We’re going to do divisions in single posts going forward.
#1 The Sandlot vs. #8 Rookie of the Year:
The Sandlot (by cliff):
Scotty Smalls moves to a residential neighborhood in metro LA in 1962 at around 13 or so years of age. He meets a group of neighborhood boys who get together to play baseball on a vacant lot. Because they have 8 players, they want another, but Scotty can’t play. After being humiliated, he is tutored on the side by “Bennny the Jet†Rodriguez, the team’s leader and best player. Eventually he rejoins the team and they become friends.
A big theme is the contest with “the Beastâ€, a neighbor’s huge dog, over baseballs hit over the neighbors’ fence. To make up for losing a ball and to avoid having to face “the Beast,†Scotty uses a baseball his Step Dad had. Well, that was signed by Babe Ruth. And, it too goes over the fence to “the Beast.†So, Scotty has to go to the owner of “the Beast†who his friends have said is the meanest man ever. It turns out the owner was a former baseball player who lost his vision from a ball. Because of the damage to Scotty’s Step-Dad’s ball, the owner gives him a ball he has signed by all of the ’27 Yankees.
Great childhood movie. Great baseball movie. Particularly the ending.
#8 Rookie of the Year (by Rob Copenhaver):
Henry Rowengartner. From a fledgling outfielder for the Little League Pirates to ace pitcher of the Chicago Cubs! Henry gave children all sorts of hope that you could break your arm and come back throwing gas (sort of like modern day TJ surgery, huh?). A movie featuring a pre-crazy Gary Busey (or has he always been crazy?), cameos by mid-90’s sluggers Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonilla, and Pedro Guerrero, and shot on location at the real Wrigley Field, this was one of your better baseball movies of the early-90’s, a plentiful era for baseball movies.
Daniel Stern plays the role of the pitching coach Brickma the way you’d expect Daniel Stern to play any role: goofy and incompetent. But you really have to give Brickma credit for settling the age old debate or whether pitchers should use ice or heat after their time on the mound:
It really is the best of both worlds.
Baseball Movie Slugfest – Fantasy/Children – #1 vs. #8
— Braves Journal (@Braves_Journal) January 11, 2019
#2 Field of Dreams vs. #7 Little Big League:
#2 Field of Dreams (by cliff):
“Field of Dreams” is well known to one and all. So, I will skip the narrative and get to the things that make it special to me (and maybe to a few others). This movie uses baseball as a metaphoric glue that binds people together despite psychic wounds and disagreements. It challenges you to believe there is something bigger than you and that such belief is good. It uses beautiful cinematography to capture the glory of the Midwestern Farm Belt, which is an American metaphor for “home.” Check this cast: Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, Gaby Hoffman (as a little girl), Ray Liotta, Timothy Busfield, and Burt Lancaster and James Earl Jones.
As a “baseball movie” it brings in the 1919 Chicago White Sox, the Mel Ott led New York Giants, the aspirations of a minor leaguer to get just one Major League at bat, and a great soliloquy by James Earl Jones (playing a character based on J. D. Salinger) on baseball as part of the American experience. A cautionary to anyone watching is to pay close attention. All of the concepts or characters that enter seem to come back into the web of a series of interesting plot twists. Plus, you get to listen to the Allman Brothers play “Jessica” as road trip music. How do you beat all of that?
#7 Little Big League (by Rob Copenhaver):
If Henry Rowengartner gave 90’s kids hope that they could be major league pitchers, then Billy Heywood gave them hope that they could run a real, live major league baseball franchise. Billy’s grandfather, the owner of the Minnesota Twins, passes away, leaving Billy the team, in one of history’s poorest ownership decisions up there with selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees, Jeffrey Loria’s reign over the Expos and Marlins, and George Steinbrenner firing and hiring Billy Martin 5 times.
Billy eventually fires the manager and becomes the manager of the team a la Ted Turner. When he got a little too chippy with an umpire, he simply told his mother, “A Bill Heywood must be allowed to speak his mind to an umpire.†My favorite quote of the movie.
