SB Nation User Blog: Goose

Nick Franklin Signs

Goose — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 21:21:57 -0000

Nick Franklin Signs

The Mariners have signed No. 27 overall pick Nick Franklin for $1.28 million. He’s the 17th of the 32 first-rounders to sign and the fifth to get more than MLB’s recommendation for his slot. The commissioner’s office’s guideline was $1,161,000.

Come Play Baseball Manager(Mogul) Online!

Goose — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 21:16:58 -0000

Earlier in the season Brett made a post asking if anybody wanted to join the LL BMO league. This is the 2nd version of this league and it's gone pretty well.

We've played over 10 seasons and in doing so, figured out some of the bugs in the program. After some discussion it was decided to restart the league with some of the improvements that we've figured out.

We've had a few people either drop out or just not pay attention. So as a result we currently have about 10-15 spots(for now) open.

Here's the forum for the league. If you wanna play, post. The url for the league and information is in this thread.

Teams are randomized and cities are equalized.

Don Fehr is stepping down as executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, a...

Goose — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 19:44:22 -0000

Don Fehr is stepping down as executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, a position he's held since the mid-1980s, a source tells ESPN.

Link

Jim Bowden apparently has a crystal ball

Goose — Fri, 01 May 2009 01:25:27 -0000

Mlb.com

Washington is going to draft Strasburg," Bowden said, according to a transcript in the Washington Times. "The decision has already been made. It was made when I was there. That is who they are going to take. ... This is the best amateur pitcher since I was born. He is that good -- his delivery, his stuff, 100 miles an hour in the eighth inning, his makeup. He's got the entire package.

But Strasburg and his agent Scott Boras are reportedly asking for a $50 million dollar contract, which would shatter the draft record of $10.5 million given to Mark Prior in 2001. "You think they are going to sign him early? No, it's going to be Aug. 15 at 11:57 p.m.," Bowden said. "It will end at around $15 million, about under $35 million of what Scott [Boras] wants, but that is where it ends up. It will be record-breaking, and he will be pitching in the big leagues in September. He is that good."

$50 Million? Holy crap.

Per LSB, Andruw Jones is cut by the Rangers.

Goose — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 08:17:08 -0000

Per LSB, Andruw Jones is cut by the Rangers.

SURPRISE, Ariz. - Rangers general manager Jon Daniels acknowledged the team is likely to decline to add non-roster outfielder Andruw Jones to the 40-man roster by Friday, thus giving the 10-time Gold Glove winner a chance to take free agency.

Elias Rankings

Goose — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 03:04:22 -0000

There have been several articles over the past few weeks on the potential Elias Rankings, but USSM breaks with the first official article here.

Some notables

Type A:

Mark Teixeira

CC Sabathia

AJ Burnett

Pat Burrell

Orlando Cabrera(he of the .705 OPS)

Juan Cruz(woot!)

Ryan Dempster

Adam Dunn

Bobby Howry(who?)

Orlando Hudson

Jamie Moyer

Oliver Perez

Manny Rameriz

Edgar Renteria

Fransisco Rodriguez

Ben Sheets

Jason Varitek(He of the .672 OPS)

Type B:

Moises Alou(who had 49 at bats in 2008)

Milton Bradley(who only lead the AL in OBP)

Mike Cameron

Eric Gagne

Jon Garland

Ken Griffey Jr.

Randy Johnson

Brandon Lyon(hahahahahahaha!)

Greg Maddux

Arthur Rhodes

Ivan Rodriguez

Frank Thomas

9-7-08 OTPOTD Metallica Edition

Goose — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 15:21:42 -0000

My turn to start one of these things. And the starting topic is going be Metallica's new album "Death Magnetic". Due out officially on Friday, here's a review for those of you who might want to acquire Metallica's latest creation, song by song.

1.That Was Just Your Life(7:08)- The first thing I notice about this song is that the opening riff sounds kinda like the opening riff of the theme song to "Beast Wars:Transformers". Which is a good omen, because that show kicked ass. The 2nd thing I notice is that this isn't St.Anger. And thank god for that. The snare drum is reduced and it blends into the song instead of completely overpowering it. This is a good song and a nice opener. A sign that maybe, just maybe this album might not suck.

