Frayed Knot

'Robbie' was one tough SOB ... and that's what his friends said of him.

=Centerfield post_id=2530 time=1549566192 user_id=65]If we want to speed up the game, follow FK's suggestion about warm up pitches, and rig those bullpen carts to travel 75 MPH.

The "solution(s)" I often hear from those in the sports media who dislike baseball (iow: most of them) always seems to involve their ideas for there being significantly less baseball going forward (shorter games, shorter seasons, fewer teams, more off-days, no overlap with any other sport ever, etc.). I'll pass on that whole line of thinking if you don't mind.

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: Seven inning regulation games. Fuck that shit!

cal sharpie wrote: “BlacKkKlansman” - Not bad but not great. That pretty much sums it up for me as well. But Oscar material, or top prize at Cannes? ... just not seeing it that way myself. Also, not that I expect 'based on a true story' to actually be the true and unaltered story, but there were a bunch of things in this flick that made me say "Really? ... it happened like that?"

I'd prefer NOT to place arbitrary limits on things such as the number of hitters one must face. Plus, as soon as you put in the "injury" provision there'll be no limit to how many guys complain of a sprained Mendicular-Johnson joint as soon as they finish pitching to the guy(s) their manager brought them in to deal with. The good thing, though, about sprained Mendicular-Johnson joints is that they heal quickly. Mariano's used to last only about the length of the All-Star break. You want less in-inning dead time? ... then make pitching changes quicker by getting ALL your warm-ups done before being called in. The distance to, and the size of, the plate are the same on the field as in the pen. * a universal designated hitter -- I think you know where I stand on this one * a single trade deadline before the All-Star break -- I don't have a problem with the way things are now, but this is just paperwork stuff which I generally don't get too worked up over one way or the other * a 20-second pitch clock -- I'd prefer it not be necessary, but it might be necessary. I do like that it's in the minors so that hopefully the next generation of players will grow up with this as the norm * the expansion of rosters to 26 players; with a 12-pitcher maximum -- 25 vs 26 to me isn't that big a deal, but again with the artificial limits. If you want to carry extra pitchers you weaken you bench ... your choice. And how do you count Ohtani in such a scenario? Can we list Thor as a hitter on days he isn't pitching? * draft advantages for winning teams and penalties for losing teams -- The devil is in the details on that one * a study to lower the mound -- eh * a rule that would allow two-sport amateurs to sign major league contracts -- You mean, allowing the few amateurs with actual leverage to actually use their leverage .. What a concept!!

Edgy MD wrote: ... have we not yet found a position for Willie Mays? Any position he wants to play cuz he'll likely be better at it than anyone else no matter which one he chooses. Somebody on the radio -- I forget who at this point -- was retelling a sequence from a past interview with Mays. He had asked Willie to recall when it was he first realized that he wasn't merely 'good' but a significant cut above that. His answer was 'at 14', before going on to explain that, at that age, he was playing point guard for the HS basketball team, QB for the JV football team, and also playing with his father and his country-ball semi-pro baseball buds on weekends. Could you imagine playing sports, not just against HS kids when in Jr High, but also with and against Men at age 14? Shyeeet, I think that was the year I topped 100 pounds for the first time so even if, by some odd chance, some 15 year olds had actually asked me to play I would have spent the time getting my ass kicked by them.

A Boy Named Seo wrote: Bless Piazza's bleached tips, I can't tell if he's got more of a Sum 41 / NOFX / Warped Tour vibe, or if it's more of a nu metal/buttrock pastiche like Puddle of Mudddd, Staind or the biggest of the big dogs, Nickelback. All I know is that he appears to be holding a 12 pound ball, which is basically for girly-men. Maybe THAT'S the proof he's gay!

... avi

Stearns was a Safety at U of Colorado and was known for breaking out old films for those who asked him about it ... and probably some who didn't ask as well. And he once tackled Chief Nokahoma in Atlanta

Bob Friend - 88 RHP who had a 16 year (1951-1966) 602 Game/197 Win MLB career, almost all of it with the Pirates but his final half-season/22 games came as a NYM

=Centerfield post_id=2236 time=1549060717 user_id=65]Did they tank? Absolutely. Did they tank their way to a championship? Hardly.

