Bunting Brackets Busted
Tony Campana was beaten by Steve Clevenger. Not in a brutal nanosophobic assault, but in a bunting contest. You could easily take this news with dismay that the guy whose only hope of reaching base is for the ball to come to rest too far in front of the defenders was ousted in the first round of a don't-hit-the-ball-very-far competition, but I'm choosing to stay positive. The silver lining, if you want to see it, is that the Cubs are loaded with guys who excel at hitting the ball short distances. Tony Campana is just one great bunter on a team full of weak-ass grounders waiting to happen. The excitement rolls on throughout this week as the field of 64 excellent light hitters gets whittled down to one champion of sissy slap ball.
Starlin Has Trust Issues
You've got to be careful, because there's a lot of bad people in this world.
That's Starlin's comment on the accusations of sexual assault levied against him in the offseason. He says he's learned one must be careful who one trusts. And by trusts, I think he means sleeps with anonymously. Yes, Starlin. One ought.
Dale Sveum Likes Starlin Castro
I should give thanks to Paul Sullivan and the rest of the Cub-focused mainstream sports media scribes for churning out lots of stories about the Cubs' hopes of potentially playing baseball someday. It's good to have something to read from someone interviewing the players who profess to play baseball, even if he does ruin his Castro/Sveum lovefest piece with a silly comment about Castro enduring the wrath of Mike Quade. I never saw Mike Quade's goshdarn wrath. I must have missed that, by golly, aw shucks. Still, it's good to know Castro and Sveum are getting along well. Sveum hopes to help the kid shore up his defense a bit.
Sveum recommended that Castro move in on ground balls to give him more time to throw. It seems odd to hear a major league shortstop take this as brilliant advice when the first thing any kid is taught the moment they first start taking grounders in kindergarten park-league is to charge the ball. A lot of times when people talk about fundamentals, we wonder what exactly is considered fundamental. Chances are, if you learned it in first grade. Or on The Baseball Bunch. Either way.
They should just start spring training with episodes of that show.
Do the Cubs have a game today?
No.
Analysis Mish Recently Mocked
Phil Rogers breaks down the Matt Garza trade. Or Phil Rogers just breaks down. I don't know why he continued any further than the fact that the Cubs missed out on the Rays' catch of the year. We've circled the sun, and the Cubs are still Fuldless. Worst. Trade. Every.
Link about Movies I Recently Enjoyed
Joe Posnanski tweeted a link to this proposed viewing order of the Star Wars saga, especially helpful for introducing the series to Star Wars virgins (this term has the potential to be equal parts ironic and redundant). After just witnessing the 3-D debacle of Episode I, I have to agree with the machete proposal: IV, V, II, III, VI. Check it out. It's some compelling reasoning, even for folks like berselius who deny the existence of the prequels.
(dying laughing)
(dying laughing)
(dying laughing)
I do think the Machete order is a smart way IF you want to do the prequels, but I still think I’d just skip them over entirely. The awfulness is just so overbearing at every level (writing, acting, coherence) that it cannot be saved, IMO.
Why would you waste money to watch shit in 3-D?
Mish is Star Wars Wilt Chamberlain.
The original trilogy works well as a stand-alone, and I have a VHS version of Jedi so I can skip the awfulness of Christensen at the end. The story of Vader’s genesis is so uncompelling in comparison to the story of his redemption.
@ Mish:
Subsequent viewings of the first two prequels especially have made me feel sad that they happened. I really enjoyed Episode III, but I’m afraid to watch it again and learn that it sucked dismally too. I’m still sure it was better than I and II, but the climax of the movie was so impossibly cheesy, I think it’s best I just leave that DVD in its case.
@ GBTS:
This is the nicest thing anyone has every said to me. That’s NOT a joke, sadly.
Can we throw in a Wayne’s World flashback (doodle-oo-doo! doodle-oo-doo!) in between Episode V and Episode I/II (depending on usage of Machete order)?
Tangentially, Machete is a fucking awesome movie if you like mindless violence.
@ Rice Cube:
My dad wanted to take my sons to see it, and they wanted to see it, so I went along to lend parental guidance. I really didn’t want to go, but I felt I had to.
@ AndCounting:
I would say it was the best of the three, and there were some enjoyable moments (not many, but I guess more than the two previous installments). But given that’s it’s building on the same narrative arc of I and II, there was NO way it could succeed for me. While most fanboys at least relish the 45-minute light saber duel, I find it too long, to overstimulating, and not enough emotional depth to justify it’s length.
