Aug
13
Open Thread: Link dump edition
ByAh west coast baseball. Nothing quite like staying up past your bedtime to watch the Yanks. Here’s some stray links to help you pass the time…
- Finally, a Michael Kay drinking game. We need to come up with one for Sterling now.
- After inking a deal with Cablevision to broadcast Yankee games online a few months ago, the service is now expanding to include Verizon FiOS subscribers. Time Warner can’t be far behind, right? Eh, doesn’t matter, their sevice sucks anyway.
- What side of The Damon Debate are you on? I’d be cool with a one year deal plus an option, but only at a reduced cost. Like, $5M per plus incentives.
- Baseball America polled scouts, managers, etc., and named Austin Jackson the Best Batting Prospect in the Triple-A International Leage (subs. req’d). Zach McAllister has the Best Control and Reegie Corona is the Best Defensive Second Baseman in the Double-A Eastern League.
- Jayson Stark has a great piece on the Stephen Strasburg situation, which I suggest you check out. The signing deadline is next Monday at midnight, and I’m still in the camp that thinks he’s going to sign. It’s almost impossible for his stock to be any higher, and if he has to “settle” for $15-18M, he’d still crush the previous draft record and be set for life. How can you turn that down as a 21-yr old?
- While on the subject of the draft, Bradley Suttle‘s $1.3M bonus in 2007 is no longer a fourth round record. The Royals broke it today when they signed ex-Yank draftee Chris Dwyer for $1.5M. Suttle, meanwhile, is out for the year with a shoulder issue.
- Olympic baseball is no more. At least until 2020. I might as well point you towards this post from my 2008 Olympics coverage since we just talked about Strasburg.
- Bryce Harper: good at baseball.
- Former Yankee Andy Cannizaro was traded to the White Sox. Andy hit .250-.333-.625 in nine plate appearances with the Bombers back in 2006.
- Joe would kill me if I didn’t mention this: Les Paul, the man who invented the electric guitar and is responsible for rock music as we know it, passed away today. At 94-yrs old, the dude was still playing shows in the city this year. A true legend.
Anyway, use this as your open thread for the night. We’ve got a few hours to kill before the Yanks-Fightin’ Ichiros game starts, so talk about whatever you like here. Just be cool.
Late add by Joe: Over the past few weeks I’ve been noticing a trend in the comments that get sent to the spam filter. Not only do most baseball-reference links go there, but if you use the word badass, without a space, your comment will not show up. Why that is, I have no idea. It’s just that ever “please moderate comment” email I get seems to have that word in it.
154 Comments»
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The Tyler Austin Watch
I am so not passing grad school
Real encouraging for me, starting in January. Thanks, bud.
I start college this coming fall.
Oh yeah? Where are you off to?
You >>>>> Rebecca
I kid, but simply too easy
Well, I am a UConn grad and she is a Syracuse grad so…yeah, pretty much.
That’s a double drinker, folks: I mentioned UConn, Rebecca complained about a school assignment.
hey as a current grad school student, i feel your pain! I cannot wait to graduate next may and move/work in new york city
Stay in there, its almost over
You’ll get there! Dude, I’ve made it through grad school hell for 18 months and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Yes, I’m aware it could easily be a freight train coming my way. A freight train named MONSTERO
What are you / others studying?
Medieval history and procrastination.
I aced the latter.
Very neat. I have friend who’s a medievalist. That’s a weird thing to type, haha.
i am studying finance
I’m taking a public finance course this fall. Let me know if you have any advice… =/
I start grad school on Monday
I just got in yesterday
yay for no advance notice!
Wow, that’s quick. But congrats!
thanks!
Don’t be a Negative Nancy, you’ll be fine. You made it this far.
Hah! Grad school. Your admissions processes are hilarious! Your schools actually want you to attend.
The Sterling Drinking Game would be too easy. If you just drink on the repetition of the word “amazing” you’ll be hammered by the 3rd inning.
Dunno if this was linked here somewhere else but Bronson Arroyo has a rather cavalier attitude about steroids, and I dig it. It’s a pretty good read, he also has a pretty sweet compliment for Big George
Son of a gun..those block quotes always confound me.
Heres what he said about Stein…
“If Mark McGwire is hitting 60 homers, the only thing that matters is his performance,” Arroyo said, according to USA Today. “People don’t own teams to lose money. If you ask any owner whether they would rather make $20 million and come in last place or lose $20 million and win a World Series, there’s only one guy who honestly would take that championship: George Steinbrenner. Nobody else.”
