Frayed Knot

Didn't the Gaslamp district already exist at one point, erode and get rebuilt with the help of getting things like Petco and the Convention Center there? In other words it got rebuilt rather than the WP project is basically from scratch? Yes, that's pretty much the deal. Much like the waterfront area in Baltimore when Camden Yards was one piece of a larger urban renewal deal. The specific spot of Petco was an aging manufacturing area which, like everywhere else, barely exist in inner-cities these days. The thing is, both those places are in/near the center of 'downtown', something the WP area of northern Queens is never going to be no matter what you try to stick there. NYC has no equivalent spot as Manhattan doesn't have that kind of room - except for via goofy & expensive ideas where railroad yards are 'roofed' over and then a stadium built on top. The model for CitiField should be closer to a Wrigley-like residential & neighborhood feel although the criss-crossing highways that effectively cut it off from the rest of Queens are going to put a limit on just how chummy it can get. The Javitz Center is a corrupt mess and has been since virtually day one of its existence.

Also 66 y/o today: Jim Boeheim, Danny DeVito That's quite an, ummm ... interesting grouping.

Meanwhile over in the AL - Gardenhire nabs his first award after five 2nd place finishes over the last decade. - one sympathy vote goes to the retiring Cito Gaston as his 1st place vote is the only one he received - and the sense of humor ballot gives a 3rd place vote to Girardi NAME1st2nd3rdPoints GARDENHIRE - MIN1684108WASHINGTON - TEX108781MADDON - TB110944FRANCONA - BOS02713GASTON - TOR1005GIRARDI - NYY0011

That would be Charlie Manuel in 5th place of course (tell me you didn't fall for that one!) NAME1st2nd3rdPoints BLACK - SD1673104BAKER - CIN13122103BOCHY - SF141330COX - ATL141128MANUEL - PHI14320MILLS - HOU0103

Mike Puma (definitely a porn name) in today's NYPost quotes Alderson as saying a manager to be in place "probably by turkey day". Also says that Alderson notified the candidates who [u:2s8z50ln]won't[/u:2s8z50ln] be called back for additional consideration - a list that included Red Sox coach DeMarlo Hale, former Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu, Ken Oberkfell, Dave Jauss and Cardinals coach Jose Oquendo.

Yeah, the displacing of private businesses for the purpose of using that land for different private businesses is specifically NOT what eminent domain was designed to do - even if a recent (and egregious IMO) Supreme Court ruling says that it's allowable. NYC shouldn't neglect to pave roads and install sewers and then act as if it's the fault of the locals because the place is an eyesore on account of there being no sewers and big potholes. Plus the charge that they're all illegal chop shops and the like kind of falls to the ground when you consider that the city was openly doing business with some of them for construction and iron work while building CitiField. I don't know. I went to a game with him last year, and he already seemed like a fully formed adult. I don't know that redevelopment is the answer. This was my first reaction too. What's he going to be redeveloped as ... a conservative republican? Oooh I don't think he'd like that one bit.

The fact that no one seems to precisely know who has or has not been eliminated points to the current regime be more leak-proof than in recent years. If so that's a good thing IMO. My guesstimate needle is turning towards Melvin and away from Collins.

Don't know anything about Dunn* but otherwise I think the Braves sold high on Infante and they'll get a good year's use out of Uggla. * Late round draft pick by the MFYs as it turns out, pitched 4 innings for them in '09 before being dealt to the Braves in the Javy Vazquez trade. Decent reliever numbers in the minors this year and during a during the 2nd half with Atlanta. Turns out he even got a win against us with 1.1 IP of hitless work - the only time we've ever faced him.

Yeah it was Jim Presley who was the mid-'80s era Seattle 3rd sacker. No relation to former NYM 1st round draft pick Kirk or 'The King'.

Votes not spread around as much as yesterday's ROY announcement -- so I guess you could say that it's a case of depth taking a Halladay. Somewhere along the line they changed the CY voting to where 5 candidates are listed and awarded points on a 7-4-3-2-1 basis. I think this must be new this year as they always did the same as ROY with the 5-3-1 system. NAME1st2nd3rdPoints HALLADAY3200224WAINWRIGHT0283122JIMINEZ041990HUDSON00339JOHNSON00534OSWALT00114WILSON0007 Also receiving votes (although none as high as 3rd place) were: Fat Heath Bell - 4 points Mat (where�s the other �T�) Latos - 4 pts Brett �Asshole� Myers - 2 pts Tim (What�s up dude?) Lincecum - 2 pts Gee-tar Bronson Arroyo - 1 pt and Matt (Adam raised a) Cain - 1 pt

1) I think Uggla's going to be one of those players who will eventually wind up regretting rejecting a big offer. Maybe not today, or tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of his life. 2) Will Rhymes, one of the erstwhile Detroit 2B-men mentioned in that piece, wouldn't you be shocked if his teammates did NOT hang the nickname Busta on him?

