Vic Sage

Tim Wheeler's who I want: http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=wheele002tim well, Blackmon's further along and a more balanced player, but Wheeler's got huge power potential for a CFer. Sure, go ahead, swap him out for Blackmon in my proposal. I won't argue. I'm still waiting for O'Dowd to return my call...

seawolf17 wrote: Think we could get Joe Nathan on a low-end, 1 yr/$5 mil kind of deal as a stopgap/mentor to Parnell/whoever? That'd be awesome. He's 37 next month and coming off an injury-marred off year, so I have to assume he can't be thinking too huge. (I can neither confirm or deny my relationship with Mr. Nathan at this time.) stony brook alum. yeah! Go seawolves! oh, wait... i think we were the Patriots back then. Go Pats!

heeee's got a bubblebutt... heeee's got a bubblebutt...

i think the coaches should just be called in, one at a time, so Sandy can hit them with a sock filled with batteries until they spit blood. just, you know, because.

Ok... I'll take LHP Drew Pomerantz, RHP Juan Nicasio, RP Rafael Betancourt and OF Charlie Blackmon. Your move, Mr. O'Dowd.

At some points, as the tension mounts and the protagonist makes some terrible choices that expose her to bitter humiliation, I found myself reduced to some Three's Company-type embarrassment where I was physically moved to turn away from the screen or wipe my hands on my clothes, but I was committed to see it through.... This, absolutely. But... ..., and am glad I did. this, not quite so much. I think women will recognize the characters with the same sort of endearing embarrassment that men had for the characters in SuperBad... Yeah, but my wife absolutely hated it. And i totally hated SUPERBAD for much the same reasons. I don't find the characters' embarrassments, or mine for recognizing the emotional truthfulness of their unsympathetic behavior, particularly entertaining. Or even enlightening. These sorts of exercises are just sort of a wallow in our worst choices, as human beings. And i no more prefer to have my nose rubbed in how stupid, selfish, self-destructive, whiny and pathetic we can be as a species than my dog used to enjoy having my dad rub his face into the pee puddle he had left on the kitchen linoleum.

did that make it sound like i didn't like it? hmm. I did like it. I thought it had funny moments, and i liked Wiig and Maya Rudolph's relationship, and Melissa McCarthy is one strangely compelling actress.But i found Wiig's character really unsympathetic and whiny, so i wasn't rooting for her as hard as i needed to in order to LIKE IT like it, as the girls say.

i vote for the Spanish Inquisition... because nobody expects them.

gross out guy-bonding comedy meets chick flick for inconsistent results. Its like if THE VIEW had a bastard love child with THE HANGOVER and spawned a strangely sweet kid, surprisingly bright but with a personality disorder that caused her to fling feces around like a deranged chimp.

It was like they put that scene in the movie to try and let you think it was important and then took it back and said, 'No it's not. At all.' exactly. it was like "sports movie" revisionism. loved that.

