Hiring Andres Thomas to be a fielding instructor
Hiring Bob Horner as our new fielding instructor
Hiring Jeff Francouer as our hitting coach
Hiring Dan Kolb to be a conditioning coach
Hiring Nate McLouth to teach how to throw outfield assists
Hiring Brooks Conrad to be a fielding instructor
Hiring Zack Grienke as a team psychologist
Hiring Yunel Escobar as a public relations agent
Hiring Omar Minaya as the GM
Hiring Rick Ankiel as our pitching coach
Releasing Jason Heyward
The Greinke thing’s a low blow, IMO. Otherwise, funny.
I think that would be like…
Hiring Mike Hampton as the team doctor
Hiring Brent Lillibridge as the strength coach
Hiring Chris Resop as bullpen coach
Hiring Keith Lockhart
Timo
on October 27, 2010 at 11:19 am
LOL. Very funny stuff! The could become one of the best threats so far.
Stu
on October 27, 2010 at 11:25 am
Threat, indeed.
Timo
on October 27, 2010 at 11:30 am
oops… of course. does actually work, too, though.
desert
on October 27, 2010 at 11:34 am
Hiring JD Drew to be a team trainer.
Hiring a Phillies fan to babysit your 8-year old daughter.
Hiring Saltalamacchia to throw out baserunners.
Hiring Bill Hohn to umpire a little-league game.
Smitty
on October 27, 2010 at 11:39 am
Hiring Adam LaRoche to be your detail guy.
Hiring Tiger Woods to over see the players’ wife section.
Hiring Jason Werth as Tiger’s assitant.
Hiring Les Miles to teach time managment
Hiring DOB as your unbias beat writer.
(He is a little bitch)
Alex R.
on October 27, 2010 at 11:45 am
I think I am actually MORE hurt by the fact that Elvis Andrus is the Rangers starting SS tonight.
Anyone on Bravesjournal fans of “Sons of Anarchy”?
Imagine it like this with Francouer. The Texas Rangers are SAMCRO…you know, talented, bad ass bikers. Francouer is like the little bald, thieving accountant, who had 8 of his 10 fingers chopped off for doing a certain activity, a little too much, and now basically hangs out with SAMCRO as a the mascot.
That’s Francouer.
Alex R.
on October 27, 2010 at 11:47 am
And for the record, I supported the Teixeira trade back when it happened so I full, 100% admit that I was DEAD WRONG.
csg
on October 27, 2010 at 11:48 am
#8 – I dont think we are missing his .643OPS at all
jdpeace
on October 27, 2010 at 11:51 am
Hiring Pascual Perez as your personal driver.
Hiring Kyle Farnsworth to do anger management seminars
Hiring Dale Murphy to run the Gold Club
Hiring Andruw Jones to run the Gold Club
Hiring Melky as your caterer.
Hiring Melky to speak to any player about anything.
Hiring Melky as your ballboy.
Hiring Melky as a parking attendent.
Hiring Melky to clean the clubhouse.
Hiring Melky to sit in the stands quietly and do nothing.
Hiring Dusty Baker to oversee development of your young pitchers.
Hiring Adam Dunn to play Center Field.
Hiring Tony Bernazard as a roving instructor.
Hiring Oliver Perez for anything.
AAR,
I’m not saying covering sports is necessarily more difficult than being a city beat writer. (FWIW, I’ve done both—was a county/area reporter.) I’m just saying that the considerations (especially now with new media) can be really trying, that’s all.
The stakes are rather different, of course. “Sports” is, after all, the toy department.
@16: Hiring Jim Presley as hitting coach is like hiring Chino Cadahia as team nutritionist.
desert
on October 27, 2010 at 12:28 pm
Mac,
Hiring Lenny Dykstra as the team’s financial adviser.
Parish
on October 27, 2010 at 12:39 pm
From the previous thread:
Does the clause mean A-rod has the right to void the contract if he is not paid at leasr $1M more than the next guy? That’s how I read the Cots comment.
Kevin Lee
on October 27, 2010 at 12:43 pm
Hiring Melky as a Pilates instructor
Hiring Greg Maddux as a party planner (unless it’s a golf outing, then it’s cool)
Hiring John Rocker as a motivational speaker
Hiring Ozzie Guillen as a meditation leader
Hiring Bob Wickman as Fitness coach
Yeah, that’s how I read it. His team had to beat the next best yearly offer by 1 million. If they couldn’t, ARod could opt out of his contract if he wanted to.
And to think that our offer of 157 Million over 10 years was the next highest (at least according to JS).
justhank
on October 27, 2010 at 12:47 pm
$15,000 a night?
What on earth could she possibly be doing that’s worth $15,000 a night?
Ububba, that’s part of what makes it so interesting to me — like that old Henry Kissinger quote about Harvard University politics being even worse than Washington politics, “Because the stakes are so much lower.” It sometimes seems like in sports, access is guarded even more jealously, and sources are even less willing to go on the record, than in harder news arenas. I’ve often wondered why that is, and just how hard it must be for a guy like O’Brien to do his job. (Or Posnanski, who was a better beat reporter than O’Brien.)
Stephen in the UAE
on October 27, 2010 at 1:10 pm
Hey,–I am late on this but
Hiring Pat Jarvis to speak about gun control
Hiring Rick Camp to teach the youth to be law-abidig
Hiring John Rocker to lead a seminar in cultural sensitivity
Hiring Denny McClain to discourage gambling
Hiring Ken Caminiti to prevent drug abuse…
justhank
on October 27, 2010 at 1:14 pm
Apparently, one of Tiger’s mistressi has written a book wherein she claims she charged Tiger $15,000 a night. And calls Elin a gold-digger.
justhank
on October 27, 2010 at 1:15 pm
I thought I knew a little about basketball. Yet once again Sundiata Gaines is out of a job.
How can anyone who led his decent Div. 1 team in scoring, rebounding, assists, charges taken, etc. not land on some NBA roster. Good kid, too, from what I hear.
Spike
on October 27, 2010 at 1:16 pm
Parish, the team could give him a 5m raise and meet the terms
Sam Hutcheson
on October 27, 2010 at 1:23 pm
Well, theoretically the $15 grand per night is specifically designed to keep her from telling people what she was doing. I’d sue for breach of contract.
Spike
on October 27, 2010 at 1:31 pm
Pretty sure acontract to commit a crime is unenforceable
sdp
on October 27, 2010 at 1:46 pm
If Fredi Gonzalez smokes crack, will we make the World Series?
hpotter
on October 27, 2010 at 2:06 pm
Hiring Kenny Powers to speak at your son’s preschool
Hiring Michael Vick as your dog walker
Hiring Donte’ Stallworth as your designated driver
Pretty sure acontract to commit a crime is unenforceable
That’s one of the things that made RICO so effective. Before that, though, the Cosa Nostra figured out ways to enforce their contracts.
Unfortunately, Tiger wasn’t nearly as good at kneecapping defaulters as a Mafia enforcer. Or his wife.
justhank
on October 27, 2010 at 2:20 pm
The fact that none of us has commented on the possibility of the Wild Card being expanded and the regular season contracted tells me that we’re all dreading the firestorm to come.
As for me, I’d like to see the regular season pared back to 154 and the Wild Card left as is, but expanding its’ playoff round to the best 4 of 7.
justhank
on October 27, 2010 at 2:21 pm
Hey, the Hawks’ season begins tonight!!!
So that’s the sound of one hand clapping …
ryan c
on October 27, 2010 at 2:48 pm
yanks didnt pick up Berkman’s option. I know he didnt play well, but I thought he was a lock to wear stripes next year. man, i wish that joker could still play left field. he’d do…i’ve always liked lance.
csg
on October 27, 2010 at 2:50 pm
Id like Lance, I dont think he’d be any worse that ACHE out there. He’d also be nice insurance at 1B if needed. Just dont know how bad those knees are now
ryan c
on October 27, 2010 at 2:53 pm
he hasnt played OF since 2006. probably a pipedream. sigh…
justhank, the only change I’d be ok/happy with is to make the first round of the playoffs a best of 7 like the rest are. I don’t want to think of how a constricted season would muck around with the records and such, and I REALLY don’t want to see more teams making the playoffs.
IthacaBraves
on October 27, 2010 at 3:08 pm
Not for Swisher and Nunez, but I’d do it for Gardner and Nunez. It would be great for this team to have a true CF who can lead off and is under team control for four more seasons. Swisher’s power is alluring, but he’d just be another stopgap solution who’d cost us 10M per season.
c. shorter
on October 27, 2010 at 3:11 pm
I didn’t like the idea of the Wild Card at first, but I believe it has added some excitement to September. Let’s not get crazy, though.
Keep the season as is.
Keep number of teams in playoffs as is.
Extend divisional series to best of 7, if you’d like.
Cut down on the number of days between games…
braves14
on October 27, 2010 at 3:13 pm
Hiring Steve Howe to run a drug prevention program.
Hiring Joe Morgan as a Sabermetric advisor.
Hiring DOB as the PR spokesman.
Hiring Dan Kolb as pitching coach.
Hiring Coach as the GM.
Smitty
on October 27, 2010 at 3:14 pm
Im fine with more playoff teams, I love post season baseball. Really, it is the only fair thing to do for mid market teams.
desert
on October 27, 2010 at 3:18 pm
braves14,
I think that 2 and 5 are the best we’ve seen yet.
Stu
on October 27, 2010 at 3:21 pm
46—Fair? lolwat???
Trace
on October 27, 2010 at 3:25 pm
Whether or not you hate Florida, this is really funny.
Stu
on October 27, 2010 at 3:35 pm
Indeed. So is this picture of Rob Cope and mravery.
c. shorter
on October 27, 2010 at 3:45 pm
50 — Link isn’t working for me, but I can see it in my head. Love it when that one resurfaces.
