Frayed Knot

Something along those lines. This story broke a few weeks ago; today's Post article is a tack-on piece with additional dirt.

I remember getting a real kick out of Choi during the 2020 WS with Tampa. He hit well (5/17 w/1 HR), but more than that he had a similar kind of roly-poly athleticism that Pablo Sandoval displayed early in his career w/the Giants. I remember some wicked acrobatic splits while digging out throws at 1B that seemed impossible given his thick body. And I'm not sure how much English he knew but he seemed up on all the dugout silliness while genuinely having a good time with his teammates and vice versa. In short, he was just fun to watch and root for. That said he's soon to be 33 y/o and doesn't really hit enough for a guy confined to 1B/LF/DH and barely hit at all in 2023 so it's unclear what his path to a roster spot will be. He apparently signed a split minor/major lg contract.

=G-Fafif post_id=147215 time=1708132668 user_id=55] Vogey's off the board and in Canada.

Hey Man! has an article in the NY Post saying that "a NYM employee" ratted out Eppler and t\in doing so gave MLB/Manfred the evidence needed, which Eppler made no attempt to deny, to punish him for a crime which, as Tommy Hunter says, goes on everywhere but in this case landed with insider proof on the commish's desk.

I went real low on the Pirates: Lloyd Waner (I under-cut FMan on Waners) - Brian Giles - Roy Face (all 1%'ers) and real low on Mets: Duke Snider - Lance Johnson - Tug (2.0, 0.3, 0.8) But not so low on the top line: Josh Gibson, Roy Campanella, Satchel Paige (13%, 12%, 77%)

I first saw Don Gullett in this game http://ultimatemets.com/gamedetail.php?gameno=1431&tabno=D Second game of a DH where the DH itself was delayed by torrential downpours earlier in the day. But dad and I waited it out and they eventually played all 18. Mets won the opener and had Seaver going in the night cap but, despite having 2-0 and 5-3 leads, GTS couldn't hold on eventually serving up a 3R HR in the 7th to cap an ugly line: 7 earned in 7 IP on 11 Hits and 5 BBs What I remember most about that game though was Gullett. He was a rookie that year pitching almost exclusively in relief including an early season game vs the Mets. But I don't think I had heard of him until he came out of the bullpen to start the 6th with NYM up 5-4 and, while Seaver was blowing up in the 7th, Gullett faced 12 batters that day and retired all 12 while K'ing 8 plus two foul pop-ups to the catcher, iow, two fair balls were hit. He was 19 years old and I think that was the day I learned about the expression 'throwing BBs' because it looked that way even from the stands. Flashing back to what I remember I'm getting a strong Billy Wagner comp in both style and velo. The downside to all that hard throwing -- whether directly or otherwise -- was that he threw his last ML pitch at age 27 despite, as Greg alluded to above, owning a stunning 109-50 (.686) career record w/a 3.11 ERA He finished up with the Yanx as one of Steinbrenner's early attention getting FA signings. He pitched well for them in '77 (tho not in the WS) but not well at all in '78 and was done by July.

A bit like 'Dream Team' basketball 1992 It was the first time pros (at least by capitalist country standards) were to be included, but the first reaction by Jordan specifically and several others as well was, 'I've already done an Olympics (as an amateur) and have no interest in doing it again. Let someone else take my place'. Then their agents got ahold of them and explained how they'd look like an anti-patriot (and right on the heels of the Gulf War no less) and doing so would potentially toss endorsement deals out the window and other bad pub stuff. That was enough to not only get the stars willing to get in but also to band together in order to keep those they didn't like (Isiah Thomas) out. Once that was all settled then the only snag remaining came when the Nike athletes among them were informed that evil Reebok held the uniform rights. That was solved by draping American flags over their shoulders (and conveniently across the logo) at awards podium time. See, just look how patriotic I can be!!' One can only imagine a similar manager/artist talk: 'But Bruce, you'll look like you WANT children to starve if you don't agree to this!!'

The SoCal teams in particular have always clung to their Saturday night games. Back in the days of old Jack Murphy Stadium when the Padres both sucked and weren't drawing flies, Saturday nights were always their best attendance games. I guess they figure everyone's at the beach during the day so we are a bit fortunate to draw an April day game in LA. Would have been nice to get a Saturday day game while in Seattle though. What are they afraid of, that the day time temperature is going to shoot into the upper '70s?

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Jett Williams in 77 sounds good, but 747 would be better. That's a jumbo jet. He needs something speedier, like maybe F-14 I'd be totally down with restricting lefty pitchers to odd numbers and righties to only evens. Some expansion team needs to do that from the git-go and see how long it takes before the public/media figures out what they're doing. And maybe switch-hitters get a monopoly on double numbers since switching them around still yields the same number.

