Frayed Knot

Salvatore Perez is really fucking big for a catcher. He's like 6' 5" or so [bB-Ref says 6' 3" - 240, but he looks even bigger] and he gets beat to shit at least partially because of it, particularly so in the ALCS. I mean the dude was taking fastballs and foul tips off of his body and mask to the point where I thought they were going to need to give him a 'Standing Eight' behind the plate several times during the Toronto series. He's even developed a habit of ducking just as the pitch comes in. No seriously, he has, just watch as he bows his head a bit just before the pitch arrives so that if there is a foul straight back it'll be a glancing blow rather than another direct shot.

Alex Gordon (wonder if anyone ever tried to nickname him 'Commisioner'?) is one of three current Royals selected by them with a top 3 draft pick that they 'earned' during those years spent wandering in the MLB desert: - Gordon: #2 overall in 2005 (behind Justin Upton) - Moustakas: #2 overall in 2007 (behind David Price) - Eric Hosmer who went 3rd overall in 2008 (after Tim Beckham and Pedro Alvarez) A mid-western boy on his own from a baseball mad family in neighboring Nebraska, Gordon played college ball for the Cornhuskers where he won every amateur and college award there was including I believe the Heisman Trophy and Hobie Baker award. The (more or less) local kid, who married a fellow cornhusker and still lives off-season in Lincoln, was a natural for KC right up to where they installed him at 3rd base after barely a year in the minors, gave him #4 to wear, and basically trumpeted him to anyone who would listen as the next George Brett. Yeah, didn't quite happen that way. He struggled both at bat and on the field until 2011 at which point they moved him to left field and things started to click. Four Gold Gloves, three AS Games, and a pair of Top-20 MVP finishes later, the now 31 y/o is a fan favorite and the solid player the team always hoped for even if not quite in the way and timing that they originally envisioned. KC has an option on his contract for next year which they shirley will pick up.

It just occurred to me that the results of this WS will also determine whether the Mets' overall WS record -- currently sitting at 12 games won/12 games lost -- will sit above or below the equator going forward.

The only rain rules that are different in the post-season is that all interrupted games will be played to a full game conclusion, whether later that same day or at the next possible opportunity. No shortened 'official game' results are allowed.

Alcides Escobar mans SS for KC, and of all the singles-hitting, leather-flashing, non-walking, non-power guys in their lineup, he's definitely one of them. He plays every day, leads off almost exclusively despite his .293 OBA, and was even an All-Star this year although that's more a result of giddy Royals fans stuffing the (virtual) ballot box than it is a tribute to his 68 OPS+ The 28 y/o Venezuelan came over from Milwaukee back in December 2010 when the Royals made the decision to spin off Zach Greinke for retooling purposes. That deal is probably most responsible for this two year (and counting) WS run that the Royals are currently enjoying as it brought over not only Escobar but also starting CF Lorenzo Cain and a pair of minor league pitchers. One of those arms was then spun off to Tampa in order to land James Shields, who served as the staff ace while racking up 27 wins over the 2013-14 seasons, and current closer Wade Davis. Those 'trade 'em for prospects' deals don't always work out as well as hoped but, like our Dickey deal, this one did. Escobar has a wife with really big cans (of course he does) who apparently drew a lot of, ummm, attention during recent team celebrations. [fimg=400]https://coedbc.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/screen-shot-2015-10-15-at-1-53-03-pm.jpg?quality=88&strip=all&w=656&strip=all[/fimg] But she isn't the first Mrs. Escobar. He married the previous one back in 2008 after she became pregnant, but she took to the interwebs after claiming he left her and neither saw nor supports their child.

KC on the pitching side is a bit like they are on the hitting side. Above average all around (3rd best ERA in AL) without having any Kershaw/Grienke/Arrieta type of ace who are a threat to shut you down completely. Also like the hitting side, they rank low in HRs allowed (partly this is due to their home park), are low in K’s, and kind of average-ish in WHiP. And, as we’ll hear many times over the next week I’m sure, it’s not the starters but the bullpen that’s the real strength of their staff. That league 3rd best ERA comes about despite their starters being above league average in both ERA & WHIP. This was pretty much they way things were a year ago for them when they were on their way to a championship until getting Bumgarner’d along the way. They’ve been forced to change around the pen a bit since last year, but we still shouldn’t count on stealing too many games in the late innings. Early leads would be key.