Damn, talk about auditioning for a part.
Still don’t want him, but at least he gets it.
best quote i’ve read in a while
The quote where he says everybody drinks and drives made me ill.
Thats why they play sports, and arent lawyers, CEOs, etc.
agreed. drinking and driving is much, much, much worse than taking steroids because you put other people at risk and the risk you put yourself in (which affects everybody around you) is far more severe. By the time Bronson Arroyo is 50, with the money he’s made, kidney failure will be like the flu.
Still, props to arroyo for having the balls to call out the people who stand on their high horses about “the sanctity of the game” from the safety of the fact that nobody gives a fuck about the shit they themselves do.
Yeah, in sports, taking amphetamines might be bubble gum compared steroids, but on the surface, death is a little more imminent than steroids. Ephedra was a known killer. Just ask the athletes who’ve died at early age.
Arroyo’s opinion of Big Stein is awesome.
So disappointed I didn’t make the link cut. I compiled all the Yankee Walk offs this morning, and what on Earth could possibly be better than that?
http://www.theyankeeuniverse.com/?p=6512
Robinson Cano is 18 of his last 39 (.462) with eight extra-base hits and four RBI. He has eight multi-hit games in his last nine games.
The four rbi tells you how many of those hits are coming bases empty. Still awesome though
Just thought I’d chime in about the Michael Kay drinking game. I never quite understood the vitriol he seems to sometime elicit here. Now, my slant is that I became a hard core fan listening to Sterling and Kay on the radio in the mid-90′s, when they were my sole conduit to the team, and I came to really love them. But, speaking as objectively as I can, I think they were a quality broadcast team, and that both has suffered from the others’ absence since – especially Sterling, who really needs someone acerbic and details-oriented to ground him (Waldman’s incessant stroking his ego has really deteriorated his skills, I think). Anyway, as for Kay, I understand that he strikes an abrasive tone sometimes, and that sometimes he pays what sounds like grudging lip service to more modern enlightened baseball strategy and statistical ideas, but all in all, really, I think he does a good job. Certainly, I don’t think there’s anyone better at exploiting the personal experience and expertise of his booth-mates.
Sorry to soap-box here, but my take-away point is this: it seems to me that the large majority of the items in the drinking game are *utterly unremarkable * things to say, even to say regularly. Every broadcaster has a cadence and a pattern and a few catchphrases – I don’t understand the instinct to pat ourselves on the back and feel ornery just because we can identify some of them.
I like Kay’s radio show. He unfailingly has the scoop on any big Yankee issue, wheras Francesa is often clueless. Not only is Mike Francesa clueless, but often hostile to anyone who presents the Yankee take.
You also can’t take everything on radio at face value. It’s talk radio, so he’s going to come out with an strong opinion and debate it, but that doesn’t mean he believes it 100% or thinks there’s no other way to look at it. It’s just a show, and that’s what works on radio.
Yeah, I agree about his radio show. He’s certainly cultivated a persona for it which makes him sound argumentative and brash, but I don’t think he ever winds up saying anything really unreasonable. And even when he takes a strong stance, he usually allows for other points of view to some degree. I’m also impressed at the difference he maintains between his ESPN and his YES personalities. You have to appreciate the sheer number of hours in the day that he spends performing to a mass audience, and the fact that he remains professional and pretty well-prepared and competent throughout.
Excellent point about YES and ESPN Radio. It tells you that they’re very different jobs, and he understands how to navigate both of them professionally.
I do not hate him, but I think he talks too much. He rarely lets the moment speak for itself, and always feels a need to segue into broader baseball issues rather than the game (ie steroids). I actually think Sterling and Kay should be flipped. Kay’s overtalking plays better on the radio, and Sterling’s poor descriptions would be softened by the fact that you can see the play.
Interesting, but that would make John Sterling the face of the Yankees. Not that Kay is George Clooney, but Sterling is in radio for a reason.
Sterling does plenty of TV for Yes Network, with Yankees classics and the Yankeeography stuff. Neither is Clooney, but Sterling is perfectly presentable.
OK, you’re in prison for life. You have to pick one or the other as your cellmate. Which one you want to “bunk” with?
I am so not answering that question. You would likely find me hung from my bedsheets after 10 minutes in the cell.
“You would likely find me hung from my bedsheets after 10 minutes in the cell.”
SEE ya.
Sterling would pronounce me dead, only to correct himself later.
