agree with JC. The Braves are being disingenous. They offered him a deal that they knew he would not take. It’s perfectly reasonable for the Braves to decide that they don’t want to meet the market price for Teixera but it’s disingenous for them to imply that they made a serious effort. Saying they would have made him one of the highest priced players is irrelevant because it was still less (presumably) than he would make in free agency. And the bullshit about his connections to Atlanta is specious–they knew damn well that with Scott Boras as his agent, that wasn’t going to be a factor, at least not in spring training. If they were seriously going to entertain trying to retain Tex, they knew or should have known that they would have to pay the market price in free agency. If they don’t want to pay that, fine, but they certainly know that someone will and they knew that when they acquired him. And, let’s be real, even if Tex had won the triple crown or something, the Braves were not going to pay that much to resign him.
The dishonesty of the Braves front office is not new. When Furcal signed with the Dodgers for much more than the Braves offered, JS complained that he didn’t give the Braves a chance to come back. But that was bullshit because Furcal and everyone knew that the Braves were not going to match what the Dodgers offered. It was pure PR on JS’s part to make the player look bad.
I disagree. Just because an offer is less than the (entirely speculative) price someone THINKS Teixeira will draw in free agency doesn’t mean the front office’s effort was not serious. The claim that somehow they must meet some invisible line (which isn’t yet established, and when it is will be done so based on what teams actually offer anyway…I wonder, will all the other offers that aren’t the highest be considered unserious by you as well?) or their huge offer doesn’t count is what’s disingenuous.
How is it irrelevant that their offer would have made him one of the highest priced players? That is entirely relevant, and shows their offer a serious one, even if you think he could have got higher. Nor does Boras’ presence somehow make the offer less serious. Teixeira wasn’t just saddled with Boras, he chose him. And he could chose to tell him to take the damn offer if HE was truly serious about his (supposed) desire to finish his career in Atlanta. If you want to find disingenuous, I suggest you start with those claims by Teixeira. Oh sure, he may have liked to stay in Atlanta, but it clearly was not his priority, otherwise being one of the highest paid players in baseball would have been more than to keep him around.
I agree with most of what’s being said, but just to be clear, Tex shouldn’t get a free pass. His little comments on his way out of town about how he really wanted to play here all along and about how we didn’t even act like we were interested was also complete bullshit. He gave absolutely zero indication in his entire time here that he gave the least bit of a damn whether he stayed here or not (other than I guess not intentionally destroying team chemistry, which is what he did in Texas when he wanted out).
Implying that we never made him an offer is just as disingenuous as Wren saying we made him a quality offer. Perhaps if he were that interested in staying, he could have given some sort of indication to somebody. If he had, perhaps we would have made a bit more of an effort while the season was going on to continue negotiations. He didn’t have to accept below market value still, but if he had expressed interest, I’m guessing we’d have expressed some, too.
And he’s now engaging in the same bullshit tactics as Wren is. So don’t put this all on Wren.
I guess it boils down to this, and we’re not really disagreeing. Despite your work — which, as I’ve told you, I really like, though I sometimes disagree with your conclusions — I don’t think there’s anything close to a consensus on what players are actually worth. If there is a consensus, it’s basically in agreement with Schuerholz’s feeling that every single player is overpaid.
That being the case, it is a lot easier to call a 5-year, $75 million offer for Tex a reasonable offer, when in fact it’s pretty blatant lowballing. And it’s likewise disingenuous for the team to pretend otherwise.
Of course, it was also disingenuous for Teixeira to say publicly that he would be just as happy to play anywhere else as in Atlanta, and then to say he wanted to finish his career in an Atlanta uniform after he’d been traded away from the Braves. But disingenuity is pretty standard for a sport in which all you are allowed to say are the same canned one-liners Crash Davis was parodying 20 years ago in Bull Durham.
Hell, I think the offer could have been five years, $115 million (which is the $23 million per year that Boras is reportedly asking for), and they still would have probably declined it because it didn’t have enough years on it. I think five-year, $100 million would probably be a pretty fair offer and would have been worth it for us. Anything above that, and it really wasn’t going to be. And giving him a 10-year deal (what Boras reportedly wants) is just stupid. You’ll be stuck with a declining player for the last five years at $23 freaking million a year! I don’t think there’s any way he gets 10 years, $230 million, but maybe I’m underestimating how silly the Yankees, Mets and Red Sox are. It’s happened before.
I agree with the above. I never took seriously what Teixera said about wanting to stay in Atlanta because if that was really so important, he could have told Boras to work something out. He pretty much knew when he got here that the Braves were not going to offer the market price. If he really wanted to stay in Atlanta, he knew he would have to take below-market; clearly, he wasn’t willing to do that and to imply otherwise is equally disingenous.
It was perfectly reasonable for the Braves to make an initial offer in spring training just to start dialogue. But it was not reasonable under the circumstances to think this was initial offer would be accepted; in fact, they knew it wouldn’t be. To say that they legitimately expected Teixera to accept an offer in spring training that was likely under market is either stunningly naive or mendacious. It was ok for them to take a shot to see if by some miracle Tex loved Atlanta so much that he would be willing to take less, but they must have known the chances were about those of Michael Vick becoming head of the SPCA. I don’t consider that a serious effort to sign him–but,to be fair, there probably was no chance they could sign him before free agency unless they just blew Boras out of the water.
Just a couple quick additions to the conversation:
1) John Schieurholz’s feeling that every single player is overpaid… might actually be correct. And the comments the front office makes in regards to Furcal, Teixeira, or any departing or arriving player are going to be PR, that’s their job.
2) Last offseason, wasn’t there a high profile Boras client that decided to take less money in order to stay with a team where he felt the situation was right? I think his name was Arod something.
I really enjoyed watching Tex for the year he was in Atlanta, and he’s a great player. I also can’t blame him for doing what he thinks is best for his family. Of course if he really wants to end his career in Atlanta, I’m sure Frank Wren would love to talk in the offseason if the numbers are right.
And as for Ohman, just look at the piss poor return the Mariners got for Arthur Rhodes. We weren’t going to get much better than that. Maybe the price will go up if he’s able to get traded through waivers to a team that desperately needs the help.
I have a problem with being willing to meet “market value” as being consistent with the concept of being a good GM.
There are 30 teams in MLB. So, whenever somebody is high bidder, definitionally, the 29 other persons or groups of persons having the best knowledge (some are seemingly dumb, but in economics, we assume appropriate allocation of resources so that those getting paid the most to make decisions are the best at it) did not feel that it ws a good deal.