We can talk about individual KC players in the KTE thread that JCL started, but I wanted to discuss the team in general because it's not one that we're used to seeing, or really that anyone is used to seeing in MLB 2015 Starting with the offense: The Royals are kind of a (I normally hate this term) ‘throw back’ team - a nod to a 1960s or ‘70s kind of lineup that doesn’t hit HRs (14th in AL), doesn’t strikeout (fewest BY FAR in AL), has a high BA (2nd) but is dead last in walks, and boasts of a good to excellent defensive player at almost every position. They also like to run (2nd in SBs) and even stick to the pre-Saber-era tradition of having their skinny/slappy/runny SS with the .290 OBP lead-off almost exclusively. All they need to do now is re-install their old carpet, bring back the powder blue unis, exhume Nixon, invite some pet rocks to the game and we'll be good to go. They result of all this was that they were a bit better than average (6th) in the AL in RS/G Partly as a function of having few injuries this season and no long-term ones (must be nice) they’re able to run out pretty much the same lineup every night. But they also made only one in-season change (trading for Ben Zobrist to replace the benched Omar Infante) and don’t have guys with big L/R splits, so not only is there no need to platoon but they rarely even pinch-hit, only 36* times all year!!! (probably most during IL games) and not once in 11 playoff games so far. They’ll pinch-run and they’ll switch in defensive replacements (mostly for Rios in RF) but they don’t pinch-hit. As a result of all this they had six different guys get 500+ ABs this season and five of them got 600+ (vs 4 @ 500+ for the Mets and only Grandy with > 600). What this in turn allows them to do is carry micro-specialists on the post-season roster like pinch-running threat Terrance Gore. Gore is essentially a mediocre AA player who has appeared in 20 reg season and 8 post-season games over the last two seasons yet has just 6 PA (4 ABs + 2 HBP) and no hits. But what he also has is 8 SBs and 6 runs scored. He and/or Jarrod Dyson will be seen PR'ing and maybe staying in the game for late-inning OF defense but we're unlikely to see either with a stick in his hand. * obviously there's less PH'ing in the AL than the NL -- AL avg = 98 PH ABs/yr, vs NL avg of 235 (Mets = 213) But even with that in mind, KC's 36 were barely more than half as compared to the next lowest team and not much more than 1/3 as often as the typical AL squad. Put another way, they PH less than once every four games on average. Of course they will have to play under (real) NL rules at least twice so they may be forced use one or two.

Dan Haren ends a 13 year career which saw him spend a full season or more in 8 different uniforms (guy probably just got tired of moving around). How many can you name? (answers below) 153-131 plus 2-0 in Post-Season 391 Games, 380 Starts 3 time all-Star Placed 5th (2009) & 7th (2011) in CY voting. In order: StL (2 seasons), OAK (3), ARZ (2+), LAA (2+), WAS (1), LAD (1), MIA (1), CHC (1) By innings pitched: OAK, ARZ, LAA, LAD, WAS, MIA, StL, CHC

The ex-catcher tradition continues as the Mariners tab former Houston/Cubs/Giants/Rockies backstop Scott Servias as their manager. He has no prior managing experience but had been working in the Angels front office over the last four years under Jerry DiPoto. DiPoto was forced out in Anaheim earlier this year but has since hooked up in Seattle. TEAMMANAGERSIGNED THRUSTATUSHiredMETSTerry Collins201511/23/2010BRAVESFredi Gonzalez201510/13/2010PHILLIESPete MacKanin2016Interim tag removed for 20166/29/15NATIONALSMatt Williams2016 + option �17Fired Oct 201510/13/2013MARLINSDan Jennings2015Will not return - offered front office job instead5/18/15CARDINALSMike Matheny201711/20/2013PIRATESClint Hurdle2017 + option for �1811/15/2010CUBSJoe Maddon201910/31/2014REDSBryan Price201610/22/2013BREWERSCraig Counsell2015-20175/4/15DODGERSDon Mattingly2016Resigned - 10/22/159/17/2010GIANTSBruce Bochy2016Oct 2006PADRESPat Murphy2015Will not return6/15/15DBACKSChip Hale201610/13/2014ROCKIESWalt Weiss201611/7/2012RED SOXJohn Farrell2016Extended thru 201710/20/2012YANKEESJoe Girardi201710/30/2007ORIOLESBuck Showalter20187/28/2010BLUE JAYSJohn Gibbons2015 + option for �1611/20/2012RAYSKevin Cash201912/04/2014TIGERSBrad Ausmus2016 + option for �1711/4/2013INDIANSTerry Francona2016Extended thru 2018 w/options for '19 + �2010/8/2012ROYALSNed Yost20155/13/2010TWINSPaul Molitor201711/4/2014WHITE SOXRobin Ventura201410/6/2011ANGELSMike Scioscia201811/17/1999RANGERSJeff Banister201710/17/2014MARINERSLloyd McClendon201?Fired 10/9/15 - Scott Servais hired10/23/2015ASTROSAJ Hinch2017 + '18 option9/29/2014ATHLETICSBob Melvin20166/9/2011