I also have a major issue with trying to wrap everything up in a neat little package at the end (the Death Star, Tarkin, Obi-Wan learning to communicate with the dead, etc). Amidala’s death might be one of the worst in cinematic history. And the heavy-handed political stuff (“you’re either with me, or you are my enemy”) was just too blunt.
That said, it had easily the most enjoyable aspect of any of the prequels: Palpatine being pure evil. He’s the one redeeming factor of that movie.
@ AndCounting:
If my child was forced to endure the prequels, I’d go to so that I can explain to him the evil that exists in the world.
@ Mish:
Oh, what the fuck happened to this world? There’s only one trilogy, you fucking morons
Mish wrote:
Yes. Palpatine was the highlight. I also liked several visual allusions to various action movies, too. Die Hard, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Untouchables . . .
@ AndCounting:
Blade Runner too, though those were closer to ripoff than homage.
Mish wrote:
/unshun
Mace Windu was kind of badass too. And that one Yoda scene. That’s about it though
/shun
The correct viewing order is IV, V, VI
I don’t have a big problem with Hayden Christensen being inserted in the last scene, especially divorced of context of movies that did not exist. I’m far more annoyed that they got rid of the original song during that scene.
Maybe they should being in Tom Emanski and/or Fred McGriff too. That system is the one that gets results.
@ Berselius:
My main problem is it doesn’t make sense for Anakin to be young to me. The old guy as an old, redeemed Vader was fine with me. Or maybe if you can choose your dead Force self-image, why wasn’t Obi-Wan choosing to be young?
That edit doesn’t bother me nearly as much as the Wampa, Jabba in ANH, or the redone Emperor Scene in TESB.
@ Berselius:
Yub yub.
Berselius wrote:
@ Berselius:
You know what I hated? That Episode III was an exercise in really bad timing. The galaxy is something like 100000 light years across, yet somehow Padme ends up flying across the galaxy to find Anakin on Mustafar with Obi-Wan in tow, and then gets Force-choked to send Anakin over the edge. It’s a small universe after all and everyone is in on the bad timing.
And Mace Windu was gonna WIN. Then Anakin had to come in at the end and be a pissy little bitch and ruin it all. Fuck Anakin.
By the way, can Jedi swear? Mace Windu should’ve dropped an F-bomb or two. Wasted opportunity.
Next Round of Bunting Contest today
GO SVUEM! LAY IT ON WOOD! Seriously, a little disappointed about mid-march sweet sixteen date.
@ Rice Cube:
Jedi Motherfucker do you speak it?
It’s all so clear to me now.
@ Mish:
It still bugs the shit out of me that the Sith could have been vanquished 30 years sooner if not for whiny Anakin fucking it all up.
Rice Cube wrote:
I love sci-fi that takes the boringness of unvierse distances into account. The series I’m currently re-plowing through has some FTL travel phlebotenum in it but it still takes weeks to months to travel between systems. People will find out some news and they’re like “Let’s all get there!!” and then sit on a ship for three weeks (dying laughing).
@ Berselius:
Time dilation at near-light speeds is basically the whole point of The Forever War. Really good book.
EDIT: not the point, but the main device used to convey the point (alienation of soldiers).
@ josh:
I loved all the time dilation stuff in Ender’s Game too. Too bad the rest of that series was a shitshow, and OSC is an asshat.
@ josh:
Josh, have you read any books by Jack McDevitt? A friend of mine who’s a bigger sci-fi fan than I am loaned me the first book of two of his series and I liked them, but never got around to reading more of them.
@ Berselius:
I just finished a book called Anvil of Stars that makes pretty good use of extreme distances too. Basically, these Earth kids are searching the galaxy for the aliens that destroyed Earth. Since it takes so long to get anywhere, they have a really long time to think about and second guess themselves. I thought it was an effective use of that idea.
@ Berselius:
Agreed, double agreed, and triple agreed, respectively.
So we’re supposed to believe that Castro was unaware he should charge the ball? We’re supposed to believe this despite the fact that he worked with one of the best shortstops in history in Alan Trammel? What’s next? Are we going to learn that Mark McGwire didn’t stress hitting the ball a long way to Albert Pujols and the rest of the Cardinals?
