This AL East tour is really making me pine for the all-star break.
101 thoughts on “July 10, 2013: Need a Break”
We made it. 700 miles across the emptiness of western KS and eastern NM. Pulled into our new hometown yesterday. Got the truck unpacked and were informed that we signed our closing documents all wrong.
One last thing, a trip to the title office, this morning and then we're official New Mexicans.
Has a closing ever gone well in the history of home buying?
Our first house in Kansas was the easiest process.
This one may be punishment for that.
When we refinanced last summer, they managed to screw up both the 1) address of the property and 2) the price. I would think those are the two most important things (perhaps, the two ONLY things) that need to be correct in a closing.
when we closed on our sale in Chambana, the buyer decided at the table that he wanted to renegotiate. I almost jumped across the table and killed him. Luckily, my wife sent me out to pick up the kids from the sitter, as we were (literally) leaving town that morning. So I didn't kill anyone.
Our realtor carried water for us, while our lawyer kept everyone in the room from drawing weapons. Papers were signed, we got the hell out of Dodge.
Renegotiating at the closing is a supremely dick move. Don't ever be That Guy.
[shoulda been in response to cheaps]
My title company was amazing both times. The other realtor on the other hand...
The title company was fine. The mortgage company has only a tenuous grasp of reality and serious reading comprehension problems. We would have switched (and tried to do so) but due to our owning a house already, and my previously-mentioned 6-month underemployment, couldn't get anyone else to work with us.
It's over, and I don't have to deal with them in this way ever again. It's a perfect 71 degrees and I'm sitting on the front porch of my new house after a delicious meal with my parents and my wife and kid. I won this round.
I had the unfortunate need to go through the short sale process earlier this year. It was six months between offer and closing. I think the paperwork was just sitting in a pile on someone's desk at the bank for about half of that time.
A house on our block was just sold in a short sale. I think the offer was made in November, and they finally closed last week.
Ours went quite smoothly. After calling at least four times to confirm all the documentation needed to send in, the processor handled everything. Even with whatever falling through almost last minute with the title company, the appropriate people handled it and we closed on time.
Congrats on the big move, new house and gig. New location kinda makes attendance at that MN@KC game tough though.
Congrats!
Way to go, dude! See you late-September *knock on wood*
Sweet! No reason not to drive a few more hundred miles to hang out with me, now.
Mostly, I'm glad to hear you're done with the sucky holdover job.
I'm glad to leave that behind, and also to swing to the other extreme of getting to do what I've wanted to do since I started grad school 9 years ago.
I'll make it out to AZ sometime, although for now we've got a lot of boxes to unpack.
Welcome to the land of entrapment. Hit me up with a g mail.
Done. Thanks for your help/advice as we considered our options.
Oh man, if Kanye had any Latin heritage, "New Mexicans" could be a song from his new album, Ye-zús.
*Kanye Oeste
Happy NBA Free Agent signing day, everyone!
Sounds like the Wolves are trying to pay Corey Brewer a lot of money. I'm starting to wonder if Flip knows what he's doing?
Flip's system got us Shabazz. Trust him.
I suppose genius is rarely appreciated as its happening.
Today's Presales:
Kenny Loggins (August 30th)
Code: TRUSTPOOH
Brian Setzer Orchestra Christmas Rocks (November 15)
Code: TRUSTJIVE
Both presales are today starting at 10:00a at State Theater Box Office or Ticketmaster.
Enjoy!
Stay tuned for a new episode of Truck Time in the coming days. The power steering pump on the Town and Country appears to have blown a seal last night while my daughter was driving to Caribou with a friend. I'm off to get it towed home and replace the pump. Research (i.e. a Chrysler service bulletin) tells me I should also replace the reservoir as they have filter screens that can clog and restrict fluid flow to the pump. Fun times ahead.
Your misfortune is our gain. I know it sucks for you, but I eagerly await the next TTwT.
I look forward to it as well. I happily dodged the broken down car talk from last week, only to find myself at the dealership this morning.
On Monday morning, I noticed belatedly that the fuel gauge was below "E". I had multiple, partially full gas cans at home so I added about 3-4 gallons to get me to the station (and to use up that gas...not smart). I knew it wasn't "new" gas, but figured I could even it out by adding ~9 gal of fresh stuff. No such luck.
The car, which always idles rough after too much rain/humidity, stalled out twice while my wife was driving it and the engine symbol on the console blinked on and stayed illuminated.
I don't have the time in the next two weeks to either a). take care of it myself or, b). get it up north to my FiL/BiL's mechanic shop and I can't afford to rely on only 1 vehicle for that long.
Long story short - $150 diagnostic (which will be applied to the bill if they need to fix it) and the knowledge that this likely could have been avoided if I'd just paid more attention to the fuel level and not been so cheap re: using up the old gas.
