Catwhoshatinthehat

I know it happens to a lot of teams but I'd be real curious to see what each team pays every year to players they end up moving for cash considerations.

Based on WAR which includes defense that may be true but offensively he's come nowhere near the potential many expected he would after his first season. Not counting this season (struggling big time so far) or his first season his OPS+ is at an average of 108. For comparison purposes Kole's OPS+ the previous 2 seasons was at an average of 125. Heyward's HR totals have declined each of the last 2 seasons, as has his SLG and he's a career .261 hitter. I like the guy and he's young so if you're going to throw a ridiculous long term contract offer better to go after him than a 32 year old but I don't like him at 20M a year, especially for the Angels. Edit - I was curious so I looked it up and according to ESPN last year Heyward ranked 76 out of 124 players (#125 beginning pitchers) in MLB for offensive WAR. Some of the guys above him - Leonyis Martin, AJ Pollock, Pablo Sandoval, Chris Iannetta, Dee Gordon and Trevor Plouffe just to name a few. Heyward ranked 5th in defensive WAR so using WAR as a metric half of his value in 2014 came from his defense.

How does the saying go - you love your family but you don't have to like them. My extended family consists of 2 uncles, one of which is married with 2 kids (nothing in common with any of them), a cousin to my mom/uncles and all of them live out of state. Everyone else that used to be a part of this group has passed away or now lives out of the country and won't be coming back any time soon. We have family back east and in Washington and I couldn't pick any of them out of a line up nor have I ever talked to any of them. As others said family is more about the people you choose to be closest with and for me that's my friends who are there for me if I need them and vice versa.

That's my guess. I had a friend who used to ditch a lot. The school kept getting on his mom and she did what she could but like most single parents she had to go to work (started early) and couldn't make sure her teenage son went to school. The school/city/state threatened legal action against her and she ended up taking PTO and going to school with him for a week. It worked in the end as she embarrassed the **** out of him but in the case of parents who are doing what they can on a day to day basis it was a bit ridiculous they threatened legal action. Had her son not gotten it together she had no further options since she had to work to put food on the table and couldn't babysit him all day.

To be fair if a person lets someone follow them on Twitter, is FB friends and so on they kind of bring it on themselves by putting it out there. In this case his wife was about to (or did) go on a TV show that's all about rich head cases who live in a different world than the rest of us who put on a show for the camera. Not saying that warrants people following everything others do but it goes both ways.

The trailer shows next to nothing so I don't see how taste or opinion has anything to do with it when nothing has been revealed. This trailer seems to be on par with them showing the batman and superman logos at comic con while marvel actually had some content. I think it has more to do with the fact that you think Avengers is overrated and you're possibly more of a DC fan. Stan Lee mentioned that DC is playing catch up and I think that's spot on. Agents of Shield is playing into the movies while the DC shows that I like have nothing to do with the movies and matter of fact there's a flash movie coming out in a few years with a different younger kid in the lead. DC seems to be all over the place but at least it means more movies for fans.

Not sure how it would look better than Avengers 2, Star Wars or just about any other movie coming out since it's the definition of a teaser trailer. I have no idea why they're fighting as there hasn't been any set up between the two in any prior movies. I'm sure the answer is in a comic but this continues to feel like DC's overdue response to all of the marvel related movies over the years. I'm sure it will make plenty of money and I will see it but not nearly as interested in it as I am in Avengers 2 or the new Star Wars.

Yeah except currently we don't have a draft where people are forced into military service where they end up in some godforsaken place trying to kill and not be killed by someone they've never met and likely don't have a problem with. I've got nothing but the utmost respect for our service men and women but they choose to enlist and know that with that comes doing whatever they're told. That's a far cry from implementing a draft.

That's one of those things that may sound good in theory but would be terrible in practice. Like most everything in this country that would impact the middle class and below the most, kind of like Vietnam. Meanwhile those with money and means would be more likely to find a way to keep their kids from going to war or even if they end up in the service working in a secure building somewhere miles from any threat.

