(the song and reference, that is. i'm ambivalent on the reason.)
Carlos Quentin? I hope they are signing the 2008 version. He has not played more than 86 games since 2011 and was gawd-awful last year [oops 2014 was the last year he played before retiring]. I see that he's signed a minor-league deal. Good. That's probably worth a flyer.
Well, I mean, you can never have too many DHs.
Hmmm, gonna delay his HOF bid.
With Gardy not around I at least have a small hope he won't steal any playing time from people we actually want to get ABs in the majors.
Looking at the writing on Quentin, I ran into this article. Name drops therein: Cobb, Williams, Banks, Sandberg, Dawson, Griffey Jr., Carew, Torii Hunter, Suzuki, Thomas.
lol
If they've signed him to play in Rochester I don't have a big problem with it. I mean, it seems kind of pointless, but it won't particularly hurt anything.
Here's my solution (which would never be implemented unless the game was on the brink of collapse, but whatever):
$150M salary cap -- this is paid by the league after all the teams throw money in for revenue sharing. If you don't feel like spending to the cap, you're not punished for it, but any money under the cap that is not spent is put into a pool and redistributed as a bonus to all the players in the league. If $150M isn't the right number, find the right one.
Each team gets 3 "designated players" -- each of these players counts $20M against the cap, but you are allowed to pay them as much as you want
No draft -- all incoming players are free agents
Guaranteed contracts are capped at 3 years + 1 team option -- you're allowed to re-sign a player to a new contract in the middle of his deal if you like, though
I also think you could adapt this for the NBA, and that the NBA would be even better served by spreading the elite players around the league (by allowing each team one player that they can sign for as much as they like while taking a fixed cap hit) and also by eliminating the draft. If you want to make cap space to spend more on incoming players, go for it.
I am dubious of how much tanking can help the future of an MLB team. Tanking for multiple years will help but the draft is still a crapshoot.
Maybe ditch the draft entirely and structure it like how international amateur signings work now. Teams are given a budget based on their performance for the previous year but the teams still need to sign players. Blowing a budget on a can't miss player means you can't sign anyone else.
I'm also kind of dubious about how much tanking really helps an MLB team. Losing 100+ games for multiple seasons in a row is a real kick in the nuts to your fans and the payoff might not be for years.
Getting rid of the draft for me would be an excuse to overhaul the system so that teams aren't allowed to spend so freely. I see some of the appeal in letting some teams spend more than others, but it still just seems inherently unfair to me. We wouldn't allow teams to buy extra outs or runs or purchase a 26th spot on the active roster. Somehow those things are deemed inherently unfair while spending extra money to buy better players is not considered an inherently unfair advantage in constructing a roster.
I think it probably seems too much like communism to people. We're (mostly) in America, so it must be free enterprise! Of course, participants would be openly complaining if they were in a fantasy baseball league in which some owners could spend more money than others to buy players, other than the ones with the advantage, of course.
This theory fails to explain the NFL.
*grasps at straws* "Concussions!"
Since this idea came to me, I assume Selig had it at one point...
Maybe teams could buy an extra 26th roster spot with a (sizable) donation to the Wounded Warrior Project and that roster spot has to always wear camo/stars and stripes uniforms?
Anyone here have any knowledge of wedding photographers who a) work out in Wright County and b) aren't super expensive. We need someone for like 2 hours max, and finding that so far has been elusive.
I have a college friend who says he can do that (depending on date) -- $300 and includes CD of all images and a print release. I can give you to him if you want to talk.
Gracias - FB message
D@mn, I love The Venture Bros - welcome back guys.
southern minnesota travel update
dont
that is all.
Nor MSP for that matter. Trying to get to our nation's Capital and have already been delayed and rerouted to Detroit.
Got to the airport more than four hours ago... likely won't get to Reagan until after midnight. Who knows when we get to Arlington.
Reagan is in Arlington 🙂
And it might not be until after midnight but who knows!
9:55 - In Detroit!
10:47 - Leaving Detroit!
DPWY - I did not know that!
Don't think I'll have much free time and I'm staying at the Hyatt in Arlington, but any "must see" items?*
*I've seen most of the "touristy" stuff as a tourist.
The one in Rosslyn? Ah, who am I kidding, it's been far too long for me to offer actual advice. Go eat at Ben's Chili Bowl, which is nowhere near there, but represents the quintessential non-tourist D.C. Experience.
Is the Queen Bee still open out in Little Saigon? (Checks; answer is no)
Go to the Tune Inn in Capitol Hill for a burger and a pitcher of Natty Bo.
Also, the Hirshhorn!
