biggentleben

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-37684418 Not surprising, but the actual numbers are truly crazy.

Vudu, because I got movies put on there for free to start with, so I used it to store my digital movies. Obviously, MLB.tv. Smithsonian has some solid stuff. There are a ton of channels we've downloaded and have watched a time or two.

I just put up a quick snippet at CTTP on this, but to expand on what I said there, I'm not sure what you do with the 301st player. Currently we have undrafted free agents in the majors all the time. I know the Braves are known in scouting circles for nabbing guys who are 18-19 in Latin America that were outside of the typical academy system and were initially missed. There are easily more than 300 players signed every July 2nd, so there could be gaming the system here as well. I could absolutely see someone doing something like the Astros/Braves/Reds did in recent drafts by spreading money across a number of picks to get more talent rather than go after the one big guy, which then drops a #1 talent to the #2 or #3 team, and possibly throws off everyone's financials to make those guys work in their new norms. For instance, let's say that in a 10-round draft, the #1 team has $10M to spend overall, but the #10 team has $5M to spend. Could you have a situation where a player says "I won't sign for less than $4.5M" to get to the #10 team and then that team takes a lot of low-signing guys the rest of the way?

You didn't. The post directly above the post you quoted brought out the idea of no caps.

Every single year there are first-round picks that don't sign with the team that drafts them, in spite of (often) a 7-figure signing bonus being offered. The current draft slotting system has drastically decreased that and actually allowed for more parity in the funds for teams (and we've seen more parity in the performance of small vs. large market teams in the time of the current CBA). Is it perfect? No. However, a complete free market system would essentially eliminate the existence of the Twins, along with any other team without the financial wherewithal to spend big after a massive pool of players. Free market works until you see a new advantage found by teams. Most recently it's been the arbitration extension. They buy out a guy's arbitration years and then a year or two of free agency. That has led to drastically watered-down free agent markets and extreme prices on the trade market (see: Shelby Miller in the winter, relievers this summer). There will be a way for the market to find to exploit any system in place...

And even less this season, which is why you saw a record number go over this year. They'll likely have one year of penalty and then have a draft. It is still 3 years without being able to exceed payment that basically takes you out of the running for anyone of decent talent level. This year's 2016 class saw no top 25 ranked player sign for an amount that a punished team could afford and only one player on the BA top 50 sign for a price that a punished team could afford.

This isn't football or basketball. It is incredibly rare that a player comes from college, even, ready to play immediately. Yes, we've seen Bregman and Swanson this year, but that's by far the exception, not the norm. That's the college guys. High school guys and international guys take multiple years to get to the major leagues. I'm writing up the Braves top 100 prospect list right now. I just put a player in the top 20 of a very deep system that was signed for so little that I cannot find his signing bonus anywhere while the player who received the biggest bonus from the Braves that particular season has already failed out of the minor leagues, was released by the Braves this year, and no one picked him up. Baseball is a very different market, which is why this a big difference than any other sport and why a free market system really screws up teams as bad as it helps them. If it were football, where a big pool could allow the Cleveland Browns to get that QB they needed along with 3 linemen they prefer and suddenly they have an offense for their NFL team, that'd be different. The 76ers with a big budget purchasing two-three starters could become a playoff team the next season. Baseball doesn't have that ability in amateur acquisition.

I told people in high school that I had no desire to attend college in South Dakota as I wanted an elite education if I could find a way to make it affordable. Once football became something that could write my ticket, I definitely had that opportunity. No one ever once challenged that idea to me. My younger brother was actually challenged by my parents to do his grad school work intentionally out of state when he was considering going in state because they felt there were going to be better schools for him out of the state. I think there are different ideas from different people, but in large part, most rural communities are tremendously supportive of their youth seeking their dreams. Lo and behold, I'm back in the area I grew up in, and very pleased to be here, but I certainly don't get on any of the high schoolers at church that are considering colleges out of the state.

Parents want their children to do the best they can. If that is the farm, then great. However, I think the realization is that for many, the opportunity is simply not present in the rural community to make best use of high-end skill sets.

He did choose. From many in the game, he did choose. They knew where he was going two days before the draft. Free agency isn't a free market, either. If 30 of the top 40 guys want to play for the Twins, no way the Twins could afford all of them, so someone is going to be shifted out due to financial issues. I would like to see draft picks trade-able, and I do think that would help with making the process better, but I personally don't see a "free market" option anywhere near viable and actually being much, much worse for balance of the sport.