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: ... dates the local TV sportscaster babe. Of course he does. And her name is Kacie working in KC too. How cute. 2nd base is the one position where the Royals found it necessary to change in mid-year. After signing ex-Brave/ex-Marlin Omar Infante to a four-year deal prior to the 2014 season, they realized in mid-2015 that he really, really suxx. How sucky, you ask? How does .220/.234/.318 over 440 ABs grab ya? This from a guy who once hit .317 and was an All-Star w/the Braves (2010) So in late July they dealt away two warm bodies, including 2014 1st round draft pick (#34 overall) LHP Sean Manaea to Oakland for the 34 y/o, switch-hitting Ben Zobrist - the all-purpose, swiss-army knife of ballplayers - who immediately upgraded 2nd base for them [817 OPS vs Infante's 542] When not playing baseball, Ben and his wife Julianna, who put aside her dreams of becoming a microbiologist to instead be a 'Christian Singer', wrote 'Double Play', a book about "the importance of Ben's faith, life, and athletic career". [fimg=300]http://www.thezobrists.com/images/site/ZFamily.jpg[/fimg] 86% of Amazon reviewers gave the book, which "gives fans a first look into the heart of an athlete whose talent and devotion to God, family, and baseball make him one of the most loveable figures in the Major League today", a five-star review so, I mean, it's gotta be good, right?

d'Kong76 wrote: So, did Pete Rose wear his weird hairdo wig for all those years and finally stop? Or did he just get a haircut? My mother used to say that Rose "was too old to have that haircut", and that was about four decades ago.

Ladies and gents, we have an opponent.

I rarely watch these pre/post game shows (or, in this case, mid-game show) but the one thing you take away from the FOX show ... just how Fucking HUGE Frank Thomas is. The rest of these guys look puny in comparison and Rose looks like a troll.

I think Madden just assumes that anyone on the current NYY roster is old to have already signed a FA contract 15 seasons ago.

cooby wrote: You do know who I mean then...yes he was (is?) a good poster there. I think I have asked him here, but I will ask him again. He's actually still at the old place and is apparently a 'Moderator' there so I don't guess he'd be too anxious to jump ship. I used to joke around with him whenever I'd go over there under an alias. He and I got along which is more than I can say for me and the rest of that crew.

cooby wrote: There was another fellow later in MOFO that called himself Al, after some NYC mayor or something...I am facebook friends with him. I just wonder... Posted under the name of Gov Al Smith. Different guy from 'Big Al' of airstrip fame though. If you're Facebook friends with him tell he should be posting here. He was one of the good guys over there.

Yeah, I always thought that the rule for NYC sports fans - and this goes for all the sports, not just baseball -- was that if you were a die-hard for one team then you unquestionably rooted against the other. But of course not everyone is like us nut-cases here and there are those -- the equivalent of swing voters if you will -- who might prefer one side over the other without seeing it entirely as black hats vs whites. I'm essentially that way in football because my interest was never as strong for the Jets or for the sport in general. Hockey has always been a little tougher to roll like that because the teams were always in the same division and therefore more of a direct threat to each other. And I'll comment on basketball just as soon as I meet an actual Nets fan. I've heard they exist but I have no proof of that.

Rotblatt wrote: I thought that getting Cespedes was just to appease the fan base, and that it wouldn't substantially help. I might have been right on the first front (but I doubt it), and way, way off base on the second. First of all, welcome back guy. But secondly ... I don't get the above complaint. I mean it's certainly OK to question whether the outcome was going to make enough of a difference. But this was a team that was sitting just 2 games out of 1st place at the time of the deal and was never more than 4.5 games out at any point in the season so there's certainly enough evidence to suggest that this deal -- particularly since it was one of Four made at or near the deadline (Cespedes, Uribe, Johnson & Clippard) -- was made with purpose in mind rather then subterfuge. And while I get that this team's higher-ups haven't exactly earned the benefit of the doubt over the last numbers of years, I think we have to assume at this point that Sandy has enough autonomy to not be browbeaten into making trades where future pieces are given up simply to 'appease' fans - particularly since by 'appease' I assume you really mean 'fool', as if that's going to do any side any good in this whole deal.