regarding Edgy's comments above, ditto. Plus: This sort of macho posturing from sports commentators is nothing new. It's both hollow and unsustainable. Following the same mindset, shall we criticize the manager who has his batter lay down a sacrifice bunt to move the potential winning run into scoring position rather than (in a more manly fashion) swing away for the fences? Is a pitcher "gutless" for wasting a 0-2 curveball in the dirt rather than (in a more manly fashion) throwing a fastball right down the middle and daring the batter to hit it? When a basketball coach has a late lead, is he "cheap" for having his team run out the shot clock rather than (in a more manly fashion) challenging the other team to a reckless exchange of fast breaks? When a football team is up by three points with thirty seconds left, is the coach taking the "easy" way out by having his quarterback take a knee rather than (in a more manly fashion) dropping back to throw a pass and daring the other team to pick it off? Nevertheless, many are calling Reyes gutless and his title tainted. And in the social architecture of today's media, once writers declare something tainted, it becomes a viral meme regardless of merit. These are all examples of strategies to increase a team's chances of winning a game. But what Reyes did was to strategize to win a personal accolade. the author conflates the 2 distinct ideas again here: Fans usually don't like players telling them what they need to understand, but in this case Reyes is right. This wasn't just his batting title but the team's and the fans'. The Mets had their third losing season in a row and the team has never had a pitcher throw a no-hitter, but fans no longer have to hear a Met has never won a batting title. I'm a life-long Mets fan, over 50 years of age, and i've got to tell you i was unaware that a Met had never won a batting title. I'm aware we've never pitched a no-hitter, but the batting title thing? nope. Because its an INDIVIDUAL ACCOMPLISHMENT that may or may not have helped the team win (in this case, NOT so much of that either). But a No-Hitter is invariably a win, and so its a confluence of individual achievement with team success. and when it happens in a playoff race, or post-season game, it takes on mythic proportions. While a batting title, or HR title, or rbi title or ERA title, etc, are all very well, and i'm happy when a Met accomplishes it, they are outcomes that should be applauded retroactively, not goals to be schemed for prospectively. When a player does that, it indicates to me a guy with his priorities askew. The fact that it's often done (reiterated in this article like its a mantra from holy scripture) doesn't mean shit to me. Alot of crappy things are often done. they don't deserve applause for being common. I agree that the bunt should not be controversial, because its a perfectly appropriate form of hit (and frankly should be used more by Reyes, not less), and that the whole affair has been overinflated by outsiders with an anti-met agenda. But just think for a moment how proud you would have been, even if Reyes lost the title, if he had said afterwards, "I'm paid to play baseball. Fans came to see me play baseball. I already missed a quarter of the season this year, and i don't yet know if i'll be back next year, or ever. So I owed it to the fans, to my teammates, to the organization and to myself to go out and play every game, every AB, like its my last, and to come back with my shield or on it. If i win a batting title that way, great. If not, not. I don't play for awards." If he had said and done that, i would have started up a collection for the Wilpons to resign him at any price. If you feel similarly, measure his actual accomplishment against that theoretical position and see how far short it falls. Now, that he failed to be heroic doesn't mark him as a villain, nor deserve branding with the mark of Cain. But it was a missed opportunity and made me sad when i should have been proud.

heh heh heh.

holychicken wrote: 77 wins, thank you very much. And there we reveal how much I care about it. yeah, if it had been 76 wins, i would have won the pre-season predictions thread. So, if those freakin Mets had just abstained from taking the field at all that last game, or at least pulled a "JOSE" and left the game after 1 AB, i would've won! and youse guys would've been cool with that... cuz my glory is OUR glory!

Lackey is signed at $15.25m/yr for next 3 years, with an option on 2015 ($46m total). He's 33, coming off a disastrous year, which followed a mediocre one. He's had a steadily declining K/9 rate since his peak on `05, with a rising BB/9 rate. Bay is signed for $16m/yr for next 2 years, with a $3m buyout for 2014 ($35m total). He's the same age, with the same type of decline over the past 2 years, though not as bad as Lackey. And for all his offensive woes, he had an OPS+ of 105 last year, which put him over league average. He is also a pretty decent outfielder and baserunner and, by all accounts, a good guy in the clubhouse. With the Mets planning to move in the fence next year, i'd sooner bet on Bay having a better year than Lackey. And even if he doesn't improve, there's more to be gotten from an OFer who can still hit LHP, run a bit, catch and throw pretty well, than from a SP who has lost his fastball and hasn't figured out how to get guys out anymore. never mind the extra $11m he costs. I don't like it. pass.

I'm not the biggest fan of it, but he hasn't made my personal blacklist. I haven't damned him for all time. i'm just disappointed in him. i never got the impression that this was who he was. Nobody -- well, nobody HERE... maybe they are on FAN but i stopped listening to that crap ages ago -- is saying what he did is a hanging offense, or that it is somehow against the rules, or all that uncommon, or even that we shouldn't pursue him in free agency because it discloses something about his character (i think it does, but lets leave that aside). some here are simply saying it was a shitty thing for him to do and it taints the accomplishment to some degree. It was cunning instead of courageous; craven instead of competitive; small and selfish instead of big and selfless. But that's on him. What's on US is how we deal with that. And for me, a response of "aw, no big deal, we got a batting champ out of it; chill out, you're overreacting" is not our finest hour either. And if THAT position is all it took to drive Willets out of the pool, i should have tried it years ago. I could have saved myself from enumerable ad hominem attacks because he didn't like what i said about movie lists, or soccer rules, or whatever.

that's cuz neither the Angels nor Mariners have an ongoing narrative in the media's mind that needs to be flogged annually.

