Frayed Knot

Two Things: 1) This thread is probably better off if moved into the Film Forum. If nothing else it'll last longer over there and I believe that's where most of the Filmographies and other assorted film compilation threads reside. 2) TCM is running LAWRENCE OF ARABIA next Sunday night (12/29) - for those of you who haven't seen it, want to see it again, or to record for future viewing. Commercial free of course.

MFS62 wrote: He did allow us to coin a new word: Valdespin - Verb - to be hit in the groin with a baseball while not wearing a cup. See also: To swing at a pitch while it's in the process of hitting you in the ankle.

Mike Jacobs ... as in a guess for the PH question, not as a recommendation for a MLPA job.

MFS62 wrote: Edgy MD wrote: Turned down seven years and $140 million from the Yankees .. What's the Korean translation for "schmuck"? I don't think he's going to get close to that from another team. Just my opinion, and, I may be wrong. LAter Not sure how official that 7/$140 was in the first place, but, even if that is accurate, 7/$130 from the stRangers is reasonably close, and once you factor in NYS taxes vs (the lack of) Texas taxes (say that five times fast) it's more than reasonable.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I welcome Mr Met to the uni. It would be great if they gave pitchers the Mr. Met pitching one and the hitter the running Mr. Met though. I like that idea. Or hitters can use the batting version of Mr. Met. Why do I think MLB will slam that idea because it'll break the concept of the team's uniforms being ... well, all uniform?

Frayed Knot wrote: Kind of a nifty closer swap pulled off by the Orioles. First they trade their off-good though erratic closer Jim Johnson to Oakland for Jemile Weeks plus a throw-in ... then they go and sign Oakland's closer Grant Balfour as a FA. Balfour has even had a slight statistical advantage over Johnson over the last few seasons. The downside to the whole thing is that Balfour turns 36 next week and is 5-1/2 years older than Johnson, but they got Balfour for two years while Johnson can be a FA at the end of 2014. Yeah, about that whole closer swap thing ... the Orioles didn't like whatever they saw on Balfour's physical and have nixed the deal. Kurt Suzuki, one of the possible candidates for teaming with d'Arnaud, has signed on with the Twinkies. Eh, I wasn't too keen on getting him anyway. Didn't hit a lot except for that first half-season in Washington following his trade from Oakland, and isn't very good defensively either.

I'll remember that there were several teams of out of town announcers (Washington & Atlanta spring to mind) thinking he was a star in the making based on a handful of big hits against them. It's too bad that you can't arrange trades through announcers or else we could have flipped 'Speen for half their minor league systems.

Trachsel My Tears wrote: ... It never seems quite fair for someone to remain outside Cooperstown, either, just because he was up for a vote with a lot of other star players, does it? That usually doesn't matter--or at least it shouldn't. With up to ten options on a ballot, none of the 'no-brainers' eligible that year should lose any votes - and by the time you're getting around to deciding on how to sort out those who are either just making it or just missing out (say like 8th place thru 12th) you're no longer talking about the true elites anyway. So while the stacked ballot may hurt the borderline candidates (like maybe this year) it shouldn't affect those at the top of the heap.

Chick (Olivia Wilde) and her guy best friend work together and use each other as sounding boards for their life and relationship issues. That they work in an indie brewery means lots of alcohol gets involved ... and ensures that hijinx will ensue.

May not be posted after all this winter according to various Japanese news outlets.

Lefty Specialist wrote: Doumit's a horrible defensive catcher ... Don't see him as the #1 catcher, not by a long shot. I was thinking that part of that is on account of being teamed with Mauer - but looking at it now it appears that he started even less after Mauer got hurt (in a NYM game). Still, it's hard to imagine someone a whole lot worse defensively than Gattis so who knows what the Cobb Braves have planned here. Sounds like it's time for Terry to get Granderson, Wright, Murphy, [crossout]Reyes[/crossout] oops, Young x2, Lagares, etc. up and running.

Brian McCann gets replaced by Ryan Doumit - acquired in a deal w/the Twins in exchange for a minor league pitcher. Doumit, a nine-year vet who turns 33 around opening day, is usually good for around 12-15 HRs/year (which means I expect him to hit 20 in April alone). I knew there was no way they were going to go into the 2014 season with Evan Gattis as their #1 catcher.