If it makes you feel any better, a week after getting one car serviced, and about a month after getting the other one serviced, both of them blew water pumps within 48 hours of each other. One of them was less than 12 hours before we left on vacation, and that was the car we were taking. Fortunately we were able to get 'em in and repaired right away, but... oh my head.
It does not (don't like for anyone to have to deal with this crap) but thanks for trying.
Carburetor or fuel injection? Either way, it's possible the old gas clogged the jets or injectors, it can get gummy over time unless you put stabilizer in it.
A few weeks ago I was up to my elbows in grease getting my daughter's Prizm ready to go to Michigan for Electric Forest. Nothing major, just replaced all the belts, changed the oil and did a thorough inspection, but man are quarters cramped in that engine compartment. It needs new struts in the rear (will probably do the fronts as well) and I'll have to do new brakes front and back before winter. Will also need to fix the driver side rear window, I think the glass has jumped out of the regulator tracks. It's currently being held in a closed position with a plastic toilet tank shim and duct tape.
Nothing major, just...
This is like when the textbook says "the proof is left to the interested reader." I know about a week's worth of work is coming.
I do miss my Prizm (2000). Boring, but incredibly reliable and a snap to change the oil. I never had to do any work in the engine compartment, so I never got to experience the cramped-ness of it. Now my wife's Pacifca..... Ugh.
Twayn - 2002 Civic coupe - "multi-point fuel injection". I'm hoping that's all it is. Mechanic told me that the fuel pump/filter is in the tank, that in 14 years, he's never seen one need replacing as they're meant to be "permanent." Not a fan of dropping gas tanks.
Gas tanks. When I worked at Sears Auto in college, one of our mechanics punctured the gas tank on a pickup truck with the hoist. We all immediately gave up smoking. Had to call out the fire department and shut down the shop and everything. The customer was not pleased. So yeah, not something I'm inclined to mess with either.
I can drop the gas tank on my Pacifica, replace both fuel pumps (each with tank level sending units that like to quit working!) and re-install the tank in under two hours. As long as the tank is at least half-empty, it's not a terrible job.
Still, as cheaps said- Pacifica...Ugh.
Is there a sending unit/sensor on that f***ing car that doesn't like to quit working? When that oil pressure sending unit went bad, it started leaking, which was doubly awesome. Fortunately, we have an excellent and honest mechanic in town who did it in 3 hours and only charged me $60.
One of the best things I ever did was to buy an ODBII scanner. I found one on Amazon (this one) for like, $25, and its paid for itself in one use when I discovered I had a malfunctioning glow plug code come up. It led me to determining that the wiring harness went bad, which I replaced at no labor cost (silly to charge myself for my own labor). Plus, if you get one of the totally useless check engine codes (damn near all of them), you can reset it and see if it was just something with the sensor or an actual problem.
Won't help with putting bad gas in the tank, though.
At the moment trying to decide what to do with my Suzuki POS. It appears to have a blown head gasket. Need to take it in to see if it's going to cost more to fix than it's worth. This car has been a major headache since we got it, can't imagine this would be the last problem even if we fix it.
In the middle of a fun Twins season, Brian Dozier is on pace 3.4 rWAR (2.5 fWAR). Who is the last Twins second baseman to accumulate 3.4 rWAR or better in a season?
Obviously the answer was going to be Chuck Knoblauch in 1997 with 6.7 rWAR (6.1 fWAR).
As a side note, Fangraphs is a little more bullish on Orlando Hudson's 2010 season, and a little less so on Dozier's season so far, but not by too much. I guess that's what happens when you give 8 or 9 seasons to Alexi Casilla and Luis Rivas.
Dozier has been a pleasant surprise. His defense has exceeded my expectations, though I think I'm merging Plouffe's adventures at short with Dozier's. Dozier had average to below-average numbers at shortstop that one would expect to be average to above-average at second. And that is exactly what has happened. His offense has been the obvious issue, but as ubes as pointed out more than once, Dozier had great discipline in the minors and that doesn't go away. I suppose his adjustment period was a few hundred PAs in MLB*.
* Kind of puts Hicks' struggles in a better perspective. He started awful, but adjusted to "bad" in 50 PAs and serviceable in a 100 or so. Not an elite talent, but pretty darn good.
Dozier is the Twins' second most valuable player, according to rWAR:
According to fWAR, too. Like sean said, he's been a pleasant surprise.
Since June 1st, he's got a .264/.386/.500 slash line. That's just fine out of a leadoff hitter.
That's better than fine. Chuck Knoblauch as a Twin: .304/.391/.416.
So what you're saying is Dozier >/= Knoblauch? 😉
That's why the > exists in the quicktag list above.
...for the tongue in cheek "Dozier> or =Knoblauch"? Who'da thunk?
