biggentleben

No opt outs, either. One great Tweet out there is that the Angels did not mess with Trout's service time and paid him now twice long-term, standard-setting deals. All of these things would be considered inefficient. When Trout sat down to negotiate, you don't think his team consistently having his back made an impact?

In all seriousness, Doc, I’d wager that the Blue Jays will have a lot better chance of bringing in a JuCo guy in the 26th round with upside rather than see him go to a four-year and turn into a first day pick. It could also help them in a market they’re already making huge strides in, the second-tier Latin market. Once you get beyond the six figure guys that are obvious, oftentimes there are a few guys who get way more than you’d project simply because they were a $100K valuation that 4 teams liked, so they bid each other up over him. Below that six figure market are a whole lot of guys who end up mostly failing out, but often times are where you find the big upside, super low ceiling types. If they know you’re spending more along the way, you’ve got a big in-road there. That is a huge market. I suggested that the Braves could counter their punishments by paying minor leaguers significantly more. Yes, they’d still be stuck to $10k max signings in 2019/2020, but you’d likely be able to get the cream of that crop.

Dirk Hayhurst would give you a very, very different perspective. His piece was incredible to read.

Minor leaguers often report around the same time as most major league players to spring training, are not paid during that time, and if they are asked to participate in fall instructs, it's an 8-month haul. Then, based on the offseason workout programs I've seen from 3 different organizations now, players really don't get much chance to have a life in their offseason outside of baseball either.

It's called a dream. However, unlike the person who has dreams of making it on Broadway or in Hollywood, quite literally it is not possible to work another job and do all the offseason requirements the team has for you.

Huh. Not sure why typing in the link gave an infinite loop, but that's what I get for putting it in and then disappearing for a few days!

I commented on the blog rather than on the article post, but I did bring together Emily's piece and Dirk Hayhurst's piece on the topic today on my site: https://videobaseballscout.com/2019/03/18/minor-league-baseball-pay-large-issue/ The basics...even if the Jays were on the high end of the AAA scale before, adding 50% to that still would not put them at a yearly wage equal to a year's income at minimum wage in Toronto ($11 in 2018, moving to $11.50 on April 1). With dictated offseason activities making an offseason job nearly impossible, players are rarely going to be able to find something to work with their workout schedule that they need to keep up all offseason.

I've got a piece on my site that came out today that discusses that even with this, not a single Toronto minor league player makes what would have been minimum wage in Toronto in 2018...and minimum wage went up .50/hour in 2019. https://videobaseballscout.com/2019/03/18/minor-league-baseball-pay-large-issue/

I'll just say you're misinformed, but in reading further as we got into this thread, I've found why, and I don't choose to engage you further on any religious discussion. Thanks.

...and while family stuff this weekend took me away from responding in time with the conversation we had going on that topic, Levi, I do want to convey that I completely understand that Israel is not the demon spawn here. That's where I was struggling to read my posts in the same light. There's plenty of blame for the whole region over the last 60 years or so, though I'd put a lot of the blame of the previous 15 years to that on Europe, the US, and the UN. I do believe that so often what is written is so carefully written so as to not negatively portray Israel that any such verbage is seen as full-out discourse against Israel, and, of course, extended into antisemitism by those on the hard right looking to cover up their own racist/sexist/whatever-ist beliefs.

It's called a melting pot. When you blend many metals into one pot, you do not come out with a pure metal. You come out with something new, different, and many-faceted. Why anyone would even want assimilation is beyond me.

It's because of your grandparents and many others around the turn of the century that those benefits even exist, and most likely many of them received a government benefit formed in the heart of FDR's incredible answer to the church and society no longer taking care of the poor and needy. Those persons were often given a whole collection of things when they were received into the country. A tour of Ellis Island gives some amazing insight into just what was provided to people as they arrived in the country.

As someone who has had plenty of experience with various religions through social work and through study in seminary, you could insert "Christianity" "Judaism", "Taoism", "Buddhism" or any other major religion into the spots in this statement where Islam is stated, and it'd be as accurate.

History is a crazy subject...

....and there it is....

Exactly. The creation of Israel was certainly in place before the end of WWII in Europe. It was discussed and put off by FDR's administration, on strong suggestion of his state department. Truman went completely against the same suggestion to throw the country's support behind Israel's creation. This was not a new idea.