Coop
on October 27, 2010 at 3:57 pm
If I were Emperor of Baseball, I would:
1. Abolish the DH. Everybody has to play offense and defense. Increase roster to 26 (or even 27) to appease the union.
2. Have four leagues of eight teams each. The Team with the best record hosts the team with the worst record in the first best four of seven round of playoffs, while the team with the second-best record hosts the third best team.
3. Games would retain the 2-3-2 format with the team with the better record getting the extra home game.
4. The winner of the Coop League Championship Series with the better record would host the other survivor. Same 3-2-3 format.
5. No wildcard: you actually have to win in your league to make the playoffs.
6. Teams play a balanced 154 game schedule with no interleague play until the postseason.
7. Establish a salary floor and cap. Salary floor must be met. Every dollar spent in excess of the salary cap must be matched in a luxury tax to promote the game at home and abroad.
8. Draft choices can be traded.
9. Umpires will be graded by an independent organization empowered to fine, suspend or remove inept umps.
As my final act as Emperor of Baseball, I would appoint the regulars of bravesjournal.us as the Baseball Board of Governors, with Mac as Grand Poobah.
Stu, I am unbearably sad that that photo is no longer on the internet. Trading Jair Jurrjens for Eduardo Nunez would make me similarly sad. He’s a utility infield prospect.
I didn’t like the idea of the Wild Card at first, but I believe it has added some excitement to September
Which do you think would have been more exciting: The Yankees and Rays fighting to the death for a single AL East playoff spot or the Braves and Padres playing ‘who can wet the bed the least’ to see who can back into a playoff spot?
All the wild card does and all the inevitable additional wild cards will do is shine the September spotlight on progressively shittier teams instead of the good ones.
So, no interleague play in Coop MLB means you play the same 7 teams for 154 games?
braves14
on October 27, 2010 at 4:57 pm
I like the salary cap and salary floor ideas, as well as the balanced schedule.
If it were up to me, I would abolish the divisions and just have the 2 leagues with the top 4 teams in each league making the playoffs. The #1 record would get the #1 seed in the league, #2 team the #2 seed, etc. I would make the first round a best-of-seven.
Coop
on October 27, 2010 at 5:08 pm
No interleague play. Play 154 games in your league.
justhank
on October 27, 2010 at 5:24 pm
It’s Wednesday evening of Georgia/Florida game week and neither side has uttered a peep.
Tsk. Tsk.
Low T?
sansho1
on October 27, 2010 at 5:32 pm
O/U on total runs tonight is 5.5 — don’t see that every day, I’m guessing.
Let’s just see us show up in that serious Bulldog red & get after it.
BTW, that shot at #54 was hysterical. Thanks, Stu.
EDIT: And the clip at #49, thanks Trace.
Brian J.
on October 27, 2010 at 5:53 pm
62- Friday’s Giants/ Phillies Game 5 also had a 5.5 run over/under (and went over, since the Phils won 4-2).
urlhix
on October 27, 2010 at 6:07 pm
@54, such a great shot.
I gotta say, though, most of the Gator fans I run into look more like this.
/no offense, guys. Just sayin’.
sansho1
on October 27, 2010 at 6:36 pm
I guess that’s the Halladay/Lee/Lincecum special.
sdp
on October 27, 2010 at 6:43 pm
I’m not sexist, but the SF announcer is annoying.
spike
on October 27, 2010 at 6:49 pm
I think she’s been there since they opened the stadium. It was kind of a big deal at the time.
braves14
on October 27, 2010 at 7:36 pm
I think they’ve had a female announcer as far back as ’93, actually. Not sure if it’s the same person.
braves14
on October 27, 2010 at 7:42 pm
How many female posters are here, anyway? I know there’s Bethany and b-rule, but it seems the rest of us are guys.
csg
on October 27, 2010 at 7:47 pm
whatever happened to the red sox girl?
csg
on October 27, 2010 at 7:58 pm
Buster Posey is pretty dang good
c. shorter
on October 27, 2010 at 8:44 pm
56 — I see what you’re saying. I agree that is exciting. No doubt.
But I think having more teams in the hunt will generally lead to a higher quantity of exciting baseball at the end of the season.
sansho1
on October 27, 2010 at 8:58 pm
Wasn’t sure who I was rooting for, but I’ve been to both ballparks and a happy crowd at PacBell seems like a better time.
mravery
on October 27, 2010 at 9:09 pm
I honestly thought Florida/Georgia wasn’t for another week. I’m really disappointed. A friend of mine who is a Georgia fan and I were going to have a World’s Most Reasonably Sized Outdoor Cocktail Party, but I’m out of town this weekend. :-/
Been to both parks, too, and China Basin is more appealing to me than 6 Flags Over Texas.
Not exactly a pitcher’s duel tonight…
Adam M
on October 27, 2010 at 9:43 pm
SF fans are booing because they’re used to getting the calls when their guy is within three feet of the bag.
sansho1
on October 27, 2010 at 9:44 pm
Tony Bennett is great. I saw him about ten years ago at Chastain Park, and he sang “Fly Me To the Moon” without a microphone. Clear as a bell, all the way back to the “cheap” seats.
td
on October 27, 2010 at 9:57 pm
I know I’m late to the party, but I have a few:
Hiring Melky as the team nutritionist
Hiring Chip Caray as a play by play announcer (oops, I guess that’s already happened)
Hiring Bobby Cox as bullpen manager
Hiring Rufino Linares as English instructor
Hiring Rafael Belliard as hitting instructor (with a special emphasis on power)
c. shorter
on October 27, 2010 at 9:59 pm
Nope, no Vlad in the NL. That was pretty bad.
sdp
on October 27, 2010 at 10:08 pm
Francoeur’s finally sucked the life out the Rangers.
Ethan
on October 27, 2010 at 10:10 pm
Hiring John Daly as an AA instructor (and not the baseball type)
Hiring Michael Jordan as NBA owner
Hiring Brett Favre as a phone photographer
Hiring Elin Woods as a car detailer
Hiring Steve Phillips as a matchmaker
Adam M
on October 27, 2010 at 10:11 pm
Vlad is worse than Conrad. He’s worse than everyone out there. Gotta assume he isn’t gonna get the start in Game 2.
sdp
on October 27, 2010 at 10:18 pm
Hiring Jeff Francoeur as a leadoff hitter.
Mike N.
on October 27, 2010 at 10:54 pm
So…Bethany and b-rule are the only girls here?
Stu
on October 27, 2010 at 11:01 pm
There’s a Kristen, I think. She posts infrequently.
There’s also a Courtney, but that may be a guy.
jjschiller
on October 27, 2010 at 11:34 pm
Man.. There’s going to be a lot of fights around here when Prom comes around..
Don’t forget ‘Rissa. Jenny was the Red Sox girl you’re thinking of, I think, and she just fell away because she basically started becoming a bigger Sox fan than Braves fan.
billy-jay
on October 28, 2010 at 5:56 am
@88:
I think there’s a shot for that.
Kevin Lee
on October 28, 2010 at 6:56 am
Does anybody buy this notion?
Under the current BCS scheme, a 0ne-Loss team should root for its bitter rival in order to have a chance at a BCS Championship later.
Let’s say there’s a team, like say, Alabama, who will thrash their highly ranked rival on 11/26/2010/
Should Tide fans root for their foes to be undefeated then?
Or does that just suck too much for reality?
FlaBravesFan
on October 28, 2010 at 7:01 am
Dig them Daisy Dukes in that photo, almost makes me ashamed to be a Floridian.
Marc Schneider
on October 28, 2010 at 8:15 am
Blogging is largely a male pursuit, I believe. Most women aren’t comfortable with the level of vitriol that is a product of blogging. 🙂
Robert,
I think in many cases, the wild card team is better, and more deserving than some division champs. I would rather see a strong wild card team in the playoffs than some 83-84 win division “champion.” But I agree, this sucks the life out of potentially great races–Braves/Giants was the last true pennant race.
Go Giants! I love San Francisco and I cannot root for any team from Texas for reasons that are not permitted to be expressed here.
csg
on October 28, 2010 at 8:30 am
yes it was Jenny. Thats right
csg
on October 28, 2010 at 8:35 am
sorry, teams and their fans never pull for their rival to win ball games. Alabama should take care of its own business. Still think a one loss major conference champ, no matter who that might be, is better than a undefeated Boise/TCU team.
the major flaw with the system was shown in the Oklahoma/Missouri game. Bob Stoops punted the football from his own endzone down 9 with 2 minutes left. His reasoning was that if they went for it and didnt pick it up that Missouri would score again. He thinks its better to lose by 9 than 16. He makes a good point of how flawed the whole process really has become. Voters may not remember situations like these later in the season, esp the ones who dont pay attention to the games but just look at the scores.
@90 People are saying similar things from the Auburn perspective, which doesn’t make any sense, in their case. If Auburn somehow goes undefeated and doesn’t get to play for the championship again, well… That would suck.
I think Bama will have to get in over TCU/Boise if they are a one-loss champion. You simply can’t compare the strength of schedule. Florida squeaked in that way a few years ago, the year they lost the one game to Auburn.
sansho1
on October 28, 2010 at 8:57 am
Stoops’ decision was absurd. He abdicated his leadership role for that of tea leaf reader. A 9-pt loss vs a 16-pt loss to a very good team is one data point in a thousand, tremendously unlikely to make any sort of critical difference in a bowl assignment. And for that, he gave up his last chance to, you know, win the game. It also required him to suggest that his defense was unlikely to stop Missouri from scoring, practically ADMITTING that Missou was the better team. What does a voter take from that?
RobBroad4th
on October 28, 2010 at 9:02 am
@86, Courtney is a guy. He posted a video a while back.
