biggentleben
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Everything posted by biggentleben
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I appreciate the review. As a Braves fan, I've had a lot of talks with fans who have been there, and as a writer, I've had talks with the team about some of the ideas that went into the stadium. The stadium has played as a hitter's park this year so far, but Freeman is not a great example as he's hit everywhere for a calendar year now as one of the 3-4 best hitters in the entire league. You did note the most notable thing to me that makes the park play as a hitter's park, which is the limited foul space (note that the most pitcher friendly parks in the league have little to do with their distance to the fences, but more with their amount of foul ground. For instance, Oakland's stadium is only 330 down both lines, but the amount of foul ground allows plenty of mi****s to be caught, preventing the opportunity to take advantage of those lines. I'd also note that no single player had any influence on the design of the park. The lack of foul ground had to do with the exterior of the ballpark and what ground was allotted in the (shady) deal with taxpayers. The Braves are building their organization around pitching, and they would have preferred more space, but that was not afforded them. All that said, Milwaukee among the best is surprising to me, especially if you've ever seen a game there when it's been raining.
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There is one thing that I will appreciate on the U.S. media over the UK's any day of the week, and that's the fact that an order from the government at any time can come down in the UK asking all media not to print a story for national security purposes, and that's that, no argument. In the United States, if a story could compromise national security or put a citizen at risk, the media source in question presents their reasoning for the article to the FBI/CIA/DOJ/whomever, and then a negotiation happens over how things get presented. That is one of the scary parts of non-affiliated media. They don't have to play by those same rules and often don't until they're shut down and then attempt to claim "freedom of press", when any other media source is working with the government to present a story while also keeping citizens safe, and many of those stories have painted the government (including the agency in question) in a terrible light, so it's not as if the government has any semblance of censorship regarding only positive press on itself getting out - or at least it has not until the previous administration, with whom all bets are off.
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He throws a baseball. The odds are already stacked against him...
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Hmmm....you're paying attention to different "media" than I am if you think they were unified in praising Trump re: bombing Syria.
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Timberwolves 2017 Offseason rumors
biggentleben replied to kab21's topic in Minnesota Timberwolves Talk
I think with Wiggins, he was much, much more raw coming into the league than people thought. He really could get to the rim, and...yeah. In his pro time, he's taken huge strides in defense and his outside, spot up shooting. A fellow scouting type and basketball fan compared it to a baseball player who has 30-35 present value tools across the board, but has the legit talent to have a future value of 70-75 in every tool, leaving plenty of possible failure, but also plenty of ceiling. I'd say in those respects, his defense has probably moved to a 50 (league average) and he has shown very good improvement in his zone defense work, and his outside shooting has moved from a likely 30 when he entered the league to a 45ish currently. -
John Smoltz also underwent shoulder surgery his first full year with the Braves organization before getting to the majors. He went on to an okay career. I'm sure there are plenty of other positive examples as well. It is intriguing to me that many believe elbow recovery is nearly guaranteed, but shoulder recovery is a near-zero proposition, and not just here. Elbow surgery still sits in the 40-60% return to effectiveness rate. Numbers look higher due to more in the 2/3 to 4/5 of clients making it back to baseball in some capacity, but many are drastically changed in their career. Shoulder injuries, while rough, are still in the 30-40% return to effectiveness number, but the return to baseball is about the same rate, which is why I think the numbers seem so much more heavily positive with elbow injuries. Those who do make it back from a shoulder injury, tend to find an equivalent level of success as before the injury at a fairly good rate, but fewer make it back to even a base level of performance with shoulder issues.
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All of that said, one of the things that people seem to miss is that in polling, projection, and other such things, when they say something has even a 92% chance of happening, that means there are legit ways for that thing not to happen 8% of the time. When that 8% outcome happens, it does not mean the polling was wrong, it simply means that the 8% result happened. That's all. It's a fallacy of understanding things like polls that lead to different conclusions.
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And this is where our local force has been tremendous. Lower level officers turned in a superior that was not doing his job correctly, with no repercussions in the community or within the force, a new chief came in after the previous one retired and set up further initiatives for reporting within the department, and they have had very good relationships with the local mental health and developmental disability agencies to better train officers to deal with their clients in crisis situations. Now, the local state's attorney, on the other hand...
