AFBI number 3

[shoeless.db]

Although he did come up with what must certainly be a comically false excuse for leaving...

I wish it were false. Living with teenagers is a steamboat ride of insanity.

[recte44]

Post this man!

[bschr682]

Soon as I get back from camping

[Lane]

It's gonna take me so long to get used to the Vegas logo not being Recte.

[Rubaboo]

It's gonna take me so long to get used to the Vegas logo not being Recte.

Yeah, I did a double take on that as well.

[bschr682]

It’s weird for me too...

[recte44]

Hey I didn’t post that! Oh wait it’s Brett

[bschr682]

Bumping this. Video still processing but it is uploaded. If there was a 5th person and I forgot who it was, please don't be offended as I am wiped out from a long weekend.

[usnspecialist]

I'm pretty sure it was just the 4 of us

[RonCo]

Great discussion...especially liked thinking through the divisions.

Agree the Heartland looks weakest on paper at the moment, but you're missing the studly stud pitchers both Louisville and Des Moines are bringing up. And, yes, Brett is leaving what is finally a nice core for Matt (who I hear is a pretty good GM). And Justin has had weirdness happening--Omaha is a better team at their core than they've shown. Chicago is a bit of a wildcard, but I've seen enough of Vic to know he's not going down without a fight. Will might take a season or three to get Madison focused again, or it could be that merely bringing the team into the fray defensively makes a big difference. Scott is in rebuild mode, so we'll see how quickly that goes. Still, it's easy to see his plan, which means he's in control rather than just meandering.

I expect YS9 to be competitive, but I'm a long way from thinking this is our division to lose.

The more I look at it, the more I love this new division structure.

-----

And, I don't hate the Maldonado contract. It's just not as brilliant as it looks on first blush given the bonus structure, and given that Maldonado really can't hit lefties at all. I know Randy is playing him full time, and he managed to not go underwater last season against lefties...but that's (in my opinion) a freak of sample size. I just don't see him getting on base at a .350 clip against lefties again.

All total it's a $14-$16M/year deal structured to only hit that cap at $10M, which is a well-done deal on both sides of the coin--which is part of my point in another thread on "bonus management." Any agent in his right mind would be sitting down at the negotiation table with a full understanding that SFB has that pile of cash available that they can spend off book. I can imagine Snidely P. Slimy, agent for Maldonado, sitting down and explaining that he'll agree to a $12M/year deal flat if you want to go that way, but "my client is willing to make it $8M if you'll give us a simple 25 PA bonus for $8M more."

I can already hear some folks' heads exploding on this idea, because they think of using your excess budget this way as cheating the system. But this is not a cheat. It is, instead, exactly what the system _is_ under a salary cap, and I'd like it better if players were smart enough to exploit it fully against us owners. I'm fully willing to bet that if Maldonado asked for that $8M/$8M deal, Randy would have given it to him in a heartbeat, and he'd be $2M-$4M/year richer for it.

[StormZ_23]

Looks like my goal now is to screw up the playoff hopes of Pacific teams

[7teen]

Looks like my goal now is to screw up the playoff hopes of Pacific teams

On behalf of all us Pacific playoff hopeful teams, I say Thanks, Vancouver!

[RonCo]

Oh, and since it just struck again...why can't a person with the surname Okorafor be born in Los Angeles?

[jleddy]

Oh, and since it just struck again...why can't a person with the surname Okorafor be born in Los Angeles?

There were so many questionable things Brett said during that pod that being an Okorafor American Denier didn't even make my top five.

[usnspecialist]

Oh, and since it just struck again...why can't a person with the surname Okorafor be born in Los Angeles?

There were so many questionable things Brett said during that pod that being an Okorafor American Denier didn't even make my top five.

if im the rational one in a pod, something has gone off the rails.

[jleddy]

Hahahahaha!

True, but being most rationale in a podcast doesn't absolve you of your general lack of rationality. I mean, how insane are we to spend this much time with "fake baseball"?

[GoldenOne]

Is it bad that I have blocked off our calendar (to keep track of kids' activities) on the fridge for the Expansion Draft on Saturday night?

[7teen]

Is it bad that I have blocked off our calendar (to keep track of kids' activities) on the fridge for the Expansion Draft on Saturday night?

Nope.

My son has a pair of soccer games Saturday afternoon/evening. I need to coordinate my times. I think they are at 3:00 and later ET. I’ll take my computer and use my hotspot if emergency strikes.

I’ve already told my wife we are skipping my high school reunion because of the draft. Haha

[jleddy]

I’ve already told my wife we are skipping my high school reunion because of the draft. Haha

That's what Facebook is for. That and harvesting your personal data without consent and using it for political advertising and marketing purposes.

[7teen]

I’ve already told my wife we are skipping my high school reunion because of the draft. Haha

That's what Facebook is for. That and harvesting your personal data without consent and using it for political advertising and marketing purposes.

What’s this “Facebook” you speak of!?

Oh yeah, that platform that I learned, if you coach high school sports, you’re better off staying off of.