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You are strongly implying that I would prefer Mark Canha on the team to Ohtani or Nola. I don't know where you are getting that idea, because that would inexplicable for me to prefer. I simply believe that a trade or free agent signing is not necessarily a failure simply because it's not for Ohtani or Nola.

I think we have a decent idea why Jews overindex for elite achievement—I am more interested in finding any cultural reasons that can explain why Christians underindex for it, or else do not achieve elite status at even nearly the same rate. All I have are hypotheses about it.

Jews have historically been greatly over-represented in western nations among intellectual elites, in the universities, and among the higher socio-economic classes, vs Christians even today, and I’ve long tried to figure out why that is. We know it’s not genetic, but then what is it? There could be some nepo at issue here, or otherwise preferential treatment among “birds of a feather” already in certain professions, trades, etc., But I have also wondered whether there are some aspects about religions of fervency, such as Christianity or perhaps Islam, that hinder such communities from stressing elite achievement, leading children and young adults to not get the proper education and support they would need to enter those circles. I do know from exposure to it that certain types of Christian doctrines value a culture of modesty, submission to strong central authority, and acceptance of one’s so-called fate (i.e., knowing one’s place); and that for the most part, Jews and Asians almost certainly don’t experience this kind of cultural restriction within their communities during their young lives. Yes, we all know doctors, lawyers, millionaires, etc., who are Christians, but I mean on balance. The presence of one Christian elitist doesn’t disprove the hypothesis per se. Anyone who might be offended by this entire idea can check out a meta-analysis of it, here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886907003674. While they attempt to explain why Jews have such a high degree of this success (they lean into “high intelligence” and “cultural values” as potential reasons), they don’t appear to have any kind of political bias that would support dismissing everything they present. Regrettably, for the purposes of this post, they don’t try to explain why Christians do not have the same rate of success at these so-called elite levels, and I’d like to find anything on this. No one has to believe or accept any of what is being reported in this article, although I’m not going to debate the basic premise of it. I’m just trying to figure out what might explain what has led to this state of affairs and why.

Don’t no one start popping the champagne for this news just yet … 😉😁

Right,not technically, but no one expects him to exercise his own option, especially since he is coming out of it healthy.

I don’t know that it’s even meant as a compliment, ignorant or not. Usually when someone gets called out for making some odious conclusion about an entire class of people like “Jews are good with money” or “black people have natural rhythm”, they’ll protest that it’s meant as a “compliment”. Yeah, right. The idea that Jews have some built-in racial or genetic trait that nobody else has that naturally makes them good with money is too icky to seriously contemplate. I do think it’s fair to hypothesize that there might be a cultural or educational tendency that gets passed down and taught through generations of families, but when people with certain beliefs refer to Jews being “good with money”, that’s almost certainly not how they mean it.

They also had the second best run differential/pythag record in the league (96-66).

It’s a real question. If there’s someone else better we should get instead, then who is that? If there’s no one else, then should we have stayed with what we have on the team/in the system instead and keep Holub plugging away at A+ or AA? Or will Canha do for a year, instead? This was the set of options in front of us when it comes to getting a RHH in the outfield.

I just look at Wacha’s Ref card and he has what is probably the most complicated set of options I have ever seen. There was a $16MM team option and a $6.5MM player option for 2024, and since the team declined their option, Wacha can still exercise his option. If the team exercised their 2024 option, there would be another $16MM team option and $6MM player option for 2025, but since the team option was declined for 2024, if Wacha exercises his 2024 player option, he has the player option for 2025. But if the team then exercised its 2025 option after Wacha exercises his 2024 player option, then Wacha would lose his 2026 player option for $6 million. But if Wacha exercises his player options for both 2024 and 2025, then he would have a 2026 player option for $6 million at his disposal. Got all that?

Who would you rather have seen us get instead?

The Padres have a lot of non-utility star players and they are a one-county market, so they could probably use some more fans. 😉

FWIW, Brewers fans hate hate hate the deal.

I like Canha on the Tigers for a year. RHH outfielder to balance the LHH glut in the OF. Controls the plate, especially avoiding strikeouts. Very good contact skills, doesn't chase. Maybe a little too patient, though—takes a lot of called strikes. Has been very clutch this year. Good on-base although not much pop. Doesn't hit the ball hard and he hits a lot of flies, which tends to hurt him. It would be nice if he could hit more line drives. So-so range and a bit of a noodle for an arm, but he'll catch the ball if it finds him.

Eduardo was also the only other guy on the team from Venezuela.

This is quite touching.

The truth is resilient.

Also her red velvet cake.

Remember this? This is how people get all misty-eyed about the bravery of their soldiers and the valor of war in that part of the world, pesecially since the battles happen right there. Yes, this is Got Talent in Ukraine, not Russia, but they both feel the same way about the massive sacrifices: it is to be honored throughout history, and even something to strive for as a legacy.

Do we even have that kind of time? The two historical things working against it that I can think of are that the war is still super popular because Russia has a history of superpatriotism, and also of giving up tens of millions of their boys and men for the Motherland. They all know what they’re getting into when these kinds of things start.

I would think anything above maybe 4% would be callable so yeah, get it while it’s hot.

Aunt Tara is a dirty commie libtard? Who knew?

I'm just wondering whether these superannuated NTs are going to even see this spot online while they're parked in front of their local CBS affiliate watching crime procedurals.

Subtracting the Never Trumpers and the committed red hats, I'm honestly not sure who that leaves in numbers great enough to swing elections. But, to your point, there may be a unique driver of votes in that particular district for which this might be effective,

That seems to me like a rather fine needle to thread, given were probably still talking about conservative people primarily over 50, but they must know what they’re doing.

Well then what are we even doing here?