Occasionally, being the high bidder can be a question of “fit”, whereby it IS a good decision. Like maybe the Mets with Santana this year. Clearly they had the money, clearly they needed at least one potential Number ! pitcher, and clearly he was the bet thing out there.
But, I submit, more often by far, is one or two dumbasses messing up the market. Example. Alex Rodriguez. Braves reportedly were at 17 million a year. Yankees were lurking at similar numbers. Texas drops 25 million per year for 10!!! years on the table. When the Yankees walk away, that is crazy money.
And further with respect to the dumbness of the Texas A-Rod deal, Texas management didn’t understand how to get pitchers, got some bad ones, and didn’t improve as a team.
If one out of 10 potential free agents with ties to the area give us a discount, then line them up. Only pay MARKET VALUE if you have a hole and no other reasonable way to fill it or patch it.
I’m not saying they necessarily have to pay market value or that it’s necessarily the best decision. I tend to think that Teixera is not worth $23 million to ATLANTA under the circumstances. But the market is what the market is, however crazy it might be.
If at the height of the housing bubble, I went to make an offer on a house and the owner was asking $1 million and I bid $950,000, that might well be a “reasonable” bid in that the owner would probably be making a huge return on his initial investment. But it wouldn’t be a serious offer if I expected to get the house.
JS thinks players are overpaid because he is one of those guys that thinks capitalism is great until his ox is gored. Because this is capitalism or at least a fair proximity of it. It’s no different than oil; scarcity of supply (or increased demand) leads to higher prices. How do we know that John Scheuerholz isn’t overpaid?
What part of a 7.24 ERA in 13 starts in the PCL this year isn’t piss poor? Plus a ~4.25 ERA in 32 starts over the last two years in the Southern League.
I mean, he is only 22, so he might turn into something, but the Mets passed on him, and now the Marlins. I’d take my luck with what the Braves scouting team can find. We’ve had some pretty decent supplemental picks over the years.
As Keith Law alluded to yesterday, Hernandez compiled those numbers in perhaps the most hitter-friendly home stadium in all of professional baseball.
If we’re talking about his 2008 performance, yeah, “piss-poor” fits, but that’s not what you referred to. You referred to the return the Marlins got, which is Gaby Hernandez himself, and that kid has an awful lot of promise, even after his rough half-season at AAA.
So the Braves are getting blasted for saying they offered Teix a “competitive” offer but we don’t believe them. Teix is getting blasted for saying he wanted to stay in Atlanta but we don’t believe him.
If we’re not going to believe anything anyone says about this then why are we even listening?
And really, does it really matter what Wren did? We all knew Teix wasn’t resigning with us long before this season began. Even if he did sign, half of us would complain we overpaid.
I’m curious about what would actually make people happy in this scenario. The way I see it, the Teix trade was necessarily going to result in a bad taste left in our mouths unless we at least made the playoffs, or won the world series with him. Once that failed, what would have made anyone happy?
Anyone who thought we had a chance to sign a player as good as Teixeira for a value price was fooling themselves all along.
Stu: okay piss poor was a little harsh, I’ll admit. As most blog comments, it was written in haste. His numbers in the PCL this year are awful though, and not justifiable based on a home park alone.
Like I said, they could turn him into something, but the Mets and Marlins didn’t think highly enough to try themselves. All in all, after this year he’s at least a year off from the majors, and probably closer to two, and with an average of 5 innings a start he’ll likely end up in the bullpen. Two years ago the Braves got Josh Fields in the 2nd round (even if they couldn’t sign him)… if they had signed him I’m almost certain he would’ve been the closer when Soriano went down. I’ll take the pick.
All teams have valuation methods to determine what a player is worth to them. With players like Teixeira, the question you ask yourself is “Is this guy worth overpaying for by as much as will we have to overpay to get him?” With Boras clients that answer is almost always “nope” when it comes to Atlanta.
With Teix, the consensus here seemed to be that he wasn’t worth $20M, but it would be better for us to pay him $20M than not. I would have had him rated as about a $15-17mil a year player. I don’t recall anyone saying we should go higher than $20M to get him, but I also don’t think anyone truly believes he is worth $20M when compared to his peers.
No, the home park doesn’t wipe out the fact that he’s sucked. But Hernandez has at various points been considered a real prospect, and he’s still only 22.
Yeah, the Braves could get someone better with the draft pick, but I don’t know how likely that is. And whoever it is, they’ll have to pay a significant signing bonus to keep him.
(Also, Fields is a curious choice with which to make a point—the fact that he never signed should count against, not for, him being used as an example of what you can get in that spot.)
PS: I didn’t check until just now, but both BA and Sickels ranked Hernandez as the Marlins’ 5th-best prospect coming into the 2008 season. I’m sure he’s fallen some, but not so much that he’s worth less than a prospective late-supplemental draft pick, IMO. At least, not unless the Braves decide to start going above slot (which they haven’t done), in which case the value of their draft picks might really start to rise.
Haha, yeah Fields was just the first to come to mind, as a 2nd rounder that could make the jump to the Majors ‘pen in very quick time. He didn’t sign, but we did get a second rounder this year as compensation for that.
The pick is definitely a gamble, and so is a guy like Hernandez, or whoever it was we could’ve gotten for Ohman. It’s pretty much academic, so I won’t argue with you. I’d say you could easily defend either making or not making the trade… which wouldn’t be the case if big name prospects had been on the move in the reliever market, as they have been in the past.
If I recall correctly Joey Devine wasn’t taken too much higher than the sandwich pick we’re likely to get for Ohman… and that assumes we don’t resign him, which I wouldn’t be against at this point either. Now I know Devine struggled in his first two years, but his numbers with Oakland this year show he’s got ML-ready talent, if he can stay healthy.
Thanks for straightening me out though. I do try to root for the Mariners in the AL, so maybe I’ll see Gaby in Tacoma soon, and I’ll make sure to keep an open mind.
Oh, but on Fields, the point is really about the Braves scouting. Everyone thought he would sign when he got drafted so high… so the scouting department deserves some credit to pick a diamond in the second round, even if the front office couldn’t work a deal. Either way I’ll hope to see him in Tacoma soon as well… that is if he doesn’t make the jump to Seattle first.
