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Preds, Titans, but no basketball, baseball (beyond the sounds) or soccer…what am I missing?

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Gotcha, shows how closely I keep up with MLS. I do think a viable Triple A city that's growing makes a nice testing ground for MLB. So to that end, Nashville and Portland strike me as some of the more viable threats if relocation really happens (and I guess Vegas which...whatever). Louisville definitely seems decidedly minor league. Are the Nashville stadiums all being built on the outskirts of town? I was there for a friend's wedding some years back and walked right past the Vanderbilt Baseball stadium, which was cool. Here in Denver most of our stuff is downtown but the stupid MLS stadium ("Dick's Sporting Goods Park" aka "The Dick") is actually in Commerce City, home to the Suncor Refinery and not much else! It's only a drive (unless you charter a bus), and it sucks honestly. Stadium itself is fine but I hate stadiums that you can only drive to. Anyhoo just curious, I know Nashville is kind of hitting that "this city is growing but people still only know how to drive everywhere" critical mass, wonder if momentum is building for downtown-ish stadiums (or if I'm just off-base since I"ve only been there the once).

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As a fan of a team whose star pitcher once broke his own nose bunting IN BATTING PRACTICE I feel you. I'm also now in favor of the DH so Ryan Zimmerman can be in the lineup even if Davey Martinez insists on putting the Artist Formerly Known as Josh Bell at 1B.

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The Astros being the first team to provide furnished apartments to minor leaguers really surprises me. Not that it's the Astros, but that no team has apparently done this prior. I would have thought more teams would do this, or more likely provide something similar (even if it was more like a dormitory) along with a team provided food service to their players. Seems to me that one of the biggest ways they could set their minor-leaguers up for success is to make it so that the only thing they have to worry about is, you know, playing baseball. And yes, I know the reason they haven't done this -- money.

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From "Reports: Minor Leaguers to Enjoy Cake" on June 1, 2020 -- shortly after teams released hundreds of minor-leaguers en masse in late May:

Booster clubs are formed to raise money to help house and feed players. While some of us groan at a rehab assignment, the players (save for the guy who has to sit) are often happy because they’re going to have something different and better to eat that night.

In her article for The Athletic, Brittany Ghiroli references how GM Mike Rizzo “remember[ed] making $850 a month in a small California town in 1984” (Roehnert Park, Calif.) in late March before noting that half the teams are going month-to-month like Washington, with the extremes of Kansas City (no layoffs or pay cuts ) and Oakland (minor-leaguers have been cut off without free agency).

I always find it interesting when folks like Rizzo try to make themselves sound empathetic, woefully or willfully ignorant of how much worse things are today. Depending on which inflation calculator you use, That $850 in 1984 is worth anywhere from $2,097 to $2,184 in 2020.

Redwood in 1984, where Mike Rizzo played his final season, was Single-A. In 2019, the average monthly paycheck in Single-A ranged from $1,100 to $1,500.

# # #

In other words, that "raise" that the minor-leaguers got is STILL less than what minor-leaguers were being paid in the 1980s.

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It was (is?) common that at the lower levels of A and short season Rookie Ball, the club arranges to house players with host families in much the same way that high school kids travel abroad and have host families. The family gets tickets to the games in exchange for room and board and a slight chance of becoming quasi family to a future superstar.

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Yes, very common...but completely absurd for a billion dollar industry like MLB to do this.

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I am surprised that it’s the Astros, given that minor league contraction was Luhnow’s brainchild and they saw fit to fire all their scouts. It’s cool though, glad they’re doing this. Most years minor leaguers can get set up with host families so they don’t necessarily have to pay rent, but due to COVID that is not an option this year. So good on the Astros, hope it starts a trend!

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If I were the Astros these days (let's hear it for multiple personality disorder!) I would do anything to make myself look good. Anything. The brand is in desperate need of a cleansing debridal and some serious plastic surgery. This strikes me as a stroke of spin doc genius.

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I may be wrong here, but I've always thought there was a hidden, liability reason for teams not to pursue this. Namely, they don't want to be responsible for anything which could happen to players or their guests on a team owned/leased property.

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"Astros seek to avoid liability after fire destroys ..."

[Which might remind one of the Roger Kahn story in "Boys of Summer." During a scarily turbulent Dodgers' flight during a storm, writers began writing heds & ledes to how their NY papers would run the tragic story if the plane went down. I'm not quoting, but it went something like:

72 pt hed: "DODGERS TEAM KILLED IN TRAGIC FATAL CRASH"

60 pt sub hed: "No Survivors Reported"

48 pt: "Jackie, Campy, Pee Wee, Gil, Duke, all lost"

15th paragraph in the sidebar: "Several New York sportswriters were also reportedly aboard the flight."]

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And you will never convince me that passage wasn't the inspiration for the Cleveland Indians DC-3 flight vignette in "Major League."

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The reason is 1000% money. All teams already pay for the player housing for half the season (when they are staying in hotels on the road). Setting up a bunch of condos for players to use while at home is an easy solution that can’t be too expensive, that of course also makes sense from a player development standpoint.

