Frayed Knot

Hernandez - 1Heilman - 1Beltran - 2Cameron - 2Wright - 1.5Castro - 1Floyd - 1.5

Yes, that's the idea.10 points total, no one player can get more than 6.

Piazza apparently not going to PH in the 9-spot.

BA:Perhaps the Mets got a find in righthander Bobby Parnell, their ninth-round pick out of Charleston Southern. ... The projectable 6-foot-3, 175-pounder went just 3-5, 8.86 in the Southern Conference this spring, but he lowered his ERA in the short-season New York-Penn League to 1.26 with five dominant innings. Parnell, who has a low-90s fastball and hard slider, struck out eight while giving up three hits and two walks. He’s 2-0 and has 35 strikeouts in 35 2/3 innings on the year, and while he’s walked 17, he’s given up just 17 hits (.139 opponents average).

Maybe it'll help if you feed him every now and then.Guys who make me look husky are bad candidates for athletic stardom.

BA: Perhaps the Mets got a find in righthander Bobby Parnell, their ninth-round pick out of Charleston Southern, who opposed [Lowell on Sunday]. The projectable 6-foot-3, 175-pounder went just 3-5, 8.86 in the Southern Conference this spring, but he lowered his ERA in the short-season New York-Penn League to 1.26 with five dominant innings. Parnell, who has a low-90s fastball and hard slider, struck out eight while giving up three hits and two walks. He’s 2-0 and has 35 strikeouts in 35 2/3 innings on the year, and while he’s walked 17, he’s given up just 17 hits (.139 opponents average).

Wouldn't it be funny (sort of) if he needed the Viagra because of the steroids?]But I can see how it can happen. If he got an insect bite or poison ivy and put an over the counter Cortisone cream on it to stop the itching, I believe it could produce a positive test result. It could be something as innocent as that.Not bloody likely (as they'd say in merry ol England).As mentioned in that BP link - and also by our resident medical guy 'Original JB' when I asked him about this very thing at lunch last March - the MLB list of banned substances is very narrow and there's a considerable difference between prescribed cortisone and performance steroids. In other words, it's virtually impossible to get them mixed up. Palmiero's story du jour - that he took something but didn't realize that it contained something illegal - is certainly possible. If true it's still his responsibility and shouldn't keep him from the suspension/fine penalty, but it would help to label him and somewhat careless and dense as opposed to a hardcore cheater and liar.Bonds was tested earlier in the year - or so it's been reported. I've heard lots of speculation (all of it uninformed) that he's sitting out to mask his continued use and that his announcement that he'll likely miss the season is somehow connected to the Palmeiro flap. Those angles don't make sense or hold water.

