Banedon

Yeah, it's not like Zobrist is all that special at infield defense. His value is in being "ok" at multiple positions.

He was just trying to hug her neck. Cuz of all the love.

http://m.mlb.com/cutfour/2016/07/28/192345472/twins-scoreboard-predicts-beltran-will-smith-trades-during-game

And I think it's ok to feel this way and still say that Rondon was very good as a closer.

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It's a terrible idea. That just makes it easier to ignore the things that make him a terrible human, and those things shouldn't be ignored.

I keep hearing "his approach is awful"... It's been a whole month...I guess it's time for another Baez article Aaron... http://www.northsidebaseball.com/articles/cubs-articles/29-an-improved-javier-baez

He was sick. No injury.

This is a fun new tradition.

Got cheap tickets to the FIre through work for the 14th, and apparently we get to go down on the field to watch pre-game warmups. First pro soccer game of any kinda that I've attended.

Yeah, he was quite funny last night. "The notes say he missed his last start...doesn't say why though...."

Saved the team last night, imo.

How about donate each time that the Cubs screw the closer, so that you're not rooting for Chapman at all. In any case, it's a lot more fun to root for "screw the closer" with Chapman. I always felt a little bad for Rondon. I don't for Chapman.

I voted Baez because that's who Mojo meant to vote for.

Hahaha...good luck... http://gizmodo.com/olympics-committee-says-non-sponsors-are-banned-from-tw-1784344194

Part of it too could be if teams have figured out that he can be shifted on predictably, it may make him appear unlucky.

Fangraphs further breaks down liners in to soft, medium, and hard. They have him at 15.5% soft, 44.8% medium and 39.7% hard. Last year was 12.4% soft, 43.8% medium and 43.8% hard.

So what you're positing is that Chapman is actually so noble because he was so terrified by his crazed girlfriend he had no choice but to start blasting off a gun to protect himself? Gotta scare off the wolves somehow.

I don't think this is something as simple as that. I think there's going to be a pretty major retooling of his swing in the offseason. It's too much to fix during the season.

Players being ok with it doesn't mean much to me. Sports culture is ok with a lot things that society at large isn't, or shouldn't, be ok with. A man who's been accused of rape, sexual assault, and quid pro-quo sexual favors by multiple women was elected as POTUS for two consecutive terms and remains one of the most admired politicians of the last 50 years. I don't think it's limited to sports culture. People choose to ignore bad behavior when it suits their own needs. I wasn't absolving any other aspect of our culture by any means. I was simply saying that locker room culture is hardly a place to look and say "well if they're ok with it, we should be too".

Players being ok with it doesn't mean much to me. Sports culture is ok with a lot things that society at large isn't, or shouldn't, be ok with. The players and the business are more important than we are. If a guy is eligible to play and is good enough to play, my guess is any team would employ him if it helps them win. This isn't a "would" conversation though. It's a "should" conversation. The only baseball discussion to be had here is whether the price was too high or not. The team is most assuredly better with Chapman on the team. But saying "well if we didn't, some other team would have" doesn't absolve the moral dilemma that comes with this acquisition.

Players being ok with it doesn't mean much to me. Sports culture is ok with a lot things that society at large isn't, or shouldn't, be ok with.

Pooooooooooor Chapman!!! Won't anyone think of the man that just served a domestic violence suspension and at a minimum fired a gun eight times in his garage scaring his girlfriend into hiding in the bushes?! And, according to her initial story, choked her and pushed her against a wall? So mistreated! You were there for the whole thing and know exactly what happened? that's fascinating please continue to tell us all about it. I hate that people assume whatever a woman says to the police is 100% accurate. What he said happened and what she said happened were very different stories. I'm not saying he didn't do anything wrong but Jesus you weren't there how the hell do you know what went down? Reporters weren't there either. There's a reason why the police didn't pursue the case. I don't feel sorry for either one of them, they had issues, they worked them out apparently. I don't care what happened in their personal life. Frankly I don't think anyone needs to be judging the guy. He went through the legal and baseball judgement and served a suspension. Nothing is going to change what happened. He's here now, probably only for a few months. Enjoy his pitching dominance and move on. I'm too busy at work today to tear into this appropriately, but I'll just say that you need to read more about domestic violence, why victims don't report or retract their reports, and why they stay with abusers. It's far more important than baseball.

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