Frayed Knot

I think the real shocker here is that S.I. opted for a baseball cover. Don't they usually do one in April and then another in October and figure they've hit their quota?

No real news on Terrence Long today, except to take this opportunity to point out that he is one of only 11 ML-ers ever, the last ML-er to date, plus the only Met (all of 3 ABs) to be a Leap Baby. T.L. turns 36 today ... or 9 depending on how you want to look at it.

attgig wrote: Selig said today that the second wild card part of the plan may begin as early as 2012. it's now twitter official: Ken Rosenthal Sources: Additional wild cards a "go" for this season. Playoffs to expand from eight to 10 teams. Announcement tomorrow. #MLB https://twitter.com/#!/Ken_Rosenthal/status/174934868373942273 Now we just need the details. I'm VERY MUCH hoping for 1-game play-ins between the four WC teams rather than a pair of two-of-three deals. This all should be easy to implement once you get it run past the player's union and secure the TV arrangement but I still fear the ability of Bud and co to screw up a one horse parade.

5 years of Yadier at the cost of 3 years of Albert is a pretty good trade-off, especially since those 3 Albert years come with 7 more years attached to them. Molina is also 2-1/2 years younger [30 in July vs already 32], actually has less of an injury history, is at the tougher to replace position and is no longer the defense-only/weak bat catcher that he came up as [.305/.349/.465 last season]. Combine that with his top-level 'D' and, no, there aren't a lot of catchers like him out there.

metsmarathon wrote: didn't he screw up his own contract when negotiating it with the yanks way back when? Yup! He fired his agent (Boras I think) in order to deal "one on one" with his Tampa Bay homie Steinbrenner. Turned out he was later unhappy about the price he negotiated and the absence of a no-trade deal IIRC. Kind of proves the old line about the man representing himself having a fool for a client.

Scott Sizemore (not Grady ... and not even Ted*) - slated to man 3B for Oakland this coming year after being acquired from the Tigers in mid-season - is out for the year on account of a knee injury suffered just two hours into his first workout. You hear stuff like this and Zumaya (see above) and it all makes Muffy look down-right Ripken-esque. * None of these current and past Sizemores are related as far as I can tell, even though Sizemore is one of those names I don't think I've ever heard except for in baseball where it seems almost common. Scott, btw, is part of that whole SE Virginia mob who all grew up right around the same time (and seemingly all as 3B or SS) and was in fact just two years behind Dabid Rye in the same HS. Wright (age 29), Zimmerman (27), Upton x2 (27 & 24), Mark Reynolds (28), Cuddyer (32), Sizemore (27)

Will the last aging Red Sox please shut the lights on your way out as Jason Varitek gets set to announce his retirement. 'Tek' joins Wakefield and Beer* as long-time stalwarts of the Boston clubhouse that suddenly won't be around next year. Played his whole ML career with the Sawx although was drafted three time before getting there - out of HS by the Astros in the 23rd round in 1990 although chose not to sign - then as a college Jr. in Georgia Tech with the 23rd overall pick by the Twins in 1993 but again chose not to sign. This was one of Scotty Boras's early power plays in an attempt to increase the signing bonus - and finally with the 14th overall pick in '94 by the Mariners where he finally signed. Despite that high draft slot plus what seems to be decent numbers in the minors (particularly for a catcher) Seattle traded his AA-playing butt via a trading deadline deal just three years later to the Sox along with Derek Lowe (already in the majors) in exchange for Heathcliff Slocumb. Slocumb pitched poorly for the Ms during that season and the next full one before moving on. Somebody's always chasing them relievers. Now 15 years, 5,000+ ABs, 193 HRs, 750 RBIs, two WS Championships, three ASGs, one Silver Slugger, one Gold Glove, and three back-of-the-pack MVP race votes later, Varitek is hanging them up just prior to turning 40 y/o. In between he had become a FA on three separate occasions and re-signed with Boston each time. Now, a FA for the fourth time, he was offered just a minor league invite to camp but did not accept. A search through his history turns up a six-years-younger brother Justin who played only briefly in the minors and independent leagues. * Bobby V announced over the weekend that beer would no longer be permitted in the RS clubhouse, a proclamation, he said, which was greeted with something in between "a standing ovation and a standing boo".

Who's the blond mustache?

Edgy DC wrote: Adam Rubin wrote: Ike Davis is back and his bubbly self. Does this mean he has rabies and is foaming at the mouth?

