Q and A with Tim(MLBTR) concerning the Rangers

by NYTXFAN on Jun 19, 2008 5:17 PM CDT

http://uweblogsports.blogspot.com/2008/06/q-tim-dierkes-of-mlbtr.html

I’ll have to say the only thing I can agree with him about is this is his view on Jon Daniels. Everything else seem silly to me.

For example, when asked about trading pitchers Millwood and Padilla, and if their contracts stand in the way, he replied with “if the Ranger’s don’t want to eat any salary then they’ll get worse prospects.” Really? I don’t think so. Their contracts are more than affordable for a contending team to take on. Yes, their injury history is a bit of a concern, but not the contracts.

Anyway, check it out guys and talk about his other answers here. I generally like him and what he has to say so I don’t want this to become a bash thread. Thankyou DShep.

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Comments

please don't write in all caps

by JBImaknee on Jun 19, 2008 5:19 PM CDT 0 recs

what do you mean, sorry about the caps

why can’t you fix it?

Rare Gnats Sex

by ab03 on Jun 19, 2008 5:20 PM CDT 0 recs

well,

by the time I noticed it was too late. I didn’t, wasn’t, going to go back and fix it.

The bloggerformelyknownasBigBaddBubbaJ

by NYTXFAN on Jun 19, 2008 5:23 PM CDT up 0 recs

edit this in

I’ll have to say the only thing I can agree with him about is this is his view on Jon Daniels. Everything else seem silly to me.

Anyway, check it out guys and talk about his other answers here. I generally like him and what he has to say so I don’t want this to become a bash thread. Thankyou DShep.

Bring up Chris Davis

by DSheppard on Jun 19, 2008 5:24 PM CDT up 0 recs

thank you D Shep

The bloggerformelyknownasBigBaddBubbaJ

by NYTXFAN on Jun 19, 2008 7:07 PM CDT up 0 recs

you didn't notice you were writing in caps?

Rare Gnats Sex

by ab03 on Jun 19, 2008 5:29 PM CDT up 0 recs

Heh

He pressed shift throughout, evidenced by the “i”s.

What a boob.

by brettgardner on Jun 19, 2008 5:43 PM CDT up 0 recs

Happens to me all the time

I type all caps in my work software, and then email or post here, and SHIT!...I gotta retype.

Sucks!

"...my balls are really like a veiny flesh color" blueballlefty on Jun 4, 2008 7:44 PM EDT
"If you ain't got no money, ain't nobody calls you honey," Bo Diddley

by Rodney on Jun 19, 2008 5:46 PM CDT up 0 recs

But

You really don’t notice the second you start typing?

by brettgardner on Jun 19, 2008 5:51 PM CDT up 0 recs

Yes, I do

then I curse and retype everything.

"...my balls are really like a veiny flesh color" blueballlefty on Jun 4, 2008 7:44 PM EDT
"If you ain't got no money, ain't nobody calls you honey," Bo Diddley

by Rodney on Jun 19, 2008 6:43 PM CDT up 0 recs

Unfortunately I can't type without

looking down at the keyboard, so I do that every once in a while.

I’m a really fast two finger typer.

The 40 Trumps All!!!

by thedirkatron on Jun 19, 2008 8:12 PM CDT up 0 recs

Shit.

You need to get on that.

by brettgardner on Jun 19, 2008 8:38 PM CDT up 0 recs

Probably

But I’m so freaking set in my ways at this point.

Just seems like a lot of work.

The 40 Trumps All!!!

by thedirkatron on Jun 19, 2008 8:54 PM CDT up 0 recs

Set in your ways?

what are you, like 25?

...and curse Sir Sidney Ponson, he was such a stupid git.

by t ball on Jun 19, 2008 11:11 PM CDT up 0 recs

Just turned 27

Too old to learn to type the traditional way at this point.