The movie is loaded with cameos: Lou Piniella, Mickey Tettleton, Ivan Rodriguez, Sandy Alomar Jr., Carlos Baerga, Alex Fernandez, Wally Joyner, Dave Magadan, Lenny Webster, Paul O’Neill, Dean Palmer, Tim Raines, Rafael Palmeiro, Randy Johnson, and Ken Griffey Jr. When was the last time we’ve seen even one major league ballplayer in a baseball movie? “Fever Pitch� Technically, it seems it would be when Derek Jeter gets shot in 2010’s The Other Guys, but I don’t think that counts, personally.
Baseball Movie Slugfest – Fantasy/Children – #2 vs. #7
— Braves Journal (@Braves_Journal) January 11, 2019
#3 Bad News Bears (Original Version) vs. #6 Angels in the Outfield:
#3 Bad News Bears (from IMDB):
First of a trilogy of films takes an unflinching look at the underbelly of little league baseball in Southern California. Former minor leaguer Morris Buttermaker is a lazy, beer swilling swimming pool cleaner who takes money to coach the Bears, a bunch of disheveled misfits who have virtually no baseball talent. Realizing his dilemma, Coach Buttermaker brings aboard girl pitching ace Amanda Whurlizer, the daughter of a former girlfriend, and Kelly Leak, a motorcycle punk who happens to be the best player around. Brimming with confidence, the Bears look to sweep into the championship game and avenge an earlier loss to their nemesis, the Yankees.
#6 Angels in the Outfield
This one actually tugs at your heartstrings a little bit. When will an orphan be united with his father. “When the Angels win the pennant,†according to his father. What a jerk. Nonetheless, this is another good kids movie with some fun baseball scenes. Christopher Lloyd plays “Al the Boss Angel†who helps the California Angels go from a laughing stock to a contender as Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character petitions the divine authorities to help the Angels so his family can get back together. Silly premise, sure, but did you remember that a young Matthew McConaughey plays an outfielder, Danny Glover is the passionate manager, and Neal McDonough, a very underrated actor, is a ballplayer too.
Baseball Movie Slugfest – Fantasy/Children – #3 vs. #6
— Braves Journal (@Braves_Journal) January 11, 2019
#4 Damn Yankees vs. #5 It Happens Every Spring:
#4 Damn Yankees (by IMDB):
A frustrated fan of the hopeless Washington Senators makes a pact with the Devil to help the baseball team win the league pennant.
#5 It Happens Every Spring
After Professor, Vernon K Simpson discovers a wood repellent, while trying to create a repellent of rodents, like mice. While he and Deborah are in the laboratory room, a baseball is hit into his laboratory room and breaks his chemicals’ glass bottles his original idea changes, when he discovers that the chemicals that remixed create a wood repellent. The discovery leads Vernon K Simpson, and in fear of being seen my the Greenleaf family, he changes his name, to King Kelly in fear. He then starts a baseball career, and leads the team of Saint Lious to a World Series Championship. After getting the last out of game 7 his hand is permanently injured by a barehanded catch, ending his baseball career. With his baseball career expired, he meets up the Greenleaf family, again.
Baseball Movie Slugfest – Fantasy/Children – #4 vs. #5
— Braves Journal (@Braves_Journal) January 11, 2019
From last thread:
Roger, if MLBTR is pretty close to what the arb figures end up being, then I’m sure the Braves shouldn’t be surprised by the way any of these have shaken out. Therefore, I wouldn’t think any of the arb figures not being solidified should have made an impact on whether the Braves would make moves.
Stu, we miss you!
More arb numbers;
Gausman $9.35M
Winkler $1.61M
Sam Freeman $1.575M
Mama, teach your babies to throw baseballs.
Dodgers get Russell Martin from Toronto. So there’s one less suitor for Realmuto and one that seemed to be a strong contender for Realmuto.
Martin isn’t going to stop LA from pursuing Realmuto any more than signing McCann stopped the Braves. It’s the same plan — put together a decent catching tandem so that you can go to Miami and tell them “We totally don’t need Realmuto, so you’re not getting a higher offer from us.”
Good gosh, I hadn’t realized how bad Martin was last year. I do indeed stand corrected.
@5 @6 Don’t forget the near ML-ready catching prospects the Dodgers have. I haven’t seen how much cash TOR is throwing in but that’s a hell of a lot of money to pay for a catcher (along with middling prospects) if you’re just going to turn around and make another trade. I suppose it’s possible, if the Dodgers are only paying about $6M for Martin, then they could use him as further trade bait for the Marlins in the same way that Flowers is. Maybe saving $6M was enough for the Blue Jays, I dunno. Plus, if they were going to trade a ML catcher for JTR then why not Barnes?
