Fantasy Astrology Waiver Wire - September 2016

With news starting to break about the 2017 World Baseball Classic, that got me thinking about the possibility of an Astrology Baseball Classic. Because when you think about it, the general principle behind constructing WBC rosters is to make a list of all available players, then organize that list by the "Country of Birth" (or rather, "Country of Heritage") column. Using the same principle, couldn't we just arrange the list by the "Astrological Sign" column, and play some exhibition games? I've been doing the first part of this equation every year since 2012, but instead of exhibition games, in my case I play a hypothetical fantasy season. 

If we're talking about astrology, I must first say a few words about Kyle Schwarber, CHC C/OF on the DL for the year. Not about his nonexistant 2016 season, but about a piece of human error (mine) that had mistakenly attributed his hypothetical service to the Aries Rams. This is not so: I goofed and he is a Pisces. Wouldn't have mattered this year of course...  And wouldn't have mattered last year, in fact, as the Fish won the championship even without the Warbird's powerful bat in the lineup down the stretch. 

Speaking of down the stretch, the baseball season is in it right now, in a big way. Which means teams are scouring for help anywhere they can, real teams and fantasy teams both. That extends to human owned and pregenerated teams like my astrology teams, which I don't update often or regularly throughout the year. Which means there are some real gems on the waiver wire who either just now started to get hot, or who aren't needed due to a stacked roster in front of them, or who I just plain missed. Here are some such players, sorted by ESPN's player rater, but with fantasy points as of the All-Star Break. 

In case you skipped right to the chart and didn't read my spiel at the top, there's a row with Kyle Schwarber's full 2016 contribution, with the proper name in the Astrology column. Speaking of columns, a 2016 Team that's not in bold font represents a player who made his Major League debut this season. The three players with that distinction are all varying degrees of Rookie: Jameson Taillon has an empty P2 column, because he also appeared in my 2015 40-Man Rosters document. Willson Contreras has a green shaded P2 column, because he was added during the off season, while Edwin Diaz's is shaded cyan because he was added during the current season, when he took over as the Mariners' closer. David Dahl has nothing in that column, because he did not make his big league debut until after the Midsummer Classic, but trust me, this kid is for real - he's averaged 15.3 points in his first 30 games in the majors.

Contreras has fallen off a bit since the break, but he did just add LF eligibility (with 20 games), which might be important for a team that also has breakout candidate Sandy Leon behind the plate. Dahl will play on the other side of speedster Rajai Davis, even though he also can also fill the CF slot in standard ESPN leagues, despite just 5 games there in the majors. This outfield alignment allows for a corner infield made up of Brandon Moss and Hernan Perez, who can also roam the grass in a pinch. The best defensive alignment likely has the red hot Jedd Gyorko at DH, with Danny Espinosa shifting to his old position of 2B, and iron-gloved Marcus Semien nonetheless at SS.

On the pitching side, we all know about Jameson Taillon's prospect pedigree, while both Danny Duffy and David Phelps are rather recent additions to their teams' starting rotations, as they had each spent the early parts of their seasons in the bullpen. (Duffy is currently pitching like an ace and is currently providing a boost to my own personal fantasy team in the playoffs.) Straily and Fiers are two mid-rotation arms who were relied on out of necessity, and who happened to get hot at the right time. Of the two relievers we haven't talked about, Tyler Thornburg is the more steady bet for saves, after the departure of Jeremy Jeffress and Will Smith out of Milwaukee, as Jim Johnson will lose a significant amount of GF's to Arodys Vizcaino.

From an astrological standpoint, most of these players are available for one of three reasons. The first and most interesting reason is that their team has a surplus at that player's position. For example, it would be very hard for Rajai Davis to break into a Libra outfield mix that also includes Mookie Betts, Bryce Harper, Carlos Gonzalez, Yoenis Cespedes, Jose Bautista, Andrew McCutchen, and Starling Marte. (Hey, I never said these astrology teams were fair...) Brandon Moss places a distant fourth on the Virgo 1B depth chart behind Paul Goldschmidt, Joey Votto, and Freddie Freeman; and don't expect him to be taking too many outfield at bats away from George Springer, Gregory Polanco, or Ian Desmond. As electric as Edwin Diaz is right now, I don't think he's a more dependable saves option for Aries than Mark Melancon, Dellin Betances, or David Robertson (all three developed by the New York Yankees, btw).