Thanks fellas!
Arrived at hotel a bit before 1.
Other half of the group, those given a direct flight after the initial cancellation, were cancelled again and will miss the first half of tomorrow's program.
Whoa! You were a Tune Inn patron too! Spent a lot of time and litle money at the Tune Inn on burgers and Natty Bo's 1986-88
I probably saw you there!
Really late response, but I love me some Ben's. If you're in Rosslyn, you can easily walk to the Iwa Jima memorial. I can't help but go sit at the Lincoln Memorial and stare at the Mall on every visit.
Just got back to MSP. Finished our trip with meetings at Council on Foreign Relations, lunch at the National Press Club, and a meeting with journalists at The Washington Post. So. Awesome.
Had dinner at The Monocle and went way out to Falls Church for Peking Duck.
Ugh, good luck with your travel CoC. Just getting out of downtown Minneapolis was horrendous this afternoon, but that's partly because I made a major strategic bus error, which I will definitely not be repeating the next time there's a bunch of snow.
Huh, it was great for me. I left 30 minutes earlier to catch the first bus and it was a minute early, arriving at 4:13. The trip home seemed to take the usual amount of time and walking was only slightly slower. I ended up being about ten minutes late compared to clear weather and sidewalks. Of course, other times with less snow I easily surpassed the half hour late mark. I think everyone was sufficiently freaked out about the snow that commutes were okay this time.
My problem was where I get on my usual bus--it's on 2nd Avenue at the very northern end of downtown Minneapolis. Since a lot of people left work early, the result was two busses in a row passing me (and several others) while not letting us on. When I abandoned my usual route and went over to Hennepin (where I should have gone to begin with), I immediately caught another bus that also gets me home. This one had seats to spare, and the ride was very slightly slower.
We were let out of our office early. I lingered, ran some errands, and ended up on a bus about a half-hour ahead of my regular. I got on towards the start of the line (at St. Olaf's: the second stop).
I got home just a bit later than regular.
Lew Zealand finally appeared on The Muppets! With a speaking a line! And boomeranged a fish! The show is relevant again!!
"They used to pull the hog out, and they used to eat it."
- IMBD, 1/2/2016
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Heh
I put two lines together.
I knew I was doing it to some degree, but it was late and meh.
Everything's OK!
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-r_i5CqllM
(the song and reference, that is. i'm ambivalent on the reason.)
Carlos Quentin? I hope they are signing the 2008 version. He has not played more than 86 games since 2011 and was gawd-awful last year [oops 2014 was the last year he played before retiring]. I see that he's signed a minor-league deal. Good. That's probably worth a flyer.
Well, I mean, you can never have too many DHs.
Hmmm, gonna delay his HOF bid.
With Gardy not around I at least have a small hope he won't steal any playing time from people we actually want to get ABs in the majors.
Looking at the writing on Quentin, I ran into this article. Name drops therein: Cobb, Williams, Banks, Sandberg, Dawson, Griffey Jr., Carew, Torii Hunter, Suzuki, Thomas.
lol
If they've signed him to play in Rochester I don't have a big problem with it. I mean, it seems kind of pointless, but it won't particularly hurt anything.
Concerns about tanking in baseball.
Here's my solution (which would never be implemented unless the game was on the brink of collapse, but whatever):
$150M salary cap -- this is paid by the league after all the teams throw money in for revenue sharing. If you don't feel like spending to the cap, you're not punished for it, but any money under the cap that is not spent is put into a pool and redistributed as a bonus to all the players in the league. If $150M isn't the right number, find the right one.
Each team gets 3 "designated players" -- each of these players counts $20M against the cap, but you are allowed to pay them as much as you want
No draft -- all incoming players are free agents
Guaranteed contracts are capped at 3 years + 1 team option -- you're allowed to re-sign a player to a new contract in the middle of his deal if you like, though
I also think you could adapt this for the NBA, and that the NBA would be even better served by spreading the elite players around the league (by allowing each team one player that they can sign for as much as they like while taking a fixed cap hit) and also by eliminating the draft. If you want to make cap space to spend more on incoming players, go for it.
I am dubious of how much tanking can help the future of an MLB team. Tanking for multiple years will help but the draft is still a crapshoot.
Maybe ditch the draft entirely and structure it like how international amateur signings work now. Teams are given a budget based on their performance for the previous year but the teams still need to sign players. Blowing a budget on a can't miss player means you can't sign anyone else.
I'm also kind of dubious about how much tanking really helps an MLB team. Losing 100+ games for multiple seasons in a row is a real kick in the nuts to your fans and the payoff might not be for years.
