Feb
13
Open Thread: Friday Randomness
By
TFGIF. On to the links:
- As usual, PeteAbe’s got you covered from camp. He’s got audio from the Yanks’ new ace and the full Spring Training roster, and he even found the time to sit down for an interview with The Big Lead. I’m unemployed and I can’t even find time to drop my laundry off at the laundromat so the people there can wash my clothes for me. Man am I lazy.
- Tim Dierkes ran through all of this year’s Spring Training cliches at RotoAuthority. Unlike these guys, I put on 15-20 pounds this offseason.
- Part of me wishes the Yanks had more young players on their roster so I could put one of these together for RAB. The other part of me realizes how awesome it is to have CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira.
- Dan Turkenkopf at THT took a look at which pitchers allowed the most quality contact against based on some fancy math. He uses AJ Burnett as an example.
- Here’s another list of the worst contracts in baseball, except this list isn’t retarded. (h/t Neyer)
- AZ Snakepit sat down to a chat with Diamondbacks GM Josh Byrnes; here’s parts one and two. Hopefully one day we’ll get to do something cool like that.
- Maury Brown penned an open letter to Bud Selig.
- I know this is a few weeks old, but I feel ya Bally Star.
As you may or may have noticed, we added a small new feature to the site. Each comment now has a little box just above the reply button; if the button is orange, that means it’s a new comment. If it’s gray, that means you’ve seen it already. It updates after someone leaves a new comment and you hit refresh. Right now, hitting refresh without a new comment on the post doesn’t change anything. If we can solve the caching conflict, that functionality should be restored.
Here’s your open thread for the night. The Devils and Rangers are both in action, and the NBA is off for the All-Star Break. Anything goes, just be nice.
Photo Credit: Gene Puskar, Associated Press
81 Comments»
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The Mason Williams Watch
nice hughes put on 10 pounds.
John Danks. 15 lbs. of muscle? Juicing.
“Its not that hard if you work hard all offseason”
When do you think Manny will sign?
Can’t wait to see some #78 action in ST.
Bobby Crosby is learning from McGwire? That’s not sketchy or anything.
So far as ancillary pitching goes, if AJ or any other starter gets hurt, and when Joba needs a start spotted, does the order go:
Hughes
Aceves
IPK
?
If it’s early in the season I think it’d be Aceves first, but if it’s June/July and Hughes is dominating in AAA, I think he’d be first.
I think it depends more on the length of replacement. If somebody is going to miss 2-3 starts, I think you bring Aceves up. If somebody is going to miss a couple of months, you bring Hughes up.
I thought they were post it notes.
Yanks sign brett tomko to minor league deal:
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/.....gn-br.html
anyone have any info on the guy?
never mind, he sucks but it is worth shot. minor league deals can’t hurt.
Wow. You’d think he could get a better job somewhere else, even if it was with a team that offered more of an opportunity.
yea, i don’t get the move. We already have bullpen guys and he was never really any good. There is really no upside. However, since it is only a minor league deal, what the hey…
The upside is that maybe Geise and Aceves get hurt/suck and Tomko has a good spring. If so, great job getting him in camp. If not…grant him his release.
Exactly.
I was just thinking that.
I’m sure he is only looking to get innings and NY should provide him that in the spring. Then some other team may pick him up.
Remember when he was the Reds opening day starter and ace? How sad is that?
he’s better than replacement level, been worth .8666 wins a season over the past 3 yers.
I hate being in cold NY when everyone else is in sunny Florida
Well…some of us are in California…and it’s rainy. But I’m still wearing flip flops, so there you go.
Grar.
It always sunny in Philadelphia.
Man, I love that show.
“Why aren’t you singing Charlie?”
“Well, it doesn’t sound very good.”
“Sniff some more glue.”
“I’ve been sniffing glue, dude.”
Is Mike still looking for a job?? Why doesn’t he strap on his job helmet and squeeze down into a job cannon and fire off into Jobland where jobs grow on little jobbies.
It has been 30 in DC, but I refuse to give up shorts. That doesn’t cause people to stare or anything.
well I’m in sunny south Florida now, and it is just that. Nice out right now, mid 80s I’d guess
Jim Leyritz is in trouble again.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/.....id=3905755
That dude is a mess.
someone text this to Joba
of course he does
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/.....id=3906451
Morneau laser eye surgery…seems like it was working for him already
OK, so I’ll probably post this a time or two, probably more, again.
Calling any RAB readers from the SoCal area! I just bought a flex pack for 27 Angels games, and I’m wondering if anyone would want to go with me or buy two tickets for a slew of different games.