In large part, most of the Palestineans that are fighting simply want their land back. Other Arab countries absolutely want to root out Israel. However, it's hard not to understand why they would feel that way. Consider it this way. Minnesota is its own functioning state within the United States. Suddenly, the man in orange gets a great offer from his election-influencing friends, and he dedicates 55% of all Minnesotan land to Russians. No integration into the culture or any such thing. This will now be the 51st state of the Union (FU Puerto Rico!), Russia at the United States Expense, aka RUSE. Give it 70 years of those Russians being in Minneapolis. You think those who lost their beloved Twins, Vikings, Wild, Timberwolves, Lynx, etc. would have forgiven the Russians by then? Let alone anyone who actually was displaced, forced from a home that had been handed down for generations or a farm that had been similarly passed down. Then you start to get an idea of where the Palestineans are at...I just have trouble feeling bad for Israel. You don't want to feel threatened from all angles? Don't put yourself in the midst of dozens of countries who completely oppose your very existence. No, Israel didn't choose to be exiles, but there were active movements among the exiles for Zionism. Just imagine the reaction of that country anywhere else in the world, taking land out of the hands of those who had lived there for multiple generations.

Europe sucked. The UN sucked. The US sucked for having a President ignore his best advisors on the issue who told him that US support for an Israeli state would lead to years of war and thousands, if not millions, of dead. I know how the war started. It was a war that was threatened in defense of holy ground and Arab brothers by nearly every other country in the Middle East, but it fell on deaf ears in the White House and the U.N. That war led to even more displacement and now entitled Israelis who are not willing to even consider going back to the original 55/45 split.

European countries did not want to take in Jews that were being persecuted and seeking shelter. Britain stepped forward and at least offered a controlled territory near the home of the Jewish faith, their controlled territory of Palestine. However, a big reason that the large European Jewish contingent ended up in Israel in the first place had to do with a rejection of the Jewish people not just in Europe, but worldwide. Those same countries in large part also saw the re-establishment of Israel as a potential step toward the end of days in their view of the Christian religion, especially a hard-right evangelical movement taking root in America at the time.(a very, very strong belief of the most ardent supporters of the country of Israel currently, which is a big reason why many want America "on the side" of Israel). America was a very, very loud voice in favor of the creation of the state of Israel by the UN after WWII. The official numbers vary by what source you use, but to accommodate roughly 500K original Jewish immigrants (nearly 700K eventually migrated before the territory was officially named a state) to the newly created country, between 600K and 850K civilians were forced out of their home (the number would reach over a million before the official declaration of Israel's statehood). While the UN had proposed roughly a 55/45 split for Jews and native Palestinians, but Israelis have pushed to the point of now possessing roughly 75-80% of the original British land that was divided. That Palestinians are fighting back and wanting to reclaim at least their due 30% of the country's land should not be surprising. The initial war is still referred to as the "war of independence" by Jews/Israelites. By Palestinians/Arabs, it's referred to as "the catastrophe". The forced state of Isreal has set up the defiance of the UN in the Middle East that continues to this day.

I'm trying to find the Vice piece on it that interviewed people from both sides, but it was based around this: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/14/world/middleeast/gaza-protests-palestinians-us-embassy.html

The finalization day for the three siblings is finally here! Originally scheduled for Wednesday, Mother Nature tried to delay, but could only hold off two days on this plan. The kiddos had their birth mother OD roughly a month ago, which was a final rough thing to go through before they became officially ours, but it also allowed for a bit of closure in preparation for this big day. We spent the day bowling and then swimming!

I started a new site, with a heavy focus on scouting reports of minor leaguers, but the intent is to host all of my baseball writing currently. Feel free to check things out and feel free to let me know what you think! http://videobaseballscout.com

Let's look at exactly why and how the nation of Israel came to be...

....and therein lies why it's a toxic relationship.

Those sorts of comments can just have you go F straight off. I did not say Israel as a government targeted Americans. Israelis at the border have. Believe it or not, not every act by every person in a country speaks for the entire belief set and behavior of that entire country. I can put that separation there. Apparently, that is more difficult on the other side of this conversation.