Dumbbutt Media 2009

Really, this isn't complicated for the Giants.

Their decision-making process about making a serious contract pitch to Manny Ramirez should take about five seconds.

And the process should go this way:

"Uh. No. Thanks."

All right, so maybe that was only three seconds.

And it only gets better.

Wait is this dumb or smart? Cuz not giving Manny the insane contract he's asking for seems pretty bright to me.

Rest of that article is pretty dumb.

I don't care if it takes 3 years, $50 million to sign Manny, I want a no-fielding, headache of a LFer who can bop, ergo it is a dumb article even if the bottom-line thesis is correct (and I want to dispute that).

Well then maybe you are a dumbbutt.

Ben Schwartz (not the dummy) on those who have been alerting Cub fans about the Ticking Time Bomb: http://www.cantstopthebleeding.com/?p=15144

How many players have thrown a punch at an opponent or teammate, thrown baseballs at opponents, or have charged a mound while Milton Bradley has been a major league baseball player? Are they considered detonated time bombs? Have they turned their lives around? What if it had been Bradley, not John Lackey, who said "... I want to throw somebody through a wall"? How many tantrums has Bradley thrown compared to, say, Jonathan Papelbon?

lol @ this:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=3816473&name=Neyer_Rob

never liked rickey but wtf corky

HoustonGM wrote on Jan 2, 2009 5:22 PM:
" lol hey I am HoustonGM from baseball mogul forums! How can youi gnore Ricky Henderson????? Dont you realize that his OPS was 87% higher than any other player in the 1980's! He was also the houston GM MVP 8 times in the 1980's! This is a travesty! His PLORG and VIPSA ratings should get him in alone! "

http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/moore/entries/2009/01/07/andruw_good_fit_for_braves.html

oh terencemoorepaws

that's pretty reasonable by his standards tho, and they could do worse than sign andruw to a minor league deal - tons of OF talent marinating in the system so u can't really sign a guy to anything long term, but it couldnt hurt to kick the tires~~~

hey, Nationals fans!

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/nationalsjournal/2009/01/dibble_replaces_sutton_in_boot.html

"Mets fans have been clamoring for Ramirez, but if GM Omar Minaya spends $10 million a year on a three-year deal for pitcher Oliver Perez -- another Boras client -- that will swell the payroll to the $140 million area. With that kind of financial outlay, the Mets can live with Fernando Tatis and Daniel Murphy in left field. "

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=crasnick_jerry&id=3872014

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

as we know, "financial outlay" is what the Ws stand for

how a club would not want manny ramirez on their team fucking baffles me

dude has ninth best OPS of all time

Brewers, for example, have 1) no more money and 2) no bathroom hidden in left-field wall

not having money obv. is abt the only reasonable explanation for not wanting him

not wanting him on his/boras' terms being the other, of course.

he pulled quite the stunt to get himself out of Boston - i'm sure that has to be a factor with alot of teams too.

The stunt he pulled was playing 20 games in July and being the best hitter on the team over that period of time. He must've been pretty annoying behind the scenes, because his on-field performance did not merit criticism.

threatening to be "injured" unless you get your way is a pretty douchey thing to do weather you hit .300 or .200.

ya i dunno i think this basically illustrates a divide b/w fans (and GMs too). i've always been one of those ppl who thinks team chemistry (while certainly something to look out for) is kinda overrated and a stupid lazy trope of journalists, and can take a back seat to production. i mean manny's been one of the best and most consistent hitters this decade, and glancing quickly at his B-R page, his last season was considerably better than his average (HOF-worthy) season. he's 36 i think, so he's got a few great years left in him, and he's totally worth any money a club could afford to pay him.

btw hay guys im kevin. i used to be super into baseball but i didnt follow last season as hardcore as usual. i wanna be back in the swing of things this season tho. im a yankees fan btw (sorry)

He's also a lousy fielder and is purportedly asking for silly money and years.

ok tbh i have not been keeping up on my manny news. i would give him 3 years and maybe a club option for a fourth...what is he asking for?

and ya he's a below average fielder, but i'd still sacrifice that for his offense. dude played 153 games last year too, which is a good sign health-wise. plus he might be a better fit for an AL club; he'd be a great DH.

whats a fucking site at which i can find shit like a player's stats for the last three years? baseball-ref is great but i dont feel like working out averages right now

he wants 4-5 years at $25m per

ya no way is he getting 5 years. he might get a four year deal but it would have to be incentive-laden at the end imo

There is no way he's getting (or should get) $25m guaranteed no matter how many years. The idea that he would get that kind of money into his 40s is just a joke. He's an offensive force, no doubt, but again he gives a lot of that value back with his glove and he's not getting any younger.

curious case of manny ramirez

no but i agree w/ u. 25 a year is a LOT for a dude who's 36, as freakishly productive as he still is.

Esp when you have Pat the Bat fucking up the pay scale for corner OFs with horrid defense. Im sure there was wailing and gnashing of teeth at the agents of Abreu and Dunn when that contract got signed.

if boras does get him anything like that white whale of a contract, that would solidify his status as the babe ruth of agents

I can understand GMs being reluctant to sign him for more than 2, esp in the NL.

