved with horrific attempts at humor. I only had to deal with two of them, but yargh, it made my decision to leave easier.

  8. Crisis! My son doesn't want to go to baseball tonight. I'm letting it slide today, but it's freaking me out.

      1. More like glorified pickup games for the kids who didn't want to stop playing when the season ended.

        You're right though. It has been a long season.

  9. Sign him up!

    kevinlove Kevin Love
    Truth-Baseball could have been my better sport. After Volleyball I may try my luck “@joebraga: @kevinlove heard you touched 90 mph, truth?”

    1. kevinlove Kevin Love
      If I really went for it I could be a right handed Randy Johnson with less mullet (unfortuneatley).

  10. I got the new HD for my old laptop to refurb it for my uncle. My new netbook has a 11.5" monitor. Going back to my 15.5" seems like I'm at an IMAX.

    1. Damn. I collected his baseball cards because I heard a few funny interviews he did. Since he was found outside his home, I'm hoping it was natural, though no matter what it was, he was too young.

    1. Better to resign on your terms, even if forced by health issues, than to have it end because of death. He's going to remain the Chairman of the Board, so he'll still have a lot of say in its future even if he isn't the Dictator.

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