Cary
on October 28, 2010 at 9:14 am
Oklahoma has no worries about winning the National Championship so Stoops’ decision to punt doesn’t matter one way or the other–it’s not an indictment of the BCS system as much as it is the expression of his delusion. His team was beaten soundly and was fraudulent even before that game. Please.
As an Alabama fan, I generally root for Auburn and Alabama to meet undefeated in the Iron Bowl so I have no problem pulling for the Plains Tigers (especially since it generally aids the Tide’s cause). Auburn’s excitement or joy does not bother me, so long as we crush it in the Iron Bowl.
I don’t hate Auburn. I hate losing to them.
Randy
on October 28, 2010 at 9:15 am
Braves about to win a World Series on ESPN Classic, Glavine dealing against Indians.
Jeff K
on October 28, 2010 at 9:22 am
At least we don’t have to worry about Barry Bonds becoming the Braves hitting coach. Bonds, on his desire to become a hitting coach:
“I have a gift and sooner or later I have to give it away,” Bonds said. “I have to share it. Hopefully I’ll get the opportunity [with the Giants].”
Hard to imagine any perspective less amenable to successful coaching than the “let me bless you with my gift” approach.
clarke
on October 28, 2010 at 9:41 am
@100
Step 1: Wear an obtrusive elbow pad that acts like a fulcrum making it impossible to swing anyway but perfectly.
@104 I’ve read that article before, and while I definitely think it gave him an advantage in that it let him lean over the plate without worry, I don’t really buy the whole “it made his swing perfectly consistent every time” bit. As has been noted, Bonds was already amazing before the guard.
Smitty
on October 28, 2010 at 10:19 am
I love the Frenchy to Philly rumors
justhank
on October 28, 2010 at 10:45 am
@106 – that and scantilly-clad cheerleaders might revive baseball’s ratings a bit.
spike
on October 28, 2010 at 11:22 am
I am totally not buying the arm guard = profit! theory. A lot of guys have worn them and only one managed to hit like that. Fallacy of False Cause fail
spike
on October 28, 2010 at 11:36 am
And not to be too much of a grump, but I am not completely sold on the plastic= less fear thing. You can’t just stand over the plate and watch a 90+ heater come in and say to yourself “It’s ok – I’ll just take it off my arm guard!” I suspect that the greater cause is the unwillingness of pitchers to hit batters and throw inside, probably a result of the willingness of umpires to toss you for it, and players to charge the mound over it. Hitting someone in your office shouldn’t be a crime. It’s different than headhunting, but seems to be treated the same.
DowneasterJC
on October 28, 2010 at 11:38 am
I’d almost rather have a hitting instructor who wasn’t a good hitter than one who was. I’d think a “bad” hitting instructor would be more humble and willing to work with guys on a lot of different approaches, while a “good” hitting instructor would just say “no, I was pretty good and this is how I did it so.. try it like that i dunno lol.”
That may be irrational an irrational fear though. I guess “good” hitters were good because they knew how to adjust, so they could pass that on to other players.
I don’t know. As long as the new coach promotes a “patience first” policy, then I’m okay with him. Enough of this stupid “be aggressive” AKA “swing away” nonsense. Of course the latter is exactly the mindset that Presley would bring with him, whose career numbers are remarkably similar to Alex Gonzalez. If Presley comes in as hitting coach, I will lose all faith in the positive, progressive direction that I thought the Braves were moving.
Ugh.. Alex Gonzalez as hitting coach. The very idea that the people getting paid millions could even consider such depths of stupidity makes me question the meaning of existence. If people can get paid millions for being so stupid, then why have we even progressed beyond living in caves and clubbing each other to death? Evolution is a scam.
clarke
on October 28, 2010 at 11:39 am
@110
I don’t think anyone (except maybe Mo Vaughn at one point) has worn the type of elbow guard that he was wearing. I wish I could find that original article because I feel like I remember it having an illustration of exactly how the thing worked. It wasn’t just padding.
desert
on October 28, 2010 at 11:45 am
Reading Peter’s blog…
Does anybody else agree that the Braves should trade Omar Infante this off-season? His already low walk rate (8.7% career high in 2009) is reverting to his Tiger days (3.7% in 2005, 5.7% in 2006, 5.1% in 2007, 6.3% in 2008 5.7% in 2010). His career BABIP of .313 had an insane spike in 2010 at .355. His ISO has been consistently falling from his career high in 2004 at .185 (.145 in 2005, .138 in 2006, .084 in 2007, .123 in 2008, .084 in 2009, and .096 in 2010). His O-contact in 2010 was an amazing 14% higher than his career average (72.4 in 2010 to 58.5 for career).
I think that he’s set to fall off a cliff next year. His O-contact rate is going to fall, leading to more K’s, and his BABIP is going to come tumbling done, meaning that when he does make contact outside of the zone, not many of those weakly-hit balls are going to go for hits. His power has been failing, and his low walk rate is not going to help things. All said and done, I think that he puts up a .280/.320/.370 line next year.
He seems like an extremely potent sell-high candidate. I could be completely wrong, and this could be what scouts had seen in him earlier in his career when he was a top prospect, but I doubt that. I think that it would be very smart for the Braves to trade him this off-season.
Thoughts?
DowneasterJC
on October 28, 2010 at 11:51 am
I would be fine with trading Infante, if it was in the right deal. I wouldn’t trade him just to trade him because he’s still a valuable utility guy, but if he can be a key piece in a trade for a RH OF, then I have no problems with it. We have Brooks and Diory for MI relief if necessary, and I’m sure there’s someone the Braves could call up in an emergency. Timmons maybe?
Smitty
on October 28, 2010 at 11:54 am
I think signing a caddy for Chipper and AAG would be cheaper than a RH OF, so trading Infante now, at a high point, would make sence.
Johnny
on October 28, 2010 at 12:04 pm
I’d keep Infante. He can play 3 infield positions and the corners in the outfield and hit a little. I’m pretty sure everyone in MLB knows the odds are small that he’ll repeat his 2010 production so he’d just be a throw in.
csg
on October 28, 2010 at 12:08 pm
Id trade a middle infielder who is at top value in his walk year, yep, for the right deal of course
Stu
on October 28, 2010 at 12:43 pm
The rumors that Alderson will be asking DePodesta and Ricciardi to join him in New York are disturbing.
DowneasterJC
on October 28, 2010 at 12:49 pm
As long as they have the Wilpons, I will not fear the Mets.
Except that Presley doesn’t know he was a bad hitter. Or didn’t when he was playing, anyway. Look at the RBI!
Marc Schneider
on October 28, 2010 at 1:07 pm
Good hitters can be good hitting coaches. Ted Williams had a lot of success when he managed the Senators/Rangers in helping hitters, even someone like Ed Brinkman, who was horrible. But Williams was a student of hitting and had specific theories. Lots of good hitters (e.g., Mickey Mantle–see the Jane Leavey book-and Stan Musial, according to Curt Flood)can just hit and don’t really know why.
People here will complain whoever the Braves hire. People complained when they hired McDowell. Sometimes it seems as if the Braves are the most incompetent organization in baseball and never do anything right if you read the comments here. IMO, they would be better off worrying more about getting better hitters than who the hitting coach will be.
jjschiller
on October 28, 2010 at 1:17 pm
Just because Chipper and Prado were injured this year, it doesn’t mean they ‘got that out of the way,’ or something. They are just as likely to be injured again next year; for Chipper you could even argue more so.
The only way a team values Infante more than this team does, is if they plan to start him. So that’s the only case in which I trade him, to a team that sees him as a starter, and will pay for him as such.
I don’t see any team doing that though. If you need a starting second baseman, you’d go get one. If you’re going after Omar Infante, you’re probably bargain shopping; thinking you can get a starter for the cost of a back up.
True, Marc, but I think a lot of players also cultivate a sort of country, dumb image around them — or, in the case of many African-American ballplayers in the decades following Jackie Robinson, had that image cultivated for them by the white media. Chipper Jones wouldn’t mind if people thought he was a dumb redneck, because in baseball it often pays to act smart and look dumb, but the guy is very, very thoughtful about hitting. I would be very, very surprised if hitters as successful as Musial and Mantle didn’t put a great deal of thought into their hitting. That’s not to say that they’d make good hitting coaches, of course — but I’d imagine that they knew every detail of their own hitting process both at an instinctive and at an intellectual level.
DowneasterJC
on October 28, 2010 at 1:35 pm
I’m not letting Infante kill any deals for someone like Rasmus or Kemp. I don’t care if the Dodgers plan to use him to make hot dogs every day, if they say I have to include Infante then Infante is as good as gone.
Obviously he’s probably not going to be a center piece to any deal, but if he’s the throw in that gets a deal done, then there should be no reservations in moving him.
mikemc
on October 28, 2010 at 1:51 pm
One aspect of Bonds hitting success that hasn’t been mentioned is that he, similar to certain pitchers who could “expand” the strikezone, was able to “contract” the strike zone. I’ve watched him take pitch after pitch that were certain strikes. He had his own strike zone that was about a six inch vertical space over the plate. I don’t know how he did it, but the umpires would not call strikes on the man.
Sam Hutcheson
on October 28, 2010 at 1:56 pm
1. Unless you’re old enough to have seen Mantle or Mays in their prime, Barry Bonds is the best baseball player (non-pitcher) you’ve ever seen. Period. End of story. I doubt his personality is that of a good coach or instructor, but his skills on the field of play were beyond belief.
2. Bitching about hiring hitting coaches who couldn’t hit is pretty stupid. How many HOF votes did Rudy Jaramillo get again?
3. If you can turn Infante and change into a starting L or CF, you do it no questions asked. He’s a good multi-position sub. He’s not a starter, and he will regress to mean next year.