Oh, I forgot about the equals part. Well, obviously Dozier just has to be better than Knoblauch.
doesn't ≥ work?
yes, yes it does. ≥
"Just fine" wasn't meant to be a belittling phrase by any means.
On the other hand, I don't think there's anyone who views Brian Dozier as a likely .500 slugger or a >.850 OPS'r.
God bless Minnesota, where "just fine" is about as high of praise as one will ever hear.
Joe Mauer may just be a bit more than passable at baseball.
That level of power would seem to be unsustainable. A roughly .260/.360 AVG/OBP could be sustainable, though.
That's about what I was thinking. If he truly has turned a corner (way too early to tell, obviously), he'd be a valuable player with that on-base percentage (combined with his defense and periodic power).
Most likely, but he does already have 14 career HRs in 641 plate appearances. Knoblauch had 10 in his first four seasons (2,537 PAs) and didn't get to double digits in a season until the plexiglass in the Metrodome was removed prior to 1995. His best HR season total with the Twins was 13. His career best was 18 with the Yankees.
That just means Dozier will likely have an ISO greater than Knoblauch's .117, which is apparent from his minor league numbers.
Yeah, there's a long way between a .117 ISO and a .236 ISO.
Dozier's career ISO is .122. The Twins haven't had a primary 2B with that high of an ISO for a season since 2004 (Rivas .176). Rivas had a career .120 ISO. Of course, AL ISO in 2004 was .163. In 2013, it is .153.
Just as another comparison, Rod Carew's ISO w/ the Twins was .114.
I'm not sure what your comparisons are for, I was just pointing out that a .236 ISO is not in the cards for Dozier going forward.
Forget the power (sustainable or not), Dozier can't hold Knobby's base stealing jock
Good thing he's not the equipment manager.
assuming the same pace, we can about double the rWAR totals for the season, right? So Joe is on pace for about $3.1M per win. KillDozier is on pace for about $138K per win. Who is more valuable???
/stribber
I know I have a soft spot for second baseman in general, but I feel like Rivas and Casilla have gotten more than their fair share of criticism. They were basically replacement level second baseman getting paid replacement level money.
Now, if you want a disaster, consider Tsuyoshi Nishioka. $6M for 2 years of -2.4 cumulative rWAR. Rivas made $3.9M over 5 seasons with the Twins, averaging -0.2 rWAR/year. Casilla made $3.9M over 6 seasons with the Twins, averaging 0.6 rWAR/year.
My intent wasn't to do a cost analysis, it was simply to show that Dozier's having a decent year, and decent (read: above replacement) production is better than the Twins have gotten from that position for about the last 15 years.
However, pretty much anyone looks sparkling when compared to Nishioka.
How quickly they forget Luis Castillo and Orlando Hudson. To be fair, Dozier is on pace to have a better rWAR than either player had with the Twins, but both were above replacement level.
I just have a hard time separating the cost from the performance.
Since the last time I threatened to make the TsuyoBri Nishiozier Watch a regular feature (May 30th), his line is .263/.383/.508. So really about the same as everyone's already said, I just want to highlight the power of my motivational tools.
Since I mocked Deibinson Romero, on the same day, he's hit .272/.350/.448. I'll take that. Plouffe in 2012-2013 (about 115% of a full season) has hit .244/.309/.451.
Ive missed out on the player discussions the last couple of days, but I have enjoyed reading you guys having a nice back and forth.
Heh - sucker. I thought this story was going to be about poaching or waste...not so much.
that's pretty cool.
I love that, after Alex Rios had six hits in yesterday's White Sox-Tigers game, Adam Dunn told reporters, "It takes people like me two, maybe, three weeks to get six."
Yeah, I smirked. Then I checked Dunn's BR page and was surprised how many homers he's hit already (24). I guess his season is shaping up similar to last year's, a very 2001 McGwire like season. Still nowhere near worth what he's making, but not a massive liability.
209/308/480 with 24 HR and 103:40 K:BB in 341 PA? That sounds very Kingmanesque to me.
Dunn is in his age-33 season. In Kingman's age-33 season, he hit 204/285/432 with 37 HR and 156:59 in 607 PA.
Gleeman wonders if Gardy will survive three consecutive 90-loss seasons, as few managers have. I think he will, since I believe Ryan knows it isn't Gardy's fault.
I worked with Jacob Pomrenke at The San Bernardino Sun. Great guy, even if he is a Braves fan.
I think the Tom Kelly comparison is quite apt, given that TK answered to TR and Gardy answers to TR. At this point, the way to evaluate Gardy is how Hicks and some of the younger players are playing. With Dozier noted above as performing pretty well lately, and Hicks coming around, I could see them sticking with Gardy. (Hopefully Gibson and Arcia follow suit.) If, on the other hand, Gardy's not excited about the new guys about to come up from the minors, then he's not the right man for the job. I would love the symmetry if Gardy manages the team to a winning record in 2014 and then retires.