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: That said, Gio always struck me as a complete penis of a man. Temperamental, unpredictable, occasionally brilliant. And totally frustrating to watch: works slow, and is often heading for 100 pitches by the 4th inning.

OK, except that that's a deadline governing transfers between leagues (as well as within) which may be on different schedules from each other, so it's not quite an apt comparison here either. And I guess I mainly don't get the purpose behind a deadline. It seems that fans -- and particularly writers -- want all this over and done as quickly as possible but it's not really clear as to why except for impatience. The WS was ending right about 3 months ago now. Would my life as a baseball fan be better if all FAs were all required to be signed in the first month (then what would we talk about in the interim?), or in the second, or by midnight tonight (1/31)? I dunno ... I can't see why I'm supposed to care. It seems like a solution in search of a problem; a deadline simply for the purpose of a deadline.

I don't know if I've ever heard [the anti-tanking] one before, and its interesting. It's been floated in the other sports where tanking is openly discussed if not flat-out bragged about by numerous teams. But the difference between a 9th pick and a 2nd pick is baseball isn't nearly as clear as it is (or as folks think) in hoops and football. Nor is tanking really a thing in baseball. Teams may deal off aging talent that won't help them the following year in order to get a jump on rebuilding but no baseball team openly tries to lose down the stretch in order to secure a specific draft pick (Suck for Sam!!) "Baseball should implement some sort of free-agency window, ideally the week before, or after, the Super Bowl. That would allow MLB to take center stage and still give pitchers and catchers time to report to spring training by mid-February." Murphy cites the NBA's model for free agency as a gold standard that should be emulated. Again here he's comparing things which don't really invite comparison. The NBA's FA period is essentially over before it begins as teams and players cut deals a week or more before the window even opens then only need to make sure to not illegally announce the deal even as details of them become public knowledge almost instantly. Also, the NBA is a salary cap league (I'm sure Murph isn't advocating that for baseball) so everyone knows ahead of time EXACTLY how much each team can offer so there's no point in shopping around for the best deal. In the NFL their FA period is mostly over quickly but that's a league where the players only sort of have true FA-gency and even though the individual salaries aren't capped each team's total is (even more rigidly than in the NBA) so for most FAs there's a rush to get a piece of the fixed amount of money before the till runs dry and you're the guy without a chair when the music stops. I'm open to any and all suggestions on how to "fix" MLB's FA system (even though I'm not completely sure that it's even broken). But it's too simplistic to say that something works elsewhere therefore it'll be good here too and, while I realize the drawn out process pisses off some fans and most writers, I don't think that that alone is reason to undo everything. Harper and Machado have both (by their own admission) received long-term offers but are choosing to wait. Not quite sure how forcing them to make a decision before they want to is helping them out. What, so fans can get their fantasy teams in line sooner? It's a process, why put an artificial constraint on how long it should take?

Normally what these guys are trying to do is balance what they see as players' ceilings against the likelihood of them actually reaching it. So by touting a just-turned 19 y/old who's yet to play full season ball Law is obviously leaning a lot more heavily on the potential side than on a meaningful track record or his closeness to the majors. iow, it's likely more accurate to say that Law 'suspects' or 'guesses' something about Vientos than to say he 'knows' anything. Prospect touts remind me of R&R music critics sometimes in that they're often quick to jump off the bandwagons of guys everyone else is talking about -- 'oh man, you're still listening to that album ... I was so over that like two weeks ago' -- and instead try to move on to who they suspect might be the coming thing. Those who do that will be wrong a lot more often than right, but, when right, it gives them the claim to have picked up on the next great player/band earlier than anyone else. And I guess they have to try and stand out somehow.