I asked you before. What have I said that offends you so? Willets isn't talking to you, Ed. He's talking to... i mean, about... me. He's had a stick up his ass about me for as long as we've both been on this forum. so don't take it personally.

Willets Point wrote: This is just ridiculous. We really don't need holier-than-thou types making moral issues out of a meaningless baseball game. Just take a moment to look at what you're saying and realize just how petty it is. I seriously have had enough of this forum. then FUCK OFF ALREADY and stop making goodbye speeches. And don't let the cyber door hit you in your virtual ass on the way out.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Vic Sage wrote: And to all of those who keep saying "chill out", not a big deal, everybody does it... those are standard rationalizations for inappropriate behavior. The reason I'm saying "chill out" is that, relatively, it's a minor transgression. The reason I'm saying "It's no big deal" is because it isn't, rising less to the level of "wrong" and more to the level of "I'd have done differently, probably." The reason I'm not yelling a lot about it isn't because nothing means anything... but because not everything is worth yelling, and writing, and haranguing others about. This isn't about morals... it's about taste. Why doesn't anything mean anything anymore? what the fuck? chill out? why don't you heat up? If you don't care, you don't care, but stop telling the rest of us "no big deal" simply cuz YOU don't care. And how is moralizing loudly and repeatedly when the people around you tell you that they don't care any less of a transgression of manners? So, it's not a moral issue because it's not a moral issue... it's a minor transgression because it's a minor transgression... it's not a big deal because it isn't... The circularity of your logic is making me dizzy. And i didn't use CAPS, so don't accuse me of yelling. And yes, standing up on principle is often considered bad manners by those who are oblivous or insensitive to the principle being espoused. But i can live with that.

of course you can buy pitching. It's just that it's expensive, because (1) good pitching is scarce, and (2) they generally don't come on the market until they're well established (i.e., older). And with the unreliability (i.e., injury rate) of pitchers, plus the inconsistency of relievers (i.e., standard variations based on small sample sizes), its a high risk/high reward investment, as compared to the relative consistency of hitters. And while developing your own pitching is frought with that same injury and inconsistency problem, you bear those risks at minor league and non-arb pay rates, making it a more cost effective approach, especially for the Oaklands of the world. But if you're a big market team, that's only an issue for the little guys. You can do BOTH. The fact that it didn't work out well this season for Boston is not evidence of ANYTHING.

Centerfield wrote: Gwreck wrote: Because the Yankees wanted Tampa to win. Exactly. So if Reyes should play all innings of the last game, so should Rivera pitch that 9th inning. that's total bullshit. The Yankees have every competitive reason to play their roster in a way that best prepares them for the post-season. If that means resting Rivera the last day of the season, then so be it. It is in NO WAY comparable to a guy deciding for himself to play or not play as a strategy to achieve an individual statistical goal unrelated to the team.

I disagree with you on what has meaning. I also disagree that putting winning a batting average title above honor is good. You put "honor" in quotes, so we apparently disagree on what is honorable. this. exactly this. I lose respect for guys who play for individual accomplishments and solely to pad their stats. and that's exactly what he did. He wasn't resting up for the playoffs, or ducking out early cuz he's hurt. he himself said he would have stayed in if he had not gotten a hit that first AB. so this was SOLELY about attaining a personal accomplishment that has nothing to do with the team or the franchise. The notion that this is somehow good for the mets, or for me as a fan, is laughable. I want a guy who wants to win every single day, regardless of standings, and wants a chance to hit every AB that he is able to do so. And if he wins a HR title, or batting title, or cy young, or whatever, as a consequence, then that's great. good for him, and good for the team, and good for me for rooting him on. But if he is actually strategizing about how NOT to play so he can meet some statistical goal, actually abstaining from the competition since he's ahead now, well then i'm not impressed, i'm not rooting for him, and i'm certainly not taking any pleasure from it as a fan of the franchise. have other guys done it too? yeah, of course. but not all of them. and i've never liked it no matter who did it. what kind of hypocrite would i be if i were to applaud it now? I wanted to stay in the game, well, then you SHOULD HAVE, since it was your decision to come out. I do that for the team, No, you did this for yourself, so you can go into free agency with a batting title. for the fans, too... really? you didn't do this for me, Jose. They have to feel happy about it if I win the batting title. not this way we don't. One thing I do all the time is give 100 percent on the field. yeah, except when you decide not to go out on the field. And to all of those who keep saying "chill out", not a big deal, everybody does it... those are standard rationalizations for inappropriate behavior. Why doesn't anything mean anything anymore? what the fuck? chill out? why don't you heat up? If you don't care, you don't care, but stop telling the rest of us "no big deal" simply cuz YOU don't care.