There are few written things by journalists that actually are 0% true. This is one of them.
@ Berselius:
I’ve heard of him, but never read anything. I’m not the world’s biggest SF nerd. I tend to alternate between science fiction and horror.
@ mb21:
Maybe he knew it, but hasn’t been consistently attacking the ball in games, or something, or applying the technique effectively.
hey SK you asked in a prior post about finding cheap airline tix…i travel a shitload for work so i shop fares all the time and i’ve found bing to be pretty good. whereas expedia/travelocity/etc. all seem to offer the same fares, bing occasionally has unique deals, like sometimes if for example you are flying from o’hare to san francisco with a stop in denver, they will give you a rate that has you flying from ORD to DIA on one airline and DIA to SFO on another airline. other sites do this too but bing seems to find cheaper combos. they’ve even got a little thing on there that tells you whether or not you should buy or wait (i.e. whether their data shows prices rising or falling) which actually seems to be pretty accurate.
other people i know that travel a lot swear by hotwire. i’ve tried it and never found anything on there that all of the other sites didn’t also have but you may have better luck.
also, as an FYI (sorry if you already know this): always buy the tickets direct from the airline. that is, use bing or whatever to find the deal and then go to the airline’s site to make your purchase (it will be the same price). this way, if there is an issue with your flight, you will be able to deal directly with the airline instead of having to go through a third party, which can lead to huge problems if you miss your flight or something.
oh and you have to check southwest (and maybe air tran?) separately as no travel websites carry their fares.
@ josh:
That could be, but one of the best defensive shortstops in history no doubt stressed that to him when they worked together. So if he wasn’t charging it wasn’t because he hadn’t been told. Not only did Trammell tell him that, but so did Lou, Quade, Ramirez, every other player on the team, most teammates in the minors and all coaches along the way. Like AC said, this is something you learn very early and you don’t forget. It’s also something that makes sense in that if you charge a ball, you get to it quicker, which then means you have a better chance of converting the out. I’m assuming Castro isn’t so stupid that he couldn’t figure this out by himself. If Castro is that stupid no amount of coaching is ever going to change it.
The reason outfielders charge in on the ball is because they wouldn’t make outs if they didn’t. Everybody playing professional baseball on this planet knows that. So I’m going to assume that these guys are just full of shit because the alternative is that Castro is so stupid he probably doesn’t know how to tie his shoes. I would assume if what they’re saying is true that Castro has been wearing shoes 4 sizes too small or large. I’d also assume that he has to be given directions when going to the bathroom. It’s also quite likely he’d have to be told where shortstop is before he takes the field.
@ mb21:
I really can’t wait for the season to start so we can once again read false things about the stuff they’re not learning in real games.
I wish there was one big, giant faget point to apply to the entire Star Wars discussion. Or is it LOTR? I can’t really tell because I’m not a huge fag.
I don’t know if Castro was charging the ball or not. What I do know is that if he wasn’t it was because he didn’t want to or was too lazy to do it. I don’t know, but it’s not because he didn’t know and it’s not because he wasn’t told. If he didn’t charge the balls like he should, Ramirez, Barney and others would have told him to if the coaches somehow forgot about it.
@ AndCounting:
Yeah, me too. This one tops them all though. I expect tomorrow’s article will talk about how several Cubs didn’t know that swinging the bat could result in base hits.
I love spring training. You get headlines like this: Stewart not stewing over Ramirez (dying laughing)
EnricoPallazzo wrote:
I know this but still forget to do it all the time (dying laughing)
According to MLBTR, the Tigers have not ruled out trading for a pitcher. Below is a complete list of teams who have ruled out trading for a pitcher:
@ Berselius:
Obviously you need a new coach who will stress something you already knew.
@ mb21:
I hear he’s making a cassoulet instead.
@ mb21:
Fair point. I’m operating under the assumption that Sveum said something about charging the ball that was misinterpreted, or Sveum’s point was more complicated. I haven’t watched every game, but Castro does seem inclined to wait back on the ball. That’s not saying Trammell didn’t work on it with him, but if he’s gotten into a bad habit, it may take hundreds of reps before you start doing it consistently in the ball game. It’s not so much a matter of intelligence and knowing the correct response as it is muscle memory.
I hear Wood nailed Castro in the wrist. He knows he’s supposed to charge the ball while fielding, not the plate while batting, right?
