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Post by m1keyboots on May 19, 2018 12:45:00 GMT -5
After living in England, Holland, Germany among other places(not bragging I'm very fortunate I feel like holland, denmark or some of the other nordic countries would take to it. I'll put it like this, if you put a bunch of Dutch people in Fenway you'd get a better reaction than a bunch of Londoners. Also, in general German, Dutch, Belgian peeps like us more than Brits in my experience. Because they're still bitter we kicked their ass, what 250 years ago? I can't keep track. In all seriousness, I have never had issues with Englishmen in New York (or in Boston). As long as they don't try to expand to Europe, this is great. As James said, it's no further than a flight to the west coast, so why not. It should be good for baseball. As long as they make it equal 1&1 or 2&2, I'm fine. But who knows, with Torre in the front office. I also don't trust Khan. He wants the Super Bowl in London. That's just not right. Well I hope it didn't come across that brits wouldn't make it a grand old time. As you know they surely would! "Super, super Rick....super, super rick, super, super Rick. Super rick porcello!" Its Welsh, and it's the only cadence than matches Joe Calzaghe.
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Post by m1keyboots on Apr 17, 2018 12:25:03 GMT -5
Although they've sold out a little bit a recent group that's come out that I'm sure most of you will like Portugal. The Man. Give the song feel it still" a chance. Been meaning to respond to this. You realize Feel It Still went to #4 on the Billboard chart and went double platinum, right? I think lots of folks are giving that one a chance. Well, they were pretty big last year. Then 6 months later landed that automobile commercial, and it was the like the Aquaspin merchandise bump for "Conner4real" . Might be a bad reference if you're not into Lonely Island.
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Post by m1keyboots on Apr 17, 2018 12:20:53 GMT -5
Show-tani. We are going to see him hit one game and see him pitch one game. So we get to see what this guy is all about. I'll tell you what. He can hit. He may have some trouble after no plate appearances in over a week. But pummeling Kluber curves and Bauer heat for long home runs was quite impressive. Edit: although his is 23, and this would be his 3rd ever ML game pitched. And he's still in his first 25 at bats as a rookie.
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Post by m1keyboots on Apr 9, 2018 14:31:18 GMT -5
You can't blame Martinez for Xander getting hurt like that, that was a freak injury. Blaming him for that happening is a little bit childish, and just plane shows maybe a dislike for the man However, you can blame JD for never backing up the center fielder on balls hit in the gap, for having a terrible arm, for missing cutoff men left and right, as well as throws to bases for misjudging balls near the wall, and for not only being slow but taking bad routes period, on top of all that he insists on being out in the field which moves Andrew to Center. As much as I love Benintendi, and think hes an average center fielder, the difference between his and Jackie's defense shows in my opinion quite obviously. I'm not going to touch the first part about about Martinez and Xander because it's a complete contradiction after you explained Martinez's deficiency issues in the field, and I've already touched on that. However Martinez in LF turns the awesome outfield defense into a weakness. Benintendi is a *below* average CF. Martinez is basically Hanley Ramirez in LF. Mookie in RF is the only positive in this alignment. How's it contradictory ready to absolve JD of a freak Xander Bogaerts injury, while also pointing out the obvious defensive deficiencies in JD's game? People are able to think two things at once.
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Post by m1keyboots on Apr 9, 2018 14:28:02 GMT -5
Reading his explanation is why I dont use Twitter.
Twitter is a cesspool of better-than-tbou keyboard warriors who have already founs him guilty.
Sure his average and power went up last year. But he was a first-round pick, and had potential and future Improvement written all over his Prospect description. This isn't like Canelo Alvarez obviously using steroids, I feel like there's a chance Chavis may be telling the truth. Maybe not.
