The Economic Restructuring of Major League Baseball - by Moses a.k.a Stacey Marc Goldman

  What would happen if MLB instituted a minimum salary of $60,000 U.S.D/ Year and maximum salary of $10 Million U.S.D/ Year within the signings of all ballplayers within each chain of MLB (including the Minor Leagues, and all aspects of the Players Association and Front Office positions)?

1.     IF the ultra-rich within MLB (the Owners and Marquee players) are taxed accordingly, the guy selling peanuts is a happy camper making $35,000 U.S.D/Year.  The least paid position would be $35,000 U.S.D/ Year.

2.     The player in A-Ball is seeing $60,000 U.S.D/ Year

3.     The player on the average level sees $1,000,000 U.S.D/ Year

4.     The marquee player sees $10,000,000 U.S.D/ Year

  The reason I stipulate is for this reason.  No team has 25 superstars.  I repeat no team has 25 superstars.  No hitter will ever bat 1.0000 with any consistency, and no pitcher will ever achieve a perfect record with any consistency.  You might have a guy who finishes his career 1 for 1 with a grand slam to boot, but try to repeat that over and over again...  It's the same thing for the pitchers within the game.  A pitcher is always trying for the perfect game.  Does he achieve this?  No. 

  The game of baseball is an institution for this reason.  The guy selling the peanuts and cracker jacks, the soda and the beer, the baseball and the jersey, all need to make a buck to bring enough chicken bacon home to feed the wife and kids.  The stories we tell after the game has been played is part and parcel of what North American cities and towns need.  Something to grow on that makes life worth living.  A reason to wake up in the morning.  When we look back on our lives as a baseball fanatic, we realize that success happens, mistakes happen, you roll with the punches.  You play the game. 

Eric Thames - by Moses

Eric Thames played in MLB in 2011 and 2012.  He started strongly with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2011  (evidenced by his .312 average .389 OBP and .506 Slg % and .895 OPS in his Triple A Career) and powered 12 Homeruns in just 362 at-bats in 2011.  After the 2013 baseball calender Thames moved to the far east to play in the Korean Professional League.  In 2014 this is how Thames looked in print;

443 AB 95 R 37 HR 121 RBI 11 SB 58 BB .343 BA .422 OBP .688 Slg%

This is how his 2015 campaign looks to this point of the year;

329 AB 99 R 35 HR 101 RBI 28 SB 72 BB .374 BA .489 OBP .802 Slg%

Would you construct a deal with the Korean League and Thames' current team, for permission to add him by trade or buyout by a MLB Team by the end of August?

Consider that with Thames as a player for the Toronto Blue Jays that it would be Dalton Pompey and Thames battling for playing time alongside Ben Revere in the Outfield.  I could also pencil in Thames as either my 1st Baseman or DH on top of the Outfield if he's hitting the shit out of the ball.

As a result of this addition here is what my team would look like against an overpowering RHP starting pitcher at that (like a Felix Hernandez or Sonny Gray);

1.     Troy Tulowitzki (R - SS)
2.     Eric Thames (L - DH)
3.     Jose Bautista (R - RF)
4.     Josh Donaldson (R - 3B)
5.     Dioner Navarro (B - C)
6.     Justin Smoak (B - 1B)
7.     Dalton Pompey (B - LF)
8.     Kevin Pillar (R - CF)
9.     Ryan Goins (L - 2B)

10.   Edwin Encarnacion (R - 1B/DH)
11.   Russell Martin (R - C)
12.   Devon Travis (R - 2B)

13.   Ben Revere (L - OF)

The Super Bowl Fix - by Moses

      After careful review the verdict is in;  the real winners of the 2015 Super-Bowl were the Seattle Seahawks.  The announcement will be made shortly.  As follows;  New England's equipment manager and Tom Brady were responsible for the AFC Championship fix as they adjusted the air pressure and air density of each and every ball that was used for that game against Indianapolis.  As a result they will be taken off the actual Super-Bowl, replaced by the Seattle Seahawks, who will be announced only as the NFC Champions..  Did anyone notice that Andrew Luck was having a hard day at the office?

Film Directors - by Moses a.k.a Stacey Marc Goldman

1.   Stanley Kubrick – Dr. Strangelove, 2001, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket
2.   Steven Spielberg – Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler’s   List,  Jurassic Park
3.   Martin Scorcese – Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, After Hours
4.   Francis Ford Coppola – The Godfather 1 and 11, Apocalypse Now
5.   John Singleton – Boyz in the Hood
6.   Barry Levinson – The Natural, Diner, Good Morning Vietnam, Tootsie
7.   John Landis – Animal House, The Blues Brothers
8.   George Lucas – American Graffiti, Star Wars 1, 11, 111, 1V, V, V1
9.   Quentin Tarantino - Resevoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jango Unchained
10. Ron Howard – Nightshift, Apollo, De Vinci Code
11. Peter Jackson – Lord of the Rings
12. Norman Jewison – Fiddler on the Roof
13. James Cameron – The Titanic
14. Oliver Stone – Platoon, Wall Street
15. Tim Burton – Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Beetlegeuse
16. Alfred Hitchcock – The Birds, Rear Window, Psycho
17. Rob Reiner – The Princess Bride, Sleepless in Seattle
18. David Fincher – The Fight Club, Zodiac
19. Richard Attenborough – Gandhi, Greystroke–The Legend of Tarzan
20. Spike Lee – Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X
21. Tommy Chong – Cheech and Chong’s Next Movie
22. Phil Alden Robinson (writer/director) - Field of Dreams
23. Alan Parker – The Wall, Midnight Express
24. Walter Hill – 48 Hours
25. John Huston – Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon
26. Robert Redford – A River Runs Through it
27. David Lynch – Blue Velvet, Sleep
28. George Roy Hill - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting
29. Brian De Palma - Scarface
30. Damon and Affleck (writers and lead actors) – Good Will Hunting
31. The Wolchowski Brothers  (writers) – The Matrix
32. Harold Ramis – Stripes, Ghostbusters
33. Peter Weir - Dead Poet Society
34. Richard Cronenberg - The Fly
35. Robert DeNiro (actor/director) - Bronx Tale, Taxi Driver, The Godfather 2, Good Fellas
36. Lawrence Kazdan - wrote screenplay for 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' Trilogy            
37. Denzel Washington (actor/director) - Malcolm X, Philadelphia
38. Jonathon Demme - Innerspace, Batteries Not Included
39. Cecile B. DeMille – The Ten Commandments
40. Ridley Scott - Alien, Alien 2