Moshe? He’s up in his bunk reading a book.
…
…
Oh correction, prison guards, he’s dead. Full-on rigor mortis! Just goes to show you, you never know what’s going to happen in prison, folks.
Classic.
Hahahahah!!
THCM, IETC!
All Moshe’s idea, credit is his. I just took the logical next step. I can’t stop reading it in Sterling’s voice and giggling, though.
Let’s beat this joke into the ground, huh? Here goes:
Warden Waldman: Moshe Mandel is in the prison cell, and Moshe Mandel hanged himself with a bedsheet. Oh my good… GOODNESS GRACIOUS! Of all the dramatic things! Of all the dramatic things I’ve ever seen… Moshe Mandel hanging right in John Sterling’s cell, announcing he has had enough of this cruel world!
Guard Flaherty: He’s really proud of that depression today, not afraid to show it off.
Guard Kay: I’ve never eaten ketchup!
(Prison Guard Mondesi shoots self in head in background)
Annnnnnd scene.
HAHAHA, I’ve never eaten ketchup. Classic.
Your endowment aside, I think you mean hanged.
LOL. Yes I did.
Its like beating ‘you-know-who’ big.
Haha, perfect.
It’s as if he wants to talk about anything, anything, but the actual batter and pitcher and fielders actually playing the actual game.
I’ve heard the 1+ innings going on about food, stadiums that no longer exist, contrived issues, the “wow I’m in the booth with my heroes” banter, while nothing of the game is told. Meanwhile, it’s a 3-2 game with 2 runners on and 1 out with a new pitcher in the game. Nothing about it. Maybe a line for the inning: “Cano pops up.”
Maybe I wouldn’t mind if I sat on the couch watching every moment of the game, but I have other things I need to get done after coming home from work. I don’t like feeling that the game itself is so boring that nobody in the booth needs to talk about it for awhile.
It’s television, which uses these crazy things called video cameras so you can actually see what’s happening. They’re supposed to talk about things besides the game because they don’t need to call every single pitch. If you’re running around your house doing other things, turn on the radio, which does call every pitch since the listener can’t actually see what’s going on.
Every TV broadcaster is like this, it’s not unique to Kay.
I know it’s the style now, but it wasn’t always. When I say more than an inning without commentary on the actual game, that’s not hyperbole. C’mon, how MK feels about food?
Who said every single pitch? Nothing about the new pitcher, how the 5 or 6 batters in a row have fared against him, nothing related at all, not even the outcome of the previous play or the names of any of the batters?!? I’m talking about long stretches where the game goes unremarked.
And the radio crew is simply intolerable. Plus Sterling makes up stuff it seems. I tried that for a few games, and it was just too painful.
Maybe it’s the custom now, but hey!, I’m paying $50 month for the cable because the game at hand actually interests me. If it bores the announcers, they should find something interesting to do.
I don’t know, I don’t really notice the YES guys doing that too much. I think they’re pretty good at the play-by-play. The ESPN crew is another story…
And I’ve only been watching baseball for about 11 years, so I guess I’m just used to it. I do notice when I watch old classics though that the broadcasters talk much less. Eh, guess it just depends on what you’re used to.
and also, Jim Kaat was not like this. When he had the booth, he always, always brought the banter back to the action on the field. I think he and Singleton were masterful. They got in all the color and side fun, but kept the game in the foreground. If you pay attention when Kay is not in the booth, Singleton still does that.
The other people you are talking about as “every” are like Tim McCarver and Joe Morgan and that crew. Boring and dumb commentary.
So, just because so many do a lousy job, doesn’t mean lousy jobs are good.
Kind of sucks we have no shot at young American talent like Bryce Harper.
Isn’t free agency beautiful?
I’d take the playoffs and a possibility of a WS over young talent (yes, I understand that you need youth for winning the WS but just pretend as if you could win without it) anyday if I could
Isn’t free agency beautiful?
damn right, especially when he will hit free agency at 24 or 25
Thanks for the suggestion, Mike.
http://www.puristbleedspinstri.....-game.html
The John Sterling drinking game (with permission from Scott Proctor’s Arm)
when did “it’s a Johnny Rocket” replace “positively Damonic” anyway
I think this season.
yep
I have a feeling it will be a big weekend for the Yankees. I predict that the Yankees sign Heathcott, Murphy and …….wait for it………Sano, all by Monday.
I’ll be downright shocked if they end up with Sano.