That 'Just let me win ONE' rant is a satire of an actual MadDog rant from back before his SF Giants won their first WS. I was ready for Francesa to tell Mussolini how they're on the same side on account of being paisans, but I guess we'll have to wait for the Benigno parody for that one.

Of course their "willingness" to spend money is more or less proportional to their revenue stream of money. P.S. Add to the above figures a luxury tax bill for the 2013 season of $28 million.

Seaver is, in any logical argument, at or near the top of his position for a half-century or so leading up to his enshrinement so the answer to the question 'Why Him?' is really; 'Why Not?' And while one could argue that there were others who could have topped his HoF vote pct, there was arguably no one more deserving than him. I think it may also be a factor of timing - GTS came after the 5 year rule was in place. That buffer wasn't always the case and was a reason why DiMaggio, for instance, not only wasn't unanimous but had to wait around until his 3rd year of eligibility to pass muster as there were some voters who waited until they were sure he was absolutely going to stay retired. - Then there was a time after that era, and partially because of that era, when many writers almost automatically had a 'no first year guy' rule, some based on the logic that since Joe D. didn't go in on his first try then no one would. That attitude still exists but I think it's diminished over time and was probably less in place during Seaver's time than in say that of Mickey/Willie/Aaron 10-15 years earlier. - And then he had the good fortune to come prior to the steroid era where anyone and everyone including the game itself is under suspicion.

Kind of a nifty closer swap pulled off by the Orioles. First they trade their off-good though erratic closer Jim Johnson to Oakland for Jemile Weeks plus a throw-in ... then they go and sign Oakland's closer Grant Balfour as a FA. Balfour has even had a slight statistical advantage over Johnson over the last few seasons. The downside to the whole thing is that Balfour turns 36 next week and is 5-1/2 years older than Johnson, but they got Balfour for two years while Johnson can be a FA at the end of 2014. In other Baltimore news, longtime 2B Brian Roberts inks a one-year deal with the Yanx. 36 y/o and has missed 4,578 games over the last four seasons due to injuries, the Yanx are hoping Roberts makes them both younger and healthier.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Does Pittsburgh have a shortstop they wanna deal off? They apparently are in on the Ike talks again. They had Clint Barmes, John McDonald, and Jordy Mercer playing there last season - but I'm not all that interested in any of them. They're prolly in on Ike talks because Garrett Jones just signed a FA deal with Miami and Justin Morneau inked one w/Colorado

Nymr83 wrote: What would you give the D-bags if Gregorious were available? this is a guy who wont even see arbitration for 3 years so it wont be cheap. Is Montero available for him? I dont know if I'd do it but thats probably the minimum I suspect it'll take young pitching. They'll ask for Syndergaard and the Mets will say no, at which point it remains to be seen whether either side will walk away from an offer of a lesser arm. Do the Mets want a SS badly enough to offer 'anybodybut' and/or do other teams value the secondary guys enough? Or maybe the whole thing expands into a package where a pitcher gets paired with one of the defensive CFs for a SS + something or other. Probably a similar scenario for Owings and either of the Seattle guys. Or maybe it's none of that ... what the fuck do I know.