The second and most boring reason is that their team is simply too far out of the running for me to care about making changes. Willson Contreras might be a better bet than the aging Jayson Werth, but at 6-13, Taurus is not going to make the playoffs. I'm sure Scorpio, Sagittarius, and Gemini could use an extra quality starter, but why should I bother making the changes if it's not going to affect the league champions.

Which brings us to the third and most embarrassing reason: I just wasn't paying attention. Capricorn would love another breakout arm to replace the injured Junior Guerra, and Danny Duffy fits the bill exactly. Jedd Gyorko is blocked at his natural position by 2B Robinson Cano, but the way he's playing, he might have earned a shot to unseat Libra 1B Ryan Zimmerman. Hernan Perez is swinging the bat so well that he would likely be an improvement over the slumping Aries outfielders Jay Bruce or Dexter Fowler. But who has time to keep up to date on that kind of stuff? It's just a game, after all!

By the way, I was serious about an Astrology Baseball Classic, and I think with some serious lobbying from the New Age crowd, we could maybe make it happen. At the very least, I could crunch the numbers through a video game to see what it might look like. But I probably won't do that because I can't help it if I'm still obsessed with Batman video games...

Batman: Arkham Knight, Let’s Play #14 - Catwoman

Batman: Arkham Knight, Let's Play Archive!

UPDATE: While the video has been updated, none of the commentary below (from 2016) has! Please consider this a re-post!

The first two acts of Catwoman's title episode, just like the last act of the last episode, focus solely on the Riddler's Revenge side mission, where criminal genius Edward Nygma has captured cat burglar with a heart of gold Selina Kyle. Batman then has to go through a series of tasks to free her, each more head-scratchingly challenging than the last. The reason this particular aspect of the game gets so much time and attention so close to the finale is because this is a video game playthrough at heart, and I wanted to stay true to the fact that this is technically the last mission you're able to complete before embarking on the end of the game's story mode. There's a more cinematic way to handle this storyline, which I'll go over after running through which Riddler Challenges I've decided to show in this playthrough.

The introduction to the Riddler's plot, which appears at the end of Episode 4, is necessary to complete the main story. The first optional challenge is technically available to players even before that point - I skipped a tutorial style section of gameplay, which would have taken place in Episode 2, where we are introduced to the Mission Select Subscreen. One of these missions is the first of three Batmobile races, called Mental Blocked, but I chose to leave even this early option until after we receive our new Batmobile because, frankly, every other mission objective in the game seemed more pressing (no offense to Catwoman). This physics-defying track introduces a fourth element to the classic gas+brake+steer driving dynamic: the ability to interact with obstacles on the track, either removing barricades or creating roadways. It's the type of adventure that goes great on a computer screen, but that would be far too campy and/or expensive to produce in a real-life adaptation.

Upon completion of this race, we're shown that Catwoman has to unlock her exploding collar with nine separate keys (one for each life of a cat), which again would provide a video gamer with hours of entertainment, but which would bore a viewer to tears after a few go-rounds. Which is why I decided to skip all the way to the final two challenges, starting with Advanced Deathtraps. As this puzzle involves each character walking on foot through an electrified floor maze, it isn't all that visually dynamic. But it acts as a perfect bed for Joker to spout some backstory about Batman's failed relationship with Talia Al-Ghul, the love of our hero's life, who was murdered by Joker near the end of Arkham City. This gives a little bit of insight into where poor Bruce Wayne stands romantically, while exploring a connection with Catwoman.

Image Credit: The Workprint Arkham Knight Review

Since we've already seen a Batmobile race, the next bit is technically more of the same, but the Condamned racetrack gets so much dramatic fanfare as the final challenge (plus it's just a brilliantly-designed and difficult course), I felt it was only right and proper to give it a place of honor as the Episode 14 opener. It also allowed me to explore a connection between two of my favorite video games: notably how Batman's ability to summon the Batmobile from anywhere in Gotham is strikingly similar to Link's ability to summon his faithful horse Epona from anywhere in the land of Hyrule. And with that connection made, it was only natural to layer in the music that accompanies Epona's dramatic race from Ocarina of Time.

