Open Thread: Taking back the comments
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I can't believe they didn't make this place more football friendly! (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
Okay, look. We have to do this every so often because the commenting sections of our posts get unwieldy as hell from time to time, especially when there are lots of trade rumors like there are right now. Please take a second to look over our basic Commenting Guidelines, which just ask you to be courteous more than anything. We have a perpetual Off-Topic Thread available for you to talk about anything at literally any time. The link is right under the 1976 frieze in the banner, and in addition to that feel free to use the daily Radio Show posts as an open thread in the afternoon. Right now there are far too many off-topic comments and thread hi-jacking going on, and it’s scaring away new readers, which is bad for us. So please oblige. Thanks in advance.
And with that, here’s the night’s open thread. The Rangers, Isles, Knicks, and Nets are all in action, plus I’m sure there’s college basketball on somewhere. You guys know what to do, so have at it.
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Harold Reynolds’s argument for CC winning the Cy over Felix: He pitched to the score.
Can I get a “Horrendously Retarded”?
I believe “I pitched to the score” was also Reynolds’s defense against the sexual harassment charges levied against him at ESPN.
I believe “I pitched to
thescore” was also Reynolds’s defense against the sexual harassment charges levied against him at ESPN.Fixed that for ya.
Counter argument: Felix Hernandez also pitched to the score, pitching greatly to keep the score run while he begged the Mariners to score more runs.
Yeah the 3.3 runs per game they scored was straight out of the 10s.
Yeah no kidding. If Felix “pitched to the score” he would have made Bob Gibson 1968 look bad.
Harold Reynolds is so stupid. He also said he thinks Jeter’s leaving. o_O
He also laughed at the Yankees when they acquired Kerry Wood on deadline day.
The one former-player-turned-announcer on the MLB Network who has not annoyed me even once is Barry Larkin.
Mitch Williams, on the other hand, is horrible.
Halladay said something to the effect of, its about winning games when asked about CC and Felix the other day.
It seems people who actually played pro ball value winning more than anything.
Jorge Posada rubs urine on his hands because he thinks it makes them tougher.
Being a professional baseball player doesn’t automatically bestow you with the gift of logical reasoning.
I’ve read that online before, but that’s not really true is it?
If so, that makes zero sense. I mean urine is sterile, but it’s still nasty.
It is true.
And urine soften the skin, not hardens it. Despite what Dr. Posada would have you believe.
So does he not use batting gloves, because he pees on his hands?
Or does he pee on his hands because he doesn’t use batting gloves?
That’s still nasty.
He doesn’t like batting gloves, so before the season starts he begins applying urine on his hands to “toughen them up” so that he can go glove free.
I think Moises Alou used to do the same thing. Placebo urine.
I don’t think he does that anymore though. I think he only did it for a period of time and then realized it doesn’t work.
It’s nasty, but it doesn’t bother me as much as the image of Jason Giambi and brotherhood of the traveling gold thong.
Posada loves pine tar. His bat and gnarly helmet have tons of it and his hands are full of it too. Between that, the urine and the nail polish, no wonder he can’t throw any runners out.
brings new meaning to “gold glove”
The Cy Young Award is supposed to go to the best pitcher in the league. Felix was the best pitcher in the American League. Ergo, Felix is a Cy Young Award winner.
/transitive property
Come for the math, stay for the cruelty.
I want to see the parallel universe where baseball follows logical reasoning, and then i want to scream and runa way from it.
I hate it when people make up that “pitch to the score” argument. Every game that a pitcher pitches, they should aim at a shutout or the lowest possible score they can manage to pitch in order to win the game. I don’t care if their offense scores them 8 runs, don’t give up 7 to
pitch to the score” (if I’m interpretting that correctly)–try to give up as few runs as possible.
People that I know argue that Felix’s bad record makes him a bad pitcher. I say, whenever he gives up 3 runs, he doesn’t win because his offense won’t score for him (if that stat is correct, I think I heard it somewhere). Then they tell me that he did a poor job, because he didn’t keep his offense in the game.
Wins are not a good stat. I don’t get why people (or people that follow baseball regularly enough) understand that.
To play devil’s advocate. Pitching to the score assumes that the team will surrender more hits to a team by having the pitcher bombard the strike zone, that means the game will move quicker and a pitcher can throw more innings in a game. CC in this case will throw less pitches out of the strike zone to try and get swing and misses, preferring quick ground-ball outs. The downside is that the pitcher’s ERA increases and strikeouts decrease.
Correlation does not imply causation, but CC’s strikeout rates have decreased and Reynolds did point out that most of the homeruns he gave up were solo shots. To call Harold Reynolds “horrendously retarded” for his theory is in itself “horrendously retarded.” Game plans will often change when you can end up getting more innings out of your starting in place of giving up a couple runs when you have a huge lead. BUT, when you look at how dominant Felix was and he still put up an incredible amount of IP, which means he wasn’t “pitching to the score” but just being flat-out awesome, you have to say he was more dominant.
Counterargument: Even if CC truly did pitch to the score, I fail to see how that is something that should be used to benefit his candidacy. If anything, that’s a negative. If CC is pitching to the score and thus allowing more late runs to narrow the margin of victory in an effort to squeeze out more innings, any benefit of fewer innings pitched by inferior bullpen pitchers is offset by the fact that the innings they DO end up pitching will be higher leverage.
Felix didn’t pitch to the score, he just dominated regardless of how big or small of a lead he may have had. And he pitched deeper into games anyway.
Right, thats what I meant in my last sentence there. Despite CC having to eat up innings that caused his ERA to increase, Felix was able to pitch more innings and a be more dominant. So I could understand if Felix had 30-40 less innings with the same stats and making an argument for CC, but Felix still wins.
and it’s scaring away new readers,
Some unnamed people were starting to scare away ALL readers.
Speaking of which, when you get banned, what exactly (other than commenting, obviously) is blocked for you? Can you still read comments? Come to the site at all?
Hitman. You are not just banned from RAB, but banned from life.
Yeah, you can read everything, but if you try to comment it gets swallowed up. We can also prevent people from seeing the site all together, but we’ve never done that.
Also, if you get banned, your name goes to the front of the list of Obama’s Death Panels.
Also, if you VOTE REPUBLICAN, your name goes to the front of the list of Obama’s Death Panels.
Boy, I could just do this all night with Eric.
TWSS
“We can also prevent people from seeing the site all together, but we’ve never done that.yet…”
Seroiusly though, that’s pretty intense.
Simple solution. Someone posts off-topic, ban them for X amount of time.
Just let it be known in advance that that is your new policy.
My thoughts on this afternoon’s shenanigans: The power we as people have to pick and choose the facts that work with our narratives is incredibly dangerous in the wrong hands.
You know what? That football field looks just fine. The bullpens helped it fit just perfectly.
I can’t tell from the small pic: did they temporarily move Monument Park, or is the CF wall just right behind the goalpost?
The CF wall is right behind the goalpost. You can see the Steinbrenner monument, so nothing was moved.
Thanks.
/disgrace to the baseball universe
Meh.
Also, did they cover the dugouts? They must’ve; it seems pretty unsafe otherwise.
So during what year (or offseason) do you all think each member of the core four will retire?
Pettitte and Posada retire after 2011, Mo and Jeter after 2013.
The summer of 2013 will be strange because I’ll be watching the Yankees without the iconic figures. But at least (I hope) then we’ll have Banuelos, Cano, A-Rod, Sladerunner, Brackman, and Montero holding the boat together.
It’s gona be so weird to see those four guys all gone. Especially because I grew up watching (well not really, I’ve only watched for a few years) them.