(however, the fucking Mets have the resources to give him a 'Yankeestyle' extra year given the alternative risk of flaming out yet again in the new park)

(however, the fucking Mets have the resources to give him a 'Yankeestyle' extra year given the alternative risk of upcoming flaminge out yet again in the new park)

idk dude, i wouldnt bet against manny putting up .310/35/.950. it's like the fucking sun rising in the east

the flameout is directed at the mets themselves. manny will never die.

oh no doubt

"idk dude, i wouldnt bet against manny putting up .310/35/.950. it's like the fucking sun rising in the east"

Except he didn't put up though numbers two years ago and he's two years older now so. . .

I really should remind myself never to read Joe Sheehan.

hmmm, he and Neyer just agreed that Ryan Howard is most overrated player. T/F?

i mean yeah, sure, with the caveat that 'most overrated' is a dumb conversation to get in to.

the Wisdom of Chat Questions

what are you referring to, alex

wow, i had no idea howard had a .339 OBP last year. power numbers were still there of course

.294 against lefties!

Just his moronic conservatism mostly.

yeah some of this dude's splits are just 0_o. i get being weaker against lefties obviously, but he's positively mediocre against them.

Uh try completely awful. Mediocre players usually get on base 30% of the time.

Howard certainly had an overrated year, but it's a bit early to call him an overrated player.

Overrated /= not good. He's overrated. Is he the most overrated? Who cares?

agreed. for a dude who can hit the ball like that, he's gotta walk more than 83 times. let's see how he adjusts

xpost

"hit the ball like that" = for power

OK, I see the Sheehan chat answer that pissed off Alex: "this is what happens when you nationalize the economy. Everyone thinks they get a vote." (C'mon, he has a point about congressional grandstanding just above that, and picks Cuba in the WBC.)

Also even if the Mets rip down all the CITI signage, I'm still not buying a 15-game pack.

hah

yeah, imo of the things about sheehan that irritate me, his being conservative doesn't even make the list - who cares, really

Haha if his articles had any value I would probably be able to overlook it.

oh, "any value." You are sentenced to a year of Jon Heyman.

No please. Okay that was probably harsh. But Sheehan just comes off as such a pompous windbag and it's not like he's always on point either. I mean let's face it, dude has no clue how much money Abreu/Dunn/Ramirez are asking for so pretending that he can state categorically that all these teams are dummies for not signing them is just plain crazy.

sheehan only rubs me the wrong way when he acts like having lots of knowledge about baseball is some kind of cross he must bear. his HoF articles are like this.

speaking of which, did u guys see heyman's ethering at the hands of rich lederer? it ownes: http://baseballanalysts.com/archives/2009/02/heyman_breaks_a.php

oh, "any value." You are sentenced to a year of Jon Heyman

omg jon heyman. i wrote an extremely angry letter to him last year lol! he just is the most willfully ignorant, old-time hack fuck i've ever read. i don't count joe morgan because he doesn't write in english

It's amazing that MLB Network hired him regardless, huh

speaking of which, did u guys see heyman's ethering at the hands of rich lederer?

This is awesome.

http://www.fannation.com/si_blogs/hot_stove/posts/47461

Comments in here are brutal.

No one has mentioned having sex with Heyman's wife so it can still get worse.

enjoying the parenthetical here:

This is getting out of hand. Every single sniffle from Boras' mouthpiece becomes a 'rumor' via John Hyman (misspelled intentionally.)

question: did andruw eat his way out of the HoF?

Has he really gotten that heavy? Even that doesn't explain his insanely low BA.

feelin this

can weight affect bat speed? tho really i was wondering more about the way his D plummeted last year, his approach (and his refusal to change it!) has always been awful

lol omar

tony gwynn turned into a fattey and he was still raking. i think 'druw is just a slob, blessed with some great skills but zero work ethic.

It's hard to disagree with that assessment.

ya pretty much :/

i'm not sure jones had much batspeed to work with given that he was never a high-average hitter. lose a little and yr off the cliff.

But he was a low average hitter cuz he was incapable of laying off pitches he couldn't hit. That doesn't necessarily indicate low batspeed.

But at least he could capitalize on mistakes. Dude couldnt hit an 88mph fastball last year. Didn't matter where it was in the zone - he'd either K, walk or ground out softly because he was trying to pull EVERYTHING.

No one has mentioned having sex with Heyman's wife so it can still get worse.

― Alex in SF, Thursday, February 5, 2009 3:32 PM (5 hours ago)

this can be changed

Padres got Cliff Floyd basically for nothing. I like this deal.

Whoops, shoulda posted that in the Hot Stove thread.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y99/PaJay06/Andruw.jpg

http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/5670/andruwjoneskz2.jpg

Ron Darling on MLB Hot Stove: "and the Mets signed K-Rod, who had the best season by a reliever ever."

I wish I could remember Mitch Williams' exact quote about Kerry Wood's shaky mechanics (MITCH WILLIAMS ON MECHANICS!), and I'm pretty sure he also said that Lee Smith should be first ballot unanimous HoF.

http://www.star-telegram.com/284/story/1228450.html

The Rangers can say they have the "cleanest power hitter" in the game.

There has to be at least one MLB power hitter who has done neither crack nor heroin.

that article seems nice enough, even though it's unnessicary to pile on a-rod

http://www.northjersey.com/sports/Better_off_without_A-Rod.html

this will be the strawman of the thred for the next 10 weeks.

