Clevelander17

Phillips' numbers in his first few MLB seasons were worse than mediocre. He wasn't progressing nearly at the rate at which he was expected to progress. His minor league numbers had also dipped in the season immediately before he was traded. That, combined with his uncompromising and negative attitude, made him not worth the trouble. Even if the Tribe wanted to give him more time to develop, they couldn't send him back to the minors as he was out of options. That means that, in a year they planned on being competitive, they had to find a place on the major league roster for a 2B that was convinced he was a SS, who had a career MLB OPS of around .600, and didn't get along with the manager. Trading him was the right move, in fact, it was the only move. One probably can't even argue that the Tribe should have gotten more in return, because Phillips' numbers were trending in the direction of him being a bust. Regardless, all of that is in the past now, it's been over five years, so it's time to move on. Pretty soon Jason Kipnis will take over at 2B and make all Indians fans forget about Phillips.

The Tribe was at wit's end with Brandon Phillips. I'm not sure that there was ever any indication of the player he would become, especially considering the headaches he caused. Further, he was absolutely convinced that he was an SS and wanted nothing to do with playing 2B. I wouldn't mind having his talent on this team, but he'll always be a jerk in my opinion.

Carmona missed first and it may have been a problem if the play at second hadn't been controversial. Fausto did eventually get up and touch the base, but had the Reds thrown over right away, they would have had a great shot at getting there before he did.

I find it to be quite an inconvenience, as I'm sure others do. And I wish someone would do a study on how much pollution is caused by people driving to E-Check and then hanging around in long lines with their cars idling.

So an inconsistent and bad test is better than no test? And further, Northeast Ohio's drivers should pay the price for the sins of the local manufacturing companies? Let's be honest here. Northeast Ohio's population isn't what it used to be, and I'd suspect that would mean less cars on the road. Additionally, the local economy has shifted quite a bit from dirty manufacturing to other sectors. The air quality is definitely better than what it used to be. Point being, I think there are a lot of good reasons why this law could very easily be eliminated. And if not, at the very least, inconvenience the residents of all major urban areas in this state, not just Cleveland and Akron.

Also, why does this program only exist in Northeast Ohio? I think it's time to eliminate the program. How about you?

Boobs at 1:32.

:roll:

Which measures are those? Merit pay, I think. But that's not what SB5 is about. It's about punishing and destroying the unions for political purpose. If government is too bloated, teachers, firefighters, and police officers should be the last to face cuts. These people actually make direct contributions to society. Standardized tests scores have very little to do with teacher ability. It would be unfair to use that as a main part of a merit pay program. We were kinda talking about that earlier. Fine, then find *ANY* other measure than tenure to measure performance, because performance and longevity have absolutely nothing in common, especially if it is virtually impossible to fire a poor teacher (or fireman, or policeman, or .....), while they keep piling on the years. How do you know that a teacher is ineffective? And you're arguing that there is a no correlation at all between teaching experience and effectiveness? Until we absolutely find something better that we know is more fair and accurate, it makes no sense to rush through changes to the system. There is a myth floating around that there is some crisis of bad teachers, but there is little evidence to support such a claim. It's a red herring in the education discussion. It seems to be presumably being pushed by education outsiders with the goal of completely destroying public education in this country for their own idealogical reasons.

I'm not worried so much about the trade exception. But I am a little skeptical about a few of the other moves that Grant has made.

One problem I'm beginning to see with the repeal of SB5 is that some of the measures may still exist because the Republicans snuck these measures into the budget that was just passed. So the citizens may directly, through a vote, say that we don't like what SB5 is going to do to education, yet the legislature and governor have preempted what seems like the inevitable by essentially saying that they know what's best for us.

I'm going to have to read up more on the details of Kasich's budget. Seems like he's putting the screws to some very important things and rewarding some of his close idealogical associates. I voted for him, FYI, but I think he's gone too far, especially in what I can only describe as his attack on education.

But that's not what SB5 is about. It's about punishing and destroying the unions for political purpose. If government is too bloated, teachers, firefighters, and police officers should be the last to face cuts. These people actually make direct contributions to society. Standardized tests scores have very little to do with teacher ability. It would be unfair to use that as a main part of a merit pay program. We were kinda talking about that earlier.

I'd prefer to see Phelps playing full-time, but to make everyone happy, he is the obvious choice for a platoon, as a switch-hitter.

Yeah, sadly the effects of this go way beyond the owners and players. I just hope that when the dust settles, big changes have been made and the game is more fair for franchises in ALL markets.

Sizemore's still hurt I think. RBIs are overrated, research it a bit. Beyond that, I guess I would platoon Cabrera at this point. If the season goes down the drain, trade him (if you can) and bring up Kipnis.