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Post by m1keyboots on Apr 8, 2018 17:15:07 GMT -5
While I do not think it is fair to say that JD's play in the outfield contributed to Bogaerts injury, I do think it is fair to say that JD's outfield play so far this year has been poor. Moreover, he was considered to be a poor defensive outfielder while he was in Detroit. The less they play JD in the outfield, the better I think it will be for the Red Sox pitchers. Another person who did not acquit himself very well in the field today was Devers. I thought he looked pretty bad on at least a couple of plays. He looks slow charging the ball to me. As a hitter, i am a big Devers fan. I really think he could be a left-handed Miguel Cabrerra. And I know he works hard on his defense. I have seen him doing it in spring training. But I am not convinced he is going to be even an average major league third baseman. I hope I am wrong about that. Hope I do not sound to negative, given that they are now 8-1. There pitching has been great so far and it looks like the bats are starting to com around. I am looking forward to seeing them play the Yankees now while the Red Sox are hot. I think it would be fun to get up on them 5 or 6 games early and see how they and their fans react. Martinez is not a very good outfielder. They can't let him get anywhere near rightfield in Fenway, that's for certain - he hasn't come close to figuring out the wall in leftfield yet. And Devers is going to have to keep working at it. The long throw he made from beyond the foul line after a nice stop was weak because he rushed it even though he had time. So he has to learn the runners and he's going to have to keep working on those slow rollers. There's work to do. I'll have to disagree on the Devers comment, he did make at least one poor Fielding play, and he did double bounce that one through. However there were a couple Hot Shot One Hoppers be fielded cleanly and let off strong and accurate throws. It would be a stretch to compare Rafael Devers and JD Martinez's defense. Devers is capable with potential who sometimes makes mistakes but also can make the average play and even sometimes the spectacular. Whereas with JD I have to admit my heart rate jumps when the ball is hit to left field
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Post by m1keyboots on Apr 8, 2018 17:13:04 GMT -5
You can't blame Martinez for Xander getting hurt like that, that was a freak injury. Blaming him for that happening is a little bit childish, and just plain shows maybe a dislike for the man
However, you can blame JD for never backing up the center fielder on balls hit in the gap, for having a terrible arm, for missing cutoff men left and right, as well as throws to bases for misjudging balls near the wall, and for not only being slow but taking bad routes period, on top of all that he insists on being out in the field which moves Andrew to Center. As much as I love Benintendi, and think hes an average center fielder, the difference between his and Jackie's defense shows in my opinion quite obviously.
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Post by m1keyboots on Apr 6, 2018 7:08:29 GMT -5
Although they've sold out a little bit a recent group that's come out that I'm sure most of you will like Portugal. The Man. Give the song feel it still" a chance.
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Post by m1keyboots on Apr 5, 2018 7:40:43 GMT -5
I wouldn't think age 24 is too old, not when he missed most of 2016 with a knee injury. I bet that got the team to wait an extra year to revamp his swing. Not wanting to mess with it when he was coming back from a major injury.
In 2017 he hit 3 HRs in 21 games during spring training and did have very good numbers. I just feel we've seen him do that before in stretches, like 6 HRs in 47 games in 2016. This year he hit 6 HRs in 27 games, we've never seen that type of power from him before. So for me I'm going to buy he's turned a corner with his new swing and can't wait to see how he does in the minors.[/quote]
Quick reply, I meant Olden the fact that we have Moreland sign for a couple years and Hanley is more likely or to get that extension by the day pushing his MLB playing time age to 26 maybe 27. Which would be his Peak years, and that would be when the power would come. And you're right, he does have decent raw power but with average ish defense and really no versatility he'd have to maximize that power in my opinion to make an impact in Boston.
Although we could be looking at a Travis Shaw situation all over again, not in terms of skillset just in terms of letting a guy go because we already had somebody
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Post by m1keyboots on Apr 4, 2018 8:12:25 GMT -5
I may be mistaken, but didn't the Creator and his assistant /co creator get jobs with major league clubs?
