Jump to content

Starfleet Command

Full Members
  • Posts

    769
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by Starfleet Command

  1. Just now, tx 3 putt said:

    who's toro going to push for playing time ?

    pedro leon keeps chas and meyer on the bench next season 

    He was never going to be a starter here here.  Like Straw and De La Cruz, the idea to trade him was sound.  It's the return that's questionable.  Click didn't trade Leon, Lee or Brown, but at the same time a cheap cost controlled player who projects to be at least an average player moving forward is quite valuable, and there aren't a whole lot of them in the system.  At least with Gravemen you're dealing with an elite player who's going to command more in trade than he should.  The Straw trade to me is much worse given how much he's produced (3 WAR so far!), how much he control he has left, and what we got in return.  That was an extremely lopsided trade and for a pitcher who's not in that elite tier where the logic of the market breaks down.

  2. It's wild to me that Click traded away a couple of guys with a ton of control each and whom will likely produce 5+ WAR this season alone in exchange for a very good rental reliever in Graveman and a guy in Maton who has been kinda good but not great and has a few years of control.  That's just not doing the bare minimum to fix the obvious deficiency this team had without doing more to help the team compete this season.  They could have got someone like Daniel Hudson instead of Yimi Garcia.  I think if Luhnow were still around he would have done something crazy like trade for Bryant.  

    It's too early to come to a firm judgment about Click but the early returns (including failing to sign your second highest pick when you're desperate for new talent) haven't been very impressive.  Just kind of ho-hum, does the obvious things without much foresight or creativity.  

  3. This is a good piece on why Joe is essentially correct that there would never be a good time to withdraw, and waiting for such a time is essentially arguing that we should stay there in perpetuity.

    Quote

    Afghans have been routinely portrayed as corrupt; but anyone who peruses the reports of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR, will find overwhelming evidence of corruption on the American side, fueled by the billions of dollars that poured into Afghanistan. Moreover, as a Washington Post investigation found, “the CIA gave cash to governors, parliamentarians, even religious leaders.”

    Still, each president handed the Afghanistan quagmire off to his successor. None wanted to be held responsible for “losing” Afghanistan, let alone another 9/11 attack. So 20 years passed at a total cost exceeding $2 trillion of which a mere $24 billion was invested in economic reconstruction, the rest in military-related expenses. But the Taliban, despite taking heavy punishment and losing many senior commanders and “shadow governors,” always replenished its ranks and kept fighting.

    By the time President Trump, who had vowed to end Washington’s “forever wars,” was elected in 2016, the Taliban held more territory than it had since 2002.He understood that the war had lost support at home. Not that it ever demanded much from the vast majority of Americans. Without a military draft and with a government that preferred to borrow, rather than raise taxes, to cover the costs, this American way of waging war never provoked the public demonstrations, elite disillusionment, or electoral defeats that derailed political careers during the Vietnam era. And so it continues for years on end.

    By the time of Biden’s election, Trump had already signed an agreement with the Taliban to reduce the U.S. troop presence to 8,600 by the fall of 2020 and to withdraw all American forces by May 1, 2021. If Biden had reversed course, he would have had to rely, presumably as a prelude to another “surge,” on just a few thousand soldiers to regain the territory taken by the Taliban, who were on a roll. As vice president, Biden had already opposed Obama’s surge of 100,000 troops 10 years earlier and, understandably, had no inclination to repeat. So he chose to continue on the path cleared by Trump but stretched the timetable for a final exit to September 11. Now he stands accused of abandoning the Afghan people.