SOUPCAN1984. My freshman/sophomore year of college. I had grown a bit and filled out a little since high school and thankfully, the acne had finally cleared up. Skinny black leather ties, black and white checkered sweater vests and Ray Ban Wayfarers were staples of my wardrobe. Most of my musical tastes were formed as a result of new friends and classmates. I came to college listening to Billy Joel, ELO and The Beach Boys and graduated with cds by Orchestral Manoeuvers in the Dark, The English Beat, The Blasters and The Housemartins in my collection.I went from awkward slow dancing to Al Jarreau at the prom to slam dancing to ‘Once In A Lifetime’.Like LF, I tried to mix up the ‘hits’ with songs that I remember really digging. In some cases I liked songs from albums that weren’t the big hits (Born In The USA for example) but still not completely anonymous…1) Pride (In The Name Of Love) - U2 – Before Joshua Tree there was The Unforgettable Fire, arguably this band’s best album2) Melt With You - Modern English - Now I think this song was released in ’83 but didn’t appear on Archer’s list. It was such a good song and I think it got most of its airplay in ’84 so I put it here.3) Legal Tender - B-52s – Another with a debatable release date but wow, what a tune. 4) I Will Follow - U2 – An ‘80s anthem if ever there was one.5) Tenderness - General Public - As far as I know this song brought ska into the mainstream for the first time.6) Missing You - John Waite – What a great song. What a weird looking guy.7) Ghost In You - Psychedelic Furs – Not one of their most popular songs for sure, but it charted and anything by the Furs is good enough for me.8 ) I'm Goin' Down - Bruce Springsteen – In my opinion the best song on the album and not nearly exposed enough. A simple little rocker.9) Original Sin – INXS – Again, not their most popular work but how can you have a list of best 80’s songs and not include INXS?10) Middle Of The Road - Pretenders –The Pretenders could rock. Plain & simple.11) Head Over Heels - Go-Gos – Loved the Go-Gos, Consistently produced songs you could give yourself a whiplash to. Besides Belinda was cute.12) The Lebanon - Human League – Better known for other songs but this was their best effort that year.13) Hold Me Now - Thompson Twins – The breakout hit for the Twins always reminds me of Ft. Lauderdale, spring break ’84.14) Hyperactive - Thomas Dolby – How fitting.15) Borderline – Madonna – Not a big Madonna fan but this was from her first album that also contained Holiday and Lucky Star. You could not avoid these three songs no matter where you went. And surprisingly, I liked them.16) You Might Think - The Cars – Definitely not the greatest Cars song of all time (I’ll give my vote to ‘Since You’re Gone for that honor) but still a solid effort that hung in there through the years.17) She Bop - Cyndi Lauper – Another unappreciated song from a hit album. ‘She Bop’? Of course she does, if you looked like her you would too!18 ) 99 Luftballoons – Nena – Luftballoons? What the hell are those? Oh, ‘red’ balloons. Cool song from a German chick.19) Jump - Van Halen – Friend of mine won an air band contest doing this song. I still laugh at that memory.20) Rebel Yell - Billy Idol – Loved Billy Idol, 'Dancing With Myself' was my favorite tune of his.21) Talking In Your Sleep - The Romantics - The one-hit wonders almost made it two hits with this track. A little too syrupy for my tastes, but not a bad band actually. They put out some good records.22) That's All – Genesis – Phil Collins before LITE fm adopted him as their poster boy.23) Cruel Summer – Bananarama - Liked this song, love this band’s name.24) Hot For Teacher - Van Halen – Van Halen with David Lee Roth was just a great combination of sound and attitude. They made so many great songs with a tongue-in-cheek sensibility. I liked this one and ‘Ice Cream Man’25) Reflex - Duran-Duran – I like Duran-Duran too, but the ‘flex was really a so-so song. 26) Sea Of Love - The Honeydrippers – So let me get this straight, you’re going to abandon your screaming acid rocker roots to try some romantic crooning? Who knew ?27) Sunglasses At Night - Corey Hart – Made it palatable to for me see people in clubs at night wearing shades.28 ) New Song - Howard Jones - The militant vegan makes the list.29) Drive - The Cars – Second best song on the Heartbreak City album. 30) Footloose - Kenny Loggins – From the ‘Footloose’ soundtrack. Along with Let’s Hear It For The Boy’ catapulted that movie into cult status.Songs that were hits that year that I kinda sorta liked but didn’t make my cut..Dancing In The Dark - Bruce SpringsteenWe're Not Gonna Take It - Twisted SisterKarma Chameleon - Culture ClubAuthority Song - John Cougar MellencampWake Me Up Before You Go-Go - WhamOwner of A Lonely Heart - YesIts My Life - Talk TalkDo They Know Its Christmas - Band AidHere Comes The Rain Again - EurythmicsNo More Words -BerlinEyes Without A Face - Billy IdolInfatuation - Rod StewartWhat Is Love? - Howard JonesAgainst All Odds - Phil CollinsThe Old Man Down The Road - John FogartyPlease note also that Huey Lewis and The News ‘Sports’ album was H-U-G-E in 1984 but I wouldn’t know it, cuz I thought it sucked.THE BIG TRAIN'Can, we should've hung out.Very little overlap with my as-yet unpublished 1985 list"Melt with You" -- nice recovery from Archer's neglect"I Will Follow" -- Way earlier."Cruel Summer" –- definitely earlier, but was a hit that year because it ended up in The Karate Kid."Sea Of Love" -- This one I have claimed for 1985. Are you sure?REM.Reckoning."South Central Rain (I'm Sorry).""Pretty Persuasion.""