UPDATE: Yankees Hire Jim Hendry
According to Bruce Levine, the New York Yankees have hired Jim Hendry as special assistant to Brian Cashman. Good news, Yankees. there will always be doughnuts.
LOOGY
The Cubs signed ex-everything left-handed reliever Trever Miller to a minor league contract, and he'll be yet another non-roster invitee to spring training. Just to give you an idea how highly coveted he is, Miller pitched for three teams last season. The Cardinals, Blue Jays, and Red Sox all celebrated Miller time last year, and let's hope the Cubs join that party. Man, 2015 can't get here fast enough.
Thread-hijacking Topic I Recently Enjoyed
If you missed it in the comments yesterday, Fangy inquired about the polymerization process in cast-iron cookery, sparking an enthralling conversation amongst the seasoned veterans of ferrous food prep. While MO argued that intimate relations with flaxseed oil weren't worth the cost and RC's food storage methods seemed both anal and unorthodox, the discussion was pretty informative about cleaning and seasoning and the science involved in the cooking process. Among the gems is Fangy's conclusion that the answer to their question is as elusive as a definitive defensive metric:
Eh, I don’t think the catalyst is that important, actually. The catalysts they used in the experiment were cobalt, zirconium, and calcium, and they were mixed into the oil before applying it to steel. When they use the catalysts, the polymerization starts at like 90C. I think that stuff would be in hardware-grade linseed oil but not food-safe flaxseed oil.
I do get the impression that nobody out there really understands the seasoning process completely, so everybody is just muddling through with whatever their granny used. There’s plenty of “success” stories, but they all contradict each other, and nobody seems to be too confident about the science behind it, on the web at least.
Cool story, bros.
Is There a Cubs Game Today?
No.
Someone Please Make This
I don't always do the Super Bowl party thing. I'd really rather watch it at home with my family than with a ton of people who may or may not be interested in football or commercials or pretending to listen to me talk about the Cubs. But if someone made this, I'd probably be there:
Don’t tell me what to do
Oh, and Jim Hendry———-> Yankees
Wait, I didn’t have time to read the thread…is there a Cubs game today?
@ Mish:
*************SPOILER ALERT********
No.
I predict the Yankees will now make a move to hire Milton Bradley. Let’s See What Happens.
My day is complete. Thank you for the Daily Facepalm.
@ AndCounting:
Jim Hendry will be a part of at least one championship team before the Cubs win one.
mb21 wrote:
[img]http://i0.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/000/015/orly.jpg[/img]
@ jtsunami:
[img]http://files.myopera.com/drlaunch/albums/37656/ya-rly001.jpg[/img]
@ mb21:
He’s this year’s Ryan Theriot.
(dying laughing) at this article title by Colin in the new BP book
“Is It Possible to Accurately Measure Fielding Without Shoving a GPS Device Up Derek Jeter’s Ass? “
[img]http://files.myopera.com/drlaunch/albums/37656/no-wai001.jpg[/img]
(dying laughing)
(dying laughing)
Although the quote you cited was actually DCF’s. I simply refuse to stand by the preposterous claim that the catalyzed polymerization process begins at 200C and not at a lower temperature, as clearly concluded by Wang & Erhan (1999).
/Nobody cares’d
@ fang2415:
Oh crap, I need to fix that. I toyed with quoting various things and I used the wrong one. /reunrediscredited
AndCounting wrote:
I appreciate your prompt attention to such a serious matter.
(dying laughing)
Best, or at least, most thugging-est, restaurant ever:
http://www.bon-rappetite.com/
O RLY owl is win.
Mish wrote:
Real? Or some ad guys’ school project?
@ josh:
Bon Rappetite seems to be a web design stunt by a social media business called Baby Robot Industries, but that doesn’t stop it from being a treasure trove of puns. Its menu includes:
Read More http://www.bonappetit.com/blogsandforums/blogs/badaily/2012/01/bon-rappetite-the-best-rap-the.html#ixzz1l4L2TAd4
@ Mish:
Okay, that’s how it came across to me. It’s very clever, though, I agree.
I’m starting to see tweets about Peyton Manning may not ever play again…waiting for Rob Lowe to confirm.
How do I post an image that’s on my own computer and doesn’t have a URL?
@ Steve Swisher:
You have to upload it somewhere to get a URL. I use Picasa, I saw someone else uses Photobucket.
@ Steve Swisher:
You seem like my kind of guy. Lets talk tech sometime.
Ted Stevens wrote:
The Cubs are boring.
I expect we’ll say that quite often over the next 3 or 4 years.
Supposedly the Cubs have interest in Todd Coffey, per HBT.
mb21 wrote:
I hope that they’ll be at least fun bad instead of facepalm bad.
@ Ted Stevens:
Cool. I can set up a chatroom on my Geocities account. Or we can use Prodigy or Compuserve — either one. I’m adaptable like that.
Interesting.
http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2012/1/31/2760926/trends-in-negative-war-players-since-2002
I guess the Cubs aren’t bad per se, they just don’t have a lot of people who you could call “good at baseball”? I assume during that time period they’d have a lot of 0-2 WAR guys and not so many Sosas and Derrek Lee types. Consistently mediocre.
I didn’t actually do the math or anything, just making a general assumption.
[img]http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5007/5276962523_724d62c19e_b.jpg[/img]
@ Suburban kid:
“It’s digestible” (dying laughing)
That’s almost as good as “It’s a (W)ay of Life” (dying laughing)
“It’s digestible!”
(dying laughing) that has to be the faintest praise I’ve ever read.