The 40 Trumps All!!!

by thedirkatron on Jun 19, 2008 11:56 PM CDT up 0 recs

Pssh

I went from never typing a thing in my life to essentially my current level in about 4 months. Shitty thing is, I went to 6th grade in the sticks and we had 150-year-old typewriters to learn on.

You could do it.

by brettgardner on Jun 19, 2008 11:59 PM CDT up 0 recs

I dunno if I could, actually.

I suck at most things, and I don’t know why learning to type would be an exception.

Plus I’m pretty dumb, so typing sort of slowly allows my brain time to keep up with my fingers. If I typed much faster I’d probably end up with posts more on par with those of, say, BlueBallLefty or something like that.

How’d you learn, by the way? Is there a free program out there? Cause I’m not going to teach myself and I’m too stubborn to pay for a program or anything like that.

The 40 Trumps All!!!

by thedirkatron on Jun 20, 2008 12:07 AM CDT up 0 recs

I learned in school.

Drills, mostly. Yeah, it’d be tedious to the point of brain-failure on your own, I’m sure. It was back then for me, anyway.

If I remember correctly, we’d concentrate on a letter or a series of letters each day and just constantly drill for the entire class.

My suggestion is just do what you do for a wpm test or something similar: put your fingers in the proper position, find a paragraph or two to copy, and just keep doing it.

Of course, I guess I’m taking for granted the knowledge of where the particular fingers are supposed to go and all that…

Shit, maybe it is too late.

by brettgardner on Jun 20, 2008 12:18 AM CDT up 0 recs

wait

if you learned at a younger age, that is not the same thing. There’s a difference between learning in 8th grade and learning when you’re 27.

Rare Gnats Sex

by ab03 on Jun 20, 2008 9:29 AM CDT up 0 recs

Not

Cognitively.

by brettgardner on Jun 20, 2008 9:34 AM CDT up 0 recs

Heh

blueballlefty, don’t get on his bad side. He’s an angryyyy man.

by Dirk Diggler on Jun 20, 2008 12:53 AM CDT up 0 recs

There are

free online typing courses.

Well I can pretend to be Britney Spears. I'm already standing in urine and I'm with someone I don't like.

by Escher on Jun 20, 2008 9:21 AM CDT up 0 recs

best typing course

http://www.popcap.com/gamepopup.php?theGame=typershark

My friend swears by it, doubled her typing speed

Rare Gnats Sex

by ab03 on Jun 20, 2008 9:30 AM CDT up 0 recs

Just do what i did

use your computer enough and just keep trying to type without looking. i now type hella fast (just ignore the lack of punctuation and capitalization).

it also helped when i got a natural keyboard

"I'm against picketing, but I don't know how to show it." - Mitch Hedberg

by rentz on Jun 21, 2008 6:50 AM CDT up 0 recs

youve made 7K posts typing with two fingers?

your 7k posts must have taken about 3x as long to type as mine.

110 wpm!

Bring up Chris Davis

by DSheppard on Jun 19, 2008 11:14 PM CDT up 0 recs

Proud of ya!

...and curse Sir Sidney Ponson, he was such a stupid git.

by t ball on Jun 19, 2008 11:35 PM CDT up 0 recs

you should be

its beastly typing performance.

if only it were a desired skill outside of the secretary field.

Bring up Chris Davis

by DSheppard on Jun 19, 2008 11:56 PM CDT up 0 recs

I'm

Satisfied being around 75. Very rarely do I find it necessary to type any faster than that. But nice.

by brettgardner on Jun 19, 2008 11:53 PM CDT up 0 recs

law school

typing fast becomes important. you should try to get to 100 if you can

Rare Gnats Sex

by ab03 on Jun 20, 2008 9:33 AM CDT up 0 recs

Well, I actually use about four fingers

but what I meant is that I don’t type traditionally. I mostly look up at the screen when I’m typing, but I have to look at the keyboard some. I’m not Dad-slow or anything. I can type pretty fast, but people who can do the real kind of typing type faster than me, obviously. People who watch me type are always sketched out, cause my style is freaky looking.