Just a hunch, but I think JTR is going to be a Yankee. They just signed LeMahieu, giving them a bit of a logjam on the INF. Machado, from many sources, seems to want to go there. They have enough depth, they could easily deal Andujar as a headliner; especially if they sign Machado. Plus you’ve got the Jeter/Bronx connection.
What would they do with Sanchez?
@9–trade him to the Braves!
@9 I could see them using him as a DH, or possibly even trading him to Miami, too.
Another Toronto man moves to the ATL.
Oh, hell, sorry Rob I was supposed to do a writeup for those last 2. Unfortunately it seems every small businessman in WNC wants to sit down with me to learn about the new tax law.
The last couple signings put NY way over the luxury tax that Hank keeps saying they won’t be paying, so trading the cheap Andujar for Realmuto doesn’t seem consistent. Of course if Cashman decides to try to outspend the Sox that will be some division.
Interesting arb numbers. Is that number guaranteed in the case of Sam Freeman? It’s hard for me to understand if so. I know he did a little better at the end of last year, but it is hard for me to find much value in a 31 yo reliever coming off a disastrous year who seemed to be out pitching his peripherals during his “good ” year with us.
Dodgers are only paying Martin $3.6M… Wow….
Maybe they could still be “in” on Realmuto. At that rate, it does start to smell like adding an asset to use in the trade.
Could be a three team trade…. The last three team trade we did with the Dodgers and Marlins did not go…. too well….. OMG
They really filled a key position in the org pretty quickly.
A little too quickly.
More shenanigans from the Braves FO.
Well, you don’t fire people without thinking what to do next. It’s his ship and he is running his ship.
@16/17 – Yeah, I don’t see anything nefarious. I imagine AA has been looking for the right time to make the move for all parties.
Looks like TT is suggesting an even worse trade than I was.
https://tomahawktake.com/2019/01/12/atlanta-braves-rumors-pursuit-of-realmuto-pits-employer-against-employee/2/
I don’t think the Braves will trade from anyone that’s not on the 40-man roster. Maybe Pache. They will not trade Anderson or Riley. My bet is still
Newcomb
Flowers
Wright
Jackson
other hitter from the 20-30 range on the Braves list
If that also gets us a good reliever back, too, than all the better.
@20 I feel like all of these deals are too heavy for Realmuto. I mean we’re not bringing in Trout. That’s over 20 seasons of value, and control, for two of Realmuto.
It shows just how insane the Marlins are that they started negotiations with Bellinger and Albies.
I’d deal Newcomb, Pache, Flowers and (reluctantly, but middle ground here) Jackson. That’s it. They get nothing more. They don’t like it? Buh-bye now.
I don’t hate the Brown hiring. Toronto’s put together a good core of position players in their minors, led by Vlad Jr. So whatever the reason for the change, it seems a lateral move at worst. If Anthopolous and Brown have a better working relationship, you’d have to think it’s a positive, right?
Also, I’m not suggesting Bridges and Clark had any Machiavellian plans in regard to the Carter Stewart situation; but if they pushed hard for that kid, does anyone think the way it turned might’ve looked bad on them for not evaluating his character? It’s always seemed odd to me to think a ML club, with a seasoned GM, wouldn’t offer what was required to recoup a top 10 pick. Just seems the Stewart camp was obviously lying, and angling for him to be a FA.
I want to win in 2019 just as much as any fan, but I would not begrudge the Braves for not dealing Newcomb, Pache, Flowers, and Jackson for two years of Realmuto while still probably paying him $20M over those two years anyway. That deal could make us worse this year, and easily starting as early as 2020.
I understand the desire to trade Newcomb. He’s inconsistent and may never develop the command that would make him the elite pitcher his upside suggests he can be. But he was a 1.9 fWAR pitcher last year, he’ll be really cheap for the next two years then still cheap for 2 years after that, and he is incrementally improving the consistency in his stats every year he’s a big leaguer. His percentage of good game scores doubled this past year. That’s what young pitchers do; they get more consistent. He’s doing that. Will he be Jon Lester after all? Who knows, but now would be a really bad time to make that decision, which a trade would be doing.