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Post by m1keyboots on Apr 4, 2018 6:41:26 GMT -5
Luis Ysla traded to the Orioles today. First player acquired by the Dave Dombrowski regime for the Sox. No! I had such high hopes for his Lefty high-octane fastball I humbly offer Noe Ramirez who seems to be racking up the strikeouts
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Post by m1keyboots on Apr 4, 2018 6:37:46 GMT -5
Hanley has played like a all-star for 3 months here in his whole time in Boston, Chris. If it wasn't for the second half of 2016, the Hanley Ramirez contract might have been a total disaster here. He's never dependable or healthy. That is kind of my point. I'd rather pay a younger Kimbrel or Pomeranz than a 35 year old Hanley, who I can say with a somewhat bias, plays like he's 40 half the time. I think you're underselling his 2016. He certainly had a bad slump from mid-May to mid-June, and was also not great for a couple-week stretch in April, but that's a thing with power hitters. Hell, that happened to Ortiz for longer stretches. In 2017, I hope we can all agree that health, a recurring issue over his career, was the problem. But that's the thing: If he is not healthy... you don't play him. If he is not playing well... you don't play him. My point is that if he's hitting like he did when he was healthy and productive in 2016, you play him because he's by far the best option you have. EDIT: Good lord, I completely forgot about 2015. Someone refresh my recollection about what even happened there. Was it just the left field nonsense? 2015 was the original move to Third Base, then it was moving him to left field where he hurt himself multiple times and became somewhat of a punching bag with the Boston media (not running out ground balls to Pitchers, missing cut off men, judgements on what they felt was "sulking" after making outs LOL, basically, not being a saint) which I don't suspect he was ready for that type of 24/7 harsh criticism. Although that's crazy to think, every player should know that the media seems as though they basically wait for the worst moments from players, writing about them with as much negative drama as humanly possible without being in 11th grade. If it were up to me every single Boston beat writer should be replaced with the Sox prospects moderators
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Post by m1keyboots on Apr 4, 2018 6:30:19 GMT -5
I appreciate your response, however the players you cited were big-time prospects to begin with. At least they were relatively highly-touted. Once again I don't mean to throw shade on Sam Travis, but apart from his awesome career at Indiana, he was never that highly-touted of a prospect, and in the minor leagues he didn't show much power for a first baseman, with a more so bad to ball approach. In my very humble opinion I just don't feel like that kind of player profile fits on the Red Sox from the right side. Also, Color Me ignorant but I don't know what BSOHL means :/ Keith Law rated Travis as a top 100 prospect, so it's not like he's a total scrub or something like that. He has hit .295 .360 .434 .794 in the minors. So he's a very good hitter and has good on base skills. The big knock being he didn't show the power you want from a guy that will play 1B. Thing is he has raw power that he has shown off for years in batting practice. His swing just limited that in games. So if a new swing can unlock his raw power, while not hurting his hitting ability, you have a great young piece at 1B. We'll have to wait and see, but so far he looks great. He also seems to run well for a first baseman, but I'm in the camp that the swing change approach only works for a small percentage of players with the bat to ball skills, and it's getting a bit late for him. I also don't think spring training was the beginning of that, considering he was a similar player in terms of production last spring. I do think he could be a major league regular, but a good fit in Boston? I have my doubts. I still wish good things for him, and if it's not in a box and uniform hopefully it's for somebody else who traded us a dynamite Prospect
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Post by m1keyboots on Apr 4, 2018 6:25:34 GMT -5
Agreed with your whole statement, I would be more than ecstatic with the line somewhere around 325/380/500 With the 50 doubles and 30 home runs. Sprinkle in the 15 steals. That would be an MVP season in my opinion If he had 50 doubles and 30 home runs, he'd have an ISO well over .175. If he did hit .325 with that many XBH and his typical walk rate, you're looking closer to .325/.400/.570 which is kinda crazy to predict IMO. Considering I said "somewhere around", I didn't expect someone from the peanut gallery to come nitpick at my comment, which was supposed to be a positive one. So let me make it all better 47 doubles, 27 bombs, 15 steals. 325/380/575. I didn't make a prediction, I said I would be ecstatic with such a slash line. So as crazy as you'd like to think that prediction is, a prediction it wasn't. If you'd like to consider my hopefulness crazy then by all means labeled it crazy. I guess I'm just a glass-half-full kind of guy. Maybe it's because I moved out of Boston