I think you’re misremembering on Fields. Coming into the 2007 season, he was believed to be the top relief prospect in colllege, a sure-fire first-rounder. Then he struggled and slipped. My memory is that most people expected him to go back for his senior season and try to get his value back up, but the Braves took him that high because they thought they might convince him to turn pro with his hometown team.
My point is, everyone knew feels had incredible stuff (so it wasn’t some coup by our scouts), but after that junior-year performance, nobody wanted to risk giving him first-round money, which is all he was going to settle for.
what do they project for Todd redmond? You know, his future looks pretty solid and it could be a steal for us. Keeping Yates over Resop would’ve been the best for this season cause Resop was garbage, but Redmond might be a nice find. Could he find himself in our rotation next year?
Redmond’s actually had a pretty great year in Mississippi. He’s a bit old for his level, but he gives you 6 innings per start and his strikeout rate is better than I realized. And he just doesn’t walk anyone. (104 Ks and only 23 BBs.) He gives up a few homers, but with the low WHIP, that’s not a killer.
He looks like a legit 4 (Paul Byrd-esque) right now to me, which is way more than you should be able to get for someone like Tyler Yates.
whats this?? Tex wanted to stay?? well, i guess he’ll have his chance after the season, wont he? personally, i think he’s full of crap. too bad we cant get him for what he’s worth and trade him for what he thinks he’s worth.
I don’t get how so many people on this board can say that Atlanta didn’t put a solid offer on the table for Texiera. Who here has insider info as to what the Braves office does? If you don’t believe it, that’s fine, but to call the management out on it while not knowing is just plain dumb. I can totally believe the Braves putting a fat offer on the table and having Boras reject it. (Hello – the Rangers offered him a great deal and he didn’t take it). Boras was going to wait until free-agency no matter what that offer was b/c he knows the Yanks are going to be involved and will drive the price sky-high.
I just don’t see why everyone is so down on this management. Yes I would have liked to have seen Ohman traded, and yes Corky should have been shot long ago – but they have made some really good deals that are constantly overlooked. Getting Jurrjens alone for Renty would have been a steal, but we also got Hernandez. Then we trade for Ohman and Infante – both have been BETTER than expected for this team (although Infante was injured alot).
Jurrjens/Hernandez for Renty – A+
Ascanio for Ohman/Infante – A
Devine for Kotsay – D (Anderson and Blanco were already here)
Kotchman/Merek for Tex – B –
Releasing Pena over Miller – F
Yates for Redmond – B (as Stu said, Yates shouldnt give you anything of value)
Signing Glavine and losing 1st round draft pick – F (at the time it was probably a C)
Signing Campillo – A
Signing Norton – C (good PH, but shouldnt ever play)
Signing Tavarez – D (but we needed an extra arm)
“If at the height of the housing bubble, I went to make an offer on a house and the owner was asking $1 million and I bid $950,000, that might well be a “reasonable” bid in that the owner would probably be making a huge return on his initial investment. But it wouldn’t be a serious offer if I expected to get the house.”
Market prices are moved by buyers and sellers, they don’t appear out of thin air. Rather, they are determined by people showing what they are willing to pay for a thing, and a seller asking what he believes he can get for it. A $950,000 bid for a $1 mil asking price is indeed a serious offer, certainly enough to begin negotiations between the two parties, especially if the seller had expressed his interest in factors other than just maximizing money (such as selling quickly).
The Braves offered what they believed Teixeira was worth to them. That’s a serious offer. That someone else might think he is worth more doesn’t make that offer any less serious, especially when you consider that playing in a particular city is itself part of the offer. I.e. not all ball clubs are created equal. Few players would consider a $20 mil offer from the Royals to be just as worthwhile to them as a $20 mil offer from a perennial contender. Does that make the offer from the Royals unserious? The point is, there are a great many factors involved that you’re glossing over in order to reach the position that Braves management did not make a serious effort. They offered him a lot of money plus the chance to play in a city he claimed to value more than other locations. He passed, but it wasn’t unreasonable for them to think their offer had a chance of getting him, and thus it was quite serious.
I’m going to be on Baseball Digest Daily Radio tomorrow, talking about Teixeira-Kotchman. I’m not quite sure how this stuff works, but I’m scheduled for 11:25 (my time).
Mr. Swings@Everything
on August 1, 2008 at 6:43 pm
Is there any chance that another team claims him or that he maybe refuses the assignment? Nothing good can come of him hanging around the organization.
Gadfly, I’ll agree with Stu, Hernandez was the sixth best prospect in the Marlins organization coming into the year according to BA. He is exactly the type of pitcher the Braves should be trading lefty reliever types for.
Anyway, as Stu also said, Albuquerque is a freaking bandbox. Living in New Mexico since that parked open, I can tell you it’s Citizens Bank with a hill in center that’s 400 feet to dead center. Between pitching at Vegas, Albuquerque and Colorado Springs, I feel bad for young pitchers in the PCL, it’s gotten to the point that anything under 6 isn’t really that bad. Last time I looked the Isotopes team ERA is close to 6. Yikes.
I have watched Chucky pitch in person in each of the last three years in addition to many times watching on TV, and all I can say is this — how the bloody f&*$ could this guy have gone 11-4 in 2006? Having watched one of his wretched starts this year in person (at Colorado) I’m amazed that he was for a brief moment considered to have long-term starting potential. The guy is horrible.
Bummer about Chucky’s crummy start. He had a nice run May to July of last year and I was hoping his better performance in Richmond indicated that he had gotten his game back together. Obviously not the case.
and just when things look the darkest, we send out the worlds worst starting pitcher. nice job Chucky………..oh well, blues are on the box and the Red Stripe is ice cold.
It strains credulity how Chuck could be considered a pitching prospect. Frankly, with his all arms delivery, I’m surprised he ever gets an out at the MLB level.
I think Grst’s #44 post is spot-on. I really agree there.
It’s like the 2005 offseason with Kyle Farnsworth. If I remember correctly, JS offered like 3 years, $15 million. NY offered 3 years, $17M. Farnsworth went to New York to be a set up man, and as JS pointed out, the Atlanta offer was even financially better because the cost of living is so much lower in Atlanta than it is in New York. JS offered less money, but it was a really serious offer.
Same for Teixeira. The Braves can’t out-bid NY, Boston, and LA, but they are still putting out an offer that is very serious, very substantial, but won’t wreck the team’s finances. Why can’t it be that they offered as much as they could and Teixeira didn’t accept it because he doesn’t want to play in Atlanta that bad. I see no fault in the Braves organization for their “serious” offer and their “PR moves.”