And then Vavra takes over?
More likely Ullger. There has been talk of him being groomed for the job.
Is it too early to start a Brunansky campaign?
Jake Mauer
Doug Mientkiewicz
I was totally the first to suggest that.
I think he's being groomed for Big Fella's job.
Looking at the chart above, it is all young players that are most valuable to the Twins right now other than Mauer, of course. The flip side is that the veterans are underperforming. Does Gardy take blame for that? Maybe with his usage of Doumit (who's underperforming both Dozier and Parmelee among many others), but mostly just age and injuries. I don't see Gardy being fired. Maybe stepping aside, but he hasn't dealt with as many bad seasons as TK did and he is playing in Target Field instead of the Metrodome. Plus, the minor leagues are better than at anytime in TK's tenure.
Is it getting fired if your contract is up anyway?
Being let go would be more appropriate, I guess. Stepping aside would be his choice, not the Twins'.
Who the hell can't tell the difference between real and fake maple syrup?
I'm imagining the yak bringing his milk to the store as a charitable donation.
I'm imagining cows being placed in a torture chamber before they finally allow a few drops of milk.
Anyone going to AmericanaramA tonight? I debated but ultimately decided not to. Of course right now I'm having second thoughts. Actually if I wasn't busy yesterday I would have gone up to Duluth and watch the show up there. I know Wilco loves Duluth and I have some insiders who could have gotten me in and put me up for the night, oh well.
Anyway, reviews are good, I'd love to hear if any citizens go and what they thought.
I'm here...full review to come.
How's this for a star grab? My Morning Jacket andWilco performing Neil Young: Cinnamon Girl.
In latest scenario, Luke Ridnour will end up in Milwaukee, with Wolves signing Corey Brewer and sign-and-trading Kevin Martin from OKC— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) July 10, 2013
Ricky/Martin/Bud or Brewer/Love/Pek
JJ/Shabazz or Shved/Brewer or Bud/Hammer/Dieng
That doesn't look too bad to me.
Greetings from beautiful San Francisco International Airport. It has been one hell of a day. J & I were in Los Angeles until Sunday, and flew up to San Francisco for the last three days of our vacation. Since we left LA, this trip has turned into an adventure.
Our flight into SFO was delayed several hours, and we did not arrive until 1:00 am. The shuttle service I booked couldn't tell me anything and I had to wait for several shuttles to pick us up. We checked into our hotel at 2:00 am and went right to bed. When I woke up on Monday, I found out through Facebook that my friend who had a stroke two weeks ago passed away unexpectedly. So the entire time here has been wild swings of happiness and misery.
Today was the day we were scheduled to return to Fargo. The visitation is tomorrow night, and the funeral is on Friday morning. We were flying Frontier: SFO -> DEN, DEN -> FAR. When we arrived at the airport we found out that our flight out of SFO was delayed by two hours. This two hours meant that we would miss our connecting flight. There are no more flights to FAR after that, nor are there any tomorrow. Cool.
So I went to the front desk and said in no uncertain terms that we needed to get to Fargo in time for the service tomorrow. After much discussion, waiting, trips to and back from another concourse, they gave me their best offer to get me home:
SFO -> LAX (Virgin), LAX -> ORD (AA), ORD -> FAR (AA). We were to arrive at 9:30 pm in Fargo, we will now be traveling overnight. I arrive back in Fargo at 11:15 am tomorrow and then need to immediately go shopping for funeral attire and make arrangements with friends for the services. Also, despite paying for my bags, they told me I would need to pay Virgin for my bag services. They got mad at me that I was upset about this.
I understand there are delays beyond their control, but I am the one who gets to spend 22 total hours traveling in order to get home to go to a funeral.
I don't know if I had any specific reason for posting this I just needed to say it.
With that said, anyone who has some job opportunities for me out in California can forward them to me. We liked it out here a whole lot.
Unfortunately, I live in an area with one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. If you can do road construction, that would be your best bet for the next couple years.
I don't know what kind of work you do, Zack, but the market is definitely picking up in NorCal. The housing market is active, construction work is picking up, new restaurants and small businesses are opening. The latest unemployment data says that Alameda County (Oakland) is down to around 6.8 percent; San Francisco is at 5.2 percent, Marin 4.5 percent, Napa 5.3 percent, San Mateo 4.9 percent, Santa Clara 6.2 percent.
Sacramento County is still close to the statewide average of 8.1 percent, and San Joaquin (Stockton) remains very bad at 11.5 percent.
In Socal, Orange County is pretty healthy (5.5 percent). San Diego is at 6.7 percent; but Los Angeles is still at 9.2 percent.
I do operational work for a large software company. I'm kind of a jack of all trades and know a lot of information, I just don't have a ton of super marketable skills. I'm glad that the job market is good if we do seriously decide to pursue this. San Diego is the area I was most thinking. I've heard finding housing in NorCal is hilarious.