The Yankee games are reserved by my girl, unfortunately, but its always fun to go to games. I have five games against Boston, and I love to root against them, don’t you?
I’ve also got games against the Rays, Oakland, Seattle, Minnesota. They’re spread out all over the season.
I’ll most likely end up putting a bunch on StubHub, but I wanted to extend to the RAB community first, to come at the ticket price of $14.
I haven’t decided how many I want to keep, or to extend to friends, but I wanted to get some idea of how many of you there were, interested, in Southern California.
I think clicking my name will link to my email. I look forward to hearing from whomever.
oops, I meant this not to be a reply. To copy below…
yankees sign brett tomko
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/.....gn-br.html
Already posted
reading other posts FAIL
beat ya to it!
Dontrelle “throwing like when he won 22 games”… don’t see him rebounding
Hah, I missed that one because it was on the end of the list. Classic.
’97 series is on MLB network… back when Livan was a young stud, not the overweight “innings eater” he tries to be now
At least the ‘eater’ part is accurate….
Mussina looks quite young, and Manny with short hair is also weird
Points to the blog citing the shittyness of the Lugo contract
So we turn on ESPN and I see Stewart Scott interviewing someone at what turned out to be the NBA All-Star celebrity basketball game. I am like “Hey, he is interviewing Brian Scalabrine.” Turns out Scott was interviewing Micheal Rapaport.
OK, so I’ll probably post this a time or two, probably more, again.
Calling any RAB readers from the SoCal area! I just bought a flex pack for 27 Angels games, and I’m wondering if anyone would want to go with me or buy two tickets for a slew of different games.
The Yankee games are reserved by my girl, unfortunately, but its always fun to go to games. I have five games against Boston, and I love to root against them, don’t you?
I’ve also got games against the Rays, Oakland, Seattle, Minnesota. They’re spread out all over the season.
I’ll most likely end up putting a bunch on StubHub, but I wanted to extend to the RAB community first, to come at the ticket price of $14.
I haven’t decided how many I want to keep, or to extend to friends, but I wanted to get some idea of how many of you there were, interested, in Southern California.
I think clicking my name will link to my email. I look forward to hearing from whomever.
The yellow/gray flags are the greatest thing ever.
I agree the flags are awesome, but are they better than new the reply button?
My only beef with the reply button is that it’s really a column-wide invisible reply bar, which bites me in the ass when I’m on my iPhone sometimes.
… it’s really a column-wide invisible reply bar …
Ewww, did not notice that. We’ll try to fix it.
Im guessing my other post was eaten by the spam filter. But since I found a relevant thread to reply to I’ll see if I can put it here. I like the new feature, although I don’t think its working over here. Probably just my computer. Just figured I’d let you guys know.
Scratch that, it works and well too. Also, as it turns out my other post wasn’t eaten after all, just delayed. Good work.
A-Rod needs to get off to a fast start. Between the steroid controversy and the book coming out April 17th, he needs to avoid an early slump. If not, you could see things spinning out of control for him.
BTW-Yanks open up on the road. BAL, KC and TB.
Wow, in 2007 it would have been kind of sad if they didn’t go 7-2 over that stretch. Now, that contains the reigning AL champs and one of the better young offensive teams out there.
I mean, they should still win more than they lose, but there’ll be some tough games in there.
I don’t want to go crazy over 2 weeks of Baseball, but we’ve seen Alex go to pieces under pressure before. That’s what worries me.
Under normal circumstances, you wouldn’t make too much out of a slow start, but this is anything but normal. Obama is fielding questions about him. He needs to shut up his detractors right away.
Under normal circumstances, you wouldn’t make too much out of a slow start, but this is anything but normal.
I still won’t make too much out of a slow start. It’s only a big deal if you want it to be.
As for the President fielding questions about it…that speaks more to the idiocy of the press corps than anything else.
We’ll see how many people are still taking the Ostrich approach on April 15th.
Let me clarify, it’s not so much about the results, as it is how he looks at the plate and is hitting the ball. If he’s scorching the ball, but hitting in bad luck, obviously you won’t worry. If he looks like he did in the 2006 playoffs, then we have a problem.
From Joe Torre’s press conference, on Manny
” It comes down to satisfying both parties. You like to believe there’s a lot of romance, but he’s looking for length.”
. . . . are we still talking about Baseball?
That’s hilarious. It up there with this gem from the Boston Globe (via FJM):
“So much for wearing these clothes home,” Francona cracked, the beer-and-champagne mix dripping down his bald head, into his eyes, past his chin, and onto the red underclothes that he still wore.