BTW, I was listening to Colin Cowherd this morning, and the fill-in host likened the city of Los Angeles getting Teixeira and Manny to Goofus and Gallant. Pretty ironic since I had never heard of these two characters until Mac did the same thing for McCann and Francoeur. Guess which ones were which with Manny and Mark…
Ring “pitches” and a run (so far) scores. With Corky gone, Ring needs to be the next to go. Who after that? Maybe Gotay, maybe Tavarez, maybe he who sucks (though it won’t happen).
Gotta figure Chucky’s heading back to Richmond …
2 ER for Ring in 1 inning actually lowers his post ASG ERA
After tonight, it will only take a 22-31 finish to lose 90 games. I think that is a virtual certainty. The question is whether we challenge for 100 losses, which would take a 12-41 finish.
Funny how the Brewers fans wanted Yost out in April. I wish they had fired him … I’d love to have him waiting in the wings to replace Bobby after ’09. I shudder at the alternatives. If I hear the phrase “Braves manager Brian Snitker” and it’s not prefaced a “Gwinnett,” “Mississippi” or “Rome” I may find a new team.
If laying a big fat egg tonight (this season)isn’t enough, it’s now time to run down Ohman so he won’t be a good enough FA to warrant a draft choice. Sheesh.
Just because he did not pitch last night, doesn’t mean Ohman has to pitch tonight. We behind by 9! And we’re still using the only guy we have in the bullpen who can get an out.
Given what’s currently in ATL, the prospect of what we might get in Sept is not pretty.
Snark aside, Lilli, Jones, and Anderson are respectable callups. If Corky ends up in Richmond, we might see him back in Sept. Who else? Maybe Stockman and Ridgway; I assume Reyes will be back before Sept.
That’s because Farnsworth is a tool. That guy could have been loved in Atlanta, but he went to New York, crapped the bed, then got dished out to Detroit, where he still will probably never close. And he looks gay in glasses…
And you know what, I’m not a big fan of iTunes. If not for my iPod, I wouldn’t allow myself to be enslaved to such a mediocre piece of software. I wanted to listen to Billy Joel almost half an hour ago, and iTunes (a freaking media player) is taking forever to update.
Nah, it was the installation of the update, not the download itself. iTunes doesn’t seem to run as well on Windows machines, same with Safari and Quicktime. I suppose it makes sense, but you would think they would try to optimize it since there are more Windows users running Mac programs than Mac users.
Meanwhile Jo-Jo had a great start in Richmond. Where did we get all these AAAA guys?
Seriously, I think Jo-Jo and Chuck should both stay up, and Morton. We need them to take their lumps, so we can find out if any of them truly have what it takes to pitch in the Majors.
Rob, I figured you have a Windows. I updated eight programs (including iTunes) on my Mac a couple of days ago, and it took four minutes to do all of them (and restart the computer). I didn’t even know Safari ran on Windows. Safari has some bugs even on a Mac, although I still use it. Firefox is the best web browser, in my opinion.
We might as well allow our young pitchers to take their lumps this season in the majors. It’s not like it matters. Maybe one of them will surprise us.
Morton and Reyes are legit talents. Chucky never had more than mid-rotation upside, and his inability to go deep into games limits his upside further. But Reyes and Morton could both end up with decent careers in the majors if they can get things going a little.
However, I am in favor of them starting for the rest of the season to see if any of them will be serviceable.
I saw Chuck pitch in Richmond in June, and he pitched a great game. He went 7 scoreless (I think) innings and made the other team look really foolish. He cruised the entire game except for one inning when he got a little shaky (a couple of hits). No walks or homers, several strikeouts. I was optimistic then he might be able to help us in the majors again. Hopefully tonight was just an attempt at trying to impress in his first game back up.
Yeah, FireFox 3 is fantastic, especially with all the add-ons. Safari isn’t the greatest on Windows, but it’s much better than IE, so if FireFox is messing up for whatever reason, I’ll use Safari. Needless to say, I don’t have to use Safari much.
From the last thread:
agree with JC. The Braves are being disingenous. They offered him a deal that they knew he would not take. It’s perfectly reasonable for the Braves to decide that they don’t want to meet the market price for Teixera but it’s disingenous for them to imply that they made a serious effort. Saying they would have made him one of the highest priced players is irrelevant because it was still less (presumably) than he would make in free agency. And the bullshit about his connections to Atlanta is specious–they knew damn well that with Scott Boras as his agent, that wasn’t going to be a factor, at least not in spring training. If they were seriously going to entertain trying to retain Tex, they knew or should have known that they would have to pay the market price in free agency. If they don’t want to pay that, fine, but they certainly know that someone will and they knew that when they acquired him. And, let’s be real, even if Tex had won the triple crown or something, the Braves were not going to pay that much to resign him.
The dishonesty of the Braves front office is not new. When Furcal signed with the Dodgers for much more than the Braves offered, JS complained that he didn’t give the Braves a chance to come back. But that was bullshit because Furcal and everyone knew that the Braves were not going to match what the Dodgers offered. It was pure PR on JS’s part to make the player look bad.
Keith Law mentioned in his chat that he wouldn’t be surprised if Hanson came up for a while in Sept. Thoughts (other than opinions about Law)?
It would be a stupid thing to do, so I wouldn’t put it past the current management.
I disagree. Just because an offer is less than the (entirely speculative) price someone THINKS Teixeira will draw in free agency doesn’t mean the front office’s effort was not serious. The claim that somehow they must meet some invisible line (which isn’t yet established, and when it is will be done so based on what teams actually offer anyway…I wonder, will all the other offers that aren’t the highest be considered unserious by you as well?) or their huge offer doesn’t count is what’s disingenuous.
How is it irrelevant that their offer would have made him one of the highest priced players? That is entirely relevant, and shows their offer a serious one, even if you think he could have got higher. Nor does Boras’ presence somehow make the offer less serious. Teixeira wasn’t just saddled with Boras, he chose him. And he could chose to tell him to take the damn offer if HE was truly serious about his (supposed) desire to finish his career in Atlanta. If you want to find disingenuous, I suggest you start with those claims by Teixeira. Oh sure, he may have liked to stay in Atlanta, but it clearly was not his priority, otherwise being one of the highest paid players in baseball would have been more than to keep him around.
