While the NFL is run by beings pure evil, Major League Baseball seems to be run by the most shortsighted incompetents in any major sports league. It's clear they're trying but their shoelaces are tied together and when they try to walk and chew gum, they trip and make a mess. Can we just surrender MLB leadership to David Silver or would he maybe be too busy right now? That guy actually seems to want young people to experience and enjoy the league he runs.
Mike Yastrzemski is 30? (Which is disturbing considering I can remember his grandfather's playing days) He only made his major league debut last year so I figured he was a kid. They say players typically peak around 27. So you'd think a guy that was still in the minors on his 28th birthday, particularly for an MLB team that had been lousy for a couple years and was presumably looking help, would be discouraged enough to say this isn't going to happen for me and move on from baseball. But considering he now has a career .901 OPS, maybe the Giants made a mistake with him.
I mean, since he was an Oriole through 2018, they would be the ones who made the mistake.
But he was never a highly-regarded prospect, and even though he had some good years in the minors it mostly looked like he had stalled out at AAA. They decided they weren't going to give him a shot and let him leave (when, of course, 2019 would have been the perfect time to do just that).
When Cervelli retired briefly due to all the concussions and then unretired, we all wondered what he was thinking. We're still wondering. MLB has always valued guys that are considered "gamers", but this is an example of when being a gamer isn't a good thing. Actually, looking at it long term it probably often isn't a good thing. But the guy playing on a bum knee during a pennant stretch thus requiring a knee replacement at age 50 is somewhat less tragic than someone risking their brain health I guess. Though you wonder if my fictional guy with the knee would do things differently now if he could do it again after seeing how it turned out.
I was thinking that the nickname wouldn't have to be because HE liked whomever said it, it would be because others, did. At 5 adults would be all to happy to give him that nickname in t-ball. I think he is exactly the right age for that
Current fires are, from all reports so far, lighting strikes. The big Paradise fire last year, as that article notes, is from over/bad development.
Fire in the forest is, overall, fine for forest development purposes. The current fires are scary because of land use policies that prioritize existing homeowners over vacant land. Cities like LA, SF, and any city in Silicon Valley cannot upzone because one constituency loves its land value from being a rare commodity and another constituency hates greedy developers that will only build "luxury" units. They both use "shadow lines" and "traffic" to prove their point. Its a winning combination for electeds here which is why there are so many anti growth politicians.
We can hope that by the time you want to come west, single family designation will be a thing of the past, but its not likely there will be a building boom by that time.
My wife and sister in law both ride jumpers. It is a good way to spend a lot of money very quickly. Sometimes I think it would be cheaper if they just ate money.
Two years ago, Brandon Leibrandt was let go by the Phillies farm system after suffering an injury that required Tommy John surgery. Ten or so weeks ago, he was pitching for a glorified pick-up team in Somerset, NJ. On Sunday, he went four innings for the Marlins, giving up only one hit and one walk while getting one strikeout in four innings of work.
Ahh, Dragonlance. Chronicles! Legends! I read those books somewhere around 8th or 9th grade. Thing is, I didn't play D&D or AD&D - I was a Warhammer Fantasy Battle guy. (I know 40k was more popular but even though I loved sci-fi, I never went that way.) Anyway, my absolute favorite of the TSR, inc.-inspired books were R. A. Salvatore's books about that dark elf gone good, Drizzt Do'Urden. I swear, nobody writes a swordfight scene like Salvatore. So of course I looked him up and what's this? He wrapped up a NEW DRIZZT TRILOGY earlier this year. I suppose I'll have to go check that out, because I had no idea. I hadn't thought about Do'Urden and the gang in years! Maybe I'll go see what the ol' drow has been up to lately. All because of your Dragonlance reference, Craig!
As for the Brewers, ugh. They miss Lorenzo Cain's defense something fierce, and meanwhile the new bats just aren't getting it done (with the surprising exception of Jedd Gyorko, who I somehow have a "shirsey" of from his San Diego days). They hoped either Justin Smoak and/or Logan Morrison would have an "up" year, not the worst gamble, but currently the former is barely hitting and the latter was DFAd a couple weeks ago. The pitching has kept them barely breathing and the expanded playoffs are still within reach, but when your win-loss record is (11 x 2.7) and (15 x 2.7) and there's not much more than a month to go, you better turn it around quick. There's hope - Yelich and Hiura are hitting and Braun's OPS is climbing too. Fingers crossed for Avi Garcia and let's see what happens in the next 8 days because the trade vultures are circling and they're hungry for Hader...
Rocco Baldelli is holding the Twins together with spit, bubble gum, and Nelson Cruz. The guy seems like a first-rate manager. I was very skeptical of the hiring of college pitching coach Wes Johnson, but he's helped the likes of Randy Dobnak look like an ace so I'm happy to be wrong.
I enjoyed your essay on Hodgman's book. It was unintentionally humorous to read your words mourning the loss of the status that came with working for NBC, and then see your author's bio that appears at the bottom of each entry, which still opens with "Craig is the national baseball writer for NBCSports.com."
While the NFL is run by beings pure evil, Major League Baseball seems to be run by the most shortsighted incompetents in any major sports league. It's clear they're trying but their shoelaces are tied together and when they try to walk and chew gum, they trip and make a mess. Can we just surrender MLB leadership to David Silver or would he maybe be too busy right now? That guy actually seems to want young people to experience and enjoy the league he runs.
"Dave? Dave's not here, man....."