For the bottom row I went Miguel Castro - Gary Carter - and then dragged the name Brad Emaus from out of the cob webs (0.3% and not even a picture)

Sacramento, about 80 miles east and 40 degrees hotter (in the summer) than Oakland. You'd want a domed stadium if a move there were to be permanent.

No Sleep 'til September! As I do my annual perusal of the schedule for late night (after 8:15) starting times, I find that we get off easy during the early part of the season with only a 10:10 start on Friday 4/19 at LAD (followed by day games on Saturday and Sunday) then a pair of 9:45 games in SF on Monday & Tuesday (22nd & 23rd) before a day game on Wednesday. So three day games out of six is good news for a mini west coast trip. And that's it ... until they all pile up in August: FRI 8/2, 9:38 @ LAA SAT (grrr) 8/3, 9:38 @ LAA -- A 4:05 game on Sunday followed by an off-day Monday TUE 8/6, 8:40 @ COL WED 8/7, 8:40 @ COL -- a 3:10 start on 8/8 FRI 8/9, 10:10 @ SEA SAT (grrrr) 8/10, 9:40 @ SEA -- Then, after a day game Sunday followed by a day off and nine home games, they head right back to the west coast THU 8/22, 10:10 @ SDP FRI 8/23, 10:10 @SDP SAT (grrrr) 8/24, 9:40 @ SDP -- day game Sunday, off day Monday TUE 8/27, 9:40 @ ARZ WED 8/28, 9:40 @ ARZ -- that's followed by a WED 3:40 start then two 'early' games at the White Sox [8:10 FRI, 7:10 SAT] 8/30 & 31 Gonna be a rough month for both fans and players alike: 27 games on the sked, 18 of them on the road including 16 in the Mountain or Pacific time zones (plus 2 in Central) with 11 that start late at night for those in EDT-land.

2

Or Moe's. ... although, considering Moe is currently approaching birthday #127, it would probably be his great-grandson.

2x CY Pitcher Corey Kluber decides to spend more time with his family ... or at least with somebody's family.

None.

Newcombe could qualify in four categories: .300 BA and 10 wins for both Dodgers and Negro Lg,, and then doesn't miss 10 HRs by much which would slot him in twice more (topped out at 7 for one season just 117 ABs)

Kershaw, btw, will be unavailable for the first half of the 2024 season due to off-season shoulder surgery. Dodgers have yet to announce the deal as it's pending on his physical which might not be a slam dunk.

Not a new team or town but 23 y/o KCR SS Bobby Witt Jr., preparing to enter his 3rd ML season, just scored himself a tidy little 11 year contract with options that can take it to 14 years. At somewhere between $288 to #377 million (depending on them option things) it's believed to be the biggest deal for any Royal aside from the one recently completed by the late Elizabeth II of the London franchise.

Keith, who turned 70 last October, is currently in the midst of what I suspect might be his final contract. So it's never too early to think of replacements.

=MFS62 post_id=146283 time=1706882249 user_id=60] The right field fence at Asheville is 297 feet down the line.

Geez, Todd, you've been getting positive press since you were in Little League. Did you think that was a promise that it would follow you to your grave?

By my unofficial count we now have 106 relievers.

I thought they were asking for Negro Lg players who then played one of those positions in MLB so, in my mind, Josh Gibson wouldn't work because I knew he never played in an AL or NL game ... and I had ZERO chance of coming up with a different Negro Lg catcher. Went with Paige as my Negro Lg pitcher and Jackie as the SS - both of which worked no matter how the question is interpreted. Didn't matter in the long run because I fucked up elsewhere as I always do, this time conflating Mike Laga with Mike Lavalliere. Both played for StL and both Looked like catchers, but only Lavalliere actually was. Guess which one I picked? I did like my choice of Mays for SFG SS, which he did play at one point during that 23 inning game vs the Mets, and also tabbing Jose Oquendo as the StL minimum one game pitcher, he toed the slab three times in total including one four-inning stint.

partially cross-posted with above Mostly it was that Angelos spent a career as a labor lawyer (much of his fortune was made upon winning a class action suit against asbestos victims) so the idea of replacement/scab players went against what he had done his whole career. One problem in the later part of his ownership tenure was the inclusion of his sons in running the team where, not unlike the Wilpons, owners trying to run the team as well are often hampered by not knowing what it is they don't know. One story has one of his sons making decisions based on how players were, or weren't, performing on his fantasy team.