But that was nothing compared to the double dose of champagne Theo Epstein took from Schilling and Papelbon, an explosion of the sticky liquid sending him shooting across the clubhouse floor, with Schilling whispering a warning to reporters standing close to watch out.”
Thomas,
That is one of the funniest quotes ive ever heard. I just cracked up.
I was wondering if t he Boras-Heyman connection holds up. Here’s a list from MLBTR-
“Who Had The Scoop?”
# Mark Teixeira: Jon Heyman of SI.com (Boras client)
# Oliver Perez: Jon Heyman of SI.com (Boras client)
# Andy Pettitte: Jon Heyman of SI.com (non-Boras client)
# Bobby Abreu: Jon Heyman of SI.com (non-Boras client)
# Jason Varitek: Jon Heyman of SI.com (Boras client)
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/.....e-sco.html
3 out of 5. Boras may not be his only source, but he appears to be his best one.
More importantly, who are the Boras clients that Heyman didn’t scoop? Just eyeballing it, I see four: Madson, Laird, Fielder, Lowe. Only one of those guys was a true free agent though.
Yeah, the idea is that Heyman carries Boras’ water on free agent rumors, pumping up the prices for them, and then gets the scoop. So it would have to apply to free agents to make any sense.
BTW-Great work on that prospect list, really enjoyed it. Though I still think you’re nuts to put Brackman over Betances.
“Trades:
* Matt Holliday: Jon Heyman of SI.com”
Make that 4 out of 6
Schafer and Locke for Nick Swisher. Filler can be added on either side to balance off the deal and contract, but that’s the framework.
You make the deal if you’re the Yanks?
You make the deal if you’re the Braves?
I’ve kicked this idea around with Mike and he brought it up on the podcast with Joe P. Two things:
1. Braves would want Yanks to eat a portion of Swisher’s remaining guaranteed salary.
2. Braves apparently refused to trade Schafer in the peavy talks. If they’re not willing to give up Schafer for a top-5 NL pitcher, then its not happening for Swisher.
i think taht SD wanted Schafer to be the second prospect in teh deal, but you are probably right; do not deal Swish
I like the concept of the new feature, however it doesn’t seem to be working from here. Probably just technical difficulties or my computer, just figured I’d let you guys know.
swisher for gorkys hernandez and locke?
Hah yeah maybe if 0% of swisher’s contract is paid by the braves.
I’m not sure if anyone noticed, but the Neyer blog entry that linked to the bad contract article also linked to a JoeBlog about ExtenZe*. I strongly suggest reading it.
http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlo.....-top-chef/
Just wanted to thank you for the link love and hope you’ll visit the site on Monday for my NL edition of the worst contracts!
Man Craig Counsell’s batting stance is just so weird….
In a move that is hardly symbolic given the dollars involved, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has cut his 2008 pay by up to 25 percent, and he’ll not accept a raise for 2009.
Since Goodell’s total pay for the 2008 fiscal year, which ends March 31, the cut translates to well over $2 million.
Think about that for a second. Goodell gave up voluntarily well over $2 million.
“The Commissioner believes it will take a collective sacrifice of everyone to get through this difficult economic environment,” NFL V.P. of corporate communications Brian McCarthy told USA Today.
We’ll be curious to see who else, if anyone, makes a $2 million sacrifice.
http://www.profootballtalk.com.....s-his-pay/
now if only some overpaid commish would give himself a paycut
I love signing minor league deals for major league players (sort of major league players).
I have a question for whoever is around – If I dont want to reply to a specific comment but just say something in general without everyone getting pissed at me, how do i go about doing that? Just hit post comment… i think that is why I am having trouble hitting reply every time. im usually replying to the actual post and not a comment.
Great addition with the red under the replies. Its funny because I was just saying today how I didnt like how no one could see a post in the middle of the thread. This helps solve that problem.
Excellent Maury Brown link as well – I really enjoyed that article. He is a fantastic writer. I really enjoy his pieces and this was one of his best. Good job linking it guys.
Haha well I mean I have broken commenting guidelines before, but I don’t argue with the guys that run the place. I just admit my mistake and move on. That’s generally the main issue I keep noticing.
I don’t mind your posts, they are generally intelligent, have few typos and few grammatical errors. Just next time read over the comments to see if anyone else has started a comment thread related to your thoughts.
Yea I am not arguing I am just trying to follow the rules of the blog. i will look for something to reply to. Thanks
[...] some of the NL’s worst contracts. First though, I’d like to thank Rob Neyer of ESPN and River Ave. Blues for linking to my post on the AL’s worst contracts. Those 2 links brought in thousands of [...]