I agree with most of what’s being said, but just to be clear, Tex shouldn’t get a free pass. His little comments on his way out of town about how he really wanted to play here all along and about how we didn’t even act like we were interested was also complete bullshit. He gave absolutely zero indication in his entire time here that he gave the least bit of a damn whether he stayed here or not (other than I guess not intentionally destroying team chemistry, which is what he did in Texas when he wanted out).
Implying that we never made him an offer is just as disingenuous as Wren saying we made him a quality offer. Perhaps if he were that interested in staying, he could have given some sort of indication to somebody. If he had, perhaps we would have made a bit more of an effort while the season was going on to continue negotiations. He didn’t have to accept below market value still, but if he had expressed interest, I’m guessing we’d have expressed some, too.
And he’s now engaging in the same bullshit tactics as Wren is. So don’t put this all on Wren.
Agreed… lots of BS all around.
JC, fair enough.
I guess it boils down to this, and we’re not really disagreeing. Despite your work — which, as I’ve told you, I really like, though I sometimes disagree with your conclusions — I don’t think there’s anything close to a consensus on what players are actually worth. If there is a consensus, it’s basically in agreement with Schuerholz’s feeling that every single player is overpaid.
That being the case, it is a lot easier to call a 5-year, $75 million offer for Tex a reasonable offer, when in fact it’s pretty blatant lowballing. And it’s likewise disingenuous for the team to pretend otherwise.
Of course, it was also disingenuous for Teixeira to say publicly that he would be just as happy to play anywhere else as in Atlanta, and then to say he wanted to finish his career in an Atlanta uniform after he’d been traded away from the Braves. But disingenuity is pretty standard for a sport in which all you are allowed to say are the same canned one-liners Crash Davis was parodying 20 years ago in Bull Durham.
Oh, hey, Nick — you said it earlier than I did.
Hell, I think the offer could have been five years, $115 million (which is the $23 million per year that Boras is reportedly asking for), and they still would have probably declined it because it didn’t have enough years on it. I think five-year, $100 million would probably be a pretty fair offer and would have been worth it for us. Anything above that, and it really wasn’t going to be. And giving him a 10-year deal (what Boras reportedly wants) is just stupid. You’ll be stuck with a declining player for the last five years at $23 freaking million a year! I don’t think there’s any way he gets 10 years, $230 million, but maybe I’m underestimating how silly the Yankees, Mets and Red Sox are. It’s happened before.
Great minds think alike, AAR…heh.
I agree with the above. I never took seriously what Teixera said about wanting to stay in Atlanta because if that was really so important, he could have told Boras to work something out. He pretty much knew when he got here that the Braves were not going to offer the market price. If he really wanted to stay in Atlanta, he knew he would have to take below-market; clearly, he wasn’t willing to do that and to imply otherwise is equally disingenous.
It was perfectly reasonable for the Braves to make an initial offer in spring training just to start dialogue. But it was not reasonable under the circumstances to think this was initial offer would be accepted; in fact, they knew it wouldn’t be. To say that they legitimately expected Teixera to accept an offer in spring training that was likely under market is either stunningly naive or mendacious. It was ok for them to take a shot to see if by some miracle Tex loved Atlanta so much that he would be willing to take less, but they must have known the chances were about those of Michael Vick becoming head of the SPCA. I don’t consider that a serious effort to sign him–but,to be fair, there probably was no chance they could sign him before free agency unless they just blew Boras out of the water.
True enough. I think the market will tell us what he is worth soon enough. I have been wrong many times before.
If they blew Boras out of the water with an offer, he would have used it as a baseline this off season in free agency.
Personally, I give him four years before he goes Delgado, and wouldn’t dare sign him to more than five.
Goes Delgado, huh? Your boy is OPS+’ing 120 in this, his age-36 season, Mac.
I don’t care what Delgatto’s VOLTRON numbers are, he sucks.
Just a couple quick additions to the conversation:
1) John Schieurholz’s feeling that every single player is overpaid… might actually be correct. And the comments the front office makes in regards to Furcal, Teixeira, or any departing or arriving player are going to be PR, that’s their job.
2) Last offseason, wasn’t there a high profile Boras client that decided to take less money in order to stay with a team where he felt the situation was right? I think his name was Arod something.
I really enjoyed watching Tex for the year he was in Atlanta, and he’s a great player. I also can’t blame him for doing what he thinks is best for his family. Of course if he really wants to end his career in Atlanta, I’m sure Frank Wren would love to talk in the offseason if the numbers are right.
And as for Ohman, just look at the piss poor return the Mariners got for Arthur Rhodes. We weren’t going to get much better than that. Maybe the price will go up if he’s able to get traded through waivers to a team that desperately needs the help.
I have a problem with being willing to meet “market value” as being consistent with the concept of being a good GM.
There are 30 teams in MLB. So, whenever somebody is high bidder, definitionally, the 29 other persons or groups of persons having the best knowledge (some are seemingly dumb, but in economics, we assume appropriate allocation of resources so that those getting paid the most to make decisions are the best at it) did not feel that it ws a good deal.
Occasionally, being the high bidder can be a question of “fit”, whereby it IS a good decision. Like maybe the Mets with Santana this year. Clearly they had the money, clearly they needed at least one potential Number ! pitcher, and clearly he was the bet thing out there.
But, I submit, more often by far, is one or two dumbasses messing up the market. Example. Alex Rodriguez. Braves reportedly were at 17 million a year. Yankees were lurking at similar numbers. Texas drops 25 million per year for 10!!! years on the table. When the Yankees walk away, that is crazy money.
And further with respect to the dumbness of the Texas A-Rod deal, Texas management didn’t understand how to get pitchers, got some bad ones, and didn’t improve as a team.
If one out of 10 potential free agents with ties to the area give us a discount, then line them up. Only pay MARKET VALUE if you have a hole and no other reasonable way to fill it or patch it.
I object to the categorization of Gaby Hernandez as “piss-poor.” I’d take him over a late supplemental pick in a heartbeat.
Smitty,
Sort of hard to make objective conclusions without using some sort of objective rationale, isn’t it?
Winner’s curse – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bad link, Mac—need to add an apostrophe.
I’m not saying they necessarily have to pay market value or that it’s necessarily the best decision. I tend to think that Teixera is not worth $23 million to ATLANTA under the circumstances. But the market is what the market is, however crazy it might be.