I don’t know if the Braves should trade Newcomb for Realmuto straight up if you were to add up the value Newcomb may easily deliver over the next 4 years vs. the value Realmuto provides. And I really like Realmuto.
Pache, Wright, and Flowers. The Marlins are going to have to take upside over floor in their return, or they’re not going to make the deal with anyone.
I was being sarcastic with saying the Braves were being shady. I should have made it more obvious.
It could be as simple as Brown likes position players, and Bridges liked pitchers. And since we have plenty of pitchers and not enough position players in the system, then why not just switch out the guys?
@23 That’s somewhat my take. If you’re trading Newcomb, that, to me, is your headliner. That’s a good return to Miami alone. I’d almost rather do that than trade Wright, too. I’m sure they’d want to spread the risk, versus banking on one player though; and teams seem to like position players for that. Pache seems the biggest boom or bust type to me, and the most expendable of the position guys the Braves have. So I’d be cool if they dealt him. Three guys really, at most though, with Flowers being one.
I’m just not in the Realmuto makes that big of a difference camp, when you’re looking at the ask. I’m somewhat warming to the idea of just signing Pollock, after hearing the arguments on here, and really looking at his injuries specifically. I think Atlanta can win with that.
Plus, if Donaldson proves healthy, which I think he will, and they can extend him- you’d have all those pitchers, plus Riley, to chase an ace in July, if they feel they need one.
@22 I wouldn’t begrude the Braves for not trading those prospects/players, but I certainly can for not going ahead and signing Grandal and being done at catcher.
How’s that patience thing working out? Have we signed Harper yet? Are we at least in on that market finally? No?…
@20 I could go with that. Problem is that we need to trade pitchers more than hitters. We need to trade from our excess.
@22 We wouldn’t be trading Newcomb because he’s not good enough. He is and he will get better. However, the entire design of the rebuild is that a guy like Newcomb is expendable, fungible. Do you think Anderson will be better than Newk? Will Wright be as good as or better? Fried? Gohara?
These are all replaceable assets. A good trade is using assets traded from excess to receive something in scarce supply. It’s not the actual value that makes the trade worthwhile, it’s the ultimate impact. Realmuto is worth more to us than Newcomb and Wright combined. Take out Newcomb; insert Fried. One should also consider that the next two years are likely to be Realmuto’s best years as a major leaguer. This is the deal that’s worth an overpay.
And I’ll say it again. There will be no FA signings – none – until the roster is cleared by trade. Whatever trade we make will included mostly 40-man assets. That’s why something like Wright/Jackson over Anderson or Riley (or Pache most likely). It’s also why it has to be pitchers over hitters.
Whether the big trade is for Realmuto or Puig or Castellanos or someone else, the trade has to happen before FAs are signed. And it must clear at least two spots on the roster. There is no one the Braves can put through waivers and not get claimed. I’m guessing they’re tired already of giving players away for free.
@26 I do believe Anderson’s going to be better than Newk, and probably the best of the bunch. Wright’s that #2 guy behind Anderson, I feel. That’s why I really don’t want to see either of them traded. Folty, Anderson and Wright could eventually be an excellent top 3.
You do make a point about trading from the excess, however. That’s why I’d okay seeing them trade Newk. Newk was good last year, but he throws a lot of pitches per inning. He might (likely) improve. I’d rather bet on Anderson or/and Wright over that, still.
It just seems harder to get teams to want to deal in pitching, perhaps because of the risk? Teams always seem to ask for a position player or two. I don’t mind that, because they’re easier to replace. I don’t think Atlanta gets around that, either. If Miami does bite, let it be some combination not involving Anderson or Wright. If we give away the equivalent to Adam Wainwright, again, inside our division…
Had never watched the last half of the MLB Network show about the Indians dynasty. Towards the end, Albert Belle says that John Hart ruined their “dynasty” after their 1995 season. The show seems to suggest that three things led to their misfortune:
-Only giving Eddie Murray $2M instead of $3M because Murray was only a DH by that point, not a 1B. So when they needed a 1B in ’96, Murray said he wouldn’t play 1B. This led to a slump then a trade.
-Carlos Baerga also slumped, and he was traded in 1996.