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/shysterball/article/the-public-genius-of-jeter/

(obv Araton is the dumbbutt, not THT)

Guess the doofus (taken from ONE column):

“For $423 million, the Yankees obviously got some nice pieces,” said one scout. “But in terms of filling needs, I think Boston did just as well, if not better.”

..."If Smoltz comes back healthy—and I’d bet on that—he’s their August-September impact guy,” said one scout. “To me, he’s like that ace you trade for at the deadline.”

...One scout’s view of Penny’s potential impact: “I think he’s the big sleeper on that staff. If [pitching coach] John Farrell can’t get the best out of that guy, it’s doubtful anybody can.”

..."If he’s healthy,” said one scout, “he’s a steal.”

..."Smoltz is the key, for me,” said one scout. “I’d be very confident throwing John Smoltz in Game 1 right now, because I know he’ll find a way. His pain tolerance is phenomenal. And you know he’s got something to prove.”

..."I don’t know if they have a weakness,” said one scout.

..."I just like the way they added depth and filled their needs,” said one scout, “without spending $423 million.”

Armond White?

A section of this article is headed "A Saito for sore eyes."

http://www.newsday.com/sports/ny-spwally0312,0,661992.column

Every time this nerdy little worm McNamee -- a washout as a New York cop and a guy who had the nerve to give Andy Pettitte advice on how to throw his cutter -- slithers out from behind his rock to issue another of his periodic proclamations on a cheesy Web site, I want to plunge a syringe into my own buttocks.

Filled with cyanide.

DO IT DO IT

heyman on jim rome right now. it's one of those things where i just cant look away, as much as i hate him

you're watching jim rome

dogg i just flipped on the tv and there he was

And then your TV broke and you couldn't change the channel or something?

http://www.theteeparty.com/designs/400/suck_it_img1.gif

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090430/OPINION03/904300439/1129/

Perry is a different situation entirely. He has pitches that are utterly lethal. His fastball and slider are lightning bolts that hitters have had an awful time trying to center. Perry has allowed only four hits, which tells you a 22-year-old with an artillery piece for an arm has been in command of everything but the strike zone.

It IS hard to get hits off someone who walks 10 batters in 7.2 innings.

"in command of everything but the strike zone"

Some might call this lacking not just command but control.

(Or, you know, being in command of nothing.)

Note to Cardinals radio broadcasters: stop referring to Washington Nationals player Willie Harris as "Little Willie". Or actually, I guess, keep going, it's bringing the chuckles.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/jon_heyman/05/18/hall.voting/index.html?eref=sircrc

Hall of Fame or Hall of Shame

^^^ sub-Onion

Scott (Detroit): Speaking of theme music, if you were a major league hitter what song would you have them play when you came to the plate?

Christina Kahrl: Hrm, either something by Korn off of "Untouchables," or something amusing by Lilly Allen... decisions, decisions.

plz confine dumbbutt posts to baseball issues. after all, some of you guys seem to think indie rock is still breathing.

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/sweetspot/0-2-146/Porcello-s-pitching-like-Gooden-.html

Neyer's one of my favorites and does not deserve to be placed in the same context as Plaschke and Mariotti, but Porcello's compared to Gooden here because 1) he is young and 2) had a similarly good five-game stretch at a young age. The post he quotes does not predict that Porcello will K 250 hitters and win 24 games next season.

rob neyer in jumping all over perceived ignorance shocka

He has to crank out a lot of content, obviously, but man...

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/sweetspot/0-3-64/Tex--Youk-----or----.html

Neyer quotes:

We're seeing an odd development. Kevin Youkilis, who returned from the 15-day disabled list on May 20 and wasted no time going on a tear at the end of the month, was the early leader in fan voting, and with good reason - his .470 on-base percentage is best in the major leagues by a country mile; no one in baseball, first baseman or otherwise, comes close.

Neyer says:

What Clinchy doesn't mention is the most impressive fact of all: Youkilis's .474 on-base percentage is the best in the majors.

Haha that's funny. He needs an editor obv.

He needs to put on some pants and move out of his parents' basement.

A few weeks old, caught on a Google search for "the great Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke."

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/story/11750710

NEW YORK -- You say you're mad, but you're not.

You say you hate all the steroid cheats, but that's not true. You hate all the steroid cheats -- except for the one who shows up in your town, wearing the uniform of the team you love, getting hits to help your team win.

So you cheer. You can't help yourself.

Don't tell us it's different where you live. Don't tell me your fans are more sophisticated, or that you have higher standards.

As the great Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke pointed out last week, the same Dodger fans who once ripped people in the Bay Area for supporting Barry Bonds are now supporting Manny Ramirez.

And Friday night, Yankee Stadium fans welcomed Alex Rodriguez back.

Of course they did.

A-Rod had a quiet night, with a strikeout and four walks in the Yankees' dramatic 5-4 win over the Twins. But it was loud enough when it counted, because when he was introduced at Yankee Stadium for the first time this year -- for the first time as an admitted steroid user -- the fans cheered.

Of course they did.

They booed Mark Teixeira's outs. They booed Phil Hughes' walks. They booed young Twins outfielder Carlos Gomez, after his eighth-inning confrontation with Teixeira.

They booed Donald Trump, when he was shown on the video board. They really booed Bill O'Reilly, when he was shown right after Trump.