If you truly think Jason Groome is a member of the Boston Red Sox because he was the 12th best player in the draft, I have some oceanside property here in South Dakota to sell you. The way the money works early in the draft now does allow for exactly that to happen. It still forces that the team with the most money was Philadelphia, so for Groome to go to Boston, he had to be willing to take less money.

So you're a big fan of the current draft, I imagine?

And I hope she turns around and asks him for any legislation he would like passed and graciously advocates for that to get passed. Then allow him to continue explaining to national media how he can have that stance on the court. The back and forth gets nowhere. Someone has to turn that around.

Completely agree with the posts on coaching. I'm constantly thankful for those who are willing to put up with the crap that coaches put up with every day.

I will say that I was a pitcher growing up, and I did use television to learn a lot of my pitching mechanics. I'd tape games and watch mechanics over and over and over. I did the same thing with offensive line play as well. That said, I was nowhere near the average bear in learning the game, so I'd wager that even when I was a child, it was not common to learn from watching the game on television.

You see policies from both sides killing rural communities. ACA really hurt farm families because the income looked so drastic, yet there was no way to put in the inputs that a farm requires in a way that made sense, so a farmer/rancher attempting to get a sponsored plan would be paying at the very top end of the balance. That's a negative angle on Democrats for rural communities. Democrats attack land and wealth transfer as a way that wealth is not able to re-generate and simply stays in the top levels. The policies put forth end up making it near-impossible for a family to pass a family farm down to children due to the massive taxes on farm land that would be passed on. It becomes much, much more financially viable to completely sell off the family farm and split the inheritance of what is made from that rather than deal with those taxes on having the land and equipment passed down in will. Essentially, the laws make it better for a family to sell off the family farm (more and more often to a corporate farming interest) rather than pass it on. Of course, on the other end, Republicans consistently introduce legislation that devalue the very products of the American farm, attempt to levy major tariffs with the biggest trade partners of agricultural exports, and then attempt to also give major discounts to business that want to leave their small ponds for larger oceans with significant incentive programs for companies that move from areas without significant access to air and interstate travel (frequently an issue in rural communities) to places that can move their products better for them. Multiple local businesses have moved to Sioux Falls for that exact reason. Never mind the joke that is the annual "farm" bill, typically serving about 0.5% of the nation's family farms and being primarily drawn up to serve corporate farms with tremendous lobbying powers in DC. Needless to say, it's not hard to see why the rural community would feel disenfranchised.

Yes, they're called travel days. As one writer said, from May to October, you're never dealing with a player at 100%. You're rarely dealing with a guy at 90%. By the time the World Series comes around, players are running at 75-80% of their full health. Baseball has been shown to be extremely hard on the body due to exactly what you say - the sudden need to go to full speed or full effort from near-rest. That puts more stress on musculature than other sports.

I'm saying it's always been there. It was incredibly against the norms then, but in the playoffs, it would happen. You don't typically see five pitchers in an inning in the majors in a regular season game now either (though it's not as incredulous as in the 50s and 60s era they were referencing), but in the playoffs, that stuff happens.

Um, I won't do it because, frankly, I'm not going to spend the time, but the internet is filled with comparisons of baseball and chess. That's a very common comparison made, frankly. Baseball is played as much by out-thinking and out-maneuvering your opponent as it is out-"athleting" your opponent. I did have a fun time listening to the 538 hot take podcast recently where they discussed playoff baseball and bullpen usage. They brought out a game in the Mantle Yankees dynasty where five pinch hitters were used in one single inning and four pitchers were used by the opposition. But, obviously this is all new, modern, terrible stuff that is ruining the game now....

Less than three hours in post season baseball. Are you not impressed?

I tend to believe that modern technology has helped to expose those members of the underbelly as well. I had someone follow me on Twitter with an avatar where the person was proudly wearing a shirt declaring that she was a "Deplorable". I immediately put her on mute. She can read my tweets, but I don't need to hear what she has to say. Also, it is sad to see how many whack job loony tune racist/bigot/generally hateful athletes there are...

As much as I love the game, I make it to the cities 2-3 times a year for family things. Unless the SABR meetings coincided with Thanksgiving or family weddings, I'd probably not get to attend a meeting...

2 outs in the 5th before Kershaw allows a base runner...

On TV has been incredible. And he just collected a single as well...

I'm just saying that many won't have that chance because their day care or after school program won't have the game on, and then they're at the mercy of the East Coast overlords. That's the entire point. This country spans multiple time zones, so attempting to accommodate all fans everywhere ends up hurting fans of the local teams on both coasts. I'm quite alright with having the time be set for the local team and those of us who want to follow the team in other time zones get jobbed. That's the nature of the beast.