(Don't Go Back To) Rockville."Do the right thing. A. BARTLETT GIAMATTIGood timing...Today would have been Orwell's 100th birthday. THE BIG TRAINWhich is why we need "Sex Crime"! SOUPCANDoh!I Will Follow Originally on Boy circa 1980. The release of the Under A Blood Red Sky (Live At Red Rocks) album gave the live version more airplay in '84. My bad.Since I was neglectful of R.E.M. I'll replace that with South Central Rain, although not as high on the list. I'll republish the order later.The Honeydrippers album was released in calendar year '84 and Sea Of Love showed up in 2 separate '84 hit lists that I saw, but I can replace it if you want it. THE BIG TRAINBam, you get to keep "Sea 'o Love." One more guy jumps into my top 30.If you want to go with the alternate live version of "I Will Follow," that would seem to be within our rules. WIDE BEE GEEThat takes me back. 84 was a good year (got out of HS and the Mets suddenly got good!)First impressions:Never liked I MELT WITH YOU or TENDERNESS. Just didn't.Good calls on I'M GOIN DOWN, GHOST IN YOU (the ultimate 80s slow-dance hook-up and/or get-some song), MIDDLE OF THE ROAD, and TALKING IN YOUR SLEEP (great song even if the singer had a terrible lisp).HOLD ME NOW, JUMP, and 99 LUFTBALLOONS were extremely 1984. I prefer DISSIDENTS (greatest song ending -- ever) or THE FLAT EARTH (one of the great intros ever) from Dolby that year. HYPERACTIVE was almost a strategic mistake coming after SCIENCE -- he really had a rep as a novelty act then and his good songs were forgotten.--You're missing SYNCHRONICITY -- more to come! METHEADOthers from Van Halen: "House of Pain" was the B-side to the "Jump" single, and "Panama" is awesome. Out of that whole album I really can't stand "Jump"... once Eddie got his hands on that freakin keyboard, it was all over for Van Halen. CENTERFIELD"Jump" - Friend of mine won an air band contest doing this song. I still laugh at that memory.Can's friend/CF similarity score = +10.No one played air guitar like me back in my prime. COOKIE MOMThe Reflex got me through finals that spring. Not necessarily a great song, but it never failed to pump me up - a personal favorite Tenderness was a nice song, but not great, IMHO. SOUPCAN"If you want to go with the alternate live version of "I Will Follow," that would seem to be within our rules."Nah, I'll take it off. But if whoever is doing 1980 doesn't include it then I reserve the right to bring it back.Synchronicity - Well I suppose I could have included Wrapped Around Your Finger or Tea In The Sahara but to be fair that album just didn't do it for me. I'm much more enamored with The Police's earlier albums.I'm assumed that Every Breath You Take is going to be on the '85 list. SLUGGER1138Synchronicity II deserves a mention. (Best song on the record.)Where's Stevie Ray?Lest we forget the dearly departed, 1984 saw the release of Couldn't Stand the Weather featuring such classics as:Couldn't Stand the WeatherVoodoo ChileCold Shotnot to mention Scuttle Buttin'Where's the love for Stevie Ray? COOBY2) Melt With You - Modern English - Now I think this song was released in ’83 but didn’t appear on Archer’s list. It was such a good song and I think it got most of its airplay in ’84 so I put it hereA very nice song; I am glad that it showed up on someone's list. It was at the end of one of those cheesy teenage flicks, but I don't hold it against it.I hear this song at least once a week but I would be glad to hear it everyday SOUPCANMy revised list...1. Pride (In The Name Of Love) - U2 2. Melt With You - Modern English3. Legal Tender - B-52s 4. Bad - U25. Tenderness - General Public6. Missing You - John Waite 7. Ghost In You - Psychadelic Furs8. I'm Goin' Down - Bruce Springsteen 9. Original Sin - INXS10. Middle Of The Road - The Pretenders11. Head Over Heels - Go-Gos 12. South Central Rain - R.E.M.13. The Lebanon - Human League14. Hold Me Now - Thompson Twins 15. Hyperactive - Thomas Dolby - 16. Borderline - Madonna 17. You Might Think - The Cars 18. She Bop - Cyndi Lauper 19. 99 Luftballoons - Nena 20. Jump - Van Halen21. Rebel Yell - Billy Idol 22. Talking In Your Sleep - The Romantics 23. That's All - Genesis24. Cruel Summer - Bananarama 25. Hot For Teacher - Van Halen26. Voodoo Chile - Stevie Ray Vaughn27. Reflex - Duran-Duran 28. Sea Of Love - The Honeydrippers29. Sunglasses At Night - Corey Heart 30. New Song - Howard Jones Voodoo Chile & South Central Rain both chart (thanks for the heads up Sluggs & Edgy)I Will Follow get's de-listed as it was a 1980 release.I also was remiss in not including one of my own personal favorite U2 songs, so Footloose & Drive drop off the bottom and Bad makes my top final 30.