But they cheered admitted steroid user Alex Rodriguez.

"The reception was great," A-Rod said. "The reception, I thought, was very good. It was just nice. Overall, people have been very gracious."

Last week, when Rodriguez made his 2009 debut in Baltimore, Orioles fans booed. A few waved foam syringes.

And the many Yankees fans in attendance cheered.

Friday, when the lineups were announced before the game, Rodriguez's name got the biggest cheer. The fans cheered again when he came to the plate for the first time.

It's no different here than in San Francisco, where Giants fans still cheer Bonds when he shows up. It's no different here than in Los Angeles, where Dodgers fans rushed to support Ramirez after his suspension was announced.

The only way Plaschke got it wrong was in expecting the fans of Los Angeles to be any different from those in San Francisco.

It's not different there. It's not different here.

Maybe Yankees fans accept Rodriguez's hard-to-believe claim that he stopped using drugs before he came to New York. More likely, they don't care -- as long as he keeps hitting home runs.

If a guy on another team gets caught using, you make up your signs and buy your foam syringes to wave at him in disgust. You call him a cheat. You boo.

And then when it's one of your guys, you accept every excuse. Either that, or you just don't care.

Either way, you cheer him louder than you ever cheered him before, almost as if you're trying to make up for those boos he's hearing everywhere else.

A-Rod always was a polarizing figure, because of his big contract and big image. Every time I've written about Rodriguez and steroids, I've gotten e-mails.

Yankees fans claim that I'm out to get him. Fans of other teams complain that I don't mention steroids in every sentence about him.

But when it comes to steroids, it's not just A-Rod.

It's almost like what they say about Congress. We don't like Congressmen, but we keep voting for the guy who represents us.

We don't like steroid cheats, except for the ones who represent us.

Don't tell me it's different where you live, because it's not.

It's the same everywhere. In New England, people are falling all over themselves trying to pretend that Manny Ramirez just started using steroids after leaving the Red Sox.

There's no doubt A-Rod will get booed when the Yankees play in Boston next month. He always gets booed there, and probably always will -- unless he ends up playing for the Red Sox.

That's just the way it is. New York, obviously, is no different.

"I think our fans will rally around him," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said Friday afternoon. "New York fans have always been good fans. They've given people second chances. Sometimes they've given third chances."

And they cheer steroid users who play for them.

Just as the fans do everywhere else.

You, Danny Knobler, look like Reid Fleming, World's Toughest Milkman.

You say you don't, but you know you do.

why is it necessary to start a new paragraph with (almost) every sentence?

I think you're forgetting one person.

One person who may have influenced the author of this column.

Who, you ask?

That's right.

The great Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke.

<3

omar i too love you

^__^

Some parts of this article maybe should go in the "good" column, but I hate it overall:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/marinersblog/2009327134_the_difference_between_real_jo.html

Buster Olney (Insider required) usually isn't nearly this dumb:

Dontrelle Willis was placed on the disabled list because of an anxiety disorder. Here's an open-ended question that the commissioner's office probably should consider: Is it a proper coincidence that almost all of the players who are placed on the disabled list with anxiety-type disorders are performing poorly? (Joey Votto being an exception.)

i mean i know what he's implying, but baseball, of all sports

yea its just as easy 4 a team to say 'tired arm' or whatev~~dont think they want 2 give an anxiety stigma 2 sum guy

omg Buck Martinez is scoring like crazy on all the dumbass talking points on TBS today: character, high-OBP catchers clogging up the bases, etc.

gotta mute the sound all the time, it seems.

yeah i almost threw a plate at my tv when he was touting varitek because "BA doesn't matter from that position"

varitek is taking better at bats this year so it doesn't matter that he's hitting .228

well, he IS better than last year, but Buck couldn't tell ya how

well it would be hard for him to be any worse

power substantially up, that's about it.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/chi-29-rogers-chicago-jun29,0,3124193.column

First thing Monday morning, put Zambrano on waivers. If anyone claims him and the $62.75 million left on his contract, which runs through 2012, immediately trade him for whatever is being offered, from a bag of balls to a 32-year-old minor-leaguer.

Ha yeah great idea.

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4304883&categoryid=2378529

XD XD XD

not sure what exactly is so dumbbutt about *that*... pretty OTM imo.

rick sutcliffe, please go to jail, do not collect $200, and stay there forever

he said that ellsbury should be more like kinsler in the lead off spot and not "a line drive/ground ball, on base percentage guy" because if you watch batting practice "he hits as many homers as anybody"

tv remotes need the suggest ban feature

Did you know that a lot of setup guys are incapable of closing? Sutcliffe with a bold claim there.

Also, way to throw that little nugget into a segment about how setup guys are underappreciated.

yeah watching this too...wow

THIS PRESS PACKET HAS NOTHING ABOUT HOLDS. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHO IS A GOOD RELIEVER. ALL THEY TALK ABOUT IS WHO GOT THE WINNING HIT. CARLOS MARMOL!

omg omg omg joe morgan talking about bunting right now

k-lassic

i think i missed most of it, but the gist of what i heard was something like:

"young players don't bunt enough. people think that bunting and getting out is giving up an out, but really it isn't. because if you think about it, if you bunt three times and get on base once, that's a batting average of .333"

Joe Morgan, I'm pretty sure that Chad Billingsley knows that the third out in an inning is important, ya douche.