Sam Hutcheson
on October 28, 2010 at 2:00 pm
One aspect of Bonds hitting success that hasn’t been mentioned is that he, similar to certain pitchers who could “expand” the strikezone, was able to “contract” the strike zone. I’ve watched him take pitch after pitch that were certain strikes. He had his own strike zone that was about a six inch vertical space over the plate. I don’t know how he did it, but the umpires would not call strikes on the man.
Especially during the peak years in the early 00s this is true. At that point Bonds was so good and so feared at the plate that umpires quite literally fell into the “Mr. Bonds will let you know when it’s a strike by swinging at it” approach. And he exploited that, just like Maddux and Glavine exploited that three-inch expansion of “on the black” they routinely got. Great players exploit those elements of the game.
Dix
on October 28, 2010 at 2:01 pm
The umps knew that Bonds was better at baseball than they were at umpiring, and if he didn’t think it was a strike….well, they didn’t want to be a victim of a giant, bat-wielding roid rage.
Smitty
on October 28, 2010 at 2:03 pm
@126 & 128,
Given that, there is a reason for it. It was because he was so good.
When Bonds got a pitch to hit, very few times did he miss it.
Dix
on October 28, 2010 at 2:10 pm
I think Francoeur may be like that too, only we don’t know, because no pitcher has ever had any need to throw him a hittable pitch.
I’m sorry for you and your family, Dix. They probably liked you.
Stu
on October 28, 2010 at 2:40 pm
Probably not.
justhank
on October 28, 2010 at 2:42 pm
You simply could not throw Bonds a strike. It wasn’t that his strike zone was minute, but he’d stroke anything from black to black and thigh to back elbow.
His tight crouch and perfect balance created a swing that had no holes in it. And his willingness to take a walk always astounded me. His discipline was demonically robotic.
I despised the guy, but at his zenith, he may have been the best ever. Still, as with Pete Rose, I’ll never get over his disrespecting the game. The churlishness didn’t help, either.
justhank
on October 28, 2010 at 2:44 pm
Is anybody on here a pitching coach in some capacity? Want to trade opinions on different pitching “gurus” but don’t want to bore everyone.
Dix
on October 28, 2010 at 2:46 pm
Memorial donations in my honor can be mailed to my attention at my firm. My paralegal will forward it along to the appropriate designated charities per my instructions.
Stu’s just starting to worry that he’s recently crossed the event horizon and is now powerless to resist or alter his headlong course toward my current temporal existence. Not that he was any less powerless 2 days ago.
Smitty
on October 28, 2010 at 3:02 pm
Dix, I turned 30 last weekend. My wife took me to Vegas.
If you want, we can have a “30” support group, of course we will meet in Vegas
Marc Schneider
on October 28, 2010 at 3:04 pm
@124,
Alex, apparently, Mantle was drunk a good part of the time. In fact, he hit home runs while drunk. (The Braves can’t hit them when sober. So, maybe the solution is to have the Braves hitters drink before games.) Maybe you are right that he understood hitting (at least his own hitting), but, from what I read in the book, he had little ability to communicate it (even when sober). I’m not sure you necessarily need to understand hitting to hit in the same way a pitcher needs to understand pitching. Some guys do and some don’t. But even if you understand it doesn’t mean you can teach it.
Women who are thirty are old enough to be my daughters. THAT is depressing.
With a cameo from Chuck Klosterman again attempting to convince us that Ratt was as vital as The Ramones.
spike
on October 28, 2010 at 3:44 pm
@142, I feel you. I went out for dinner the other day with Lady Spike and Baby Spike (age 5). Walked over to the bar for a shot and a smoke. Bartender says “Your daughter is beautiful – you are a very lucky man”. “Why thank you” says I, as I do have a really cute kid. Bartender says “And she is so great with the child…” No tip for you.
Dix
on October 28, 2010 at 3:46 pm
Lady Spike would consider that a tip-worthy server.
jdpeace
on October 28, 2010 at 3:49 pm
@142 After reading the Aaron biography the regime for a lot of players back then was to get blotto the night before a day game and then pop greenies until they got their eyes open.
I can only assume that Ty Cobb had a batboy pick up his cocaine tonic from the corner drug store as a chaser for his moonshine.
We’ve got to get these guys off nutritional shakes and protein bars. It’s killing the league.
jdpeace
on October 28, 2010 at 3:51 pm
@147 Klosterman wouldn’t say that. His point would be that Ratt’s EARLY stuff was as important as the Ramones. You know. Before Ratt sold out.
spike
on October 28, 2010 at 3:51 pm
Oh, any Atlanta Journaleers near Clarkston? I am playing with my Buck Owens-like group at Pho Truc tonight – cheap, good viet food, they have a beer license, it’s free, early (8pm) and nonsmoking too.
926 Montreal Rd Clarkston, GA 30021 8-10pm
jdpeace
on October 28, 2010 at 3:54 pm
Teenagers have started calling me sir, which when I was a teenager I thought was polite. Now I see it for what it is. A snide, vicious insult that deserves a punch in the nose.
Marc Schneider
on October 28, 2010 at 4:04 pm
@150,
More likely Cobb would have used opium; at least that’s what they take on “Boardwalk Empire” which is set in the 20s. I know Coca-Cola was rumored to contain cocaine but I don’t think that was true.
Spike,
I had a somewhat similar experience a few years ago. I went to my internist and he had a female medical school extern working in the office. She was about 25. I mentioned I had a daughter (she was about 12 at the time) and the extern asked, “what does she do?” implying she must be grown up and working since you are so old. I just groaned.
jdpeace
on October 28, 2010 at 4:10 pm
Actually cocaine was sold over the counter till 1914. But now that I think about it that does seem too early for Cobb. Checking. Playing days 1905-1928. He was probably bummed when they stopped selling it. It seems like opium would have made him way more chilled out than he apparently was.
Cobb was an early investor in Coca-Cola. I’ll bet he knew the man.
#147
No, he really thinks Ratt stands the test of time. I love him & his books are really entertaining, but I have a hard time with a lot of the revisionist history on hair metal. A good 90-plus-percent of it always sucked—especially bands like Ratt.
Spike,
Y’all play “Tiger By the Tail”?
jdpeace
on October 28, 2010 at 4:44 pm
@156 WOW. I actually thought you were using hyperbole to make fun of him. I’ve heard him stretch on a few I disagree with, but I didn’t know he had gone that far. RATT. Oh Chuck.
How much of Klosterman’s stuff does Klosterman actually believe any more? 15 percent? 12 and a half?
I liked Fargo Rock City and Sex Drugs and Cocoa Puffs, but I just can’t take him any more.
Ububba, not to defend hair metal — about which you will not hear me say a single kind thing ever — but there’s always Sturgeon’s law, which states that 90 percent of everything is crud. The problem is that Klosterman isn’t trying to resurrect the five or ten percent that doesn’t suck. He’s trying to tell America that the conventional wisdom about Winger is actually misguided, when that’s about the only thing the conventional wisdom has ever gotten a hundred percent right.
And not to turn this into a conversation about culture/rock critics—snooze alert!—but we already had this contrarian metal apologist act years ago from a guy named Chuck Eddy.
#158
I know.
He was arguing that the guitar player for Ratt should’ve been eulogized like Dee Dee Ramone.
I’d take REO Speedwagon over Ratt any day, but then I’m basically a big ballad-loving sap. On the other hand, when I went to the ballpark last month, I basically spent two and a half hours making REO Speedwagon jokes.
Jeff K
on October 28, 2010 at 5:58 pm
My original comment on Bonds as a coach was no statement at all about Bonds as a player. He could rake, no doubt about it — armor, drugs, God-given talent and all. But Bonds was, and is, a self-sentered son-of-a-bitch who couldn’t coach even if BALCO created a designer drug for coaching. Give me Jeffy over Barry any day.
ryan c
on October 28, 2010 at 6:11 pm
we signed the independent league player of the year to a minor league contract today. he is from phenix city. he’s had a few good years in the independent leagues, but this one was outstanding. he’s an outfielder.
here’s some info jacked from talking chop:
“He set a team and league record with a .394 batting average. Torbert finished second in the league with 24 home runs and his 100 RBI was tops in the league and set a new team record.”
jj3bagger
on October 28, 2010 at 6:11 pm
Is there anybody else watching Game Six on ESPN Classic right now ?
We’ve had good luck with the Phenix City boys. Hope to land the one from the Cardinals, too…
jj3bagger
on October 28, 2010 at 6:30 pm
Cody Ross is the white Mike Devereaux.
IthacaBraves
on October 28, 2010 at 6:34 pm
@164
No, but a friend of mine has, and he got me a T Shirt from a BBQ joint called “The Fiddlin’ Pig” on the back it reads “Gettin’ Piggy With It.” Pretty sweet.
mr.swings@everything
on October 28, 2010 at 7:02 pm
Hiring Jim Presley to be a hitting coach is like…
Hiring Thurmon Munson to teach you how to fly.
Hiring Denny Neagle to be your entertainment coordinator
Hiring Ron Gant to teach you how to ride a bike.
Jack Saunders
on October 28, 2010 at 7:03 pm
Ububba@164
I live in Asheville. By far the best barbecue in town is 12 Bones. There are two locations, one in south Asheville for the bourgeoisie and retirees, and the real one down by the river. Needless to say, go to the real location and have some of the finest ribs in the country. It’s the first place Obama goes when he comes to town. You should go tomorrow during the day; it’s only open until 4 (if memory serves) on weekdays. I recommend the dry rub with the full symphony of available side sauces.
As for bars, I’m afraid you may be out of luck, my friend. I lived in the east village for five years, and I have to say that no bar in Asheville has ever come close to NY standards. The Vault on Rankin Ave is probably your best bet… They have some pretty good djs and dimly lit environs. Rankin is the odd street between Lexington and Haywood downtown.
I hope you enjoy Moogfest and your first trip to Asheville. I do highly recommend getting out of the populated areas and seeing some nature. It’s a beautiful time of year here.