Speaking of layering in music, I scored the FINAL final challenge (the aptly named Final Exam) with Selina Kyle's theme from The Dark Knight Rises. I have to say that while I will not hesitate to point out the flaws in TDKR, the depiction of the Catwoman character to be spot on (at least her personality and backstory, if not her motivation, and despite the absence of the name Catwoman in the script). A big reason the character was successful for me was the effectiveness of Hans Zimmer's musical motif, which is why I put it on display here next to Shirley Walker's theme from The Animated Series (Episodes 4 and 13) and (later) Danny Elfman's theme from Batman Returns.

After jumping through the supposed last hoop, Riddler shows off his giant mech-suit, but then refuses to unlock the full boss fight until you spend a significant amount of time trawling the game's world for literally hundreds of hidden items. This might seem like an obvious place to pull up even more time than I already did (i.e. why not just remove the whole Riddler Trophy scavenger hunt aspect from the Let's Play plot entirely?), but like Lucius Fox in Batman Begins, "I just wanted you to know how hard it was." Plus, playing both endings, Lord of the Rings style, allows for two separate "sexual tension between Batman and Catwoman" cutscenes. Anyway, after discovering all 243 easter eggs and fighting through three more grueling waves of Riddler Robots, we are finally at the end of this mission, where the Bat and the Cat share one last passionate smooch before taking Nygma on a long awaited trip back to the GCPD.

Now, that's all well and good, but if I wanted to wrap this business up as quickly as possible and greatly reduce the Riddler's influence on this game, here's how I would have cut it. Everything in Episode 4 continues until about 25:30, after Batman and Catwoman defeat the first round of Robots. After that, Riddler would say something like, "Well, that's it, you're done! Feel free to head on outside..." Then we can cut to the audio from Episode 14 at 9:03, completely removing the references to the exploding collar and further challenges. Then we'd continue all the way through the introduction of the Riddler Mech until 11:15, the end of the first wave in Batman and Catwoman's dual-team combat. Cut from there to 17:35, once it's already reestablished that Batman and Catwoman are working together against the Mech, then all the way through the end of the mission. Although in this case, you'd probably want to use the less emotional ending at 11:45 instead of the extra-brooding, "Batman's last night" scene at 19:03...

I did the math and making these trims would cut out a whopping 27 minutes and 47 seconds, or almost an entire episode's worth of content. But while this change would definitely streamline the storytelling aspect, it would also for sure take something away from the "OCDelightful" completionist nature of the Riddler's role in the Arkham Universe. But at least I know I have this other configuration as an option in case a prospective network refuses to order more than 14 episodes for a high-budget limited series such as this one would be. In any event, the next blog recap I write will be for my favorite of all the episodes: the half-hour chunk that would constitute the finale no matter how many episodes are in play.

Batman: Arkham Knight, Let’s Play #13 - Jim Gordon

Batman: Arkham Knight, Let's Play Archive!

UPDATE: While the video has been updated, none of the commentary below (from 2016) has! Please consider this a re-post!

I had all but given up on these Arkham Knight blog recaps right before the MLB All-Star Break, because this site is supposed to be Thoughts about BASEBALL and Batman, and cutting these episodes of Batman has taken up most of the previous year. So let's pick it right up at the beginning of Episode 13, which recaps the dramatic victory in the boss fight against the Arkham Knight himself, in which the title villain is revealed to be the not-dead Jason Todd. This reveal all but completes my hypothetical Arkham Knight movie casting, negating the smokescreen I threw up in Episode 8 positing Norman Reedus  as a battered and tortured Jason Todd. I would still love to see the Walking Dead star in the Arkham Universe, but as the underused villain Deathstroke, maybe in an Arkham Origins spinoff "special event" TV movie. No, I still think my top choice for the role is Chris Pratt, to see how he handles Jason Todd's character arc that goes from babyface (in pro-wrestling terms), to heel, then back to face - albeit with his face covered by a red helmet.

