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Minniman

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  1. Maybe the manager is sending a message to Buxton to have better discipline at the plate. At this point, it is more important for the young players how to learn to play baseball at this level rather than make the playoffs as a wild card team.
  2. Terry Ryan is protecting the future by not bringing up too many players and giving them time in service on a team that will get hammered in the playoffs - even if they do make it as a wild card team this season. Any GM that would risk the future year control of these players for a wild card run with this team should be fired.
  3. I teach economics, so our definition may differ slightly, but we are pretty much on the same page. Brock is correct that the term "sunk cost" is already paid for, but current economic thinking often includes irrevocable agreements to pay in the future as a sunk cost as well. If the Twins suddenly cut all of their players, what they still owe players on guaranteed contracts would be sunk costs. Therefore, all MLB players have sunk costs. This often creates a sunk cost fallacy of logic when a team tries to play the most expensive players ahead of the best players or high draft picks over later picks.
  4. Shoot Terry Ryan and fire up Santana? You are harsh! oh, wait ... never mind.
  5. Evolution is a theory ... that can proven by repeated testing with congruent observed results. That is how the scientific method works. Oh, back to the topic. What was that again? oh yes ... In economics, irrevokable contracts for a future commitment are considered sunk costs. The nature of guaranteed contracts is that they are irrevokable under normal ceteris paribus conditions. While it is a valid point that a player may be traded, one must view the likelyhood of that event. As the likelyhood approaches zero, the future commitment becomes a sunk cost rather than an optional or variable future expenditure. One must ask if Mauer or Nolasco are at that point or not. One could make a conditional statement, "Barring an unlikely trade, those contracts are sunk costs." The point, in context, is that the player has a salary that is already a future commitment to be paid whether the player plays or not, and that contract need not be considered when fielding the best team.
  6. I disagree. The WC winner should not lose its best pitcher to start off the first playoff series because he was used to secure the Wild Card win. In my opinion, it is a cheat and cheapens the playoffs.
  7. I do not like that is messes up the playoff pitching rotation for the Wild Card teams. It gives an unfair advantage to the divisional winners. So much for the playoffs throwing out the records and starting anew.
  8. The umps will widen the strike zone for the Yankees' pitchers and narrow it for the Twins'.
  9. In my example, another company could agree to build the house and pay me for the materials already purchased. Does that make it not a sunk cost? If I make reservations at a resort, but I do not go, and I missed the cancellation deadline, it is still sunk even if I have not yet paid. Brock, you are correct that technically a sunk cost is already paid, but a contract that is guaranteed does basically the same thing if the option to unload the contract is minimal. People use the term "sunk cost" in sports with players that are paid too much to trade and often are played when they should be benched. The value of the contract no longer represents the value of the player. Technically, the Bobby Bonilla contract with the Mets is not sunk because the Mets have not paid him all of the defered money yet, but the reality is that the money is sunk. Gilbert Arenas has not played in the NBA since 2012, but he is still owed $22 million per season until next year. He has yet to be paid in full, but the cost is sunk, as Arenas is guaranteed to be paid barring bankruptcy by the Orlando Magic.
  10. Brock, I understand, but in this case the contract is not a future fixed cost. It is neither variable nor revokable by the team, therefore it is sunk. It does not matter when it is paid out; it only matters if it is guaranteed to be paid. If Joe Mauer is cut from the roster, the money still needs to be paid. If Nolasco does not recover from a chronic sore arm, the money still has to be paid. Again, technically the cost is not sunk until it HAS been paid, but the reality is that the cost is sunk as soon as there is an irrevokable guaranteed contract that it HAS TO be paid.
  11. Let me contrast this with the old contract Adrian Peterson was working under. His salary was not sunk because it could be recovered by releasing him. He could be traded too, but his signing bonus was sunk. In the NHL, all signing boneses are sunk even if they are paid in the future. They count against the cap as dead money even if the player has been traded. The sunk cost is also tied to the amount and duration of the potential buyout. In the cases of Mauer and Nolasco, the contracts are guaranteed. They are not a contract that can be revoked like the Peterson contract was or the service contract in your example. The money will be paid. Yes, the money has not already been paid, so technically they are prospective costs, but because the money owed is much greater than the value of the good or service, the reality is that the money is already sunk looking forward. One can see this when teams with heavy contracts sign more players to lucrative contracts as not to waste the money sunk on the players they previously signed. It is the sunk cost falacy in play.
