Frayed Knot

Centerfield wrote: I don't see how Baltimore and LA can be even. I thought Baltimore would be further down the list also, but they remodeled Dodger Stadium a handful of years ago pushing the plate forward (and thereby shrinking the park) for the purpose of adding in new seats in back of and on each side of the newly placed home plate. It's rep as a killer pitchers' park really stems from earlier days and the supposedly higher mound but it never really was a bad HR-hitters park. Instead, what it does have is smaller corners which tends to supress doubles & triples and the smaller overall OF gives the fielders less room to cover which tends to cut down on singles. Hence, a park favoring pitchers even though is isn't all that big.

Some guy at The Hardball Times says he got it by following supposedly-to-scale stadium diagrams from this site and then using a computerized tracing program to find the area. For purposes of this exercise he was just using current stadiums and measuring fair territory.

The thinking is that Boras (as with JD Drew last year) doesn't go into these things without knowing the market - even to the point where there are surely off-the-record conversations w/other teams about what they'd be willing to pay in the hypothetical chance that ARod were to become a FA. The Dodgers all but formally accused the Red Sox of contact with Drew while he was still their player last year. So when the Yanx lay out their expected take-it-of-leave-it (or so they claim) proposal some time in the next two weeks, Boaras-Rod will surely have some kind of number in mind. And if they walk away it means they already know that there's some kind of monster offer out there.

No real point here, I just found this list while kicking around and I was always curious which parks had the most area in play but had never seen it spelled out. The list shows the estimated square footage of fair territory in each park. Any differences are, obviously, all in the amount of outfield. 118,000 sq ft - Colorado 117,000 - Arizona 116,000 - Detroit, KC, San Diego, Washington 112,000 - NYY, StL, Texas 111,000 - NYM, Atlanta, Anaheim, Oakland 110,000 - Milwaukee, San Francisco 109,000 - Pittsburgh, Seattle 108,000 - Baltimore, Tampa, Los Angeles 107,000 - Minnesota 106,000 - Chicago (NL), Cincinnati, Florida, Houston, Toronto 105,000 - Boston, Chicago (AL), Cleveland 104,000 - Phildelphia

Right. The Yanx simply say 'we'll sign you to a new (5 year?) deal starting with the 2011 season' ... which would leave years 2008-2010 as is. That way they can keep him locked up for the next 8 years (until he turns 40) and can most likely pay him more in the final 5 than most other teams as they'd still be getting the first 3 at a discount. Anyone - Yanx or otherwise - signing him to a new deal has to pay full freight starting now. My guess is that he re-ups with the Yanx without ever opting out of the current deal because I simply don't believe that there will be the interest in the bank-breaking numbers that are being thrown around by Boras and the press.

="Yancy Street Gang"]I guess that's one of the reasons I don't bother watching. I'm willing to walk around like a zombie the day after a late Mets World Series game, but I'm not going to do that for Rockies and Red Sox. If I'm going to turn it off in the fifth inning, why even bother watching? And this is what these leagues* have to understand. I mean it's easy for me to say seeing as how I'm not the one who would be turning down those checks with all the zeros on them in exchange for shorter between inning breaks and zapping those 45 minutes worth of pre-game shows with about 5 minutes worth of substance to them - but at some level there's got to be a point of diminishing returns. More commercials and sponsor tie-ins won't add to their bottom line if no one's watching them. * this isn't just a baseball problem btw. I've noticed most college football games are now blocking out 3-1/2 hours of TV time (even more when pre & post gmae shows are added) and they're regularly going over even that allotted amount. That BC/VT game which was running concurrently with the baseball game last night started at 7:30 and ran well past 11. And those are timed games meaning that each minute of extra time is by definition down time. It's just that baseball: a) is the one I care most about has more games more often and more of them falling on weeknights so it becomes more noticable and more critical.

First two WS games: #1 = 3:30; #2 = 3:39 (I know it's starting to sound like I'm obsessing about this topic - but that's only because I am) I mean you can understand the first game with it's half-hour long 1/2 inning where Boston scored about 15 2-out runs courtesy of a dozen or so free passes, etc. But how they managed to streatch a 2-1, 8-1/2 inning game with less than a dozen hits out to the length of a double feature boggles the mind. That every pitching change (6 of them) was done mid-inning didn't help (curse you DH rule!!) but once they're on the mound these hurlers could use a few pointers from Jim Kaat. It was a good game to watch which would have been a really good game to watch if it were about 45-60 minutes shorter.