Jason Todd completes his turn when Batman uses his Persuasion skill to convince his former ally to give up his quest for vengeance. But no sooner do we radio Alfred to deliver the news about "Master Todd," the former Robin does a very Batman-esque move and disappears while our head is turned. But before we have some time with the title character of this episode, I'd like to say a word about using the character Bane's musical theme from The Dark Knight Rises (called "Gotham's Reckoning") while the Joker talks about the Arkham Knight. When you think about it, the character of the Arkham Knight has similar goals as Christopher Nolan's version of Bane (which is markedly unlike any other version of that character I've ever seen, but that's a story for another time). They both cover their faces and disguise their voices, but more importantly, they're both portrayed as military commanders who have the means and the motive to take over Gotham. I think it's more compelling to watch the Arkham Knight take on this endeavor, freeing up Bane to play his usual hulked-up brute role like in Arkham Asylum. The 5/4 rhythm of Hans Zimmer's track also just happens to perfectly lead into the 7/8 time signature of Nick Arundel's track "Founders' Island."

Here's what Chris Pratt would look like as Arkham Knight/Jason Todd

Jim Gordon earns the title character honor, even though he only appears in the first act of Episode 13, because he gets some early character development. Such as acknowledging both the fear-toxin induced suicide of his daughter, and the fact that he now knows the secret identity of the caped crusader to be someone the Commissioner knew since he was very young and who he had influenced heavily. But that's not the even the most emotional reveal of the episode, as Scarecrow shows us that not only is Barbara Gordon, a.k.a. Oracle, still alive, but her father knew about it, in order to be used as bait to lure Batman into the Arkham Knight's HQ!

I found this plot twist equal parts relieving and predictable, especially after just wrapping up a storyline in which one presumed-dead sidekick returns from the imagined grave. But whether we could see this coming or not, it's a bad spot for Commissioner Gordon to be in, forcing him to make the choice between betraying one of his oldest allies or watching his daughter get killed (for real this toime) by an evil supervillain. Turns out Jim gets both, as he turns and delivers a sucker-punch-type shot with his police-issued revolver, right in the center of Batman's chestplate, knocking him from the roof, only to have Scarecrow wheel Barbara right over the same edge anyway! Luckily, as we recall from last episode, that's the strongest part of Batman's armor, meaning that our hero probably only had to deal with a bad contusion and a couple of cracked ribs as he bravely leapt to Oracle's rescue, using his cape to glide them safely to the ground, much like how the Dark Knight rescues Rachel Dawes in the film bearing that name.

However not even the strongest titanium tri-weave could protect Batman from the army of tanks that just rolled up to the party, making it necessary for the game to throw (get this) A SPARE BATMOBILE at you in order to satiate its lust for cramming a critical mass of these stupid tank battles into this game. Honestly, if I were adapting Arkham Knight for the screen, I would completely rewrite this sequence the following way (new additions in yellow highlights):

[Oracle looks up to see the transport helicopter carrying away Gordon and Scarecrow.]

ORACLE
There! Where are they taking him?

[But before they can surmise anything, a barrage of tanks enters and attacks our heroes.]

{! NEW PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: Protect Oracle}

ORACLE
Where's the Batmobile?

BATMAN
Destroyed.

ORACLE
What?!

Alfred
Don't worry, sir. Batwing's on its way.

[Batman's impressive jet swoops in with an enormous roar, Alfred in remote control. The squadron of tanks stops firing, then slowly/nervously turn their guns to face the aircraft, hovering in place thanks to Harrier-style retro rockets. We see from a POV of the plane, every single tank getting targeted by the computer, which then lets loose one giant missile barrage to take care of them all.]

MILITIA COMMANDER
Drone unit in Otisburg destroyed!

[The jet softly touches down on extendable landing struts in the middle of the wreckage. A compartment opens in the lower fuselage, lowering two back-to-back seats to the ground. Batman picks up Oracle and walks towards their transportation.]

ORACLE
Scarecrow's going to kill him, isn't he?

BATMAN
Now while he can use him to get to me.

JOKER
Oh, how chivalrous! Remember the time you carried me like that? I don't, because I was dead.

BATMAN
Strap yourself in. We're following that helicopter!

[Batman places Oracle in the co-pilot's seat, then leaps into his own seat as the apparatus retracts and the plane lifts off. But just then, a message from Scarecrow comes on the computer screen.]

SCARECROW
Gallant police force of Gotham. I have a message for you. You are not safe. You are not protected. Batman will not save you.

[Video feed shows more tanks than ever before converging on the GCPD building.]

ORACLE
We've got to get over there, Batman!

BATMAN
No, we have to rescue your father... 

ORACLE
He wouldn't want us going after him if it means letting his fellow officers die! Plus, my dad can take care of himself.