Jeter’s major league debut was on my 9th birthday. I’m gettin’ old.
Jeter debuted when I was 30. Perspective.
How do you think I feel? Jeter, Mo, Posada, and Pettitte have been together, sans three years, for my entire life. I practically grew up as they played their way through the dynasty and interregnum.
It’s gonna be mad weird watching the Yankees without them.
You’ll still have ARod, Tex, CC, Hughes, Cliff Lee, and maybe Granderson/Swisher as well.
If Cliff Lee signs….
/pessimistic’d
Yeah, but it definitely can be weird when you’re invested in a player and have been a fan for a really long time, and then the guy is gone. I don’t feel this way about players anymore, but I have to admit, when Mattingly retired, it was weird for me, for a while. Even when they won the World Series, it was still weird. When you’re a kid and you’re rooting for particular players, you get more invested in the individual players than the team, in some situations. I can definitely see younger fans feeling really weird about things when a guy like Jeter retires.
I was just trying to lighten the mood.
Fatty.
Thinking about Mattingly-sadness is making me hungry…
I’m glad Sladerunner is finally starting to catch on.
I should add that I’m going to spend all of 2011 sobbing if this is the case.
He already basically said either 2010 was his last season or 2011 will be.
I’m not convinced Posada will retire after 2011. If he gets 130 games in 2011 as a mostly DH, and hits 22+ HRs, and puts up a .360+ OBP, I don’t see him walking away from the game. There will be more than enough teams who can use a switch-hitting DH who can also serve as a back-up catcher.
Posada has way too much to gain by playing a couple more seasons beyond 2011. Unlike Bernie or O’Neill, who both left the game when they still had something to give (although one by choice and one not by choice), Posada could gain a lot by continuing to play. He is considered a borderline HOFer by many, so anything he can do to increase his counting stats (such as passing by 300 career HRs) will help his case, even if he compiles those numbers as a DH.
There is a big financial advantage to any player making the HOF. Not sure if Posada actually understands how close he is to making the Hall, or what it would mean to him financiall. He should embrace the DH spot and plan on continuing his career, even if it’s in another uniform.
Who’s upset 4 loko’s getting banned?
This guy is and I don’t care what you say. It’s terrible but it’s awesome. The politicians are saying “OMG college kids get drunk and do stupid things!!! Ban everything!!! Even if the college kids drinking the stuff probably aren’t of age anyway!! Quick, ban red bull vodkas and jagerbombs too!!!”
True story: I have a yellow Four Loko in my house right now. Went out to one of my younger cousin’s birthday parties a few months ago; drove her and some of her friends home afterwards. Her friends were pounding Four Lokos back that night; found one in my car the next day.
I’m not touching that thing. If anyone wants it, I’ll sell it. For a hefty black market upcharge, of course.
I’m gonna buy all the cases I can before they’re banned and make a killing and enjoy $3 buzzes while I can. Yes, I’m a poor unemployed recent grad.
White (Chardonay) Franzia is pretty good and cheap, but you will need to get caffeine pills to get the kick and get over the fact you are drinking wine.
http://gothamist.com/2010/11/1.....r_loko.php
This is my cheap wine of choice:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ZN1q.....esmall.jpg
$3/bottle. Even I can’t handle Franzia.
You’ve never lived until you’ve had MD 20/20 and Nighttrain. Now that shit should be banned.
MD 20/20 is fucking vile.
I didn’t drink it of my own volition. Pledging FTL
Is there a difference with Mad Dog and Vicks?
BTW, I’m using nicknames, not a reference to a fight dog and Michael Vick.
The red wine is pretty awful, but the white does not taste like anything so it fine to down.
Bronx Science? C’mon dude!
Haha I’m sorry to disappoint you larry.
Giving me my energy and alcohol at the same time dammit. Why not we ban all alcohol because that works so well just like the 21 drinking age.
Seriously, if they’re banning it based on underage kids drinking it to excess, causing them to vomit and to the hospital, you might as well ban all alcohol.
The whole 21 drinking age is ridiculous. At 18 you are an adult that can vote, join the military, get married and you can’t have a drink. That is just ridiculous. If you are an adult you should be given all the privileges of one whether you are 18 or 48.
You: The Preacher Me: The Choir
Studying abroad in Spain and coming back before I turned 21 was rough. I was lucky I had an older brother that looks exactly like me.
Awesome I am in Spain this year, but I turned 21 here, not like it stopped me for the two years before when I was in college since it so hard to get on college campuses.
Nice. What city are you in? I was in Barcelona. Fantastic city. Never made it to Madrid for some reason, but I really enjoyed Sevilla and Valencia too.
Ha, I was in Malaga when I turned 21.
Oh, I was in Malaga too during Spring Break, used it as a base city to go to Granada, and Tangiers, Morocco via Algeciras and Tarifa.
It’s a really nice city, but it was waaaayyy too hot. I was in Granada for a little, but I never made it to Morocco.
When I got in trouble for drinking when I was 17, my dad said he wished I was 18 so I could fight that the 21 drinking age is unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment.
…because it is.
I am guessing you would not be the only one. I guess 21 is fine in Miss. and Ala. because the age of majority is 21, but everywhere else it is fundamentally wrong. But what the hell you can quit school when you are 16 and can’t drink till you are 21.
I’ll never forget when I came out of a bar (was only 21+ after a certain time) during Fleet Week ’07 and a Navy guy tried to get in and they turned him down for being under age.
So. Wrong.
Don’t worry he went probably went down the street and got a free beer. Armed forces will get taken care of during fleet week.
It’s so weird.
You’re old enough to risk your life in a war, but you’re not old enough to have a glass of wine?
I just don’t really agree with that.
Military personnel can drink on military bases should they choose to.
you’re also going to find difficulty renting a car. its about poor decision making skills.
and how is it unconstitutional again?
Seriously, if they’re banning it based on underage kids drinking it to excess, causing them to vomit and to the hospital, you might as well ban all alcohol.
No, the problem isn’t that Four Loko gets you drunk, it’s that it keeps you wired WHILE getting you drunk, so all these dumb kids keep drinking past the point where they’d normally pass out and end up with real actual alcohol poisoning.
I get why Schumer wanted them banned, and I agree. Some products are inherently more dangerous and it’s okay for the government to take steps to keep people from having unfettered access to them.
You think 4 loko is the only way to drink alcohol and caffeine at the same time?
No, of course not.
It’s illegal to drink and drive. I don’t want cars or alcohol banned, but if some car company creates a car that includes an alcohol dispenser in the glove box, I’d want that car banned.
We’re not going to make it that easy for you.
Schumer-”First we ban 4Loko, next we go after Irish Coffee”
My friends and I were offered Four Lokos by an accomplice of ours before we went out to a party. We didn’t take that shit. Another friend of mine had one and woke up in CT. The party he went to started in Jersey.
Sounds like your friend had a good night.
But seriously, you’re only 14, you don’t need to start with that shit until you’re 17 or so.
Agreed, 17 is a good time to start drinking. Well, that’s when I started anyway.
Kids these days. Lightweights.
(Ok that was awful – if you’re underage you shouldn’t be drinking or doing anything else illegal. Just a bad joke, my bad.)
I read a comment the other day, I think on Gawker, about how kids have no responsibility these days because instead of teaching them things, we just take things away. It was in reference to Four Loko, but s/he used other examples as well, I just can’t think of them. It was an interesting POV.
Similar to my other post:
What do you all see each of the core four doing after their playing career is over? I mean, do you think any of them will still be involved in the MLB in some way?
I could see Jorge being a manager. IDK about the others though.
