The SoapBoxers

OK, 3 rounds (plus sandwich) in the books.

The draft started very predictably with the National signing San Diego State pitcher Stephen Strasburg, easily the best player in the draft.  The Pittsburgh Pirates made the first “reach” on the draft, taking Boston College catcher Tony Sanchez at #4, far above his projected slot.  This was apparently a case of the Pirates choosing a signable player (there was reportedly an agreement in place before the draft) rather than a player with a high ceiling.  Pirates Nation (if such a term is still accurate) probably let loose a collection groan with this pick.  This is one of the reasons why I wish baseball teams could trade picks.  The Pirates could have easily traded down 10-20 spots and still been able to nab Sanchez.

A few guys slipped more than I expected

Aaron Crow was the first round pick of the Nationals last year (#10) overall and could not agree to a deal with Washington.  He spent a season with the independent Forth Worth Cats and went back into the draft this year.  Some folks had his stock dropping, but I really expected someone to nab him in the top 5.  Instead, he dropped to #12, where he was signed by Kansas City.  This is the second time the Royals have signed a former Cat, as Luke Hochevar followed the same path after he was drafted #6 overall by the Dodgers in 2005 (he was drafted #1 overall by the Royals in 2006).  Contrast this style with the Pirates choosing a lower ceiling player to save money.

A couple other guys were drafted later than I expected due to injury concerns  Pitcher Kyle Gibson of Missouri seemed like a lock for the top 10 before being diagnosed with a stress fracture in his pitching arm.  He dropped to the Twins at #22.  If the Twins can get a good comfort level by the August 15 signing deadline, they could end up with a very good pitcher with this pick.

Perhaps the most intriguing drop was Tanner Scheppers.  Scheppers was a lock for the top 10 last year out of Fresno State before suffering an injury to his rotator cuff and labrum.  He dropped to #48 last year, and the Pirates were unable to sign him.  To be fair to both sides, the negotiations had a risk/reward aspect related to the injury.  This year he was pitching for the independent St. Paul Saints and appears to be fully healed from the injury.  However, some doubts apparently still exist, as Scheppers dropped to the Texas Rangers at #44.  

Scheppers would have actually made a lot of sense at the tail end of the first round.  He is the equivalent of a college senior, and teams would not have been subject to the August 15 deadline to sign him.  They could have waited until right before the 2010 draft to make a really serious offer.  If he was recovered, sign him.  If not, don’t sign him.  Teams who can’t sign a first or second round pick receive a pick one spot lower in next year’s draft (if you can’t sign the #1 overall pick, you’d get the #2 pick in 2010).  Worst case scenario for a team at the tail end of the first round would be not signing Scheppers and getting an equivalent pick in 2010.  The Rangers actually took more of  a risk.  The sandwich picks are not protected.  If they don’t sign Scheppers, they do not get any sort of replacement pick.

How did my Rockies do?  I’m pretty happy.  The Rockies has 3 picks in the top 34.  At #11, I really wish we would have grabbed Aaron Crow.  Instead, we picked flamethrowing high school lefty Tyler Matzek, who already has a fastball in the mid to high 90s.  Matzek has really good upside potential.  The big knock on his was money, as he reportedly wants about $7 million to sign.  At #32 I was hoping we’d go after Scheppers, but took Sacramento State outfielder Tim Wheeler instead.  Wheeler has good speed, and question marks about his power and his ability to stay in center field.  If he can stay in center and show good power, this could be a very nice pick.  At #34, we went for another lefty pitcher with good power, Rex Brothers out of Lipscomb University.  Brothers throws in the high 90s.

Most people dispersed their advice to graduates closer to graduation, so consider this to be a second helping.  Certainly many of the topics will have been addressed by others.

