Edgy MD

Ray King indeed. Who the hell is Floyd King? What am I talking about?

I'll always remember Rauch as the last surviving member of mid-nineties Nats penned filled with cartoonish stereotypes of relief pitchers. They had the trashy Southern monstrous mook guy in Rauch, the fat-everywhere-on-his-body-but-still-has-a-heater guy in Floyd King, and the crafty-guy-with-a-hopeless-long-hair-and-mustache-combination guy in Gary Majewski. Hector Carrasco was with them for a year but refused on principal to play the role of the Dominican-hothead guy.

I'm fascinated by the faint implicatoin that Native Americans' capacity to open casinos isn't something particular to the laws of their tribal land, but can be interpreted as rights that stay with them, even in jurisdictions that otherwise wouldn't allow that. No gambling in NYC? Get a couple of Shinnecocks to front for you and you're gold! Ka-ching!

Your point is obviously correct, but Rauch's official height is 6'11". So until you can do your measurin', Rauch is officially the guy.

"Where do I sign up?"

Yeah, I was guessing that it was the date of his debut, but that wasn't until April 2002. His marriage date? Something 9/11 connected?

If that line of reasoning gets a player two more dollars, I'm sure it's not beneath an agent to push it. I'm sure many have.

My friend and I were trying to come up with who the cleanest team was PED-wise. We decided, if you accept the narrative that Barry Bonds didn't start juicing until jealousy of 1998-era McGwire and Sosa pushed him over the edge --- or at least that Bonds never dabbled until getting to San Francisco, the Pirates looked remarkably clean. We thunk on it and thunk on it and came up with Kevin Young (?!) as their most notorious PED user, being outed in the Mitchell report in 2007, four years after his retirement. Reading up on him to confirm that, I discovered an even stranger unique thing Young has going: when he retired after 2003, he was the last player to leave the Pirates having played on a winning team with them (in 1992). Checking the 1992 Bucs online, there's still a player from that squad who remains active in 2013, with Miguel Batista signing a minor league deal with Colorado. Batista threw two innings as a 21 year old for the '92 Bucs before returning to minors and not re-emerging until 1995. That's amazing. And if getting a minor league deal as a mopup pitcher with the Roxx isn't the end of the line, what is?

Oh, sure, that list is so ridiculously incriminating-but-not-substantial that it's almost comic. Like finding a murder victim with a note in his hand that says "Sonny killed me." Obviously, we have to wait on all the facts. Damn facts.

That's fine, but it turns out that Braun is the one who has now appeared to humiliate his team in years one and two of his contract. He somehow played off his reputation and squirreled out of the consequences the first time. Does he have a second Get out of the Lab Free card in his ugly pocket?

I didn't think the Mets ever seriously discussed Holliday, but rather set their sights on Bay pretty early. And in the case of St. Louis, the "mystery" team was the team Holliday had already been traded to the previous winter, so I don't really think that case fits his narrative. I'm not even sure I remember the Mets seriously pursuing Derek Lowe.

Griffey, Bonds, Pujols, and Rodridguez all left for other shores to get their big paydays, three on the open market and one through an engineered trade to a city where he took less than he was worth on the open market. Sorry to open up a can, but I think it's a real issue. The greater point is that Braun is a fraud. A fraud with lousy tee shirts.

I certainly think white guys have an advantage over men of color in getting a little extra face-of-the-franchise dough.

Way to let the black face of the franchise walk and sign the white guy forever, Milwaukee. I mean, it's cool when we do it.

Damn that hateful draft.

Edgy MD wrote: Wore a coach's number and wore a coach's physique. But wore the 16th president's beard.

What I find interesting is that within Lunchbucket's perfectly reasonable full-season guess for the guy was 66 games and 74 innings. While much of his guesses proved otherwise close to the money, we sort of got the inverse ratio of games and innings: 73 games and 57 2/3 innings pitched. We were hoping for a setup guy and got a ROOGy specialist instead. Terry had to pick his spots carefully to keep him effective. And that sort of late-game engineering always catches up with a fella.

This guy is quite the specialist.

Braun? Coly hrap! MLB, you suckers! You let him off and he ran right back to his pharmacist! If ever there was a guy who was a Yankee in all but the uniform, it's Ryan Braun.

This seems to come up more rarely than I realized, at least, when I'm not managing. Last appearance I can find by a Met pitcher playing another position is August 8, 1999, when Bobby Valentine had emptied his bench while getting blown out by the Dodgers. HIs bullpen was spent by the ninth, so rather than give Chuck McElroy a second inning after he had expended 32 pitches in the eighth, he sent McElroy out to left and brought in Matt Franco to pitch. Franco, in giving up one run on a hit and three walks, was the Mets' most successful pitcher on the day. McElroy, for his part, fielded a single and made a putout on a short fly to left center.

Ceetar wrote: depends who you're replacing too. Often you can swap out a scrub outfielder, whereas many first baseman are "win it in one swing" guys who you want to get these late inning AB. The scenario is that you're stuck with the same seven other guys either way.

You Make the Call.

themetfairy wrote: Didn't he once get a tattoo on a day that he couldn't pitch because he was injured? Yeah, this baby.

Rauch's Tatts: A Photo Essay

Signed away by the otherwise downsizing Marlins. Just a touch disappointed that we never saw him absolutely lose it on the mound. Umpires running for cover, teammates hopping on his back, getting tossed off like whimpering chihuahuas. It would be terrifying theater.