2.The End of the Line(7:52)/3.Broken, Beat & Scarred(6:25)- The reason I put these two songs together is because they kinda blend together. There isn't anything that stands out about them. That's not to say they are bad songs, just simply kinda meh. But still miles better than anything that was on St.Anger.

4.The Day That Never Comes(7:56)- This is the first single that Metallica released on their website a few weeks back. After listening to it a few times, I've revised my opinion. It's a pretty good song. The first few minutes are a little weak and there's section where we hear this: "Love is a four letter word, and never spoke here. Love is a four letter word, here in this prison." Really Metallica? Love is a four letter word? Really? Ugh. But just when you think this song is heading towards shitsville, you hit the 5:00 mark and.........a Guitar Solo! Holy shit a guitar solo! I didn't think Metallica did those anymore! And it's an awesome solo at that. It takes you through the rest of the song and just kicks ass. I think this is Kirk Hammet unleashing some frustration from the last album.

5.All Nightmare Long(7:58)- This song starts off alright for the first 30 seconds or so. You're listening to it and thinking "Hmm, this is decent." and then you hit the :37 mark.....BAM! The song grabs you by the throat and shoves you into a fucking wall! This song is vintage Metallica. It's hard, it's fast, it's thrash, it's fucking metal! This song could be straight off Ride the Lighting and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Bottom line: An awesome song that could be in the top 10 of Metallica's library when it's all said and done. Awesome!

6.Cyanide(6:39)- I didn't really like this song for some reason. It's not an abomination or anything, but it wasn't something I really reacted too all that much. I don't know, maybe it'll sound better after I listen to it a few more times.

7.The Unforgiven III(7:46)- This is the song that I was worried about. Song sequels rarely work(some notable exceptions being Megadeth's Hangar 18 and Return to Hangar) and The Unforgiven II sucked. And I swore if I heard Hetfield utter the words "And I'm Unforgiven THREEEEEEEEE!!!" I was going to delete the entire Metallica library from my computer and set fire to every CD I have. But he doesn't, in fact the word Unforgiven doesn't appear at all in this song. The word forgive does a few times though. All and all, a decent song, but I'm hoping this is the end of the Unforgiven story.

8.The Judas Kiss(8:00)- This is probably my 2nd favorite song on the album. Good riffs, good lyrics, and a nice solo. Just an excellent all around song.

9.Suicide & Redemption(9:57)- This one is an instrumental and it's a good one. It isn't as epic as The Call to Ktulu or Orion, but it's still a good song. The longest song on the album(though instrumentals generally are).

10.My Apocalypse(5:01)- Lars starts to turn the snare drum up again at some points, but it doesn't get too obnoxious. Overall a solid song to close the album out with.

You'll notice that this album is really long, ending up at just under an hour and 15 minutes for 10 songs.Damn.Overall, I enjoyed Death Magnetic. Easily the best album Metallica has done since ...And Justice For All, in fact it's close to being it's equal. It proves that while Metallica's best days are obviously behind them, the rumors of their demise were certainly premature. If you are a Metallica fan or just a metal fan in general, this album is certainly worth your money or your bandwidth.

The End Begins

Goose — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 04:14:47 -0000

The End Begins

Firefox 3 is here!

Goose — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 19:18:56 -0000

Firefox 3 is here!

The FF3 Beta's and RC's have been pretty awesome, so let's see what the final release has in store.

The Mariners have driven Steve Kelley insane.

Goose — Sun, 11 May 2008 15:24:28 -0000

Though I imagine we're all pretty close to that by now, but holy crap this is a little over the edge.

The video is accompanied by an article with some guy ranting about bloggers vs mainstream media and whatever, but the video is the real gold here.

Thanks to Fark who linked to this with the headline:Wait, why are we supposed to take sports journalism seriously?

The Mariners suck. The Mariners suck. Holy crap the Mariners suck.