ashbury

He was batting .029, but it was an empty .029.

Which wasn't being argued, and is irrelevant to the point Mr Brooks was making. A single case of police misconduct can cost the taxpayers $20M. So even apart from wanting justice, maybe some people should be looking at the pocketbook argument, and rethinking their support for a permissive approach in police departments.

Law of unintended consequences in play, apparently. Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrr... "you're welcome."

Thank you for your service.

What the heck were you looking for when you ran across this old article?

We had our Steven Okert, in Justin Nicolino, and frittered him away. Justin "Our Steven Okert" Nicolino. It has a ring to it.

Every once in a while I get a little reminder of how lucky Mrs Ash and I have been. Not just with our own offspring, but even in our extended family we've run into nothing like this. Everything pales in comparison. Just incomprehensible.

I thought we already reached consensus in that other thread that we shouldn't bother trying.

Hey! Next time, mark the subject line with "SPOILERS!!!" or something. You just ruined my weekend, chump.

You took my little metaphor for over-aggressiveness, and pushed it way beyond the situation the FO faces. There isn't an umpire to rule "take your player" and award FalVine a free lottery-ticket prospect from the Giants if Farhan Zaidi makes four straight ridiculous asks in return for MadBum. This isn't anything like a Mauer plate appearance. Sure, I want FalVine to hit it out of the park without hesitation if Zaidi gives them a reasonable offer for taking Bumgarner off his hands. The odds of that happening in early May are small. We may feel motivated, but the potential trading partners do not. Not yet. I wasn't a fan of Terry Ryan's reputed insistence on never initiating trade talks lest he start the negotiations from a position of weakness. But if our new guys call up the Giants in May, the conversation will be short unless they overpay by a LOT. I don't think that's smart management, nor a wise expectation. In any competitive game, forcing it is one of the quickest ways to lose. We tend to remember the times when forcing it led to glorious victory, and there are certainly times to strike, but the history of MLB trading tells us that early May isn't the time most GMs choose, and I in turn choose to heed that experience. When a team is bad, you look for a good group of games like we've had lately as guidance toward which players to build on. But when the team is good, or on the cusp of it, then the analysis has to go the other way, and look to the bad outcomes for guidance. That's why I made a point of that 11-0 stinker the other day. It highlighted the many holes we still have on the roster. Those holes synchronized to make for one painful game. But in the course of a long season, each of those individual failures could instead torpedo a winnable game on its own. That was my point in bringing it up, in response to the original post in this thread talking about acquiring a pitcher. Having someone like Ryan Pressly would not have appreciably changed the outcome of that game. By extension, his presence wouldn't spare us enough of the spread-out version of damage either. I thought the original post was actually advocating a big trade for a stud starting pitcher, and my reply was meant in that light. Maybe I misunderstood. But if the focus is on the bullpen, one acquisition isn't going to turn us from cute story to contender, in the words of that original post. I wasn't pleased that the bullpen needs weren't addressed in the off-season. But I think aggressively pursuing a trade in May could compound the error.

The game I was talking about had multiple failures by individual pitchers. Making a flashy, splashy trade isn't going to fix all those holes. Maybe you meant something different than I guessed when you said "contender". I want a serious threat to win a World Series, and I don't think we're that close yet. But sure, if some team is looking to rid themselves of difference-makers, and isn't asking for Royce Lewis and Alex Kirilloff in return, I hope our front office doesn't hang up the phone. Build up the franchise a bit at a time. It's long slow work and I don't think it comes about by deciding one day that we're going to be "aggressive". IMO our front office has to follow the advice given to players, to slow the game down and to make the game come to them. The FO needs to avoid chasing the figurative slider in the dirt, same as them.

You think we're one pitcher away.

Gotta find a team thirsting for lots of players needing 40-man space. And yeah, a rebuilding team might fit that description to a tee.

Is Kirilloff eligible for the Rule 5 Draft next December? If not, then that's a good reason to not add him to the 40-man roster, unless you feel absolutely certain he is ready to face major league pitching. The extra option year you "gain" is just a wash, compared to just not starting the options clock yet, if you think in terms of his 2022 or 2023 or 2024 seasons - the ability or inability to option him will be the same in those seasons either way. I guess we're all assuming he's a lock to be major-league ready, which colors our thinking on this. But angling for an extra option year is letting the tail wag the dog, isn't it? 40-man slots are precious. You don't use one merely to give a promising kid a speculative look-see, because then you can't easily remove him in favor of someone else.

This was a great comeback victory, battling back from an overwhelming 0-0 deficit early in the game. Judging by the camera shots of the stands, some fans left early and missed it.

http://wildflourskitchen.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/fried-chicken-dinner-720x720.jpg

Aye, so we're talkin' mutiny then, matey! Run up the Jolly Roger(s), and refuse the manager when he sends you out there, Taylor! Yarrrr! / no, I know what you mean

"If a student gets an answer right, the teacher should tell him it was a lucky guess. That way he develops a good, lucky feeling." -- Jack Handey

Carnac: Your powers of mind-reading exceed even my own!

Oh, that's right! I wonder what their plan is, then.

Of course. But that one game had a lot of texture to it, if you look.

Reed is not on the 40-man, so almost certainly he will have to wait until the FO makes a decision that some current player simply can not be salvaged. It's May now, so that time may come soon.

The present plan surely is that Cruz will be here in 2020. That means just 2021 for a DH'ing Sano, before a decision has to be made regarding his impending free-agency. Ugh, this isn't working out anything like we all had envisioned. Also, I'm not too sure his perceived 100-120 game ceiling has very much to do with his being a position player, based on past injuries.

Yes, and uphill to each base. Like this, only in reverse: