Frayed Knot

Frayed Knot wrote: Centerfield wrote: Fullmer sounds pretty good. That was not fun at all. Eh, I'd still do the deal again in a second. And he's also not there yet. Don't skip over the usual caveats about how if he DOESN'T develop as hoped they predict a good career as a solid bullpen arm ... So, yeah, he'll be a top 50 prospect this winter (prolly even top 25 and top 10 among RHPs) and may go on to have a great career. Turns out I over-exaggerated the feeling on Fulmer. Averaging out a mash-up from five off-season lists (ESPN, BA, BP, MLB, John Sickels) Fulmer winds up as the 59th best prospect and 15th among RHPs and doesn't look like he'll be on Detroit's OD roster. In fact, he's not even the best Fulmer on the prospect lists. The un-related Carson Fulmer, a RHP for the ChiSox, is a couple of notches higher. It's actually the other pitcher we sent away in that deal, Luis Cessa who the Tigers wound up trading over the winter, who may wind up making the Yanx bullpen to begin the season.

Also, I guess this confirms that Harvey is our true #1 pitcher. What, too soon?

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: "I guess the main issue is I hold my urine in for too long instead of peeing regularly," Harvey said with a modest laugh. "I guess I have to retrain my bladder to use the restroom a little bit more instead of holding it in." So does this mean when d'Arnaud puts down the '#1' sign from behind the plate that Harvey is going to drop his pants and piss right there on the mound?

cooby wrote: Something tells me we will never know Or maybe we will almost immediately. Daily News: Matt Harvey, who walked into Mets camp with a hospital bracelet on Tuesday, had blood clots in his bladder that have passed. Will start Opening Day after getting some work in tomorrow (Wednesday).

Benjamin Grimm wrote: ... And that strangeness doesn't even include FK's revelation that Adam Rubin has a vagina. You mean that's not the proper syntax for the past tense of Tweet? I guess, as Rick once said to Louie about the healing waters in Casablanca, "I was misinformed".

Chad Ochoseis wrote: Frayed Knot wrote: In recent years the KTEs for divisional opponents, because they come so often and risk getting monotonous, have morphed into becoming more group efforts with updates since the previous series tacked on to the existing 'Division Opponent for 2016' thread. Doesn't mean one individual can't grab an NL East team on his own ... in fact we're short of a Marlins thread so that and a KTE for the 3rd series of the year would be a good combo thread. The knowledge we really need is for the out of division opponents who we'll only see once or twice. The knowledge isn't the only point, though. Sometimes, the KTEs for the Es that we already K about are the best written and funniest to read. Oh I'm not saying that in-division KTEs shouldn't be done, only that you tend to run out of stuff to say when dealing with multiple series, particularly when some of those come just a week or so apart as they often do. So what has tended to happen in recent years is that by the time we get around to the 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc. series of the year that they tend to be group projects tacked onto the existing team thread. That way the updates can just deal with what's new since the last time we saw them and folks can sign up for an in-division team without feeling like they're going to run out of material from having to do them six times.

I think he's trying to say as little as possible.

Rubin's Twat from 21 minutes ago: Everyone can walk back from the ledge: Heard Matt Harvey issue is not serious at all. Still doesn't clear up the air of mystery surrounding this whole thing.

btw, 75 & Sunny is the forecast for KC, MO on Sunday. Of course it'll be neither 75 nor sunny by the time 7:37 PM (local time) rolls around, but at least it won't be the potential weather disaster that you could run into with a night game in early April.

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In recent years the KTEs for divisional opponents, because they come so often and risk getting monotonous, have morphed into becoming more group efforts with updates since the previous series tacked on to the existing 'Division Opponent for 2016' thread. Doesn't mean one individual can't grab an NL East team on his own ... in fact we're short of a Marlins thread so that and a KTE for the 3rd series of the year would be a good combo thread. The knowledge we really need is for the out of division opponents who we'll only see once or twice. For the same reason, I'll kick off next week's Phils series since I was just boning up on them for that overview thread. Also the Cubs look interesting this year so sign me up for their two series in July.