Jack Saunders
on October 28, 2010 at 7:17 pm
I thought of another bar that won’t make you feel all provincial-ish.
The Admiral in West Asheville is good both earlier in the night as a restaurant (reservations recommended) and later as a bar. It’s on Haywood Rd in a low-slung cinder block affair. The food is much more upscale than the location and look.
Harvest Records is also across the street. It’s one of the better small town record stores you’ll stumble upon. Just to clarify, though, this is on Haywood Road in West Asheville. There’s a Haywood Street in downtown. It can be confusing.
csg
on October 28, 2010 at 8:31 pm
derrek lee became a type A FA, not that it’ll change the braves plan
desert
on October 28, 2010 at 8:34 pm
With Lee, what are the chances he accepts if we offer him arbitration?
Also, I really don’t want a sweep or even a 4-2 series victory. I want a game 7 (Lee vs. Lincecum!) for this Giants/Rangers series.
csg
on October 28, 2010 at 8:40 pm
Id expect someone would offer Lee a 2/15 deal with some incentives. Im almost positive he’d accept a 1/14+ deal
Mike N.
on October 28, 2010 at 8:56 pm
I’m hoping for 7 games too. Lincecum and Lee tossing shutout ball for 10 innings on 3 days rest. Brian Wilson then comes in and pitches two dominant innings. And then Renteria gets another game 7, extra inning, walkoff hit. This better happen.
Use code “Journal” for a 5% discount.
(JC’ed from last thread)
Let’s see, to recap so far:
Hiring Jim Presley to be a hitting coach is like…
Hiring Andres Thomas to be a fielding instructor
Hiring Bob Horner as our new fielding instructor
Hiring Jeff Francouer as our hitting coach
Hiring Dan Kolb to be a conditioning coach
Hiring Nate McLouth to teach how to throw outfield assists
Hiring Brooks Conrad to be a fielding instructor
Hiring Zack Grienke as a team psychologist
Hiring Yunel Escobar as a public relations agent
Hiring Omar Minaya as the GM
Hiring Rick Ankiel as our pitching coach
Releasing Jason Heyward
Any more?
Likewise JC’ed…
The Greinke thing’s a low blow, IMO. Otherwise, funny.
I think that would be like…
Hiring Mike Hampton as the team doctor
Hiring Brent Lillibridge as the strength coach
Hiring Chris Resop as bullpen coach
Hiring Keith Lockhart
LOL. Very funny stuff! The could become one of the best threats so far.
Threat, indeed.
oops… of course. does actually work, too, though.
Hiring JD Drew to be a team trainer.
Hiring a Phillies fan to babysit your 8-year old daughter.
Hiring Saltalamacchia to throw out baserunners.
Hiring Bill Hohn to umpire a little-league game.
Hiring Adam LaRoche to be your detail guy.
Hiring Tiger Woods to over see the players’ wife section.
Hiring Jason Werth as Tiger’s assitant.
Hiring Les Miles to teach time managment
Hiring DOB as your unbias beat writer.
(He is a little bitch)
I think I am actually MORE hurt by the fact that Elvis Andrus is the Rangers starting SS tonight.
Anyone on Bravesjournal fans of “Sons of Anarchy”?
Imagine it like this with Francouer. The Texas Rangers are SAMCRO…you know, talented, bad ass bikers. Francouer is like the little bald, thieving accountant, who had 8 of his 10 fingers chopped off for doing a certain activity, a little too much, and now basically hangs out with SAMCRO as a the mascot.
That’s Francouer.
And for the record, I supported the Teixeira trade back when it happened so I full, 100% admit that I was DEAD WRONG.
#8 – I dont think we are missing his .643OPS at all
Hiring Pascual Perez as your personal driver.
Hiring Kyle Farnsworth to do anger management seminars
Hiring Dale Murphy to run the Gold Club
Hiring Andruw Jones to run the Gold Club
Hiring Melky as your caterer.
Hiring Melky to speak to any player about anything.
Hiring Melky as your ballboy.
Hiring Melky as a parking attendent.
Hiring Melky to clean the clubhouse.
Hiring Melky to sit in the stands quietly and do nothing.
Cancer resurfaces for Van Wieren | braves.com: News.
Hiring Dusty Baker to oversee development of your young pitchers.
Hiring Adam Dunn to play Center Field.
Hiring Tony Bernazard as a roving instructor.
Hiring Oliver Perez for anything.
From previous threat…
AAR,
I’m not saying covering sports is necessarily more difficult than being a city beat writer. (FWIW, I’ve done both—was a county/area reporter.) I’m just saying that the considerations (especially now with new media) can be really trying, that’s all.
The stakes are rather different, of course. “Sports” is, after all, the toy department.
This is a strange meme… but my favorites so far are:
Hiring Dale Murphy to run the Gold Club
Hiring Andruw Jones to run the Gold Club
Hiring Tiger Woods to over see the players’ wife section.
Chino Cadahia – strength and conditioning coach.
Hiring Jack Clark as team financial advisor.
@16: Hiring Jim Presley as hitting coach is like hiring Chino Cadahia as team nutritionist.
Mac,
Hiring Lenny Dykstra as the team’s financial adviser.
From the previous thread:
Does the clause mean A-rod has the right to void the contract if he is not paid at leasr $1M more than the next guy? That’s how I read the Cots comment.
Hiring Melky as a Pilates instructor
Hiring Greg Maddux as a party planner (unless it’s a golf outing, then it’s cool)
Hiring John Rocker as a motivational speaker
Hiring Ozzie Guillen as a meditation leader
Hiring Bob Wickman as Fitness coach
Hiring Yunel Escobar as press liaison.
Parish,
Yeah, that’s how I read it. His team had to beat the next best yearly offer by 1 million. If they couldn’t, ARod could opt out of his contract if he wanted to.
And to think that our offer of 157 Million over 10 years was the next highest (at least according to JS).
$15,000 a night?
What on earth could she possibly be doing that’s worth $15,000 a night?
Tough news about Van Wieren. I hope he follows your lead and beats it again. A great broadcaster and a great teacher of the game.
justhank,
What? Who?
Ububba, that’s part of what makes it so interesting to me — like that old Henry Kissinger quote about Harvard University politics being even worse than Washington politics, “Because the stakes are so much lower.” It sometimes seems like in sports, access is guarded even more jealously, and sources are even less willing to go on the record, than in harder news arenas. I’ve often wondered why that is, and just how hard it must be for a guy like O’Brien to do his job. (Or Posnanski, who was a better beat reporter than O’Brien.)
Hey,–I am late on this but
Hiring Pat Jarvis to speak about gun control
Hiring Rick Camp to teach the youth to be law-abidig
Hiring John Rocker to lead a seminar in cultural sensitivity
Hiring Denny McClain to discourage gambling
Hiring Ken Caminiti to prevent drug abuse…
Apparently, one of Tiger’s mistressi has written a book wherein she claims she charged Tiger $15,000 a night. And calls Elin a gold-digger.
I thought I knew a little about basketball. Yet once again Sundiata Gaines is out of a job.
How can anyone who led his decent Div. 1 team in scoring, rebounding, assists, charges taken, etc. not land on some NBA roster. Good kid, too, from what I hear.
Parish, the team could give him a 5m raise and meet the terms
Well, theoretically the $15 grand per night is specifically designed to keep her from telling people what she was doing. I’d sue for breach of contract.
Pretty sure acontract to commit a crime is unenforceable
If Fredi Gonzalez smokes crack, will we make the World Series?
Hiring Kenny Powers to speak at your son’s preschool
Hiring Michael Vick as your dog walker
Hiring Donte’ Stallworth as your designated driver
Pretty sure acontract to commit a crime is unenforceable
That’s one of the things that made RICO so effective. Before that, though, the Cosa Nostra figured out ways to enforce their contracts.
Unfortunately, Tiger wasn’t nearly as good at kneecapping defaulters as a Mafia enforcer. Or his wife.
The fact that none of us has commented on the possibility of the Wild Card being expanded and the regular season contracted tells me that we’re all dreading the firestorm to come.
As for me, I’d like to see the regular season pared back to 154 and the Wild Card left as is, but expanding its’ playoff round to the best 4 of 7.
Hey, the Hawks’ season begins tonight!!!
So that’s the sound of one hand clapping …
yanks didnt pick up Berkman’s option. I know he didnt play well, but I thought he was a lock to wear stripes next year. man, i wish that joker could still play left field. he’d do…i’ve always liked lance.
Id like Lance, I dont think he’d be any worse that ACHE out there. He’d also be nice insurance at 1B if needed. Just dont know how bad those knees are now
he hasnt played OF since 2006. probably a pipedream. sigh…
so, would you guys do this?
eduardo nunez and nick swisher for jair jurrjens? here’s bio on nunez.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/n/nunezed02.shtml
justhank, the only change I’d be ok/happy with is to make the first round of the playoffs a best of 7 like the rest are. I don’t want to think of how a constricted season would muck around with the records and such, and I REALLY don’t want to see more teams making the playoffs.
Not for Swisher and Nunez, but I’d do it for Gardner and Nunez. It would be great for this team to have a true CF who can lead off and is under team control for four more seasons. Swisher’s power is alluring, but he’d just be another stopgap solution who’d cost us 10M per season.
I didn’t like the idea of the Wild Card at first, but I believe it has added some excitement to September. Let’s not get crazy, though.
Keep the season as is.
Keep number of teams in playoffs as is.
Extend divisional series to best of 7, if you’d like.
Cut down on the number of days between games…
Hiring Steve Howe to run a drug prevention program.
Hiring Joe Morgan as a Sabermetric advisor.
Hiring DOB as the PR spokesman.
Hiring Dan Kolb as pitching coach.
Hiring Coach as the GM.
Im fine with more playoff teams, I love post season baseball. Really, it is the only fair thing to do for mid market teams.
braves14,
I think that 2 and 5 are the best we’ve seen yet.