-This created a vacuum that led to Albert Belle being considered a leader on the team. A leader, he is not. ’96 was the same year he flattened Fernando Vina on the basepaths. Hart ends up trading Belle too.
-Kenny Lofton and Embree traded for Justice and Grissom before ’97.
Now, it’s hard to say that a team that went to Game 7 of the World Series the next year had been ruined by Hart, but it’s hard to argue that the first and second move could have led to the third, and then by the 4th, Hart was starting to display some of his personality.
Full disclosure, John Hart is the only executive in the history of baseball, as far as my knowledge of executives can take me, that I absolutely loathe. I think he was absolutely complicit in our scandal, he enabled and maybe even encouraged Coppy, and he’s a slimy attention-seeker who loves the camera. The fact that he came out smiling like roses and Coppy is banned for life is absolutely ridiculous.
Anyway, you can make the argument that Cleveland had a core of players that had some players who were better leaders than others (especially when you consider Belle), and you probably do what you can to ride out slumps or throw a guy an extra million if he’s a good clubhouse presence, and the Braves’ rebuild tells me Hart isn’t particularly keen on acknowledge that point. How do you bring in Kemp and Olivera and think that way?
That’s interesting. But Baerga didn’t just slump in 1996 – he permanently ceased to be an effective major league starter. For a guy who made three All-Star teams before his 27th birthday, that was a precipitous decline. I’m not sure why that happened and I don’t think anyone totally knows, but I don’t think you can just blame Hart.
@28 Yes, as far as the Braves scandal, he at least **had** to know, if not even encourage it. Everyone from Coppy, and up, outside of maybe ownership, had to know. How could they not?
That’s pretty pathetic though to short Eddie Murray a million dollars because he was only a DH. I had to check the stats, but he looks to have had a real solid stint in Cleveland.
I did see a special on the old Oakland A’s though, who had some rotten execs. It seemed that was mostly due to the owner, Charlie Finley though.
Meh, they had in house replacements for Murray who were MLB ready and better by that point. Murray turned 40 in 1996 and wasn’t very good that year. They brought in Matt Williams and moved Thome to first.
Oh wow, I didn’t realize Thome was ever a 3B! I thought he was always a 1B/DH type.
@32 Looking at his defensive stats, it looks to me like Thome was a better 3B than 1B…….. LOL
An extra million was a LOT more money in 1995.
Carlos Baerga went to the Mets, where he was horrible. As Alex says, there were very good reasons for moving on from Murray (a 40 year old DH; imagine the outrage if the Braves sunk a major contract into a 40 year old player today.) And whatever happened to him, Baerga was meat at the time he was dealt.
Matt Williams was the best defensive 3b in the game. Williams/Thome was much better than Thome/Murray.
Some rumors had it that Baerga had been offered the lead in a widely anticipated new baseball movie due out in the spring but he hit only .135 in his screen test. He was replaced with Chipper Jones but the finished film, sadly, was then gutted by the bureaucracy.
Ball Four
had won seven nominations from the Oscar floor
but a very priggish Ratings Board
Triple X’d it when they added up just how many runners had scored.
Maybe the moral of this story is: even if you have reason to vehemently dislike someone, it doesn’t follow that every single thing he’s done in his life is stupid and/or wantonly evil. Especially when your evidence of this purported stupidity/evil comes from an MLB Network special.
Ozzie’s instagram page is worth a look. The young man has his head screwed on straight. It’s fascinating to see his life in Curacao. He’s solidly my favorite player at this point.
@39
agreed…by a margin.
@38
It sure as heck won’t keep me from not giving him the benefit of the doubt on these things.
Yeah, the MLB Network specials are just creating drama. It’s Moneyball, but on TV. I don’t think Hart should be given credit for prophesying Baerga’s decline. Kind of like BJ Upton with Wren; it’s hard to hold that against him.
But yes, everything Hart does — including those awful turtlenecks — is bad. Always will be. Every time he comes on TV, I shout into the abyss “I turn the channel in protest!” and put on something else. Got him.
Just to reiterate, in 1996, Cecil Fielder was the highest paid player in the game. His annual salary was $9,237,500, at the height of his game. Barry Bonds was the highest paid player in the NL at just over 8 million per.
Eddie Murray got a contract for $750,000 for one year, from Anaheim, in 1997. It was his last year in baseball.
New post.