More money for Cab fare….

To break it down, this deal is statistically sound and financially clever. Talks between the Detroit Tigers and the perennial All-Star three bagger Miguel Cabrera are on the upside. The upside of these talks will send 153 million to the pockets of Cabrera and leave the Tigers in the upper echelons of a payroll contender. Only season’s end will provide the fitting conclusion to this very expensive World Series ticket investment.

I would like to applaud the Detroit Tigers. Not for trying to buy their way to a world series ring, but for getting ahead of the inflation curve and locking up a proven talent at a fair market cost. Baseball expenses are growing at such an unpredictable rate. Not before long 150 million will be the benchmark for a proven player. 5 years of consistent performance is a good indicator of performance over a longer MLB career. By then Rookie luck and sophomore slumps have subsided and all that is left is the ball player.

Cabrera’s contract will be the 4th largest in the league history. Cabrera would be the caboose in this money train: Manny Ramirez’s 160 million, Derek Jeter’s 189 million and the engine himself Alex Rodriguez at 275 million. When paying the monumental fees that talent now demands what type of productivity is a club investing in? Since Cabrera is on the sun rise of his prime the Tigers foresight may prove good dividends to their season ticket holders. Look at the first five relevant years of the other major players:


In examination of key statistical contributions, Cabrera shows himself relevant in all categories. He hits for average and power. His slugging percentage and OBP demonstrates his ability to extend the inning. Post Season success can be fueled by individual performance and the tigers just purchased their lineup spark plug. For a veteran line up that now graces Comerica Park including Magglio Ordonez, Edgar Renteria, and Gary Sheffield; Cabrera will be the legal performance enhancer.

Fantasy gurus and baseball pundits will head the congratulatory parade if the results pay off for the Tigers. But, strip away the investment, the predictions, and the obvious boost to the top heavy Detroit payroll and you have proven entity that will satisfy a growing Tiger fan base. The Tigers have seemingly beaten inflation, now they just need to beat the rest of the AL. The Tigers payroll has seen it sky rocket from roughly 69 million in 2005 to nearly 130 million in 2007. But one thing that baseball can still take solace in is that championships cannot be bought…the talent still needs to perform. Enjoy your money Miguel.

Conquering Fools

Today, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty awarded the mountaintop of MN justice to an old friend. It is this, a seemingly generous donation to another friend that warrants a good mental walk through.

My initial thought was what about the absence of a process similar to the US Supreme Court confirmation hearings? What about the Framer's idea that there should remain that barrier between the executive office and the bar of judicial reason? Should this process be discarded on the grounds that this is how it has always been executed? Or should one Minnesota tradition be reevaluated.

Obviously, these questions are bigger than a short dip in the pool of judicial nominations. But the opportunity is present.

There are numerous reasons why our government system has a 3 branch system in place. It assures that motivations of the pillars of government are kept in check and regulated by each other. It doesn’t allow our system to be overwhelmed by alliances between any two of the three. In this case, the executive is allowed the opportunity to hand pick the next candidate. End of story. But in the age of partisan strategy, is a neutral candidate a realistic conclusion? Or has the media transformed me into the political skeptic?

Now in all fairness, justices are elected to Minnesota’s highest court for 6 year terms. But, in light of court vacancies, the Governor retains the right to appoint the successor. But, even though this vacancy was made public weeks ago, isn’t there enough time to arrange for an election? Why not promote from within? In this case, the Governor’s appointee is the first to be Chief Justice to not have any court experience in the last 70 years…or since FDR was rolling around the white house. Why the break in tradition? Was the court lacking a competent replacement? Highly doubtful, but in light of change in the public arena all the right things will be said so we will never get the full breathe of internal whispering.

If the state were to propose having some type of approval hearing arranged at least the appearance of a legitimate process would be in place. Having a dual party board or a panel of sitting state justices interview the candidate would be sounder and would leave less room for Governor favors; especially in this case. Had the newly appointed Chief Justice not been a former Law partner of the Governor maybe the distrust wouldn’t be as strong. Now the disadvantages to having this additional step in the approval process would take time, funding, and a revision to the state laws for selecting justices. I feel that 2 of the 3 are easy to arrange. It is the funding that is the key. The Governor is already calling for a 4% decrease in court funding state wide in his new budget plans. In light of this, allocating any more capital to start what essentially would be another bureaucratic committee is far from happening. But, stepping away from the funding and time, the final rationale would revolve around doing the right thing. Now it seems that today’s appointment has gone as smoothly as possible. It doesn’t appear that a lot of backlash has been stirred and that not too much will remain of this subject after this posting. But, to give the public the right representative in our courts, then the right process should be in place.

So be it for my two cents…

Intro

This is what it is. Take it as you may. This is not meant to spar individual ideology but rather to bring about a collective conscious to work towards solutions…plural. In our complex world (or when we make it complicated) there usually is not one line of reasoning that is the end all. Things, thoughts, events, and all in between can become better understood when we allow some time to rationalize our own individual conclusions. It is when we are rushed or poorly influenced that we fail to grasp the core of anything. Give it time, it will come.

With that in mind I want to cover it all. History, Politics, Social issues, and Sports are my passion. With that in mind, let it begin.