Stop me if you've heard this one ... Joel Zumaya: Out for the year with tear in elbow. He didn't pitch at all in 2011 and hasn't reached the 40 IPs mark since 2006 This time he lasted all of a dozen pitches into his first batting practice of the spring after being picked up by the Twinkies this winter. He only recently turned 27

Of course this six-year deal (plus a 7th year option) doesn't even start until two seasons from now --- it's an extension on top of the two seasons he still has to go on his deal -- so perhaps it is a good comp for Wright's situation once you take into account that Zimmerman is not quite two years younger.

It says something about the predictability of these things when Meryl Streep winning is considered the night's biggest upset.

The Second Spitter wrote: Frayed Knot wrote: All the momentum is clearly behind THE ARTIST which I believe will eventually find its place in history as the greatest silent movie released in 2011 Never underestimate the Francophobia that pervades American society. There's also a lot of Franco-envy -- not that I believe that's the reason it's going to clean up on the Film/Director/Actor awards, I'm just sayin'.

My day-of prediction that this was going to come down to a contest between MONEYBALL and THE DESCENDANTS is out the window. All the momentum is clearly behind THE ARTIST which I believe will eventually find its place in history as the greatest silent movie released in 2011

Gotta love Mushnick's comment today about how, however Mariano Rivera's retirement decision goes at the end of the year, rest assured that Francesa will have known it all along.

If the over-turn is strictly the result of a technicality (some sources are citing a chain of custody issue) then, while he probably still deserves to be exonerated, it won't help him out in the court of public perception. If it's more than that, if the test itself were called into question, then the blame turns towards the testers and overseers (MLB? ... USADA?) and Braun gets at least some benefit of the doubt. I don't claim to be an expert of this stuff but, learning a wee bit about this type of process from reading about the procedures in the cycling world, the results are not always so cut-n-dried; almost as much art as science is how I've heard it described. So while it might be easy from the outside to say; well was the damn thing positive or not?!??, there frequently is some grey area that makes it not as simple as in some HS Chem lab where the test paper either turns blue or it turns red. MLB is clearly pissed, but the early leader in the dope of the day award contest seems to be Aaron Rogers who - while probably a friend of Braun's and sticking up for his fellow 'Sconnie' state pro - is tweeting daggers towards MLB about trying "to take an innocent man down" as if the league had some kind of motive to frame their newly crowned MVP who also happens to play for the Commish's favorite team. Get a grip Rogers.

Edgy DC wrote: And walk rates tend to stabilize more than batting averages. Yeah, and the point really is that his walk rate is already pretty stable and at a decent clip: .73, .75, & .91 in his 3 recent ML seasons and .90 over 4,000+ minor league PAs -- all better than average numbers. [ML Avg =~.65-.70] And if he hits .220 again he not only doesn't deserve to lead-off he doesn't deserve to even start on a regular basis. The data on Tejada is much smaller but so, hopefully, is the learning curve/ceiling.

The one thing you can say about Torres is that he takes pitches/walks. His low OBA you cite from last season was tied to his unusually low (for him and for anyone) BA. Now obviously if he's going to be a .200-ish hitter for the foreseeable future then he's not going to cut it at any spot in the lineup, but with his 'walk rate' consistently at 70 - 90 points above his BA if he gets the one up to even mediocre levels then the other isn't bad at all.

Oswalt apparently doesn't want to stray too far from the deep south, refuses to even consider the AL, and still wants to be paid like a top-line pitcher even though oft-injured of late. Yeah, good luck with that one Roy.

That's possible. Brown's name may have come up as one being sought specifically by the Mets or maybe it was mere speculation because when teams are moving established players at trading deadlines ALL hot prospects in the target's organization get speculated about. The word on Brown is that he's an OFer with questionable future power but ridiculous speed.

