biggentleben

Thorough, well thought, deeply intriguing, and underlined argument. Nice work.

Make backhanded compliments all you want, the dude has the 4th or 5th highest QB rating in all of football, and has yet to make any real harmful mistakes. The most encouraging thing is he appears to be improving each and every game. The guy will never be a Brees/Rogers/Brady type, but could end up being a damn fine QB for us moving forward. Any thoughts on all those Toby fumbles? With Peterson back at 100% and them using Harvin out of the backfield 3-4 times a game, is it even worth having Toby on the roster? Too bad we can't showcase him a bit then trade him for a 3rd rounder or a WR or something. I think Toby could actually be a solid asset for a number of teams in the league (maybe not a starter, but a 50/50 type guy on a team without any elite RB's) Gerhart is a must. Harbaugh was his college coach and just may have known a particular flaw in his running that left the ball exposed more than usual. He was caught mouthing something to the effect of "I can't believe he did it again!" after the third fumble, so he may have been trying to go after Gerhart. I did feel it was poor form to have Gerhart back in there after the 2nd fumble. Regardless, Gerhart is a must on the team. He's a decent blocker, he's got good hands in the passing game, and you simply cannot go without another possible bell cow back on your roster, no matter how healthy the starter is at that moment.

6 of 10 of the last Triple Crown winners DID NOT win the MVP In the last 30 years, there have been 13 10.0 WAR+ players (Trout will be the 14th), only 5 won the MVP

.780 OPS with 3 homers and 4 steals at the leadoff position is hardly a wall. It's just that he set his bar so high in June/July that we see it as such, and that's become a narrative - an incorrect one, but one nonetheless.

Because the offensive triple crown is all done with the bat. It is the things that the Batter can directly control. Not true. There is a measure of luck build into batting average. Runs batted in are dependent on team unless it's a home run. Even then home runs can be influenced by ballpark, whether, schedule, or many other things. So even those things, the batter doesn't control any more than stolen bases or runs.

I find being an obnoxious jackass to be much preferable over an objective "nerd." You've convinced me. POTD nominee

I would agree with that strategy except that you don't know what may be left for pitching. Others may have kept all other elite pitchers, and definitely Kimbrel and possibly Gio and Greinke qualify as elite, so you could end up having other teams loaded in pitching and now you're good, but not great offensively as I'm not sold on the production of Napoli, Rizzo, and Lawrie in 2013.

Some leagues just have blanket keepers, no round assigned to them.

Keeper league, I wouldn't touch Profar or Machado. Rizzo is SNTS. Braun, Stanton, Gio, Kimbrel, Greinke (if you can wait to see his 2013 team first, that'd be best), and then your choice of Zim or AGone depending on your feeling about what will be in the draft. If you feel stud pitching will be in the draft, I'd go with AGone. AGone will be a top 5 1B next year, and it's doubtful any of the rest of the top 5 will be left available. If this were dynasty, then Machado, Profar, Rizzo, etc. would matter more, but keeping them next year is asking to be picking early in 2014's draft.

...and this is where I laugh at the accusations of Obama having any control over the Medicaid/Medicare moneys skewing. States decide how Medicaid is distributed and have a large say in how Medicare money is distributed within the state. States that have poor oversight are the states that see a high amount of fraud. I can tell you that South Dakota recently moved all Medicaid/Medicare receiving departments under one department head, and it has allowed for better budgeting of all funds needed by each area. It has also allowed South Dakota to claim more funds by having a better totality indicator of need than each individual department reporting.

How is this rushing? He hasn't been challenged at any level thus far. This gives him a chance to be challenged this year. Then he goes to AA/AAA and is allowed the whole arsenal next year and likely moves to the rotation full time sometime next summer. He was considered as MLB ready as the college pitchers in his own draft class.

This debate, as do most in the political arena, has gone from functionality to ideals. The functional end of how we work with our elderly and disabled is that currently we throw money at them with minimal oversight. I work for a boss that is livid when someone with $50,000 in the bank is getting any food stamps and has us crush that. That said, if we didn't know that and the consumer didn't reveal it to DSS, they'd be getting plenty of food stamps every single month. That's just one area. I've seen similar with disability benefits, with section 8 housing, and with scores of other programs intended to help those neediest among us, but the design of oversight in those programs is poor, to say the least. Nevermind that those that are being taxed with doing that oversight are not paid anywhere near enough for what they work with on a daily basis. That breeds apathy in a quick hurry and leads to less focus on the job or quick turnover on the job, and every new person on the job has many unwritten things to learn about how people will try to get "free money". A great example was the "Ticket To Work" program for those accessing SSI or SSDI benefits. The program, in its launch, was not easily understood to those who would be doing the exact work and be receiving the least benefit from the program, though the program can be marked for giving the provider an incentive benefit upon advancement in work status for the consumer. However, there was never anyone who really knew the program if someone had questions, and those who were available to do trainings on the program had obviously not had real-life experience in the field, so they spoke completely over the head of those doing the job day to day. Now that program, while still running, has received no promotion and no offered trainings for nearly two full years, and one of the better attempts at both improving the work status of those receiving disability benefits while incentivizing those who spend their time assisting those consumers in their improvements is now dead. I've seen programs like this come and go through multiple presidents of both parties and multiple governors of many different parties, and the main reason they fail is a consistent lack of understanding about the middle - between the political "Do this!" and the social workers that actually have to implement it. We could drastically alter the amount of people who "milk" the system for handouts by structuring better implementation and oversight of the positive programs that could make a difference in the life of someone on disability and help them move to the point of independent living. Now correcting the tax breaks that those with plenty get, that's not my expertise, and I don't have hands-on experience with it. I do know there are those out there who want to repeal agricultural assistance before dealing with the tax loopholes, yet out of the other side of their mouth, they'll lament "corporate farming". Too many decisions, frankly, are being made by a number of people in Washington who have no direct idea what it's like to be in a certain situation, and rather than do the research to actually find out, they stick to their assumptions along a partisan line that never really helps anyone truly move up.

