Edgy MD

If they thought there was a market for scab jerseys, I imagine they'd do that in a second. To be clear, I certainly don't think it should happen. I don't even think it will, as "labor peace" was Commissioner Manfred's brand when he got the job. Without that brand, the owners could well wonder what they are letting him run their business for. But I think it's certainly a realistic possibility. I think the way baseball is run in this country is crazy. Plenty of things crazier than scabbing are things we take for granted.

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: Go with the real news here, fellas. McNeil's hunchiness is kind of uncomfortable to look at. I know not all lefty swingers look like Reggie Jackson coming out of their home run swing, but this picture just makes me feel too much friction.

Edgy MD wrote: Well, if it cuts salaries by 95% or so, they don't have to sell it very far. This makes zero sense. I go to very few games now as it is, I'm certainly going to go see scabs play for pennies on the dollar. Sell it very far to who? The reluctant owners? The front office staffs? The scabs? I thought it made more than zero sense when I wrote it. I refer to selling it to the consumer. You don't have to go to any games. If a substandard product is offered to an otherwise vacant marketplace, history suggests there will be buyers, whether or not it's you or me. I know plenty of folks who attended NFL scab games, and a lot more who watched 'em on TV. I wasn't among them, but there they were.

Well, if it cuts salaries by 95% or so, they don't have to sell it very far.

Is any outlet doing a particularly good job of covering negotiations?

Bjornson for manager!!

That's pretty much where I am.

Bjornson projects the confidence I'm looking for.

I'm not a subscriber. I'm not sure if that last quote belongs to Butterfield or to Showalter. I suppose it could also be from a Covid variant.

Tracky reporting that the Mets offered ZZ the assistant GM job only after the Phillies swept in and tried to abscond with him by dangling the same title.

It's disappointing nobody is hot for Mark Vientos after he just hit 25 homers in little over half a season, playing at the top of the minors at just 21.

Weird.