If at the height of the housing bubble, I went to make an offer on a house and the owner was asking $1 million and I bid $950,000, that might well be a “reasonable” bid in that the owner would probably be making a huge return on his initial investment. But it wouldn’t be a serious offer if I expected to get the house.
JS thinks players are overpaid because he is one of those guys that thinks capitalism is great until his ox is gored. Because this is capitalism or at least a fair proximity of it. It’s no different than oil; scarcity of supply (or increased demand) leads to higher prices. How do we know that John Scheuerholz isn’t overpaid?
On Gaby Hernandez:
What part of a 7.24 ERA in 13 starts in the PCL this year isn’t piss poor? Plus a ~4.25 ERA in 32 starts over the last two years in the Southern League.
I mean, he is only 22, so he might turn into something, but the Mets passed on him, and now the Marlins. I’d take my luck with what the Braves scouting team can find. We’ve had some pretty decent supplemental picks over the years.
You know, the Nationals just released two different catchers who are better than the crappy guy we have starting.
As Keith Law alluded to yesterday, Hernandez compiled those numbers in perhaps the most hitter-friendly home stadium in all of professional baseball.
If we’re talking about his 2008 performance, yeah, “piss-poor” fits, but that’s not what you referred to. You referred to the return the Marlins got, which is Gaby Hernandez himself, and that kid has an awful lot of promise, even after his rough half-season at AAA.
So the Braves are getting blasted for saying they offered Teix a “competitive” offer but we don’t believe them. Teix is getting blasted for saying he wanted to stay in Atlanta but we don’t believe him.
If we’re not going to believe anything anyone says about this then why are we even listening?
And really, does it really matter what Wren did? We all knew Teix wasn’t resigning with us long before this season began. Even if he did sign, half of us would complain we overpaid.
I’m curious about what would actually make people happy in this scenario. The way I see it, the Teix trade was necessarily going to result in a bad taste left in our mouths unless we at least made the playoffs, or won the world series with him. Once that failed, what would have made anyone happy?
Anyone who thought we had a chance to sign a player as good as Teixeira for a value price was fooling themselves all along.
Stu: okay piss poor was a little harsh, I’ll admit. As most blog comments, it was written in haste. His numbers in the PCL this year are awful though, and not justifiable based on a home park alone.
Like I said, they could turn him into something, but the Mets and Marlins didn’t think highly enough to try themselves. All in all, after this year he’s at least a year off from the majors, and probably closer to two, and with an average of 5 innings a start he’ll likely end up in the bullpen. Two years ago the Braves got Josh Fields in the 2nd round (even if they couldn’t sign him)… if they had signed him I’m almost certain he would’ve been the closer when Soriano went down. I’ll take the pick.
All teams have valuation methods to determine what a player is worth to them. With players like Teixeira, the question you ask yourself is “Is this guy worth overpaying for by as much as will we have to overpay to get him?” With Boras clients that answer is almost always “nope” when it comes to Atlanta.
With Teix, the consensus here seemed to be that he wasn’t worth $20M, but it would be better for us to pay him $20M than not. I would have had him rated as about a $15-17mil a year player. I don’t recall anyone saying we should go higher than $20M to get him, but I also don’t think anyone truly believes he is worth $20M when compared to his peers.
I saw that AAR, but I cringe at the thought of Paul Loduca in a Braves uniform.
No, the home park doesn’t wipe out the fact that he’s sucked. But Hernandez has at various points been considered a real prospect, and he’s still only 22.
Yeah, the Braves could get someone better with the draft pick, but I don’t know how likely that is. And whoever it is, they’ll have to pay a significant signing bonus to keep him.
(Also, Fields is a curious choice with which to make a point—the fact that he never signed should count against, not for, him being used as an example of what you can get in that spot.)
PS: I didn’t check until just now, but both BA and Sickels ranked Hernandez as the Marlins’ 5th-best prospect coming into the 2008 season. I’m sure he’s fallen some, but not so much that he’s worth less than a prospective late-supplemental draft pick, IMO. At least, not unless the Braves decide to start going above slot (which they haven’t done), in which case the value of their draft picks might really start to rise.
Haha, yeah Fields was just the first to come to mind, as a 2nd rounder that could make the jump to the Majors ‘pen in very quick time. He didn’t sign, but we did get a second rounder this year as compensation for that.
The pick is definitely a gamble, and so is a guy like Hernandez, or whoever it was we could’ve gotten for Ohman. It’s pretty much academic, so I won’t argue with you. I’d say you could easily defend either making or not making the trade… which wouldn’t be the case if big name prospects had been on the move in the reliever market, as they have been in the past.
If I recall correctly Joey Devine wasn’t taken too much higher than the sandwich pick we’re likely to get for Ohman… and that assumes we don’t resign him, which I wouldn’t be against at this point either. Now I know Devine struggled in his first two years, but his numbers with Oakland this year show he’s got ML-ready talent, if he can stay healthy.
Thanks for straightening me out though. I do try to root for the Mariners in the AL, so maybe I’ll see Gaby in Tacoma soon, and I’ll make sure to keep an open mind.
DOB says Sammons is catching tonight. I am actually mildly surprised.
Oh, but on Fields, the point is really about the Braves scouting. Everyone thought he would sign when he got drafted so high… so the scouting department deserves some credit to pick a diamond in the second round, even if the front office couldn’t work a deal. Either way I’ll hope to see him in Tacoma soon as well… that is if he doesn’t make the jump to Seattle first.
I think you’re misremembering on Fields. Coming into the 2007 season, he was believed to be the top relief prospect in colllege, a sure-fire first-rounder. Then he struggled and slipped. My memory is that most people expected him to go back for his senior season and try to get his value back up, but the Braves took him that high because they thought they might convince him to turn pro with his hometown team.
My point is, everyone knew feels had incredible stuff (so it wasn’t some coup by our scouts), but after that junior-year performance, nobody wanted to risk giving him first-round money, which is all he was going to settle for.
what do they project for Todd redmond? You know, his future looks pretty solid and it could be a steal for us. Keeping Yates over Resop would’ve been the best for this season cause Resop was garbage, but Redmond might be a nice find. Could he find himself in our rotation next year?
“Redmond might be a nice find. Could he find himself in our rotation next year?”
*PUKES*
Thought y’all might find this amusing if you didn’t see it in Jim Callis’ ESPN chat this week:
Jason (Birmingham MI): Edgar Renteria or a parking meter with a bat taped to it?
Jim Callis: The parking meter might have more range, too.
