What the hell is going on with the signing, non-signing of Griffey? My tendency is to blame the player for sending mixed messages, but the Braves have a track record of being well, fairly weird and crazy with these things as well. In two days Griffey will either be a Brave or we'll probably be reading about how his agent is the devil and that the Braves just won't deal with him anymore. How snubbing of them. Huzza!

Then there's this, from Lookout Landing,

As it turns out, the Atlanta Braves are run by crazy persons. For some reason they've decided not only that Griffey can still hit and play a full season without tripping over a puppy and impaling both thighs on a pair of socks, they think he's capable of playing the field. Some reports are hinting that they're hopeful that he can play centre field on occasion.

Frankly, you can't come to that conclusion without being totally insane. The only way he's comparable to any of the outfielders currently on the roster is if you forced everyone else to wear blindfolds and filled their shoes with burning coals, and even if he was, he'd be more likely to be injured if he was forced to gambol about chasing pop flies down in a corner.

 

I realize there are conflicting reports on what the Braves would possibly like to do with Griffey, but I couldn't pass up the quote above.

 

Go Braves Go.

Is anyone here planning on making a trip down to Surprise to see the Royals this spring? I've never gone, and probably won't anytime soon, but I was nevertheless curious about it.

Also, if anyone has done both, is there a consensus as to which is a better trip: Arizona or Florida? Don't make me go to the Hooters webpage myself to answer this question.

 

Overall, regarding Spring Training, I can't decide if it's a really overrated experience, or an underrated one. Like most things, it was probably much cooler 10-15 years ago, when the barriers to access and prices were both much lower.

George Clooney Headed Back to ER:

George Clooney has agreed to come back to the show that launched his career: ER.

Sources close to the series tell PEOPLE that ER co-creator John Wells has ordered a closed set to keep Clooney’s appearance under wraps.

 

Nearly two years ago I predicted this on this site.

Have you heard that next season will be the final season of ER?

Say it ain't so????

I wanted it to hit 20 years. The last show (IMHO) to carry on the cinema verite tradition of Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere and thirtysomething.

The good news... and this is so stunning!

Clooney will be coming back for the final season! Its too perfect. No way Cricton doesn't pull the strings to get this done.

George Clooney back in the ER... too perfect.

Thank you Crichton.

I didn't see a post on this:

 

KANSAS CITY -- Seven Royals, including 13-game winner Zack Greinke and newly acquired slugger Mike Jacobs, filed for salary arbitration on Thursday.

Also filing were pitchers Brian Bannister, Joel Peralta and Jimmy Gobble, catcher John Buck, and outfielder Mark Teahen.

I'm surprised this many guys had to file (i.e. didn't sign before hand). I think the Major League average is about three per team, so this is a pretty hefty total.

I can't wait to see how low Greinke's payout is because he only had 13 pitcher wins!

Continue reading this post »

Hey, its Saturday night, the Royals played horrible, no real football yet, etc... I'll start.

Morrissey- Irish Blood, English Heart

I've been dreaming of a time when
the English are sick to death
of Labour, and Tories
and spit upon the name Oliver Cromwell
and denounce this royal line that still salute him
and will salute him
FOREVER...

I love my Bosstones, but dude was wrong to attack this song last year on his radio show...

Ya ya ya!

Its a good thing the Braves haven't actually been producing much talent since the mid-90s big spending days, or all these supposedly great players might not be available:

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/F/John-Foster.shtml

John Foster, maybe we can trade him for Vinny Castilla or Jeff Blauser.

Apparently, the Marlins are worse than the Royals!

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-whiffingmarlins&prov=ap&type=lgns

The master plan is working. No one panic! JoePo and Dayton demand no panic! Just keep paying your taxes and supporting a terrible product...

-----

Time to game Google ads (why RR? Why??). I really like a nice pair of pantyhose on a woman. Anyone with me? Fishnets. But, I also like finishing off my day with a long tall mug of milk. My main concern is that I cannot find a mail order bride thats worth a damn.

Who is the most under-rated Royal ever?

I'll throw out two names:

-Mayberry
-Tartabull

Thoughts?

I think Frank White has been highly over-rated the last decade or so.

Mayberry stats:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/m/maybejo01.shtml

You never hear people talk about this guy anymore.

What do y'all think about the video reports the Star is doing from Spring Training?

Interesting concept.

The video pops up very fast and is very clear

In other news, Billy Butler won a HR derby yesterday.

Dutton on Butler's lack of defensive ability:

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/baseball/mlb/kansas_city_royals/16790342.htm

http://kansascity.royals.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070212&content_id=1800076&vkey=news_ kc&fext=.jsp&c_id=kc

Although I never thought he was that good.

He actually played all the way through 1998, which is kinda surprising.

His stats:

http://kansascity.royals.mlb.com/stats/historical/individual_stats_player.jsp?playerID=113786&c_ id=kc

The endless debate marches on.