But does he know that it always comes after the first and second outs? That's the problem with a lot of young pitchers.

Had to mute Sutcliffe -- not just the "clubhouse guy" shit but the oldskool applauding of Prince Fielder's clubhouse invasion. "They can't suspend you for that, can they?"

dumbassery from Toure in NYTBR:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/books/review/Toure-t.html

A-Rod sometimes seems preceded in Yankee history by Reggie Jackson and Babe Ruth, with their home run swings, household brand names, outsize personalities and knack for controversy, but — critical difference — Mr. October and the Bambino shone in the big moments. Rodriguez consistently fails in the clutch in the regular season. That doesn’t move the turnstiles.

What makes fans proud of the pinstripes is the Yankees’ Jeterian side. Derek Jeter, with his four World Series rings and the respect of everyone in baseball for being a stand-up guy and playing the game the right way, is the latest in a long string of Bronx Bombers with dignity, character and class — recall Bernie Williams, Thurman Munson, Joe DiMaggio, Whitey Ford and Lou Gehrig. These men are why New Yorkers feel the Yanks are the sporting extension of the ego of a city that sees itself filled with winners who are tough under pressure. The Rodriguez side is perhaps what the rest of the country thinks of us: larger than life, financially bloated and perpetually controversial....

It looks as if the girlfriends of Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter and third baseman Alex Rodriguez won't be having any sleepovers, either. Since dating Rodriguez this summer, actress Kate Hudson has apparently struck out with Jeter's girlfriend, actress Minka Kelly. "There's been visible coldness between Minka and Kate," a source told the New York Post. "I don't know if it's a personal thing, or just an extension of the ongoing A-Rod-Jeter rivalry." (Los Angeles Times)

http://twitter.com/SI_JonHeyman/status/3318778734

at jonny lang concert, nokia theatre. 5th concert in 2 decades (U2, cars, springsteen, dead)

fwiw, i'm watching the game on fox right now...eric karros is just an awful color guy.

he's white btw

AK, the only thing funnier than that is you are following Heyman's pearls.

I can't tell yet if Dave Winfield is any "good" on BBTN, but he seems like the goofy uncle who cracks wise as he watches the game from his easy chair.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090824&content_id=6602960&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Ryan Spilborghs watched the flight of the ball as he ran to first base, but once it landed into the Rockies bullpen, he raised his arms in celebration and jetted around the bases -- literally.

wow that must have been quite a sight when he literally flew a jet plane around the bases

Perhaps he was literally singing "Jet" by Wings as he charged around?

i realize it's a cliched thing to get annoyed by, but i can't even figure out what the writer thought he was adding by putting "-- literally" at the end of that sentence.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_oz4NUt7_ShI/RoIEznCyDiI/AAAAAAAAAAs/9o1FHExjC3g/s320/Jettison.jpg

What makes fans proud of the pinstripes is the Yankees’ Jeterian side. Derek Jeter, with his four World Series rings and the respect of everyone in baseball for being a stand-up guy and playing the game the right way, is the latest in a long string of Bronx Bombers with dignity, character and class — recall Bernie Williams, Thurman Munson, Joe DiMaggio, Whitey Ford and Lou Gehrig. These men are why New Yorkers feel the Yanks are the sporting extension of the ego of a city that sees itself filled with winners who are tough under pressure. The Rodriguez side is perhaps what the rest of the country thinks of us: larger than life, financially bloated and perpetually controversial....

man i really wish tards like toure wouldnt ruin the one year it isnt unfasionable to be a jeter fan and be like "his OPS is the fourth-highest of his career and he's fielding better than he ever has!" instead of this bullshit

i don't know--i feel like every year around this time everyone is like "yup you may have forgotten but jeter is still amazing." i suppose his down year last year would be the exception.

Clutchy's four World Series rings need lots of polishing due to their age

The usually intelligent Victor Rojas asked on MLBN last night if Jeter "could ever get to that place" of being THE GREATEST YANKEE EVER! At least Dave Valle pretty much laughed in his face.

This isn't just baseball, and I'm sure everyone saw it already, but ...

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/world-won-most-2555260-never-one

ha ha wow

Yeah that is one of the all-time worst articles ever.

oh man i cringed once i read "Dugard was 11 when she was kidnapped and stashed in Phillip Garrido's backyard." can't go any further

ok i lied

Well, actually, some baseball players began taking drugs in order to hit more home runs and throw faster fastballs. Football players, who had cornered the market on most of their drugs, began driving drunk, slapping their wives, selling drugs, and killing people. The baseball players caught more grief.

o_0

holy shit @ the final one in there

lol according to deadspin he did this before in 1991 for some marine that was held for 7 years in lebanon. someone search this guy's house.

Football players ... began driving drunk, slapping their wives, selling drugs, and killing people.

Because football players never slapped their wives or drove drunk before 13 years ago, of course.

9/11/1996 changed everything.

"Dumbbutt" is something my dad would have said when I was a kid. I think he did about a hundred times.

And ballplayers, who always invent the slang no matter what ESPN would have you believe, came up with an expression for a home run that you might appreciate.

Congratulations, Jaycee. You left the yard.

BAHAHAHHAHAHAA this guy is an amazing writer who would come up with this shit?!