The world might explode if the Yankees sign sano.
Somewhere between 3.5 and 4 million will seal the deal. Then everyone will see the full power of this station.
Then everyone will see the full power of this armed and fully operational battle station.
Fixed.
ha ha.. Thanks, Holmes.
excuse me holmes…
Yeah, with the happiness of Yankee fans the world over.
That would be amazing.
@RPimpsner: Neil Medchill just tied the SI Yankee record for HR in a single season.
@RPimpsner: That’s the good news. The bad news the SI Yankee single season HR record is 5 1/2.
twitter says mike vick going to eagles
don’t have the link (my bro called me)
however, the eagles qb competition just became a dogfight…
[/lame joke
lol, lame but effective.
Vick will set up the Bad Newz Kennel #2, this time with Eagle’s fans in a ring tearing each other apart.
But this time he will be applauded for his efforts
The Mayor of Philly gives him the keys to the city, and thanks him for his public service.
A true story of redemption!
How long until a section of the Philly crowd starts calling themselves the Bad Newz Kennel?
(shudders)
he got 1.6m this year, team option for 5.2m next year
Getting down to the wire for Murphy, Heathcott, Lyons, and Cotham
Here’s the latest from NoMaas
http://www.nomaas.org/draft/?p=260
Still sounds like he’ll sign.
I bet they have agreements already in place with Heathcott and Murphy.
Zach McAllister is a badass.
Thanks for making me fish that one out of moderation.
I was going to include his baseball reference link for good measure, but I’d probably have been banned for simple obnoxiousness.
Adrian Beltre has a torn testicle.
http://tinyurl.com/q7k7lz
Copy cat
Kids, that’s why you wear a cup.
Ow. Ow. OWOWOWOWOW!
Jesus Christ, that is…OW.
Ouch.
Poor bastard.
Wow. Damn. That’s an embarrasing injury.
Holy fuck I am glad I’m not Adrian Beltre
http://blog.seattlepi.com/seat.....176447.asp
OWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW
“Beltre suffered the injury in the ninth inning when a ground ball off the bat of Chicago White Sox shortstop Alexei Ramirez hit Beltre in the groin. Beltre does not wear a protective cup.”
Well of course that’s how it happened. Do you think the Associated Press wants to run with a story about him with 3 hookers and a sybian machine in a Vegas brothel?
That would make it even more impressive that he “finished the 14-inning game”
Even as a girl, this sounds extremely painful.
Does Dan Bard remind anyone else of Kyle Farnsworth? Watching him in the RS series, that’s all I could think of. Throws straight gas, mediocre control and slider, looks great one moment, hammered the next. If he’s the RS closer of the future, I’m stoked!
Jose Veras always reminded me of Kyle Farnsworth, except with less talent. At least Bard has the fastball.
Farnsworth has the fastball too, but that just meant the homers went farther.
Am I the only one commenting on Damon? His swing is perfect for the new Yankee Stadium and has been giving us good production at the plate all year. His defense is good enough for any one of the corners. I would outbid any offer out there for him. Brings a good energy to the clubhouse. Who else is coming off the books next season that could replace him that will be in the free agent pool?
I thought Damon’s defense hasn’t been good this year, and he has no arm, so he can’t play right. I’d still take him back (if the deal is right), and either stick him at DH or back in left.
Wouldn’t you like to DH Jorge (38), Alex (35) and Jeter (36) next year? Plus Tex once in a while? If so, you can’t have a full time DH.
I don’t know, if you DH Jorge regularly, you pretty much have to carry 3 catchers. I don’t know about Jeter DH’ing either. Maybe A-Rod, but I’d rather move Damon to the full time DH spot and give A-Rod one more year at third.
Not really. If you have a decent bench, you can simply PH for the pitcher when the DH spot comes up if its run scoring opportunity. If not, you can let him hit. Especially if you want to leave him in the game.
We act like its the end of the world, but really its not. There’s this crazy, backwards League called the NL where it happens all the time.
Right, this. I mean, we’re talking about DHing Jorge what, like, 3, maybe 4 days a week? It’s very doable without carrying 3 catchers.
Word.
Yes. That would be… I’m not even sure there’s a word to describe how hilarious that would be. Excellent call.
CC would get to hit which is what he always wanted, right?
Damon on a one and one or MAYBE a two year deal would be okay but it, of course, would have to depend on what happens with one Carl Crawford.
Can you believe the Rays are 10 games back?
