intentional wok

Huge nerd here. Never got into the Stargates, but just because I never was able to sit and watch it. My heart is still with Star Trek. Deep Space Nine is still my benchmark space-faring sci-fi show, an honour it held until I saw the first two seasons of Battlestar Galactica and then regained after BSG slipped on a banana peel in its last two years. I recently watched DS9 for the first time in a decade or so. Outside of the fact that it still comes with the hiccups of some 90s network TV, it is surprisingly excellent. If the Star Trek name puts you off, I should say that the show's overall flow is not unlike a modern show with long, intertwining storylines. It's episodic, but it's not like the characters arrive at the planet of the week, solve the problem, and then fly away, which most Star Trek is like.

I haven't seen GoT but I certainly plan to. Hopefully before the new season starts. Although I haven't really seen many compelling reasons for what makes it so good. Characters dying by the truckload isn't inherently a good thing, but it's kind of the only thing I ever hear/read about. As for the The Wire - the idea of something being Objectively The Best doesn't actually exist, but The Wire is as close as a series has come to convince me otherwise. For anyone arguing over what is and isn't "deep" (whatever that means; please define), watch The Wire. Anyone who watches that show and doesn't come out of it with their outlook on politics and poverty changed even slightly then they're asleep or without a brain. If that's not enough, it's a fine, fine drama to boot. Some of the most tragic scenarios and heartbreaking moments I've ever seen. Box, if you enjoy Breaking Bad you might also dig The Shield. Seven 13-ep seasons, ran from 2003-2009, and might have been every bit as good in a lot of the same ways Breaking Bad was. It is a serialized police procedural, though, so the flow of the show is much different. The finale, IMO, is the greatest thing ever produced for TV.

I'm actually still surprised this deal happened. The years-of-control issue just makes it so, so sweet. There's no denying Oakland got some quality pieces back, but did the Jays ever get a wonderful deal in this.

Should we just make this a general waiver grab thread? THERE'S MORE:

I can't pick. Honestly I'm loving both pickups. If I had to pick one I'd lean towards Donaldson. The only thing I worry about with Martin is that his offensive 2014 is just a blip. But, really, I'm still loving that he'll be behind the plate for the next four or five years with the young 'uns coming up.

I love that article. I'm always interested to read about the GMing process.

I'll take Ben Zobrist and Mike Trout for $500, Alex. SS, Reyes CF, Trout RF, Bautista DH, Encarnacion 3B, Donaldson 2B, Zobrist C, Martin LF, Saunders 1B, Smoak Is this real life? No. No it isn't.

Yeah, if AA can nab Cabrera for 1 year I think it's a no-brainer. If Travis doesn't destroy AAA we could do way worse than Asdrubal Cabrera at 2B with Goins as a glove-rich backup MIF for 162 games. Then next year Travis will likely be experienced enough to begin his big league career out of ST.

I didn't anticipate going into the season with Navarro on the team (in fact I still don't), but I wonder what the average batting lineup looks like with him in it. Likely Edwin at first, Navarro DHing, and Martin DHing when Navarro catches. Is the more 'sure thing' bat of Navarro worth keeping Edwin on 1B over Smoak or Barton? Is Navarro's bat even a sure thing? We ran an Edwin-Lind 1B platoon for the last couple of years, so surely we could be worse off, I suppose.

I thought the 'smug' bits were just fan additions. So the rest of it is parody too? At least we have Wilner outing Rogers' implicit racism here: Hechavarria underwhelmed. Hechavarria is Cuban. All Cubans must be just like Hechavarria and will underwhelm?

The pauses are deafening. I can hear them just thinking about. So is his reasoning that the Jays aren't signed Toritani based on his Boras comment? If so, then he has no more info than we do, and he should stop being so smug about it.

Okay I can roll with that. Now we just need some kind of Jays-appropriate hashtag... #summertimeinthevoid

I'd do it. I have significant reservations about this Toritani guy, who would likely just be a stopgap anyway.

This would go perfect with the I Mother Earth crossover marketing campaign I was going to pitch. It works for the Raptors and Drake, right? Imagine it, the two Edwins finally meeting. And we could remind people of the 90s, too! #WeTheMillennials

That tagline is the worst ever written. It literally only works if you say it in a brooding movie trailer voice. In print it's nearly nonsensical. It's only there so they can get some dramatic visual and radio ads, which they could have done without looking illiterate. And if the Raps were 6-20 no one would give a s*** about what Drake's done. The Raptors are a hit because they play winning basketball.

I've seen hobbyist mechanics fixing broken s*** in their garages take in fewer pieces of damaged goods than the Padres. But I suppose with the working body parts of all the pieces they've landed this week they could cobble together a pretty good pitcher-outfielder with various patches of different skin colours. That's probably worth some WAR, or something.

Dangit. That would have been a nice little gamble.

This was my response on the last page to your initial post about this: I tend to agree more with your take now, though, with the leaked info about the arthritis. If it was the Padres who very foolishly let the info slip out after they'd had a week to mull it and after they'd swung a three-way to land Wil Myers+, then I'd be very wary of doing business with them. OTOH, if the info leaked some other way my opinion is probably as soft as it initially was. It depends on who was out of line on the medical info here, but this could very well make the San Diego execs look very, very bad.

Didn't one happen just last year or so? I think it was Balfour and the O's publicly poo-pooed his back or his neck or something? Terrible business etiquette.

If you feel your team needs a player, you don't politely wait to finish another deal first before you begin pursuit. That's like the misunderstanding most people post about "concentrating" on getting a RP or a 2B. If that's how business was ever conducted, the Jays wouldn't have landed Donaldson. It's the Padres' prerogative to consider every avenue and act accordingly. If the Myers deal fell through, they'd be double screwed if they "honoured" the Dodgers by pre-maturely ending Kemp discussions (or vice versa).

I didn't realize AA was evaluating players' personal lives like this. I wonder how much WAR it's worth...

I swear this will be the last anti-Heyman post I make, but if I weren't a baseball fan or knowledgeable at all in professional sport salaries I'd think Volquez -- sorry, "volquez" -- would be getting 10 dollars a year. Just report the news clearly, dude. It's like the minimum he should be doing. And wow, this is some swap with Rays-Nats-Pads. The Rays must have really found something to dislike about Myers.

I don't think he's a bench player at all, though. I would prefer to move him to 2B and get a more skilled defender at SS, if possible. However I'm open to the idea that either/or won't make a difference for Reyes or the team. But, again, it wouldn't happen even if it were proven to be of benefit because Reyes wants to play SS and I doubt the team would risk pissing him off by suggesting he can't do part of his job anymore.

Just to jump in here - this is more an ego issue than anything. Dickey starting opening day (likely) doesn't mean he's better than the young arms, or even that anyone thinks that. Short of picking up Scherzer, my gut says no one gets the opening start over Dickey. Ego counts for a lot, which is why Jose Reyes is still an everyday shortstop.

:-(