Author: metbaseball

3-team trade not in Red Sox’s favor

Posted on by metbaseball

Boston’s trade of Manny Ramirez boggles the mind. Sure, they needed to get rid of Ramirez, but why did they so overpay to do that.

They sent Ramirez to the Dodgers, agreeing to pay the estimated $7 million due to Ramirez for the rest of this season.

In return, the Red Sox received Jason Bay from the Pirates.

Is a Martinez for Bay trade an even deal? No way. Bay can’t compare to Martinez. I’d have thought that the Red Sox could have gotten more for Martinez. But not only were they unable to get more, they gave up more.

As part of the 3-team deal, the Red Sox also sent reliever Craig Hansen and Triple-A outfielder Brandon Moss to the Pirates. Thus the trade boiled down to Manny Ramirez, Craig Hansen, and Brandon Moss for Jason Bay. That’s unbelievable.

The fact that the Red Sox were willing to give up so much to get rid of Martinez indicates DESPERATION.

Belief is not fact

Posted on by metbaseball

As another presidential election approaches, one candidate’s words seem to keep being bent by what he believes he needs to say to gain favorable public support. That candidate: John McCain.

One thing that McCain isn’t hesitant to speak about is his military background and how it gives him an advantage over Barack Obama. That alleged advantage has been addressed by Wesley Clark, whose military experience far surpasses McCain’s.

Here’s what Clark said about McCain’s military background: “The truth is that, in national security terms, he’s largely untested and untried. He’s never been responsible for policy formulation. He’s never had leadership in a crisis, or in anything larger than his own element on an aircraft carrier or [in managing] his own congressional staff. It’s not clear that this is going to be the strong suit that he thinks it is” (Source).

A tai chi picture

Posted on by metbaseball

That’s not an alien in the picture. It’s a person doing tai chi, an exercise that is alien to many. The picture was developed using DAZ Studio, a 3D modeling program whose cost (It’s free) can’t compare to the benefits it offers.

It’s not easy to learn to use, however, it’s not like trying to learn physics or philosophy. It requires patience and perseverance.

The reason he lacks hair is that the basic 3D model that I used to create the picture didn’t include hair. I could buy hair. But I’m in no hurry to. America makes too big a deal out of hair. It’s a billion dollar business. I have less hair than when I was younger; however, I’ve never worn a toupee, considered getting hair implants, or colored my hair. But many men have chosen to go those routes, including Donald Trump.

Does it really make a difference? Only to people who judge others by their hair, which, to me, is a hairy thing to do.

A woeful sentence

Posted on by metbaseball

It amazes me when this in day and age any well-known publisher allows instructionally-deficient sentences to grace one of its book’s pages. Even one such sentence is too many.

While reading today the book Value Investing for Dummies, this sentence stopped me in my tracks: “Working capital is the asset base that recirculates through the business as cash, receivables, and inventory and is used to acquire raw materials and to produce and sell products” (p. 34).

So what is working capital?

It’s something that recirculates as cash, among other things. But that doesn’t reveal what it is. This is a form of mystery writing that’s not in a mystery.

A prime cause of the confusion is the verb recirculates.

Unfortunately, neither the online versions of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary nor the American Heritage Dictionary contained the word “recirculate.” However, I did find the word “circulate” in The Free Dictionary. Here are its four definitions:

1. To move in or flow through a circle or circuit: blood circulating through the body.
2. To move around, as from person to person or place to place: a guest circulating at a party.
3. To move about or flow freely, as air.
4. To spread widely among persons or places; disseminate: Gossip tends to circulate quickly.

Ignoring the fact that recirculate means to “circulate again,” none of The Free Dictionary’s four definitions match how the term was being used in Value Investing for Dummies.

If I were the person who edited that sentence, I would have asked the writer, “What are you trying to say in the sentence?”

Too much is left unsaid.

Uncovering what was unsaid and discovering what a writer really meant to say are prime responsibilities of an editor. Apparently, with regard to the sentence quoted earlier in this post, whoever edited it didn’t finish the job.