Sandy's Greatest Hits involving this year's roster: 1) d'Arnaud/Syndergaard -- a MONSTER deal that started paying off in the short run and looks like it will continue to pay off in spades for at least several more to come. Think about what the price would be to acquire a mid-20s power pitcher plus a power-hitting catcher, and then realize that he got them ahead of time before the costs got outrageous. Oh yeah, and there's a 21 y/o OF in Savannah this year who might add to all this later on. 2) Cespedes -- maybe wasn't his first choice (hell, we KNOW it wasn't) but, if nothing else, Sandy has shown a willingness to walk away from deals he thinks aren't right (for whatever reason) and ultimately he wound up with the right player at the right time for a price that didn't touch us this year and was from a position of strength even if it does a few years down the road 3) Duda -- GMs get judged on making the right call and, when he had to choose several years back between him and Ike, that's exactly what he did 4) Granderson -- His longest-term FA signing to date hasn't always looked good but it does right now 5) Colon -- too old, too fat, not good enough, won't perform without juice. Except that he turned out to be none of those and instead was, even if just a middle of the rotation guy, an indispensable part of the staff who never missed a start for two seasons. 6) Conforto -- His draft pick, and his choice to call him up when he did despite the short apprenticeship. 7) Clippard/Reed -- when what had earlier looked like a strength got thin due to Mejia/Parnell/Black/etc. not coming through, he acted to shore it up and there's no way August is as good as it was w/o Clippard 8) Uribe/Johnson -- neither had the volume of hits as compared to Cespedes but, even if we dismiss all the 'clubhouse leadership' stuff as hooey, each had a bunch of big ones and patched enough holes to contribute to the run in August (and everything after) 9) SS -- not that this position is a particular strength right now, but he resisted the urge (and the cries) to panic and opted instead to make do with what we do had based on the idea that failing to make a deal is still better than making a bad one. Meanwhile many, if not most, of the 'must-gets' he could have paid some price for have shown that they would have been neutral moves at best.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Jeez. How far back does this forum go? Coming up on it's 14th birthday now that you mention it. While there's no official beginning to CPF (it existed as a kind of refuge forum for a time prior to it being a full-time one) it started kicking into gear during 2001's 9/11-delayed World Series so, for convenience sake, November 1st was retroactively assigned to be it's unofficially official launch date. Stuff like the Hampton nickname and similar pre-2001 stuff date back to a previous site the origin of which goes back to maybe '97-'98?

I remember the story from back when it happened; didn't delve into all the details or anything but I did remember the incident. And, let's face it, it's not like a crazy person in an otherwise successful family is all that unheard of. Was therefore somewhat disappointed with the movie despite some good performances.

I have that '30 for 30' taped so I'll try to get around to it in one of these baseball-less days we've got coming up. And when I do I hope it tells me more than 'FOXCATCHER' did which, while doing a decent job of showing what happened, provided very little in the way of 'Why?' things happened as they happened. Other than that the movie's biggest accomplishment seemed to be making Steve Carrell unrecognizable, as if transforming him to look like JdP supposedly did was a necessary part of the plot.

I may have to double-check the records on this, but I believe 63% of major league players back in 1910 were named Murphy.

I was trying to compare to other Mets postseasons, all of which I've enjoyed. (The way each postseason ended is not a factor; I'm considering how much I enjoyed the overall month of October.) 1986 is, and always will be, my favorite. I loved 1999 more than 1988 and 2000 and 2006. This is definitely more fun than 2006, I think for two reasons: This was all so unexpected as recently as three months ago; and this mostly is a homegrown group where 2006 more heavily relied on imported veterans. The way this year started (the April streak) then roared back to life starting in late July was all part of the fun factor in that both came around with little or no warning. Very different year though from the 1998-2000 clubs (and even into 2001) in that those seasons were packed with drama on a day in day out basis for such a long time: the battles with the Braves, the comeback from the dead vs Pitt then the play-in game in Cincy, extra-inning game-winning HRs from Pratt or Agbayani, the GS Single, K-ing Bonds with the winning runs on, and far too many others to name. This season the Nats proved to be such a milquetoast team that there was little drama down the stretch in the division once they were passed by the two sweeps with some 25-30 games still to go. Then the Dodger series had its moments but the sweep of the Cubs very few. Doesn't mean they weren't fun, but nothing like the edge of the seat, nail-biting shit that would turn you inside-out on a nightly basis. I get the idea that the whole Utley/Tejada mess would have trouble making the top 5 for post-season drama in one of those other years.

d'Kong76 wrote: Part of me thinks/thought that SttN!!! posts here, but I could be wrong. Nah, he was strictly a MOFO denizen. And even there he was only an occasional presence as he'd only show up during losses and losing streaks to wallpaper the forum with his bitching about everything on the planet, then disappear when things were going well so he wouldn't have to answer for his doom and gloom prophecies and predictions.