#MNTwins lineup at TB: Thomas RF, Carroll 2B, Mauer DH, Morneau 1B, Doumit C, Arcia LF, Hicks CF, Escobar 3,B Florimon SS, Correia P— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) July 10, 2013
At least Gardy finally got Doumit out of the 3 hole. Don't know why no Plouffe.
We made it. 700 miles across the emptiness of western KS and eastern NM. Pulled into our new hometown yesterday. Got the truck unpacked and were informed that we signed our closing documents all wrong.
One last thing, a trip to the title office, this morning and then we're official New Mexicans.
Has a closing ever gone well in the history of home buying?
Our first house in Kansas was the easiest process.
This one may be punishment for that.
When we refinanced last summer, they managed to screw up both the 1) address of the property and 2) the price. I would think those are the two most important things (perhaps, the two ONLY things) that need to be correct in a closing.
when we closed on our sale in Chambana, the buyer decided at the table that he wanted to renegotiate. I almost jumped across the table and killed him. Luckily, my wife sent me out to pick up the kids from the sitter, as we were (literally) leaving town that morning. So I didn't kill anyone.
Our realtor carried water for us, while our lawyer kept everyone in the room from drawing weapons. Papers were signed, we got the hell out of Dodge.
Renegotiating at the closing is a supremely dick move. Don't ever be That Guy.
[shoulda been in response to cheaps]
My title company was amazing both times. The other realtor on the other hand...
The title company was fine. The mortgage company has only a tenuous grasp of reality and serious reading comprehension problems. We would have switched (and tried to do so) but due to our owning a house already, and my previously-mentioned 6-month underemployment, couldn't get anyone else to work with us.
It's over, and I don't have to deal with them in this way ever again. It's a perfect 71 degrees and I'm sitting on the front porch of my new house after a delicious meal with my parents and my wife and kid. I won this round.
I had the unfortunate need to go through the short sale process earlier this year. It was six months between offer and closing. I think the paperwork was just sitting in a pile on someone's desk at the bank for about half of that time.
A house on our block was just sold in a short sale. I think the offer was made in November, and they finally closed last week.
Ours went quite smoothly. After calling at least four times to confirm all the documentation needed to send in, the processor handled everything. Even with whatever falling through almost last minute with the title company, the appropriate people handled it and we closed on time.
Congrats on the big move, new house and gig. New location kinda makes attendance at that MN@KC game tough though.
Congrats!
Way to go, dude! See you late-September *knock on wood*
Sweet! No reason not to drive a few more hundred miles to hang out with me, now.
Mostly, I'm glad to hear you're done with the sucky holdover job.
I'm glad to leave that behind, and also to swing to the other extreme of getting to do what I've wanted to do since I started grad school 9 years ago.
I'll make it out to AZ sometime, although for now we've got a lot of boxes to unpack.
Welcome to the land of entrapment. Hit me up with a g mail.
Done. Thanks for your help/advice as we considered our options.
Oh man, if Kanye had any Latin heritage, "New Mexicans" could be a song from his new album, Ye-zús.
*Kanye Oeste
Happy NBA Free Agent signing day, everyone!
Sounds like the Wolves are trying to pay Corey Brewer a lot of money. I'm starting to wonder if Flip knows what he's doing?
Flip's system got us Shabazz. Trust him.
I suppose genius is rarely appreciated as its happening.
Today's Presales:
Kenny Loggins (August 30th)
Code: TRUSTPOOH
Brian Setzer Orchestra Christmas Rocks (November 15)
Code: TRUSTJIVE
Both presales are today starting at 10:00a at State Theater Box Office or Ticketmaster.
Enjoy!
Stay tuned for a new episode of Truck Time in the coming days. The power steering pump on the Town and Country appears to have blown a seal last night while my daughter was driving to Caribou with a friend. I'm off to get it towed home and replace the pump. Research (i.e. a Chrysler service bulletin) tells me I should also replace the reservoir as they have filter screens that can clog and restrict fluid flow to the pump. Fun times ahead.
Your misfortune is our gain. I know it sucks for you, but I eagerly await the next TTwT.
I look forward to it as well. I happily dodged the broken down car talk from last week, only to find myself at the dealership this morning.
On Monday morning, I noticed belatedly that the fuel gauge was below "E". I had multiple, partially full gas cans at home so I added about 3-4 gallons to get me to the station (and to use up that gas...not smart). I knew it wasn't "new" gas, but figured I could even it out by adding ~9 gal of fresh stuff. No such luck.
The car, which always idles rough after too much rain/humidity, stalled out twice while my wife was driving it and the engine symbol on the console blinked on and stayed illuminated.