In other news;Bret Boone released by the TwinsAaron Sele released by the Mariners

IPERHBBKWHiPERABenson40.113359301.092.90Glavine36.2144311131.443.44Martinez3511277320.972.83Zambrano34.2143410171.273.63Ishii26102616161.623.46Starters172.262165531081.263.23Hernandez13.22102110.881.32Heilman12.27114131.184.97Looper12.028571.081.50Bell7.249471.694.69Padilla7.102240.550.00Graves5.2512342.657.94Koo3.202241.090.00Santiago2.204111.870.00Ring1.0022214.0018.00Relievers66.1226025521.282.98

ABHRHRRBIBAOBASLGReyes1193924011328355403Cameron1112513416225259405Beltran1073113317290322458Wright1013118415307345505Floyd902213311244355400Cairo7719715247293377Piazza66163312242324439Anderson5418828333367519Woodward377413189231314M'kiewicz3511524314351543Castro32105312313353656Offerman307204233258233

I'm reasonably sure this is just for major league guys (25 man roster).Remember, the reason for this whole thing in the first place is so that fading teams don't just trade/sell/dump all their vets on the good teams willing and able to pay for them and creating a playoff team which barely resembles the team which played all year. So the waiver process allows those "name guys" to go to the top teams only if all others pass on them. No one, on the other hand, is trying to get rid of 21 y/o future stars through the waiver wire.

Some jerk who used to post at the old place.That's the 2nd time this week I've been mistaken for that schmuck.(although at least he wasn't as big an ass as that Salamander guy)

]Wouldn't X also have to go through waivers?If he's a major leguer, sure. No ML players can be dealt during this time frame w/o clearing waivers.Now if 'X' means one or more minor leaguers then I think it's OK. I don't believe minor leguers are subject to this process during a specified waiver period (like the one MLB has just entered).

Right, there's no need for them to be [u:ead769252d]IR[/u:ead769252d]revocable waivers. Glavine, in fact, couldn't be put on IWs because he has complete no-trade protection and a waiver claim obviously moves him to a different team w/o his say-so.He could - and probably will - be put on regular waivers which is just a procedural move that does not remove him from either the 25 or 40-man rosters. Players on waivers are still active members of the team.If/when he's cleared by all teams he could then be dealt to anyone just as before the July 31st deadline -- although again, only w/his approval on account of the no-trade dealie.Once a waived player is claimed on reg waivers the team offerring him can:1) Pull him back off the waiver wire (probably 90+% of all cases)2) Say to the lowest-ranked claiming team: 'OK, he's yours' and the claiming team gets him for nothing other than the waiver fee (very low) and by assuming his remaining contract. That last bit is why Glavine (and many players) will get through waivers untouched. The Yanx, however, got stuck w/Canseco that way a couple years back when they claimed him only meaning to block him from clearing entirely and his team (Cleveland?) said 'Take him'..3) Offer to strike a trade w/the lowest claiming team: 'OK, you can have him if you give us X ... otherwise we're pulling him back'The point of all this is to limit the wholesale "buying" of good players by good teams just for the tail-end of the pennant race/post-season. The waiver process means that if someone good is being dumped at cut-rate prices late in the season the lower teams all still have a shot at him.

] ... preferred they trade for Bordick over Larkin because it was assumed acquiring Larkin would have meant we parted with Escobar. Just about everyone at that time would have counted on Escobar having the better future than MoraAnd that's part of the Phillips legacy also.Not that he should have expected to know that Mora was going to have a better ML career than Escobar, but that Stevie seemed to have a similar affinity for the "big name" minor league guy as he did for big leaguers. Again, there were circustances in the Mora situation that led to his trade but I think there were others (Jason Bay) who never really considered as future players because they didn't start out with that "prospect" label on them. Of course most guys like that won't ever make it but sometimes a player's performance out-strips his rep and he should be able to play his way off the disposable pile.I wonder if a Baumer-like stats guy on the staff at the time would have looked at just the stats of the never-heralded yet quickly-emerging Jason Bay and been able to talk the powers at be into offering a different player for the great Steve Reed & Jason Middleton?