@ Rodrigo Ramirez:
Don’t you have your own blog where you can complain about not being a faget?
We knew when Castro came up his defense needed work, or at least that’s what I remember all the analysts saying. Obviously the minor league managers noticed he had some bad habits, or sloppy technique, or whatever you want to call it. You don’t just say once “hey don’t do that” and shit is fixed, not with a reaction-based activity.
@ josh:
I don’t disagree with that though I honestly have no idea if Castro charged like he should or not. I didn’t read the article, but what I took from what AC said is that Castro is somehow now being told to charge balls and he wasn’t before. That’s nonsense. Castro was told to charge balls by the first time he played organized baseball. It also came naturally to him because you can obviously get more outs if you move around. Saying he wasn’t told this is like saying he wasn’t told to move to his left or right. It’s obvious and it’s something you probably don’t even need to be told, but still are.
@ josh:
Agreed, but from what I recall Castro was just a bad fielder and so far at the MLB level he’s been pretty damn bad. That’s why the scouting report on him in the minors was that he’d probably have to move to 2nd or 3rd. I think they should stress everything they can that can help him improve, but the idea this hasn’t been stressed already is ridiculous.
@ mb21:
Here’s the quote from the article:
I imagine it actually went like this:
Sveum: You know if you charge those grounders, you’ll have more time and a shorter throw.
Castro: No shit, thanks.
@ AndCounting:
If that is really the way the conversation went then Castro may in fact be uncoachable…that makes me sad.
AndCounting wrote:
(dying laughing) that’s exactly how I think that went too.
@ Rice Cube:
I don’t see it like that. Imagine your boss telling you something you already knew. You may listen and consider the information, but to yourself you’ll be thinking exactly what AC thought Castro probably said.
I’m guessing that managers give cliched, known advice to players all the time and the player understands that is what it is and just nods and moves on.
@ mb21:
THIS. My bosses tell me all the time how to do things I already know how to do, and I’m pretty sure they know I know too. It’s just an accepted practice between boss and underling.
@ mb21:
I guess Castro would eventually just assimilate the advice into his routine to make the boss STFU then.
@ Rice Cube:
I highly doubt he’s uncoachable. It’s just that the way Josh described it is right on. It’s not like you can fix bad habits with just a word of basic advice. And no direct quote from anybody makes it seem they think that way. But the bottom line is, this is pretty basic information. For this to be the first point they discuss in spring training is kind of discouraging. “We worked on some basics: throw with your right hand, step with your left foot; use two hands; charge the ball; there’s no I in team; lift with your legs, not your back. Tomorrow we’ll focus on not counting your chickens before they hatch and never letting your girlfriend cut your hair.”
@ mb21:
If he’s already gotten the advice and already knows it, fine and great. His defense sucks. It’s ballsack. If Sveum sees a couple little things he can do to help, then how is that different than a pitching coach or a hitting coach offering tweaks in stances and deliveries? I guess I just don’t see where the ire is coming from. I don’t presume to know everything about my job. If I’ve gotten into a habit, or thought someone wanted something a certain way and found out they’d prefer it a different way, then I’d welcome that advice. Everything we get from the media goes through the filter from what happened to how the coach chooses to explain it, and then how the writer chooses to write it down. If Sullivan is a shitty reporter, so be it, but that doesn’t mean that Sveum couldn’t have actually taught Castro something that he didn’t know before. Fuck, for all we know, Trammel preferred to play deep, or told Castro to play deep to take advantage of his speed, and Sveum thinks he’s better of playing in and that’s the extent of the advice. I don’t get why this is an Office Space TPS-report situation.
@ Rodrigo Ramirez:
@ josh:
I think someone’s got a case of the Mondays.
/awaits asskicking
Oops.
@ AndCounting:
(dying laughing)
(dying laughing)
josh wrote:
We can talk through this if you like. What’s really bothering you?
@ GBTS:
That should read
“GOALTENDING”
@ josh:
I’m all for Sveum telling Castro whatever the hell he wants. it’s his team, but the idea that he hasn’t been told to charge balls is what gets me. It doesn’t make me upset one bit. I think it’s kind of funny, but Castro already knew that. To me, this is the same as Sveum going up to Castro and saying something like this: you know, kid, you should focus on batting right handed. If Sveum wants to tell Castro that, fine. It’s his team and he can do whatever he wants.