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Post by m1keyboots on Apr 4, 2018 6:20:02 GMT -5
Not to sound greedy, and as much as I love Hanley swinging the stick early this year. Watching JD Martinez botch plays in right field or left was kind of disappointing. Especially when it meant taking the franchise player ( and perennial MVP candidate and Gold Glove / Platinum Glove winner) out of the game until the 9th inning, in Mookie Betts. Or our rookie of the year candidate and hopefully future star for what amounted to be a couple kicked pop flies and a couple RBI singles from JD. Now that rant is over, and Joe Kelly has won a little bit of my trust back, it seemed to me like Mitch Moreland got hot last year with consistent playing time. And since he seems to be the odd man out in terms of least amount of field time I'm a bit disappointed. Yes, Hanley made some great plays in the field but let's be honest he'll never be Mitch Moreland, and the offense hasn't exactly blown our socks off recently without Mitch Thus ends my petty gripe on a 5 and one season. May the winning trend continue.
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Post by m1keyboots on Apr 1, 2018 7:06:21 GMT -5
Having Cora as the new manager, and it being a mostly athletic team with successful stolen base to caught stealing ratios, for the most part. Do you guys think last year would be the high-water mark for our swipes, or possibly the window to a future with more?
I do realize middling stolen base totals (12-20) can lead to extremely low caught stealing totals, since they often have something to do with stealing off slow pitchers/bad throwing catchers and picking spots. Because even though it would require taking more chances , I'd love to see more attempts from Xander, Beni, Mookie (even though he was caught the other day and approaches 30 every year anyway), and even the guys who can pick more spots like Vasqy, JBJ, Devers and even *gasp* Hanley.
I say this, because I don't subscribe to the notion that having JD in the lineup forces runners to keep their base and not take less chances than normal, especially since any data compiled on running more or less in front of a great stick has little to no effect on outcomes (per fangraphs).
Am I alone on wanting to see more thefts?
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Post by m1keyboots on Apr 1, 2018 6:54:54 GMT -5
Tell me about what a great guy Judge is and then come back and tell me about Pettittte and Lance Armstrong. Idk, Judge is a huge guy who’s always hit the ball hard. His problem was pitch recognition, not strength. He annoys me, beyond just being a Yankee (although that’s a big part of it), but I’m withholding judgment (see what I did there) until there’s something more substantial to go on. As for Bogey going .335/40/well over 100...I’d be a little surprised by 40 HR. I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility (I mean, Logan Morrison and Mike Moustakis hit 38), but I see it as maybe a 90-95th %ile outcome. And .335 is probably similarly unlikely, but with his BABIP history and ability to hit to all fields, it doesn’t *feel* as unlikely. Regardless, that’s the sort of career year I think we were all hoping back in 2012 that he might have some day, and he’s healthy and entering his prime. And, you know, he’s absolutely obliterating the ball right now. He’s beyond incendiary. After tonight, he’s got three straight multi-XBH games and he *looks* the part at the plate. In light of Speier’s observations, voiceofreason’s prediction is starting to look conservatively reasonable. Agreed with your whole statement, I would be more than ecstatic with the line somewhere around 325/380/500 With the 50 doubles and 30 home runs. Sprinkle in the 15 steals. That would be an MVP season in my opinion
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Post by m1keyboots on Apr 1, 2018 6:46:39 GMT -5