]Trading Mora was retarded. This is well plowed-over ground, but in context it wasn't retarded at all.We were in a pennant race and needed a SS. Mora got about a 50 game tryout there and it was clear he wasn't the answer. Bordick was worse than expected (and also got hurt late) but something needed to be done at the time and Mora was the price.

The 1st one is a case of obeying the letter of the law and throwing common sense out the window. Like BV said often; the rule book needs to be periodically reviewed and updated. That rule probably dates back to the days when fielders gloves were the size and shape of your kids' winter mittens and you couldn't be sure if it was a catch until you saw it in his hand.#2 - the bunt play was prolly just bad judgement: ie; ump thinks that he was NOT out of the box. Seems to me that the home ump needs to get help there, not sure why he didn't.#3 - Looked like the 1st base ump thought that the pitch in the dirt hit the batter on the foot (so did several of the announcers) and so he signaled for time out. Of course it's not HIS call there so that's where the screw up was. Problem is that once he calls 'Time' nothing which occurs afterward is valid.

I think Willie was clearly mad, he just doesn't have a Piniella/Martin type hissy fit in his repetoire.The Alomar case looked more like the ump having rabbit ears and going after him. His fit looked to be caused by the ejection rather than the other way around.The umps screwed up, but once they screwed up there was no going back and changing it so we weren't going to win that argument anyway.

Ahh, it's no big deal.So he comes out looking like the slimey one in a contest between him and Jose Canseco. It's not like it's going to cost him his reputation, a shot at 600 HRs plus the Hall-of-Fame or anything. Oh wait ...Oh yeah, and it brings a lying to Congress charge into play.

WFAN: MLB set to announce within the hour that Raphael Palmiero hs tested positive for steroids.

Still have it.

Phillips was hardly the only one surprised that the Reds seemed so insistent on not dealing at least one of their OFers this week. With an OF "surplus", a limited payroll, and such weak pitching it seemed like a natural to many and you'd have to believe that a swap of Dunn (or Kearns or Pena) could have plugged several other holes. Randa can only get you so far.Phillips record here was mixed at best.I tend to think he may have been better of if his first (and now quite likely his last) GM job wasn't in a big market w/a big budget, with a quick-fix mentality while trying to compete w/a winning steamroller on the other side of town. He seemed to have gotten an early taste for the big splashy headline-grabbing move which worked at times (Piazza) but ultimately came back to bite him more often than not.

No, I don't think that most journos are intentionally lying, just that at times like this being in full gossip mode is what generates interest and so they'll often print rumored deals so that if they do come true they can claim to have broken the story first. And even for those that don't they have a vested interest in floating rumors no matter how sketchy since it generates interest in the topic - which sends readers to their papers/websites - which generates more interest in the topic - which sends readers ... etc, etc. The folks on BB2N looked positively crestfallen tonight to have so little to analyze. The lack of big names on the move seemed to have ruined their day."Never close to the truth" may ahve been the wrong phrase since I don't KNOW that's the case, but this week in particular saw no significant prospects dealt for anyone anywhere so maybe this assumption that top prospects were sure to be dealt for relievers wasn't in play as much as suggested and was more wishful thinking than anything. As for radio callers; in that case yes, I do believe most of them are listening to voices inside their own heads and making up trades that have no basis in fact that they can't understand why their favorite GM hasn't pulled off yet.

[u:c771d04709]Gammons[/u:c771d04709]: He may already have been a bit gossipy by nature, but I think part of the problem isn't so much his writing but that his TV gig - what most people know him from - encourages him to go all football-like and predict trades and outcomes and then fans get pissed off at him for "misleading" them when his words don't come true.[u:c771d04709]Gary Smith[/u:c771d04709]: There's a book out containing some of his collected S.I. writings (a year or 2 old). I forget the name but it's worth a look if you're a fan. Between his writing style and the subjects he comes up with some of those stories are just stunning.[u:c771d04709]Jim Murray[/u:c771d04709]:- On the Indy 500: 'Gentlemen, start your coffins'- On soccer: 'I'd give you the final score, but there wasn't one'