Health

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The Benefits of Being Single

I know many single people who mope around, wondering what they’re going to do with the rest of their lives. I have to tell you that I love being married and I love having my daughter, and I wouldn’t trade either for the world. That said, there are many great benefits of being single—so why not enjoy them and stop worrying while you love your life? The right person will probably come along when you least expect it, and your own happiness will attract him or her right to you!

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Ten Valentine Alternatives for Singles

So you don’t have a significant other to spend the big day with next week. Big deal. Here are ten other ways to spend the day that still commemorate the feelings of love that it was meant to represent without making you feel super single while doing them.

10. A Personal Health Day

Take the day off and relax for your mental health, or better yet, if you can, schedule yourself an annual checkup, dental cleaning, and eye exam to make sure you are, indeed, healthy.

9. Take Care of Your Own Heart

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Hired Guns

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Dr. K sez,

If I were Jack, I would be aggressively pursuing a salary dump in the outfield or third base.  My criteria would be not too many years left on the deal, say one or two.  If you could get Carlos Lee for a bucket of balls, I do it.  He doesn't damage your flexibility.  I don't want Alfonso Soriano because he has three years left on his deal.  Sadly, doesn't look like there are any good salary dump options at 3B.

Alternatively, they wait until the trade deadline and if the M's surprise us, they will have the payroll flexibility to add salary.

What I don't want to do is trade premium youth for expensive veterans.  Would you trade Nick Franklin and Taijuan Walker for the privilege of paying David Wright $31M total the next two years?

:50 cpoints:

 

And Zduriencik has absolutely nothing against short-term hitters:

  • Jack Cust for DH last year ... could be (was) even called a reach by Dr. Dimento
  • Adam Kennedy at ages 34-35 in the middle infield, "saved" the M's 1st half
  • Milton Bradley in LF wasn't going to be here more than a year or two
  • Casey Kotchman, a weird glove-first "Moneyball" band-aid, was always going to be a bridge player here
  • Eric Byrnes came in as spaghetti against the wall, would have played if he'd been good
  • Russell Branyan was used for 1.5 years at ages 33-34, was not part of Z's future
  • Sweeney and Griffey

This is the reason that Kevin Millwood is still dangerous

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This rat cheer:  POTD Kevin Millwood 2

 

Precious few 37-year-olds can still slice off a cut fastball.  Kevin Millwood's elbow ligaments are made of leather, and his pitches still break two ways, left and right.  He still has (had, at last sighting) the plus command.

Combine 4-5 pitches with command, and with MLB(TM) moxie and you've got a pitcher who WILL be effective.  We're not talking about a #6 finish in the Cy, but if Millwood comes to camp throwing 88-89 mph, you can bank the 2.7 WAR.

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=== Rode Hard, Put Away Wet Dept. ===

If you ax an MLB insider what is going on here, this is what he'll say.  The thing about both Iwakuma and Millwood is that they were both down to 84 at times last year.  It's more than possible that either, or both, is kaput, that's all she wrote.  SOME spring will come in which they're clocking 84 mph, lousy command, just done done done when your daddy takes your fastball awayyyyy...

Time To Get Walkin'

We gotta get you a woman,

We better get walkin’, were wastin’ time talkin’ now.

-Todd Rundgren, “We gotta get you a woman”

 

Searching for blog material on the web the other day, I ran across a blog entitled “According to Sauce.”  Penned by a young woman who works as a Hooters Girl.*   Sorry guys, she’s taken.  In fact, she is so in love with her boyfriend, she calls him “Dreamy.”  

I think I hear wedding bells in her future …

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HQ 2012: Pineda Two Thumbs Wayyy Up

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Got my prrrrecious in the mail today.  First up:  find those Mariner players that HQ likes more than Seattle fans do.

Highest on the list of HQ raves:  Michael Pineda.  Well, it woulda been pretty much impossible for HQ to wax more ecstatic than SSI, probably.  But we can tell ya this:  HQ likes Pineda a whale of a lot more than the "Shed Pineda Before It's Too Late" bloggers do.

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HQ gives Pineda as the #9 roto SP draftee in 2012, American League, giving the Mariners by far the best 1-2 starting pitcher combo outside of Los Angeles.

They run a blizzard of component stats, with the key "BPX" (peripherals grade indexed to 100) being 150.  Their verbal comment:

"What 2nd-half slump?  ERA spike came not from 'fatigue,' but from an unlikely-to-repeat 58% strand rate.

"In fact, skills were even better in the 2nd half -- BPV, xERA tell the real story.

"And he did it all at age 22, in his first big league season.  With health, this is a Cy Young winner in the making.

"For now, IP limits impose a ceiling on his (roto) value."

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=== Better In the 2nd Half? ===

I remember Pineda's second half as being one in which his K's exceeded his IP's ... in one which his velocity ran at 89-90 mph in the first inning or two of some games ... and one in which a lot of base hits knocked in a lot of runners ... and one in which SSI carried on the fight against the Michael Pineda naysayers.

POTD Gio Gonzalez: DWN, MID, UP

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Q.  Why would the Mariners want to deal, say, Taijuan Walker or James Paxton (in March) for Gonzalez, considering that those guys could be better than him anyway?

A.  At such time as a Dustin Ackley proves it in the big leagues, even for a month or two, his value doubles.

The M's minor leaguers are as good as it gets.  But they haven't jumped over the hurdle that Gio Gonzalez has.

The MID scenario:  even if Gio doesn't get any better, he gives you 3.5 cheap WAR.  There are a few guys who don't.

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Q.  What's the worst thing about Gio?

A.  Taro ain't going to like the way he carries his arm at the top.

The DWN scenario for Gio is for him to get injured.  That's all.  He already is a very good starting pitcher and he is going to get better.

... note, however, that Gio's velocity is up.  He has gained velo steadily throughout his career, and he was as strong as a horse in August-September 2011.

The lower the through-slot, the better.  Consider Randy Johnson's health.  Human beings are designed to throw, sidearm.

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Q.  What's the best thing about Gio?

Jose Reyes Roundtable - Templates and Temptations, Dept.

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COUNSELOR MOJO:  Why not Reyes?  Since he doesn't pack the 40-homer glamor, he could be a value.

SSI Mainframe:  Players in the middle of the field -- SS's, 2B's, and CF's -- still, in 2011, appear to offer a moneyball value opportunity, yes.
 
WAR at first base, as for Fielder and Votto, might show a fancy 50-60 runs, which equal out to Reyes' 60 runs in 2011.  But here's where the real-world "replacement level" is different from theory.
 

Hall of Fame Moments - the MACHINE

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=== Well, Consider What Was at Stake For Him, Dept.  ===

Pitching for the 58-and-82 Seattle Mariners, Felix Hernandez came out to the mound in the 7th inning with a slim 2-1 lead.  The M's are done for the year, but the Angels are not.  The Angels wanted this game approximately as much as they'd want Game One of a playoff series.

With a loooonnnnng 9 outs (and about one hour) to go, Felix tore into the Angels like a rottweiler finding a stranger in his living room at 4:00 a.m.....

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