MLBN last night declared that the Red Sox' Achilles heel is "INTANGIBLES"!

hahah whaaaaat

if our achilles heel is intangible then nothing will pierce it, right?

well, they led with "they don't have Schilling & Manny anymore!"

weird that our intangibles are struggling without the two most disliked people on the team.

The Tigers' Achilles heel is "speed"! Maybe they should have kept Josh Anderson and checked in on Nook Logan.

well, they led with "they don't have Schilling & Manny anymore!"

just wait till they elect kennedy's replacement and they'll be halfway there

Adding two more playoff spots would spice up baseball's final month

By Peter Gammons, ESPN

All things considered, baseball has done a remarkable job holding the means.

There have been no legitimate races per se, no media storyline despite Albert Pujols, Joe Mauer and Derek Jeter, and still attendance is down only 6 percent in an economic climate distraught with fear, loathing and unemployment.

We appreciate that from 1995 to 2008, baseball's revenues grew at an unsustainable pace. But two clubs' CEOs fear that -- even as the economy shows signs of turning around -- the fans are growing used to giving up fancy steakhouses for the grill and eschewing the $250 seats; the entire country has seen that, even in New York, one doesn't have to be seen behind home plate at baseball games.

So 2010, despite agents' promises of seven-year, $147 million deals to players such as Jason Bay and Matt Holliday, could well be another year of belt-tightening as the corporate sponsorship dollars become more difficult to attract.

Now, this might be an overreaction to a September in which there are essentially no races. The Twins are within 2½ of the Tigers with a series next week, but the other division leaders are in front by five to 10 games. Boston's wild-card lead is seven games over Texas. Colorado is five games in front of the Giants and Braves.

Essentially the only teams thinking about tomorrow in a September in which the NFL, college football and golf all blitz our consciousness are the eight teams that will be playing in October. So baseball, for 22 franchises, is either tepid or in full autumnal frost, with little momentum heading into the playoffs.

So is it time to think about expanding the playoffs? I agree with Brewers general manager Doug Melvin, who says, "Most general managers don't want it watered down like the NHL or NBA. Not many are wild about the idea."

Granted, it seems as if so many teams make the Stanley Cup playoffs that they need a WCCA-Hockey East shootout to fill out the brackets.

But why not think about having two wild-card teams per league? For instance, in what might be an aberrational season, the Giants, Marlins, Braves and Cubs would be within 2½ games of that NL spot right now.

So MLB can avoid a Thanksgiving clash with the Lions, start the season half a week earlier; someone much smarter than I points out that, as opposed to starting on Monday and getting no one at weekday games on Wednesday and Thursday, they should start on Thursday and play the first weekend.

Then have the two-out-of-three play-in series on the weekend. For years, folks have tried to punish the wild-card team and make winning the division more important. Well, if you use up a pitching staff on the weekend to get to a Tuesday or Wednesday divisional series, there is a serious disadvantage. On the other hand, it would be an advantage to teams such as the Rays and Blue Jays that compete against the economic powers in New York and Boston.

No one suggests that a wild card play-in is going to blunt the ratings of a USC-Ohio State season jumper or the NFL's ability to get prime games into the first two weeks. However, it's something to think about in a September when baseball seems to have drifted off beyond the horizon.

For those who think the Mets' booth team is brilliant, Cohen and Darling going on and on about Ryan Howard as a top-5 MVP candidate "every year," not a word about Utley.

that's the opposite of the espn crew during the marlins-phillies game. jeff brantley said that utley is "everything you could ask for in a baseball player, a teammate, a friend, a husband" which led me to continue on "a human, a human with two legs, a human with ten fingers, a human with brown hair..."

I never knew Utley was married to Jeff Brantley.

exactly!!!

Sick of staring at it, the Dodgers became it, pouring themselves across Chavez Ravine on Saturday night like the champagne that has haunted them.

Clayton Kershaw popped. Casey Blake bubbled. Mark Loretta sprayed. An entire dugout of bouncing blue poured into the cool night awash in intoxicating relief.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-plaschke-dodgers4-2009oct04,0,2869933.column

jesus christ

i knew that was plaschke before i even looked at the link. god he's an awful writer

A guy with a sore hamstring motored into second base -- Blake started the rally by lining a ball into center field and taking second on an error.

A guy with four sacrifice bunts all season laid down one more -- James Loney moved him to second

err what?

even manny ramirez drove in a run(!)

That seventh inning was indeed all little boy

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/267446-twins-cuddyer-an-mvp-sleeper

Posnanski on the TBS dumbbutts:

I have turned into the two old Muppets in the balcony. I’m constantly shouting wisecracks at the TV. I hear Bob Brenly jabber about how what makes Tony La Russa so unique is that he likes to have a good No. 2 hitter and he will not have Albert Pujols or Matt Holliday bunt, and I shout. I listen to Chip Caray jabber endlessly about something that has no bearing on anything in the world while not actually telling me if in the infield is in, and I shout. I listen to Dick Stockton say again and again and again and again how this game sets up perfectly for Joe Torre, because apparently no other manager in the game, now or ever, has the mental dexterity to handle a 5-2 lead in the seventh inning. And I shout. I hear all of them use terms like “off-speed pitch” and “breaking ball” for anything that doesn’t look like a fastball and I shout. Is it too much to ask for men charged with calling the playoff action for all of North America to call a slider a slider, a curveball a curveball, a change-up a change-up?

http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/2009/10/08/feeling-cranky/

xpost

The spirit of Shannon Stewart lives on in Minnesota.

never forget Shannon's MVP run.jpg

Bill Rhoden, sanctimonious NY-LA exceptionalism:

what Major League Baseball needs is a great World Series, a Series for the ages. And with all due respect to those two other potential matchups, it’s a Yankees-Dodgers World Series that could take the game back to its roots at a time when baseball desperately needs to recover a portion of the trust, if not the innocence, that it has lost in the steroid era....