[Batman takes one last look at the helicopter, then sets his course for the Cauldron.

{! NEW PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: Stop the assault on GCPD}

[Batman and Oracle do several fly-by strikes, contending with not just regular tanks, but also heat-seeking Mambas, flying Dragons and Serpents, and even a pair of long-range missile launchers that serve as the perfect boss fight against a flying player. After they save the day, Batman sets Oracle up at the precinct to try and locate Commissioner Gordon, but then he gets a buzz from the Riddler, forcing him to focus on the Riddler's Revenge side mission...]


See, this change in the content would replace one of the most over-used and least interesting parts of the gameplay with something new and different - I'm thinking along the lines of StarFox 64, except with the Batwing instead of an Arwing in All-Range Mode. This would also mean that we would have to either move the Batmobile race Riddler Challenges up in the timeline, or replace/eliminate them altogether, which wouldn't be a disaster, because there's still plenty of opportunity to explore the Batman/Riddler/Catwoman dynamic even without them, as you'll see in the next episode.

MLB Trade Deadline 2016 Roster

Another wild MLB non-waiver trade deadline is now in the books, before which more than 150 players changed teams via trade over the first four months of the 2016 season. As a way to sum up all this player movement, I've constructed a 25-man roster made up of the best such players (according to my preferred fantasy point system). Without further ado, here's an extensive chart with a glut of information, some of it useful, some of it interesting, but all of it expressing my Rain Man-esque fascination with color-coded lists. I'll post the chart first and then follow up with some commentary later!

First I'd like to say a few words about the color-coding. Normally on my patented baseball charts, the names of players who changed teams midseason would be highlighted in an aqua/cyan color. I left that part out here, since this list contains ONLY such players, but I did keep the yellow highlights to signify players who changed teams over the offseason. The two players who have red highlights in their Bat/Throw column are currently on the disabled list, which is why I included an additional starting pitcher and bench bat as fill-ins. (More about them later, when we go over lineup construction.) The contract status column is pretty self-explanatory: red for impending free agents, green for players who have an option on their contract for next year (either of the club, player, mutual, or vesting varieties), and blue for players who have an upcoming arbitration year. And if you click on the chart, you'll be able to see the whole thing, including a different color for each of the 12 Astrological signs.

And now for the roster itself, let's go position by position, because I don't want to put too much weight on my projected batting order. Both catchers on this roster have the distinction of being acquired by the Rangers when both their projected starter and backup options went down due to injuries. Bobby Wilson had played the most games behind the plate for Texas heading into deadline day (after Texas traded for him for the second time in two years), but he was unceremoniously cut from the roster upon the acquisition of Jonathan Lucroy from Milwaukee, one of the season's most sought-after players. Indeed, the Brewers had an arrangement in place to send Lucroy to the Indians, but the veteran backstop used his limited no-trade protection to block the deal, apparently demanding a promise that Cleveland would decline his ridiculously team-friendly contract option for the 2017 season, allowing him to hit free agency a year sooner. This was obviously a non-starter, as Lucroy's future control was one of his biggest selling points, and now Texas is set at catcher through at least next year.

Steve Pearce has played mostly first base for the Rays this season, but part of his appeal to the Orioles is his ability to (marginally) play second base and the corner outfield. But the main reason Pearce was brought back to Baltimore is his above-average bat, which is looking more like his breakout 2014 season than his disappointing 2015. Aaron Hill has played enough games at the keystone for Milwaukee to qualify as a fantasy second baseman before he was shipped to Boston in early July, where he's played exclusively at the hot corner. Hill moves off his primary position to make way for former Giants third baseman Matt Duffy, who has fallen on hard times since finishing second in last year's Rookie of the Year balloting and found himself traded to the Rays while on the disabled list. If we're staying true to injury status, Duffy's unavailability would push Hill back to third, Pearce to second, and create a spot at first base for James Loney, who was traded from San Diego's minor league system directly to the big league Mets when Lucas Duda went down at the end of May.