46—Fair? lolwat???
Whether or not you hate Florida, this is really funny.
Indeed. So is this picture of Rob Cope and mravery.
50 — Link isn’t working for me, but I can see it in my head. Love it when that one resurfaces.
If I were Emperor of Baseball, I would:
1. Abolish the DH. Everybody has to play offense and defense. Increase roster to 26 (or even 27) to appease the union.
2. Have four leagues of eight teams each. The Team with the best record hosts the team with the worst record in the first best four of seven round of playoffs, while the team with the second-best record hosts the third best team.
3. Games would retain the 2-3-2 format with the team with the better record getting the extra home game.
4. The winner of the Coop League Championship Series with the better record would host the other survivor. Same 3-2-3 format.
5. No wildcard: you actually have to win in your league to make the playoffs.
6. Teams play a balanced 154 game schedule with no interleague play until the postseason.
7. Establish a salary floor and cap. Salary floor must be met. Every dollar spent in excess of the salary cap must be matched in a luxury tax to promote the game at home and abroad.
8. Draft choices can be traded.
9. Umpires will be graded by an independent organization empowered to fine, suspend or remove inept umps.
As my final act as Emperor of Baseball, I would appoint the regulars of bravesjournal.us as the Baseball Board of Governors, with Mac as Grand Poobah.
Go Braves.
Stu, I am unbearably sad that that photo is no longer on the internet. Trading Jair Jurrjens for Eduardo Nunez would make me similarly sad. He’s a utility infield prospect.
You guys really don’t see the pic? It’s there!
What about this link?
I love Xtranormal.
I didn’t like the idea of the Wild Card at first, but I believe it has added some excitement to September
Which do you think would have been more exciting: The Yankees and Rays fighting to the death for a single AL East playoff spot or the Braves and Padres playing ‘who can wet the bed the least’ to see who can back into a playoff spot?
All the wild card does and all the inevitable additional wild cards will do is shine the September spotlight on progressively shittier teams instead of the good ones.
Oh, thank God. That image link works.
So, no interleague play in Coop MLB means you play the same 7 teams for 154 games?
I like the salary cap and salary floor ideas, as well as the balanced schedule.
If it were up to me, I would abolish the divisions and just have the 2 leagues with the top 4 teams in each league making the playoffs. The #1 record would get the #1 seed in the league, #2 team the #2 seed, etc. I would make the first round a best-of-seven.
No interleague play. Play 154 games in your league.
It’s Wednesday evening of Georgia/Florida game week and neither side has uttered a peep.
Tsk. Tsk.
Low T?
O/U on total runs tonight is 5.5 — don’t see that every day, I’m guessing.
#61
What’s to talk about?
“Gee, MSU’s defense is better than we thought.”
“We sure miss that Cam Newton.”
“See, AJ Green really makes a difference.”
Let’s just see us show up in that serious Bulldog red & get after it.
BTW, that shot at #54 was hysterical. Thanks, Stu.
EDIT: And the clip at #49, thanks Trace.
62- Friday’s Giants/ Phillies Game 5 also had a 5.5 run over/under (and went over, since the Phils won 4-2).
@54, such a great shot.
I gotta say, though, most of the Gator fans I run into look more like this.
/no offense, guys. Just sayin’.
I guess that’s the Halladay/Lee/Lincecum special.
I’m not sexist, but the SF announcer is annoying.
I think she’s been there since they opened the stadium. It was kind of a big deal at the time.
I think they’ve had a female announcer as far back as ’93, actually. Not sure if it’s the same person.
How many female posters are here, anyway? I know there’s Bethany and b-rule, but it seems the rest of us are guys.
whatever happened to the red sox girl?
Buster Posey is pretty dang good
56 — I see what you’re saying. I agree that is exciting. No doubt.
But I think having more teams in the hunt will generally lead to a higher quantity of exciting baseball at the end of the season.
Wasn’t sure who I was rooting for, but I’ve been to both ballparks and a happy crowd at PacBell seems like a better time.
I honestly thought Florida/Georgia wasn’t for another week. I’m really disappointed. A friend of mine who is a Georgia fan and I were going to have a World’s Most Reasonably Sized Outdoor Cocktail Party, but I’m out of town this weekend. :-/
#74
Easy for me, Giants.
National League, way cooler town.
Been to both parks, too, and China Basin is more appealing to me than 6 Flags Over Texas.
Not exactly a pitcher’s duel tonight…
SF fans are booing because they’re used to getting the calls when their guy is within three feet of the bag.
Tony Bennett is great. I saw him about ten years ago at Chastain Park, and he sang “Fly Me To the Moon” without a microphone. Clear as a bell, all the way back to the “cheap” seats.
I know I’m late to the party, but I have a few:
Hiring Melky as the team nutritionist
Hiring Chip Caray as a play by play announcer (oops, I guess that’s already happened)
Hiring Bobby Cox as bullpen manager
Hiring Rufino Linares as English instructor
Hiring Rafael Belliard as hitting instructor (with a special emphasis on power)
Nope, no Vlad in the NL. That was pretty bad.
Francoeur’s finally sucked the life out the Rangers.
Hiring John Daly as an AA instructor (and not the baseball type)
Hiring Michael Jordan as NBA owner
Hiring Brett Favre as a phone photographer
Hiring Elin Woods as a car detailer
Hiring Steve Phillips as a matchmaker
Vlad is worse than Conrad. He’s worse than everyone out there. Gotta assume he isn’t gonna get the start in Game 2.
Hiring Jeff Francoeur as a leadoff hitter.
So…Bethany and b-rule are the only girls here?
There’s a Kristen, I think. She posts infrequently.
There’s also a Courtney, but that may be a guy.
Man.. There’s going to be a lot of fights around here when Prom comes around..
Don’t forget ‘Rissa. Jenny was the Red Sox girl you’re thinking of, I think, and she just fell away because she basically started becoming a bigger Sox fan than Braves fan.
@88:
I think there’s a shot for that.
Does anybody buy this notion?
Under the current BCS scheme, a 0ne-Loss team should root for its bitter rival in order to have a chance at a BCS Championship later.
Let’s say there’s a team, like say, Alabama, who will thrash their highly ranked rival on 11/26/2010/
Should Tide fans root for their foes to be undefeated then?
Or does that just suck too much for reality?
Dig them Daisy Dukes in that photo, almost makes me ashamed to be a Floridian.
Blogging is largely a male pursuit, I believe. Most women aren’t comfortable with the level of vitriol that is a product of blogging. 🙂
Robert,
I think in many cases, the wild card team is better, and more deserving than some division champs. I would rather see a strong wild card team in the playoffs than some 83-84 win division “champion.” But I agree, this sucks the life out of potentially great races–Braves/Giants was the last true pennant race.
Go Giants! I love San Francisco and I cannot root for any team from Texas for reasons that are not permitted to be expressed here.
yes it was Jenny. Thats right
sorry, teams and their fans never pull for their rival to win ball games. Alabama should take care of its own business. Still think a one loss major conference champ, no matter who that might be, is better than a undefeated Boise/TCU team.
the major flaw with the system was shown in the Oklahoma/Missouri game. Bob Stoops punted the football from his own endzone down 9 with 2 minutes left. His reasoning was that if they went for it and didnt pick it up that Missouri would score again. He thinks its better to lose by 9 than 16. He makes a good point of how flawed the whole process really has become. Voters may not remember situations like these later in the season, esp the ones who dont pay attention to the games but just look at the scores.
@90 People are saying similar things from the Auburn perspective, which doesn’t make any sense, in their case. If Auburn somehow goes undefeated and doesn’t get to play for the championship again, well… That would suck.
I think Bama will have to get in over TCU/Boise if they are a one-loss champion. You simply can’t compare the strength of schedule. Florida squeaked in that way a few years ago, the year they lost the one game to Auburn.
Stoops’ decision was absurd. He abdicated his leadership role for that of tea leaf reader. A 9-pt loss vs a 16-pt loss to a very good team is one data point in a thousand, tremendously unlikely to make any sort of critical difference in a bowl assignment. And for that, he gave up his last chance to, you know, win the game. It also required him to suggest that his defense was unlikely to stop Missouri from scoring, practically ADMITTING that Missou was the better team. What does a voter take from that?
@86, Courtney is a guy. He posted a video a while back.
Oklahoma has no worries about winning the National Championship so Stoops’ decision to punt doesn’t matter one way or the other–it’s not an indictment of the BCS system as much as it is the expression of his delusion. His team was beaten soundly and was fraudulent even before that game. Please.
As an Alabama fan, I generally root for Auburn and Alabama to meet undefeated in the Iron Bowl so I have no problem pulling for the Plains Tigers (especially since it generally aids the Tide’s cause). Auburn’s excitement or joy does not bother me, so long as we crush it in the Iron Bowl.
I don’t hate Auburn. I hate losing to them.
Braves about to win a World Series on ESPN Classic, Glavine dealing against Indians.
At least we don’t have to worry about Barry Bonds becoming the Braves hitting coach. Bonds, on his desire to become a hitting coach:
“I have a gift and sooner or later I have to give it away,” Bonds said. “I have to share it. Hopefully I’ll get the opportunity [with the Giants].”
Hard to imagine any perspective less amenable to successful coaching than the “let me bless you with my gift” approach.
@100
Step 1: Wear an obtrusive elbow pad that acts like a fulcrum making it impossible to swing anyway but perfectly.
Step 2: Take a lot of steroids
He was a two-time MVP before he even went to San Francisco. He’s an absurdly gifted hitter. But I doubt he’s capable of being a good company man.
It happens, I guess, but it’s rare when a fully-involved narcissist can become a good teacher. Of anything.
(House may qualify, but I’m not sure that’s real – is it?)