“It’s a non-baseball issue that he’s got to address, and it came up this morning and as a result he won’t pitch [Tuesday],” says Sandy Alderson ... “We’ll just see what happens with follow-up tests and consultation.” Alderson indicated Harvey was still in Florida, but could be sent to New York for further evaluation if needed. A person with knowledge of Harvey’s medical issue termed it “not major” and indicated [u:wabxpo5r]the pitcher’s worst-case scenario would be getting pushed back[/u:wabxpo5r] in the rotation or skipping a turn. “If he had to have a wisdom tooth pulled, he wouldn’t pitch [Tuesday], so let’s not jump to conclusions,” Alderson said.

... a "non-baseball medical issue" Hmmmmm, hemorrhoids?

I think most of our RBIs this spring have come via ground-outs.

From the Puma: Asdrubal Cabrera went 3-for-4 in a minor league exhibition game and played four innings at shortstop. Collins indicated Cabrera, who is recovering from a strained tendon in his left knee, will return to Grapefruit League action on Monday against the Cardinals. So, barring a re-injury, this pretty much assures him being on the OD roster.

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Seeing as how these guys are: 1) in our division; are the nearest team to us; III) will be the first team we’ll see for the home opening series after this silly 2 games in 5 days “series” vs that team in the softball league, it’s probably a good idea to figure out what’s up wit’ (as they say at the cheesesteak joints) these dudes. Well just this week they gave manager Pete MacKanin an extension through 2017 w/an option for ’18 - which seems kind of odd to me seeing as how they just hired him as the permanent skipper at the end of September (after being interim since June). Guy must run a helluva spring training camp. And raise your hand if, like me, you had already forgotten who was even the Philly manager. The Phils haven’t quite gone all wholesale changes like the Braves (thank you deposed GM Ruben Amaro Jr.!!) but the process has started as longtime stalwarts like Rollins, Utley, Papelbon & Hamels have all been banished elsewhere over the last year. But the Philly system has been so thin recently that they felt it necessary to make several deals where minor leaguers were sent away in exchange for fill-in guys just to get a team on the field this year even though, ideally, you figure they should be doing the exact opposite. The only real trade they made with a guy in his prime was Hamels and the haul in that deal may still be mostly a year or so away. As currently constituted, they might just have a pretty decent infield consisting of a power platoon at 1st, two young glove/speed guys up the middle, and a rising star at 3rd. But the outfield is looking very thin (partly lack of talent, partly injuries) and the pitching staff maybe even more so. C — Ruiz & Rupp This will probably be, like 2015 was, a little more even in playing time as compared to the past when the now 37 y/o ‘Choch’ was an iron man behind the dish 1B — Ryan Howard / Darrin Ruf Now don’t get your Rupp and Ruf confused if they both make the lineup on the same day. Probably a strict R/L platoon although Ruf could steal more and more time as Howard’s body completes its disintegration process and the end of that contract gets closer (end of 2017) 2B / SS — Cesar Hernandez / Freddie Galvis Both are 26 y/o (or soon to be) Venezuelans who got significant playing time for the first time in 2015 as Rollins & Utley were phased out. Neither brings much pop but both did improve their BA/OBA offense when given regular playing time. 3B — Maikel Franco — Won't be 24 until August but is on the verge of being a major star even though has <400 ML ABs under his belt. Is also leading the world this spring with 8 HRs RF — ex-Angel/Cardinal Peter Bourjos was picked up off of waivers over the winter and looks to have the RF job almost by default. Is fast and a good fielder but has a slight problem with hitting (he suxx at it) which is hardly ideal when talking about a starting corner OF CF — Odubel Herrera Last winter’s ‘Rule 5’ pick as an infielder who the Phils immediately threw virtually cold into CF where he learned to swim quite nicely on both sides of the ball [.299/.344/.418] LF — Tyler Goeddel — No known relation to Eric, Tyler is a former 1st round (41st overall) pick of the Rays and is this year’s ‘Rule 5’ for the pick Phils. He’s probably the starter here by default; seems to have had a decent year in AA last season. Former 3B-man Cody Aschie who manned LF most of last season is injured and will likely miss the start the season, as will the German-born Aaron Altherr who looked good in a brief late-season call-up but will probably be out until mid-year, all of which makes their OF situation very thin as things start. Pitchers The Phils traded a minor leaguer over the winter to get the very mediocre Jeremy Hellickson from Arizona (formerly Tampa) and he may well be their opening day starter. Aaron Nola — The 7th overall pick by the Phils in June ’14, Nola (who sounds like he should be from New Orleans but is at least from nearby Baton Rouge) got the call just one year after the draft and looked promising in 13 starts down the stretch in 2015. They’re hoping he’s their future ace. Charlie Morton from Pittsburgh is another one of those ‘bridge’ guys they dealt for over the winter. He’s 45-70 over his career with a 4.54 ERA and 1.44 WHiP in eight seasons. Jerad Eickhoff — 25 y/o RH was part of the Hamels deal last summer (though wasn’t the main bait in that trade). Made 8 ML starts following his August call-up. Vince Velaquez (former 2nd round pick by Houston acquired in a trade) and Adam Morgan (the only LH) are battling for the 5th spot. Both made debuts in mid-2015 I assume they’ll have a bullpen this season too although I have no idea who’ll be in it and at this point I'm not sure they do either.