I don't have the time in the next two weeks to either a). take care of it myself or, b). get it up north to my FiL/BiL's mechanic shop and I can't afford to rely on only 1 vehicle for that long.
Long story short - $150 diagnostic (which will be applied to the bill if they need to fix it) and the knowledge that this likely could have been avoided if I'd just paid more attention to the fuel level and not been so cheap re: using up the old gas.
If it makes you feel any better, a week after getting one car serviced, and about a month after getting the other one serviced, both of them blew water pumps within 48 hours of each other. One of them was less than 12 hours before we left on vacation, and that was the car we were taking. Fortunately we were able to get 'em in and repaired right away, but... oh my head.
It does not (don't like for anyone to have to deal with this crap) but thanks for trying.
Carburetor or fuel injection? Either way, it's possible the old gas clogged the jets or injectors, it can get gummy over time unless you put stabilizer in it.
A few weeks ago I was up to my elbows in grease getting my daughter's Prizm ready to go to Michigan for Electric Forest. Nothing major, just replaced all the belts, changed the oil and did a thorough inspection, but man are quarters cramped in that engine compartment. It needs new struts in the rear (will probably do the fronts as well) and I'll have to do new brakes front and back before winter. Will also need to fix the driver side rear window, I think the glass has jumped out of the regulator tracks. It's currently being held in a closed position with a plastic toilet tank shim and duct tape.
This is like when the textbook says "the proof is left to the interested reader." I know about a week's worth of work is coming.
I do miss my Prizm (2000). Boring, but incredibly reliable and a snap to change the oil. I never had to do any work in the engine compartment, so I never got to experience the cramped-ness of it. Now my wife's Pacifca..... Ugh.
Twayn - 2002 Civic coupe - "multi-point fuel injection". I'm hoping that's all it is. Mechanic told me that the fuel pump/filter is in the tank, that in 14 years, he's never seen one need replacing as they're meant to be "permanent." Not a fan of dropping gas tanks.
Gas tanks. When I worked at Sears Auto in college, one of our mechanics punctured the gas tank on a pickup truck with the hoist. We all immediately gave up smoking. Had to call out the fire department and shut down the shop and everything. The customer was not pleased. So yeah, not something I'm inclined to mess with either.
I can drop the gas tank on my Pacifica, replace both fuel pumps (each with tank level sending units that like to quit working!) and re-install the tank in under two hours. As long as the tank is at least half-empty, it's not a terrible job.
Still, as cheaps said- Pacifica...Ugh.
Is there a sending unit/sensor on that f***ing car that doesn't like to quit working? When that oil pressure sending unit went bad, it started leaking, which was doubly awesome. Fortunately, we have an excellent and honest mechanic in town who did it in 3 hours and only charged me $60.
One of the best things I ever did was to buy an ODBII scanner. I found one on Amazon (this one) for like, $25, and its paid for itself in one use when I discovered I had a malfunctioning glow plug code come up. It led me to determining that the wiring harness went bad, which I replaced at no labor cost (silly to charge myself for my own labor). Plus, if you get one of the totally useless check engine codes (damn near all of them), you can reset it and see if it was just something with the sensor or an actual problem.
Won't help with putting bad gas in the tank, though.
At the moment trying to decide what to do with my Suzuki POS. It appears to have a blown head gasket. Need to take it in to see if it's going to cost more to fix than it's worth. This car has been a major headache since we got it, can't imagine this would be the last problem even if we fix it.
In the middle of a fun Twins season, Brian Dozier is on pace 3.4 rWAR (2.5 fWAR). Who is the last Twins second baseman to accumulate 3.4 rWAR or better in a season?
Dozier has been a pleasant surprise. His defense has exceeded my expectations, though I think I'm merging Plouffe's adventures at short with Dozier's. Dozier had average to below-average numbers at shortstop that one would expect to be average to above-average at second. And that is exactly what has happened. His offense has been the obvious issue, but as ubes as pointed out more than once, Dozier had great discipline in the minors and that doesn't go away. I suppose his adjustment period was a few hundred PAs in MLB*.
* Kind of puts Hicks' struggles in a better perspective. He started awful, but adjusted to "bad" in 50 PAs and serviceable in a 100 or so. Not an elite talent, but pretty darn good.
Dozier is the Twins' second most valuable player, according to rWAR:
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table Generated 7/10/2013.
According to fWAR, too. Like sean said, he's been a pleasant surprise.
Since June 1st, he's got a .264/.386/.500 slash line. That's just fine out of a leadoff hitter.
That's better than fine. Chuck Knoblauch as a Twin: .304/.391/.416.
So what you're saying is Dozier >/= Knoblauch? 😉
That's why the > exists in the quicktag list above.
...for the tongue in cheek "Dozier> or =Knoblauch"? Who'da thunk?
Oh, I forgot about the equals part. Well, obviously Dozier just has to be better than Knoblauch.
doesn't ≥ work?
yes, yes it does. ≥
"Just fine" wasn't meant to be a belittling phrase by any means.
