Ceetar

Edgy DC wrote: It happens sometimes. Happened with Tejada, for instance. Nobody gets buried on the bench anymore. There's plenty of PT for everybody. They could call him up to replace some backup to Torres, but give him a chance to steal Torres' job. Trying to give prospects a chance to play every day is a useful value, but it's not so pre-eminent as all that. Oh, I agree, but the prevailing reason given for him not making the team is wanting him to get some more AB in the minors. I guess the hitting lefty thing is a big factor, if the Baxter type isn't getting it done, but I don't think it happens if Torres is doing very well.

Edgy DC wrote: Torres may not but his backup might. You really think the Mets are gonna promote Nieuwenhuis to play part time?

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: DiComo's article on Niuewy the other day made it seem as though he had no shot of going north barring some kind of disaster. Makes enough sense to see if he can start hitting like he did again in the minors and force a midseason appearance. I like Loewen for whatever reason. DePodesta had said late last year that Nieuwenhuis would've probably gotten a September look if he hadn't gotten hurt as well. Sounds like the best case scenario is he's Ike Davis of 2010, kills Spring Training, continues to hit in the minors and forces his way up. I doubt Torres will be as bad as Jacobs, but an injury could accelerate things as well.

Ashie62 wrote: Sometimes...Trial starts 3/19/2012. Any of those 20 million dollar shares sold yet? They're doing them in one lump deal, so no, but we keep hearing that they have buyers for most/all of them. The Bridge loan probably took away the urgency to need that money immediately, but it's 9 days to Spring Training and you have to imagine they want to get that stuff squared away.

Vic Sage wrote: can't we limit draft to a 25 man roster? Not 25, since you need 23 for a valid roster. But we can probably stick to 30ish and fill out the other 10 with prospects via free agency/waiver stuff since it'd probably be a waste of time to bid against each other for the legacy/minors guys. There is no automated part of it, you nominate the guy you want and then everyone has a chance to outbid you for him. I imagine this process will take longer than your typical Yahoo type fantasy draft, but I've never done it before So I don't know. Presumably the first couple of rounds will take a while as more people will raise the prices on the stars. d. A team's starting lineup consists of two catcher slots, one slot at each infield position (first base, second base, third base, and shortstop), five outfielder slot, one additional middle infielder (second base or shortstop) slot, one additional hitter from any position (utility slot), five starting pitcher slots, and five relief pitcher slots.

so 4x4 sounds good. I only suggested the second night thing because I wasn't sure how long these things can go for. I mean the 30+ rounds are mostly going to be us drafting AA guys we've barely heard of.

G-Fafif wrote: Gee and Tejada: Omar's boys. Yes, and represent perhaps the two more obvious positions someone else should be manning if Alderson didn't have to nickle and dime.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I guess what I'd like to be convinced of is Sandy being better at picking stuff out of the junkyard than his peers. We should expect more losers than winners overall but it's a matter of degrees with I guess. All GMs have the Hus of the world. a better example of nickle and diming is Gee and Tejada IMO. I'm not sure Sandy is better at finding gems in the junkyard, but perhaps he's better at putting down the junk he thought was a diamond but turned out to be merely cubic zirconia

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Ceetar wrote: when did they first start investing with Madoff? Wasn't it in like the 80s? It'd been a while regardless and after that long I imagine it's pretty hard to be convinced by anyone, much less a new employee, that it's a scam. It's hard, yes. Because it doesn't behoove you to know it is, because you're making bank. Then when you run something like Sterling Stamos, you're making bank regardless of eventual losses/revelation of a scam, thanks to commissions. When you don't do due dilligence at the hedge fund YOU RUN, that's not turning-a-blind-eye... that's willful disregard. It often feels like these financial workings are a lot of people in the know exchanging loopholes and technicalities to basically throw parties with investors money.

when did they first start investing with Madoff? Wasn't it in like the 80s? It'd been a while regardless and after that long I imagine it's pretty hard to be convinced by anyone, much less a new employee, that it's a scam. I guess we'll find out soon enough, trials set for mid-March.. Although we've got appeals and all that too right? So not like we get what's most important, a resolution, in March?

metsmarathon wrote: rather, i think that "should have known" means that they should have suspected it but did nothing to investigate nor were ever told by anybody who did any investigating. "knowing" means either learning it oneself or being told it. when she told them that the activity was not above board, at that point, they transitioned from "should have known" to "knowing" It seems far fetched to me that she knew that Madoff was a Ponzi scam years before he was caught. It seems more like she was saying "I think we should look closer at this before preceding" and they basically said "Nah, that's good enough. Let's do it." fine line maybe? I dunno..

I'm going to take a 'head count' as per posting in this thread. But I'll create a league as soon as there is a prevailing majority towards type of stats to use and we can argue about the draft after that.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Sterling Stamos was a hedge fund. Noreen Harrington was its CIO. For the right to earn a commission by investing other people's money, Sterling is obligated to perform due diligence. In other words, Sterling is supposed to investigate the companies or funds that it invests its clients' money with. Yes, but wasn't the recent decision that Picard had to prove the Wilpons _knew_ that it was a scam, not that they _should have known_? Isn't that obligation to perform due diligence more should have known? Or is that just basically what the Wilpons are going to argue in court when Harrington gives her testimony?