And when is Bernie retiring? I don’t see him making a comeback anytime soon…
Posada will probably try to be a manager after a few years. Mariano will become a priest or something. I think Jeter will still be involved with the club, but I have no idea in what capacity. Andy’s obviously coming here to be with me.
Obviously.
Mariano will ascend to the heavens and taking his rightful place among the gods as a deity.
From today’s Arizona Republic (I found some points to be interesting):
An NL executive was skeptical that the Diamondbacks would get anything close to the return they’d seek in order to move him. And if they would, he believes it almost certainly would have to come from one of the two behemoths in the game.
“(Upton’s value is) less than what I’ve read about,” he said. “For one, he probably got overpaid. He’s got supreme talent, but his brother’s record isn’t helping him. He’s never gone to the next level. I don’t know. Maybe he needs a change of scenery.
“Some teams rely more on the scouts and the potential, especially if you’ve got money to spare.”
That, he said, leaves the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees as clubs that could gamble on Upton’s future considering the price he’s locked in at. The executive noted that Upton will be making more than $14 million in each of the final two years of the six-year, $51.25 million deal he signed before this season.
“He might be worth $20 million then,” he said. “But if he’s a bust then somebody’s going to regret it. It’s a risk the Red Sox could take, a risk the Yankees could take. I don’t see any other team giving up a host of young guys for one young guy who hasn’t figured it out yet.”
That anonymous NL exec is dumb. What BJ does has little to do with what Justin does, as Mike Maddux, Jeremy Giambi, and Billy Ripken had little to do with their brothers careers.
As a pretty avid watcher of MLBN and frequent experience-r of Billy Ripken, I kind of judge Cal Ripken now.
Billy Ripken is a former MLB player, Cal Jr’s brother and Cal Sr’s son, yet I still think of him first and foremost as the guy who had “Fuck Face” written on the knob of his bat on a baseball card. I’m guessing a teammate did it because, you know, he’s kind of a fuck face.
Pretty much nothing that guy said made any sense.
Particularly the notion that only the Sox or Yankees could afford Upton. All 30 teams in baseball could afford Justin Upton.
He didn’t say that the Yanks and Red Sox are the only teams that could afford him. He said that the Yanks and Red Sox are the only teams that could afford the risk of giving a “host of young guys” AND take on that contract.
And I’m the one who lacks the skill of reading comprehension.
Go figure.
This is going to end in something less than ideal fashion.
I know that he meant it in terms of the all-encompassing meaning of afford. He’s wrong in that regard.
All 30 teams in baseball could afford to give a host of prospects for Justin Upton and his contract, risk and all.
I read it correctly, and correctly stated that the quoted source doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
I don’t think, barring injury, Upton could possibly be enough of a bust (odd term since he’s already had success in his career) that he’s going to bring down an entire franchise by making $14 million. I mean, really, what’s the worst case scenario (barring injury) for the guy at this point? People are severely underrating him from some opinions I’ve seen.
People are severely underrating him from some opinions I’ve seen.
This x1000. I don’t know if it’s underrating him or overrating their own prospects, but he’s The Justin Upton for a reason. Dude is young and already has had a lot of success. From age 20-22 he OPS’d .841. Only 4 AL Corner OF’s exceeded that in 2010, Bautista, Choo, Swisher and Crawford. From 20-22 what were those guys doing? Minors, Minors, Minors and .715 OPS.
“Here’s the complete list of all the players in the past 50 years to get at least 1,500 appearances through age 22 and post a higher OPS than Upton: Alex Rodriguez, Miguel Cabrera, Ken Griffey Jr., Tony Conigliaro, Boog Powell, Cesar Cedeno. That’s it. That’s the whole list. And filling out the rest of the top 10, directly behind Upton on the list, are Johnny Bench, Andruw Jones, and Rickey Henderson.”
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports......lown-away/
Thank you. Someone was trying to downplay him in another thread, saying he strikes out and GIDPs too much. It’s dumb. He’s already pretty awesome and he’s got a lot of room to grow. Even if he doesn’t get any better he’s already pretty damn awesome. If Montero comes up and does what Upton’s done I’ll be friggin’ thrilled.
You have to look at his 2010 production at least as much as you look at his 2008 and 2009 production; and probably more. The fact that he regressed this past year almost negates the “OMG he did it at the age of 20-22!” factor.
regressed all the way to an .800 OPS at age 22 in a low-scoring environment, facing pretty nasty pitching in his division, with a shoulder injury………
The fact that he regressed this past year almost negates the “OMG he did it at the age of 20-22!” factor.
Had he regressed to sub-average, maybe. He didn’t, though.
But if he’s a bust
That bridge has already been crossed. He’s not a bust.
I don’t know if it’s safe to say that. I’m sure there’s been highly touted prospects that have had a a few good seasons and never developed past that. I think it’s unlikely with TJU, but it’s not impossible.
Even so would that make him a bust though? I don’t know. If he were to not develop any further he’s a damn good player. If he regressed, I would have to think it there would be other factors involved.
That’s true. I guess it’s about unrealistic expectations that can develop.
Justin Upton “the bust” is still a perennial All-Star and a franchise cornerstone. He’s only busting from “not one of the top 3 players in the entire sport” status.
So MLBN mentioning the 1996 AL CYA voting being the closest in the last 25 years or something like that made me very grumpy, so I looked at BB-Ref, and I realized the voters………. were right. Hentgen pitched many more innings and had a lower ERA. 8.4 bWAR vs. 5.7 for Andrew Eugene. Sigh. Oh well.
Still, voting for Andy wouldn’t have been the dumbest voting the BBWAA did in 1996:
http://www.baseball-reference......html#ALmvp
Hey you have a SS and CF who out-OPSed a corner OF on their own – an excellent defensive SS and CF – without even taking positional adjustment into account. But let’s vote for the poor defensive corner OF because … dingers? I don’t even know, Griffey actually had more.
Yeah I just looked at that the other day.
The only thing I can think of is, the Mariners missed the postseason.
The 1996 Mariners scored 993 runs (!!!!). Offense wasn’t exactly the reason they missed the postseason.
We’ve talked about this before, I believe. Yes, the 1996 AL MVP vote was one of the dumbest in history.
1996 was pretty much a bad year for all award voting.
What about the 2006?
I haven’t looked at the stats of all of the candidates, (because I don’t care enough to do so), but I do think that Jeter had a better offensive year than Morneau. I’m looking at the BA, OBP, SLG, OPS and just the main stuff like that, and it seems that Jeter had the better offensive year. The only thing Mauer was better in was the power numbers, but the OPS’s aren’t even that far off from eachother.
Also, wouldn’t Jeter get more credit/acknowledgement for playing at SS as opposed to 1B?
Forigve me if I’m wrong, but it seems that Jeter was more deserving than Mauer and BBWA made a mistake on this one.
Morneau in 2006 wasn’t a good vote at all. He was a good 1B, but in terms of 1Bs/DHes, Ortiz and Hafner were both worth more to their teams. Mauer was better. And Jeter should’ve won.
1999′s AL MVP vote has to be up there. Jeter has his best season ever, out OPS+ing A-Rod when he was the superhuman (153 to 134) and you give it to Pudge, who paled in comparison to Jeter in almost every meaningful category.
Pudge was hardly an embarrassment though. Jeter should’ve won it. Or Pedro, but I wouldn’t vote for a pitcher for MVP. That probably makes me an old fuddy-duddy but hey I know Felix deserves the Cy Young this year
RBI Goggles ™.
Gonzalez averaged over an RBI/game. It was a big deal at the time.
Did the Rangers get new uniforms or am is my vision or the color on my TV bad?
Because they look a little different from the last time I saw them.
It’s a special Heritage Jersey (as they call it) for the team’s 85th anniversary.
