Mr. Brooks

What track record? His career ERA against the Yankees is 4.71, and that's with a lucky .224 babip.

But then you're doubling the amount of time your bullpen is short. Instead of being short smile Smeltzer rests, you are short that time plus the 4 days while Perez can't pitch after his start on Saturday.

Blake Parker has been consistently awful all year. I don't care how many scoreless appearances he had coming into that game, it was luck, not skill. Bringing up anyone is likely to be an improvement over Parker, so I don't agree that they didn't have a replacement that makes them better. It was a bad signing from the start, and then they let him be terrible for 4 months. If anything they were generously gracious in giving him every opportunity to figure it out before finally cutting him.

Just because management was wrong in their initial assessment of a player, doesn't mean they should compound the mistake by not being willing to cut bait when it's clear they were wrong. A replacement might not be better, but it would be really hard for whomever they call up to be worse than Parker.

The record is currently held by some hack that goes by Reggie Jackson. Second all time is Jim Thome.

Seems like something that would have been smarter to have done in October or November.

Thanks for that. I think people tend to overestimate how much one guy can help a team, let alone one relief pitcher. Even an 8 WAR player like Mike Trout wins you one extra game per 20. A great relief pitcher is closer to one every 50 games. That's not to say you shouldn't add help, you absolutely should.

Where does CJ Cron play if Sano moves to 1B next year?

Holton Hill failed another drug test. He is now suspended for the first 8 games of the regular season.

That's a fair concern regarding the worry about major repairs. The flip side of that coin, is that anything likely to need to be replaced (>3 years old), is going to be downgraded in the appraisal. So you're effectively "banking" some of that risk on the front end, via a lower purchase price. In the end it comes down to your comfort level. How handy are you, etc. If you know you won't sleep at night worrying about the foundation cracks, or the roof that might last 5 years or 5 days, then that needs to be heavily weighed. You can't put a price on peace of mind. For me that wasn't a concern, as a contractor who has worked in nearly every trade during my career. My wife and I considered all this 8 years ago, and ultimately decided to embrace the risk. We bought an old house with good bones in a very old neighborhood (we have 2 Jack pines that are 100+ feet tall, and well over 80 years old) that was a bank owned foreclosure, and needed a complete gut and remodel. I spent a month getting it liveable with builder grade materials, and we've done everything in stages since then, only starting each phase when we'd saved enough to do it with cash. We got a 10 year mortgage, which would have never been possible for us with a newer, finished home, and it's already paid off. Doing all the work ourselves, except for replacing the 100 year old clay main sewer line, has allowed us to do $160k worth of work for $55k over 8 years. We're actually currently looking for our "forever home", and all the equity we've built is going to allow us to find that dream home with acreage on the lake that there is no way we'd ever be able to afford without the 200k + that we're going to be able to put down. Obviously this isn't for everyone. There has been stressful moments along the way. And, I've had to preach patience to my wife on a few occassions when she'd get jealous of all of our friends not living in a semi permanent construction zone. But, as I told her along the way, they'll be the jealous ones when we're hosting beach parties on 300 feet of lake shore every summer. I don't know your financial situation, and your future career prospects. If you'll someday be able to afford your dream home without taking the long way, then it's probably not worth the risk and inconvenience. For us, this was likely the only path we had, and now that the end is in sight, we have zero regrets. Whatever you do in the end, just weigh what is going to make you happy. You only live once. Buying a home is a bit like raising kids. You're going to get all kinds of advice, from everyone and their mother, often contradictory. But at the end of the day, it's mostly just noise, and you go with what feels right to you. I'd recommend you don't get locked in too hard in your search. Look at a mix of different types of homes in a mix of different types of neighborhoods. I expect that when you find the one that is right for you, you'll know it in your gut. Best of luck, and enjoy the process! Buying your first home is a major life event, take the time to smell the roses along the way.

He really just had 2 bad appearances to start. Since those first 2 appearances: 6 IP 9 K 4 BB 1 H 0 R

They aren't selling it for less.The seller is selling without an agent so they pay less fes. They don't pass that savings on.

I'd think long and hard about buying new construction as a starter home. The exception would be, maybe, if it's a very small development in a highly coveted neighborhood. New construction houses in cookie cutter developments are like new cars, they plummet in value the minute you take the keys at closing. That's fine if you plan on being there a while. It'll eventually recover it's value, but if there is a chance you sell inside of 8-10 years, you're likely going to take a hit, especially since the market is due to at least plateau, if not drop any day now. Why would someone pay 300k for a house with wear and tear, when they can get a similar house, on a similar street, in a similar neighborhood, brand new, for that same 300k? My younger brother used to have a job that relocated him alot. I tried repeatedly to warn him not to buy new construction, but he was just too enthralled with having everything be brand new. Sure enough, he got relocated 10 months after closing, and took a 45k loss. I don't mean to discourage you if you've already considered that and it's still worth the risk to you. Everyone has unique priorities. But for me, I want a starter home with as much potential for equity as I can stomach. Take a few short term inconveniences, knowing I'll only be there a few years, and that I have a chance to walk away with a huge chunk of "free" cash to put towards the house I actually intend to spend a big chunk of my life in.

We can also look at the fact that trades well in advance of the deadline are quite rare. This alone tells me that teams are generally asking way too much in advance of the deadline. And that makes sense. You don't know what your team will like in 6 weeks or 3 weeks. You could go on a tear and get back into the playoff hunt, like the Giants have. If you (as a seller), are going to forfeit that opportunity by trading your good players, you have to demand a premium for that.

Prices aren't "passed on". The market sets the price. The seller is already selling for the maximum that the market can bear, there isn't room to pass anything on.

True, but there is also no longer an avenue for the seller to get something for an expiring contract. I can't speak for your experiences at the grocery store, but in mine, when products approach their expiration date, the price is dropped, not raised.

Because they were out of options. Clearing them off the 40 man is just a byproduct, not the purpose.

Any statistician attempting to objectively measure a trend would always use the same sample size for both subjects. What do the numbers look like if you use the last 15 starts for both?

Sorry, missed the 1 inning start in your previous post.

Well if we are using career numbers now, Odorizzi has a better career winning percentage and ERA (by a lot) than Gibson does. 4.42 vs. 3.87 ERA. .492 vs .527 winning%.

Is there a particular reason you chose 7 starts for Odorizzi and 15 for Gibson?

No, it's factually exactly one more out per game. 19 more outs in 19 starts. We have no idea if it's a "trend", or just the normal up and down nature of a long season.

His ranking is based on his tools, and being the 13th overall draft pick. His first 46 plate appearances in the GCL have zero relevance.

Gibson is averaging exactly one extra out per start than Odorizzi. I'll give up 1 extra out to keep the guy with the MUCH better ERA and FIP.

MLB contracts are guaranteed against injury. Perkins did absolutely nothing wrong. Are the Twins going to throw a few extra million to Polanco and Kepler for outperforming their contracts? Of course not. And they shouldn't, but neither should Perkins be expected to give any money back.