Urban just tweeted ... twitterpated ... twatted ..... er .... posted that he's doing that live chat thing again today at noon.

Get your Zito fanboi questions ready!

Click below for details and whatnot

http://www.csnbayarea.com/pages/urban_chat

CLICK ON THE MAILBAG TO THE RIGHT AND SUBMIT YOUR QUESTIONS IN ADVANCE TO CSNBayArea.com INSIDER MYCHAEL URBAN!

I won't be able to observe, but thought someone might be interesting in repeating the havoc from last time.

I made this post in the LaRoche to AZ thread, but I think it's a topic that bears discussion at a broader level.

I think when a free agent signs with another team, particularly when there is less money or fewer years involved, we have a tendency to think that it’s because of the park. I can’t help wonder if it’s something a bit more valuable than their stats that they are thinking of when they take less money elsewhere.

These guys get taxed by the state for each game they play in a given state. So if LaRoche were to sign with the Giants he’d be taxed in CA for 81 home games at Mays Field and for 9 games at Chavez Latrine, 9 games in SD and 5 away games against the A’s (2 ST & 3 IL) for a total of 104 of his total games played and taxed at California rates. That leaves 58 games played outside of CA where he will be taxed by those states at a rate probably a fair bit less than he’d pay in CA. Since 64% of his games are played in CA, 64% of his annual income would be taxed at CA rates (the 4th highest in the Nation) and 36% at a bunch of different rates, most of which are likely to be less than that of our fair state.

Whereas in AZ he has 81 home games (under AZ income tax regs) and only 27 games ( 9 in SD, 9 in LA, 9 in SF ) in CA and the remaining 54 elsewhere. 16% under CA tax laws, 50% under AZ tax laws (the 10th lowest in the Nation and where a bunch of big leaguers call home)  and the remaining 34% taxed under the various other states rates.

I honestly think that the taxes plays a big role in this and if I'm a major leaguer, I wanna play for the Astros.

http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxdata/show/336.html

Seriously, he is miserable from the right side. So why, WHY, WHY continue to do it?

He needs to either stick to the left side against all pitchers until he can get right from the right.........or they need to start Nate against LHP's.

I mean, we know Bochy loves him some vets and is reticent at best to try to get them to alter what they have been doing but this is absurd. I fail to see the benefit of having him continue to hit below Mendoza from the right side. He's not THAT big a defensive upgrade over Nate.