Speaking of which (sorta) – I really miss “24”.
@102
He was a gifted hitter, and I actually don’t really care about the steroids. But the elbow guard absolutely kills me. There was some article I read a while back talking about how ridiculous that thing was in helping him hit:(here’s a summary of it: http://www.dmwmedia.com/news/2007/08/06/armor-to-blame-for-barry-bonds-hr-record-argues-blogger)
How did Selig let him wear that thing?
Bonds has forgoten more about hitting than Jim Presley ever knew
I think if hitters are allowed to wear armor, pitchers should be allowed to throw spiked baseballs.
@104 I’ve read that article before, and while I definitely think it gave him an advantage in that it let him lean over the plate without worry, I don’t really buy the whole “it made his swing perfectly consistent every time” bit. As has been noted, Bonds was already amazing before the guard.
I love the Frenchy to Philly rumors
@106 – that and scantilly-clad cheerleaders might revive baseball’s ratings a bit.
I am totally not buying the arm guard = profit! theory. A lot of guys have worn them and only one managed to hit like that. Fallacy of False Cause fail
And not to be too much of a grump, but I am not completely sold on the plastic= less fear thing. You can’t just stand over the plate and watch a 90+ heater come in and say to yourself “It’s ok – I’ll just take it off my arm guard!” I suspect that the greater cause is the unwillingness of pitchers to hit batters and throw inside, probably a result of the willingness of umpires to toss you for it, and players to charge the mound over it. Hitting someone in your office shouldn’t be a crime. It’s different than headhunting, but seems to be treated the same.
I’d almost rather have a hitting instructor who wasn’t a good hitter than one who was. I’d think a “bad” hitting instructor would be more humble and willing to work with guys on a lot of different approaches, while a “good” hitting instructor would just say “no, I was pretty good and this is how I did it so.. try it like that i dunno lol.”
That may be irrational an irrational fear though. I guess “good” hitters were good because they knew how to adjust, so they could pass that on to other players.
I don’t know. As long as the new coach promotes a “patience first” policy, then I’m okay with him. Enough of this stupid “be aggressive” AKA “swing away” nonsense. Of course the latter is exactly the mindset that Presley would bring with him, whose career numbers are remarkably similar to Alex Gonzalez. If Presley comes in as hitting coach, I will lose all faith in the positive, progressive direction that I thought the Braves were moving.
Ugh.. Alex Gonzalez as hitting coach. The very idea that the people getting paid millions could even consider such depths of stupidity makes me question the meaning of existence. If people can get paid millions for being so stupid, then why have we even progressed beyond living in caves and clubbing each other to death? Evolution is a scam.
@110
I don’t think anyone (except maybe Mo Vaughn at one point) has worn the type of elbow guard that he was wearing. I wish I could find that original article because I feel like I remember it having an illustration of exactly how the thing worked. It wasn’t just padding.
Reading Peter’s blog…
Does anybody else agree that the Braves should trade Omar Infante this off-season? His already low walk rate (8.7% career high in 2009) is reverting to his Tiger days (3.7% in 2005, 5.7% in 2006, 5.1% in 2007, 6.3% in 2008 5.7% in 2010). His career BABIP of .313 had an insane spike in 2010 at .355. His ISO has been consistently falling from his career high in 2004 at .185 (.145 in 2005, .138 in 2006, .084 in 2007, .123 in 2008, .084 in 2009, and .096 in 2010). His O-contact in 2010 was an amazing 14% higher than his career average (72.4 in 2010 to 58.5 for career).
I think that he’s set to fall off a cliff next year. His O-contact rate is going to fall, leading to more K’s, and his BABIP is going to come tumbling done, meaning that when he does make contact outside of the zone, not many of those weakly-hit balls are going to go for hits. His power has been failing, and his low walk rate is not going to help things. All said and done, I think that he puts up a .280/.320/.370 line next year.
He seems like an extremely potent sell-high candidate. I could be completely wrong, and this could be what scouts had seen in him earlier in his career when he was a top prospect, but I doubt that. I think that it would be very smart for the Braves to trade him this off-season.
Thoughts?
I would be fine with trading Infante, if it was in the right deal. I wouldn’t trade him just to trade him because he’s still a valuable utility guy, but if he can be a key piece in a trade for a RH OF, then I have no problems with it. We have Brooks and Diory for MI relief if necessary, and I’m sure there’s someone the Braves could call up in an emergency. Timmons maybe?
I think signing a caddy for Chipper and AAG would be cheaper than a RH OF, so trading Infante now, at a high point, would make sence.
I’d keep Infante. He can play 3 infield positions and the corners in the outfield and hit a little. I’m pretty sure everyone in MLB knows the odds are small that he’ll repeat his 2010 production so he’d just be a throw in.
Id trade a middle infielder who is at top value in his walk year, yep, for the right deal of course
The rumors that Alderson will be asking DePodesta and Ricciardi to join him in New York are disturbing.
As long as they have the Wilpons, I will not fear the Mets.
Except that Presley doesn’t know he was a bad hitter. Or didn’t when he was playing, anyway. Look at the RBI!
Good hitters can be good hitting coaches. Ted Williams had a lot of success when he managed the Senators/Rangers in helping hitters, even someone like Ed Brinkman, who was horrible. But Williams was a student of hitting and had specific theories. Lots of good hitters (e.g., Mickey Mantle–see the Jane Leavey book-and Stan Musial, according to Curt Flood)can just hit and don’t really know why.
People here will complain whoever the Braves hire. People complained when they hired McDowell. Sometimes it seems as if the Braves are the most incompetent organization in baseball and never do anything right if you read the comments here. IMO, they would be better off worrying more about getting better hitters than who the hitting coach will be.
Just because Chipper and Prado were injured this year, it doesn’t mean they ‘got that out of the way,’ or something. They are just as likely to be injured again next year; for Chipper you could even argue more so.
The only way a team values Infante more than this team does, is if they plan to start him. So that’s the only case in which I trade him, to a team that sees him as a starter, and will pay for him as such.
I don’t see any team doing that though. If you need a starting second baseman, you’d go get one. If you’re going after Omar Infante, you’re probably bargain shopping; thinking you can get a starter for the cost of a back up.
True, Marc, but I think a lot of players also cultivate a sort of country, dumb image around them — or, in the case of many African-American ballplayers in the decades following Jackie Robinson, had that image cultivated for them by the white media. Chipper Jones wouldn’t mind if people thought he was a dumb redneck, because in baseball it often pays to act smart and look dumb, but the guy is very, very thoughtful about hitting. I would be very, very surprised if hitters as successful as Musial and Mantle didn’t put a great deal of thought into their hitting. That’s not to say that they’d make good hitting coaches, of course — but I’d imagine that they knew every detail of their own hitting process both at an instinctive and at an intellectual level.
I’m not letting Infante kill any deals for someone like Rasmus or Kemp. I don’t care if the Dodgers plan to use him to make hot dogs every day, if they say I have to include Infante then Infante is as good as gone.
Obviously he’s probably not going to be a center piece to any deal, but if he’s the throw in that gets a deal done, then there should be no reservations in moving him.
One aspect of Bonds hitting success that hasn’t been mentioned is that he, similar to certain pitchers who could “expand” the strikezone, was able to “contract” the strike zone. I’ve watched him take pitch after pitch that were certain strikes. He had his own strike zone that was about a six inch vertical space over the plate. I don’t know how he did it, but the umpires would not call strikes on the man.
1. Unless you’re old enough to have seen Mantle or Mays in their prime, Barry Bonds is the best baseball player (non-pitcher) you’ve ever seen. Period. End of story. I doubt his personality is that of a good coach or instructor, but his skills on the field of play were beyond belief.
2. Bitching about hiring hitting coaches who couldn’t hit is pretty stupid. How many HOF votes did Rudy Jaramillo get again?
3. If you can turn Infante and change into a starting L or CF, you do it no questions asked. He’s a good multi-position sub. He’s not a starter, and he will regress to mean next year.
One aspect of Bonds hitting success that hasn’t been mentioned is that he, similar to certain pitchers who could “expand” the strikezone, was able to “contract” the strike zone. I’ve watched him take pitch after pitch that were certain strikes. He had his own strike zone that was about a six inch vertical space over the plate. I don’t know how he did it, but the umpires would not call strikes on the man.
Especially during the peak years in the early 00s this is true. At that point Bonds was so good and so feared at the plate that umpires quite literally fell into the “Mr. Bonds will let you know when it’s a strike by swinging at it” approach. And he exploited that, just like Maddux and Glavine exploited that three-inch expansion of “on the black” they routinely got. Great players exploit those elements of the game.
The umps knew that Bonds was better at baseball than they were at umpiring, and if he didn’t think it was a strike….well, they didn’t want to be a victim of a giant, bat-wielding roid rage.
@126 & 128,
Given that, there is a reason for it. It was because he was so good.
When Bonds got a pitch to hit, very few times did he miss it.
I think Francoeur may be like that too, only we don’t know, because no pitcher has ever had any need to throw him a hittable pitch.
I think Francoeur may be like that too, only we don’t know, because no pitcher has ever had any need to throw him a hittable pitch.
False, I’m afraid. Watch the outtake of the Delta commercial on YouTube.
That pitch was coming in at ideal whiffle ball angle. Nearly impossible to hit. Only a moron would swing at that.
Everyone here needs to know that Dix turned 30 today. So, give him a break. He’s practically dead.
Thirty. I remember when I thought that was old…
I’m sorry for you and your family, Dix. They probably liked you.
Probably not.
You simply could not throw Bonds a strike. It wasn’t that his strike zone was minute, but he’d stroke anything from black to black and thigh to back elbow.
His tight crouch and perfect balance created a swing that had no holes in it. And his willingness to take a walk always astounded me. His discipline was demonically robotic.