I once heard Warren Zevon complain about being commissioned to write a song for a movie which turned into 'Things to do in Denver When You're Dead' - only to have them name the movie after his title but then not use the song. IMDB lists the song as part of the credits but they also throw in a disclaimer about every song not necessarily being used or appearing in the soundtrack. Having never seen the movie I'm not sure whether it's there or not.

Posada making 17 trips to the mound per inning is passed off as 'strategy' by Girardi and by MFYs Although if you check out the methodology used in gathering the data (via a link off the above link) you'll see that they only timed pitches with no one on base (so as to not get goofy data on account of throws to 1st) and tossed out any gap of longer than a minute (figuring that some other delay - like a mound conference - was involved). So what that means is that Whore-Hay wearing out a path to the mound every third pitch w/runners on becomes time wasted above and beyond the fact that pinstriped pitchers are slow as hell to begin with. It also means that Phil Hughes doesn't even screw up the average even more because if you saw him in the playoffs you saw that with men on base throwing a pitch looked like the last thing in the world he wanted to do.

... our nation turns its bleary eyes to you. From the: 'Not Surprising in the Least' file, turns out that Red Sox & Yanx pitchers rank 1st & 2nd in taking the most time to deliver a pitch - and that, individually, only Raphael Betancourt takes longer than Jonathan Papelbon. http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/11/15/no-wonder-yankees-and-red-sox-play-never-ending-games/ That Mark Buehrle is the quickest pitcher in MLB should also come as no surprise. NYM hurlers about average w/Niese as the quickest of the bunch.

NAME1st2nd3rdPoints FELIZ2071122JACKSON819198VALENCIA01912DAVIS001111JASO0103BOESCH0033 MATUSZ0033

NAME1st2nd3rdPoints POSEY2092129HEYWARD9202107GARCIA111624SANCHEZ21518WALKER0103CASTRO0033 DAVIS0022TABATA0011VENTERS0011 So at least 3 writers thought that Walker & Sanchez were better than one or both of Posey & Heyward? Yeah ... OK.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Can we change this thread title? I don't want a single thread for transactions this year. I think all transactions are Action-Packed enough to merit their own thread. Here, here! (Where, where?) The last thing we need is around here are more mindless all-purpose threads.

Separated at the feeding trough? The Warren Spahn one would look better without the bird crap on his head. Bad time to take off his hat. You'd think the photographer would notice something like that and simply take a new one.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Frayed Knot wrote: I hope the Mets move the fences in because I have a personal theory that it's extremely difficult to build a winner in a stadium that takes HR's away in every part of the field -- left, center and right. As opposed to those theories I seem to hear all the time about how a team in a hitter's environment can't win -- a theory which obviously took a hit after the Phils won the WS. You think i'm done with you over in that CPF rankings thread? I'm not. I'll take non-sequiturs for $200 Alex.

Yeah, I shouldn't describe two ML relievers as "nothing" but the point was that they dealt a potential HoF-type bat for two "blue chip" prospects and didn't even get regular play from either guy when the prevailing wisdom on trades like that are that the team 'solved two positions for years to come' btw, Andrew Miller is out of options meaning that the Sawx can't send him to the minors without exposing him to waivers and he's done nothing to show that he's capable of holding down a steady ML job. It's very possible he'll be somewhere else before too long.

I hope the Mets move the fences in because I have a personal theory that it's extremely difficult to build a winner in a stadium that takes HR's away in every part of the field -- left, center and right. As opposed to those theories I seem to hear all the time about how a team in a hitter's environment can't win -- a theory which obviously took a hit after the Phils won the WS.

Another Houston fan chimed in claiming to be friends with someone who played for Collins. Didn't say whether in the majors or minors only that it wasn't with the Astros. Anyway, the connection describes Collins as -- a decent if humorless sort ... not really volatile [although] intense/driven with a lot of rules. He can have a good effect on a team at first, especially one that appears to need some organization and discipline. He is a sound baseball guy. OK, that all sounds good. BUT . . . the relentless pressure he keeps on his players causes things to go bad, eventually. [The] friend said he liked Collins at first, but by the end, like just about all his teammates, he wanted to kill him. A bit of the Billy Martin effect perhaps.

