Lazorko Saves

7-1-2017 to 6-30-2020

Yep. It only looks foolish because in this case they got -100% return (or thereabouts, they did recover some small amount of capital) because they gave the money to Bernie Madoff. We're not a big hedge fund (nor a Ponzi scheme) but we've been able to do 20% annualized the last three years for our clients in our S&P 500 value strategy. It's not that hard to beat 8% over the long term if the capital amount is relatively small. (It gets hard to beat the overall market when the dollar amount gets into the 100m+, or billions. Just look at all the hedge funds that become victims of their own success once they get above 9 figures in AUM.) Plus the 10 year deferral actually reduces down that 8% rate significantly as well. The initial 10 years of no payments means a 0% rate for those years. If Wilpon hadn't invested the money with Madoff, the stories would all be about how Wilpon got the better end of the deal.

I think we're meant to park at Chavez Ravine and take a 3 hour mass transit ride in to the Big A.

Agree with Chuck, I'd hate to see everyone freak out about this. Most of the PCR tests apparently have a very long tail off where you can test positive many weeks (possibly months?) after you've essentially recovered from the virus. Even if you had it many weeks ago, the PCR tests still detect unviable virus RNA for quite a time afterwards. We're now into the mode of testing lots of asymptomatic people (work place requirements, etc), so we are going to get a lot of positive tests that really are on the tail end of a prior infection. And that's assuming they used PCR (nose/throat swab) tests here. If they are blood antibody tests, then it's even more likely these positives are just revealing prior infections.

See, I actually like that. The Steve Stone/Tim McCarver attitude of "the viewers are idiots and I must tell them absolutely everything they can see with their own eyes" is so grating. Baseball can be a relaxing game. I like the Victor and Gubie let that come through. I don't need that full count pitch in the 5rd inning of a Tuesday night 6-run game against the Orioles to be treated like the entire season is on the line right now.

For me among active broadcasters: 1. Ron Darling + anyone 2. Kuiper + Krukow 3. Victor + Gubie I know some liked Phys + Rex better when they were here, but I prefer Victor and Gubie. I still miss Rory Markas on the radio side.

Well, maybe. I didn't see him live this year. Saw him live only once last season. Maybe he's really improved it this year. Would be interested to hear about your viewings of him this season.

Don't like the pick at all. That slurvy balloon curveball can fool a lot of college hitters, but major league hitters...

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CLE/CLE199606090.shtml Bottom of the 9th, Indians Batting, Behind 5-6, Angels' Troy Percival facing 9-1-2 Troy Percival replaces Jack Howell (3B) pitching and batting 5th Rex Hudler moves from DH to 2B (team loses DH) Randy Velarde moves from 2B to 3B b9 5-6 0 --- 3,(0-2) O CLE Omar Vizquel Troy Percival 10% 87% Groundout: SS-1B b9 5-6 1 --- 3,(0-2) CLE Kenny Lofton Troy Percival -10% 76% Single to LF (Line Drive to Deep SS) b9 5-6 1 1-- 3,(1-1) CLE Julio Franco Troy Percival -24% 52% Single to RF (Ground Ball); Lofton to 3B b9 5-6 1 1-3 3,(1-1) RO CLE Carlos Baerga Troy Percival -9% 43% Flyball: RF/Sacrifice Fly (Deep RF); Lofton Scores b9 6-6 2 1-- 4,(2-1) O CLE Albert Belle Troy Percival 7% 50% Flyball: RF 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB. Angels 6, Indians 6. Top of the 10th, Angels Batting, Tied 6-6, Indians' Eric Plunk facing 3-4-5 t10 6-6 0 --- 4,(2-1) O CAL Don Slaught Eric Plunk -7% 43% Groundout: SS-1B t10 6-6 1 --- 6,(3-2) CAL Tim Salmon Eric Plunk 6% 50% Single to LF (Ground Ball thru SS-3B Hole) t10 6-6 1 1-- 3,(0-2) O CAL Troy Percival Eric Plunk -8% 42% Strikeout Looking

That extremely low $20k undrafted FA bonus limit seems designed to keep the teams with bottomless pits of money (NYY, LAD, etc) from scooping up a bunch of decent talent (yes, there's still decent players after round 5) that would otherwise get distributed fairly evenly among all the teams. And don't forget the NCAA is rolling over every baseball player's eligibility to next year. 2020 freshmen will be freshmen again in 2021, etc. The first pick of the 6th round would have been a $321,100 slot bonus. Slot bonuses all the way out to the end of the 10th round were to be $142,500 and above. So for those college juniors who think they would have been a 6th-10th rounders, I can't imagine there will be too many takers of that flat $20k bonus. I gotta think most of them will go back to their college for 2021 and get a full junior year and hope to get the $140k-$320k they would get in a normal draft next year. Likely the same thinking will apply to high schoolers who would have been in that same range. Some will just take their NCAA scholarship and play the next three/four years there. Others can go the junior college route and be eligible for the 2021 draft.

Nonsense. You implied that a dirt-poor kid in DR shouldn't even accept a few hundred bucks worth of team gear, let alone thousands of dollars worth of free training via the academy system. You were clearly unaware that it's MLB sanctioned, and done by all 30 teams as a compromise between your beloved purity of free agency and the economic reality of youth baseball in the DR. I tried to politely inform you, and your response was to tell me I was too stupid to understand sarcasm. You fired the first shot. I stopped being polite after that.