The 40 Trumps All!!!

by thedirkatron on Jun 19, 2008 11:55 PM CDT up 0 recs

Is there a lot of squinting involved?

Combined with an intense look every time you look up from the keyboard?

by LiamP on Jun 20, 2008 2:00 AM CDT up 0 recs

Along with my usual look of douchey self-satisfaction, yes

The 40 Trumps All!!!

by thedirkatron on Jun 20, 2008 2:03 AM CDT up 0 recs

i think you're freaky looking!

"I'm against picketing, but I don't know how to show it." - Mitch Hedberg

by rentz on Jun 21, 2008 6:52 AM CDT up 0 recs

I type 170 wpm

but it’s in my own language.

-mh

"I'm extremely complex. I'm not easy to understand." - a) Charles Manson, b) Madonna, c) Milton Bradley.

by Clueless on Jun 20, 2008 10:06 AM CDT up 0 recs

Worthless.

That’s a better name for you, don’t you think? Although I’m sure your current moniker is nearly as apt.

by brettgardner on Jun 20, 2008 10:32 AM CDT up 0 recs

Hunt and Peck...

I too am a two finger while looking at the keyboard typer.

by Topgun22 on Jun 19, 2008 11:49 PM CDT up 0 recs

YEP IM A BOOB

lol

The bloggerformelyknownasBigBaddBubbaJ

by NYTXFAN on Jun 19, 2008 7:08 PM CDT up 0 recs

I thought his responses

were all pretty reasonable.

...and curse Sir Sidney Ponson, he was such a stupid git.

by t ball on Jun 19, 2008 5:39 PM CDT 0 recs

This is reasonable:

I don’t think it’d be bad to trade Laird and Ramirez both this year.

Of course it would be bad. Not only do we loose our starting catcher in Laird, but also we loose a very hot prospect. Not only that, our catching surplus is no longer a strength.

Tea is the only real catching prospect to watch for if MaxRam is traded and ultimately he will be here by next year, one would think. Then MaxRam the following year.

This is how I would settle the catching surplus. Trade which ever catcher brings back the bigger return, but not two of them. If Salts brings a hot prospect you do it, same goes for Tea, Laird, and MaxRam. But not two. Two would deminish of surplus.

The surplus will figure it self out eventually. Rarely do two teams get stuck with this many high upside players at this position. Trading them now, to me, is premature I guess. Wait until they are screaming a big league promotion.

The bloggerformelyknownasBigBaddBubbaJ

by NYTXFAN on Jun 19, 2008 7:30 PM CDT up 0 recs

clarification

Wait until they are screaming a big league promotion.

Wait until they are screaming a big league promotion before we start trading them.

The bloggerformelyknownasBigBaddBubbaJ

by NYTXFAN on Jun 19, 2008 7:31 PM CDT up 0 recs

With Salty and Laird holding it down in Arlington...

Salty, Laird, and Ramirez are already on the 40. Teagarden must be added after this season. No way the Rangers carry 4 catchers, and it’s ridiculous to think they’ll carry 4 catchers on the 25-man roster.

Ramirez’s value might never be higher than it is right now, and the same goes for Laird. I expect both to be gone before April 2009.

by NoNameOnCard on Jun 20, 2008 12:37 AM CDT up 0 recs

never said kep them on the 25 all at once,

that just seems stupid and ignorant. But wait as long as possible to see who really fits into our long term plan. Putting Tea on the forty shouldn’t be a problem. Or is it?

The bloggerformelyknownasBigBaddBubbaJ

by NYTXFAN on Jun 20, 2008 4:55 AM CDT up 0 recs

Doesn't it go without saying...