Oh I would give pretty much anything to see Crawford in pinstripes.
Well this year his range is not ‘good enough’ for any OF position, and his arm is below average for LF.
Cant imagine any other team getting into a bidding war for him though, so hopefully he’ll be back with a 1 year with incentives/ 2nd year option as LF/DH
I think the most pressing issue when it comes to Damon is whether or not to offer him arbitration. That, IMO, is a harder decision than bringing him back.
“Am I the only one commenting on Damon?”
Never heard of him.
Oh, JOHNNY Damon. No, you’re not the first person to comment on him here. At RAB. A Yankees blog.
What about a trade for Jeremy Hermida?
His power and patience have been real inconsistent and I don’t think he’d be worth a trade.
Who is the next current or former Bosox player to get caught or admit to PED use?
So far we’ve had Arroyo, Ortiz, and Ramirez. I got my money on either Nomar or Varitek being next
It’s got to be Nixon.
Damon
I hope not. Pedro wouldn’t shock me though
Damon’s made it clear in an interview that he turned down roids at an early age. Now of course he could be lying, but hey thats his stance that he’s never lost sleep over the 103 names because he knows hes not on it.
oh i hope so.. but i dunno for some reason i just think he has in the past… im convinced that entire 04′ team was juiced out of their minds..
Right, and people are convinced the entire Yankees from 99-whenever was juiced up too, just depends what team is yours.
Didn’t he play in Oakland with Giambi and McGwire too?
Played there for one year with the two Giambis and Tejada. McGwire left in 1997
On Pedro: I’ve said this before but I just love saying it…his season in 2000 is the greatest pitching season ever.
Bill Mueller
If either Captain America or Nomah got caught, it’d be an amazing day. I dunno who I want to see get caught more.
Oh definitely Tek. Not even close, to me.
(I hate myself for saying that, but it’s true. As much as I’d like to stay away from schadenfreude and think the whole PED conversation is a joke, I’d like to see him knocked down a peg. I can’t help it.)
I’d be more excited if it was Schilling.
In approximate order, I’d wonder about PEDs and:
Nomar
Nixon
Bellhorn
Kapler
Foulke
Varitek
I’d be delighted if Schilling were on the list, but I doubt it.
Foulke was superhuman in 2004, and then fell off a cliff performance-wise. Makes you wonder…
Vick to the eagles fack
Does anyone else think Damon fits this new ballpark perfectly. He has utilized it to hit more home runs and raise his slugging % by close to 30 points and over .500 for the first time in his career. This alone is a pretty good reason to resign him.
See: Contract Year Effect.
I just turned on Yankees Classics of Gooden’s no-hitter and watched Sterling completely misread a routine fly ball to left center. Maybe it’s because I was just 9 at the time, but I always thought his idiocy was a more recent side effect of senility and partnering with Suzyn Waldman. apparently I was wrong and he has always been retarded.
Note to self: Same properties apply when choosing bat as in choosing sword.
You need something with the right balance that is not too long.
pat? Buddy?
It is now 9:46, and there is no inappropriate reply to this comment. I am disappointed in this group of wiseasses.
Hahah, sometimes you fucks have to do your own dirty work. There are certain lines I will not cross until we all meet face to face.
“There are certain lines I will not cross until we all meet face to face.”
Creepy. (Unintentionally?)
Unintentional. I don’t want people to think I’m really a sick delusional fuckwad. I mean I’m pretty much all those things but not in a bad way, in a good funny way. Really, this scene from Supertroopers should explain everything.
Mac: But our shenanigans are cheeky and fun!
Thorny: [referring to Farva] Yeah, and his shenanigans are cruel and tragic.
Foster: [after a pause] Which… makes them not really shenanigans at all.
Mac: [in a silly voice] Evil shenanigans!
Sterling Drinking Game: Hear his voice, chug-a-lug a fifth.
I guess everyone seen these Subway commercials with Johan and CC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vccgg-HJcUE
Just one question.
When they say “Beating you-know-who big!” who are they referring to? Themselves?
I would assume the Phils and the Sox, no?
….or a nickname they have for their little friend.
It’s like beating ‘you-know-who’ big.
Whooooooosh.
Reply fail. Should have nested under The Artist’s comment, above.
I think Subway is under the impression that the Yankees and Mets have some sort of rivalry and they’re implying that they’re referring to each other.
I have always wondered this. The people who designed the commercial seem to think its extremely self-evident, but I have no idea. And it nags at me every time i see the commercial
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