@ mb21:
Be optimistic: maybe they’ll be REALLY bad.
JoePoz tweeted something that I had completely forgot: Miguel Cabrera is younger than Joey Votto. And Cabrera is almost approaching a decade in terms of MLB time.
@ josh:
only 9/10 of doctors think it’s digestible
minor league baseball ——–> Champaign, IL?
http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/johnston120131short/
My favorite part is this sentence: “A former minor league owner, sports enthusiasts, and someone who helped lure a collegiate team to town in the 90’s were among the 15 people at the group’s initial meeting Monday night.” Only 15 people, yet the author doesn’t bother asking any of them for their names.
.
Livan Hernandez is apparently still alive. And is now an Astro.
@ WenningtonsGorillaCock:
This is the second time I’ve lived in a town that was trying to get a minor league baseball team going. I won’t get fooled again!
@ Rice Cube:
I used to follow the negative WAR type of stuff closely, but I haven’t in several years. At the time I was using VORP and the results weren’t too surprising. The Cubs had a lot of negative VORP in years like 2005 and 2006, but in 2007 and 2008 they didn’t.
@ josh:
I live in Chicago. We are lucky to have a minor league baseball team.
@ Rice Cube:
Yes, The Chicago Cubs. I’ve heard of them.
Rice Cube wrote:
Two of them.
@ Aisle424:
I guess the ones further north are the AA affiliate while the guys down south are the AAA.
The Crisco Frankman looks like Mr Hanky
[img]http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyhdihTsud1qctkcl.jpg[/img]
Rice Cube wrote:
I believe we finally have the proper slogan for the Cubs 2012 season.
At least Florida decided they want to remain part of the 49 states of America.
florida said no the MOON COLONY. I wish Florida was dead. Team MOON!
dylanj wrote:
she’s a harsh mistress
Mish wrote:
Todd Coffey has a nice rack. He’s really let himself go.
@ Berselius:
You’re assuming you’re somebody.
dylanj wrote:
For the life of me I don’t know why Newt went there, especially when he said he wouldn’t need to increase NASA’s budget to do it, but would instead privatize NASA and thereby make things more efficient.
It was essentially the biggest pork project pander ever, except it was all “facon.” Strange.
Berselius wrote:
Isn’t that the point of Field F/X? (dying laughing)
@ shawndgoldman:
It may affect fielding if they have to be tracked with G-P-Asses.
Read all the comments: http://www.insidethebook.com/ee/index.php/site/comments/do_relievers_today_perform_better_because_they_have_shorter_outings/ One comment down the page makes it worth it.
It's a great discussion, but that one comment is awesome.
mb21 wrote:
(dying laughing)
(dying laughing)
(dying laughing)
@ Berselius:
I’m glad somebody actually read through it. I’ve been laughing since I read it about 15 minutes ago.
mb21 wrote:
Are you an expert on comments? No? Then why are you commenting on them?
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
I’m an expert commentetrician.
mb21 wrote:
If I asked 20 blog operators about a comment, I guarantee most of them would answer incorrectly.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
But that’s too small a sample to be reliable. You’d need at least 3500 and then you’d have to run a regression analysis.
Just an FYI, crew.
When I use my phone on the site and hit the desktop button it takes me to the homepage. Then I click the thread and it brings me back to the mobile version. And also signs me out. Could just be my own issue but I thought you should know.
mb21 wrote:
You’re wedded to rule and to custom.
mb21 wrote:
(dying laughing) That was great.
Calcaterra takes issue wih Rogers’s latest:
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/02/01/columnist-phil-rogers-has-decided-ryan-brauns-appeal-for-us/
@ Rodrigo:
There will be a different mobile version within the next week or two. When we first transferred to WordPress we used a different theme, but since the first attempt was all fucked up we stuck with the same theme. I just haven’t had the interest in messing around with this crap since we moved. I will before too long though.
@ Mish:
Yeah and you have to read the entire thread for it to be funny.
[img]http://i.imgur.com/247c5.jpg[/img]
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/01/sports/baseball/cashman-and-epstein-recall-the-recent-yankees-red-sox-past.html?_r=1&ref=sports
@ mb21:
I read it at like 5 AM and was struggling going through comment by comment waiting for it. I think I learned a lot about relievers in the process. (dying laughing)
I figured Berselius and ACT may read it, but wasn’t sure the rest of you would. It’s not light reading, but you do learn a lot about relievers.
@ Mish:
“Sometimes it really is good to think about something.” — Phil Rogers, 12/1/11
@ mb21:
(dying laughing) that’s awesome
@ mb21:
Asshole, I read the heavier stats stuff too. (dying laughing)
mb21 wrote:
I skimmed the thread and found it in about 5 minutes. As an academic I’ve had a lot of practice skimming through pedantic bullshit to find the one or two facts I care about (dying laughing).
MLBTR put out a commenting policy. You aren’t allowed to say “Are you talking about this AGAIN!?”
@ Berselius:
Yeah, I got bored of the pitcher stuff quick, but still found the funny.
@ Berselius:
I wish I did that. I tried skimming through but was looking more torwards the beginning and end but didn’t know what I was looking for so decided to read it. Interesting, but boring topic (dying laughing).
@ mb21:
(dying laughing)
(dying laughing)
I humbly request another “Bottom of comments” button.
@ GBTS:
I just ctrl + end
@ josh:
I do too but now I’m on a smartphone.
New facepalm
http://www.obstructedview.net/chicago-cubs/daily-facepalm-2-1-12.html