igor67

I just wished my grandpa was still around so I could ask him about what it was like when the Cards were bad all the time.

Seems like a good place to comment that Chourio is just a little under the league average OPS for the Southern League despite being almost 5 years younger than average, his strikeout rate is reasonable and he plays an up the middle position. Not a breakout performance, but definitely holding his own and developing. There are different ways for him to get there of course, but if he went 2-4 with a HR and double tomorrow he's be almost exactly on the league average OPS to put some context on how close he is already.

I'd settle for a higher contact OBP heavy .750 OPS bat who plays above average defense at first

If we had fewer issues in the line-up I'd be willing to trade Chourio to rent Ohtani, but that's about it. As I look at the leader boards for LF, 1st, and DH I miss the 90's when sluggers who were defense optional grew on trees. Our production there has been terrible, but even almost all the modest .800 OPS level bats are already on contenders.

Was it maybe a check you deposited from someone else? I had that happen once, very annoying because it was family as well.

Over the decades the various student loan programs and forgiveness options have just built a litany of problems (some I would argue fit a lay person definition of fraud). As a less common example I discovered the hardway over a decade ago that the public service forgiveness was a joke, and not even for all the reasons commonly given. It was heavily promoted at my private grad university as an option for all working on our licenses, but buried in all that red tape was that the forgiveness only ever worked for specific types of public loans. None of which were actually offered as part of my package to begin with. Frankly most of the loans I'd ever been offered did not qualify at that time. Then of course there was the standard repayment options defaulted to paying off your loan in 10 years anyway, so by time you qualify there is nothing left. I also realized that despite working in a major metro area, you can't guarantee that you get hired at a district that qualifies for the forgiveness option was a frequently overlook hurdle. Today of course you could almost guarantee your district qualifies, but fluctuating economic condition can alter whether or not your district qualifies over the course of 10 years. All of which just amplifies OWBC's point about all of these things being overly dependent on predicting the future. My teaching cohort actually had both an ex-physician and an ex-professional cyclist. So while I can try and play the complicated gymnastics, better policy is something simpler and more robust.

If others are looking right now: Tech Ed, Math, or Science teaching jobs in Wisconsin. My son got hired in less than a day with still needing to get into a license program. Sped is a big shortage as well, but you kind of need the license for that one.

Monasterio's quick start gives a perfect reason to send Turang to AAA both for service time benefits, but more to see if he can get the swing into a bit better groove. Toro gets a little longer look as well, and you start reevaluating that spot in a few weeks.

Nice to see some solid games for Adames and Urias it could definitely help with some roster moves to give us some more offense at this stage without sacrificing anything on defense.

It wouldn't hurt for the Pirates to lose a game here again either, so it's kind of a win either way for use on that front.

It's a little thing that can give some of the marginal players a reason to stick with us.

Winker might very well be done, and if so I' feel kind of bad mostly because if your 29 and have that big of an issue with your neck already that is not an exciting future prospect.

Unless my recollection is off Misiorowski has only really had anything like struggles during the innings he was extending himself deeper into the game. I would guess if he is going to have that type of command from tonight and the no-hit type stuff he won't be in Carolina the whole season.

Lightrail for Twins games is great in my experience. It gets really crowded of course, but they run some extra trains right around then and it often beats waiting to exit a parking garage.

Everyone looks great with an OPS north of .900 like he does at the moment, but especially on the current roster with the contact, speed, right handed and positional flexibility he would still be very valuable with an .800 OPS. Helping give platoon friendly bats to some of the other players and some off days at the same time is great, and I do like the ability to tighten the defense even more in the late innings by letting Rowdy sit. The numbers already indicate Miller is slightly above average defensively at first, and he's got good tools to see that get even better with some more experience. Definitely a great pick-up especially just for cash...

It is objectively silly contract language though because it could become mathematically impossible if 7 other teams had the same language..

Any actuaries or insurance agents have any data on the claims difference between the 2 states?

I watched the last time I drove through a cop parked like he was set-up for speed enforcement right on I-94 not move with multiple cars going by 10+ over the speed limit. It's almost like Europe down there. I had a colleague visit Italy for a conference and he described it as everyone driving like they were in a road race trying to pass whoever was in front regardless of the speed.

Aguilar seems to have lost the ability to hit righties well, but still rocking an OPS over 1.000 against lefties. So in that dedicated DH emergency 1st basemen role trading for Jesus seems like a solid move at this point.

Those raw physical numbers definitely suggest an increase in health, which makes me more likely to believe this weekend was a sign of good things to come.

If Black could play defense at the moment or was at AAA already posting those numbers it would be different. Another month or so is about right to see if there is some improvement. Not too early to start exploring trade options though.

Rodgers the GM certainly would make one long for the days of good ol' Sal Bando...

None of those is super exciting, Cron would be great but it is hard not to picture him as a bit of Coors mirage waiting to happen. But a defensive upgrade at first who hits lefties well would be a great addition if it existed.

Doesn't that make Black's line so far this season even more impressive?

I kind of like what they did, because frankly the 20 million plus the rest of the contract money sure looks like maybe I just retire with my health mostly intact money? Everyone wants to be the guy obviously, but this drops that guaranteed money quite a bit and shifts that incentive.