Two venerable franchises competing in a World Series would recall an era in baseball when things seemed simpler and the game was more pure.

The teams would also bring a fitting final symmetry to the 2009 season....

Rodriguez publicly, tearfully admitted that his name was on a list of players who had used steroids. He later said that he felt a sense of freedom, that a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

Ramirez also apologized to his teammates and to fans for being suspended.

Now Rodriguez and his Yankees teammate Mark Teixeira are as feared a combination as Ramirez and David Ortiz were in Boston.

If the Yankees were to face the Dodgers in the World Series, the season would end with two great players who had admitted culpability and moved on. It would represent a line of demarcation, that the game was ready to get past one of the most painful episodes in its history....

Baseball needs a World Series for the ages, one that reinforces its roots and, yes, its relative purity. Granted, this is a lot to ask one World Series matchup to accomplish, but baseball needs an authentic fall classic.

It needs Yankees-Dodgers, for the good of the game.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/12/sports/baseball/12rhoden.html

hahaha what an asshole

why dont we just contract all the teams except sf, la, ny and boston

what backwards fucking logic--every other retard writer assigned that piece would've been like bwaaaa we could have had a solid midwestern world series between the twins and the cardinals in which pure, strong men like pujols and mauer could cleanse baseball once and for all.

ya, I'm trying to wrap my head around the logic of "we cannot get past the ghosts of the steroid era, and only these ex-steroid users can help us to reclaim the game's innocence."

Jon Heyman has his awards ballot column up, with Ryan Howard 3rd for MVP: "He may be underrated."

he's really a despicable baseball writer

he's a funny tweeter

Pretty ironic that he puts Howard 3rd and Utley 9th, and then says Howard is underrated.

I guess nobody had a good year who didn't play for the Red Sox, Yankees, or Angels. At least he gave in to the Mauer hype.

NL MVP

1. Albert Pujols, Cardinals: Near-Triple Crown winner had it locked up by June.
2. Troy Tulowitzki, Rockies: Spectacular talent could have won Comeback Player. Playoff failures don't count.
3. Ryan Howard, Phillies: May actually be underrated.
4. Andre Ethier, Dodgers: Six walk-off hits led league.
5. Hanley Ramirez, Marlins: Big-time talent earned wrath of teammate Dan Uggla for not playing through pain.

this is honestly insulting

i am insulted

5. Hanley Ramirez, Marlins: Big-time talent earned wrath of teammate Dan Uggla for not playing through pain.

^^^insightful analysis imo

i could list 50 guys b4 i got to tulo

Ethier ahead of Kemp is pretty insulting.

I had Tulo in my top 10.

wow. just off the top of my head i'd probably have Gonzalez, Sandoval, Fielder, Braun ahead of everyone else he lists (except Hanley probably).

4. Andre Ethier, Dodgers: Six walk-off hits led league.

dying at the reasoning

Howard is underrated because he has the highest CONTACT-TO-DAMAGE RATIO -- not an actual stat, OK, but something valued by real baseball people who actually WATCH THE GAMES WITH THEIR OWN EYES instead of looking at laptops all day long.

i'm shocked that yorvit torrealba isn't sixth on that ballot, what with his clutch rbi double in game 4

ryan howard isn't even the second most valuable first baseman in the NL

is he even the mvp of the phils?

NL LVP (Least Valuable Player)

Milton Bradley, Cubs: Alfonso Soriano (20 HRs, 55 RBIs, .241) and Geovany Soto (positive test for pot, .218 batting average) were dreadful, as well. But Bradley was asked to leave the team for the final two weeks. Tough to top that.

oh my god

fuckin idiot

haha god i totally missed that

POT?!

wkiw soto

ffs

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=9710

When Sheehan tries to be Roger Kahn he really is one of the most insufferable writers on the planet. He's been doing a lot more of this dewy fandom/"love of the game" crap over the past few months, and I'm pretty sure it's because he's trying to stump for future BBWAA membership (i.e. moreso after Kahrl/Neyer/Law/Carroll were let in).

A-Rod commanding World Series stage
- After slow start, Yankees slugger now an RBI machine -

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20091103&content_id=7611436&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

-----------------------
So A-Rod's hitting .222 (only 4 hits in the first 5 games of the WS), has 7 Ks vs. 1 BB, plus an error. His OBP is being propped up by all the HBPs. Yet he is commanding the WS stage? Who writes this garbage?

His OBP is being propped up by all the HBPs.