Do you even know how the academy system works in the DR? Do you even know how incredibly poor most of these kids in the DR are, and would otherwise have absolutely no access to organized baseball without the academies? Do you even know MLB is working on implementing an international draft in the next year or so that will change the signing process completely? I got news for you, the MLB money flowing in to support youth baseball in the DR will continue after the draft is implemented. And that's unambiguously good, not some shady underhandedness. Places like the DR need financial help for amateur baseball and it's great that MLB provides a lot of that. Go ahead and worship at that highest bidder altar, there are more important practical needs than telling every 13 year old player in Latin countries they have to stay on those dirt lots until you're 16, because Scott Boras isn't interested in you until then.

You forgot to add the "Yeah, that's the ticket" at the end. We both know you were implying something was shady. Nice try, Lovitz.

Reality: Baseball is hard. Prospects bust all the time. For all 30 teams. More will fail than succeed. But we must try. AW Forum: No, stop signing prospects completely. Never try to develop another prospect. Forever. Just fold up the franchise. Go home. Life sucks and then you die.

He's only eligible to sign for the first time in the upcoming July 2 signing period. It's based on age. He's already been committed to the Angels for some time already, as is standard practice for a lot of players in non-draft-eligible Latin countries. He's almost certainly been training with the Angels Dominican Academy already for a long time. You will notice almost all the high end players signing in the upcoming period from Latin America are already attached to MLB teams via their academies. You'll see photos with them in affiliate gear long before they sign. Players make commitments as early as age 13 or 14, but aren't eligible to sign until 16. Since there's no school based organized baseball in a place like the DR, a 13/14 year old can benefit by taking the free training at an MLB team academy. There might be underhand stuff going on in the DR, but getting team gear isn't. That's quite common.

BA has him 12th on their International list this year. Denzer Guzman Dominican Republic SS Notes: Born: Feb. 8, 2004. B-T: R-R. Ht.: 6-2. Wt.: 178. Report: Last year the Angels' top international signing was Arol Vera, a physical, switch-hitting shortstop from Venezuela. Their top target in 2020 is Guzman, another physical, offensive-oriented shortstop with a bonus expected to be around $2 million. Guzman makes a lot of contact against live pitching with a loose, easy swing, with the bat speed and physical projection to grow into considerable power as well. His strong arm should play on the left side of the infield, though his defense might fit better at third base.

Chris Cron (yes, CJ and Kevin's dad). Guy absolutely raked in AA and AAA. Never really was given a shot in the majors (27 PA total). Kyle Abbott. Yes, the Angels took lefthanders named Abbott in the first round in consecutive years (Jim in 1988, Kyle in 1989). Was looking forward to an Abbott & Abbott 1-2 punch in the rotation. And then there's the entire 1986 first round for the Angels. Five of the top 28 picks, but all after 16. Unfortunately, it was a draft that only had about 12 good first round talents. Roberto Hernandez (16th overall) had a good career. Just not for the Angels. Same with Lee Stevens (22nd overall) and Mike Fetters (27th). Terry Carr (25th) and Daryl Green (28th) were busts. Best thing about that was seeing all 5 land on the Salem's roster in the Northwest League in the summer of 1986, which was my local team. It didn't translate to wins, but it was fun watching all that talent.

We can see overall numbers in Europe via their excess mortality monitoring system: http://euromomo.eu/ Even in the breakdown by country, we see Italy is seeing excess mortality merely on par with the 2016-17 flu season. Spain is still below the peak of both 16-17 and 17-18 flu seasons. Most other European countries are well down compare to prior flu season peaks. Even among 65+ age group all of Europe has lower excess mortality than all three immediate prior flu seasons. Don't get angry at me, it's just numbers.

Ya'll missed that 2015 empty stadium Orioles game? It was weird, but also good. The one great thing about it, is you get to hear pretty much everything said or yelled on the field or from the top of the dugout. You'll hear everything like you're sitting behind the backstop at a high school game.

Ya'll just not putting enough salt on the INO fries. Seriously, just put more than you think you want. Then they'll taste like you think fries should taste.

I misread the title and thought it meant 2020 "Season In Review". Which could be written now, anyway. Very short article, of course.

OK, I'll play along... Yankees already getting no value out of that Gerrit Cole contract right now. Maybe they'll start shopping him around. Maybe they'd be willing to eat some money on that deal, since Cole has given them somewhere around 0.0 WAR so far.

This is going to result in a really odd MLB Draft this year. Scouting staffs having to make their rankings based on very limited viewings. Increased risk of draft-eligible college juniors not signing to return to college for a full (repeated) junior year. The "cheap sign" college seniors will be non-existent this year. On the other hand, it could be marginally easier to sign away some high school players from a college commit. HS grads going in next spring as freshmen trying to make a roster will be up against a 5 year age group of players for likely the same number of roster spots. Also sets up the 2021 Draft to be one of the deepest drafts ever.

Imagine how far Trout would have hit that golf ball if he used his leg not-a-leg kick.

Ugh, I see he's still got that mild case of the Chuck Knoblauch yips on that throw across to Albert in the 1st.