Edgy MD wrote: Reports that began with a TWITTER FRAUD! https://nypost.com/2019/01/29/phillies-fans-fooled-by-fake-bryce-harper-mlb-rumor-on-twitter/https://nypost.com/2019/01/29/phillies-fans-fooled-by-fake-bryce-harper-mlb-rumor-on-twitter/ Now that's what you call Real fake news ... as opposed to the fake fake news that the [CROSSOUT]President[/CROSSOUT] [current resident of 1600 Penn Ave] keeps yapping about.

It's that time of year again. MLB, BP, and BA have weighed in with their league-wide Top-100 lists, although BA is hiding theirs behind a pay wall. MLB.com 1 - Vladimir Guerrero Jr, 3B, Blue Jays -- International FA signing 2 - Fernando Tatis Jr., SS, Padres -- Int'l FA 3 - Eloy Jiminez, OF, White Sox -- Int'l FA (Cubs) 4 - Victor Robles, OF, Nationals -- Int'l FA 5 - Royce Lewis, SS, Twins -- 1st Round/1st Pick 2017 draft out of HS 6 - Nick Senzel, 3B/2B/OF, Reds -- 1st/2nd 2016 draft, U-Tenn 7 - Forrest Whitley, RHP, Astros -- 1st/17th 2016 draft, HS 8 - Kyle Tucker, OF, Astros -- 1st/5th, 2015 draft, HS 9 - Alex Kirilloff, OF, Twins -- 1st/15th, 2016 draft, HS 10 - Brendan Rodgers, IF, Rockies -- 1st/3rd, 2015 draft, HS ---------------------- 51 - Peter Alonso ---------- 58 - Andres Gimenez Baseball Prospectus: 1 - Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 3B, Blue Jays 2 - Jo Adell, OF, Angels -- 1st round/10th overall pick, 2017 draft, HS 3 - Fernando Tatis Jr., SS, Padres 4 - Eloy Jiminez, OF, White Sox 5 - Victor Robles, OF, Nationals 6 - Keston Hiura, 2B, Brewers -- 1st/9th, 2017 draft, UC-Irvine 7 - Forrest Whitley, RHP, Astros 8 - Royce Lewis, SS, Twins 9 - Nick Senzel, 3B/2B/SS?/OF? (no, really, that's how they list him), Reds 10 - Wander Franco, SS Rays -- Int'l FA, born 3/1/01 -------------- 38 - Andres Gimenez, SS, Mets -- 40 - Peter Alonso, 1B, Mets

A Boy Named Seo wrote: I don't think they prefer to lose. I do think they prefer to spend less because they can't or they don't want to, Don't disagree. I'm just pushing back against those essentially saying that money is so plentiful that 'can't' isn't even a possibility, and the process which I'm describing as 'overly cautious to even approach the limits for fear of what could go wrong' is a form of saying 'they don't want/choose not to'. and if they don't win, well that's ok with them. But here I don't agree. Even those local writers who have covered the sport/team forever and will take on the Wilpons for all sorts of stuff consistently describe the fan complaints of 'don't care about the team' or 'not interested in winning' as false narratives; to a man the scribes will say how the not winning and the criticism which comes with it kills them. The problem is that the 'Pons haven't been savvy enough to build any kind of consistent success on their own while still holding onto the belief in themselves as astute baseball men in addition to being owners to the point that they're reluctant to turn over the direction of the club to someone else who might be better at it. But not being good at it isn't the same thing as not giving a shit - even if the results often look alike.