His main problem is that he's been battling injuries and has ONE inning pitched all spring (at least in official games). Not much to make a decision on.

Harper in the Snooze was also yapping recently about the KC advance scouting. Must be something going around when three journos all suddenly hit on the same story in the same week.

Somebody over at MLB.com was drinking early today as, for a while there, they had it as 3-0 in favor of Washington!! Even the HRs were assigned to the Nats players who occupied the corresponding slots in the batting order as Wright & Conforto and all the runs given up were charged to Matz instead to the Nats' hurler. They've since corrected it and it's now 4-1 Mets in the 5th. I guess it's spring training for the compilers there too. Good to see a good outing (so far anyway) from Matz (a Cliff Robinson solo HR is his only hit allowed thru 5) and also from Conforto who was sitting out with a stiff back for the last few days.

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Mix up a little Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen and Jeff Daniels with a Danny Boyle direction from a Walter Isaacson book, and then give them all an Aaron Sorkin script to dance around for two hours and what’s there not to like? OK, so I suspect there are a sizable number of people who rated (or even decided to see) ‘Steve Jobs’ the movie based on whether or not they were fans of Steve Jobs the person or of APPLE the brand. Thankfully I’m not one of those who felt compelled to take a side in the great computer wars of the ‘80s & 90s; I had/have no rooting interest in the whole ‘Mac vs PC’ schism, nor do I have an opinion as to whether Jobs was a misunderstood genius or a complete asshole or even care how accurate this story and on-screen portrayals were. So devoid of any of those complications, I just happened to really like this movie. Done essentially in three acts, each one surrounding a Jobs-run public product launch several years apart (1984, 1988, & 1998 - with an occasional flashback to earlier days thrown in), it puts on display Jobs’ relationship to key employees, to co-founder Steve Wozniak, and mainly to the daughter he fathered out of wedlock but is reluctant to accept.

And the stupid part is that's there's no advantage to be gained by claiming the "lost ball" thing even if it was!! That act seemed to exist simply to save himself the trouble of bending over. Scrubbinies tried to make a game of it with 5 in the 8th plus a couple runners on in the 9th, but the 8-0 deficit proved too much.

d'Kong76 wrote: I don't think that a decade from now is out of the question. I'll take the 'Over' on that.

seawolf17 wrote: If ARod ends 2017 within a handful of home runs from the all-time lead, SOMEONE is going to pay him to set that record in their uniform. That scenario would also mean that he maintains a 30-ish HRs/season pace over 2016-17 so, yeah, under those circumstances his pronouncement (which he's apparently already! getting fuzzy on) would be subject to change and someone will chase the hollow fame that comes with him. Maintaining that pace is an unlikely scenario as he turns 41 & 42 in the middle of the coming seasons, but so was his hitting 33 last year after sitting out more than a year with suspensions and injuries.