Transactions, 1/6/2022 [td90]Direction[/td90][td90]GOING[/td90][td90]Transaction[/td90][td90]Announced Retirement[/td90][th]Position Group[/th][th]=#FFC2C2] Outfielder[/th][td90][/td90][td90][fimg=90]https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-photos/image/upload/w_213,q_100/v1/people/457727/headshot/67/current[/fimg][/td90][td90]Name[/td90][td90]Cameron Maybin [fimg=50]http://thecranepool.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/US-flag.png[/fimg][/td90][td90]DoB[/td90][td90]4/4/87[/td90][td90]B/T[/td90][td90]R/R[/td90][td90]High Level[/td90][td90]MLB (2021)[/td90] Yeah, this is old news, but it hadn't appeared in this thread. Newer news is that Maybin has supposedly been talking with the Yankees about joining their announcing booth. Shameful way to go out. It's also sad to see him go out without a face, but we've been uploading enough photos of late, like the 21 guys below. Transactions, 1/15/2022 [td90]Direction[/td90][td90]=#008410]COMING[/td90][td90]=#008410]COMING[/td90][td90]=#008410]COMING[/td90][td90]=#008410]COMING[/td90][td90]=#008410]COMING[/td90][td90]=#008410]COMING[/td90][td90]=#008410]COMING[/td90][td90]Transaction[/td90][td90]Signed as International Amateur Free Agent out of The Dominican Republic, Projected for DSL[/td90][td90] Signed as International Amateur Free Agent out of Venezuela, Projected for DSL[/td90][td90]Signed as International Amateur Free Agent out of The Dominican Republic, Projected for DSL[/td90][td90] Signed as International Amateur Free Agent out of Venezuela, Projected for DSL[/td90][td90] Signed as International Amateur Free Agent out of Venezuela, Projected for DSL[/td90][td90]Signed as International Amateur Free Agent out of The Dominican Republic, Projected for DSL[/td90][td90] Signed as International Amateur Free Agent out of Venezuela, Projected for DSL[/td90][th]Position Group[/th][th]Starting Pitcher[/th][th]Starting Pitcher[/th][th]Starting Pitcher[/th][th]Starting Pitcher[/th][th]=#FF8000]Relief Pitcher[/th][th]=#FF8000]Relief Pitcher[/th][th]=#FF8000]Relief Pitcher[/th][td90][/td90][td90][fimg=90]https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/acarena-wellington-2022.png[/fimg][/td90][td90][fimg=90]https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/chirinos-jose-2022.png[/fimg][/td90][td90][fimg=90]https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/laventure-wilson-esterlin.png[/fimg][/td90][td90][fimg=90]https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/sequera-jose-2022.png[/fimg][/td90][td90][fimg=90]https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/gomez-franklin-2022.png[/fimg][/td90][td90][fimg=90]https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/mercedes-ernesto-2022.png[/fimg][/td90][td90][fimg=90]https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/oramas-juan-2022.png[/fimg][/td90][td90]Name[/td90][td90]Wellington Aracena [fimg=50]http://thecranepool.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Dominican_Republic.jpg[/fimg][/td90][td90]José Chirinos [fimg=50]http://thecranepool.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/venezuelan-flag-small.jpg[/fimg][/td90][td90]Wilson Esterlin Laventure [fimg=50]http://thecranepool.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Dominican_Republic.jpg[/fimg][/td90][td90]José Sequera [fimg=50]http://thecranepool.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/venezuelan-flag-small.jpg[/fimg][/td90][td90]Franklin Gomez [fimg=50]http://thecranepool.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/venezuelan-flag-small.jpg[/fimg][/td90][td90]Ernesto Mercedes [fimg=50]http://thecranepool.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Dominican_Republic.jpg[/fimg][/td90][td90]Juan Oramas [fimg=50]http://thecranepool.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/venezuelan-flag-small.jpg[/fimg][/td90][td90]DoB[/td90][td90]12/30/04[/td90][td90]??/??/??[/td90][td90]??/??/??[/td90][td90]11/24/04[/td90][td90]??/??/??[/td90][td90]??/??/??[/td90][td90]??/??/??