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Rob

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Everything posted by Rob

  1. Rob
    There is nothing inherently controversial/ambiguous about the notion that people are entitled to basic human rights. That the Overton Window has shifted so far to the right that a chunk of America now thinks that things like due process are controversial/ambiguous is a horsefeathers travesty. And each and every single individual pushing those positions should be launched into the horsefeathers sun* until we get to a point where politics is about mundane horsefeathers like the appropriate amount of government funding for the arts and what the speed limit ought to be. *after a hearing with due process, naturally.
  2. Rob
    Athletes should behave as though they might be role models -- their public behavior should be something worthy of being emulated. Want to do humanitarian work like Roberto Clemente? Have at it. But if your public persona wants to act heinously -- such as speaking at a modern day Nazi rally... well, maybe you should just shut the horsefeathers up.
  3. Rob
    If memory serves, I figured Turner would be best. But I had Correa, Bogaerts, and Swanson lumped pretty closely together (albeit with large variance on Correa due to the ankle thing). So while I preferred Turner, I was perfectly happy with taking the cheapest of the other three.
  4. Rob
    In accordance with Hitchens's Razor, I will simply say "nope."
  5. Rob
    The other big SS's that offseason were Carlos Correa, Trea Turner, and Xander Bogaerts. 2022 fWAR: Correa - 4.6 Turner - 6.4 Bogaerts - 6.0 Swanson - 6.6 Previous three years fWAR: Correa - 12.1 Turner - 16.3 Bogaerts - 14.7 Swanson - 12.0 fWAR since signing: Correa - 8.5 Turner - 14.7 Bogaerts - 9.8 Swanson - 12.3 Swanson, a former number 1 overall pick, was coming off the best season of the 4. And while his recent track record wasn't quite as good as Turner/Bogaerts, he was basically tied with Correa. Correa's contract stuff played out weirdly, but I think it's safe to say Swanson ultimately received the least money and years of the bunch. Why do people keep thinking the Swanson signing is a valid criticism of the Hoyer regime?
  6. Rob
    There's still a sizeable portion of the Cubs fanbase that thinks the Soriano contract was a massive bust. He'd just come off a 46 HR / 41 SB season, and people expected him to replicate that. Nevermind that his first season with the Cubs was actually better than the 40/40 campaign, his estimation among fans never improved. His constant injuries didn't help. But yeah, in truth he basically played to almost exactly what you'd expect from that contract. The shape of the production was a bit odd, but we got what we bargained for in total.
  7. Rob
    The "Senator Pelosi" comment is a decade (or two) old callback to a poster we refer to as Da Bum (his actual username was CubbieBum). Somebody else on here probably remembers it better than me, but he was on like a high school paper or something and managed to get an interview with Speaker Pelosi. But he was an idiot and hadn't done any work to prep. So he was referring to her repeatedly as Senator. He was mocked relentlessly, for this and a thousand other ridiculous things. And then he somehow stole an actual journalism job away from a poster on this board ("somehow" being that the paper was dying and hiring a kid was cheaper than the professional already on staff). That other poster was Kyle (a.k.a. Hairyducked Idiot), who was a character in his own right.
  8. Rob
    He went 6 for Darvish, IIRC.
  9. Rob
    Yeah, that's pretty much impossible in this day and age. There really is no ethical consumption under capitalism. I've come to the conclusion that we all just do the best we can. We draw the lines where we can, but everybody's line is different. I try not to begrudge others where they draw theirs -- provided they've at least shown a modicum of awareness of the issues and some effort to minimize the damage they cause. I drew my line pretty far -- I want all these horsefeatherss gone. But I indicated in my post that I see where somebody might draw the line between Busch and Shaw, or rely on the "ignorance is bliss" concept. We all just do the best we can.
  10. Rob
    There's no right answer. Awful people exist in our midst. Some of whom are people we root for, unaware of their despicable beliefs. I wont fault those who are comfortable with the "ignorance is bliss" notion. I've spent time there myself. Likewise, I wont fault those who draw the line between Busch and Shaw, citing Shaw's absence from the team during the middle of a playoff run so he could attend a hate rally celebrating the life of his favorite racist, misogynistic, fascist podcaster -- that seems like a fair line to draw. But I stopped paying to watch Cubs baseball because of the Ricketts support of Trump. I don't want them getting a dime from me. So I want Ricketts gone. I want Shaw gone. I want Busch gone. More than that, I want our national politics to get to a place where somebody being on the other side of the aisle means we're arguing about the benign things like the appropriate level of government funding for the arts instead of arguing about whether people should possess basic human rights -- so that I can still root for somebody I disagree with.
  11. Rob
    I'd rather see Shaw traded away for pitching. It's not an indictment of his talent. I just have a hard time rooting for him.
  12. Rob
    I think it's unlikely they go over significantly if what's taking them over is long-term commitments. They seem to think keeping payroll flexible will be important with the lockout looming.
  13. Rob
    I still think there's a way to salvage something from him. The results were awful last year, but the underlying metrics paint a picture that looks something like a league-average starter despite last year's issue with home runs. He's sitting in the 71st percentile for walks, 73rd for strikeouts and whiffs. 75th for velocity. Despite that, he was just getting spanked. Mostly on his fastball. So maybe some offseason work on that would be helpful. Hell, maybe scrap it entirely and/or work on a cutter or two-seamer. I'd like to see him as the swing man out of the pen in the start of the season. He's still a viable injury fill-in for 5th starter if needed, but I could also see him working his way into some high leverage innings. Either way, there's enough there to justify not tossing him out entirely at this stage. Let him work on stuff over the offseason and see how he's looking in camp.
  14. Rob
    You're not going to catch me complaining about a one year deal for a guy a year removed from a 3.1 fWAR season. Yeah, last year was rough and he was injured. And he might not be much better this year. But I'd bet on him being a 2-2.5 fWAR pitcher on a reasonable deal with no future risk.
  15. Rob
    I'm sad to see him go. But I'm glad he had something of a bounceback season. There's hardly a team in baseball that wouldn't pay him a salary to be their 5th starter next year. So at least he's going out on his terms.
  16. Rob