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I will say in our community, the training and leadership in our department has been outstanding. I won't say that has been my experience in every community, but I do find the total support or total dislike of the police to be misguided in both directions.
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You've lived a fairly charmed life to honestly believe this...
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Just about as easy as it is to post without encouraging severe beating to someone you do not know.
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But that success has a time stamp.... Arrieta in 2017: 4.64 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, leads the majors in wild pitches
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So, this was my draft "term paper"...covers everyone, not just the Twins, so figured this was the best spot for it: https://calltothepen.com/2017/06/19/2017-mlb-draft-wrap-up-by-day-and-by-team/
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But losing life is justified for those mistakes - nevermind the 4 y/o who watched a life taken in front of her.
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One my wife added last night as we sat in the ICU with her father and her step mother: Find something to laugh about every day together. Bonus points if you and your partner can find something to keep your (and your family's) mood light in times of adversity, because they will come. My wife and I have the hotel room key from our honeymoon from when we were attempting to do laundry near our hotel and were caught in a flash flood down pour in the middle of DC. It led to a pretty heated discussion that led to a great laugh, and it's a reminder to us that no matter how bad things can get, there's humor in there somewhere.
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I've finished both the new HoC and OiTNB seasons. I would say the HoC season is something that gives the story either a new start, or a logical conclusion. OiTNB was a cluster. I enjoy the characters, and I do like how they used one of the show's more popular characters for a possible change in the system, but that show is definitely set up for the next season with the ending. Both are shows that I enjoy the characters on, so I keep following, but there were HoC episodes this season that were tough to follow they got so bogged down in trying to create drama.
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Your wedding day is a day. Your marriage is all the days thereafter. Spend every moment before the day and after working toward more days to come, not building toward the big day or reminiscing on the big day. Sometimes that means things for her, sometimes things for you, sometimes things for the kids/future kids/pets, and it's okay when it's not about you, but remember that you should never bury you - or expect her to bury her. Big one - money is important. Don't let money rule your marriage, but realize that it is the primary reason that stuff breaks down for most couples, so make sure that, if anything, you communicate about money thoroughly - and there is no "my money" or "her money" anymore. What you bring into the marriage is now shared, and that is the biggest issue I've had to counsel out of folks.
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MLB Network on Playstation Vue is a wonderful thing. I can watch on whatever device I have with me. Leading a live thread next Monday on Call To The Pen where I'll be putting up the instant summary on each pick.
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The "master" of the change up around baseball currently, Brian Bannister, has spoken many times about the movement being more important than the velocity or even the velocity gap of the change. I did find one Fangraphs interview on it: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/brian-bannister-on-changeups/
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That's mine. Basically, the same week there are reports the team is moving away from Greene, they have significant people setting up meetings with him that end up with him coming to Minneapolis. A bit of misdirection on the Twins' part, if you ask me.
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I've yet to find the base of a world religion that doesn't encourage its believers to do the same every day. The issue is the believers and how they twist that base. I will tell you that I begin every day questioning my own faith and taking the time to spend in silent meditation to listen for answers. The biggest issue is when we take the base of the faith in questioning who we are, where we come from, and what our role in this life (and conceivably the next) truly is and turn it into a tool, and sometimes a weapon, that we use for personal advancement, socializing, and also exclusion.
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St Paul Saints – Let the Fun Begin
biggentleben replied to Ben Szeremeta's topic in Twins Daily Front Page News
I sure wish the park could be visited without dropping $20 apiece. I wanted to take my kiddos to see the stadium as the only night we'd have free (tomorrow night) was sold out, but my seats for Memorial Day in Target Field six rows from the field cost $5 less than a tour of the Saints stadium. That's rather odd to me.- 3 replies
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- mark hamburger
- tanner vavra
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If I controlled that part, it'd happen, trust me.
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With his speed, though, he gets those extra steps in before most guys ever take the ones needed to get there!
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My newest mock with a new name at 35 that I haven't had in any of my mocks so far... https://calltothepen.com/2017/05/25/2017-mlb-mock-draft-version-4-1/