    Biden-bashers haven’t reflected on some fundamental questions: How successful could the 20-year nation-building undertaking have been if the impending exodus of a few thousand American soldiers precipitated the total unraveling of the Afghan government and the ANDSF in two weeks? And even if Biden had delayed the withdrawal date and deployed many more U.S. troops, would that have necessarily enabled an orderly evacuation given that thousands of desperate Afghans would still have thronged Kabul airport? Indeed, wouldn’t even a well-executed mass evacuation have prompted Afghan officials and military officers to cut deals with the Taliban? If, as some critics insist, retaining 2,500 troops in Afghanistan would have prevented the Kabul government’s collapse and enabled continued anti-terrorism operations, what would have been the end game, and when would we have seen it?

    https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2021/08/20/why-its-wrong-to-blame-biden-for-the-afghanistan-debacle/

    In the final analysis, Biden had the guts that Obama and Trump didn't.  He could just as easily done what his predecessors had and handed off the situation to his successor, but he made the hard decision instead and should be applauded for it.  

    • Hook 'Em 4
    • Like 2
  4. 2 hours ago, The Ace of Aces said:

    This is 100% correct. War is money for everyone so Biden being the guy with the balls to end this charade that should’ve stopped in 2002 is badass. 

    How the media has reacted so hysterically to Joe’s actions tell you all you need to know about whether it was the right thing to do. 

  5. Too many regulars out of the lineup and Altuve/Gurriel are slumping.  Going to be tough sledding until they get Yordan and Tucker back.  Maybe, just maybe, we'll get Bregman back too before the end of the season.  Also would be helpful if Urquidy could finally begin a rehab assignment and finally knock Odorizzi out of the rotation.  There aren't any DeGroms on our pitching staff, but a rotation of LMJ/Garcia/Framber/Urquidy/Greinke is solid top to bottom with a good pen to back them up.  Just need to get healthy.

  6. It is so wild how disassociated actual policy is from what's discussed in the media from both GOP-leaning and Dem-leading media outlets. 

    What likely happened here is that the Trump/Biden admins were finally able to secure an agreement with the Taliban that safeguarded the US' most important interests in the region (continued opium production and the construction of pipelines by Chevron/UNOCAL), making it unnecessary for the US to continue propping up a deeply corrupt, ineffectual, and unpopular government.  Why not take that deal if you're the US?  It would be dumb not to.  Because we can't discuss stuff like this in the major media, we have to instead portray this as another falling of Saigon moment which each side GOP/Dem will litigate for years.

    From February:

    Quote

    A Taliban delegation has paid a surprise visit to Turkmenistan to pledge support for a planned natural gas pipeline across Afghanistan, providing welcome reassurance for a project whose viability has long been rendered doubtful by security concerns.

    Signs point to the trip having been brokered by the U.S. government, which has long championed what is known as TAPI, named after the four countries the pipeline would cross: Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

    Suhail Shaheen, a member of the Taliban’s Qatar-based negotiation team, told reporters in Ashgabat on February 6 that his movement was offering “full support for the implementation and security of TAPI and other developmental projects in our country.”

    Shaheen explicitly addressed the most commonly aired worry about the prospects for TAPI by assuring his hosts that not only would the project not be targeted for attacks, but that the Taliban was committed to ensuring its safety.

    “We are trying to contribute to prosperity of our people and development of our country by providing protection to all projects,” Shaheen said in English, reading from a written statement.

    https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2021/02/10/taliban-vows-to-guarantee-safety-of-trans-afghanistan-gas-pipeline/

    • Hook 'Em 1
    • Like 1
  7. lol this was our case to NATO linking the Taliban with 9/11

    Quote

    One Western official at NATO said the briefings, which were oral, without slides or documents, did not report any direct order from Mr. bin Laden, nor did they indicate that the Taliban knew about the attacks before they happened.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/03/international/nato-says-us-has-proof-against-bin-laden-group.html

    The Saudis are more directly linked to 9/11 than the Taliban but have been shielded from blame by the US government to this day.  That should be far more embarrassing and humiliating for Americans than the goat fuck happening now in Afghanistan.  

    • Like 2
    • Rage+1 1
  8. 1 hour ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

    Then why didn't they expel him? Stop with the false narrative that the Taliban didn't support OBL and AQ. There is no evidence of that and overwhelming evidence that they did by allowing him to remain in the country.

    The best you have is that the Taliban offered to talk about it if the US first stopped the bombing. And let's say you're right in that the Taliban would agree to letting OBL go to SA. That is supporting him.