Yeah, that's my point. I know they wanted Z for sure, which wouldn't have been a big issue had the Cavs still been able to bring him back, but I don't remember that they wanted draft picks. Makes it even worse for the Cavs and even better that they didn't pull the trigger. All to potentially rent a guy for a few months? Definitely not worth it--UNLESS--adding Stoudemire absolutely guaranteed a title. Would it have? I don't want to know the answer to that question... ;)

I don't think the race of the delinquents is relevant for this particular discussion, as it pertains to making the fair better, but I do think there is a discussion to be had at a different place and time (definitely not on this forum) about such "correlations." But in regards to the overall future and general direction of CH-SH-UH (including our crime problems), I do really believe there should be discussion about HUD's role in the mess we're facing.

You're right, it's not unique to Cleveland Heights. We see it all the time in East Cleveland, Euclid, Maple Heights, over large chunks of Cleveland proper, etc. That's besides the point and although it's not a direct excuse, it's a deflection. We're talking about Cleveland Heights and how to solve this city's problems. What's become acceptable in other nearby cities should not be acceptable in CH. I'm going to ask this right out. Are you in any way, directly or indirectly, saying that minorities are the problem in Cleveland Heights? Do you feel that they are the reason, you believe, CH is in decline? Absolutely not. However there is a preponderance of a very negative and destructive culture that has become acceptable in many minority communities that has been for the past few decades becoming more and more established in Cleveland Heights. This indeed is ruining the schools and the city. The fact that they are minorities is coincidental. If this behavior was closely-associated with any race, it would still be unacceptable. Go back and read through the history of this thread. This post occurred almost FOUR hours ago.

There's no need to be rude. I already answered that question well over an hour ago. In fact, this is the second time that I've pointed out that I already answered the question. Also, you and I were counting posts differently. I thought you were referring to "reply #288," because in fact, that's the only post number of any type that shows up on my computer screen.

Kids in general, above a certain age, can most certainly go out unsupervised. Irresponsible kids who prove that they can't behave within reason without parental supervision should lose their privileges. Yes I was. No I do not know all the parties involved. Yes I do have a pretty good idea what their role was. The first part of that question is irrelevant in my opinion.

So because most of the rest of the team is struggling through less than half of the season, that's supposed to prove Cabrera's value? Generally-speaking, "abysmal" is a perfectly accurate way of describing his hitting. Clutch hitting doesn't exist, and RBIs (as an individual stat) and clubhouse presence are overrated. I understand why you believe the things you do because these myths about the game are pounded into us from day one, but they're just not true.

Standardized tests should have little or no part in determining teacher pay. There are so many problems with those tests on so many different levels it would be absolutely unfair to use those as indication of how well a teacher is teaching. I'm not opposed to merit pay, but it has to be fair and accurate, and as of right now, we don't have a system that does either in evaluating teaching ability.

I agree with that, but again, as I stated earlier, it's not really relevant. What's relevant is that the behavior, no matter who's engaging in it, has to stop. It's not acceptable. The problem is that there may be strong correlations between the behavior and race, which means that when efforts are made to curb the behavior, some people get angry or offended because they feel like they're being targeted for reasons beyond their improper behavior, which simply isn't the case. Right. Nobody is saying it is acceptable. No one is saying efforts shouldn't be made to make it stop. The question then becomes how. Staying true to the bedrock principles of our country, I just simply can't support the notion that well-behaved black kids (of which there are PLENTY) would be denied the same rights and privileges as their white counterparts. I am not willing to eradicate this problem by doing an absolute injustice on those kids. It is not a sacrafice I am willing to make. It is not a sacrafice the law of our land would allow us to make. I would rather not have the fair at all than hang a big sign that says "Black Youths Not Admitted without Adult" or anything akin to that. It would be offensive to the very spirit of the Coventry Fair.... probably even more offensive than whatever these kids did at closing time last Sunday. If some want to view that as political correctness run amuck, then so be it. Agreed, I wouldn't be comfortable with that, either. I think the solution they took is about right for now, or at least step in the right direction. However, this solution is just a band-aid. In the long term, I think that all of the Heights suburbs need to seriously rethink their policies about absentee landlords and government/Section 8 housing and potentially explore all of their legal options. I know of some Cincinnati suburbs that are doing that very thing at the moment.

What are you even talking about anymore? The logic behind the argument I believe you are trying to make is faulty. These groups of kids are out of control and for most of them, the way they were raised is a big part of the problem. No amount of spin or semantics arguing changes that reality. You can't answer a straight question. Ask me the question again and I'll answer it, because I legitimately don't know what you're talking about.