[/td90][td90]B/T[/td90][td90]R/R[/td90][td90]R/R[/td90][td90]R/R[/td90][td90]R/R[/td90][td90]L/L[/td90][td90]R/R[/td90][td90]R/R[/td90][td90]High Level[/td90][td90]Amateur[/td90][td90]Amateur[/td90][td90]Amateur[/td90][td90]Amateur[/td90][td90]Amateur[/td90][td90]Amateur[/td90][td90]Amateur[/td90][td90]Direction[/td90][td90]=#008410]COMING[/td90][td90]=#008410]COMING[/td90][td90]=#008410]COMING[/td90][td90]=#008410]COMING[/td90][td90]=#008410]COMING[/td90][td90]=#008410]COMING[/td90][td90]=#008410]COMING[/td90][td90]Transaction[/td90][td90] Signed as International Amateur Free Agent out of Panama, Projected for DSL[/td90][td90] Signed as International Amateur Free Agent out of Venezuela, Projected for DSL[/td90][td90]Signed as International Amateur Free Agent out of The Dominican Republic, Projected for DSL[/td90][td90] Signed as International Amateur Free Agent out of Venezuela, Projected for DSL[/td90][td90] Signed as International Amateur Free Agent out of Venezuela, Projected for DSL[/td90][td90] Signed as International Amateur Free Agent out of Venezuela, Projected for DSL[/td90][td90] Signed as International Amateur Free Agent out of Venezuela, Projected for DSL[/td90][th]Position Group[/th][th]=#FF8000]Relief Pitcher[/th][th]=#FF8000]Relief Pitcher[/th][th]=#FF8000]Relief Pitcher[/th][th]=#FF8000]Relief Pitcher[/th][th]=#00BF00] Catcher[/th][th]=#00BF00] Catcher[/th][th]=#00BF00] Catcher[/th][td90][/td90][td90][fimg=90]https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/rivera-cesar-2022.png[/fimg][/td90][td90][fimg=90]https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/seijas-frelianderson-2022.png[/fimg][/td90][td90][fimg=90]https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/victorino-omar-2022.png[/fimg][/td90][td90][fimg=90]https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/villegas-johan-2022.png[/fimg][/td90][td90][fimg=90]https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/rodriguez-orangel-2022.png[/fimg][/td90][td90][fimg=90]https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/silva-daniel-2022.png[/fimg][/td90][td90][fimg=90]https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/toledo-francisco-2022.png[/fimg][/td90][td90]Name[/td90][td90]Cesar Rivera [fimg=50]https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/panamanian-flag-small.jpg[/fimg][/td90][td90]Frelianderson Seijas [fimg=50]http://thecranepool.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/venezuelan-flag-small.jpg[/fimg][/td90][td90]Omar Victorino [fimg=50]http://thecranepool.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Dominican_Republic.jpg[/fimg][/td90][td90]Johan Villegas [fimg=50]http://thecranepool.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/venezuelan-flag-small.jpg[/fimg][/td90][td90]Orangel Rodriguez [fimg=50]http://thecranepool.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/venezuelan-flag-small.jpg[/fimg][/td90][td90]Daniel Silva [fimg=50]http://thecranepool.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/venezuelan-flag-small.jpg[/fimg][/td90][td90]Francisco Toledo [fimg=50]http://thecranepool.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/venezuelan-flag-small.jpg[/fimg][/td90][td90]DoB[/td90][td90]??/??/??[/td90][td90]2/10/05[/td90][td90]??/??/??[/td90][td90]??/??/??[/td90][td90]??/??/??[/td90][td90]??/??/??[/td90][td90]??/??/??[/td90][td90]B/T[/td90][td90]L/L[/td90][td90]R/R[/td90][td90]R/R[/td90][td90]L/L[/td90][td90]R/R[/td90][td90]S/R[/td90][td90]R/R[/td90][td90]High Level[/td90][td90]Amateur[/td90][td90]Amateur[/td90][td90]Amateur[/td90][td90]Amateur[/td90][td90]Amateur[/td90][td90]Amateur[/td90][td90]Amateur[/td90][td90]Direction[/td90][td90]=#008410]COMING[/td90][td90]=#008410]COMING[/td90][td90]=#008410]COMING[/td90][td90]=#008410]COMING[/td90][td90]=#008410]COMING[/td90][td90]=#008410]COMING[/td90][td90]=#008410]COMING[/td90][td90]Transaction[/td90][td90]Signed as International Amateur Free Agent out of The Dominican Republic for $275k, Projected for DSL[/td90][td90] Signed as International Amateur Free Agent out of The Dominican Republic, Projected for DSL[/td90][td90] Signed as International