• Become independent – For 18 years, your parents have provided for you.  It’s time to start out on your own.  For some of you, this may mean complete financial independence, such as putting yourself through college and paying all of your expenses.  For others, this may occur in gradual steps.  However you address it, start taking steps in that direction.  You don’t want to end up thirty years old and still living with your parents.
• Learn about financial topics – I’m not suggesting that you need to become a stock market whiz.  However, with a bit of work, you can gain a functional knowledge of personal finance.  If you didn’t learn how to balance a checkbook during high school, learn now.  It will help you avoid overdrafts.  Gain at least a high level understanding of how the tax system works.  You should, at minimum, be able to fill out a 1040EZ form by yourself.  Learn about different retirement options (see this article for a discussion of Roth vs. 401(k)).  Start saving for retirement at the first available opportunity – especially if your employer has a matching program.  In addition to the mainstream media, check out some personal finance blogs – I have links to some in the right hand column.
• It’s OK to change your mind – If you’re heading off to college, you probably have a major declared.  Don’t be surprised if you change your major at some point.  You’re 18, and it’s quite likely that you have a fairly shallow level of knowledge regarding your major.  You might decide that this isn’t the right career for you, or you might simply fall in love with a different major.  Don’t be afraid to take the leap, even if it costs you a semester or two.  You don’t want to look back ten years later and wish you would have changed majors.
• Build strong study habits – If you sailed through high school and never had to study, you might be in for a rude awakening – I definitely was.  It’s hard to describe the difference in rigor between college and high school.  Suffice it to say that it is considerably harder.  It’s important to develop good study habits early, so that you don’t fall into bad habits.
• Stay out of trouble – Things that may have been considered childish pranks in high school may be considered crimes now.  You’re 18, so if you commit a crime, you can be charged as an adult.  If you have a juvenile record, this is a good time to turn over a new leaf.  Stay away from drugs and stop hanging around people who seem to get into trouble a lot.
• Have fun – You might think that you don’t have any free time at all!  In actuality, you’ll probably have considerably more free time now than you will during the later stages of your life.  Cherish the time that you have to spend with friends, and enjoy life.  Also bear in mind that your body allows you to do things that will be much more difficult when you’re older.  If you want to go mountain climbing, it’s a lot easier in yours teens and 20s than in your 50s!

David Carradine

David Carradine, most famous for his roles in Kung Fu and Kill Bill during a long and successful acting career, was found dead in his hotel room in Bangkok.  He was 72.  He was found hanged, and the police are saying that it was a suicide.  Carradine’s manager and wife are very skeptical and believe that foul play was involved.  I would tend to agree with the foul play angle, although we’ll certainly find out more about this in the coming days.

Ocotomom

Nadya Suleman, a/k/a Octomom, is calling Jon and Kate Gosselin “attention seekers”.  We see a lot of case of hypocrisy in the world today, but this one has to take the cake.  In case you’re one of the two people who doesn’t know, Jon and Kate (plus eight) are having marital problems.

On the topic of Nadya, the Octo family will be featured in a reality show.  Nadya’s autobiography will also be on the shelves soon.  My suggestion would be to boycott everyone involved.  I plan to boycott all companies that advertise on the show, and well as the publisher of the book.  I buy a lot of books, so my boycott could hurt the publisher a bit.  Vote with your wallet.

Missing plane

An Airbus plane traveling from Rio De Janeiro to  Paris dropped off radar and is presumed to have crashed in the Atlantic Ocean.  Searchers thought that they may have found the wreckage earlier this week, but authorities now say that the wreckage is not from the aircraft.  I am a bit curious about what the wreckage IS from.  I’m hoping that the plane simply landed on a remote island and has not been able to open a line of communication, but that seems rather unlikely.  The locator device within the plane’s “black box” will only emit a signal for 30 days – after that point, it may be impossible to find the plane.

Cars

GM filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy this week and has been selling off some of its brands.  Hummer was sold to Chinese company Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co., Ltd.  and Saturn will be sold to Penske.  Pontiac and Saab are still on the block.  The core GM will see its ownership change – 60% of the company will be owned by the US government, 12.5% by the Canadian government, 10% will be owned by creditors, and 17.5% will be owned by the UAW.  It is expected that the governments will only be short term investors  until a more permanent buyer (Fiat?) can be found.

Obama in the middle east

President Obama is in the middle east this week.  He gave a speech in work he advocated both sides working together, rather than letting our difference define us.  Peace in the middle east is a tall order – if Obama can establish lasting peace, clear room on Mt. Rushmore!  I think it would be great if people COULD get beyond their differences.  We’re on the earth for a short time – why waste so much of it squabbling?

First of all, this isn’t the main article for today – scroll down for the baseball article.

You may notice a few changes to the layout.

Top

• Front Page – This was called “Home” in the past.  It takes you to the main page, which shows the most current articles.
• Archives – I have added an Archives page that shows all of the articles in the complete history of The Soap Boxers
• Cream of the Crop – This is the same as “The Best of The Soap Boxers”, just under a different name.
• Write for Us – We’re always looking for quality content.

