pete

Usually, teams control players for 6 years (once they are in the majors). The Nationals still control SS. I believe this is what is his 2nd "arb year" or the second last before he can play for whoever he wants for as much as he can get. Because Gallardo signed an extension while he was still under control I can't make a direct comparison, but I think he got 5.5 million in a roughly equivalent year. I'm sure others can explain it much better, but its an apples to oranges comparison.

FWIW, a brisk walk is the thing I hear as being great for health. I live in a neighborhood with trees, sidewalks and a park and my neighbors think its a wow thing that I walk a mile or so to the grocery. I'm not sure how to characterize it but something like 5 times a week for 20 minutes at a brisk pace is supposed to be good stuff. A lot of times its just me and the dog walkers.

For those who don't like meandering shoppers, there is an assisted living facility that brings one of those van/bus hybrid things full of shoppers once a week to the store where i do most of my shopping. Its pretty amazingly slow and congested.

Man, that's cheap. I wonder if there were slightly better offers and the lure of playing in SF appealed to him as a Japanese. It would have been a better move for the Reds than trading away a good prospect for Byrd and his salary. IMO. I wouldn't want him backing up CF for the Brewers. I don't know if anything is percolating for Parra and what the situation is with Schafer, but I'd think one of them has to be on the roster.

I wonder if Clark will be tempted to return to Japan. Yeah, I'm wondering what AAA will be like and thinking that AA team could be really, really good. The new stadium and all it could be fun times for baseball fans in Biloxi.

They should call it the Tulo rule. There are plenty of other pacers, glove tighteners, dawdlers including some guy named Ryan but Tulo is king.

I'm not positive, but i believe that there are large decreases in infant mortality, that skew the average. Your life expectancy and mine and your children for that matter have a lower life expectancy than earlier. Again, I've heard that, but its not something I have a lot of certainty about.

Cubs traded for Tommy La Stella without a seeming need. Maybe they want him as a trade commodity. Cubs also have Luis Valbuena who can play 2nd. I hope you're wrong bhA.

Does Gennett have a slap hitter's approach? He takes a full swing and backspins the ball. He does have that oppo poke you talk about. The only regular 2Bmen with higher ISOs last season were Neil Walker, Javy Baez, Dozier and Weeks if you want to throw him in the conversation. 440 ABs and 43 XBHs. Regarding Smith, RR likes roles it seems. He looked overused to me. I think the contrast between RR and Maddon is interesting as they are both part of the "Soscia tree" and were colleagues on the same staff. Bullpen roles, playing time for the regular 8, moving players around the diamond seem contrasts between the two and there are probably other things that I can't think of off the top of my head.

Is "all in" the right term considering the big move has been flipping Estrada for Lind? Wouldn't trading prospects for FAs be all in? I'd take Melvin's word for it that Gallardo, Lohse and/or Parra could be traded and assume he's asking high prices which I agree with. I know some think they don't have a realistic chance at competing and think they should be moved for whatever he can get and punt the season, but I'm actually kind of pumped for the upcoming season, think the farm is in pretty good shape and expect credible replacements for SP and CF in the next seasons. You can call me crazy pete if you want though.

I need a flowchart or something. Does Semien play SS for the A's or is there another deal in the works? Clippard is the return. It wasn't long ago that expensive relievers were considered foolish and old school. Of course maybe Clippard is headed to Toronto or another team... I think I'm getting vertigo

Studies that deal with toxins (pesticides, fungicides, herbicides), trace elements in soil, genetics of the different varieties, steroids, anti-biotics and dozens of medications that are given preventively that you in turn eat, and all the related topics probably number in the hundreds of thousands. Setting aside organic or not, tomatoes, bananas, cane sugar, cows, pigs, all sorts of things have long histories of politics and controversy. I can't tell you what I think, because it would be very political, but take one issue, any issue or food for that matter and seek information and I'll bet you'll be shocked at what you find. Almost all regulation is done by the companies themselves for one thing. Genes are important, but you will never find a scientist who tells you that they are 99 percent of the determination of your future health. I recently saw an article that said that the mutation that causes lung cancer is 40 percent chance. Your grandparents had vastly different lives and ate far different food. Past generations didn't eat the same oranges or eggs. They weren't swimming in plastics the way we are. BPA is tied to all sorts of negative health outcomes (through evidence). Your grandfather may have had high levels of vitamin D in his youth because he wasn't surfing the net like we all do. Diet is determinative of lifelong intestinal culture which is key to the immune system. You also have a huge number of genes. Your health isn't regulated by a dozen or even a hundred. Your genes are altered through mutation and even infection. There's a lot of pancreatic cancer in my family that is speculated to be related to childhood infections (its siblings). Live in Florida you may get Chagas disease and your genes will be altered. I dunno, life should be enjoyed. We all make negative choices. I could go on for a long time, but if you want you can probably find documentaries on some of the topics on Netflix, your public library or even Youtube.