Amateur Free Agent out of Venezuela for $700k, Projected for DSL[/td90][td90] Signed as International Amateur Free Agent out of The Dominican Republic, Projected for DSL[/td90][td90]Signed as International Amateur Free Agent out of The Dominican Republic for $1.5 Million, Projected for DSL[/td90][td90]Signed as International Amateur Free Agent out of The Dominican Republic for $1.9 Million, Projected for DSL[/td90][td90]Signed as International Amateur Free Agent out of The Dominican Republic for $100k, Projected for DSL[/td90][th]Position Group[/th][th]=#BF80FF] Infielder[/th][th]=#BF80FF] Infielder[/th][th]=#BF80FF] Infielder[/th][th]=#BF80FF] Infielder[/th][th]=#FFC2C2] Outfielder[/th][th]=#FFC2C2] Outfielder[/th][th]=#FFC2C2] Outfielder[/th][td90][/td90][td90][fimg=90]https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/baez-jesus-2022-1.png[/fimg][/td90][td90][fimg=90]https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/henriquez-yonatan-2022.png[/fimg][/td90][td90][fimg=90]https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/sarmiento-dangelo-2022.png[/fimg][/td90][td90][fimg=90]https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/vargas-jeisel-2022.png[/fimg][/td90][td90][fimg=90]https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/fanas-willy-2022-.png[/fimg][/td90][td90][fimg=90]https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/juan-simon-2022.png[/fimg][/td90][td90][fimg=90]https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/rosa-jeffrey-2022.png[/fimg][/td90][td90]Name[/td90][td90]Jesús Baez [fimg=50]http://thecranepool.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Dominican_Republic.jpg[/fimg][/td90][td90]Yónatan Henriquez [fimg=50]http://thecranepool.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Dominican_Republic.jpg[/fimg][/td90][td90]Dangelo Sarmiento [fimg=50]http://thecranepool.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/venezuelan-flag-small.jpg[/fimg][/td90][td90]Jeisel Vargas [fimg=50]http://thecranepool.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Dominican_Republic.jpg[/fimg][/td90][td90]Willy Fañas [fimg=50]http://thecranepool.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Dominican_Republic.jpg[/fimg][/td90][td90]Simon Juan [fimg=50]http://thecranepool.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Dominican_Republic.jpg[/fimg][/td90][td90]Jeffrey Rosa [fimg=50]http://thecranepool.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Dominican_Republic.jpg[/fimg][/td90][td90]DoB[/td90][td90]??/??/??[/td90][td90]??/??/??[/td90][td90]??/??/??[/td90][td90]??/??/??[/td90][td90]1/23/04[/td90][td90]7/13/05[/td90][td90]??/??/??[/td90][td90]B/T[/td90][td90]R/R[/td90][td90]R/R[/td90][td90]S/R[/td90][td90]R/R[/td90][td90]S/R[/td90][td90]R/R[/td90][td90]R/R[/td90][td90]High Level[/td90][td90]Amateur[/td90][td90]Amateur[/td90][td90]Amateur[/td90][td90]Amateur[/td90][td90]Amateur[/td90][td90]Amateur[/td90][td90]Amateur[/td90] We couldn't get all the bonuses down, but bonuses under 100k aren't generally reported. We also couldn't nail all the birthdays, but the birthdays of the guys we do have should give you an idea just how disturbingly young these strapping young dudes are. I quick attendance check, I think, says we have 10 fellows from the Dominican, 10 more from Venezuela, and one lone Panamanian. Wellington "The Forbidden Dance" Aracarena looks about 11. Wilson Esterlin Laventure has also been reported as simply Wilson Esterlin but Great Laventure he is until we hear different. Johan Villegas is a Venezuelan lefthander named Johan, so his favorite player is exactly who you think it is. Maybe that helped the Mets land him. Frelianderson Seijas joins the likes of Yucarybert De La Cruz and Timoniel Perez in the great club of Mets prospects who seem to have had two first names collide into one. Orangel Rodriguez likes the Mets organization because the fans are true to the orangel and bluel. Pick one and adopt him. Screw that. Pick two. Get dibs on Fañas and Juan NOW!!!! Enough with the babies. Coaching roster updates to follow.

