Cup of Coffee

April 1, 2013: It’s Here, Fools

61 Comments

Opening Day! I work 5am - noon, so I'll be back in time to see it and everything. Sure, it's Verlander-Worley, but it's still regular season baseball.

61 thoughts on “April 1, 2013: It’s Here, Fools”

    1. Tuesday's a day off this week, so I'm not worried about that yet; I figure until someone steps forward, either we'll call out before the game or I'll just throw together a non-baked post.

      As for recaps, I'm considering them optional. I'd like for every day to be covered, but there's just not enough interest, it seems. Until then, I figure the log poster that day has dibs on any recap.

      2. I can take Tuesday's game logs. Don't know how in-depth they'll be, but I'll try to make sure something is thrown up there.

      3. I could do some game recaps. They wouldn't be anything clever, but they'd be something.

        1. They wouldn’t be anything clever, but they’d be something.
          No can do Padre...those are already my recaps.

    2. It's crossed over into "annoyingly hot" here for my blood, which to the locals is "it's finally nice out there." They don't start getting tired of it until it's about 102.

      1. We had thunder storms saturday night and intermittently during the day yesterday. April showers and all that. The cats were in hiding much of the day. Do Not Like teh Thunder.

      2. Yeah, I'd say we only have about a third of the snow on the ground that we had last week. Progress, at least.

  4. ESPN with 4 games today (of course its Yanks Red Sox to kick thing off, but whatevs), WGN has the Cubs, FSN with the Twins

    its a great day for America

      1. Well, I got all the way to the gym only to discover I'd neglected to pack any shorts. So I'm home and starting to watch baseball. At least I got a 35 minute walk in, I guess.

    2. My afternoon hearings were cancelled/rescheduled. I am very tempted to go home and plant myself on the couch.

  5. From the Rude Awakening Department: last night, as I'm trying to finish the College Board Profile stuff, then proceed to its IDOC stuff, I finally understood that, uh, yea, the Boy DOES have to file taxes this year. Crap. He went back to school on sunday.

    So, the standard for being required to file for a dependent is (1) unearned income > $950 OR (2) earned income > ~$5,850 OR (3) earned income in any amount plus unearned > $300. Ok then.

    Word to those of you with high school kiddles but none in college. Start early on the financial aid stuff. I have a freakin' Ph.D. and wrote my dissertation on income tax policies, and study public policy for a living. And I found the directions for the Profile very difficult to parse, and the "help" largely unhelpful. You'd have thought I would have learned last year when I did this the first time, but nooOOOoooo.

    1. I'm beginning to think we have the most Byzantine tax code in the history of taxes.

        1. Slate's got you covered. Relevant bit:

          Was the Byzantine system of government especially complex?

          Only compared to those of medieval Europe. ...[Some expostion]... Byzantium was far less complicated than any modern government.

          and

          Was Byzantium’s tax code Byzantine? Not at all. Byzantium’s two-pronged system would have made Steve Forbes proud. There was a flat tax on all citizens. Farmers paid an additional tax based on the size and quality of their land and their annual productio

  6. I'll be submitting my MLB predictions yet today. Please don't ignore them just because I'm one game into the season.

      1. I admit I'll probably finally turn mine in tomorrow, invoking half-bakef-ness.

  7. the Twins have heated benches now

    These new heated benches in the Twins dugout and bullpen are really going to come in handy today.

    Only one problem: The seat where Twins manager Ron Gardenhire typically sits (left end of the dugout, closest to home plate) was stone cold this morning.

    “I thought I was on the hot seat,” Gardenhire cracked.

  8. The only game I can find a reliable stream of is NYY-BOS. I'd prefer the Nationals right now and I definitely want to see the Twins in an hour or so. I didn't renew my MLB.tv for this year because I know I won't use it once July and August hit, but I wish (at least for today) I still had it. Not to be greedy, but MLB should make MLB.tv free for Opening Day. I bet a lot of people would get hooked.

      1. I wish he could have struck out a few more.

        More seriously, I was surprised he was pulled after 80 pitches in just seven innings. I get not being in mid-season form, but only 80 pitches?

  9. Now that the Rangers have signed Andrus to a long-term deal, I'm left wondering what Texas' plans for Jurickson Profar are. It's silly to think about given how unlikely a trade would be, but I'd love to see him in a Twins uniform. I hope somebody in the front office is at least inquiring along those lines.

    1. from what I have seen (rumors of course) they bring him up, move Andrus to 2B and Kinsler to 1B.
      Of course, it never hurts to make a phone call.

          1. How many more years can Kinsler play second? I'm not crazy about his contract if he's soon to become a first baseman in the field with a second baseman's bat at the dish.

            1. That's a too simplistic view to take. Team's shouldn't look for players that can hit well for the position. Kinsler's three year batting runs average (per B-R) is +7 in addition to a +4 in base running. Plus, he's a plus defensively at second, so he would be a plus at first if he moved in a few years. He wouldn't be a stereotypical first basemen, but he would be an above average player at a position, which is what teams actually want.

                1. That's why they aren't discussing putting him at DH 😉

                  I see your point. I think it still applies to any position, but with the caveat that the Rangers are losing possible value by having to move Kinsler to first.

                  Maybe he goes to the outfield instead? I see David Murphy, Leonys Martin, and Nelson Cruz were the outfielders last night. Murphy seems to be roughly equivalent in value and age; Martin is barely a non-rookie, so presumably he's there for a while; Cruz is a year old and a bit less valuable than Kinsler. Murphy and Cruz are free agents after this year. Kinsler would be paid an average of $12 million a year, which would be almost two wins a year now and would decrease over the contract (which is front-loaded).

  14. think the Celtics have 6 alternate jerseys they rotate. Not a fan of these black trimmed things.

    I dont know why they bother to change since the Larry Bird era jerseys are pretty much perfection. Well I know why the change it up $$$

    1. It finally hit me last week while taking an indefinite break from writing The Winds of Winter

      At least he admits to it.

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