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/if-i-were-a-carpenter/

Here's the conclusion:

Basically, Dayton Moore spent $55 million on a lottery ticket that he's hoping turns into riches (Chris Carpenter) but that has a much greater chance of being a collosal waste of cash (Jason Marquis). I can see the foundation upon which his hopes are built but I just don't see this lottery ticket coming up a winner.

Very in-depth, very detailed article. Certainly worth a lunchtime read.

Have you heard that next season will be the final season of ER?

Say it ain't so????

I wanted it to hit 20 years. The last show (IMHO) to carry on the cinema verite tradition of Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere and thirtysomething.

The good news... and this is so stunning!

Clooney will be coming back for the final season! Its too perfect. No way Cricton doesn't pull the strings to get this done.

George Clooney back in the ER... too perfect.

Link, although its subscrip only:

click here

here's the summary of what Kahrl said about the Royals latter moves (post winter meetings that is... from teh Burgos trade onward):

Obscure Good Move: Picking Joakim Soria in the Rule 5 draft. Kevin tabbed him as the system's sleeper, and I'm probably a little more enthusiastic about him than that, if only because of the organization's relative paucity of plausible prospects. If they're going to keep a guy like Bannister around, they ought to afford themselves the roster space to keep somebody with actual up-side.

What's Left to Do? Keep anonymously mailing Angel Berroa offers for free all-expenses-paid trips to Gatlin, Nebraska. Think pleasant thoughts about what's going to happen with Alex Gordon, and whether they'd rather move Mark Teahen to left, or see how many goodies they get offered from the several teams who could really use a quality third baseman.

Summary: The Meche deal was gutsy or insane, depending on your point of view, but whichever it ends up being, it will most of all define Moore, and if Meche is terrible out of the gates, it'll quickly become the same sort of albatross and punchline that Eric Milton was for Dan O'Brien. If, on the other hand, it actually works, score one for his scouting acumen. It's supposed to be his calling card, and he's essentially placed a $55 million bet on himself.

This is only abolut half of what was posted, but I respect BP and don't want to rip them off too much.

Has anyone else been following this?

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/baseball/mlb/kansas_city_royals/16576373.htm

It seems like really dumb PR for the Royals to do this in this way. They are getting money, and I'm sure they could just shift figures around in their accounting, still allowing the taxpayers to fund this equipment.

Urrg.

Jackson COunty must do everything in its power to help Alex Gordon blossom as a hitter... so he can leave as soon as possible.

End the Greed. End the lies.

A nation mourns...

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/more/01/29/barbaro.ap/index.html?cnn=yes

Losing Bing Devine and Barbaro in the same week is very difficult.

President Ford is petting Barbaro in heaven, while James Brown sings.

It takes a nation of millions to hold us back.

-----------

Sentence to get to 300 characters: Do we need a new official muse to replace Sterger for the 2007 season?

Yea or Nea?

He doesn't come off as a very involved guy, at least intellectually, as most of his post-game comments are in the "we didn't make plays" or "I don't know why [insert awful event]" genre. While this may just be his public persona, its frustrating to me since his job is to actually identify and fix these problems.

still, the players love him (supposedly) and his management of the lineup hasn't been horrible (i dont think alot of decisions re: Berroa, Gathright, etc were his)

So... yes or no on Bell? VOTE

Poll

Buddy Bell?

34%

Yes

23 votes

32%

No

22 votes

20%

Not Sure

14 votes

11%

Don't care

8 votes

67 votes | Poll has closed

Just another reason to hate this guy:

http://www.barstoolsports.com/randomthoughts/2007/01/09/#tim_tebow_winning_life

Ahh the glories of life.

How does someone get born to be Tim Tebow -- who appears to have no skills other than running straight ahead -- while someone else gets to born Joe Nobody?? Never did understand that one.

Ohh well, I'll always have the internet.

The HardBall Times has a good read on Emil Brown posted:

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/emil-brown-rule-v-survivor/

Here's a snippet.

On April 6, 2005, Brown's name was in the lineup against the Tigers. He was batting fifth. In the top of the first inning, in his first big-league plate appearance in 1,349 days, Brown singled to left off of Detroit's Mike Maroth. Brown finished the day 2-for-5, and, after a slow start, proceeded to have a season that best is described as improbable, batting .286/.349/.455 in just over 600 plate appearances. He nearly duplicated that effort in 2006 with a .287/.358/.457 line. (League offensive levels were down a bit that season, so even though Brown's raw numbers were slightly better, when compared to league average they were slightly worse.)

Ya Emil!

Is anyone else mystified/fascinated with this move?

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2720413

Are the Yankees actually shedding salary?

They basically traded Johnson for nothing:

Vizcaino, a 32-year-old right-hander, was 4-6 last season with 3.58 ERA in 70 games. He has a 25-23 career record with a 4.24 ERA in eight seasons, playing for Oakland, Milwaukee, the Chicago White Sox and Arizona.