Left side

• I removed the links to the main page and “Best of The Soap Boxers”, since those links are at the top.
• RSS & Twitter – I have changed the icons (for the better, I hope).  For those who aren’t sure what RSS is, click on it to find out more.  We post a link to Twitter whenever a new article is posted on the site.  We don’t do anything else on Twitter at this point.
• Archives – This was previously on the right side.  It shows the headline of each past article, grouped by month.
• Categories – This was also previously on the right.  It groups articles by category.

Right side

• Recent articles – This was  previously on the left.  It shows the seven most recent articles.
• Links to blogs – The was previously on the left.  Click on the links to see some of my favorite blogs.

I tried not to make any massive changes.  I hope you link the new design.  For those of you using IE 6, you’ll finally see the 3 columns properly.  What you had seen previously was a problem that was specific to IE6.

We’re taking a break from our typical friday fiction to do a roundup of the world of baseball.

Big Unit, big milestone

Randy Johnson expected to pitch for the Giants in pursuit of his 300th win on Wednesday night.  Unfortunately, mother nature had a different idea, and the game was rained out.  Thursday was also a wet day, but Johnson took the mound in the first game of a double header.  The weather and the early start time resulted in a much smaller crowd than you would expect for a historic game.  Johnson did not disappoint the crowd (in Washington vs. the Nationals).  He pitched six innings and allowed just two hits, two walks, and one unearned run.  The bullpen closed the door on the Gnats.  Nice job, Randy.

Draft

MLB’s amateur draft will commence on Tuesday and finish up on Wednesday.  It will be televised on the MLB Network, which I unfortunately do not get through my cable provider.  Mediacom, if you’re reading this, PLEASE add the MLB network.

Stephen Strasburg is far and away the top prospect in the draft.  Unless the Nationals balk at the demands of Strasburg’s agent, Scott Boras, he will be taken with the #1 pick.  Sports Weekly had an interesting compilation of the thirteen pitchers who have been taken with the #1 pick in the draft since the draft began in 1965.  1981 #1 overall pick Mike Moore has the most career wins in the group, with 161 (as well as 176 losses).  1989 top pick Andy Benes is the most game over .500 for his career (+16).  A number of the pitchers have had careers derailed by injury (Ben McDonald) or being rushed to the big leagues (18 year old David Clyde skipped the minors after being drafted by the Rangers).

I like Strasburg, but pitchers are inherently risky.

The #2 prospect is University of North Carolina’s Dustin Ackley.  Ackely will likely play center field as a pro, but has played first base this year as he recovers from Tommy John surgery last year.

Pitchers Aaron Crow and Tanner Scheppers were drafted last year but failed to sign.  Crow could not reach a deal with the Nationals.  Scheppers was considered to be a high first round talent last year before an injury put some question marks on his resume, causing him to fall to the second round.  Both are likely to go in the top ten picks.

For more on the draft, check out John Sickel’s MinorLeagueBall.com and  Andy Seiler’s MLB Bonus Baby.  John’s blog focuses on the minor leagues, but gives the draft a decent amount of coverage.  Andy’s blog is relatively new, but very informative.  Andy had previously posted a lot of draft related stuff on MinorLeagueBall before taking the plunge and starting his own blog.  Very impressive so far.

If you have an eye on the 2010 draft, check out  Summer Ball – a site devoted to the college summer leagues.  The college players play in summer league that use wooden bats – to prove their mettle with the wood (pun intended).

Crumbs

Manny Ramirez has gotten a lot of All Star votes, in spite of the fact that he is serving a suspension for using performance enhancing dugs.  Come on folks, don’t vote for Manny this year.

The Pirates traded Nate McClouth to the Braves.  I’m sorry, Pirates fans.  I feel your pain.

The Braves released future Hall of Famer Tom Glavine just as he was rounding into form after an injury.  This makes their free agent signing of Glavine even more moronic.  The Braves got one season out of Glavine (2-4, 5.54 ERA in 61 1/3 innings).  Few people expected such a lackluster return for their investment, but many pointed out the signs of decline (particularly in Glavine’s peripheral stats) and questioned the wisdom of signing a player who would be 42 years old on opening day of the 2008 seasons.  Most painful is the price the Braves paid.  They forfeited their 2008 #1 draft pick to their hated rivals, the Mets.  The Mets also received a sandwich pick as compensation (this pick didn’t come from the Braves, it was created out of thin air).  The Mets drafted Ike Davis with the Braves pick (#18 overall) and Bradley Holt with the sandwich (#33 overall).