I think we might agree on it seems more exciting to watch a guy who sits low to mid 90s, and then once in awhile jacks one at 99 with two strikes or elevated to give a guy a different look. More exciting than someone who just pumps 98 consistently. Although when I think of Kimbrel I think of nothing but excitement. It might just be a coincidence, but when I think of the big right-handers who throw hard consistently I think of injuries. Strasburg, to Grom, syndergaard, Eovaldi Etc. DeGrom doesn't really belong on that list, he throws hard but he doesn't sit particularly close to his max, and he's been largely healthy since coming to the big leagues. I think his only major injury in the big leagues (he had TJ in the minors) was the UCL nerve thing, which isn't really a stress injury as I understand it. His teammate, Steven Matz, is basically the poster boy for this though, he throws very close to his max all the time and, wouldn't you know it, has never been healthy. Also, some might disagree with the relative importance of velocity... This isn't meant to argue, but a BP fastball from Greinke is mid-to-upper 80s at this point. Of course, he is such an experience and great picture that he's able to locate at the lower velocities and get by the lineup multiple times. And I didn't mean the velocity saying to be a Max effort reason that the velocity goes up. Just because the ground doesn't Max out in the upper 90s, doesn't mean that throwing in the mid-90s half the time might not have had an effect. Although, I do think that Dan warthen slider had a serious effect on all those meds pictures as well as maxing out there velocity
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Post by m1keyboots on Apr 1, 2018 6:42:57 GMT -5
I think we might agree on it seems more exciting to watch a guy who sits low to mid 90s, and then once in awhile jacks one at 99 with two strikes or elevated to give a guy a different look. More exciting than someone who just pumps 98 consistently. Although when I think of Kimbrel I think of nothing but excitement. It might just be a coincidence, but when I think of the big right-handers who throw hard consistently I think of injuries. Strasburg, to Grom, syndergaard, Eovaldi Etc. Absolutely. Watching a guy really **pitch**...putting it on the black, up, down, in tight and corner low away. Changing speeds, movement, eye levels and location. Those pitchers who can start a game with four straight perfectly located fastballs. Corner away 92 2-seam. Then in tight at the hands, swung late at 96, riser. Maybe the batter nicks the next one at the letters a shade tight at 94, 4-seam fouled back. A screaming foul liner into the stands past 3b on a 93 2-seam back off the outside corner that the pitcher leaves just a little too close to the plate. Bends him back or freezes him with the 11-7 78-mph CB dropped in tight just shading the bottom of the zone. Then it’s 91, 95 knees, numbers with 2-seamer and 4 to the next batter. He flares weakly to SS reaching for a 92 2-seam out and away. Maybe the next batter gets a couple of benders, the first at 84 right out over the plate but low and with hard, late break the batter swings over. Then 77 with off-the table break that catches the zone but ends up buried away for called strike 2. Then 98 at the numbers with the 4-seam, way behind for strike three. Saves the changeup for later. And hopefully that Change-Up comes along to become a Wipeout pitch! :-)
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Post by m1keyboots on Apr 1, 2018 6:40:45 GMT -5
Another big Hanley Ramirez breakout aside, personally I'm rooting for Mitch Moreland. Of course I wouldn't mind if Hanley went bananas again. Hanley Ramirez is the man, man. As far as Sam Travis goes, how many guys enjoy such a power breakout in their mid-twenties? Yes there are a couple, but that means we'd be willing to bet that Travis is in the same category as a Josh Donald, or a JD Martinez. Even if it's a minor Improvement overall, with a big Power Surge from the adjustment like Marlon Byrd, would he be that much better than Mitch at that level? And I don't think Travis is close to the defensive value that Moreland gives you with his left-handed stick providing some matchup benefits too. That’s the kind of skepticism I can usually get behind, but given that we just lived through the Year of the Busted Prospect (Yonder, Smoak, Morrison), I’m not going to be quite so dismissive of swing change stories as I am about, for instance, BSOHL stories. I appreciate your response, however the players you cited were big-time prospects to begin with. At least they were relatively highly-touted. Once again I don't mean to throw shade on Sam Travis, but apart from his awesome career at Indiana, he was never that highly-touted of a prospect, and in the minor leagues he didn't show much power for a first baseman, with a more so bad to ball approach. In my very humble opinion I just don't feel like that kind of player profile fits on the Red Sox from the right side. Also, Color Me ignorant but I don't know what BSOHL means :/
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Post by m1keyboots on Mar 28, 2018 17:51:16 GMT -5
It's surprising that nobody we traded has won a Nobel Peace prize. I for one am still happy with Kimbrel, Sale, and Pomeranz.
