diehardtwinsfan

yeah if anything having the Republican establishment against him is more likely to boost his cause. I think the real issue here is the Reps don't quite understand just how much power he has. You can say that they back tracked on gutting the ethics committee due to Dems working the phones, but in honesty the Dems had no power to stop it. It was Trump taking to Twitter that killed that plan, and if he keeps doing stuff like that, you're going to find his popularity increasing throughout his term... not the other way around.

Think the problem is that when it corrects, those gains get wiped out in a hurry. That's party of why I tend to stay in shorter term positions usually going long in positions that have broken out so to speak. I just don't stay there. A 20% drop in the market would wipe out just about all of those gains. Yes, you'll get it back, but I'm not a fan of trying to catch a falling sword.

Not sure Wood is the best fit, but honestly, I'd still probably take something along these lines.

I agree, but it has most definitely not been a one sided thing. LA could quite easily come out and say what is on the table. If they had a decent offer, they would, especially since they have been using the press.

That may be so, but they haven't hesitated to use the press thus far.

I think that officially makes him off the table then. Twins need ML ready pitching. It would be very hard to turn down a deal headlined by JDL and Stewart. With Buehler considered to be a fast rise, and all those other guys competing for spots, I don't LA is going to have serious problems there... but personally, if that's the issue, I'd be more than happy to send Santiago your way. I think the Twins would too.

It was, no question about it. I find it odd though that the Dodgers haven't leaked anything indicating they've offered more, and the people close to their organization have been saying the same thing too.

Don't get me wrong, I 100% agree with you. I'm just pointing out that this shouldn't be a surprise. As a culture, we've been moving in that direction for a while. The very existence of Twitter is proof of that.

Unfortunately, politics continues to cater to a lower common denominator across both sides of the aisle. I agree with Craig that we don't have to accept it, but it should not be a surprise. This is where our culture has been headed for a LONG time. It shouldn't be a surprise at all that this is what you get. I think my biggest complaint about it is that it's often presented in a partisan manner, as if only one side engages in this and that 'my side' is somehow above it. They all do it. They just do it differently. Just as a massive culture shift has created this, it is going to take a massive culture shift to get rid of it.

Honestly, I think this a great short term play. Whether you think inflation is good or not, the Fed does, and based on their policies, they have to bring that dollar down. The USD just broke below it's moving average and can move all the way down to the low to mid 90s while still remaining in a bull market. That move is roughly 10%, so you should see a nice spike in most commodities during that time. Silver might be a better play given that it tends to out perform gold in that scenario.

Well for one, the dollar strengthening has been a catalyst for these types of moves of late. This crushes the carry trade as well as all debt denominated in dollars (which makes up a huge chunk of foreign debt). It destroys corporate profits overseas as well (if you look at the recent corrections, they correlate with a strengthening dollar). It's already causing major problems for the Chinese, but it's not just them. It's already forcing a number of nations to start defending their currencies. The fed has been trying hard to get inflation into the system, and in spite of that the dollar has risen due in large part to the BOJ. The problem with this approach is that once you get that inflation, it's much like trying to get ketchup out of a glass bottle. You end up with far more of it than you wanted. That causes other issues, and you're about to see it. As others have noted, the market is already moving more in line with an expectation of inflation. Three of the four major inflation indicators (and we all know those numbers are already heavily massaged) are showing inflation above 2%. That will force rates up, quite possibly faster than the 2-3 rate hikes being predicted (that's another big negative for the market). That is going to also cause plenty of other real problems, particular with countries that have too much debt because as a strengthening dollar makes it more expensive to pay them off, so do higher rates. As I mentioned as well, right now we are looking at historically bad P/E ratios. Stocks are going to figure this out at some point, and when they do, the market is going to correct. I'd consider locking in some gains and potentially moving some cash into assets that will perform well in that scenario. I guess most of that depends on your strategy. I'm not really a buy and hold guy anymore. I trade options in my IRA and use the brokerage link in my 401K to make short to mid-term trades. I usually sell once I'm up between 10-20%.

yes, but I do believe DodgerBlue confirmed that. I'm pretty sure it got posted in here at some point, though I'm way too lazy to go back and find it.

I actually think this should be the case. In Mauer's case, I'd start playing him less. He certainly hasn't aged like a fine wine, so it would be wise to give him some time off and do a bit of platooning here or there (unless of course he's open to taking some reps in the OF or maybe 3B. I've got to think he'd be a passable 5th OF for platoon purposes and the occasional day off). This team has to see what Park and Vargas can do. You won't get that putting one of them in AAA.