The Midwest League’s Cedar Rapids Kernels have a promotion that could result in a fan winning one million dollars on June 8!  Before you get too excited – a Kernels pitcher (or group of pitchers) much throw a perfect game.  The odds of a perfect game are always tiny, but especially in low A.  Even if the pitcher does his job, it’s quite likely that the fielders will commit an error.

Have you ever wondered why you have to sign the credit card receipt when you return merchandise?

Essentially, your signature gives the merchant the authority to put money INTO your account.  Is there a particular reason why someone wouldn’t agree to this?  People putting money into my account is a good thing …

Today I will profile the Man of Steel himself, Mr. Andrew Carnegie.  Carnegie is probably my all time favorite billionaire, as he donated much of his fortune to libraries.  Given that knowledge is power, libraries are a cornerstone of society and serve to improve the lives of future generations.  Those who donate to  libraries serve as a benefactor to many, but those who benefit must work (read) to reap the benefits of the gift.

Andrew Carnegie was born in 1835 in Scotland, where his father worked as a  weaver.  After falling on hard times, the family emigrated to Alleghany, Pennsylvania in 1848.  Carnegie was soon hard at work in a cotton mill.  A couple years later, he became a telegraph messenger boy, where his hard work caused him to rise quickly through the ranks of the Ohio Telegraph Company until he is the superintendent of the Pittsburgh branch of the company.  He moves on to work at Pennsylvania railroad and eventually becomes the superintendent of the company’s western region.

During his youth, Carnegie had the good fortune to be given some opportunities that others might not have enjoyed.  Colonel James Anderson allowed Carnegie and other boys to borrow books from his private library (which Andrew take great advantage of) and one of his bosses at the railroad company helped him with his first investments.  No doubt that Andrew remembered the help he had received, and that this was a basis for his philanthropic philosophy.

A large chunk of Carnegie’s early wealth was gained by investing in railroad-related companies.  After the civil war, Carnegie turned his energies to steel.  Carnegie Steel was able to efficiently mass produce steel rails from railroads and also controlled suppliers of all necessary raw materials.

Carnegie was an incredibly successful business man, but also found the time to write several books and contributed to several magazines.  He often wrote about social subjects.  While Carnegie always had philanthropic intentions, he began donating sizeable chunks of money in his 1840s, beginning first with gifts to his home town in Scotland.

In the 1883 the first “Carnegie Library” was opened in his home town of Dunfermline, Scotland.  Carnegie funded a total of 3000 libraries in the US, spread across 47 states.  He also funded libraries in foreign countries – in countries as close as Canada and as far away as Fiji.

The libraries, though, were just the tip of the iceberg.  He funded the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now part of Carnegie Mellon University) and, of course, Carnegie Hall.  He donated ten million dollars toward the construction of the Hooker Telescope at Mount Wilson.  He gave money to Booker T. Washington’s Tuskeegee Institute.  He funded construction 7000 church organs.  Perhaps most interestingly, he attempted to by independence for the people of the Philippines.  The United States had purchased the Philippines (along with Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Guam) for twenty million dollars at the end of the Spanish-American War.  Carnegie offered to pay the same amount to the US government in an effort to gain independence for the Philippines.  Unfortunately, his offer was not accepted, and the Philippine-American war resulted.

Andrew Carnegie was the second richest man in the world – second only to John Rockefeller of Standard Oil.  When he died, only a small fraction of his wealth remained – he had given the rest away during his lifetime.

Oh – the “small fraction” the remained … it was thirty million dollars … in 1919 dollars.  Not surprisingly, his estate was donated, as well.  Some of our current billionaires (such as Warren Buffet) do their best to follow in Carnegie’s footsteps.  Let’s hope that more of them join in the philanthropic works.

Wikipedia was a source of information for this article.

Another month in the books – where do we stand?

Number of readers

Slow and steady wins the race, right?  We haven’t seen a monstrous explosion in traffic, but we are seeing slow growth in number of regular visitors.  If you have a friend who would like the site, have them swing by for a visit.  I’ll try to set a pitcher of lemonade and some chocolate chip cookies on the back porch.