This is Rizzo and Jackson discussing Sveum’s advice to “hit the ball hard when it is pitched in the strike zone.” They agree it is good advice.
@ Mish:
Sveum also told them not to hit it at a defender. Solid advice.
I’m too lazy to go back and check, but I thought that Sveum’s advice was more about initial positioning than charging the ball. I mean, I imagine he knows to charge a ground ball, but where he starts charging from might make a difference. Maybe he’s been depending too much on his range, thinking that if he stays back farther from the plate he has a better chance of getting stuff that’s on the infield/outfield edge, and Sveum wants him closer in to get stuff that only the shortstop is gonna get.
Or something like that. What I’m sure of is that we shouldn’t make any decision about how stupid either of them is based on the filter that we’re getting this through. This is what Sveum and Castro thought some fucking reporter would want to know about what they were doing, and its the part of what they told the reporter that the reporter thought would fit into a story that would say something that the average fan wanted to hear.
Update: ok, it says that his advice was “to move in a few feet on grounders” and it says that Castro previously “sat back and depended on his speed.” I can see where you guys think its about charging, but since there isn’t a quote from either of them and its Sullivan ( or any Chicago beat reporter) it seems to me that between charging and positioning, it could go either way. Maybe what he’s basically saying is, “ok, Starlin, you’re fast enough to get there if you do hang back a millisecond, but then you make a bad throw.” This seems to me to be what Castro actually does: he gets to balls but then he throws them over first base or doesn’t pick them up. Maybe there’s a little hesitation habit that Sveum is trying to break. Like JOsh said above, its not about knowing or not knowing what to do, its about habit. Its also about what they told the hobbit and how he interpreted it.
josh wrote:
I would hope that Sveum can each Castro something he didn’t know already. Maybe it’s how Sveum told Castro to charge the ball. Skip, gallop, then throw. That could be the trick. I don’t know.
I’m not complaining that Sveum is telling Castro this stuff. I’m complaining that it’s being reported as if it’s new information to him.
@ mb21:
I guess we’ll see in the first few spring training games whether Castro takes the advice to heart or simply takes it “under advisement”…I’m going to file this under “whatever” now (dying laughing)
I’d like to think that the new management group is actually going to help improve overall defense, even if it’s just marginal improvement.
@ Urk:
@ mb21:
+1 to both.
@ AndCounting:
Monsters.
@ Urk:
I initially thought that, too, Urk, except that he said he should “move in a few feet on grounders.” Unless he knows when the grounders are coming, I figured this had to be referring to his approach once the ball was hit on the ground and not initial positioning before the pitch. It could just be confusing writing, I’m open to considering that possibility.
@ Urk:
That’s what I was trying to get at as well.
I guess Marshall signed an extension.
Sean Marshall —> 3 years, $16.5MM extension
I think infield positioning is more about the type batter/pitcher match-up. If Albert Pujols is at the plate you don’t want to play in too far or you’ll die. If Ryan Theriot is at the plate you’re safe as long as you’re at least a few inches away from the bat Theriot swings.
@ Rice Cube:
That’s a damn good contract for the Reds. It will be an awesome contract if he becomes their closer.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/10-best-things-being-yankees-fan-185908452.html
They were going to just list all the championships but ran out of fingers and toes.
@ mb21:
He doesn’t have the closer mentality.
Really, though, the Reds are just locking Marshall up to make sure he doesn’t humiliate Joey Votto again.
Eh, I don’t like any long-term deal with a relief pitcher. Marshall is pretty good though.
This article from Doug Padilla gives an alternate angle of the Sveum-to-Castro instruction issue:
http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/cubs/post/_/id/8045/sveum-hopes-pointer-pays-off-for-castro
@ Berselius:
He’s probably one of the 3-5 best relievers in baseball since permanently going to the bullpen. I generally wouldn’t pay for a reliever either, but I think the situation here makes sense for the Reds. They got him at a great price given the reliever market, and the Reds are thinking they can make a run in the next 3 years (further evidenced by the Latos trade). Throw in that Chapman will be rotation bound and this helps provide some insurance.
@ Mish:
Yeah, I see what you mean. If I had tons of spare time I would take a look at top relievers (though I’m sure someone has already done a study). Somehow I think that guys who are top 3-5 relievers don’t stay that way too often. The Reds could probably have gotten similar production for less $$ if they just kept Travis Wood and put him in Marshall’s role.