The annual lists have been coming out over the last few weeks. Instead of relying on just one list over another I like to make a combined so as to get a kind of general consensus on who and where the top prospects in baseball are. From a mashed-up list of Baseball Prospectus, Baseball America, Keith Law @ ESPN.com, and Jonathan Mayo @ MLB.com 1T - MATT MOORE - LHP - Rays -- rated 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 1st (JM, BA, KL, BP) 1T - BRYCE HARPER - OF - NATIONALS -- 2nd, 1st, 2nd, 2nd 3 - MIKE TROUT - OF - ANGELS -- 3rd, 3rd, 1st, 3rd 4 - JURKISON PROFAR - SS - RANGERS 5 - SHELBY MILLER - RHP - CARDINALS 6 - MANNY MACHADO - SS - ORIOLES 7 - JULIO TEHERAN - RHP - BRAVES 8 - JESUS MONTERO - C - [crossout]YANX[/crossout] MARINERS 9 - DYLAN BUNDY - RHP - ORIOLES 10 - GERRITT COLE - RHP - PIRATES 11 - TREVOR BAUER - RHP - D'BACKS 12 - JAMESON TALLION - RHP - PIRATES 13 - DEVIN MESORACO - C - REDS 14 - TRAVIS d'ARNAUD - C - BLUE JAYS 15 - TAIJUAN WALKER - RHP - MARINERS 16 - WIL MYERS - OF - ROYALS 17 - TYLER SKAGGS - LHP - D'BACKS 18 - JACOB TURNER - RHP - TIGERS 19 - MIGUEL SANO - 3B - TWINS 20 - BUBBA STARLING - OF - ROYALS 21 - ANTHONY RENDON - 3B - NATIONALS 22 - MANNY BANUELOS - RHP - YANKEES 23 - ARCHIE BRADLEY - RHP - D'BACKS 24 - DANNY HULTZEN - LHP - MARINERS 25 - CARLOS MARTINEZ - RHP - CARDINALS 26 - NOLAN ARENADO - 3B - ROCKIES 27 - MARTIN PEREZ - LHP - RANGERS 28 - ZACK WHEELER - RHP - METS -- 28th, 35th, 27th, 30th 29 - FRANCISCO LINDOR - SS - INDIANS 30 - DREW POMERANZ - RHP - INDIANS 31 - JARROD PARKER - RHP - D'BACKS 32 - MATT HARVEY - RHP - METS -- 38th, 54th, 38th, 25th 33 - CHRISTIAN YELICH - OF - MARLINS 34 - ARODYS VIZCAINO - RHP - BRAVES 35 - HAK-JU LEE - SS - RAYS 36 - BILLY HAMILTON - SS/2B - REDS 37 - GARY BROWN - OF - GIANTS 38 - MIKE MONTGOMERY - LHP - ROYALS 39 - BRETT JACKSON - OF - CUBS 40 - ANTHONY RIZZO - 1B - PADRES 41 - JONATHAN SINGLETON - OF - ASTROS 42 - RYMER LIRIANO - OF - PADRES 43 - RANDALL DELGADO - RHP - BRAVES 44 - MIKE OLT - 3B - RANGERS 45 - JAKE MARISNICK - OF - BLUE JAYS 46 - NICK CASTELLANOS - 3B - TIGERS 47 - WILY PERALTA - RHP - BREWERS 48 - YONDER ALONSO - OF - PADRES 49 - GARY SANCHEZ - C - BRAVES 50 - A.J. COLE - RHP - PADRES

Vic Sage wrote: The Redford version is a complete snooze. Instead of being about the decadent corruption at the heart of the "American Dream", it's about costumes and art direction. Excerpts from Roger Ebert's review: The movie is "faithful" to the novel with a vengeance -- to what happens in the novel, that is, and not to the feel, mood, and spirit of it. It would take about the same time to read Fitzgerald's novel as to view this movie -- and that's what I'd recommend.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Frayed Knot wrote: John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Oswalt to Cardinals. Cardinals still denying that even as various reports claim the two sides are close to a deal. It behooves them to do so right now. They've got five vet starters returning (Wainwright, Carpenter, Garcia, Westbrook, and Lohse), so why spook the horses about a role change until contracts are signed? It's now nearly a month later and Oswalt is still out there un-signed. Supposedly he's still of the mindset where he can dictate terms and choose his locale but teams aren't seeing it that way. StL, Boston, Detroit and maybe others have all either passed or are willing to wait until he comes down to their price. Edgar Renteria is another vet out there and reports say he is mentally, even if not yet officially, retired.

Scheduled for a Xmas 2012 release according to IMDB, I'm actually sort of looking forward to this one for several reasons. - I never saw any of the previous (at least four) versions - the most famous is probably the Redford/Farrow one which oddly isn't available via NetFlix or through my local library system. - the reviews on that one were only so-so to begin with anyway so I'm not all that jazzed to run out and purchase a mediocre and nearly 40 year-old flick just to see it - the only release since that one was a made-for-TV version with even more tepid reviews And, finally, I read the book for the very first time just a few weeks ago. No particular reason really, just though it was something I needed to get around to and somehow had never done all through school and whatnot. Turns out that this F. Scotty guy's a pretty good writer, I'll have to look around to see if he's written anything else recently.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: He's still got a deceptive hook. Thanks to all the contestants for their entries but we have our winner.