The centaurian frame leads to more HBPs. Is that his fault?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v622/dysign/ilx/mylittlearod.jpg

wakeboarder hates BA and Billy Beane

On three of the four occasions in which Teixeira reached base via a hit, a walk or a hit batsman in Philadelphia, he scored. On all three occasions, Rodriguez delivered a hit behind him, twice personally driving Teixeira home. So defined by his postseason limitations in the past, Rodriguez has spent this autumn making a mockery of them.

"Alex has had an uncanny ability to every time I draw a walk or I do get one hit a game, he drives me in," Teixeira said. "It's unbelievable. I get hit by a pitch, he drives me in. I get a walk, he drives me in. I hit a double, he drives me in. He's just been doing a great job of picking me up all series."

Saddle up, Teix.

Maybe not the closest fit thread-wise for this, but I sorta chuckled at the Japan episode of No Reservations (presumably a re-run last night), where Bourdain was explaining the difference between the US and Japan styles of baseball and cited Japan's love for the "sacrifice bunt to load the bases."

Teixeira's silver lining of batting half the Mendoza line in probably the only WS he'll ever play in is: Getting driven in by @imacentaur straddling the Mendoza.

"in probably the only WS he'll ever play in"

Being Yankee haters may be the last thing that unites us, but that's some joke.

current yankees lineup entering next season (not accounting for the likely departure of one or two players, obv):

jeter - 35
damon - 36
teixeira - 29
a-rod - 34
cano - 27
matsui - 35
posada - 38
swisher - 29
melky - 25 (thought he was older)

kinda hoping (against hope?) that there are major declines due to age and/or regressions back to the mean.

matsui won't be back

I wonder if they'll have the revenue to go buy some new guys?

ppl have been expecting yanqui age regression for past several years unfortunately :(

ya. the one things that makes me sort of want the yanks to win the ws is the fear that if they don't it well set off another unprecedented spending spree.

xpost - i was one of those this year :s

: (

This age regression thing isn't some fantasy -- are we forgetting that the Yankees didn't make the playoffs last year thanks to a combination of injuries and guys having down years?

john lackey, matt holliday

and Figgins.

i really really really would love for the J's to get him (Chone).

yeah but as a whole the posada/jeter/pettite/rivera group is still going strong

really wondering how much chone is going to get on the market

do that same age table for the pitching staff and you'll see what i mean.

let's not forget Posada's 08 season. it looked like he might not have been able to catch anymore for a bit!

yeah but as a whole the posada/jeter/pettite/rivera group is still going strong

guys remember there is no test for HGH still! the only way they got Pettite was through his stupid mailing address and credit cards.

no doubt dudes are buying locally via middlemen with cash so there's no trace of purchase.

http://blogs.ajc.com/mark-bradley-blog/2009/11/10/bradleys-buzz-vazquez-could-be-going-but-i-bet-he-stays/

A small-market team with a young slugger — say Arizona and Mark Reynolds, who isn’t an outfielder but who does bat righty and hit homers when not striking out — isn’t going to trade that guy for a 32-year-old pitcher who makes $11 million and is about to become a free agent. The trade suitor would have to be a big-market club in search of a starting pitcher to push it to the top. Like maybe the Dodgers.

If you can get Matt Kemp for Vazquez, you do it. Kemp fits the profile: He bats righty, plays center field and drove in 101 runs. But I can’t see the Dodgers giving up a 24-year-old cornerstone for a pitcher who might be a one-year rental. (There’s another Dodger who plays the outfield, bats right-handed and could be available. But he’s scheduled to make $20 million in 2010. So forget Manny Ramirez.)

Yeah, those are pipe dream deals.

But maybe if Atlanta throws in a young hitter in return, since the D's want pitching.

that's like a team message board trade.

i spent the last two days trying (failing) to explain to someone on the J's boards that the Phils would never give up 5 of their top prospects for Halladay (and two bullpen arms) at this point.

i don't know what i was doing there in the first place tbh.

http://www.murraychass.com/?p=1177

When the Toronto Blue Jays named Alex Anthopoulos their new general manager last month, the inclination was to think that they couldn’t get out of the statistically-oriented rut their departing general manager, J.P. Ricciardi had put them in. Anthopoulos, after all, had been Ricciardi’s assistant and was 32 years old. All those young new general managers practiced statistically-oriented baseball, didn’t they?

But then came word from Omar Minaya, the New York Mets’ general manager, who gave Anthopoulos his first job in baseball with the Montreal Expos in 2002.

“He’s not from a statistics background,” Minaya said. “He’s from an evaluation background.”

What refreshing news, at least to these ears. Baseball has become divided into two camps in recent years, the teams that continue to rely on scouts and their evaluation of players and those that base personnel decisions on statistics. I’m old-fashioned and I would sooner trust scouts’ eyes and judgments than numbers disgorged from a computer.

I’m old-fashioned and I would sooner trust scouts’ eyes and judgments than numbers disgorged from a computer.

numbers disgorged from a computer.

from a computer.

He's 32 years old, but I guess his scout eyes must be keen.

I wonder what orifice Murray Chass disgorged that column from.

A.J. Burnett escaped Toronto and won a World Series in his first season in pinstripes.

wow. "escaped"? it's a (roughly) .500 ball club not a fucking high security penitentiary. it's not like the douche bag was shackled and forced to pitch for them or anything. fuck this writer.

What the fuck, Rick Reilly is a Sportscenter anchor now?! UGGGGH

it is in canada though