I despised the guy, but at his zenith, he may have been the best ever. Still, as with Pete Rose, I’ll never get over his disrespecting the game. The churlishness didn’t help, either.
Is anybody on here a pitching coach in some capacity? Want to trade opinions on different pitching “gurus” but don’t want to bore everyone.
Memorial donations in my honor can be mailed to my attention at my firm. My paralegal will forward it along to the appropriate designated charities per my instructions.
Stu’s just starting to worry that he’s recently crossed the event horizon and is now powerless to resist or alter his headlong course toward my current temporal existence. Not that he was any less powerless 2 days ago.
Dix, I turned 30 last weekend. My wife took me to Vegas.
If you want, we can have a “30” support group, of course we will meet in Vegas
@124,
Alex, apparently, Mantle was drunk a good part of the time. In fact, he hit home runs while drunk. (The Braves can’t hit them when sober. So, maybe the solution is to have the Braves hitters drink before games.) Maybe you are right that he understood hitting (at least his own hitting), but, from what I read in the book, he had little ability to communicate it (even when sober). I’m not sure you necessarily need to understand hitting to hit in the same way a pitcher needs to understand pitching. Some guys do and some don’t. But even if you understand it doesn’t mean you can teach it.
Women who are thirty are old enough to be my daughters. THAT is depressing.
If you want, we can have a “30″ support group, of course we will meet in Vegas
Bill Simmons should make a documentary series about that! He could call it 30 for thirtysomething.
And he can force fit random bits of pop culture references into it throughout. It’ll be great!
It will star me and Dix. We are staying at the Cesars Palace and we sit down at a black jack table and look up and see Simmons at the other end.
Before the end of the night Simmons marries a stripper and we kidnap Mike Tyson’s tiger.
This sounds like a winner.
I think Simmons’s ugly dog has to play a leading role. And the entire documentary will be available in podcast only.
With a cameo from Chuck Klosterman again attempting to convince us that Ratt was as vital as The Ramones.
@142, I feel you. I went out for dinner the other day with Lady Spike and Baby Spike (age 5). Walked over to the bar for a shot and a smoke. Bartender says “Your daughter is beautiful – you are a very lucky man”. “Why thank you” says I, as I do have a really cute kid. Bartender says “And she is so great with the child…” No tip for you.
Lady Spike would consider that a tip-worthy server.
@142 After reading the Aaron biography the regime for a lot of players back then was to get blotto the night before a day game and then pop greenies until they got their eyes open.
I can only assume that Ty Cobb had a batboy pick up his cocaine tonic from the corner drug store as a chaser for his moonshine.
We’ve got to get these guys off nutritional shakes and protein bars. It’s killing the league.
@147 Klosterman wouldn’t say that. His point would be that Ratt’s EARLY stuff was as important as the Ramones. You know. Before Ratt sold out.
Oh, any Atlanta Journaleers near Clarkston? I am playing with my Buck Owens-like group at Pho Truc tonight – cheap, good viet food, they have a beer license, it’s free, early (8pm) and nonsmoking too.
926 Montreal Rd Clarkston, GA 30021 8-10pm
Teenagers have started calling me sir, which when I was a teenager I thought was polite. Now I see it for what it is. A snide, vicious insult that deserves a punch in the nose.
@150,
More likely Cobb would have used opium; at least that’s what they take on “Boardwalk Empire” which is set in the 20s. I know Coca-Cola was rumored to contain cocaine but I don’t think that was true.
Spike,
I had a somewhat similar experience a few years ago. I went to my internist and he had a female medical school extern working in the office. She was about 25. I mentioned I had a daughter (she was about 12 at the time) and the extern asked, “what does she do?” implying she must be grown up and working since you are so old. I just groaned.
Actually cocaine was sold over the counter till 1914. But now that I think about it that does seem too early for Cobb. Checking. Playing days 1905-1928. He was probably bummed when they stopped selling it. It seems like opium would have made him way more chilled out than he apparently was.
Cobb was an early investor in Coca-Cola. I’ll bet he knew the man.
#147
No, he really thinks Ratt stands the test of time. I love him & his books are really entertaining, but I have a hard time with a lot of the revisionist history on hair metal. A good 90-plus-percent of it always sucked—especially bands like Ratt.
Spike,
Y’all play “Tiger By the Tail”?
@156 WOW. I actually thought you were using hyperbole to make fun of him. I’ve heard him stretch on a few I disagree with, but I didn’t know he had gone that far. RATT. Oh Chuck.
There’s a piece in one of his books where he essentially equates the death of one of the Ramones and a member of Ratt.
How much of Klosterman’s stuff does Klosterman actually believe any more? 15 percent? 12 and a half?
I liked Fargo Rock City and Sex Drugs and Cocoa Puffs, but I just can’t take him any more.
Ububba, not to defend hair metal — about which you will not hear me say a single kind thing ever — but there’s always Sturgeon’s law, which states that 90 percent of everything is crud. The problem is that Klosterman isn’t trying to resurrect the five or ten percent that doesn’t suck. He’s trying to tell America that the conventional wisdom about Winger is actually misguided, when that’s about the only thing the conventional wisdom has ever gotten a hundred percent right.
AAR,
It’s because he’s from North Dakota. 😉
And not to turn this into a conversation about culture/rock critics—snooze alert!—but we already had this contrarian metal apologist act years ago from a guy named Chuck Eddy.
#158
I know.
He was arguing that the guitar player for Ratt should’ve been eulogized like Dee Dee Ramone.
Great bar conversation, though…
I wouldn’t equate the guitar player for Ratt with C.J. Ramone or Richie Ramone, let alone the guy who wrote “53rd and 3rd” and “Chinese Rocks.”
Here’s the problem with 30:
It took you guys thirty years to reach thirty years old. It will take you two to reach forty and an hour and a half to reach fifty.
Just thought I’d brighten your day.
So I guess this means a serious discussion of the merits of REO Speedwagon is out, ay?
I prefer REO Speedealer.
Hey, anybody here been to Asheville, NC? Any BBQ or bar recommendations?
I’d take REO Speedwagon over Ratt any day, but then I’m basically a big ballad-loving sap. On the other hand, when I went to the ballpark last month, I basically spent two and a half hours making REO Speedwagon jokes.
My original comment on Bonds as a coach was no statement at all about Bonds as a player. He could rake, no doubt about it — armor, drugs, God-given talent and all. But Bonds was, and is, a self-sentered son-of-a-bitch who couldn’t coach even if BALCO created a designer drug for coaching. Give me Jeffy over Barry any day.
we signed the independent league player of the year to a minor league contract today. he is from phenix city. he’s had a few good years in the independent leagues, but this one was outstanding. he’s an outfielder.
here’s some info jacked from talking chop:
“He set a team and league record with a .394 batting average. Torbert finished second in the league with 24 home runs and his 100 RBI was tops in the league and set a new team record.”
Is there anybody else watching Game Six on ESPN Classic right now ?
We’ve had good luck with the Phenix City boys. Hope to land the one from the Cardinals, too…
Cody Ross is the white Mike Devereaux.
@164
No, but a friend of mine has, and he got me a T Shirt from a BBQ joint called “The Fiddlin’ Pig” on the back it reads “Gettin’ Piggy With It.” Pretty sweet.
Hiring Jim Presley to be a hitting coach is like…
Hiring Thurmon Munson to teach you how to fly.
Hiring Denny Neagle to be your entertainment coordinator
Hiring Ron Gant to teach you how to ride a bike.
Ububba@164
I live in Asheville. By far the best barbecue in town is 12 Bones. There are two locations, one in south Asheville for the bourgeoisie and retirees, and the real one down by the river. Needless to say, go to the real location and have some of the finest ribs in the country. It’s the first place Obama goes when he comes to town. You should go tomorrow during the day; it’s only open until 4 (if memory serves) on weekdays. I recommend the dry rub with the full symphony of available side sauces.
As for bars, I’m afraid you may be out of luck, my friend. I lived in the east village for five years, and I have to say that no bar in Asheville has ever come close to NY standards. The Vault on Rankin Ave is probably your best bet… They have some pretty good djs and dimly lit environs. Rankin is the odd street between Lexington and Haywood downtown.
I hope you enjoy Moogfest and your first trip to Asheville. I do highly recommend getting out of the populated areas and seeing some nature. It’s a beautiful time of year here.
I thought of another bar that won’t make you feel all provincial-ish.
The Admiral in West Asheville is good both earlier in the night as a restaurant (reservations recommended) and later as a bar. It’s on Haywood Rd in a low-slung cinder block affair. The food is much more upscale than the location and look.
Harvest Records is also across the street. It’s one of the better small town record stores you’ll stumble upon. Just to clarify, though, this is on Haywood Road in West Asheville. There’s a Haywood Street in downtown. It can be confusing.
derrek lee became a type A FA, not that it’ll change the braves plan
With Lee, what are the chances he accepts if we offer him arbitration?
Also, I really don’t want a sweep or even a 4-2 series victory. I want a game 7 (Lee vs. Lincecum!) for this Giants/Rangers series.
Id expect someone would offer Lee a 2/15 deal with some incentives. Im almost positive he’d accept a 1/14+ deal
I’m hoping for 7 games too. Lincecum and Lee tossing shutout ball for 10 innings on 3 days rest. Brian Wilson then comes in and pitches two dominant innings. And then Renteria gets another game 7, extra inning, walkoff hit. This better happen.
@164 – The Orange Peel is popular.
here’s the guy Ryan was talking about
http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker&utm_campaign=Linker&id=torber001wal
nice ending to the FSU game
Nice ending to Game 2 as well… Frenchy flies out meaninglessly, with the Rangers down 8-0. And that beard’s ugly even if it is real.
Three million cablevision customers just learned that the Giants just took a two game advantage in the World Series of Baseball.
Did we sign another top Independent League guy? As in, a third?
New post.