@ Rice Cube:
This seems to reinforce the “Paul Sullivan is a lazy, half-assed writer” theme.
Yeah, reliever volatility is really high for all non-Mariano’s, so it’s definitely a risk. I’m thinking this is just a way to avoid having to get into a bidding war for a reliever in the coming off-season(s), and the fact that you’re getting one of the best guys at the position.
I think I like the trade because I don’t hate it (question begging!) – what I mean is, I usually hate every reliever deal ever, because it’s usually too much money or too many years for too much risk. This does not hit me in the same way.
Rodrigo ——————–> The Man
Star Wars Nerds ————————————-> STFU
@ EnricoPallazzo:
Thanks EP, much appreciated.
@ josh:
Until there’s actual baseball being played I think you’ll continue to get mundane updates about infield drills etc. That’s all this really is to me…the coaches are new, they don’t know the players’ tendencies, so they’ll make suggestions, some of which are no-brainers. I imagine since nobody’s descended into fisticuffs yet that this is not a major issue. It is kind of interesting that Sullivan reported a footwork adjustment whereas Padilla reported a mechanical adjustment, though.
Rosenthal:
So…they’re leaving open the possibility that Marshall has to spot start?
Cubs Legend Rodrigo Lopez is starting the first spring training game.
@ Rice Cube:
I guess that’s right. The reporters are trying to read into every little detail because there’s nothing else happening.
@ Rice Cube:
Note that Padilla’s quote from Sveum has almost as many words as Sullivan’s entire story. On the one hand, its nice to read a Sullivan story that isn’t a hit piece. On the other hand, its seems like he might have left out a good bit of what they actually made available for reporters as raw materials for spring training puff pieces. I imagine that Sveum’s advice included both things and probably more. We can just say that Castro’s a bad defender, but part of Sveum’s job is to figure out why a player with those tools is a bad defender. Neither of those stories really amounts to stuff that’s worth writing an article about. Together they indicate that yes, spring training is going on.
josh wrote:
I can’t wait for the season to start. The bloggers are trying to read into every little detail that the reporters are running because there’s nothing else happening.
This creeps Calcaterra out:
Dempster and Garza start in the two games after Lopez. (Monday and Tuesday next week). Both games on WGN Radio.
@ Berselius:
Life is happening. If bloggers hadn’t sacrificed their melanin for internet fame, they might be have been able to experience it.
EDIT: Also, there’s Star Wars in 3-D to bitch about.
@ Mish:
Yes, please visit:
http://www.Dontyouhaveyourownblogwhereyoucancomplainaboutnotbeingafaget.com
@ Rice Cube:
In sum: Paul Sullivan is really, really, really bad at his job.
Holy crap @ that Samardzjia pic. Liberace took pictures that looked more butch than that thing.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Isn’t that the answer to every equation?
@ Urk:
This is one of my chief gripes with Sullivan. He’s so prone to creatively truncating the quotes in his piece, it’s impossible to trust anything he cites as having come from a player or coach, because you already know it’s been edited for content and the degree to which Sullivan can make it fit his narrative. Apparently this year’s narrative will be “Castro’s defense is why the Cubs are bad, and he’s a pig-headed uncoachable player.”
I really should have given this piece a more critical eye the first time I read it.
@ Suburban kid:
When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem begins to resemble a nail.
Mercurial Outfielder wrote:
.
@ Rice Cube:
This is one of those rare opportunities where a pro-genocide position is both acceptable and moral.
/Late to the party
@ josh:
Still not as bad as the JefF7 pic.
Dear Paul Sullivan:
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
I take it you just read Sully’s article (dying laughing)
I glanced through it but didn’t find anything too malicious. I guess if you had the time and nigh-infinite internet space, you should at least write a fuller story so people aren’t left guessing and trying to put stuff back into the context that was stripped away.
Looks like Varitek just retired.
@ Rice Cube:
Sullivan just doesn’t care about that. He’s lazy. He picks and chooses which comments he’ll quote. If they don’t work for him he’ll change them slightly (we have actually caught him doing it just that on at least one occasion). I can only assume there have been others. I haven’t read a Paul Sullivan article in at least a year and have no interest in doing so. I wish all internet links were specially marked for me if they link to something Sullivan has written.
