Mr. Brooks

This is not allowed under the current CBA. Incentives for playing time is allowed. Performance based incentives are not allowed, aside from bonuses for awards.

I don't think the FO signed Schoop with the expectation of repeating last year's numbers.

What specifically bothers you about people having gaming as a hobby, as opposed to other hobbies that you view as more acceptable? I'm not trying to be confrontational, I'm just honestly curious because I often hear a sentiment similar to yours and don't understand it.

The player has to be amicable to the extension as well though. Escobar reportedly turned down a Twins extension offer, only to sign a pretty reasonable extension in Arizona. That tells me one of two things. Either the Twins FO has unrealistic expectations of what they can get away with offering for extensions- which might make sense considering rumors of lowball extension talks that never went anywhere with young "core" players last offseason. Or, this just isn't a place that players want to stay.

Agree. This ultra heightened sensitivity is going to be a major contributing factor to our downfall, IMO.

Maybe I'm the only one who finds it sad that we, as a society, have gotten so sensitive that we can be "triggered" by a freaking baseball cap.

Quoting myself because it's too late to edit. These career averages are wrong, I accidentally used Schoop instead of Cruz.

Not impossible, no. But I was responding to the idea that it is expected. It's always fun this time of the year to imagine everyone on our favorite team having a career year, but that's not very likely.

I don't think any of the above story really happened. As a matter of fact, I don't even find it possible. Too many things make no sense whatsoever. The two male cops are on duty, she's not. So, this wasn't some drunken stupidity moment. It's 1am, and married female cop is at on duty male cop's house. Russian roulette is played by pointing the gun at yourself, not someone else. Russian roulette is also played by re-spinning the cylinder between trigger pulls. Failure to re-spin changes it from a stupid, potentially lethal game, to a 100% guaranteed fire. Not only did all 3 officers take whatever weapons training they were required as police officers, both initially and continuing, but the female officer that was shot was a military veteran. These are people who understand fully the consequences of pointing a loaded weapon at something and pulling the trigger. They expect people to believe that these highly trained police officers just decided one night, while on duty, to playfully take turns shooting at each other?

You don't think making up facts out of thin air puts his career at risk? The article I linked is from Forbes.com. They are a pretty well respected publication and think highly enough of his standards to feature him as a contributor, including that article in particular.

They'd have to average 34 HR's each to surpass 100 HR's combined. Only 8 players in the AL hit that many last year. So no, I don't expect anything close to that. 61 is their combined career average. I'll hope for some improvement, but a 70% increase across the board seems highly unlikely.

I think you have it backwards. The front years of a long FA contract are the ones you want to get, not the back ones. If I get to choose, I'm taking ages 26-28 over ages 29-31 every time.

I don't know what is being covered up here, but it's something. This "official" story is the foulest smelling load of BS I've ever read: "ST. LOUIS (AP) — A male St. Louis police officer was charged Friday with involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of a female officer during what was described as a deadly game with a revolver. Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner announced the charge against Nathaniel Hendren, 29, in the death of 24-year-old Katlyn Alix, as they alleged played a game in which a revolver's cylinder was emptied, one bullet put back and the two colleagues taking turns pointing at each other and pulling the trigger. Alix was with two male officers at an apartment when she was killed just before 1 a.m. Thursday . A probable cause statement from police, provided by Gardner's office, offered a chilling account of the dangerous game that led to her death. The probable cause statement said Alix and Hendren were playing with guns when Hendren produced a revolver. "The defendant emptied the cylinder of the revolver and then put one cartridge back into the cylinder," the statement said. He allegedly spun the cylinder, pointed the gun away and pulled the trigger. The gun did not fire. The statement said Alix took the gun, pointed it at Hendren and pulled the trigger. Again, it didn't fire. Hendren "took the gun back and pointed it at the victim (and) pulled the trigger causing the gun to discharge," the statement said. "The victim was struck in the chest." The other male officer told investigators he warned Hendren and Alix not to play with guns and reminded them they were police officers. He was about to leave when he heard the fatal shot, the statement said. The male officers drove Alix to a hospital where she died. Hendren also is charged with armed criminal action. The two men were on-duty at the time of the shooting. Police Chief John Hayden has declined to answer questions about why the officers had gathered at the apartment, which was home to one of the men. St. Louis police said the charges were the result of a promise Hayden made to Alix's family to conduct a "thorough and competent investigation." Alix, a military veteran who was married, was not working but met the men at the apartment. Police immediately launched an internal investigation and placed both officers on paid leave. Gardner also began her own investigation on Thursday and enlisted the Missouri State Highway Patrol to conduct it. Alix was a patrol officer who had graduated from the St. Louis Police Academy in January 2017."

If he's really spending 5 hours per day in the weight room, 21 pounds isn't suspicious in the least. He's a young guy. That's 550 hours of lifting.

They'll get both. Darvish got a full NTC and an opt out, and Machado and Harper are far better free agents than Darvish was.

https://theconcourse.deadspin.com/you-cant-get-there-from-here-1831622949?utm_medium=sharefromsite&utm_source=deadspin_copy&utm_campaign=top

Why would those teams give up money and their farm system in 2021, when they can just sign him for money now? Not to mention, any deal with Machado or Harper is probably going to have to include a no trade clause, which severely limits the return you can get by trading them. BTW: This isn't me saying don't sign them. I think they should try to.

And do you have an opinion why he'd risk his career making something like that up? How does that serve him? This is a 20 year + sports business reporter whose credentials are thought of highly enough for Forbes to carry him as a contributor.

Attempting to repeal Obamacare aside, congresspeople typically don't make a habit of pursuing bills that they know have no chance of passing. It's a waste of political capital. I wouldn't necessarily equate these things not being pursued by Democrats, with a lack of desire.

The rule stipulating how long a player must stay down before he can be recalled again doesn't apply if he's replacing a DL'd player, I don't believe.

That's not what I asked. Of course he would make the team better. I'm asking why he would make the pitchers pitch better. He's not a defensive upgrade. So what about his presence on the team would make the pitchers perform better?

Thank you. That's who I was thinking of.

Except I can't help but notice that the overrepresented states are the same ones that are opposed to those positions. So I still think it's both.

The difference is, in your scenario, there is a discussion, details are hammered out, and you eventually go to dinner, even if not everyone gets exactly what they wanted. I don't feel like we're even close to any meaningful progress on any of those issues.

Concussions absolutely can cause migraines. I don't think anyone ever said, or would say, that it's the only cause of them, so I'm not sure I understand the point of the Kareem reference.