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Sam Travis
Mar 28, 2018 10:52:11 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by m1keyboots on Mar 28, 2018 10:52:11 GMT -5
Another big Hanley Ramirez breakout aside, personally I'm rooting for Mitch Moreland. Of course I wouldn't mind if Hanley went bananas again. Hanley Ramirez is the man, man.
As far as Sam Travis goes, how many guys enjoy such a power breakout in their mid-twenties? Yes there are a couple, but that means we'd be willing to bet that Travis is in the same category as a Josh Donald, or a JD Martinez. Even if it's a minor Improvement overall, with a big Power Surge from the adjustment like Marlon Byrd, would he be that much better than Mitch at that level? And I don't think Travis is close to the defensive value that Moreland gives you with his left-handed stick providing some matchup benefits too.
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Post by m1keyboots on Mar 28, 2018 10:46:58 GMT -5
This may be a nonsensical complaint. Here goes it though. I for one wouldn't want to see him sitting mid-upper 90s. Not saying his body couldnt handle it, but his ability is already there and after seeing so many great hsrd throwing young RHSP go down it seems like low 90s is enough. Of course it's about how you GO about adding that velocity, and whether or not it adds to, or plays your fastball up. Its really just nit picking, but having a young homegrown starter is just so exciting, that selfishly I want to be hired as a personal arm protector. I could lift all his luggage and sign autographs for him. Just so his arm remains perfectly intact. From what I’ve read, the injury risk and velocity relationship is more about sitting velo/max velo versus overall velocity. Basically, it’s a product of effort. So I’d be happiest if I saw Mata having success touching 98-99 but sitting 93, rather than, as you say, having the same peak velo of 99 but sitting 95. “Pitching” beats throwing any day. I think we might agree on it seems more exciting to watch a guy who sits low to mid 90s, and then once in awhile jacks one at 99 with two strikes or elevated to give a guy a different look. More exciting than someone who just pumps 98 consistently. Although when I think of Kimbrel I think of nothing but excitement. It might just be a coincidence, but when I think of the big right-handers who throw hard consistently I think of injuries. Strasburg, to Grom, syndergaard, Eovaldi Etc.
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Bryan Mata
Mar 26, 2018 12:29:06 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by m1keyboots on Mar 26, 2018 12:29:06 GMT -5
This may be a nonsensical complaint. Here goes it though. I for one wouldn't want to see him sitting mid-upper 90s. Not saying his body couldnt handle it, but his ability is already there and after seeing so many great hsrd throwing young RHSP go down it seems like low 90s is enough. Of course it's about how you GO about adding that velocity, and whether or not it adds to, or plays your fastball up. Its really just nit picking, but having a young homegrown starter is just so exciting, that selfishly I want to be hired as a personal arm protector. I could lift all his luggage and sign autographs for him. Just so his arm remains perfectly intact.
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Post by m1keyboots on Mar 26, 2018 12:17:42 GMT -5
Deven Marrero you will be missed.
Many of us will remember how you came in and shored up a third base that looked like that of the local industrial league team. Your solid, and sometimes spectacular defense combined with the 6 productive days at the plate will never be forgotten.
May you find a better go of it with National League pitching, and I wish you a long-term job found in Arizona.
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