To be fair to Reagan I'm guessing the visit and his comment were during the Soviet war in Afghanistan during which the U.S. supported the recently formed Taliban. I wouldn't be surprised if 20-30 years from now the US is involved in some conflict with a group we armed and trained in the last 5-10 years.

To play devils advocate - the situation drags out publicly while costing who knows what in legal fees. The money isn't an issue ("it's not my money") but the bigger concern would be the constant news about the Angels owner fighting with a current player. CJ already made comments about how it was unfortunate the organization said what they did a few weeks ago. The fans don't have to like what Josh did, he'll they don't even have to forgive him or want him back but it may bother some of the current players to see the FO not having his back or rather against him in the news.Edit - after posting I came across this http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/25145457/cj-wilson-calls-out-angels-management-over-treatment-of-josh-hamilton

Are you saying it was a good thing because of his honesty or because of how the league would view it? He relapsed, had to take a drug test and knew he would fail. He didn't just come and admit he relapsed because of guilt. It was a PR move as much as anything.

Great player who has multiple rings, always seemed like a class act and he had nothing left to prove. Would have been weird to see him wear another uniform and he's undoubtedly headed to the HOF. He's had multiple concussions in his career and it's best to walk away now while there hopefully isn't too much long term damage.

The regular season includes 162 games and is 6 months long. There will be plenty of poopstorms on this forum over the next 6 months or more if they make the playoffs.

If Hamilton had produced last year most fans would love the ruling and would be hoping he can stay clean and on the field. Since he struggled he's a bad teammate for giving in to addiction and should feel bad because he's owed millions. If you want to blame Hamilton for slipping up fee free but also blame the arbitrator for the decision, MLB/MLBPA for guaranteed contracts and the Angels for handing out the contract. I'm just going to hope he can stay clean and hopefully get back onto the field and produce because unless the Angels want to swallow the 83M they owe him he isn't going anywhere unless he decides to step away from the game to fix his life. Regardless addiction is nasty and not something he beats one day because it will last the rest of his life.

As opposed to overpopulation which stifles nature by putting too much strain on the planet, wiping out species because of hunting/expanding/cutting down forests and fighting for limited resources? Not saying we're there yet or will be in any of our lifetimes and I'm all about putting people first but we've only got one planet.

I don't doubt any of that but it also produces something that we literally can't live without and need now as much as ever. They've been talking about converting the plant on PCH for I don't know how long, I believe citizens voted on and approved it years ago and have been paying towards it on water bills and/or city taxes. Sounds like the recent executive order made by Brown also included streamlining the permit process for desalination plants: http://hbfreshwater.com/news/governor-browns-executive-order-to-streamline-regulatory-process-for-desalination-plants Prior to the executive order supposedly the move to convert the plant on PCH was in the last parts of the permit process. Edit - I realize it's kind of ironic because as you mentioned there's massive energy needed and it seems like if it isn't a water shortage we're dealing with rolling blackouts and getting hammered buying energy from out of state (see Enron). That said we've got an entire coastline with access to salt water that can help to alleviate some of our water needs so we should at least take the initiative and do something about it.

I really wish HB would have moved forward years ago with a desalination plant but instead it's something they continue to talk or rather argue about while the drought gets worse. They're finishing up or may even be done with ones they built in or near San Diego that will help provide water to some of the homes in that area.

No idea what the appropriate response would be but I'd guess the initial response would look something like this

<Insert Government entity/party/group/agency>: Corrupt

This is one of those times where I read a thread and it trips me out because I just noticed the same thing. I try to run on Sundays and depending how far I plan to run I'll either run along the tracks of homes nearby or go run at the beach. Yesterday I opted for option A and while I was running I noticed 2 dog poop bags on the ground that were full and tied off. If I see someone actually leave one while on one of these runs I'll go full yk, see where they live and deposit the bag back on their lawn.

I think when we finally do reach the point where enough people say "enough is enough" our elected officials would declare marshal law or squash any uprising. Before that happens though I'm sure the most vocal individuals would disappear or end up in jail.

My grandparents knew the Haley family and Captain Jacks was one of their favorite places to go where they would catch up with his dad and brother. 51 is way too young. My condolences to his family.