On the other hand, I don't think there's anyone who views Brian Dozier as a likely .500 slugger or a >.850 OPS'r.
God bless Minnesota, where "just fine" is about as high of praise as one will ever hear.
Joe Mauer may just be a bit more than passable at baseball.
That level of power would seem to be unsustainable. A roughly .260/.360 AVG/OBP could be sustainable, though.
That's about what I was thinking. If he truly has turned a corner (way too early to tell, obviously), he'd be a valuable player with that on-base percentage (combined with his defense and periodic power).
Most likely, but he does already have 14 career HRs in 641 plate appearances. Knoblauch had 10 in his first four seasons (2,537 PAs) and didn't get to double digits in a season until the plexiglass in the Metrodome was removed prior to 1995. His best HR season total with the Twins was 13. His career best was 18 with the Yankees.
That just means Dozier will likely have an ISO greater than Knoblauch's .117, which is apparent from his minor league numbers.
Yeah, there's a long way between a .117 ISO and a .236 ISO.
Dozier's career ISO is .122. The Twins haven't had a primary 2B with that high of an ISO for a season since 2004 (Rivas .176). Rivas had a career .120 ISO. Of course, AL ISO in 2004 was .163. In 2013, it is .153.
Just as another comparison, Rod Carew's ISO w/ the Twins was .114.
I'm not sure what your comparisons are for, I was just pointing out that a .236 ISO is not in the cards for Dozier going forward.
Forget the power (sustainable or not), Dozier can't hold Knobby's base stealing jock
Good thing he's not the equipment manager.
assuming the same pace, we can about double the rWAR totals for the season, right? So Joe is on pace for about $3.1M per win. KillDozier is on pace for about $138K per win. Who is more valuable???
/stribber
I know I have a soft spot for second baseman in general, but I feel like Rivas and Casilla have gotten more than their fair share of criticism. They were basically replacement level second baseman getting paid replacement level money.
Now, if you want a disaster, consider Tsuyoshi Nishioka. $6M for 2 years of -2.4 cumulative rWAR. Rivas made $3.9M over 5 seasons with the Twins, averaging -0.2 rWAR/year. Casilla made $3.9M over 6 seasons with the Twins, averaging 0.6 rWAR/year.
My intent wasn't to do a cost analysis, it was simply to show that Dozier's having a decent year, and decent (read: above replacement) production is better than the Twins have gotten from that position for about the last 15 years.
However, pretty much anyone looks sparkling when compared to Nishioka.
How quickly they forget Luis Castillo and Orlando Hudson. To be fair, Dozier is on pace to have a better rWAR than either player had with the Twins, but both were above replacement level.
I just have a hard time separating the cost from the performance.
Since the last time I threatened to make the TsuyoBri Nishiozier Watch a regular feature (May 30th), his line is .263/.383/.508. So really about the same as everyone's already said, I just want to highlight the power of my motivational tools.
Since I mocked Deibinson Romero, on the same day, he's hit .272/.350/.448. I'll take that. Plouffe in 2012-2013 (about 115% of a full season) has hit .244/.309/.451.
Ive missed out on the player discussions the last couple of days, but I have enjoyed reading you guys having a nice back and forth.
Heh - sucker. I thought this story was going to be about poaching or waste...not so much.
that's pretty cool.
I love that, after Alex Rios had six hits in yesterday's White Sox-Tigers game, Adam Dunn told reporters, "It takes people like me two, maybe, three weeks to get six."
Yeah, I smirked. Then I checked Dunn's BR page and was surprised how many homers he's hit already (24). I guess his season is shaping up similar to last year's, a very 2001 McGwire like season. Still nowhere near worth what he's making, but not a massive liability.
209/308/480 with 24 HR and 103:40 K:BB in 341 PA? That sounds very Kingmanesque to me.
Dunn is in his age-33 season. In Kingman's age-33 season, he hit 204/285/432 with 37 HR and 156:59 in 607 PA.
Gleeman wonders if Gardy will survive three consecutive 90-loss seasons, as few managers have. I think he will, since I believe Ryan knows it isn't Gardy's fault.
I worked with Jacob Pomrenke at The San Bernardino Sun. Great guy, even if he is a Braves fan.
I think the Tom Kelly comparison is quite apt, given that TK answered to TR and Gardy answers to TR. At this point, the way to evaluate Gardy is how Hicks and some of the younger players are playing. With Dozier noted above as performing pretty well lately, and Hicks coming around, I could see them sticking with Gardy. (Hopefully Gibson and Arcia follow suit.) If, on the other hand, Gardy's not excited about the new guys about to come up from the minors, then he's not the right man for the job. I would love the symmetry if Gardy manages the team to a winning record in 2014 and then retires.