Red Sox 2nd baseman Dustin Pedroia Actor Giovanni Ribisi

Baseball America recently tackled the question as to what would be a fair return for dealing Santana. Suggestions included the Dodgers sending (pitching prospect) Clayton Kershaw, OFer Matt Kemp, and 3B Andy (brother of Adam) LaRoche - although maybe the Twins want players with a more established track record. Or the Yanx dealing [u:32c34cd725]one of[/u:32c34cd725] their young pitchers: Wang, Hughes, Chamberlain (although Wang is now arb-eligible and won't be all that cheap anymore) plus Melky Cabrera (replace Torii Hunter) plus a high-level prospect like Ian Kennedy or Jose Tabata (similar level to F. Martinez) Or Boston giving up OFer Jacoby Ellsbury and P Taylor Buchholz plus a high level prospect Trying to figure how those packages would correspond to the Mets gets you maybe: Maine + Milledge + Gomez ?? Milledge or Maine + Mulvey + Martinez ??

From Adam Rubin's blog: * Luis Castillo had knee surgery and "should be 100% by Jan 1st". Also, The Mets are expected to make a strong push to re-sign him, although they will wait to at least explore what second basemen are available via trade. * Duaner Sanchez appears to be finally healthy and will be playing winter ball in the DR * Tim Teufel expected to be offered the managers job for the Port St Lucie team

From BA: Several scouts aren’t sold on Mets’ first baseman Mike Carp, a ninth-rounder out of high school in 2004. “I don’t believe in the power at all,” said a scout from a National League club. “He doesn’t make good, hard contact, he’s inconsistent in his approach and swings and misses too much. And he’s not going to play anywhere else but first base. His performance here defines what he is for me.” In 43 at-bats, Carp is hitting .256/.333/.349 with 10 strikeouts

Vic Sage wrote: ending is ending. climax is climax. 2 different things. I think this is the part where someone chimes in; "That's what SHE said"

Yeah, I missed Milton during my little search. But my larger point remains; that I don't see the recent NYY surge of home-grown players as an altered philosophy as much as a change in opportunity. The Yanx weren't turning their backs on young talent from 2000-06, they simply weren't producing enough of it. And even those fabled championship teams were built as much by trade/FA outsiders like O'Neill, Brosius, Cone, Key, Wells, Clemens, Knoblauch, etc., as by Jeter, Pettitte, Posada, Rivera. Likewise (getting back to the subject of the thread) I don't see the presence of Papelbon as a statement of purpose as much as simply taking advantage of talent when it shows up in the same way that installing Pedroia at 2nd base doesn't show a sudden aversion to high-priced infielders. If the Sox have shown anything in recent years it's that they are at least as willing as any team (and more able than most) to pay major bucks to fill perceived holes - and if they were to suddenly find themselves with a hole in the closer's spot I don't believe they'd pass up a top guy with a high price tag based on principle anymore than they did the last time going "closerless" failed miserably and they immediately ran out and signed Keith Foulke.

CF would have made the question easier except he couldn't find a Met named Ringo.

Really only Johnson qualifies as an example of dealing away youth in favor of expensive outside help. Signing Giambi was one of those "George" moves which took place entirely outside the realm of the GM and so Johnson was pretty much expendable after that point. And even there the hit they should have taken on him has been lessened somewhat by the incredibly bad luck streak of injuries he's run into which actually started before the Yanx dealt him. - Soriano was certainly a good enough young player but was dealt for ARod and it would take an especially dense Yanqui fan to argue that what they would have been better off w/o making that deal. Plus the age difference there is just 6 months.

Wakefield's ability to pitch whenever neccesary while the Sox starters were faltering went a long way towards saving their bacon back in the '04 ALCS. Even in the games they didn't win he saved the rest of the staff for games 4-7.