Regarding the Marshall extension, Mish’s response is exactly why I like it. He’s been one of the top relievers in baseball over the last few years. If he were a free agent I think he’d get at least a 3 year, $30 million contract. I’ve said before I don’t really like any non-Mo long-term contract for relievers and that’s still how I feel, but I’m usually thinking 3 to 4 years and $10 million per year for those closer types. Marshall is getting just over $5 million per year. I like that contract a lot.
Posnanski weighs in on The Phantom menace and other awful sequels.
http://joeposnanski.blogspot.com/2012/02/worst-sequels-in-numerical-order.html
@ Mish:
This reminds me, this weekend’s OV Annual Symposium, entitled “Does Mish Like the Prequels?” was a rousing success. Big thanks to all who participated.
@ Mish:
I liked The Godfather 3. It wasn’t anywhere close to the first two, but I liked it. Caddyshack 2 would be at the top of my list of worst sequels. I don’t have fond enough memories of the original Star Wars to really give a shit about the prequels. I saw the first one, didn’t like it and didn’t watch the other 2.
@ GBTS:
You need to batman into that image. Otherwise there’s no record of Mish having attended.
@ mb21:
You don’t see Batman until it’s too late.
@ Mish:
Using a James Bond movie is a cheat. Those movies don’t have a sequence and are largely self-contained. Same goes for Batman & Robin, I presume (haven’t seen it, never will).
@ GBTS:
AC told me we are going to replace the Daily Facepalm with the Daily Mish bitches about Star Wars and No One Cares.
@mb21
Really, Sophia Coppolla was the only part that makes it unwatchable. I hardly think it’s up there with the first two (which would be 2 of my 3 favorite movies ever), but it’s still better than most movies I see.
Maybe we should just have permanent Unobstructed Views for each of Star Wars prequels/Breaking Bad/cooking chemsistry.
@ ACT:
I agree with this, though Never Say Never Again is a truly awful movie. I don’t remember the original Batman movies all that well (shocker, I know), so I don’t remember. It was semi-sequelly insofar as that it clearly came after Batman Forever, but I tend to agree that it’s more episodic than serial (unlike the Nolan flicks).
@ Mish:
We could maybe even have one for Cubs baseball too. (dying laughing)
@ Mish:
Haven’t seen the pre-Nolan Batmans in over a decade, but I think only Batman Returns was a true sequel (to the original Batman) and Schumacher abandoned continuity altogether (even using different actors in the title role, though Alfred was the same in all movies).
HA! White Sox announcers rated worst
@ Mish:
There were some moments in Godfather 3 that I didn’t like though I haven’t seen the movie in a decade so I don’t remember which ones. What I always remembered about the movie was that it was good compared to most other movies, but really shouldn’t be compared to the first 2 in the series. If Godfather 1 and 2 are replacement level movies, every other movie in my opinion is below replacement level. It’s like comparing Starlin Castro to Barry Bonds. It’s just not fair.
@ GBTS:
If we wanted to talk about Cubs baseball this would be a Cubs blog.
Mish wrote:
Breaking Bad threads would work well for chemistry discussion. We’re all about combining and minimizing around here.
@ mb21:
(dying laughing)
Good point.
That stuff about Marshall’s contract incentives for finishing OR starting games is interesting. Despite his team playerness, he never quite convinced anyone he didn’t really want to start. Of course, all pitchers want to start.
Now that he’s been traded to a team that is managed by a manager who started Marshall in 24 games in a season, in fact in every game he appeared in that year, there could be some willingness from the management side to keep that door fairly open.
I think he should stay a reliever, but I wouldn’t blame him or the Reds for trying him in the rotation again.
@ mb21:
No we’re not. I’m for multiplying and diffusing.
@ Suburban kid:
I don’t think the incentives really tell us much. Barry Bonds once had an incentive for something like half a million bucks if he was the starting pitcher for the NL All-Stars. Sometimes I have no freaking idea how people come up with their incentives. Marshall may be thinking along the same lines that you are. When Baker managed him he was more interested in him as a starter so if that happens again, Marshall wants a bit more money.
@ mb21:
No offense but that’s a silly comparison. Chance of Bonds pitching in the All-Star game ever: -900000%. Chances of Marshall starting games sometime in the next three years: ~25%
Aramis Ramirez had an incentive in his contract for an award that doesn’t exist (LDS MVP). That always cracked me up.
New overdue shit: http://www.obstructedview.net/?p=2428
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