Edgy DC wrote: Toby Hyde wrote: "Ottawa Citizen says a deal is in place to move AA BMets to Ottawa. B-Mets team president says that's a lie." Does that mean "The deal is almost official, but BMets want more money/sweeter pot and haven't signed off yet?"

Okay, can we get some thoughts on which type of league, 4x4 or fangraphs points? also, when would be best for a draft? I think you can pause the draft and pick it up another night, so maybe a couple of tuesday nights in mid-march or something?

Edgy DC wrote: The good news, I guess, is that minor league ball is slowly returning to Canada. I wonder if in a non-Madoff world the Mets would be considering purchasing a AA team and moving it to Binghamton. Or is there a rule against owning the AA/AAA teams?

feeder funds one of those 'tricks' that kept Madoff from getting caught for so long? Despite people that apparently suspecting/knowing like Harrington?

Edgy DC wrote: It's a lot of things. But it's not irrelevant. It's irrelevant to my question about feeder funds.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Ceetar wrote: metsmarathon wrote: no, she's saying "i told thm back then that it was crooked, and likely a big scam, and they kept pouring more money into it" that's pretty fucking damning. What's a "feeder fund"? And was that testimony that she discovered that back then, or that's what it turned out to be? Because the lawsuit isn't about this Merkin guy, and she never really got to investigate/meet Madoff. That's because who the fuck is Noreen Harrington to get to ask any questions? irrelevant of course, since Picard has to prove they asked said question and got a "we're cheating" response. But again, is there a difference between hearing it from Merkin and not Madoff?

metsmarathon wrote: ok. i gotcha. you pick the players in the order that you pick the cards out of the pack. i was thinking you rip open the pack, order the players, and go from there. your way is much more evil. evil is my middle name. Of course I'm open to any interpretation, if enough people want to do it. It probably wouldn't make that much of a difference since there won't be that much overlap between packs.

metsmarathon wrote: no, she's saying "i told thm back then that it was crooked, and likely a big scam, and they kept pouring more money into it" that's pretty fucking damning. What's a "feeder fund"? And was that testimony that she discovered that back then, or that's what it turned out to be? Because the lawsuit isn't about this Merkin guy, and she never really got to investigate/meet Madoff.

metsmarathon wrote: i like it as an alternate league. i worry that it might be very challenging to fill a complete/decent roster with a 36-pack. plus the issue of series one vs. series two. draft order would have to be randomly assigned, and i think that as long as any player challenges could be met with a photo of all the cards in the pack, we'd be fine. i would suggest that the players in your pack who you do not draft are available to you as the year goes on. you may pick up any of those players as a free agent, provided you have their card. the player you drop may only be acquired by another team if they also hold the player's card. and what about if you get a team checklist, or manager card, or what not? can you then pick any player on that team? (i kindof like that idea - a checklist type card would allow you to select anyone listed , but you may only use that card in the last round of the draft). any feature cards like league leaders or all stars which feature multiple players would count as regular cards. (or would they be single use cards? if your card has, say, three guys on it, can you pick up any three or only one of the three?) Maybe you need two packs? 72 cards? Obviously it'd be pretty honor system-reliant. Even pictures don't really work, unless you want to make a little you tube video of each of us opening the pack and stepping through the order. I was envisioning a specific order. So you open the top pack, put it on top of the bottom pack and that's your draft order. I'd say checklist/leader cards mean you get to pick one to insert in that slot of the draft. A Wild Card so to speak, but obviously just because you pick a player there doesn't mean you get him, because someone else may have that card and have him higher.

Edgy DC wrote: I liked Bingo when I visited, just in the sense of the-town-is-dead-thank-God-we-at-least-have-a-ballclub sense. I think they would make a great indy league town. I think everybody would. I've never visited the ballpark, just the city/suburbs but that's the impression I got from people. It seems the best fit (certainly over Ottawa) for a Mets affiliate.

again murky financial stuff I barely understand, but it sounds like she's attesting that they should have known that it was crooked. (And didn't the court decide that Picard must prove that they _did_ know, not they should have known?) She infers that they didn't want to do the due diligence in investigating it. It's easy to say in hindsight, 9 years later, "I knew that guy was crooked! I told you so!"

Seriously some Mets fans, actually a lot of Mets fan need to cop the fuck on with themselves... Alderson joined twitter and his second tweet causes quite a stir among some fans Sandy Alderson @MetsGM We're driving to St. Lucie because our dog (Buddy) doesn�t like to fly. His complaint: Where I sit, no lights and no stews. Sandy Alderson @MetsGM Getting ready for Spring Training-Driving to FL but haven�t left yet. Big fundraiser tonight for gas money. Also exploring PAC contribution. it's him as confirmed by Buckhart on Hot Stove yesterday It was confirmed immediately by @mets but that first tweet about fundraising threw people for a loop. but basically he's just trolling the idiocy, which is awesome. "The genesis of this came earlier in the day when it was suggested that I was driving to Florida because the Mets couldn't afford a plane ticket," said Alderson, who created the account @MetsGM. "There were people on the Internet who actually believed that. So I just thought we'd point out the absurdity of all this by poking fun at the whole thing." http://mobile.newsday.com/inf/infomo;JSESSIONID=163B5C80BF89CE4CCDA1.3221?site=newsday&view=sports_item&feed:a=newsday_5min&feed:c=sports&feed:i=1.3518408&nopaging=1