And hey, Mark Buehrle isn't the worst choice. I don't see opening the door for him before Schilling, but, well, Schilling is Schilling, and maybe the voter has more on Schilling than is generally known.

The current version of the Veteran's Committee is more like ad hoc committees tasked with reviewing certain cases in narrow categories. And they have been better — more consistent at least and generally picking either nobody or the the guys with the best case on their lists. The upside of the BBWAA ballot is that the electorate is so vast that those weird ballots carry only so much weight. On one of the ad hoc committees, with an electorate of (usually) 12, a single weirdo can (and often does) swing the result.

Agreed that your angle would have been better.

There actually is a second film, The Spy Behind Home Plate, a documentary by Aviva Kempner. And perhaps I should check that out. This one is, well it's not awful, but it does some real superimposing. Dawidoff's bio digs deeply into Berg's rep as an enigma and aloof and a lifelong bachelor. This is the sort of thing biographers make hay out of, because if you can't find enough biographical material on a subject, you fill the space by writing about how frustrating it is. Sometimes he really is a mysterious guy, but sometimes he's just a mystery, because you haven't been able to find the source material. So yeah, he was an aloof figure. That's not surprising for a Princeton graduate who mastered at least eight languages and continued to miss Spring Training while pursuing graduate degrees. But the film takes one speculative passage about Berg's possible sexuality from the book and RUNS WITH IT. So we have Berg presented as either a bisexual, or an outright gay guy hiding in a relationship with a woman he can't give himself to. The worst part is that it is never explicitly said or shown, but presented in a 100 looks and touches and implications and visits to clubs in questionable parts of town, as if they wanted plausible deniability after the fact. Perhaps the film was spurred by the success of The Imitation Game, and somebody in Hollywood wanted to show that, hey, the US owed her wartime success to a tormented gay guy too. But it's really an unfair leap to make based on no real evidence. (Most accounts present Berg as a real ladies' man.) With that selected as the main theme, some real themes from Berg's story get little or no traction. While Jewish families were fleeing Lithuania because of pogroms, Berg's family was more secular, and left for the United States because they found living in an all-Jewish village to be oppressive. Interesting! Berg was a career bench player, but always had a job because most teams wanted at least one Jewish player on the roster for the swelling urban Jewish populations to root for. Interesting! He only became a catcher halfway through his big league career because three catchers in a row were injured and one of the other players pointed to him and said they had seen him warming pitchers up. His first start was catching a knuckleballer! While he still continued to hit like a sucker, he became a top defensive catcher, despite his lack of experience. Interesting! But his wartime service is the real story. The team assigned to pursue Heisenberg is left to wrestle over whether he can make an atomic bomb, and whether he would. They actually make some poetry in that the author of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle is the subject of so much uncertainty. But the real interesting part of the dilemma that they miss is whether Heisenberg was ever the right person at all. As the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle attests, he was a brilliant theorist, but applied science and engineering was not his game at all, and neither was group management. At least some in American intelligence were of the opinion that they shouldn't interfere with Heisenberg leading the Nazi A-Bomb project because he reputedly didn't know how to change the battery in his car, and kidnapping or killing him might lead the Nazis to replace him with someone more competent. Interesting! But Heisenberg, sort of a textbook version of the rumpled, absent-minded professor with the hair askew, is presented here as handsome, impeccably tailored, engaged, and present-minded. The Heisenberg mission was a big part of Berg's spy life, but not all of it. But that's the story they want to tell, and while they don't quite get it right, it's a lot closer to the established narrative (and much of Berg's story has been declassified since Dawidoff's book was published, than the gay thing. They don't even have him on the right team when he made his trip to Japan (which was actually his second trip), and when they show him in Boston's clubhouse, he's surrounded by well known historical baseball figures, but the homophobic rookie who follows him through the city to confirm his suspicions is named "Bill Dalton," a name that appears nowhere on the baseball register. Cop. Out. So, yeah, if you liked Bridge of Spies or The Imitation Game, it's a good-enough film. But if you actually are interested in the actual Moe Berg story, this probably will disappoint. But you know, as Katheen Madigan said, that's what you get for reading.

Then I may have to expand my Didney bundle.

Where might this be streaming?

Roosevelt Field is looking nice.

Don't forget The Sparks Brothers, man!

https://www4.pictures.zimbio.com/mp/jqqU5fBKHv9l.jpg>

Moe is a major league backup catcher in the twilight of his career. He likes staying in the game even though he's expendable, and his singularness and intellectual heft make for good (if distorted) copy for the local columnists. When an All-Star goodwill tour of Japan is planned by the Major Leagues, the team includes Ruth and Gehrig and Averill, but then as now, they have to stretch the meaning of "star" in order to get a complete roster, so Berg is invited. While there, he takes the initiative to take aerial footage of Tokyo with his personal movie camera. When the war starts, this footage becomes his ticket into the O.S.S., where he's assigned to a small squad tasked with finding and (if deemed necessary) killing Werner Heisenberg. Intrigue ensues. Adapted from the book of the same title by Nicholas Dawidoff, but narrower in focus. [FIMG=450]https://posterbe.com/files/products/catcher_was_a_spy_xlg.800x800.jpg?a0bb5444e838bc3a88980179457e19f4[/FIMG]

Right, I had forgotten the Russell connection.

I'm not sure the attire and the drop ceiling say "memorial service" to me, but I've got to appreciate Olerud rocking the nichiest of brands.