    Playoff Talk

    Rob replied to mk49's topic in Chicago Cubs Talk

    Pretty much my thoughts exactly. The Blue Jays only need to win one of the next two and they've got home-field advantage. But the Dodgers still feel like the better team. All the various odds projections on Fangraphs have the Blue Jays as the favorites at this point. But they're mostly in the 60-70% range. Far from a lock.
  17. Rob
  18. Rob
    Jorts were back in style. Shame you missed it.
  19. Rob

    NFL Week 5

    Rob replied to BigbadB's topic in Other Sports

    Not to rehash this argument that's been done to death, but while realizing that last year's Super Bowl halftime show was an objectively good one, it wasn't something I personally enjoyed. I imagine this year's is likely to be the same. I am not familiar with a single Bad Bunny song, so I don't anticipate being blown away (a la Prince's show). I'm not mad like the facebook chuds, but I'm also not looking forward to it. The again, I also still maintain that I'd love a Spice Girls halftime show. So maybe I shouldn't be relied upon for pop culture advice.
  20. Rob
    As a curmudgeon, I don't care for this.
  21. Rob
    Yeah. I refused to purchase Marquee when they announced they were partnering up with Sinclair. I haven't bought jerseys in years. Etc... Pretty much as soon as I realized how bad the Ricketts were, they stopped getting my money. Some of us have morals and ethics and try to live our lives in accordance with them. Others handwave away everything inconvenient and live their lives like nobody is watching. Funnily enough, it's usually the religious folk doing the latter -- which is somewhat at odds with the whole schtick.
  22. Rob
    Nobody goes right-wing because they're a big fan of forgiveness. Though they do occasionally make a show of performative forgiveness when they think it'll upset others.
  23. Rob
    It's possible, certainly. DHs don't have quite so many nagging injuries. Maybe he stays healthy and keeps mashing. But if I'm a GM, I'd be incredibly hesitant to go past about 4 years / $100M.
  24. Rob
    Too much, probably. He's coming off a four year, $79 million contract. He's put up 10.8 fWAR during that timeframe. 4.5 of it in this age-32 season, where his ISO is about 50 points higher than it's ever been before. Probably because his HR/FB is about 5 points over his career average. For reference, Seiya has been worth 10.6 fWAR despite missing a fair amount of time the last four years. In part because he's at least playable in the outfield. If I'm picking between the two for a 3-5 year contract, I'm picking Seiya. But I'm guessing Schwarber makes more this offseason than Seiya does next offseason.
  25. Rob
    If politics was about less important issues, then we wouldn't be having this problem. Unfortunately, half of this country refuses to defend democracy, to acknowledge basic human rights, or even say things like "genocide is bad." In that context, it's completely understandable that we might call them out for it. If you don't like politics invading sports, destroy the fascists who have invaded our everyday lives.
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