And then Vavra takes over?
More likely Ullger. There has been talk of him being groomed for the job.
Is it too early to start a Brunansky campaign?
Jake Mauer
Doug Mientkiewicz
I was totally the first to suggest that.
I think he's being groomed for Big Fella's job.
Looking at the chart above, it is all young players that are most valuable to the Twins right now other than Mauer, of course. The flip side is that the veterans are underperforming. Does Gardy take blame for that? Maybe with his usage of Doumit (who's underperforming both Dozier and Parmelee among many others), but mostly just age and injuries. I don't see Gardy being fired. Maybe stepping aside, but he hasn't dealt with as many bad seasons as TK did and he is playing in Target Field instead of the Metrodome. Plus, the minor leagues are better than at anytime in TK's tenure.
Is it getting fired if your contract is up anyway?
Being let go would be more appropriate, I guess. Stepping aside would be his choice, not the Twins'.
What's touching your waffles?
Who the hell can't tell the difference between real and fake maple syrup?
I'm imagining the yak bringing his milk to the store as a charitable donation.
I'm imagining cows being placed in a torture chamber before they finally allow a few drops of milk.
Anyone going to AmericanaramA tonight? I debated but ultimately decided not to. Of course right now I'm having second thoughts. Actually if I wasn't busy yesterday I would have gone up to Duluth and watch the show up there. I know Wilco loves Duluth and I have some insiders who could have gotten me in and put me up for the night, oh well.
Anyway, reviews are good, I'd love to hear if any citizens go and what they thought.
I'm here...full review to come.
How's this for a star grab? My Morning Jacket andWilco performing Neil Young: Cinnamon Girl.
Ricky/Martin/Bud or Brewer/Love/Pek
JJ/Shabazz or Shved/Brewer or Bud/Hammer/Dieng
That doesn't look too bad to me.
Greetings from beautiful San Francisco International Airport. It has been one hell of a day. J & I were in Los Angeles until Sunday, and flew up to San Francisco for the last three days of our vacation. Since we left LA, this trip has turned into an adventure.
Our flight into SFO was delayed several hours, and we did not arrive until 1:00 am. The shuttle service I booked couldn't tell me anything and I had to wait for several shuttles to pick us up. We checked into our hotel at 2:00 am and went right to bed. When I woke up on Monday, I found out through Facebook that my friend who had a stroke two weeks ago passed away unexpectedly. So the entire time here has been wild swings of happiness and misery.
Today was the day we were scheduled to return to Fargo. The visitation is tomorrow night, and the funeral is on Friday morning. We were flying Frontier: SFO -> DEN, DEN -> FAR. When we arrived at the airport we found out that our flight out of SFO was delayed by two hours. This two hours meant that we would miss our connecting flight. There are no more flights to FAR after that, nor are there any tomorrow. Cool.
So I went to the front desk and said in no uncertain terms that we needed to get to Fargo in time for the service tomorrow. After much discussion, waiting, trips to and back from another concourse, they gave me their best offer to get me home:
SFO -> LAX (Virgin), LAX -> ORD (AA), ORD -> FAR (AA). We were to arrive at 9:30 pm in Fargo, we will now be traveling overnight. I arrive back in Fargo at 11:15 am tomorrow and then need to immediately go shopping for funeral attire and make arrangements with friends for the services. Also, despite paying for my bags, they told me I would need to pay Virgin for my bag services. They got mad at me that I was upset about this.
I understand there are delays beyond their control, but I am the one who gets to spend 22 total hours traveling in order to get home to go to a funeral.
I don't know if I had any specific reason for posting this I just needed to say it.
With that said, anyone who has some job opportunities for me out in California can forward them to me. We liked it out here a whole lot.
Unfortunately, I live in an area with one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. If you can do road construction, that would be your best bet for the next couple years.
I don't know what kind of work you do, Zack, but the market is definitely picking up in NorCal. The housing market is active, construction work is picking up, new restaurants and small businesses are opening. The latest unemployment data says that Alameda County (Oakland) is down to around 6.8 percent; San Francisco is at 5.2 percent, Marin 4.5 percent, Napa 5.3 percent, San Mateo 4.9 percent, Santa Clara 6.2 percent.
Sacramento County is still close to the statewide average of 8.1 percent, and San Joaquin (Stockton) remains very bad at 11.5 percent.
In Socal, Orange County is pretty healthy (5.5 percent). San Diego is at 6.7 percent; but Los Angeles is still at 9.2 percent.
I do operational work for a large software company. I'm kind of a jack of all trades and know a lot of information, I just don't have a ton of super marketable skills. I'm glad that the job market is good if we do seriously decide to pursue this. San Diego is the area I was most thinking. I've heard finding housing in NorCal is hilarious.
At least Gardy finally got Doumit out of the 3 hole. Don't know why no Plouffe.