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I saw the Soroka news yesterday: “exploratory Achilles surgery”? Yeesh. Good luck, kid.

In other news, I eagerly await the return of a professional baseball team to our Nation’s Capital. Double yeesh.

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The guidance and messaging for the J&J vaccine vs. Pfizer and Moderna has been somewhat in conflict. When the J&J vaccine was approved they went out their way to say it wasn't an inferior vaccine, don't hold out for one of the other two, the best vaccine is the one you can get first.

Meanwhile, they've been consistently telling people you need to get both shots of the Pfizer and Moderna, don't just get one. But the J&J one shot efficacy is 60-70% while the other two, 14 days after the first shot, are at 80%. And it's possible it gets even higher for Pfizer and Moderna after 14 days since they stopped monitoring it after that.

The "get both doses" advice isn't wrong. You're more protected with both doses. But then why is the J&J OK at 70%. It's a (nearly) perfect being the enemy of the good situation. If J&J was all we had, we'd be lucky to have it. And when there aren't enough doses to go around, the good is still a big plus. But now we have enough, so why are we still using one dose J&J? If the answer is "Because some people want only 1 dose", then why not give them one dose of Pfizer/Moderna which is more effective than one dose of J&J?

I think eventually it will be shown than two doses of J&J are in the neighborhood of being as effective as two doses of Pfizer/Moderna. It's only problem is "there ain't no free lunch", and a one dose vaccine isn't going to be as effective as a two dose vaccine.

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Also, my impression was that the reason J&J went with a single dose in the first place was to avoid complications from an immune response to the adenovirus delivery vector.

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A diversity of approaches with different potential pros and cons was always the best move.

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I'm not a fan of the paternalistic scientific messaging because it just creates more fodder for denialists to spread their distrust campaign. I think that the higher ups didn't want people waiting for a vaccine because that would just make the rate of COVID spread worse initially, so they tried to downplay the vaccine differences. Hesitancy is the larger problem though, and they should have been thinking more about the long game, especially after the initial mask messaging fiasco.

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J&J was also tested at a time when the variants were circulating so the 70% isn’t quite apples to apples. I got it myself and I’m happy I did. I wish they hadn’t done the pause, most of the world will get a choice between AZ, J&J, and I guess maybe Sinovac. J&J sure seems like the best of the three and I hate that we undercut it “out of an abundance of caution.”

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Yeah I mean honestly....I think they are all very good vaccines. The ability to start my "immunity clock" in 2 weeks instead of 4-6 was pretty attractive for me, especially given I'm lower risk in other ways, and that's what was on offer at the local Walgreen's. Viva the vaccines! I have also been getting into er....debates on NextDoor with some people who seem to have a specific qualms with the mRNA ones so I'm glad there is one that isn't dependent on the mRNA platform (not least of all because it stores way easier for transport and logistics around the world).

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Ah, but what they never mention is that the Pfizer and Moderna were 95% effective against symptomatic Covid, while the J&J was 70% effective against moderate and severe Covid, a lower bar. I think they are saying Pfizer and Moderna are about 90% effective with the current US variants. I'm not sure if that's vs. symptomatic or moderate and severe though.

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It looks like it's moderate to severe vs....well hospitalization or death. For me, no regrets at the moment. I got the side effects which kind of seem to indicate the immune system going "whoa what is THIS spike protein dealie" and kicking into gear. And I'm 41, in good health, no underlying conditions. I'll certainly look to get a booster when that becomes a thing, but for now I'm just enjoying being in the mix again, gonna go to baseball games and movies when I can make that work with my 2-young-kids schedule.

The J&J one-dose vaccine was shown to be 66% protective against moderate to severe Covid infections overall from 28 days after injection, though there was variability based on geographic locations. The vaccine was 72% protective in the United States, 66% protective in South America, and 57% protective in South Africa.

But the vaccine was shown to be 85% protective against severe disease, with no differences across the eight countries or three regions in the study, nor across age groups among trial participants. And there were no hospitalizations or deaths in the vaccine arm of the trial after the 28-day period in which immunity developed.

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(those last 2 paragraphs are quoted from statnews)

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I haven't seen results, but there was a J&J "2-dose" clinical trial, so it appears they'll learn whether a 2nd J&J dose ends up being in the 90%'s, like Pfizer/Moderna.

https://www.clinicaltrialsarena.com/comment/jjs-double-dose-covid-19-vaccine-draws-differing-expert-reviews/

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May 13, 2021Liked by Craig Calcaterra

Just to reiterate because it's important, 6/7 of the COVID positives in the Yankees camp are not what we would normally consider vaccine breakthroughs because they are asymptomatic. In a normal setting, breakthrough infections are detected when someone is symptomatic for the disease and tests positive. It's highly likely IMO that vaccinated persons exposed to a normally infectious dose of *any* infectious agent would test positive via a sensitive enough test (like qPCR). That does not mean that will be infectious themselves, because they likely have much less circulating pathogen (hence their being asymptomatic), and infectious dose matters.