According to several sources close to the situation, who have been cited in this thread... both are off the table.

Just thought this was worth repeating

except apparently the Dodgers as Buehler is off the table. With that, I'm really not even sure what we're arguing, since I think most of us on "the other side" would gladly take a package headlined by JDL and Buehler.

Honestly, this has been American for 20 years now, and let's not pretend that politics is above that either. It's been going on there for as long as I've been alive. Is anyone actually surprised that society as a whole continues to de-evolve? Can you honestly say that having a President who is doing all the same things that most of a America already does is a surprise? Goodness... just look at the political thread. Neither Democrats or Republicans are immune to it. HRC certainly did it. Trump did it. Can you really be honest and say this is a surprise?

to me, it's the sign of an irrational market. Price to earning ratios are at historically bad levels and the market continues to rise. That's another sign that a correction is due. I think 10-20% drop across the board is pretty reasonable in the near future. It sucks, but stocks are always the last to get it and there are some pretty big problems right now that the market is largely ignoring.

You are most likely right about the Angels, but the "anything can happen" argument is very real. For one, the extra wild card has created far more buyers than sellers. The second point is that no one knows who will be competing in July. There will be plenty of teams in it, whether they match up with us who knows, but I'd be shocked if there were less than a dozen teams in buy mode at the deadline, some of which will need help at 2B. There will probably be 20 or so teams in contention, even if many are pretenders. While I wholeheartedly agree that our chances of doing so are pretty slim, it's hardly unrealistic. We were lucky in 2015. We were unlucky in 2016. I get all that, but the offensive core is here now, and the chance that most of those guys (Sano, Kepler, Escobar, Buxton, Vargas, Rosario, Park, and Polanco) take steps forward is pretty good. It's the pitching that is the wild card, but envisioning a scenario where Santana picks up where he left off, Berrios taking a big step forward, May picking up from 2015, and Gibson picking up from 2015 suddenly puts this team in that map too.. Yeah, a lot of variables, I get that. But that's why anything can happen. None of this unreasonable to expect on its own. All of it happening is what makes our odds so low. This is my long winded way of saying not to just trade for the sake of a trade. LA needs to add value, and JDL + some very minor pieces doesn't do that. I wish I was a fly on the wall for these negotiations, but based on everything said in the press, there was no significant piece other than JDL. That's not good. I'd go with the unknown in that scenario 11 times out of 10. I don't care if he's a top 20 prospect. Those have risk. LA could add some decent pieces that aren't top 100 to get this done, but apparently those guys (Stewart and Buehler in particular) aren't even in the conversation. Again, that's not good. I'd take either one with a decent additional piece and a C+ lotto pick at this point (so yes, I've come down a bit on my own demands), but no way would I take JDL alone.

Is Buehler even a top 100 prospect? For some reason I didn't think he was. I do like him as well. He's likely a fast riser, and his fall in the draft was not due to potential but injury. He's got ace upside, but... he's got a grand total of 5 innings pitched in the minors due to said injury... 5. 2017 will most likely be a getting used to the grind type year, and due to the injury his workload will be monitored and his stamina is highly likely to fall off. This means that even being a possible fast riser, he's not sniffing the rotation until mid 2018 at best. Personally, I'd prefer Stewart here as he's ML ready now and has modest upside as well... but he's off the table too apparently. Honestly, if a JDL/Buehler package wasn't on the table... well... again, I have to think LA is lowballing us pretty bad. There's an enormous amount of risk with Buehler. He's a high upside pick that has a lot of risk attached to him. But if even that isn't a worthy 2nd player, then I hate to think what they want added for a 3rd player. You can forget guys like Ruiz or Lux. If Buehler wasn't on the table as a second piece, there's no way guys like that would have been available as a final piece. I'm with drjim or RB here. You don't trade in that scenario. I get that LA may be high on him. That's fine. But you have to give value to get it.

Distinctly possible, but at 34, Kinsler doesn't exactly have many years left to earn money. Yes, he's earned a lot, but the pay drops pretty significantly once he's out of baseball. His ask for an extension is a clear business move that more than likely recognizes this. The other side of it is that Kinsler is far more likely to fall off that proverbial cliff than BD is. In trading for Kinsler, LA is likely to still give up JDL and absorb much more risk/cost. That is a big deal.

Yeah, and I'd bet he'd still cost De Leon... which really tells me that Friedman is lowballing us.

Isn't that exactly what De Leon is at this point?

I'm going with Basketball sucksSo do the Rams, Chargers, and Vikings

I don't think they consider him a win... precisely for all the reasons specified here.