Okay thanks. Thats what I figured when I saw the logo on the ice, but I wasn’t sure.
At first I thought I was watching the Blue Jackets
Can we talk about the Marlins and how they are an abomination to the sport I so dearly love?
Okay. What is with all this talk here about the Marlins? I haven’t followed baseball at all really, since the WS ended, and it seems like they’re a running gag here at the moment.
What happened? Am I missing something?
Per usual, the Marlins are dumping payroll this off-season.
It’s to the point where I don’t even know how it’s possible for them to dump anymore payroll.
Yeah, but they dumped payroll and signed John Buck to a 3 year contract.
And dumping payroll is one thing, trading one of your best players for a utility guy and a reliever is something totally different.
The funny part is that they aren’t even dumping that much payroll. Switching Uggla with Infante and Buck probably only saves them about $1.5-2 million.
But for 1.5-2M less, they got three players instead of just one.
And those three players combined don’t equal the talent of the one player they gave up.
But collectively, they might just equal the production.
Oh got it.
The Marlins traded Dan Uggla for Omar Infante (utility player) and Michael Dunn (LHRP who walks waaaay too many guys). Uggla hits FA next year… but so does Infante. They also signed John Buck, coming off undoubtedly a career year, to a 3-year, $18M deal.
1. Infante isn’t a utility man in Florida.
2. Will Infante be a Type A? Quite possible. If yes, that’s irrelevant.
Florida is trying to hold payroll down while staying competitive, and in that situation it makes some sense to pull that trade. You would still think they could do a lot better, but it’s gotten overblown.
1. Jerry Hairston Jr. wasn’t a utility man on the Reds before we got him in 2009. That’s irrelevant.
2. I think I heard he wouldn’t be.
Sure, the trade makes sense to keep payroll down. I even get trading Uggla while his value is high (though they traded him for Infante, who also had inflated value and isn’t as good as Uggla to begin with). But then don’t sign a meh catcher coming off a career year to a significant contract. Disclaimer that teams might have needs/things they’re trying to do that we just don’t know about, but I just don’t get their moves.
They’re not an abomination if they trade the Yankees Hanley Ramirez and Josh Johnson for Eduardo Nunez and Boone Logan, maybe Pat Venditte if they get really greedy.
Trading Uggla in the division for Omar Infante and Mike Dunn, then adding John Buck at 3/18M. If that had been posted on here as a proposal two weeks ago, it would have been ridiculed into oblivion.
The best was Capitol Avenue (a Braves blog), who had approximately six tweets of just HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAH. Man. I wish I was a Braves fan just in that second.
I love that Capitol Avenue had posted this like, a day earlier
http://capitolavenueclub.com/?p=3249
In a just world, Loria and Samson would be drug out into the street and shot.
In baseball history there have been 15 players who played at least 350 games between age’s 20-22 and had an OPS higher than Justin Upton did in the same time frame.
Williams
Foxx
Ott
Mathews
A-Rod
Mantle
Kaline
Robinson
Cabrera (not Melky)
Griffey
Cobb
Aaron
Arky Vaughan
Cepeda
Pinson
Das it.
Not bad company. Also, not a bust.
13 HOF players on that list. Upton is in good company.
/understatement
And Miggy is well on his way. Really, it’s everyone but Pinson.
And what those 13 guys’ collective OPS in their age 22 (turned 23) season?
I bet it was better than Upton’s .799
That’s a good question. Why don’t you go look it up and test your hypothesis? Report back to us with the findings.
Thanks in advance.
Not really relevant. Whatever that collective number is, it’ll probably be skewed by Ted Williams’ 1.287 (not a typo)
If you want to use those 15 players to show how great Upton is (as Steve H did), it is relevant.
Ok, but did any of those players K as much as Upton?
Fun fact: Felix’s opposition hit .210 off him this season. The 2010 Mariners hit .236.
Imagine what they would hit if Felix was pitching to them.
From June 13th on, all opponents hit .187/.241/.275/.516 off Felix. That’s his final 21 starts, including all three against the Yankees, two against Texas, one against Boston, Minnesota, Cincinnati…
Oh yea, I forgot the best part. The Mariners were 12-9
.187/.241/.275/.516 in 21 starts. CRAZY
Pedro 2000:
.167/.213/.259/.473 over the entire season (29 starts)
b-ref’s play index only goes back to 1920 for this, so while I’m sure some deadball pitchers (probably Walter Johnson) were better than that, that .473 stands as the post-deadball record. That’s not adjusted for era, either, and it was at the height of the steroid era. 19 players qualified for the batting title with an OPS over 1.000 in 2000, and opponents OPSed .473 off Pedro.
Perspective: Mariano Rivera has held opponents to less than a .473 OPS just twice in his career (2005 and 2008)
Here is a fact.
Felix is great.
His team sucks.
Making a dedicated baseball stadium football friendly is tough, just geometrically. But I can think of one easy way that they could’ve made the new yard more football friendly. If they’d gone with more old school dimensions in left field then the sideline could have been more or less parallel with the left field line, making great sight lines for that side of the seating. More importantly, we’d get Death Valley back. I miss having a cavernous left center field (only remember 430′ but still).
So Jayson Stark says he doubts the Marlins would be in on Upton because of his 5/$50 remaining on his contract but they’ll hand 3/$18 to Buck? I think Stark is wrong, though the Marlins are pretty damn stupid as well.
And the Marlins still won more game than the Mets this year and will
probably do so next year. Are the amount of games a team wins over the course of a season still a relevant statistic?
Yes, they are. Not sure what you are getting at here.
Me and Bexy talked about this, actually. The Marlins seem to rather routinely shelack the Mets regardless of how good either team does as a whole – the 2000 Marlins were 6-6 against the 2000 Mets, and one team went to the World Series, and one team was under .500.
#ycpb, is all.
For whatever reason, guys on that team – the Ross’s, Cantu’s, Uggla’s, etc all seem to destroy Met pitching. And I think Josh Johnson had a 9 game winning streak against them last year, or something crazy like that. They’re just a bunch of Met killers apparently.
For whatever reason, guys on that team – the Ross’s, Cantu’s, Uggla’s, etc all seem to destroy Met pitching.
It’s a little funny that all those guys are now gone.
Is Hanley the longest tenured Marlin now?
Never mind, he’s not. Josh Johnson pitched 12.1 innings in 2005.
Plus you had things like 2007 where the Marlins sucked and had nothing to play for but still ruined the Mets’ chance at the playoffs. I think this happened in 2008 too.
Just wondering if people think winning games is really relevant?
Especially the playoffs such a SSS.
60% of a team’s W-L record is skill, 40% is luck.
“Luck is a residue of design.”
Some old guy named Rickey said that many years ago.
Maybe he was trying to say there is no such thing as
luck. I think it was the dude that started signing
African-Americans to play for the Dodgers. Maybe
YOu know, I hear people make the argument that Hamilton shouldn’t win the MVP, because he missed about a month in Spetember. And while, I feel Hamilton is deserving, due to his numbers, those people have a point.
Most Valuable player is just that. The most valuable. If you think about it, Hamilton provided no value for one month. And anything could have happened in that month if he played and wasn’t injured. For example, he could go into a huge slump, brining his numbers down. (yeah it’s not likely, but you can’t rule it out…it’s possible that that could have happened, but we obviously don’t know). Cano, on the other hand,missed 2 games. And one of them was after his “back injury”. Cano played 27 more games than Hamilton, allowing him to provide 27 games’ worth of value for his team.
Now I’m not saying that Cano is more deserving or not or that BBWA should base their decision off of this, I’m just saying that this is a valid argument that one could make.