The Papelbon to the rotation experiment ended in Spring Training. Piniero was one of those cheap fall-back options that Edgy talks about that's easy to abandon if they don't work. I also agree that the cheap closer "option" Boston is taking is more a case of circumstance than philosophy. It's a bit like the makeup of the Yanqui roster. NYY fans are fond of calling for a return to the early '90s "decision" to build through the farm rather than through high-priced FAs - even to the point of blaming those expensive imports (Giambi, Mussina, ARod, etc) for the failure to win a championship for now 7 years. Except that that "change" was more a reactive one than a conscious decision sparked by the fact that not one NYY 1st-round draft pick between Jeter & Phil Hughes even made the majors much less became a player you could build a top club around. Nor is MLB littered with Yanqui farmhands that were foolishly traded away. They weren't getting FAs at the expense of young players, they simply didn't have youngsters who were any good. Give me a young Papelbon and I'll pass on paying closers too. Prior to him, of course, they paid (big-ish) money for Keith Foulke and got one good year out of 4 from him and fortunately for them it was the right year otherwise we might still be talking about 1918. * and I just became Ron Darling. Where's my Emmy award?

Boston leaves Wakefield off the roster on account of lingering shoulder issues -- so there goes Mirabelli's playing time. Or at least that's the stated reason. Wakefield was left off the first round but was then added for the 2nd but pitched poorly. It's also possible that because the rest of the staff is healthy and pitching reasonably well they just figured they don't really need him. If Wakefield did pitch it would certainly be one of the middle games in the thin air of Colorado, a locale not considered good for breaking balls and in games where they'd already be short a bat as it is having to sit either Papi or Youkilis because of no DH. Starting Wakefield there would have meant Varitek's bat out of the lineup too.

="metsmarathon"]well, unless its too kinky. then, perhaps, you both may lose. I said kinky, not perverted. Kinky just means there's a feather involved. Perverted means you use the entire chicken.

Valadius wrote: It might be awkward if I watch the Series with my girlfriend, since I'll be kinda pulling for the Rockies while she is a huge Red Sox fan. So tell her you're backing the Rockies and then make a bet on the outcome where the payoff is something kinky. That way whoever loses still wins!!

I wonder if Mr. Selig looks at the times of games and wonders to what extent they're affecting his cherished TV ratings: Bos/LAA series (3 games) - Avg time of game = 3:20 NYY/Cleve (4 games) - Avg time = 3:57 Bos/Cleve (7 games) - Avg time = 3:43 Overall AL Avg (14 games) = 3:42, or 3:31 if you want to remove the two extra-inning games and just look at the 12 that went 9-innings The NL games are, as always, not as bad, but still hardly what you'd call quick Ariz/Chic series (3 games) - Avg time = 3:13 Phil/Colo (3 games) - Avg time = 3:08 Colo/Ariz (4 games - 1 extra innings) - Avg time = 3:30; Overall NL avg = 3:18, or 3:11 if you take out the extra-inning game I know baseball's not a timed game and I don't want to artificially rush things, but they've got to find some kind of way to shave at least a little bit of time off so every game isn't going past midnight. There have been just 4 sub-3:00 games to date: 3 of 10 in the NL; and just 1 of 14 in the AL. Of course a lot of it is their own fault as I had it at a full 3 minutes between the final out of a half-inning and the first pitch of the next one while reg season games are more like 2 and change. That tacks on some 15-18 minutes per right there.

Edgy DC wrote: For some reason, i remember Torre's brief announcing career between managerial gigs. It was with the Angels, I think, but how would I have caught an Angels game? He was with the Angels but I think he must have also done the odd network game now & then because I remember him too, or at least enough to remember that he had done some announcing but not really enough to have an opinion on whether I thought he was any good. He generally handles the press and things like Q&As very well, although that doesn't necc translate into booth work. It's fine with me if he skips this WS if for no other reason than I generally prefer 2-man booths to 3-man, and that he'd be just another "name" guy brought in strictly for his name who knows a whole lot about one team and precious little about the other. I'm sure he'd do his homework and all, but still ...

It's a win/win as far as I'm concerned, so I'm hoping for a long, exciting series. But I'll likely pull for Colorado just to give things a fresh blood / National League / small payroll angle.

Now Pedroia really does salt it away; he follows his 2R HR in the 7th with a bases-clearing 2B in the 8th. And now Youkilis smacks one over the Green Monster and it's 11-2 !!

Native Americans miss a good chance to score and at least tie it up in top 7 -- and then Dustin Pedroia may have just iced it with a 2R Jack in the bottom half. Still 6 outs to get. - How cool has that got to be for Pedroia? ... Rookie year, hit a 2R HR in a Game 7 and then gets to jump on a big smiling Big Papi waiting there in the on-deck circle. - I've been rooting for Boston over the last few days just so this series wouldn't end early and give us a whole week without baseball to the point where I almost forgot that I'm actually pulling for Cleveland to win this.