Timed the market on that one! Thank gawd we have Jair & Gorkys.
Redmond’s actually had a pretty great year in Mississippi. He’s a bit old for his level, but he gives you 6 innings per start and his strikeout rate is better than I realized. And he just doesn’t walk anyone. (104 Ks and only 23 BBs.) He gives up a few homers, but with the low WHIP, that’s not a killer.
He looks like a legit 4 (Paul Byrd-esque) right now to me, which is way more than you should be able to get for someone like Tyler Yates.
whats this?? Tex wanted to stay?? well, i guess he’ll have his chance after the season, wont he? personally, i think he’s full of crap. too bad we cant get him for what he’s worth and trade him for what he thinks he’s worth.
I don’t get how so many people on this board can say that Atlanta didn’t put a solid offer on the table for Texiera. Who here has insider info as to what the Braves office does? If you don’t believe it, that’s fine, but to call the management out on it while not knowing is just plain dumb. I can totally believe the Braves putting a fat offer on the table and having Boras reject it. (Hello – the Rangers offered him a great deal and he didn’t take it). Boras was going to wait until free-agency no matter what that offer was b/c he knows the Yanks are going to be involved and will drive the price sky-high.
I just don’t see why everyone is so down on this management. Yes I would have liked to have seen Ohman traded, and yes Corky should have been shot long ago – but they have made some really good deals that are constantly overlooked. Getting Jurrjens alone for Renty would have been a steal, but we also got Hernandez. Then we trade for Ohman and Infante – both have been BETTER than expected for this team (although Infante was injured alot).
how I would grade the moves as of today
Jurrjens/Hernandez for Renty – A+
Ascanio for Ohman/Infante – A
Devine for Kotsay – D (Anderson and Blanco were already here)
Kotchman/Merek for Tex – B –
Releasing Pena over Miller – F
Yates for Redmond – B (as Stu said, Yates shouldnt give you anything of value)
Signing Glavine and losing 1st round draft pick – F (at the time it was probably a C)
Signing Campillo – A
Signing Norton – C (good PH, but shouldnt ever play)
Signing Tavarez – D (but we needed an extra arm)
Boy, it’s tough to get it up for this team & these games, especially with Chipper & McCann out of the lineup.
I think my only genuine baseball joy—OK, a very minor thrill—will come with the Mets losing their last game.
@ Marc
“If at the height of the housing bubble, I went to make an offer on a house and the owner was asking $1 million and I bid $950,000, that might well be a “reasonable” bid in that the owner would probably be making a huge return on his initial investment. But it wouldn’t be a serious offer if I expected to get the house.”
Market prices are moved by buyers and sellers, they don’t appear out of thin air. Rather, they are determined by people showing what they are willing to pay for a thing, and a seller asking what he believes he can get for it. A $950,000 bid for a $1 mil asking price is indeed a serious offer, certainly enough to begin negotiations between the two parties, especially if the seller had expressed his interest in factors other than just maximizing money (such as selling quickly).
The Braves offered what they believed Teixeira was worth to them. That’s a serious offer. That someone else might think he is worth more doesn’t make that offer any less serious, especially when you consider that playing in a particular city is itself part of the offer. I.e. not all ball clubs are created equal. Few players would consider a $20 mil offer from the Royals to be just as worthwhile to them as a $20 mil offer from a perennial contender. Does that make the offer from the Royals unserious? The point is, there are a great many factors involved that you’re glossing over in order to reach the position that Braves management did not make a serious effort. They offered him a lot of money plus the chance to play in a city he claimed to value more than other locations. He passed, but it wasn’t unreasonable for them to think their offer had a chance of getting him, and thus it was quite serious.
This comment from DOB is hopeful:
Mac’s been cleared for emergency catching duty tonight, which tells me Corky could be the roster move. Haven’t heard that yet, but just got a feeling.
It’s four months too late and Pena should be the backup instead of Sammons, but I’ll take it.
Corkster DFA, official.
It’s V-H Day!
I’m going to be on Baseball Digest Daily Radio tomorrow, talking about Teixeira-Kotchman. I’m not quite sure how this stuff works, but I’m scheduled for 11:25 (my time).
I am sure you’ll bring up many of my cogent arguments in defense of the deal…
I think a celebration is in order.
No more Corky? There just may be a god.
I did have a laugh-out-loud moment the other night when Joe Simpson uttered, “The Corkster is due…”
And I said to nobody in particular, “Yeah, to be released…”
Then he grounded out with the bases loaded.
So long, Corky. Good luck to you.
I’m grabbing a 12-pack.
Terrrrrrrible. I can’t watch this team anymore. I just can’t.
And that’s my way of saying “morning recap again”.
Chuckiy must want to go back to Richmond, he is in self destruct mode
I feel like we are the cleveland indians at the beginning of major league
Is there any chance that another team claims him or that he maybe refuses the assignment? Nothing good can come of him hanging around the organization.
Gadfly, I’ll agree with Stu, Hernandez was the sixth best prospect in the Marlins organization coming into the year according to BA. He is exactly the type of pitcher the Braves should be trading lefty reliever types for.
Anyway, as Stu also said, Albuquerque is a freaking bandbox. Living in New Mexico since that parked open, I can tell you it’s Citizens Bank with a hill in center that’s 400 feet to dead center. Between pitching at Vegas, Albuquerque and Colorado Springs, I feel bad for young pitchers in the PCL, it’s gotten to the point that anything under 6 isn’t really that bad. Last time I looked the Isotopes team ERA is close to 6. Yikes.
On the bright side, a few good innings and chucky could get his ERA under 8
I just noticed that I referred to Josh Fields as “feels” in 35 above. That’s pretty weird.
chucky sucks
If there is a baseball wiki, Chuck James’ picture is in there next to “AAAA.”
I have watched Chucky pitch in person in each of the last three years in addition to many times watching on TV, and all I can say is this — how the bloody f&*$ could this guy have gone 11-4 in 2006? Having watched one of his wretched starts this year in person (at Colorado) I’m amazed that he was for a brief moment considered to have long-term starting potential. The guy is horrible.
Bummer about Chucky’s crummy start. He had a nice run May to July of last year and I was hoping his better performance in Richmond indicated that he had gotten his game back together. Obviously not the case.
and just when things look the darkest, we send out the worlds worst starting pitcher. nice job Chucky………..oh well, blues are on the box and the Red Stripe is ice cold.
woohoo – Kotchman took a walk.