In no particular order, and not necessarily the final word on things. JJ Hardy - Balt http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hardyjj01.shtml -- the pros and cons of him have been discussed elsewhere. although I don�t know if I�ve ever heard that he�s actually available Basically you�d be getting a good glove plus a big increase in power, but also more of the high-K/low-OBP stuff that�s plauged the rest of the lineup. And he�s one year from FA Stephen Drew - FA http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/drewst01.shtml -- Also discussed here elsewhere. Coming off a good season but it�s his only full one in the last three or four. Is already 31, wants a multi-year deal and would cost a draft pick on top of the one we�ve already ceded for Granderson. Didi Gregorius - Ariz http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/gregodi01.shtml -- Mariekson Julius Gregorius, LHB, 23 y/o from Amsterdam in the Netherlands, was originally Reds property before being dealt to the Snakes a year ago in a three-way deal that docked the SS Choo in the river city. But the DBacks have other options at SS (see: Owings, Chris) and may be willing to deal. Hit decently for a rookie though no RoY votes; reportedly a good glove; and although I had thought he had good legs he�s has never been a base-stealer at any level. The MLBN crew thinks he�s a likely NYM target (for whatever that's worth). Chris Owings - Arizona http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/o/owingch01.shtml -- A 22 y/o 41st round draft pick out of HS in South Carolina got his ML cuppa late this season. Minor league numbers are good but mainly in hitting environments (Cal Lg + AAA Reno) and much less so in between at sea-level AA Mobile. It�s his presence that reportedly makes Gregorius available so I�m guessing they like the glove a whole lot. #3 DBacks prospect (and top position player) this winter according to BA. Snakes have been active so far this winter and just dealt their next best prospect, 3B Matt Davidson, to the White Sox for closer Addison Reed. Elvis Andrus - Texas http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/a/andruel01.shtml -- Very strange situation. Is probably the one top young player signed to a long-term pre-arb deal that looks shaky in the early going. Toss in the fact that the Rangers have a better/younger one ready to go maybe makes him more available. Still only 23, the catch is that his contract runs through age 33 and for some heavy numbers by the end of the deal. Nick Franklin - Seattle http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/frankni01.shtml -- 23 y/o by next spring w/400 ML ABs under his belt. The presence of Brad Miller makes his availability possible but the crew at MLBN questioned his ability to remain at SS. Brad Miller - Seattle http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/millebr02.shtml -- 24 y/o 2nd round pick in 2011 out of Clemson, apparently is considered the better SS of the two Mariners. REAL GOOD minor lg numbers from his late 2011 debut in A ball right thru to his AA + AAA in 2013 before his mid-year call-up. And then of course there's the status quo. Ruben is still young and has shown that he's capable of better than what we saw in 2013 - but he's also the guy who lost playing time to Omar Quintanilla even after he got healthy.

Of course some of those making that argument about the managers are ignoring that angle when it comes to Marvin Miller. Sure he was no longer in power when the steroid era rolled around. But he wasn't shy in his retirement about railing from the sidelines against the players agreeing to ANY testing and one school of thought is that his objections kept Fehr and his team of then-current MLBAPA honchos from agreeing to testing, or bans, or even the whole concept of steroids as being an issue for much longer than they might have on their own. Not saying this should disqualify Miller from the Hall, only that when one starts to go down that road they might not always like where they end up.

"... The Mets� farm system, decaying when he took over, is now near the top of the majors, ..." Neither half of that statement qualifies as even remotely accurate.

Well, it is the gif-giving season.

Gavin Floyd signs an incentive-heavy deal to be part of the Braves rotation. But he's also coming off TJ surgery in May so almost certainly won't be available until the 2nd half of the season at best.

Mama don't let your babies grow up to be righties Boone Logan - 3 yrs / $16.5 mil with Colorado (pending physical and all that jazz) This for a guy who totals around 40-some innings/year and just over 2/3 of an inning per outing for his career -- and while his splits v-LHBs are good they're hardly eye-popping: .243/.312/.378, and then there's that whole 4.39 ERA & 1.48 career WHiP. Maybe the fact that his long (6' 5") side-winding motion makes him look more like the classic LOOGY than most leaves the impression that his effectiveness is better than it actually is.

Ceetar wrote: John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: If Justin Verlander isn't on the next plane to wine country then I don't know what. See, this is the perfect story for ESPN, who are basically the TMZ of sports. Why not set this up? Well, ESPN might be the TMZ of football and basketball -- Hey Golic, did you see what [Kobe / Brady / LeBron / Romo] tweeted about what [ESPN analyst] said on [ESPN show] and then what [other ESPN guest] said in response during the [ESPN post-game show]? -- but they wouldn't touch a baseball story like this much less clear a half-hour or so of programming time for it (certainly not during the winter) and that's even assuming they were somehow able to locate a producer on that campus of theirs who actually knows and/or cares who Tom Seaver and Justin Verlander are. MLBN, on the other hand, should be all over this to the point of arranging the flight for Verlander and their camera crew. Hell, they're paying Costas to do, well .. somethin'or other for that network, let him tag along.