  12. The costs are just as sunk as they are fixed. In either case, they can be changed if the players are moved, but the chances that these players will be moved is highly unlikely. Sunk cost is often the term used as the contracts cannot be renegotiated. They are budgeted and already accounted for on the ledger. While they could be recovered, the chance is so slim as to be considered sunk. The money has already been invested and is spinning down the toilet. If I am building a house, and I invest $300,000 in materials, those are a sunk cost. If the land is found to be a swamp, and I need to put in an extra $200,000 to fix it, the original $300,000 is sunk, and I have to look at the entire investment or I could be chasing bad money with good. With the Mauer contract, the money he is owed is a contract for service. If Mauer bats .150 and needs a pinch runner to get to second base, the money is still owed. It is no less owed than the money contracted for the materials for the home. In both cases, some money can be recoved by selling the materials on Craigslist, trading Mauer, or selling Mauer on Craiglist, but they are both considered sunk because the contract for service or goods is due in its entirety if the goods had been delivered on site or not.
  13. Another term for another Bush?
  14. What liberal media outlets? Who owns them, who advertises with them, who censors them, and who ultimately pulls the strings? The New York Times is a centrist corporate media outlet.
  15. Sign free agents that will help the team for more than a year. Do not overpay for stopgap players or third starters making second starter money.
  16. so do the owners. The NFL treats its players like crap. I give them another 20 years before the league is basically sued into oblivion and is shut down. I agree, but all of them treat fans like crap. As I stated, I do not like any of the systems in place, but the NFL system is better than either MLB or the NBA in my opinion. Having some kind of buyout is the most fair to both sides, so the NHL system is better than the other three at this time.
  17. Sounds good, but the DH should provide RBI potential. It is also used for good hitters than can no longer play the field defensively at the MLB level. What if Plouffe is a better hitter than Mauer or a better fielder than Kepler or Vargas? I wouldn't be so sure. Oswald was credited for hits on shots he likely did not take.
  18. I do not like either system, but I much prefer the NFL system to MLB or NBA.
  19. Yep, I actually noticed that while I was looking up his earlier contracts and his draft signing bonus. Relative to all players? Perhaps, but stars almost always get overpaid after, and this contract was too large for too long. Four years at $23 million per season? I can see that. Eight years at $15 million per season? I can see that too. Eight years at $23 million per season? That is too much of a gamble. What is done is done. Joe Mauer is not going to give money back if he does not play well.
  20. Having 100% guaranteed money for the entirety of the contract in MLB, NBA, and NHL is the problem. At least the NHL has a buyout provision.
  21. Joe Mauer was never grossly underpaid. Prior to signing the 8 year $184 million contract in 2010, he signed a 4 year $33 million extension with the Twins in 2007. That was $8.25 million per season, and he only played three years under that contract.
  22. If Mauer doesn't want to catch, then he should bulk up and add power to his game. He could also protect the plate with two strikes instead of believing the umps will give him that close call. He is not Derek Jeter.
  23. Bat Mauer second or sixth this season. Make sure he gets into a strength program in the offseason and have him work with a different hitting coach than the Twins have. His contract is a sunk cost. The Twins need to put the best future team on the field, so if Joe can't hit like he used to, he can't bat where he used to.
  24. At $10.5 million, couldn't the Twins have signed a better player as a better mentor? Why Hunter? Torii Hunter left the Twins on his own accord. I have no feelings of loyalty to or from him. Hunter had a decent offensive season in Detroit, but the Twins overpaid for his services, and they will again if he re-signs. The outfielder I would have liked the Twins to go after was Nelson Cruz. Of the outfield free agents, he had the second most pop behind Victor Martinez, and Seattle got Cruz for a 4 year $57 million contract ($14.25 million per season) rather than the 4 yr $68 million ($17 million per season) that Martinez received to stay in Detroit. Both players have had up and down histories, but four year contracts are a pretty good length for 34/35 year old veterans.
  25. Send Mauer back to playing catcher. That is what he signed up for; that is what he is being paid for. Football players and jockeys take more risk for less money.
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