Then again he could have gone on a hot streak during that missed month, but we don’t know that either. Anything could have happened during that time.
WAR is a counting stat, which means it properly weighs games played. He outdid Cano there. I think Hamilton missing a month should factor into a vote, but the fact that he still managed to out-WAR everyone was impressive. Plus it was basically a pointless month, Texas had the division all wrapped up.
WAR isn’t the word of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. I just feel the need to point that out from time to time.
No, it’s not, wasn’t trying to say it was. Just when a counting stat like that still shows a huge advantage for one guy over the rest of the pack, even (and maybe especially) if that guy missed a bunch of time, it’s worth noting.
Whenever I see ballparks turned into football gridirons, I’m offended. This probably has something to do with the fact that I think football is a stupid sport (sorry, football fans), and baseball is the most noble sport in the world. You’re turning this amazing place, a baseball diamond, green and brown, into a place for people to throw their bodies at each other and grunt and shout and turn the dirt all disgusting. This is not just for Yankee Stadium – I also feel this way about the Coliseum (which i leave nearby). There’s no pitcher’s mound! Don’t they understand how incredible pitcher’s mounds are? And they drove over it! It’s gone!
Stupid football.
That is all.
In fairness, a place called “The Coliseum” should be used for football. I agree on Yankee Stadium though. It just looks weird.
I don’t know who was in there first, actually, but as there’s a baseball team in there, it automatically belongs to baseball, because baseball is a better sport.
Can’t beat that logic, can you? Thought not.
I cannot
In fairness, a place called “The Coliseum” should be used for football. I agree on Yankee Stadium though. It just looks weird.
Fun Fact: The USC Trojans play in the Coliseum.
Coliseums are Roman, Trojans were Greek (or Anatolian, if you prefer).
Shouldn’t USC play in the Amphitheater?
Probably, but the Romans took over Turkey eventually too.
I’m just saying, when there were actual Trojans in Troy, things called “Coliseums” hadn’t been invented/created/named yet. Coliseum is decidedly Roman, i.e. post-Troy. By the time Coliseums were around, the people who lived in Troy who called themselves Trojans were all gone and the city had already been destroyed on more than one occasion (by earthquake and by war) and the new city was called Ilium.
And all jabs against the Coliseum aside, when I see that big dead spot the Raiders made in short-left-center, I get sad.
I don’t agree with you, but I’ll be damned if I don’t enjoy your enthusiasm. Carry on, soldier.
Football is stupid.
I like football, but it’s grossly overrated.
and football is America.
Football is stupid.
Sure, I’ll bite: why?
For starters, the way they take care of their own.
Is that a football problem, or an American problem?
Good question. The latter did proceed the former though.
i love this article: a perfect game
There are, however, at least two respects in which I suppose baseball could be said to speak to, and speak out of, an essentially biblical vision of reality. First, there is simply its undeniable element of Edenic nostalgia: that longing for innocence, guileless play, the terrestrial paradise—a longing it both evokes and soothes. Bart Giamatti, though, wrote so famously and so well on this topic that I have little to add. I only observe that the ballpark is a paradise into which evil does occasionally come, whenever the Yankees are in town, and this occasionally lends the game a cosmic significance that it would not be improper to call “apocalyptic.” This, in fact, is why that dastardly franchise is a spiritually necessary part of the game in this country; even Yankees fans have their necessary role to play, and—although we may occasionally think of them as “vessels of wrath”—we have to remember that they, too, are enfolded in the mercy of providence.
Have you heard Age of Adz yet. Same kind of very dark stuff.
Baseball and the arts intertwined.
i haven’t, no. i’ll check it out.
I became an approved commenter on Gawker today.
That’s pretty much what I’ve accomplished at work so far…
How does that work?
Becoming an approved commenter? I’m not sure exactly, but I made a comment and they approved it so now I’m an approved commenter. It’s exciting.
I always feel so left out when I miss over 175 comments on the Open Thread.
You’re not allowed in our super cool club!!!
I DON’T WANNA BE IN YOUR STUPID CLUB!
Sure, you don’t. Sure.
Keep telling yourself that, buddy.
No boyz allowed!
So far, this already looks like a year where contracts are getting out of hand.
-John Buck 3 years/18 mil
-Joakim Benoit 3 years/16.5 mil
-A’s offer Beltre 5 years/64 mil
If present trends continue, I guess we can expect Lee to get 6 or 7 years and Derek to get 4 or 5.
I doubt any of those deals affect the Lee or Jeter contracts very much.
Each negotiation is separate, but there is such a thing as ‘the market being set’. So far, it’s being set pretty high.
I agree, but Buck/Benoit/Beltre are so far separated on the market from the guys we’re signing this winter, I doubt the ripple effect makes it all the way to the Lee/Jeter/Mo/Pettitte stratosphere.
What this does do is make it almost impossible for us to get any solidly reliable bench or bullpen guys. Ty Wigginton, Scott Downs, Bill Hall, Brian Fuentes etc., we’re not signing those guys, because their pricepoint HAS moved up as a result of this market.
It’s Lee, Jeter, Mo, Andy, and then a couple of Randy Winn/CHoP specials (like Randy Choate or some non-tendered utility infielder on a minor league deal).
Didn’t Choate sign somewhere, either today or yesterday?
No, just checked it. Thought I heard something today.
If he did, I missed it.
IMO these deals are just the early deals where people really want these players and overpay for them (I heard Beltre turned that deal DOWN??? Because it WASN’T ENOUGH???? I’m hoping that has something to do with not wanting to play for the As…). Later on, people realize what deals are more realistic and sign accordingly. I mean, if the deal, say, Olivo or Torrealba gets makes Buck’s deal look good… I dunno.
I can buy giving Benoit 3/16.5. I wouldn’t do it, but it’s better than what the Astros gave Brandon Lyon last offseason. At least Benoit is good.
But Buck? What the hell?
Yeah, that contract totally throws off the catching pay structure, and means we’re going to have to get used to some Frankie Cervelli in 2011, because the chances of snagging Olivo or Torrealba or something like that on the cheap just evaporated.
Those chances evaporated the second those “possibilities” were conceived of.
Perhaps.
Buck had what, ONE good year? So somebody signs him for three?
Was it even that good a good year? I guess .289/.314/.489 with a 115 OPS+ looks nice, but he has a career .301 OBP. That is not someone you sign for 3 years.
But teh dingerz!!!1
Just because Lyons’ deal was worse doesn’t mean Benoit’s deal is ok. He didn’t pitch at all in ’09 and has pitched 95 innings in the last three years.
And he was horrendous in 2008.
Wally Matthews of ESPN.com is quoting “a source” that says “Jeter wants four years minimum, preferably five or six”
http://sports.espn.go.com/new-.....KHeadlines
If I were the Yanks I’d tell him JUMP IN THE LAKE! (I’d prob say it in a nicer way but make sure I make my point just as strong)
You lost me at “Wally Matthews”.
Yeah I didn’t even click it.
Even if it is true, I’m shocked Derek Jeter wants to play for a lot of money. Shocked. Absolutely shocked.
If I was Jeter, I’d play for free!
Sincerely
Sal from Bay Ridge
Lost me at “Avi says:”
I was being nice.
Awesome.
NoMaas has been tweeting that Montero/Gardner/Joba is way too much for TJU and Joba and Gardner doubled Upton’s WAR from last year, so it wouldn’t be worth it anyway
I love Montero, Gardner, and Joba as much as anyone… but if the D-Bags would accept that package for The Justin, I’d be all over that shit like Raul Mondesi on a postgame buffet. I couldn’t say “yes” fast enough.
My god. When did Upton become Pujols?