Weird.

Maybe they are clearing up money for a possible Reggie Sanders deal?????? ;)

Its time to induct Blyleven into the Hall, if only so that we don't have to keep bitching about it.

Same for Santo.

Lone Star Ball had a great take on him today, comparing him to Nolan Ryan:

http://www.lonestarball.com/story/2006/12/15/142452/23

Blyleven has a career ERA of 3.31, and a career ERA+ of 118.  Ryan has a career ERA of 3.19, and a career ERA+ of 112.

Blyleven has a career WHIP of 1.198.  Ryan has a career WHIP of 1.247.

Blyleven has a career WARP3 of 142.0, versus a career WARP3 of 138.7 for Ryan.  

Don't like Blyleven's career .534 winning percentage?  It is still better than Ryan's career .526 winning percentage.

Etc.

In between composing fan letters to Jenn Sterger, i recommend everyone reading Bill james' Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame? amazon link which is sometimes also listed under The Politics of Glory.

Minor League Ball rules:

http://www.minorleagueball.com/story/2006/11/14/14436/066

He calls gordon "the best prospect in baseball".

1-2-3 is gordon, butler, hochevar. Huber is 7th, behind Lumsden. Maier is 9th.

Where's Calvin Pickering!!?!??!!

Where's Dee Brown!?!?!?!

Summary:The Royals In One Sentence: A rebuilding organization with a strong offensive core for the future but not much pitching depth.

Link here.

You've gone ahead and subscribed to BP, right? Right?

The Royals actually spent more per marginal win that just about any team.

In the Al Central the breakdown was this:

Twins: 1,144,304 per marginal win

Tigers: 1,583,122 per marginal win

Sox: 2,260,741 per marginal win

Indians: 1,594,405 per marginal win

Royals: 2,846,119

The Royals spent alot for the awful product they got.

congrats to the A's for a huge victory. Didn't we all know this would happen? After MONTHS of people saying "you don't want to face Santana in a 5-game series" endlessly, Johan gets beat by an inspired Barry Zito...

I love it.

The Cards-Padres boredome fest gets started here in an hour... CAN BOTH TEAM's LOSE?

and go Tigers, Yankees suck (although I really don't like Detroit)

Mizzou looks to take care of the Buffaloes... 28-13 heading to the 4th.

KU-Nebraska should be a huge game, I think people are overlooking the Jayhawks in this one.

And how could we forget KSU-Baylor. That will be an EPIC matchup between two HUGE teams.

Then theres Iowa-OSU tonight. Does IOwa have a chance???

She's just doing a victory lap now, the Pulitzer shall be hers:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/jenn_sterger/09/27/mailbag/index.html

I honestly wonder how many questions she gets? How many do they have to shift through that are just umm, lets say "fan mail". Ohh well.

The 18th century is dead.

Sheehan's been great this year (the last few years actually) on exposing the double-standards in the mainstream baseball media. If you think Fox News or the New York Times is biased, think about ESPN...

link:

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=5534&PHPSESSID=9b2ee29d01ecc90642bfcda1b 1b6ad44

snippets for those without a BP sub:

With his team holding a 4-2 lead in the seventh inning, the Yankees' Derek Jeter came to the plate, runner of second, one out. Jeter entered the game with a 25-game hitting streak, but had yet to connect on this night. Craig Hansen quickly ran the count to 3-0, opening the possibility that Jeter would draw a free pass and, given the score and inning, not get another chance to extend the streak.

Jeter would have none of that, though. Even though Hansen's 3-0 pitch was likely ball four, outside and possibly low, he took a swing at it and grounded weakly to first base. The runner ended up stranded, and the Yankee bullpen eventually gave up three runs in a 5-4 loss. The play was a fairly crtical one in the game; the difference between first-and-second with one out against runner on third with two out is more than half a run, and a walk there might well have stoked a rally that would have put away the game.

Let's be very clear about this: Jeter was swinging to extend the hitting streak. He took an 0-2 hack on a 3-0 pitch that was likely ball four.

Then this:

As there is in any Yankees telecast, there was praise for Jeter as a player who is a winner, who does the little things, etc.; what there wasn't was any discussion, at all, as to the merits of his chasing ball four on a 3-0 count for no reason other than personal advancement. I couldn't help but wonder what might have happened had another player, a less popular one, one not anointed by the baseball press, taken the same tack in trying to extend his hitting streak.

And remember, he is a Yankee fan.

Good stuff.

Do you give it to Teahen, despite all the missed time? He seems to be the obvious choice, but this is the Royals, so who knows.

DeJesus?
Grudz?
Hudson?

Grudz might not be a bad choice, despite the fact that at best, he's average.

I could see the Royals honoring Nelson, just because, well, he has those shiny saves...

any guesses???