That if a team wants you to eat salary, and you aren’t willing to do so, you’ll get lesser value in return? Not sure how you can really disagree with that…

I really don’t think it’s unreasonable to suggest a team would want the Rangers to take on some of the money due to either Millwood or Padilla… Padilla’s history doesn’t suggest he’s reliable, and Millwood has been fairly pedestrian this year after a poor showing in 2007…

If you can better the return by eating a couple million a year on either contract, you’ve gotta do it…

by N41D on Jun 19, 2008 5:45 PM CDT 0 recs

do you really think that if we eat his salary

that we are going to get better prospects? That’s hard to believe. I think that if a team isn’t willing to take on their reasonable contracts and give up some good-very good prospects, then it probably won’t work for us. We would benefit more by keeping them along for the ride while our own prospects develop and then collecting the picks when their contracts expire.

The bloggerformelyknownasBigBaddBubbaJ

by NYTXFAN on Jun 19, 2008 7:34 PM CDT up 0 recs

I don't think y'all are talking about the same thing

Of course if you agree to eat Millwood’s salary you’ll be able to get more for him than if you trade him straight up. Why is that even in question? If you tell a team, “Hey, if we eat his contract and save y’all 20 million dollars, do you think you could throw in another B+ prospect or two” they’re of course going to say yes.

That being said, we won’t HAVE to eat their salary to get back good prospects for them if we choose to deal them.

The 40 Trumps All!!!

by thedirkatron on Jun 19, 2008 8:06 PM CDT up 0 recs

But I think Tim is thinking that's the case,

If we dont eat his salary then we won’t be getting good prospects back. I don’t think he is saying, for example, “Prospects graded B+,B, and a C for Milly staright up or Prospects B+, B+, B, and C for Milly and 20 mil of his contract.”

Now, Im not saying that would be the package but I think Tim is thinking Millys contract is so bad that we could only trade him for some lower graded prospects. This wouldn’t be the first time I’ve noticed him mention Milly and Pads contracts being slightly on the bad side.

The bloggerformelyknownasBigBaddBubbaJ

by NYTXFAN on Jun 19, 2008 8:18 PM CDT up 0 recs

Well you can think that

but that’s not what he said at all.

He said the prospects we could expect to get back if we eat their contracts will be worse than the prospects we could expect to get back for them if dealt “as is”.

And I don’t see how could refute the logic there.

The 40 Trumps All!!!

by thedirkatron on Jun 19, 2008 8:54 PM CDT up 0 recs

so if we had paid soriano's salary

would the Nationals have upped their offer by keeping wilkerson? cause that totally would have been worth it, amirite?

by spliffy on Jun 19, 2008 10:13 PM CDT up 0 recs

Basically,

I don’t think Tim was talking quanity. I thought he was talking quality. I could be mistaken of course.

The bloggerformelyknownasBigBaddBubbaJ

by NYTXFAN on Jun 19, 2008 8:20 PM CDT up 0 recs

Quantity v. Quality...

Even if he was talking quality, it makes sense. Team A would be willing to give up a better prospect for Millwood + $20M than they would for Millwood alone. It’s not even arguable.

by Topgun22 on Jun 19, 2008 11:53 PM CDT up 0 recs

Yeah, I do think we'll get a better return if we eat the salary...

Dirkatron pretty much summed up why…

That, and I really don’t look at Millwood and Padilla’s contracts and say “Wow, those are extremely reasonable contracts considering the performance….”

by N41D on Jun 20, 2008 12:40 AM CDT up 0 recs

contracts

millwood and padilla have fairly reasonable contracts compared to most pitchers, i don’t think the rangers should have to subsidize that.

"I'm against picketing, but I don't know how to show it." - Mitch Hedberg

by rentz on Jun 19, 2008 6:55 PM CDT 0 recs

Right..

They don’t have to subsidize, but if they did, they could expect to get more in return.

by Topgun22 on Jun 19, 2008 11:54 PM CDT up 0 recs

I think..

MLBTR guy was merely stating if we threw a little money in we would get better players. Which is rather obvious. But not that it was a necessity to throw in money to trade them.

This is the Texas Rangers, professional destroyers of hope, we're talking about. - BAC

by nikpin on Jun 20, 2008 1:04 PM CDT up 0 recs