He doesn’t have to be Pujols to be a very good young player that you should want on your team (at the right price, of course).
Montero/Gardner/Joba isn’t the right price. I don’t think even just Montero alone is.
I would do Gardner, Joba (i think he’s a shell of what we got all excited about) and say a killer B, But think you could probably substitute Joba with Nova and Nunez and still probably get it done.
-Including Montero is pointless and silly, since Rosenthal reported they’re looking for an OF, SP and RP.
-That’s not too much when you consider his age and contract
-You have to wonder how desperate the Yanks are to get him, considering they were pretty happy with their OF production last year. That being the case, they’re only likely to go so far as bidders, and probably won’t bid enough to be a finalist, or to make Towers want to pull the trigger on a deal he really doesn’t have to make. This has to be a franchise-changing deal for him, and I don’t see the Yanks offering that, nor should they.
Most of us here have already acknowledged that the Upton trade is a longshot at best. They’ll want a buttload, and we won’t want to give up a buttload. There’s not a match.
Yeah, and to further your previous point about not being able to sign decent bench help, I’m perfectly happy to keep the farm system stacked and plug the inevitable holes from within.
Jesus Montero is GONNA BE THE NEXT Sandy Alomar Jr. Anticlimactic wasn’t it?
Rank your favorite Yakees in order from favorite to least using the players: Jorge, Cervelli, Texiera, Cano, Jeter, A-Rod, Swisher, Granderson, Gardner, CC, Hughes, AJ, Pettitte, Javy, Robertson, Joba, Mo, Logan.
Mine:
1. Teixeira
2. Jorge
3. Cano
4. RObertson
5. A-Rod
6. Javy
7. CC
8. AJ
9. Andy
10. Sisher
11. Granderson
12. Mo
13. Logan
14. Jeter
15. Joba
16. Hughes
17. Gardner
18. Cervelli
THoughts? Agree/disagree? Share?
I didn not base this solely on numbers or performance, but also for personal reasons.
Logan in between Mo and Jeter? WTF?
Wait, did you think FTLT had a logical thought process with these lists?
She probably doesn’t even know who half of those players are. She’s just repeating names she’s heard and listing them randomly.
Brick Tamland: I love… carpet.
[pause]
Brick Tamland: I love… desk.
Ron Burgundy: Brick, are you just looking at things in the office and saying that you love them?
Brick Tamland: I love lamp.
Ron Burgundy: Do you really love the lamp, or are you just saying it because you saw it?
Brick Tamland: I love lamp. I love lamp.
Alright I know you’re joking, but just because I don’t know as many of the players as you guys do doesn’t mean I don’t know anyone at all.
I really do not like Jeter.
At all.
1. Mo
2. Cano
3. Jeter
4. Teix
5. Andy
6. CC
7. Swisher
8. Hughes
9. Granderslam
10. A-Rod
11. Jorge
12. Gardner
13. Joba
14. Robertson
15. AJ
16. Cervix
17. Logan
18. Javy
Cervix… that’s just wrong.
A group of us at work still call Youkilis but Uterus, now that’s wrong.
I dunno where ‘but’ came from, I meant ‘by’.
“Butt-Uterus” FTW.
10 seems way too low for Sisher. Sisher was the sit this year. He it the sit out of the ball.
Ha! If only you used your wit like this instead of using it to poke fun at people’s comments Tommie (even when they’re accurate)
Mariano is #12, die.
Well not die but you know.
Andy
Mariano
A-Rod
Jorge
CC
Jeter
Cano
Teixeira
Granderson
Hughes
Gardner
Swisher
Robertson
Javy
AJ
Logan (between Mo and Jeter…….. what????)
Cervelli
Something like that.
Joba
LOL @ Joba accidentally getting listed below “Something like that” :X
WAAAAY disagree!
Mine go:
1. Jeter
2. Mo
3. Gardy (he’s just so…. FAST!)
4. Swisher
5. Teix
6. Cano
7. CC
8. Andy
9. Jorge
10. A-Rod
11. Joba
12. D-Rob
13. Granderson
14. Hughes
HUGE CLIFF
15. Cervelli
16. AJ
17. Logan
I like Modern Family but every episode is pretty much
funny even–>improbable event–>even more improbable situation that resolves itself in a cheesy way. C’mon writers, not every episode has to end in some life lesson.
but jeebus, Sofia Vergara is amazing.
List your top 20 favorite condiments.
/FTLT’d
None.
[end of list]
Sincerely,
Michael Kay
1. Sugar
2. Salt
3. Pepper
4. Ketchup
5. Mustard
6. Barbecue sauce
7. Mayonnaise
8. Worcestershire sauce
9. Teriyaki sauce
10. Soy sayce
11. Steak sauce
12 Horseradish
13. Olive oil
14. Wasabi
15. Mint sauce
16. Cream cheese
17. Benedictine
18. Chili oil
19. Duck sauce
20. Vinegar
I applaud you good sir.
NO HOLLANDAISE?!?!??!? WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT?!?!??!??!?!
MULTIPLE INTERROBANGS!!??!?!??!??!?
You would like anything to do with Holland wouldn’t you, pot smoking communist.
Steak sauce is the worst invention ever. If a steak isn’t good enough to eat on it’s own than it shouldn’t be eaten.
FACT: I have enjoyed steak sauce dozens of times this year despite not eating any steaks.
Feel free to interpret that information as salaciously as you choose. Seriously, let your imaginations run wild.
(thinks to himself) Hmmmmmm.. . .steak sauce is used when you’re eating meat. . . . type of thing you pour over a piece of beef and shove in your mouth. . . . Eric is Gay?
People I trust tell me it is a sin to put anything on a steak and to cook it past medium-rare.
/ZZ’d
Kosher salt, maaaaaaybe a marinade.
Smart people.
Worcestershire sauce is so fucking overrated it makes me sick.
(Not serious)
Just because someone likes Worcestershire sauce doesn’t mean they’re bad people.
Disagree, it’s an excellent component of a homemade hamburger.
No salsa!?!?!?! Ay ay ay!!!!!
People love to say salsa. Sallllsaa.
In 3 years Tulowitzki is a free agent, in 4 years Hanley Ramirez is. Both perfectly coincide with 2 probable conclusions to Jeter’s upcoming contract.
THE CULVERIZER
I need moar bat
You’re way too high on Culver.
(begins typing response to Avi)
(realizes that that response will be way too brutally harsh)
(decides to say nothing at all)
Is it just me or does Avi think every damn Yankee prospect is going to be a future HOF, except Culver who he hates, while constantly downplaying really good players from other teams like Justin Upton?
Is it just me or does Avi think
every damn Yankee prospect is going to be a future HOF, except Culver who he hates, while constantly downplaying really good players from other teams like Justin Upton?No, not really.
Haha why does everyone hate Avi? (S)he seems pretty nice. They don’t insult anyone or ignore the commenting guidelines.
I’m very opinionated. It’s he btw, I’m a dude.
It’s not just me on Culver. BA had him ranked about #196 heading into the draft and had him going in about the 10th round. If you read all the stuff you can find on him, and I do, the only tool he has that projects as major league average is his glove. He’s got a very loooong way to go with the bat. He just isn’t that talented. The pick was a reach.
Meh…the thing about pre-draft rankings is that mainstream scouts see a very very very small sample size of players. How high were people on Mike Trout last year? This isn’t football or basketball where you can watch everyone’s and see their good games and their bad games. For a 17 year old in pro ball he was good enough. Don’t get me wrong I wanted Workman or Castenellos or one of those types, but I’m happy with Culver.
Trout was a projected first rounder.