RealityChuck wrote: So-so film. Competent, but not memorable in any way. yeah, but that's your take on Lumet's entire career.

*avi*

In an NL-only league with this many teams and this many slots to fill, premium players have the biggest impact, IMO. So many of us are filling out our daily lineups with part-timers and lousy players that 1 great player can make a huge difference. For MM, i think Ryan Braun's MVP-type season and the mid-season pickup of Bonafacio cemented his O, while Cliff Lee's Cy young candidacy validated MM's strategy to punt on saves. Knuxie took a cynical and smart all-Phillies approach that took him far... just not quite far enough. Hopefully, the actual Phillies will suffer a similar fate. SMG did it with smoke and mirrors. I'm still not sure why i didn't catch him, except my mid-season trade of Stanton for Marcum did not work out as well as i'd hoped, with Wright and Weeks not giving me the power i needed to make up for the loss of Stanton, and Marcum coming back to earth a little in the second half, not able to balance out my otherwise awful starting pitching. My team MVP is a toss up between Mike Morse, who had me nervous with his slow start and almost losing his slot in the Washington lineup before coming on to have the .300/30hr season i projected for him, and Bourn, with his .290/60sb/90r season. But the power ended up being way more important than the SBs, which were surprisingly easy to pick up off the waiver wire, so I'll go with Morse. my Cy Young was also my best waiver wire value, Ryan Vogelsong who had a strong season across the board after i picked him up for free in late april. My worst pitcher was a toss up between Brett Myers and Derek Lowe. Oh, i had worse pitchers, too, but these guys got more innings to be terrible than the rest did. my runner up for best waiver wire free pickup was Ryan Roberts, who gave me good HR/SB combo with multi-positional flexibility. My worst waiver pickup value was probably the $442 i spent on rookie Jose Altuve, when i was already far ahead in SBs. what the hell was THAT about? Best trade was Overbay+Jansen to MOOPS (neither of whom did much for him) for Leo Nunez, who gave me 36 saves, teaming with Brian Wilson to give me decent RP stats. But MOOPS got me back when i sent him a useful MI bat in Keppinger for Travis Wood, who did little for me before getting sent to the minors. In retrospect, giving up on Stanton to pick up Marcum smacked of desperation (as did the Keppinger/Wood deal, albeit less so), exacerbated by the lack of power i was getting from Wright and Weeks due to injuries. But i was kind of leery of Stanton's chronic injury problems, and thought he might fall off a cliff toward the end of the season. turned out he had a pretty strong finish and Marcum didn't. oh well. pitching envy will lead to such blunders. My best draft pick? Probably Morse, in the 9th round, followed by Bourn in the 7th. Nick Hundley in the 23rd also gave me surprisingly good value. My worst pick? All the others. My first 2 picks, Wright and Weeks, were decent but limited by injuries and not nearly as productive as you need your top 2 picks to be. Ian Desmond and G.Soto were decent for their positions, but i over-reached on them. I waited til the mid-rounds to get SPs (as i planned), but as it turns out, Brett Myers, Edison Volquez, Kyle McClellen and Derek Lowe do not a pitching staff make...even in this league. There were, however, good SPs available in those mid rounds and, if my top hitters had produced and i had picked better SPs (or had been luckier with them), i feel i would've been in it all season, instead of hovering in the 5th-6th place range most of the year until i was able to scramble to a 4th place finish. oh, well. wait'll next year...