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One problem with the Ohio Vax Lottery will be when 4 or 5 of the winners invariably turn out to be “Liberals”, and the nut jobs accuse DeWine of fixing the drawing.

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The absolute best part of Vax-A-Millions is that everyone who is registered to vote is automatically entered. With only ~45% of Adults vaccinated in Ohio we'll almost certainly see multiple people "win" the lottery but not be able to collect because they aren't vaccinated.

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I've only read above the first subscribe button part where you do the "tell em Wash" bit...Based on how that went in the movie isn't the person supposed to disagree with you? Are you saying it hasn't been a hell of a good week?

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author

Or is that just what I WANT you to think?!

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It's incredibly hard.

Hey, anything worth doing is.

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From Columbus Ohio the mighty Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments “RnR Hall of Fame”: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_luXPc_ZIU8w4p55wy-gnU2L9ucQYCtAaQ

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Blow it up!

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Assuming I did the math right, the Oakland relocation odds, when converted to percentage chance (44.4% chance of moving to Las Vegas for instance), adds up to just over 150% chance. Which means the house edge (is that the "rake"?) is 50%. That strikes me as very high. Is that normal?

(I'm assuming the bettor gets their money back in the event the A's don't move. If that's incorrect, the house edge is even larger.)

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You're assuming I am knowledgeable enough about gambling to have interpreted it correctly myself.

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I added up the odds on the "A's Moving" prop and I also got 150%, same as you.

So if you did the math wrong, at least you've got company. :-)

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Just for reference, I went back and looked up the division winner odds for both the NL East & NL Central:

The NL East odds add up to 115% and the NL Central odds add up to 114%, so I think you're right that this 150% number seems a lot higher than usual.

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Definitely higher than usual. Whoever bets on this is a sucker.

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A thousand points for the subtle Slaughterhouse-Five reference since I was thinking the same think (even though I have mixed feelings about that book).

The Yankees used the Johnson and Johnson vaccine to honor such past members of the team as Randy Johnson and Cliff Johnson. To the best of my knowledge, there has never been any player by the name of Moderna.or Pfizer.

Has anyone ever turned down admission into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame because of its very nature? I don't think it's happened.

Seven in a row for the Mets, and for once they scored some runs.

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"We're not your monkeys" --words to live by

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Between that and their "filthy lucre live" reunion tour, I gotta give it up for them. Points for honesty and clever standoffishness.

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Vaccine/Team synergy? Sounds like the Bulls better be on the phone to Marcus (P)Fizer's agent posthaste!

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How can you have mixed feelings about "Slaughterhouse Five"? What are you, some Tralfamadorian troll?

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Classic Granfalloon over here (I know, I know, different book).

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Same book. All of Vonnegut is one text which according to Plato was separated by the jealous gods aforetime and in those days into individual volumes. He who can combine them again into one continuous narrative will slam the N3ecronomicon shut on their fingers. One edition to rule them all!

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We got a bit of the 'but he can hit' during the Jays game last night because apparently he hit a HR one for the Dodgers and looks good in batting practice. 0-2 with two strikeouts last night, .177 lifetime batting average. Make it stop.

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There are so many questions about the Vega$ show. Are they swingers, do they live in an underground bomb shelter home, do they suffer from car exhaust inhalation, what are they spending so much money on for breakfast? What the hell did I just watch?

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Thankfully, whatever happened on Vega$, stayed on Vega$

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Spenser was a better show by far. Bring back Hawk!!

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Craig has taken the wrong message from Teoscar Hernandez returning from COVID to be the best player on the Blue Jays. The true lesson:

More people should be named Teoscar.

This is the rock upon which I shall build my church.

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Teoscar is, of course, a good name. But the ChiSox started three different people whose first name starts with Y. Was there a game in 2020 when they played Yoan, Yasmani, Yolmer, AND Yermin?

And Y - sorry why - do I care?

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See this is the kind of thing the disbelievers will say to test your faith. Do not let him deter you from the path of righteousness. Name your children Teoscar so that they might prosper. You know I am right because it almost rhymes.

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My daughter is a professional horse person. She tells me horse accupuncture is more for the horse's owner than the horse. But I guess it's doing the most for the accupuncturist.

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We had an old dog who also got acupuncture ... and while I was skeptical I went along with it for the reason you suggest (i.e. it made MrsCj feel better).

Given what it cost, you're 100% right about the acupuncturist.

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She’s a centaur?

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Both acupuncture and chiropractic are fake medical treatments that have significant risks and rely on placebo effect to seem effective. I am routinely at odds with my wife as she believes in cupping which is kinda horrific to see and also is based on a ridiculous theory and has no evidence of efficacy. On the other hand I'm not aware of any real danger from that one compared to the other two.

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My grandparents, born and raised in County Kerry, would have appreciated the Michael Finnegan reference!

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