And then there was one! TEAMMgr - Sept �10STATUS / UpdatedMgr (NEW) 2011A�sB. GerenOption Picked up for 2011B. GerenANGELSM. ScosciaUnder Contract thru 2018M. ScosciaASTROSB. MillsUnder Contract thru 2012B. MillsBLUE JAYSC. GastonRetiredJ. FarrellBRAVESB. CoxRetiredF. GonzalezBREWERSK. MachaFiredR. RoenickeCARDINALST. LaRussaUnsigned - Re-upped for 1 yr + optionT. LaRussaCUBSM. QuadeInterim - Signed 2 yr deal 10/19M. QuadeD�BACKSK. GibsonInterim - Signed 2/yr deal on 10/4K. GibsonDODGERSJ. TorreRetiredD. MattinglyGIANTSB. BochyUnder Contract thru 2011B. BochyINDIANSM. ActaUnder Contract thru 2012M. ActaMARINERSD. BrownInterimE. WedgeMARLINSE. RodriguezInterim - Rcv'd extension thru 2011E. RodriguezMETSJ. ManuelFired---NATIONALSJ. RigglemanRenewed w/contract thru 2011J. RigglemanORIOLESB. ShowalterUnder contract thru 2013B. ShowalterPADRESB. BlackUnder Contract thru 2013B. BlackPHILLIESC. ManuelUnder Contract thru 2011C. ManuelPIRATESJ. RussellFiredC. HurdleRANGERSR. WashingtonUnsigned - Re-upped thru 2012R. WashingtonRAYSJ. MaddonUnder Contract thru 2012J. MaddonRED SOXT. FranconaUnder Contract thru 2011T. FranconaREDSD. BakerUnsigned - Rcv'd 2/yr extension on 10/4D. BakerROCKIESJ. TracyUnder Contract thru 2012J. TracyROYALSN YostUnder Contract thru 2012N. YostTIGERSJ. LeylandUnder Contract thru 2011J. LeylandTWINSR. GardenhireUnder Contract thru 2011R. GardenhireWHITE SOXO. GuillenUnder Contract thru 2011O. GuillenYANKEESJ. GirardiUnsigned - Resigned for 3 yrsJ. Girardi Seven new managers fill jobs with several others in play and, barring a miracle, Bobby Valentine winds up in none of them. I would have bet anything that he would have been managing somewhere/anywhere this coming year.

Marlins getting rid of Maybin and Miller leaves them nothing to show* for their Miguel Cabrera & Dontrelle Willis trade - definitely a word of caution for the 'dump 'em for prospects' crowd. And those guys weren't just ordinary prospects either. Both were not only 1st round picks but top ten picks. Maybin was 10th overall in 2005, Miller 6th the following year and only money scares kept him from going even higher. * The entire trade was Maybin & Miller going to Florida along with Dallas Trahern, Burke Badenhop, Eulogio de la Cruz, and Mike Rabelo - so I guess they still have Bradenhop even though he sounds more like a dance than a pitcher -- let's all do the Bradenhop !! The deal worked out great for Detroit as far as Cabrera goes. Their only mistake was almost immediately giving Willis a huge extension that they eventually had to eat.

And if the alternative is having your moss look like the shoe-polish tone that Tony LaRussa is sporting then let the grays proudly wave. While we're waiting for any news of Terry, my wife recently pegged Bob Costas as a shoe polish user. As is McCarver (self-admitted) - but then again not a lot of guys in the public eye over age 50 aren't. But back to Collins; most of the answers I received from my query into Astroland were about him being real high-strung and came in the form of one-liners, something which was largely my fault seeing as how I asked about him as if I were buying a used car and wanted to talk to folks who had previously driven a Collings model. Comments included: - "Unless the previous owners have cleared up the chronic red-ass associated with the model, I'd steer clear." - "If you stuck a lump of coal up his ass, in two weeks, you'd have a diamond." - "In the NY media spotlight, Collins would compress into a substance so dense that he would form a black hole." There was also a recalled story about him "going ape-shit" during a brawl w/the Expos although that was written off as somewhat justifiable on account of having been hit in the mouth with a thrown batting helmet from Moises Alou. But I also got a more complete answer - and from someone I "know" enough to be the straight dope: - Hal Lanier [Collins' predecessor] was more caustic than Collins ever was, however what Collins did that lead to his downfall was raise himself well above the players. What I mean by that is he was unapproachable and mean spirited. He was cold, un-communicative and very distant. A player never felt comfortable around him because you didn't know where you stood. Had he clashed with players, that would have been one thing, but most if not all the players felt they did not know what Collins thought of them or where they stood, so they were left with only one thing to do for self-preservation: go to Craig Biggio. There was only one player with the stature and standing with the organization strong enough to combat Collin's stand-offish behavior and that was Biggio. This is also where Biggio got the reputation as a clubhouse lawyer (and rightfully so, because Biggio did not stop this sort of behavior once Collins departed). So all the players basically would go to Biggio and want to know if he thought they were in the good graces with the organization... or not. Biggio gave it to players straight when he knew things and when he didn't, he went to the owner and others to get information. Collins fumed at this and basically blamed Biggio for his getting fired (eventually). It was a holy way of sorts, but it was basically down to two men fighting for the clubhouse: Terry Collins and Craig Biggio... and Biggio won. Not because Biggio was a bad hombre, but because Collins never did anything to make players feel they knew exactly where they stood with him.