Mike Yastrzemski is 30? (Which is disturbing considering I can remember his grandfather's playing days) He only made his major league debut last year so I figured he was a kid. They say players typically peak around 27. So you'd think a guy that was still in the minors on his 28th birthday, particularly for an MLB team that had been lousy for a couple years and was presumably looking help, would be discouraged enough to say this isn't going to happen for me and move on from baseball. But considering he now has a career .901 OPS, maybe the Giants made a mistake with him.
I mean, since he was an Oriole through 2018, they would be the ones who made the mistake.
But he was never a highly-regarded prospect, and even though he had some good years in the minors it mostly looked like he had stalled out at AAA. They decided they weren't going to give him a shot and let him leave (when, of course, 2019 would have been the perfect time to do just that).
When Cervelli retired briefly due to all the concussions and then unretired, we all wondered what he was thinking. We're still wondering. MLB has always valued guys that are considered "gamers", but this is an example of when being a gamer isn't a good thing. Actually, looking at it long term it probably often isn't a good thing. But the guy playing on a bum knee during a pennant stretch thus requiring a knee replacement at age 50 is somewhat less tragic than someone risking their brain health I guess. Though you wonder if my fictional guy with the knee would do things differently now if he could do it again after seeing how it turned out.
I'm sure Jake Taylor is doing just fine with his new legs.
This is the kind of running gag/long tail content I'm here for. [For which I'm here?]
What a shame that Mookie Betts trade isn't bearing fruit...
"Justin “Git ‘er” Dunn"
Yeah... I'm not with you, Leather.
Hey, I think it was mighty big of Craig to let Chris Berman guest write his newsletter.
I was thinking that the nickname wouldn't have to be because HE liked whomever said it, it would be because others, did. At 5 adults would be all to happy to give him that nickname in t-ball. I think he is exactly the right age for that
That's true.
Confession: I own at least one LTCG album.
Loved the Dragonlance reference. That was a blast from the past and not even remotely as sad as what you were doing on your 30th.
Craig - I am older than you, so it was The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant for me.
Who gives a shit if your cats eat you after you’re dead. Certainly not you. And not the cat, who gets a delicious final treat from you
That's kinda where I'm at with it, really. Go to town, girls.
In defense of year one of the Strasburg Deal: 2020 has been crap for nearly everyone.
Current fires are, from all reports so far, lighting strikes. The big Paradise fire last year, as that article notes, is from over/bad development.
Fire in the forest is, overall, fine for forest development purposes. The current fires are scary because of land use policies that prioritize existing homeowners over vacant land. Cities like LA, SF, and any city in Silicon Valley cannot upzone because one constituency loves its land value from being a rare commodity and another constituency hates greedy developers that will only build "luxury" units. They both use "shadow lines" and "traffic" to prove their point. Its a winning combination for electeds here which is why there are so many anti growth politicians.
We can hope that by the time you want to come west, single family designation will be a thing of the past, but its not likely there will be a building boom by that time.
I thought the Padres hit 5 slams in six games instead of hitting one in five consecutive games?
My wife and sister in law both ride jumpers. It is a good way to spend a lot of money very quickly. Sometimes I think it would be cheaper if they just ate money.
This is probably not wrong
One worthwhile note about the Nats-Marlins game.
Two years ago, Brandon Leibrandt was let go by the Phillies farm system after suffering an injury that required Tommy John surgery. Ten or so weeks ago, he was pitching for a glorified pick-up team in Somerset, NJ. On Sunday, he went four innings for the Marlins, giving up only one hit and one walk while getting one strikeout in four innings of work.
That's amazing! Thank you.
Ahh, Dragonlance. Chronicles! Legends! I read those books somewhere around 8th or 9th grade. Thing is, I didn't play D&D or AD&D - I was a Warhammer Fantasy Battle guy. (I know 40k was more popular but even though I loved sci-fi, I never went that way.) Anyway, my absolute favorite of the TSR, inc.-inspired books were R. A. Salvatore's books about that dark elf gone good, Drizzt Do'Urden. I swear, nobody writes a swordfight scene like Salvatore. So of course I looked him up and what's this? He wrapped up a NEW DRIZZT TRILOGY earlier this year. I suppose I'll have to go check that out, because I had no idea. I hadn't thought about Do'Urden and the gang in years! Maybe I'll go see what the ol' drow has been up to lately. All because of your Dragonlance reference, Craig!
As for the Brewers, ugh. They miss Lorenzo Cain's defense something fierce, and meanwhile the new bats just aren't getting it done (with the surprising exception of Jedd Gyorko, who I somehow have a "shirsey" of from his San Diego days). They hoped either Justin Smoak and/or Logan Morrison would have an "up" year, not the worst gamble, but currently the former is barely hitting and the latter was DFAd a couple weeks ago. The pitching has kept them barely breathing and the expanded playoffs are still within reach, but when your win-loss record is (11 x 2.7) and (15 x 2.7) and there's not much more than a month to go, you better turn it around quick. There's hope - Yelich and Hiura are hitting and Braun's OPS is climbing too. Fingers crossed for Avi Garcia and let's see what happens in the next 8 days because the trade vultures are circling and they're hungry for Hader...
Rocco Baldelli is holding the Twins together with spit, bubble gum, and Nelson Cruz. The guy seems like a first-rate manager. I was very skeptical of the hiring of college pitching coach Wes Johnson, but he's helped the likes of Randy Dobnak look like an ace so I'm happy to be wrong.
I enjoyed your essay on Hodgman's book. It was unintentionally humorous to read your words mourning the loss of the status that came with working for NBC, and then see your author's bio that appears at the bottom of each entry, which still opens with "Craig is the national baseball writer for NBCSports.com."
Whoops