I also wanted Castellanos then Ranaudo then Allie over and 25 other guys over Culver.
“Projected First Rounder”
He’s the best prospect in baseball right now, that’s a little better than “projected first rounder”
I understand that Gary Sanchez has a ton of (ridiculous) upside, but what kind of trade value would he carry on today’s market? 3rd guy in an Upton deal, 4th? 2nd?
A lot of times teams want Major League ready talent. Sometimes they don’t. Really depends on what they’re looking for.
I think with Sanchez you let him develop a little more and you’ll have yourself a future star or prime trade bait. Doesn’t make much sense to trade him now.
In an Upton deal, Sanchez is the 4th prospect “packaged.” And that’s why he should be off-limits. Let the 4th guy in a deal be Adam Warren … you know, someone who’s ceiling is alot more well gauged. Sanchez could turn out to be a top 20 MiLB prospect by end of next season.
According to John Manuel in his baseball America chat on the yanks top ten, Sanchez in the 20′s already.
Depends on the team. We could get Josh Johnson if we dealt him to the Marlins.
If it’s the Sox, one million Gary Sanchez’s won’t be worth a strand of Casey Kelly’s hair.
Rajon Rondo could go the next 5 games without an assist and still lead the league.
I’m not a big basketball guy, but I love the NBA playoffs, I recall in 2007-2008 where it seemed like he was the best player on the court at all times. Dude gets seriously underrated. I throughly look forward to seeing Kobe and Pau run all over his ass in the finals again, though.
especially when there are lots of trade rumors like there are right now.
————————————
What rumors?
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/
Is that a serious question?
yeah, serious. what rumors?
The only rumor I heard today is that Tebow is gay.
All of our hypothetical trades that have no basis in even a hint of actual information.
Just a heads up, my post tomorrow at 11 is of the interactive variety. I think you guys will like it.
(girds loins)
How about trading Joba and Romine for Gavin Floyd?
Gut reaction, that’s a little much.
I’d be down. Joba’s going nowehre in this org making it really Romine straight up.
It’ll hurt sure but with the plethora of catching prospects I’d be willing to do it. now Romine is the best defenively being average but a good hitter with a meh to bad glove has good value. See VMart.
But I only get Floyd if either Lee or Pettitte isn’t on the team.
If that trade went down, would you change your name to GavinWockeeZ?
Have we already missed out on both Lee and Pettitte?
If they lose Pettitte he’s probably a better option than Ivan Nova or any of the other types. Given Romine’s increased K-rates and slumping hitting stats (which, in fairness and homerism may be because of his homepark and him being tired) Gavin Floyd seems like a decent haul.
I went to Gavin Floyd’s BR page to verify, and realized his only CGSHO was in 2006 when he was a Phillie . . . and it was rain shortened!
Ehhhh, I’m not crazy about Floyd. I think he’s gonna give up a lot more bombs this year — 7.6% HR/FB% in 2010.
(God, that sounded so stereotypically stat-nerdy)
they have flowers. last week i tried to come up with a trade proposal for him but nothing made sense.
“He [Stan Musial] may truly be the last untarnished icon in baseball history.”
Ummm, what?
Lou Gehrig came to my mind immediately.
He’s the first, Musial’s the last.
Mickey Mantle would never drink, swear, or spit around Stan Musial…he was a true gentleman. Easily the White Knight of baseball.
For Avi:
In Upton’s down year that he just had, he had the 22nd highest OPS in baseball history of any corner outfielder to play at least 120 games and qualify for the batting title. Cutting that to RF’s only he had the 10th highest OPS in baseball history.
In a down year.
Of 22 year olds.
How many 22 year olds have played that much?
He’s got a point, actually.
Well the amount of 22 year olds to play that much will tell us if ranking 22nd in OPS is impressive or not.
There’s a reason not many 22 year old’s are playing that much. They aren’t in the majors. The ones that are, are generally awesome players.
Do you know how many 22 year olds played that much?
Do you know what the average OPS of the 15 guys you listed earlier was in their age 22 (turning 23) season?
This is important to your argument.
So I’m stuck in central PA for another night, and watching the local news last night, one of the top news stories was that one of Harrisburg’s firetrucks was out of service because they didn’t renew its registration on time. Wow I am glad I live in NYC (or I guess any real city)
car registration = big gubment soulsohlism.
In other boring, non-NYC news, Stamford, CT schools have bed bugs.
Ewwwww
Yeah, I’m just waiting for some kid from my intern-school to get sent home. A math teacher and guidance counselor were talking about it this morning; I told them that if I started itching, I’d blame them.
That’s awful. I think there’s been cases in NYC schools too and I just heard that parts of Lincoln hospital in the Bronx had to be shut down because of bedbugs. Where’s DDT and it’s environmentally detrimental and birth defect inducing power when you need it.
A month or 2 ago wasn’t it something like almost all of Manhattan was infested with bed bugs?
I’m pretty sure they had to close Victoria’s Secret, Hollister, and a few other stores.
Something like 1 million people were affected I think.
Yeah. Thank god I never shop at any of those stores, but it’s still disgusting to think that anything you buy can potentially ruin your home. I’m not usually afraid of bugs, but bed bugs are the one thing I can simply not handle since they’re so difficult to get rid of.
I can’t handle any bugs.
I’m such a wimp. I am absolutely terrified of bugs, especially spiders. If I ever came across a tarantula, I would probably have a panic attack. And I’m not even exaggerating.
I raised a bunch of insects for my thesis (I was doing DNA related stuff) and my disgust for them disappeared (nothing like maggots to make that go away), but I really can’t handle anything that disturbs my sleep/won’t let me sleep. You can’t feel them bite, but I’m such a light sleeper, I’d probably feel them crawl. Grosses me out.
http://hatebedbugs.com/wp-cont.....-nymph.jpg
Imagine a hundred of those crawling around your feet and all over your body.
Ewwwww.
Yeah, it’s pretty gross.
Fruit flies?
Some fruit flies, some mosquitoes and bees. I murdered so many of them. So many.
Ugh, I could never work with mosquitoes or bees
They weren’t that bad. When the bees stung me, I killed them. It was a fair trade, I think. Better than working with mice, which I had to do for my medical physiology class. Fuckers bit up my hand something awful, and I was stuck in a group entirely made up of girls, so I had to be the brave one while they shrieked in my ear. We also dissected a rat. Now that was gross.
Dissecting a rat sounds kinda awesome. What in the hell kind of medical physiology class required you to work with live mice?
I dissected a rat back in bio. I’m pretty squeamish but my partner was a wimp so I sucked it up and had to do everyhing. It wasn’t that bad though other than when ou have to cut through the skin and open him up
JGS: We were testing the effects of certain hormone treatments on the thyroid, and needed live animals. They were super annoying and terrified so they crapped all over the place. Not a fun class.
FTLT: It just smelled really bad. And it wasn’t like a small rat either, but like a rat from NYC streets large. We also had to feel around its gut for something behind its duodenum. Just majorly disgusting.
Yeesh, that sounds intense. And it probably just smelled like the preservatives they use for these things. You might want to get used to that one, you’ll be dealing with it a lot.
Man, that sounds like an intense class. In every physio class I’ve ever taken, they just told us what the stuff does, we weren’t doing the actual experiments.
Yeah, the smell of formaldehyde makes me light headed, so I’m not looking forward to that, but we spent a lot of time in the labs doing experiments and killing things and using each other as human subjects. I had about 16 lab hours logged per week up until my senior year.
killing things and using each other as human subjects
I’m not sure if that is scary or just awesome.
Haha…it was awesome until we got to the experiment where we were all electrically shocked. It was with low voltage, but not pleasant. I can’t even remember what we were doing for that lab. They were probably just trying to kill us.