    Pakistan and SA gave far greater support to OBL than the Taliban, but neither were attacked by the US.  Hell, the US itself gave more material support to OBL than the Taliban.  

    • Like 1
  9. 9 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

    Wrong. Your own article just says the Taliban offered to discuss it if Bush stopped the bombing.  And they only would agree to hand over OBL to a 3rd country not the US. Something tells me that they didn't mean Canada. 

    They likely would have given him to the Saudis, as they offered to do in the 90s.  They wanted to get rid of him. for years.

  10. 13 hours ago, Beantown Express 2.0 said:

    Does the timeline really matter though?   I mean whether it took 30-90 days or 30-90 minutes for Kabul to fall it was going to happen either way and people would bitch about it no matter how quickly it happened. We may have messed up the pullout at this point but it was bound to be a shit show no matter what we did and the Taliban were going to regain control.  I feel bad for the people of Afghanistan but let’s remember that there are countries where people are treated like crap by brutal regimes all over Asia, Africa, South America, etc… and we unfortunately can’t invade all of these countries and get rid of the bad guys either.  The world has some evil people that gain power and do evil things and you can’t just blame the United States.  Not that we don’t do bad stuff also and screw things up diplomatically sometimes but Afghanistan falling to the Taliban is not the United States fault.  If we never went in 20 years ago I am guessing the Taliban would have been in power for the past 20 years and still going strong.

    It just illustrates, to the US' chagrin, the absolute and total failure of Karzai's government.  20 years, trillions of dollars, and thousands of American lives spent to build a government that instantly collapses when the supports are removed.  That is what is so incredibly embarrassing for the US.  

  11. 8 minutes ago, Gourmand said:

    I believe in Brooks Raley, I own it. He's a decent reliever who has been the victim of shitty luck and also constantly put in bad situations by Baker because of the overall suckiness of the bullpen in the first half of the season. He is a good middle of the game bridge but he must come in to start an inning or with no runners on base. 

    He’s been hit pretty hard too so I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily bad luck but I also wouldn’t be surprised if he turns it around given the stuff still appears intact and pitcher quality of contact is pretty volatile. 

  12. 9 minutes ago, HtownHorn said:

    Not too mention that Whitley was a Top 10 prospect, while Javier, Framber, Urquidy, and Garcia were never on a Top 100 list.

    Yeah, there’s a lot of bandwagoning in evaluating prospects and if you don’t have the right pedigree when drafted it can be very hard to play your way into top prospect status. 

  13. Also, to be fair to Straw, he’s cost controlled and likely a league average player moving forward with his speed and defense, which is pretty valuable. Indeed, he has the sixth highest WAR of all CFs in the majors this season. The fact that they were willing to move him shows how highly Click thinks of McCormick/Meyers. 

  14. 9 minutes ago, Ghost of Shag said:

    I want to qualify this by saying I don’t know shit about fuck.

    But if the receivers are continuing to struggle, Sark needs to part ways with Coleman now. Not later. 

    It’s not like we’re bringing in a stellar WR class anyway. Get someone in there who knows what the hell he’s doing.

    Unless there are some big surprises, I would expect the receivers to continue to struggle. The prognosis is bleak. 

  15. 12 minutes ago, Nivek said:

    Kind of seemed to me that we were never serious about fighting the Taliban and instead it seems we were focused on trying to make a man’s hopes come true instead of facing reality.

    Yes we should have attacked Afghanistan. Not dicked around and tried to build a modern society there. If they wanted it, they would have built it themselves. Our attacks should have been with a goal in mind that was based on reality.

    How is the Taliban getting food, gas, ammo, and money?

    The Taliban wanted nothing to do with OBL and were willing to give him over to a third party but we refused. I think our invasion of Afghanistan, besides feeding the war machine, had more to do with the Taliban’s crack down on poppy production in 2000 than anything with respect to keeping america safe or any of that twaddle. 

    • Hook 'Em 1
×
×
  • Create New...