Incredible loss, not just to NFL films, not just to football, not just to sports, but to the world. The man changed how we viewed our game, took sports coverage to a new level, which has taken many music and pop culture films to a new level as well. RIP

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2292[/ATTACH] Jesus discusses the art of hitting with his disciples.

I realize my critique didn't exactly sing its praises, but I really enjoyed the book. I just have heard many people looking for a "rah, rah Rays" book come away disappointed. There are plenty of criticisms of the organization along the way as well. I really liked how Keri used the Rays and referred it back to daily business works as my degree is in Marketing from the Carlson School. It felt like a baseball case study from one of my old management classes, so it was a good read to me. I'm working my way through "The Last Hero" about Hank Aaron right now. Very poorly written, though Hank is my favorite athlete of all time, so I'm still making it through slowly. Not sure the next one on my shelf that I'll get to as I got nearly 30 books the last two years for Christmas and birthday gifts from friends and family. I'm debating between "Baseball in the Garden of Eden" or "The Last Boy". to get my baseball book fix.

He'll win the state where he just very publicly pulled all of his ads and shut down local campaigning? Interesting theory.

Is The Extra 2% any good? I'm looking for something new to read but don't want to drop $14 on a book that reads like a Wikipedia article. In part, Moneyball was so great because Lewis wove it into a solid story. I will say this - if you go in looking for a pure baseball book, you'll be irritated. It's written as a business book, emphasizing utilization of unconventional methods to compete in an established industry. The story woven in is the unbelievably bad start to the franchise by their first owner and the changes made by their current management and ownership group. I like the way the book is structured, with discussions on each facet, including a very good biopic look at Joe Maddon's coaching/managing history that consumes a chapter.

And he's done it for a number of years now with different thinking than "conventional" thinking. His bullpens are a great example. I heard an interview with Kyle Farnsworth during the offseason where he credited Joe with coming to him and stating something to the effect of, "The numbers say you are untouchable in these situations. I plan to use you exactly in those situations. If you trust me, we will win, and you'll make a lot of money." He reportedly said a similar thing to Joaquin Benoit. It's a remarkable thing how much he knows about his players. You would assume every manager does that, but he's really quite rare in that respect. Reading "The Extra 2%" was very eye opening to essentially the new market inefficiency and how to exploit it. Also (not related directly to Lev's post), Moneyball was never about Billy Beane. It was about exploiting market inefficiencies to make a low-budget team able to compete. Drafting college pitchers in that ballpark is very solid strategy as they generally will understand how to exploit location to keep the ball in the ballpark. Look at their team this year. Who had Dan Straily as the best pitcher in the minors before the season? Who had AJ Griffin as the pitcher who would tie an AL record for most wins in a row to start a career? Neither of those guys were in top 15 for Sickels preseason in the A's system.

The religious extremists have certainly taken hold of the anti-homosexual platform in this country, but worldwide it is punishable by death in a number of non-Christian African countries to be caught in a homosexual act. Most Islamic countries have severe punishments for homosexuality, up to and including death. I'm not saying any are right by any means, but to explain this exclusively as a Christian issue is ignoring the issue on a larger, world-wide scale.

I was looking with the projections. Currently, he's about a 2/3 bb/k, which isn't bad, but it's still not close to his career, which was 4/3.

Longoria belongs nowhere near the list, even with current guys. A few current names I'll toss in that haven't been mentioned - Jim Thome, Scott Rolen, Adrian Beltre, and Carlos Beltran.

The most interesting part about his line this year to me is his bb/k rate. He's basically been a 1/1 guy most of his career, and while his strikeout number isn't high this year, having a near 1/2 bb/k rate this year is an interesting change for him. I'd want to see how his second year in a new league goes before predicting his decline, but that's definitely not an encouraging sign.

the irony here is astounding. potd

Kluwe is a football player who also is vocal about a cause he believes in. If you want to equate that to Sandra Fluke, then sure, he's more than "just" a football player, and thank God he is! Too many football players attempt to fit to the thug, womanizing, uneducated stereotype that many have of professional football players. Kluwe is a punter AND a football player. One of the best athletes on the Gophers when I was part of the squad was Preston Gruening, who happened to be a punter. I had a high school teacher who went to three training camps as a punter before being cut each time, and he was one of the most athletic men I've ever met. Most special teams guys put in as much practice or more than any other player on the team to master their craft of the game. Calling Kluwe a punter, not a football player would be akin to saying Peyton Manning is a thrower, not a football player. It shows incredible ignorance of what goes into the game. Kluwe's language would barely get bleeped on network TV most evenings, so before you go high and mighty about the language, evaluate the point behind the comment. And he had no violation of the first amendment, so you may want to brush up on the amendment yourself.

Do you really even need to ask that?