Frayed Knot

9th round draft pick out of a small college where he wasn't even a full-time pitcher; TJS almost immediately after being drafted; finally makes ML debut just weeks shy of turning 26. And now completely hits his stride at age 30 We need to remember stories like these sometimes when we're ready to give up on a prospect because he's already 22 years old and not yet a star in the big leagues.

Centerfield wrote: The Rosario projection not so much. As "hot" as he was in the second half, his post All-Star OPS was just .685. Mostly held down by a lousy July (610). August & September were a much improved 730 & 733, all while playing more regularly as well -- only months of his career so far (out of eight) with >100 ABs

An ex-NYM hire, a couple of current managers honored for their 2018 seasons, and others with options picked up. And now only Baltimore is left searching for direction (or for someone who'll take the job cheap). TEAM MANAGERCONTRACT THRU ...Mgr SINCEANGELSBrad Ausmus2021Oct 21, 2018Hired to replace Mike SciosciaASTROSAJ Hinch2022Sept 2014Signed extension in Sept '18ATHLETICS Bob Melvin2019June ‘11Named MoY on 11/13BLUE JAYS Charlie Montoyo2021 + option for 2022Oct '18Replaces John GibbonsBRAVESBrian Snitker2020May ‘16Signed two year extension Oct 15 -- Named MoY on 11/13BREWERSCraig Counsel2020May ‘15CARDINALS---Mike Shildt20207/14/18Signed extension on 8/28/18CUBS Joe Maddon2019Oct ‘14DBACKSTorey Luvello2019Nov ‘16DODGERS Dave Roberts 2019Nov ‘15Club option for 2019 picked upGIANTSBruce Bochy 2019Oct '06INDIANS Terry Francona2020Oct ‘12MARINERS Scott Servais2019 + ??Oct ‘15Signed multiyear extension in July '18MARLINSDon Mattingly 2019Nov ‘15METSMickey Callaway2020 + Option for 2021 —10/23/17 NATIONALSDave Martinez2020 + Option for 202110/29/17ORIOLESBuck Showalter—=#0000FF]2018July ‘10=#0000FF]Will not return - 10/3/18PADRES Andy Green 2021Nov ‘15PHILLIESGabe Kapler202010/30/17PIRATES Clint Hurdle2021Nov ‘10RANGERS Chris Woodward2021 + option for 202211/3/18 RAYS Kevin Cash 2019Dec ‘14RED SOXAlex Cora2021 + 2022 option11/2/17Option picked up for 2021 on 11/14, new option for 2022 addedREDS David Bell2021Oct '18ROCKIES Bud Black 2019 + 2020 OptionNov ‘16 ROYALS Ned Yost 2019May ‘10Signed one year extension 9/30/18TIGERSRon Gardenhire2020Oct '17TWINSRocco Baldelli2021Oct '18Signed a three year deal replacing Paul MolitorWHITE SOX Rick Renteria 2019Oct ‘16YANKEESAaron Boone2020 + Option for 202112/4/17

Could be worse, you could be an old football fan and think it was Matt. [fimg=200:33cebf1r]https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/t04AAOxyXDhSgUiW/s-l300.jpg[/fimg:33cebf1r] Actually both these CY awards are going to send some of the non-baseball sportscasters into a tizzy. deGrom due to his lack of wins -- and as much fun as we make of those baseball writers stuck in their old ways, it's the non-baseball guys who are even worse. And Snell because they never heard of him since he's neither a Yanqui nor a Red Sock

Meanwhile, votes were a bit more spread out over in the unimportant league Blake Snell, TB: 17 - 11 - 2 for 169 overall points Justin Verlander, HOU: 13 - 13 - 3 = 154 Corey Kluber, CLE: 0 - 4 - 12 = 71 Chris Sale, BOS: 0 - 2 - 8 = 59 Gerritt Cole, HOU: 0 - 3 - 4 = 26

deGrom 29 1sts, 1 2nd, 0 3rd Scherzer: 1 - 29 - 0 Nola: 0 - 0 - 27 Freeland: 0 - 0 - 2

I thought he'd win going away, but I wasn't expecting it to be THAT lopsided.

Seaver has pretty much said as much. At most he reads box scores saying that it returns him to following the game in his old age the same way he first followed it as a kid. Y'know, he's old, has been ill, is a continent away, and has a business to run. No sin in not being a fan boy and pretending that he needs to have an opinion on everything in today's game.

So between not knowing the lyrics and not knowing the characters, it appears that I whiffed on the reference twice.

Ceetar wrote: ... on the [Robo-ump] front, they just have to keep that data public like it is now. It'll be ridiculously easy to spot if someone tampered. Over time, probably, but not always immediately. Remember that the Braves got caught eventually for making the catcher's boxes wider than regulation at a time when strike zones were shrinking vertically but expanding horizontally. How much that actually helped them is guesswork but they certainly had the pitching staff to take advantage of it and of any umps gullible enough to be fooled by the catcher still being in his box despite the pitch being 6 inches outside. The point being that time has shown that if teams CAN take advantage of a rule they likely WILL (paging Mr. Belichick) and it wouldn't take much of an edge (an inch or so all around?) to give your side the subtle advantage of hitting with more 2-1 counts and fewer 1-2 counts. The best remedy to keeping them from fucking with it is to not give them the opportunity in the first place.

Nothing wrong with stealing signs; if your players/coaches are better at deciphering the other side's signals then more power to ya. But it's when you start rigging out your home park with electronic devices not available to the other side that it crosses the line over to cheating and then, yeah, the commish's office has to step in on this. For the same reasons, if/when they install robo-ump for B/S calls then the set-up and operation of that stuff HAS TO BE kept out of the paws of the home team.