Getting rid of the draft for me would be an excuse to overhaul the system so that teams aren't allowed to spend so freely. I see some of the appeal in letting some teams spend more than others, but it still just seems inherently unfair to me. We wouldn't allow teams to buy extra outs or runs or purchase a 26th spot on the active roster. Somehow those things are deemed inherently unfair while spending extra money to buy better players is not considered an inherently unfair advantage in constructing a roster.
I think it probably seems too much like communism to people. We're (mostly) in America, so it must be free enterprise! Of course, participants would be openly complaining if they were in a fantasy baseball league in which some owners could spend more money than others to buy players, other than the ones with the advantage, of course.
This theory fails to explain the NFL.
*grasps at straws* "Concussions!"
Since this idea came to me, I assume Selig had it at one point...
Maybe teams could buy an extra 26th roster spot with a (sizable) donation to the Wounded Warrior Project and that roster spot has to always wear camo/stars and stripes uniforms?
[seligshrug.jpg]
Might want to pick a different charity.
No, that's why I mentioned it.
Anyone here have any knowledge of wedding photographers who a) work out in Wright County and b) aren't super expensive. We need someone for like 2 hours max, and finding that so far has been elusive.
I have a college friend who says he can do that (depending on date) -- $300 and includes CD of all images and a print release. I can give you to him if you want to talk.
Gracias - FB message
D@mn, I love The Venture Bros - welcome back guys.
southern minnesota travel update
dont
that is all.
Nor MSP for that matter. Trying to get to our nation's Capital and have already been delayed and rerouted to Detroit.
Got to the airport more than four hours ago... likely won't get to Reagan until after midnight. Who knows when we get to Arlington.
Reagan is in Arlington 🙂
And it might not be until after midnight but who knows!
9:55 - In Detroit!
10:47 - Leaving Detroit!
DPWY - I did not know that!
Don't think I'll have much free time and I'm staying at the Hyatt in Arlington, but any "must see" items?*
*I've seen most of the "touristy" stuff as a tourist.
The one in Rosslyn? Ah, who am I kidding, it's been far too long for me to offer actual advice. Go eat at Ben's Chili Bowl, which is nowhere near there, but represents the quintessential non-tourist D.C. Experience.
Is the Queen Bee still open out in Little Saigon? (Checks; answer is no)
Go to the Tune Inn in Capitol Hill for a burger and a pitcher of Natty Bo.
Also, the Hirshhorn!
Thanks fellas!
Arrived at hotel a bit before 1.
Other half of the group, those given a direct flight after the initial cancellation, were cancelled again and will miss the first half of tomorrow's program.
Whoa! You were a Tune Inn patron too! Spent a lot of time and litle money at the Tune Inn on burgers and Natty Bo's 1986-88
I probably saw you there!
Really late response, but I love me some Ben's. If you're in Rosslyn, you can easily walk to the Iwa Jima memorial. I can't help but go sit at the Lincoln Memorial and stare at the Mall on every visit.
Just got back to MSP. Finished our trip with meetings at Council on Foreign Relations, lunch at the National Press Club, and a meeting with journalists at The Washington Post. So. Awesome.
Had dinner at The Monocle and went way out to Falls Church for Peking Duck.
Ugh, good luck with your travel CoC. Just getting out of downtown Minneapolis was horrendous this afternoon, but that's partly because I made a major strategic bus error, which I will definitely not be repeating the next time there's a bunch of snow.
Huh, it was great for me. I left 30 minutes earlier to catch the first bus and it was a minute early, arriving at 4:13. The trip home seemed to take the usual amount of time and walking was only slightly slower. I ended up being about ten minutes late compared to clear weather and sidewalks. Of course, other times with less snow I easily surpassed the half hour late mark. I think everyone was sufficiently freaked out about the snow that commutes were okay this time.
My problem was where I get on my usual bus--it's on 2nd Avenue at the very northern end of downtown Minneapolis. Since a lot of people left work early, the result was two busses in a row passing me (and several others) while not letting us on. When I abandoned my usual route and went over to Hennepin (where I should have gone to begin with), I immediately caught another bus that also gets me home. This one had seats to spare, and the ride was very slightly slower.
We were let out of our office early. I lingered, ran some errands, and ended up on a bus about a half-hour ahead of my regular. I got on towards the start of the line (at St. Olaf's: the second stop).
I got home just a bit later than regular.
Lew Zealand finally appeared on The Muppets! With a speaking a line! And boomeranged a fish! The show is relevant again!!
His name is Lew Zealand?
Yes. Costar with Spike Milligan in the #1 weirdest sketch on The Muppet Show