It strains credulity how Chuck could be considered a pitching prospect. Frankly, with his all arms delivery, I’m surprised he ever gets an out at the MLB level.
Apathy?
I think Grst’s #44 post is spot-on. I really agree there.
It’s like the 2005 offseason with Kyle Farnsworth. If I remember correctly, JS offered like 3 years, $15 million. NY offered 3 years, $17M. Farnsworth went to New York to be a set up man, and as JS pointed out, the Atlanta offer was even financially better because the cost of living is so much lower in Atlanta than it is in New York. JS offered less money, but it was a really serious offer.
Same for Teixeira. The Braves can’t out-bid NY, Boston, and LA, but they are still putting out an offer that is very serious, very substantial, but won’t wreck the team’s finances. Why can’t it be that they offered as much as they could and Teixeira didn’t accept it because he doesn’t want to play in Atlanta that bad. I see no fault in the Braves organization for their “serious” offer and their “PR moves.”
BTW, I was listening to Colin Cowherd this morning, and the fill-in host likened the city of Los Angeles getting Teixeira and Manny to Goofus and Gallant. Pretty ironic since I had never heard of these two characters until Mac did the same thing for McCann and Francoeur. Guess which ones were which with Manny and Mark…
Ring “pitches” and a run (so far) scores. With Corky gone, Ring needs to be the next to go. Who after that? Maybe Gotay, maybe Tavarez, maybe he who sucks (though it won’t happen).
Gotta figure Chucky’s heading back to Richmond …
2 ER for Ring in 1 inning actually lowers his post ASG ERA
Ring has completely fallen off the face of the earth. You can’t blame this on overuse, either.
After tonight, it will only take a 22-31 finish to lose 90 games. I think that is a virtual certainty. The question is whether we challenge for 100 losses, which would take a 12-41 finish.
Funny how the Brewers fans wanted Yost out in April. I wish they had fired him … I’d love to have him waiting in the wings to replace Bobby after ’09. I shudder at the alternatives. If I hear the phrase “Braves manager Brian Snitker” and it’s not prefaced a “Gwinnett,” “Mississippi” or “Rome” I may find a new team.
Based on this roster and September callups as bereft of talent as they’ve been in a long while, 12-41 is not out of the equation.
If laying a big fat egg tonight (this season)isn’t enough, it’s now time to run down Ohman so he won’t be a good enough FA to warrant a draft choice. Sheesh.
Just because he did not pitch last night, doesn’t mean Ohman has to pitch tonight. We behind by 9! And we’re still using the only guy we have in the bullpen who can get an out.
And Farnsworth cried when the Yankees traded him the other day.
Given what’s currently in ATL, the prospect of what we might get in Sept is not pretty.
Snark aside, Lilli, Jones, and Anderson are respectable callups. If Corky ends up in Richmond, we might see him back in Sept. Who else? Maybe Stockman and Ridgway; I assume Reyes will be back before Sept.
Chuck James: the Braves’ pitching version of Jeff Francoeur.
That’s because Farnsworth is a tool. That guy could have been loved in Atlanta, but he went to New York, crapped the bed, then got dished out to Detroit, where he still will probably never close. And he looks gay in glasses…
And you know what, I’m not a big fan of iTunes. If not for my iPod, I wouldn’t allow myself to be enslaved to such a mediocre piece of software. I wanted to listen to Billy Joel almost half an hour ago, and iTunes (a freaking media player) is taking forever to update.
Hmmm… Farnsworth and Billy Joel. I must be in a New York State of Mind. Oh! Look at the pun!
If it’s an update that’s taking a long time, wouldn’t that be more indicative of your internet speed than iTunes?
Nah, it was the installation of the update, not the download itself. iTunes doesn’t seem to run as well on Windows machines, same with Safari and Quicktime. I suppose it makes sense, but you would think they would try to optimize it since there are more Windows users running Mac programs than Mac users.
Meanwhile Jo-Jo had a great start in Richmond. Where did we get all these AAAA guys?
Seriously, I think Jo-Jo and Chuck should both stay up, and Morton. We need them to take their lumps, so we can find out if any of them truly have what it takes to pitch in the Majors.
Also – a toast to the end of the Corky era.
Rob, I figured you have a Windows. I updated eight programs (including iTunes) on my Mac a couple of days ago, and it took four minutes to do all of them (and restart the computer). I didn’t even know Safari ran on Windows. Safari has some bugs even on a Mac, although I still use it. Firefox is the best web browser, in my opinion.
We might as well allow our young pitchers to take their lumps this season in the majors. It’s not like it matters. Maybe one of them will surprise us.
More MiLB (perusing the boxscores):
Lillibridge appears to have broken out of his slump in a big way, hitting .478 over his last 11 games.
Schafer had a 9 game hitting streak snapped.
Danville won 21-2.
Mississippi won and Myrtle Beach won two. Those are really good teams. Maybe, reinforcements aren’t that far away.
Rissa, that’s what we did back in ’88 – ’90 and we got two thirds of the holy trinity out of it.
If two of Morton, James, and Reyes become part of the next big three, I’ll be shocked. I’ll take it, but I’ll be shocked.
Morton and Reyes are legit talents. Chucky never had more than mid-rotation upside, and his inability to go deep into games limits his upside further. But Reyes and Morton could both end up with decent careers in the majors if they can get things going a little.
However, I am in favor of them starting for the rest of the season to see if any of them will be serviceable.
I saw Chuck pitch in Richmond in June, and he pitched a great game. He went 7 scoreless (I think) innings and made the other team look really foolish. He cruised the entire game except for one inning when he got a little shaky (a couple of hits). No walks or homers, several strikeouts. I was optimistic then he might be able to help us in the majors again. Hopefully tonight was just an attempt at trying to impress in his first game back up.
After the Farnsworth gag-o-rama vs. Houston in the ’05 NLDS, it would’ve taken a lot to get any love out of me
Boy, the Angels are hot. They’re beating everyone, every which way…
Well, we almost got Mac’s wish with the 9-0 loss. A forfeit would have probably been more fun to watch than this debacle, though…
Chuck James is horrible.
Goodnight.
Yeah, FireFox 3 is fantastic, especially with all the add-ons. Safari isn’t the greatest on Windows, but it’s much better than IE, so if FireFox is messing up for whatever reason, I’ll use Safari. Needless to say, I don’t have to use Safari much.
Recap, such as it is, is up.