He Sherwood! And while I'd have to go back and read through the ultra-complicated QO rules & regs again, I don't think the loss of whatever draft pick it would cost the Mets should be the thing that stops them.

Oh, bud, it's not kid culture-- it's been a Broadway musical for two decades. Babies conceived during the film's theatrical run are just about old enough to serve in Congress. Well I suppose we could get into a discussion on how much of Broadway is or isn't kid-oriented culture (I thought every Disney princess had her own show these days) but that's a separate issue. Let me put it this way: I was aware that such a song existed and might even possibly recognize it if it were played for me*, though wouldn't have been 100% sure of the title. I did not, however, make the leap from Acuna + Ohtani to the song title, nor did I connect it to the two critters in Willets' post which I most certainly DID connect with kid culture. These babies you speak of, are you saying that some of them were conceived in the theatre? Was it during intermission? Late in Act II perhaps? * though possibly not and mainly know it as a Seinfeld joke where Elaine fessed to singing it at work; "I thought I was alone" ... Jerry: "That doesn't make it right"

A somewhat less than historically accurate, but considerably more entertaining, account of the scramble for power in the days following Stalin's death in 1953 That Michael Palin, Jeffrey Tamboor and Steve Buchemi (as Nikita Krushchev) play members of the ruling elite here probably tells you the direction the movie is taking.

The Braves continue to hoover up awards as Brian Snitker is named NL Manager of the Year Oakland's Bob Melvin wins the AL version. It is his 3rd MoY award: 2007 - DBacks; 2012 - A's

So what we really need is a mash up of Ronald Acuna and former NYM Masato Yoshii -- Acuna Masato Anyway, my knowledge of pop culture involving the kiddie world has more than a few holes in it. It's probably a contributing factor to me getting my ass kicked watching 'TEEN JEOPARDY' this week. I feel more at home with adult Jeopardy.

I'll need to have that one explained to me.

ROY NL = Ronald Acuna, getting 27 of the 30 1st place votes. Juan Soto 2nd, Walker Buehler 3rd AL = Shohei Ohtani with 25 of 30 1st place votes. Yanquis Miguel Andujar & Gleybar Torres were 2nd & 3rd

Ryu is the lone player to accept his club's QO. The remainder -- Patrick Corbin, Yasmani Grandal, Bryce Harper, Dallas Keuchel, Craig Kimbrel, and AJ Pollack -- become Free Agents with some measure of compensation from the signing team to their original squad.

NY Times today had a note how about [u:1nigh7jb]if you only considered those games where Jake was tagged with a Loss or a No Decision[/u:1nigh7jb] (IOW, subtract out the games where he got a 'W') he would still have led the league in ERA, and by not a small margin [2.09 vs Nola at 2.37 or Scherzer at 2.53]

Well, I think you need to always consider a THEORETICAL trade of anyone. But, yeah, with Conforto the payback of someone who'd be considered both available and an upgrade is limited. Some kind of 'challenge trade' perhaps where we'd get an infielder of similar age/control/talent from a team needing OF help, or maybe even a true high-OBA CF from a team more interested in a power/corner guy. But no one fitting either of those roles immediately comes to mind. And what you certainly DON'T do is deal him because you're afraid of what his agent might think three years from now, especially since it's not in the agent's interest to preemptively scuttle negotiations.

Boras has dealt with the Mets in the past and in the present and he will continue to do so in the future. For the team to shed players because he's their agent would be as unlikely, and as stupid, as it would be for Boras to eliminate teams based on not being buddy-buddy with their owners or GMs You look to trade Conforto is that will help the team and you keep him if that helps the team.

Well, yeah, but he also stopped hitting the way he had been at virtually the exact same time as the position change, so it was a kind of double whammy. As Edgy says, he was on a HoF track. But whether it was age, the wear and tear of catching, or the concussions which necessitated the move to 1st base, something changed rather quickly and turned the final 1/3 of his career into something fairly ordinary. First 10 seasons: .323/.405/.468 -- 873 OPS / 135 OPS+, almost all as a catcher Final 5 seasons: .273/.359/.388 -- 746 OPS / 105 OPS+, almost all as a 1B/DH On the other hand, even with those final five seasons thrown in, the full result was still pretty darn good, as was his defensive rep as a backstop. He wasn't Bench, but few are and he was close in several categories. PLAYERGms PlydGms CaughtPA-Hits--2B--HR--RBI--BA--OBA--OPS-OPS+MAUER1,858921 *7,9602,123428143923.306.388827124BENCH2,1581,742 **8,6742,0483813891,376.267.342817126 * 603 games at 1st base, 310 as DH, 2 in OF ** 195 at 3B, 145 @ 1B, 111 in OF btw, Joe Mauer's older brothers Jake & Bill both played in the Twins system -- one never made it out of A-ball, the other briefly reached AA Both have been out of the game since 2005

Joe Mauer retires 15 seasons, all with his home town Twinkies, the first 10 behind the plate. 2,123 hits, 143 HR, 428 doubles. .306 BA; .388 OBA; 827 OPS Three batting titles (all as a catcher); two OBA plus one Slugging, one OPS/OPS+ One MVP (2009) plus three other top-10s Five ASG, five Silver Slugger awards

Zach Wheat and Ty Cobb are in the all-food team Hall of Fame (as well as that less prestigious one in Cooperstown)