Breakout infielder Eduardo Nunez likely won't see much time at his natural shortstop position with his new team, since the Giants already have Brandon Crawford entrenched up the middle, but the injury and now departure of Duffy should leave third base open. Or if the Giants prefer the play of Conor Gillaspie at the hot corner, Nunez could get some reps in the outfield where he has nearly 30 career games under his belt. Speaking of the outfield, this team's is much more impressive as a whole than its infield, even given Nunez's still-AL-leading 27 steals, despite the fact that he doesn't even play in that league anymore. Jay Bruce was by far the most impressive offensive player traded at the deadline, even though his arrival in New York only seems to complicate an overcrowded corner outfield situation for the Mets, who still don't have a true center fielder. Carlos Beltran and Matt Kemp have fairly similar fantasy profiles in 2017, but they were each acquired for very different reasons: Beltran is an impending free agent brought in to bolster the lineup of a contender, while Kemp went from one rebuilding team to another in an exchange of two albatross contracts. (Interestingly enough, both pieces of this trade - Kemp and Hector Olivera - signed their contracts with the Dodgers.)

Melvin Upton Jr. hasn't technically been a center fielder this year (he only has 12 games at the position, 8 short of qualifying in fantasy), but with more than 1,100 games at center in his career, he's more than qualified. Interestingly enough, Upton Jr.'s fantasy value has all but evaporated with his trade from the Padres to the Blue Jays where he went from starting left fielder to glorified fourth outfielder. If I was being strict about 2016 positional eligibility, center field would have gone to Brandon Guyer, Cleveland's consolation prize on the offense market after missing out on Lucroy. As it stands, Josh Reddick brings a lot more upside as a fourth outfielder, both on offense and defense, plus his lefty bat offsets a very right-handed heavy lineup. Guyer might have been a better choice to supplant either Kelly Johnson or Chris Coghlan just to have someone to spell Upton in center field, but I obviously put a high value on lefty-swinging utility options.

On the pitching side of the equation, while Drew Pomeranz might have outscored Rich Hill in terms of overall fantasy points, the latter of the two has obviously been the more valuable pitcher when he's been able to take the field. Hill is obviously no Clayton Kershaw even when healthy (the Dodgers ace was averaging nearly 117 points per game when he went down in late June), but Los Angeles certainly hopes that he'll be able to fill the void until Kershaw can return. The names of pretty much all of the Rays' starting pitchers had been swirling around the rumor mill for months, so it's no surprise that Matt Moore found himself traded, especially to the contending Giants. But while it was undoubtedly correct for the Angels to take a selling posture at the deadline, Hector Santiago's trade to the Twins was a bit puzzling, considering that the lefty only has one year of team control remaining beyond 2016. I guess the Twins are about to make a strong push to contend in 2017.

After these four pitchers, the list of candidates for fifth starter (or fourth AND fifth starters, if you're considering current injury status) gets a little homogenous: the next eight not-currently-injured pitchers to change hands at the deadline have between 450 and 650 total fantasy points and between 20 and 35 points per game. While guys like Andrew Cashner (502, 29.5) or James Shields (523 points, 24.9 PPG) might have more upside, I went with Nova and Miley because there's something special about the 30 PPG threshold. Bud Norris (686, 23.7) has a leg up on the competition in terms of total points, but his PPG totals are rather uninspiring, plus he's currently on the DL. I should also mention that Lucas Harrell (299, 49.5) and Wade LeBlanc (229, 45.8) have been performing very well, but I left them out for small sample size concerns.

I haven't done the research to support this, but I would guess that the sheer volume of excellent relief pitchers moved this year rivals that of any trade deadline in recent memory. No fewer than six teams' closers changed hands at the deadline, with the field pretty evenly split as far as who will continue to play the same role for their new teams. Aroldis Chapman, Mark Melancon, and Andrew Miller were all acquired to supplant Hector Rondon, Jonathan Papelbon, and Cody Allen, respectively, while Jeremy Jeffress, Fernando Rodney, and Brad Ziegler were brought on to serve as setup depth behind Sam Dyson, A.J. Ramos, and Craig Kimbrel, also respectively. (Ziegler is currently closing games for the Red Sox, but that's only because both Kimbrel and Koji Uehara are down with injuries.) Mike Montgomery doesn't even show up on the Cubs' closer depth chart, but I thought it was important to have another lefty on the staff, especially one with the capacity to throw multiple innings. Other more traditional setup options include Jason Grilli, Joe Smith, or Tyler Clippard from the right side, and lefties Zach Duke, Felipe Rivero, Fernando Abad, or Will Smith.