Was that Kyle Lohse? I don't like seeing that.

Horrendous: horrifying or terrible Well, you're using OPS which is kind of tough for him considering how small he was especially coming out of HS. You're using it with Midwest League and Florida State League stats which is an important consideration. You're omitting his age for the league. You're mixing PH numbers in. What are Mike Trout and Andrew McCutchen's PH numbers against same side pitching? Or even MLB average for that matter. For what its worth, .646 against same side pitching in the Southern League is far from horrendous. I wonder how it rates against similar numbers in the league but its too much work to find out. Six sixty seven in he FSL against same side pitching probably rates pretty highly too I'd guess. That's just statistical data that's missing. I'm sure all the people who worked with him in the org weighed in on the subject. But again I ask, if he gets 2/3rds of the plate appearances against LH starters, how many will that be? If they get some old veteran to platoon, what's the net difference between him and 2/3rds Gennett and 1/3rd utility infielder? And will your old veteran be able to play the field?

1) Does Matt Clark have options? 2) Actually Gennett absolutely raked against LH pitching in A ball. I'd guess he was young for his age in the league as well. He did a good job in the FSL also which is the toughest league to hit in. By his own admission he was trying to hit balls out there. His minor league numbers are a case study in how to use statistics to support a position. All the people who talk about "the last 4 years" are a classic case of selective end points. None of them will talk about league or park factors either. People also use numbers as a PH to contrast with starters - not meaningful. Using his career average which isn't bad at all would be ignoring the trend of declining numbers but that's what people will do if it supports their position. Player X can't do whatever - look it his career numbers in the minors is usually presented as case closed. But according to the national experts, he was bad defensively. He was also somewhere between not a major leaguer hitter, Law, to Aaron Miles, according to Jason Parks in what was a really great rant. But they were wrong. I'd guess that he'll get about 2/3 of starts against LH pitchers and whoever is the BU middle infielder or Jimenez will get the rest. How many does that add up to? Not a lot.

AT&T Uverse had one of their weekends where most everything is free and I was checking out all sorts of stuff and came across a farm or rural channel, RFD I think. They had a show on with a feature called "Weed of the Week." They had a couple guys standing in a field discussing a crop more than the weed. They went through about a dozen or more chemicals that you might put on a crop depending on how wet it was what stage the weeds were at, etc. I got the impression that a farmer may use 6 or 7 in a season. Anti-fungals was another category. It was kind of freaky. I think their company was GAF. Somewhere I still have slides I took on GAF film. I know they're big in roof shingles. The plants looked perfect though.

I'd add that going to farmer's market can be fun, particularly the domes. Tasty snacks, some interesting food choices and although the domes are struggling in my opinion, its good to give them a boost and well, I like plants. although I didn't when I was younger.

For me Hank has jumped the shark. Wait, that's not optimistic... uh... we're getting closer to ST, maybe some other critter can drift in for free snacks.

Ironically... sadly... the "organic" label was watered down. We buy as much as possible regardless. So much of it actually tastes like something.

I'm not sure how relevant it is to the overall point. It may in fact reinforce it. Its as much how I view them going forward, but for what its worth, Fiers smoked everybody stats wise other than WAR due to innings pitched which Peralta edged him.

Vogt and Soto are both on the back side of 30. Last year Vogt had plantar surgery and Soto had knee surgery. The A's got Soto for the proverbial cash considerations. When was his last good season - 2010? I think Josh Phegley lost his job as a backup on the White Sox to a rule V pickup. Eight MLB quality pitchers? Starters? Lohse is probably the 5 on the Brewers and there is a large contingent of fans who think Melvin is daft for not tearing down the team. The "8" is like the Bettlestar Gallactica of rotations. How many of them are middling/poor?

I cruised through a popular A's forum and they are generally very happy. Some seem pretty crazy to me like this one: ... this might be the single deepest lineup and single deepest rotation in all of baseball. That's with a rotation that the #2 is likely Scott Kazmir and includes Jessie Chavez. Projected starters include Ike Davis, Sam Fuld and Coco Crisp - he's about my age. There are some ok players like Reddick and Vogt. Lawrie and Escobar are big talents but Melvin will earn his salary. Of course there will be lots of platoons, so projecting is a challenge. I was thinking of posting about this in the off season positivity thread.

Pulp is your friend. High pulp is "country style." I guess haters prefer city style. No comment: http://gizmodo.com/5825909/orange-juice-is-artificially-flavored-to-taste-like-oranges

I was thinking of Martin actually.

I'd love to know which side initiated the conversation that led to the Strong trade.