AngelsFaninGA

It is interesting how natural immunity is completely ignored. In Germany, and I imagine a lot of other countries, there is accommodation for successful recovery/antibodies when making policies. But then again, catching COVID, experiencing light symptoms that don't require treatment, and recovering naturally requires the least dependence on the healthcare system and is therefore the least profitable, so it makes sense.

Absolutely, but the narrative that I've heard at least has been exclusively "haha horse dewormer what a bunch of idiots lol." I've yet to hear "Ivermectin may help but make sure to seek the advice of a doctor who can prescribe it in the proper dose." So it's just low-effort talking points from each side. It would be nice to actually be presented with information and allowed to make the decision ourselves, but instead we have both sides going nuts followed by mandates. Yes the majority of people in this country, regardless of political affiliation, are complete idiots, but for the remainder it would be nice to have some autonomy.

Always has been about the money. The whole vaccine vs. vaccine alternative debate has always been a battle over market share, since it looks like COVID will be around for a while and represents a massive cash cow. And there is certainly no guarantee that the most effective treatment will win, as is the case in any other industry.

Debatable. We'll see over the next few years/decades where this actually goes, but it quickly gets into an argument over the subjectivity of morality, etc etc. Banning junk food and soda would be pragmatic as it has no value whatsoever and having a healthier populace would benefit the greater good, but that's not happening.

Which is ultimately being very heavily pushed by the government, which in turn is in the pocket of big pharma, who benefits directly from having people as dependent on the healthcare system as possible. And is the mandate for organizations over 100 people not a thing anymore? Honest question.

Yeah I'm from the Soviet Union and this sort of rhetoric raises some considerable alarm bells.

Not a fan of government mandates, regardless of which side they come from (vaccines, abortion laws, etc). Usually this stuff originates from the corporations that have the politicians in their pocket, and we all know corporations have our best interests in mind.

Hot take, but he's like our 8th/9th best hitter when everyone is healthy. Even the best offenses carry some dead weight at the bottom of the order, and I wouldn't even go so far as to call Fletcher dead weight considering our lineups over the years (Lucroy, Kinsler, Cozart, etc). The more pressing concern is Trout and Rendon actually staying healthy and consistent.

They were 19th in starting pitching ERA, we were 22nd. And our starters had a better FIP and WAR. The biggest difference was the bullpen, where they ranked 8th and we were 24th. https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=sta&lg=all&qual=0&type=8&season=2021&month=0&season1=2021&ind=0&team=0,ts&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&startdate=2021-01-01&enddate=2021-12-31&sort=16,a

It's a stretch to call those numbers "good."

It'll probably be the usual Dodgers vs Red Sox/Yankees/Astros Hell even the White Sox (Larussa) and Cards (because they're the Cards) would suck.

It mostly stems from my complete lack of faith in this org's ability to scout the free agent market (like we'd honestly have been better off targeting players drawn out of a hat than who we've signed over the last few years). Coupled that with the emergence of our farm system, I'd rather just see us rely on the young guys. The only free agents I'd consider are Scherzer and maybe Verlander (for 1 or 2 years) just because of their overwhelming track record. Of course Pujols had an airtight track record too...

I feel like we pose this question every offseason and every offseason we proceed to dig an even bigger hole. I'm in favor of re-signing Cobb (to a 1 year deal) and Iglesias and calling it a day.

I have no doubt that Arte wants to win. Maybe even too much, and that's part of the problem.

Vaccine mandates? Apparently that's the first step to creating a utopia, like California or New York

Only if Arte approves the budget. I hear they're still waiting for approval to upgrade the fax machine with a printer.

Incidentally all of the tech advances in the last two decades means this doesn't work anymore even though it's a viable approach in theory, since every job posting now gets 500-1000 applicants and one of the few ways to filter them is by education level (nevermind the fact that 80% of those applicants can realistically get the work done and hiring the most overqualified candidate can have lots of adverse effects).

He needs to be moved down in the order to see if his approach changes. If not, maybe Davis can win his spot by late next year. I have no issue giving him the contract we did given his performance at the time. Those are exactly the types of relatively cheap contracts you want to give out to promising young players coming out of your system.

That's the problem, the job market. Employers these days require a bachelor's, and oftentimes a master's, for jobs that really don't need a degree at all, where the candidates would benefit more from just getting training on the job. The result is that college education is now more expensive both for people that don't need degrees and people in technical fields that actually do (engineers, lawyers, doctors, etc). And of course the ease of accumulating mountains of debt has made it even worse. I'm a typical overeducated millennial and I never even used my undergraduate degree, and my business school degree was purely a signaling mechanism for employers; the actual curriculum was useless.

They've also been the most successful franchise in the league since 2010, so they're clearly doing something right. And it's really not that surprising that the Cards of all teams are the ones to make a late surge to make the playoffs and not the Reds or Padres, for example. There's definitely something to be said for culture and being a well run organization, even if it can't be quantified.

Many of his projects have shown success this year, and ultimately you want your team to be built through your farm system. He was terrible in free agency but it's clear that an Arte-owned team will by default be terrible in free agency. And then you throw Maddon into the mix on top of that.

I do like our uniforms

The Padres are in complete disarray and probably can be coerced to do something rash. Trade him for Gore/Abrams/Hassell/Campusano and maybe even Paddack on top of that.

A lot is being made over nothing. Ohtani, like Trout, will very likely re-sign. That said, we'll remain an incompetent and losing organization.

For all the complaining we did about Scioscia and his frequent lineup changes, Mayfield, Gosselin, and Iglesias have all recorded AB's in every spot in the batting order this season. Lagares has recorded meaningful AB's from 4th to 9th. Stassi from 3rd to 9th. Yeah I'm pretty sure Maddon has been picking lineups and defensive alignments out of a hat to combat his apathy this year.