gunnarthor

I think it depends on what you're trying to do. Are you trying to time the market and sell Amazon while it's high? Or are you buying stocks for the long run - 10+ years? If it's the second, the only thing you should really worry about it is a bottoming out of your company. (Citibank in 2008, for instance).

Not sure - probably depends on how the young hitters evolve. Sano should certainly win a few HR titles in his time.

Funny, we don't see you and DaveW in the same places anymore ...

https://twitter.com/keithlaw/status/780462392358608896

There are certainly people and departments that should stay. Keith Law mentioned that the next GM needed to provide an analytics to the baseball operations but he did praise the minor league development ops. I suspect the new PBO and GM will make a few changes this year and a few more next year. But I think the biggest changes will be bringing new people in instead of firing people.

Ivan Nova seemed to figure a few things out in Pittsburgh - probably that the NL is easier - and is shaping up to get a few more dollars in FA than I would expect. Really rough FA class.

A couple (I think semi-realistic) ways the Twins could improve defense (and maybe the pitching staff). 1) Sign Wilson Ramos. He's apparently good at pitch framing which could really help a guy like Gibson, who nibbles a lot. Plus, having Ramos back would make a vocal Twins fan happy. 2) Try and trade for Jurickson Profar (or another plus SS defender). He's had an up and down season offensively and he's not playing short for the Rangers but he's still only 23 and was a great SS prospect and the minor league reports said he was good in the PCL defensively. He has three more years of team control so he'd cost a bit to get. But even if the Twins didn't want to trade anyone on the ML roster, they could put a nice package together around Gordon, for instance. 3) If you get a new short stop you can trade Dozier and slide Polanco to second. Big offensive drop but hopefully you'd get a nice return for Dozier to immediately help the pitching staff. 4) Fix bullpen through FA? Horrible SP market but the relief pitcher market might be a bit better. 5) Fire Allen. Even if you're stuck with Molitor we can try a new pitching coach. An up the middle defense of Ramos, Polanco, Profar (or plus SS) and Buxton would be pretty good. We'd still have a bit of problems in the corners, depending on what stat you prefer, but not major problems. Obviously, the Twins won't do all five of those things but they might do one or two.

Oh, sure. Maybe. Perhaps I was misreading the basis of some posts.

Arguably, there is a difference between "best player" and "most valuable". Admittedly, not everyone sees it that way but historically, MVP has not been for the best player. That's why I think Betts will get it this year over Trout. And we should also remember that WAR is not the be-all, end-all. Posnanski reported a few years ago that the Oakland A's internal WAR valuation had Miguel Cabrera ahead of Trout when fWAR and b-r WAR had Trout far ahead.

I think Betts wins. Dozier might get a top 10 vote or two but there are a lot of deserving players this year and are playing on good teams.

I love dividends. We automatically reinvest the dividend into the stock so when it's down, we're automatically buying more anyway. It can really grow a stock rapidly.

I like the article. I'm not sure if he really is tipping pitches or that a pinky would be enough but I do remember Hunter's BP thing so there is some smoke ...

Adding to this, the Twins used to have a roving pitching instructor - Rich Knapp, IIRC - who went to all levels of the minors to help pitchers with their control. I remember he got a lot of credit within the organization. Eventually he was hired away by the Tigers and fired after a few disappointing years for their hitters. It seemed strange. As to defense, it might not be a strength next year but it might not be the hot mess either. Most defensive stats mark the worst players as back-ups and guys not here anymore. Mauer, Dozier, Polanco and Rosario all sort of grade out as average. Buxton grades out above that. Sano at third is, depending on the stat, avg or slightly below and Kepler in RF is the same way. One way to help might be to get a better defensive framing catcher so Twins pitchers (Gibson) might get a few more calls in the bottom of the zone? If Buxton hits enough, he'll cover enough ground in center. They could also target a strong defensive short stop and move Polanco to third and Sano to DH (although that hurts the offense and means Vargas is gone and Park is a bench player full time).

Eventually, he'll be fine. He just needs reps. We're probably over analyzing everything right now. He's had about 400 PA in the majors and less than 550 PA in AA and AAA combined over the last three (injury plagued) seasons. Occasionally, you see glimpses of what he can become. I know WAR has a ton of warts but both b-r and fangraphs have him on a 2+ WAR pace for a full season. He's been about as valuable this year, in few PA, as Denard Span has been for the Giants. He has to improve his plate discipline but he's already an asset and he'll get better.

Yeah, that only a small fraction - which apparently still numbers in the thousands - were financially affected, those actions were illegal. And they could have affected peoples credit ratings - esp if they weren't paying their unknown credit cards or someone else got a hold of a card (identity theft) they didn't even know they had. I think this sort of thing - while small potatoes - will continue unless they are prosecuted. Merging this with the election thread, Clinton's website says that she favors prosecution of bankers who break the law. I really wish someone would ask her if she thinks these 5300 employees should be prosecuted.

So Wells Fargo got hit with a relatively small fine although it's been touted as the largest fine ever by the CFPB. "Regulators said Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) opened roughly 1.5 million deposit accounts and 565,000 credit card accounts that may not have been authorized by consumers. The CFPB also said bank employees also requested and issued debit cards without consumers’ knowledge or consent, even creating PIN numbers without telling its customers. Financially harmed customers are eligible for restitution. The OCC order also requires Wells Fargo to take corrective action to establish an enterprise-wide sales practices risk management and oversight program to detect and prevent unsafe or unsound sales practices." This pisses me off for a few reasons. First, WFC is supposed to be one of the "better" banks so if they are doing this, all of them are doing this. The others just haven't been caught yet. So, bank profits (and, perhaps more importantly, bank services) are, again, artificially inflated. Second, none of the 5300 employees who stole money from WFC customers (so far considered to be a bit north of 2m) to create these fake accounts will be charged with a crime. Perhaps you've heard about the homeless lady who got 5 years in prison for sending her kindergartner to a better school for stealing 15k in 'free educational services'? Third, I own a lot of WFC and have accounts with them. The stock market hasn't really been bothered by this. WFC stock price hasn't moved much and they still are worth more than many small (or even medium) sized countries. It has a strong dividend (over 3% now) and obviously it's one of the most important companies in the country so it's unlikely that something this small will make any impact going forward. But it still sucks and might call into question WFC 'cross-selling' business plan. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/wells-fargo-opened-couple-million-103004267.html

Tad early to write off these guys. Guys like Appel, Zimmer, Fried from the 2012 draft still haven't made the majors either and although a few guys like Gausman and Heaney have, they certainly haven't become stars yet.

I know we're a bit down on Berrios but he absolutely dominated AAA and had better numbers and better scouting reports than Gonsalves, who was facing inferior competition.

Yeah, I've read about that, as well. It makes sense - esp for "small" investors which most of us probably are. When you invest your money, you should have an idea about how the company works.

Very excited to see Gonsalves in the AFL. Good for him.

It's amazing how much smarter we are in hindsight.

Yeah, I'm probably going to buy 5500 of Shopify in my IRA. It seems like a solid buy.

Well, that changes things.

His size. Unless he's still growing he won't be a starter.

Yeah, his stats are nice but I assume Wells ceiling is a reliever. Still, nice to see the Twins take him out of Australia.