Whoa, that’s nuts. The worst we’ve had to do here is prick our fingers to type ourselves. We do physical exams on each other too, but once we get to the sensitive stuff they start hiring actors for us.
*its
Hate those random mistakes.
Tell me about it, I do the local section of a newspaper with a circulation of about 40,000. Today my centerpiece is about a “Blessing of the Hands” ceremony at some retirement center. And that beats the centerpiece from yesterday about some restaurant putting up Christmas decorations.
You can’t be serious.
If it will help, I’ll offer to bite my dog.
“Blessing of the Hands?” Was that a story about Jorge Posada and his urine/hand fetish?
I began my career in news, both print and radio. Some of the stories I covered were scary bad on the boredom.
…boredom scale.
We had a story in our other paper yesterday about some 19-year-old who was breaking into condos on the beach and throwing parties.
THAT was an awesome story. but I’m mad he never invited me.
To quote Joey or Chandler from one episode of Friends:
Your work makes me sad.
The last three days at my school? Two fights, one of which involved broken glasses.
One time there was a fight at my school in which one kid had another kid in headlock to the point where the victim’s face was turning red and they had to have 3 teachers break it up.
Considering things like that don’t generally happen at my school, it was pretty intense.
Fight everyday at my school. The most memorable one was when two girls duked it out and one girl’s tits came out and everyone saw.
Oh there was at least one fight in my middle school every day.
I.S. 61, holla!
http://www.bleedinggreennation.....?ref=yahoo
Chad Dukes, tell us how you really feel.
Wow, pretty big trade market this year: Prince, Greinke, Justin Upton, Adrian Gonzalez, Gavin Floyd, Uggla (formerly), DeJesus (formerly too), and that’s just the start of guys who could switch teams. I also expect to see Napoli, Papelbon, and perhaps Shields and Garza too. Weak free agent market, but awesome trade rumors.
Add Colby Rasumus’ name to that list too. Also Derek Jeter’s seeking four years, sigh…
Actually that’s not too bad. When starting off negotiations you’re going to ask the world at first. It’ll go down I’m sure.
Either Doug Melvin’s a liar or a complete idiot but he said Fielder is not on the market.
Papelbon reportedly is being shopped only if the Sox chip in a good portion of his salary. Serves them right for paying someone like him at almost Mo levels.
And I most definitely expect one of Garza and Shields to get traded. Add in Gavin Floyd too. Perhaps Mark Reynolds. Busy trade market indeed.
Wait until Carl Crawford, Jayson Werth, and Victor Martinez find new homes and that’ll change.
So based on comments the past few days, the Marlins apparently are trading away and getting rid of their good players and such.
It makes you realize how lucky we are to be Yankees fans. Even if they don’t win every year we should all be thankful that we have an owner and GM that cares about winning and will do whatever it takes to put the best possible team out their on the field.
No we should be lucky the Yankees are rich in lore and play in the most populated city in America owned by a rich family who can afford dishing out 200 million because if they win they know the many fans will give that money right back.
The Marlins do care about winning but they play in a horrible area with people that do not care about baseball. They were never keeping Uggla so I understand why they traded him.
I don’t understand why they rushed the trade and got a bad package. Owndership is a huge problem in that state. If I hit the lottery I could buy the Marlins and probably put in a higher payroll for one year.
I think if you take away baseball wealth I think the Steinbrenner’s are the poorest owners in baseball.
I have “She’s out of you League” form netflix tonight.
Any good?
I enjoyed it. Not going to win any awards, but it’s funny.
someone’s probably asked this already, but how about gavin floyd as a backup plan for lee? he’s a solid guy, and i think we could give up like jose ramirez ivan nova david phelps and austin romine and get that done. seriously we have enough depth at those positions for that not to hurt us.
also, how about leo nunez as a setup guy? wouldn’t take that much to acquire, like nova and albaladejo should get that done, and he strikes out a lot of people. thoughts?
Got a post coming on him in the morning.
Mystery pitcher?
I was going to say that too. Apparently Nunez is available and we definitely have the pieces to get it done. Looking forward to the post tomorrow Mike!
2001 draft:
1. Joe Mauer (Twins)
2. Mark Prior (Cubs)
3. Dewon Brazelton (Tampa)
4. Gavin Floyd (Phillies)
5. Mark Teixeira (Texas)
Yankees get Upton for Hughes, Joba, Montero and Banuelos. Which outfielder do we trade and what will the return be?
I think Swisher as he is the oldest and most expensive I believe and worst defensively. I love him but he’s probably gone. Now I don’t know if Cash will trade him to replenish the farm or package him for liek a pitcher.
Much likely the latter.
Adding to the Justin Upton conversation it appears the Yankees offer has ‘fallen short’ while the Red Sox ‘remain engaged.’
And Towers says the trade is picking up wheels. Interestng. I doubted any trade for Upton would happen because Towers isn’t an idiot and will only get top packages. But now things are heating up fast.
I recently read that the trade talks have supposedly “stalled” between the Sox and Dbacks given the asking price. Who knows what to believe, but just reporting what I read.
What do you think the Red Sox give if they get him?
Watch it be something crappy like elsbury, casey kelly and lars anderson.
That would be a pretty sucky package. That’s an udnerstatement actually. Sox need to double that to get near a trade.
You’d hope. I’ll say it again, if Upton is traded it’ll be for MUCH less than what most people are speculating.
Take it to the bank.
The Yanks have MUCH more ammo to get a deal done than the Red Sox do. They need to make that work for them.
The Red Sox NEED outfield help. An outfield of Ellsbury, 75 year old Cameron, and the perpetually injured Drew isn’t one to inspire confidence in. The price should be higher for them.
what kind of sense would this make?
I would never do that deal if I were the Yanks. Arizona would do backflips if they were able to pull that off.
it’s not exactly nina simone but wow. it’s not sweet and quirky indie princess either.
I’ve been a She&Him fan since their first album a year or two ago. Zooey Deschanel has a decent voice, and the music behind it makes it better. All things said, she does bear a striking resemblance to Katy Perry (which ain’t bad at all).
those eyes are what greene called the appalling strangeness of the mercy of god.
Tsuyoshi Nishioka is being posted. If Derek Jeter wasn’t Derek Jeter, it would be an interesting replacement for him.
A AL exec told heyman the price on upton is ridiculous. What did he expect?
Fallout: New Vegas is a good game.
What is a website to look up average batting statistics by position?
baseball-reference has team and league splits by position
Yahoo.
http://probasketballtalk.nbcsp.....e-surgery/
Greg Oden having microfracture surgery agan. Atleast he has a personality that can make him some money.
Wow Oden over Durant gets worse and worse by the minute.
Greg Oden is this century’s Sam Bowie.
As a Celtics fan I was devastated when they got the 5th pick and got screwed in the lottery again. Obviously things worked out with the Allen and KG trades, but I’m still a little bitter in that Bill Simmons (who has great Celtics sources) swears that Ainge was ready to take Durant #1 if he had gotten the pick. I would be so happy getting to root for Durant for the next 10 years. If I could give back the title and have a core of Rondo, Durant, Pierce, and Jefferson I would seriously consider it.
got screwed in the lottery again.
sometimes you get screwed in the lottery, sometimes the lottery screws you (cough/ len bias/ cough).
You mean better and better
/Thunder Up!
Nolan Ryan told Brian Costa of the Wall Street Journal that he expects the Yankees to outbid the Rangers for Cliff Lee (Twitter link). The Rangers will try to sell the appeal of Texas to Lee, an Arkansas native, but they don’t have the same spending power as the Yankees.