Have you read the recent articles on MLB revenue? The idea that a team loses money is a fallacy. That a team loses money overall? No, and that's not what I'm saying. That expenses can and sometimes do exceed revenues during certain periods, yes. And when this happens the owners need to go into their pockets to cover the shortfall. I'm not suggesting a go-fund-me account for them when this happens but I'm suggesting that, because they needed to heavily borrow and sell-off pieces of the team to keep things afloat during the Madoff crisis, since then they both have less backup in the piggy bank than they once had (particularly less than they thought they once had), more loans to pay back from that time, and probably bad memories from going through that period, this has made them more risk-averse these days. Even more far fetched is the idea of a team losing value. The Mets were worth 2.1 billion. And this is separate from SNY. I specifically said the opposite of that, that rising value over time is what owners are really in it for. But you don't see that money unless and until you sell. So if you need to cover expenses before then you either have to go into your own pocket, borrow against the current or future value, and/or sell off pieces of the team. I suspect they're more than a bit leery of taking any of those paths right now since they recently had to do all of the above and therefore are steering a more conservative path by getting out in front of fewer big deals that could conceivably come back to bite them if the winning and projected revenue increases don't come with it. Basically this in a longer-winded version of what Chuck said, that they are wary of spending more because they've seen too many bad contracts in the past and because bad investments once put them in danger of losing the team. Not that I'm claiming this is the smart way to do things going forward but it's a helluva lot more logical than the scenario where they can spend much more than they are currently doing -- what, $200 mil/yr? $300?, $500?!?, is there any limit? -- but simply choose not to because they prefer to lose and line their pockets than win and line them more. You can make more by spending more if the plan you put into place works. But I think the Wilpons have transformed themselves into the stereotypical football coach (although even those are getting better these days) who never want to go for it on fourth down and loathe gambles like fake punts and 2-point conversions because they are forever worrying about the negative reaction and at how it will set them back and invite criticism if the risk doesn't work.

So Mussina has joined Roy Halladay -- not that he crashed a plane after hot-shotting around the Gulf of Mexico but that he, like Halladay's family, has chosen to go into the HoF with a logo-less hat. He was an Oriole slightly longer than he was a Yank-me [10 seasons to 8; 147 wins to 123; 288 starts to 248] but he's opting for choice C 'None of the Above' Not sure how things ended with him in Baltimore but since last week's vote Mussina is not coming off as being the most popular guy ever to ply his trade in da Bronx. Part of it probably has to do with the obvious attention for Mariano, but Michael Kay, a few days ago, basically said Mussina was an ass (difficult in interviews) and, to boot, he doesn't even deserve to be in the Hall. Also when Saint Derek penned a public congrats to Rivera after the vote he failed to even mention that Mussina was involved in the same vote. And while none of this by itself proves that there's a serious club/player strain, I tend to think none of this kind of stuff happens in Yanqui-land without being part of a larger plan. Sounds like somebody's not going to be thought of as a 'TY' and that wall/number status isn't in his future despite his Cooperstown status.

Wouldn't call it underwhelming -- we needed a LHR and he's a decent one. Walks too many but also 10-12 K/9 over the last three seasons. Been on four teams in seven seasons, but that's the life of a LH reliever and, at age 31, he isn't someone we'd expect to fall off a cliff. Career splits actually better vs RHBs than LHBs so not confined just to LOOGY-ness

...

Most of the team's big contracts ended with disappointing results, so the Wilpons, quite rightly, don't want to jump in an get burned again. I have to disagree with the 'quite rightly' part. It's NYC (the tri-state area), they make money hands over fist when a winning team is on the field and the stadium is rockin'. But there's the "if they win" part which, because it isn't assured by signing player X, is why, as Chuck says, they're wary of that level of spending - and especially so in the post-Madoff era. The biggest profit incentive from owning an MLB team isn't that the team finishes in the black each year just by opening the doors but rather via the increase in the value of the franchise over time. But in those years that turn up in the red the partners have to cover the shortfall and, after having begged and borrowed just to tide them through much of the last decade, they certainly don't have the liquid backup they once had and are therefore more gun-shy about taking such a plunge. There's a difference between: 'Great if it works, disappointed if it doesn't' vs 'Great if it works, lose further control of the team if it doesn't'

So my initial reaction is -- again having not actually seen any of these yet but seeing them often hinders your predictions more than it helps: - Roma wins the picture + director exacta - Bale for best actor. Yeah he's won before (supporting) but here he's making Dick Cheney look bad and everyone likes that. - Glenn Close has never won despite several nominations so here she gets her first/lifetime achievement award - Probably Adam Driver for Klansman and Regina King/Beale Street in the supporting categories as the two chicks from Favourite cancel each other out - Not sure yet about the screenplays, so I'll say Klansman in adapted before they dig deep for First Reformed in the original