Content

For the first time the blog featured at least one post on every single day of the month!  I missed a couple of days in April, but with the full team in place for May, we had 100% coverage.

We were able to stick much closer to the schedule than we had in past month.  Our goal is to stick as close to the schedule as possible, so that our loyal readers will know what to expect each day of the week.   Obviously, life will throw a monkey wrench into the plans from time to time.

We’ve rebranded The Soap Boxers as a “web magazine” as opposed to a “blog”.  What’s the difference?  Many blogs tend to be focused on a specific niche.  Clearly, this does not deascribe us, as our content covers a broad range of topics.  Nothing has actually changed in regards to the type of content we are delivering; we’re simply choosing to use a different term to describe ourselves.  Is it much ado about nothing?  Almost certainly.

We have been talking with a number of potential guest writers, from a variety of backgrounds.  Hopefully at least 1 or 2 of these folks will produce articles that will be ready in June.  I think they all have interesting stories to tell.

Site design

You may have noticed  a few minor changes to the sites as we try to improve the experience for our readers.  First, you might notice the “Browse The Archives” link at the top.  This links to a page that will show every article in the history of The Soap Boxers.

The “share” bar at the bottom of each article (right above the box that contains “categories” and “tags”) allows you to share articles with friends via email or by using a variety of social networking sites.  Previously, we were using a different method for this functionality, but we like the bar much better.  If you like one of the articles, share it with others!  If I’m ignoring a particular social networking site, let me know – I might be able to add it.

We live in an electronic world, and hopefully many of you refrain from printing most of the time.  However, when you do print articles, they will look much nicer than they have in the past.  Blogs typically look pretty lousy when printed, because of some of the gobbledygook that prints along with the main text.  I’ve worked to de-goobledygook things so that only the good stuff prints.

What’s next?

We’re excited about a giveaway what we’ll be doing at some point in the neat future – hopefully July.  We’re still keeping things under wraps, but if you like The Soap Boxers, you should enjoy the freebie.

We’re also actively soliciting ideas for Fiction Friday stories.  Leave a suggestion in the comments section (or drop me an email).  Bear in mind that I try to keep the stories around 800ish words, so a couple of sentences would be a sufficiently long suggestion.

I’ve heard people refer to ESPN as a 4 letter word in the sports world.  Today, I wondered if they might be right.

Today’s poll question, on the heels of Jamie Moyer’s 250th win, was whether or not Moyer should be in the Hall of Fame.  The options were “yes”, “no”, and “he needs to get to 300 wins”.  An incredibly high number of people (50%+ had chosen the “yes” and “he needs to get to 300 wins” answers when I checked in the early afternoon).

The correct answer is “no”, even if he manages to get to 300 (which would mean pitching until he was 50).  Moyer has been a successful pitcher and has enjoyed great longevity.  However, he simply falls short of the excellence needed for the Hall of Fame.  It is not the Hall of Pretty Good For a Really Long Time.  Moyer has won more than 15 games in a season just four times, and had never finished higher than 4th in Cy Young voting.  This does not scream “dominance”.

If Jamie Moyer wants to get into the Hall of Fame, he’ll need to buy a ticket.

I do, however, extend my sincerest congratulations to Jamie on the achievement.  I remember him breaking in with the Cubs back in the mid 1980s.  I never imagine that he would still be pitching in 2009.

Back On April 15, we  launched  a Stock Market contest (click link to see insights from the participants) in which a team of Goliaths (personal finance bloggers) were matched up against a team of Davids (people who were not personal finance bloggers).  At long last, we unveil the first monthly update.

At the end of the day on April 14th (the 104th day of the year), the Dow was at 7920.18.

At the end of the day on May 31 (the 151st day of the day), the Dow was at 8500.33

This is a gain of 580.15, or 12.34 points per day.  If we assume that the market will contain to gain at exactly the same rate throughout the rest of the year (yes, a ridiculous assumption), the Dow will be at 11,140.92 at the end of the year.

How do our contestants stack up?

I also invited visitors to play along at home.  Let’s see how they are doing.

Visitor Mike missed the  April 30 cutoff, but submitted a guess of 11,600 – a projected difference of just 459.08.

At this point, team Goliath seems to be off to a strong starts as the Dow has been fairly strong over the last 6 weeks.  There are still 7 long months ahead of us before the end of the year – a lot can change!  Check back each month for an update.