Edgy MD

Ed Coleman wrote: But it might have been already done if people had kept their lips sealed.... People never took the Go-Gos seriously enough.

I don't want to make too much out of WAR itself, because I don't mean to use it to compare different pitchers across generations, but rather particular pitchers (37-year-old 20-game winners) to themselves over the next two seasons.

Cool things about Curt Schilling: [*:1uxtf7s3]3,000+ strikeouts and fewer than 750 walks[/*:m:1uxtf7s3] [*:1uxtf7s3]Roger Clemens-like, without being Clemens.[/*:m:1uxtf7s3] [*:1uxtf7s3]Utterly disowned Roger Clemens. (I hope he hasn't gone back on that.)[/*:m:1uxtf7s3] [*:1uxtf7s3]300 strikeouts twice.[/*:m:1uxtf7s3] [*:1uxtf7s3]His middle name is "Montague."[/*:m:1uxtf7s3] [*:1uxtf7s3]Raised millions for the fight against ALS.[/*:m:1uxtf7s3] [*:1uxtf7s3]Looked like a fat little short-order cook next to Randy Johnson on all those magazine covers they shared back in 2001.[/*:m:1uxtf7s3] [*:1uxtf7s3]Was a big part of the playoff win that utterly exploded the feeling of entitlement an entire generation of Yankee fans was comfortable with.[/*:m:1uxtf7s3] [*:1uxtf7s3]A huge part, actually. Hurt them badly twice, in fact.[/*:m:1uxtf7s3] [*:1uxtf7s3]11-2 with a 2.23 ERA in the post-season, with 120 strikeouts in 133.1 innings, against only 25 walks. With a post-season record like that, I'd vote Steve Trachsel into the Hall of Fame.[/*:m:1uxtf7s3][/list:o:1uxtf7s3]

He was a Phillie before they were the damn Phillies, and that robbed him of a more than a few numbers in the win column, I think. Tyler Kepner just posted this. Here's the complete list of pitchers in MLB history with 3,000+ strikeouts and fewer than 750 walks: Curt Schilling.

By the way, big fat vote for Schilling.

Extra, extra: The Mets are the only team that seeks to backload contracts. In fact, they're the only known entity that seeks to put off paying their obligations as long as possible. If this goes down, I do hope they'll invite Steve Phillips to the signing, as I imagine Wright is that last asset remaining from his tenure. And heck, invite Minaya as a way to thank him for signing the last Wright contract. I don't see anything wrong with this Megdal piece, even if the author overstates the obvious -- namely that one can't accurately assess a contract without knowing the details regarding backloading and deferrals -- the payment schedule. Welcome back. I guess it's so common --- or the target is so easy --- that he gets a free pass for it. But see a lot wrong with the snarky insinuation that there's something nefarious and pathetically typical in the Mets GM acting in his team's interests. Deferred compensation and backloading are as common as pine tar in baseball, as he himself kinda makes clear in citing the Reyes case. Make a phone call, Howard.

It diminishes me to read that guy, but then I do anyway.

I'm sure there are several. My point, and I make clear that I support Bagwell's candidacy, only is that sorting out folks and separating their performance from the realities of the era is hard, and I think I understand the restraint. My main complaint with the no voters is that they might withhold the vote in one year based on suspicions and not spend at least a little time in the next year, as reporters, pursuing those suspicions.

Firstly, as noted above, Longoria is in a very different situation. Secondly, the scenario you describe (whether or not it's accurate) is not so much about the team behaving differently so much as the player.

Ceetar wrote: no? No.

Ceetar wrote: time? they have 5 years. 6 now. voters have indeed come out and said it's basically their own personal suspicions that he took something that is why they're keeping him out. He looks like a Hall of Famer to me and I've ready plenty of convincing cases for him and none against him (he didn't get 500 homers or 2500 hits isn't one). Yeah, he'll eventually get in, but that doesn't mean he's not being snubbed. Yeah, time. Cream rises to the top and oil separates itself from water at different rates depending on volume and concentration. It's a tough job drawing distinctions, made tougher by the huge amount of superlative performances in the era. If you want to take issue with a particular voter and his explicit explanation for his non-vote, please cite it and do so. But that person wouldn't speak for all the others who elected not to vote for him, and certainly not for the majority who did.

Let's not get overbroad, here. Jeff Bagwell didn't get to 500 homers or 3000 (or even 2500) hits. He's a great candidate in my mind and a better candidate than some who did reach those milestones. He got 56% of the vote last year, and most that reach 50% reach 75% so the idea that he's being blackballed without evidence is a little overstated. It sometimes takes folks a while to sort a legacy out of context, or to understand that 1400 walks is a lot.

Yeah, but there's being a bad human (and Cobb isn't the game's, or the Hall of Fame's, worst) and there's cheating at the game (which, I think the record shows, Cobb did too, if not at the same level as some others). I don't think it reflects poorly on a writer to make that distinction. Just make it well.

And I imagine Angel Pagan's agent just got a little breathy.

>

And you know all about that.

Can you cite some?

Valadius.

But you've totally done Flashdance, right?

I think that it's kind of hypocritical of the game to feature artifacts from people they have banned for life. I mean, ban them if you want, but don't kick 'em out of the house and keep their stuff. Saddest exhibit in the Hall of Fame was a letter begging for re-instatement from an obviously broken Joe Jackson.

"They call it America, and they call it civilization, and they call it television, and they believe in it and salute it and sing songs to it and eat and sleep and die still believing in it, and - and - I don't know," Gram Parsons said, taking another drag. "Then sometimes the Mets come along and win the World Series." - Bill Janowitz, The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones

Dirty Dancing Dare Devil Doctor Detroit A lot of challenging fare there. I recommend Danny Deckchair, however.

It's hard not to think of every extra dollar the Levinson's milk out of the House of 'Poncakes adding to the likelihood that any potential Dickey deal gets scuttled.

I only watched the end part to catch the Jeff Wilpon appearance.

Good actor and not-so-good filmmaker Ed Burns talks Mets.