It's That Old-School Prestigious Way of Baseball [BASEBALL]

[Thermofusion]

Lew Ford: BACK IN ACTION BABY

[El_Josharino]

Cubs are gettin' weird tonight. Geovany Soto to the Rangers. Reed Johnson and Paul Maholm to the Braves, in what I think is a really really good depth move for the Braves. I'm pretty bummed we gave up Arodys Vizcaino, though. He's a great great pickup for the Cubs. Out this year with TJ surgery, but when healthy has the upside of either a solid #2 starter or an elite closer. Either one will be greatly beneficial to the Cubs.

[Thermofusion]

Maholm is a great, great pickup. I was happy for you when I learned about it. Even in a league where middling lefties are granted relatively high trade value, he's actually a bit of sleeper and probably undervalued. He's looked great the past few years and I was sad when the Pirates didn't pick up his 2012 option.

[El_Josharino]

His last 7 or so starts have been pretty outstanding. Plus he's got a really cheap team option for next year, so it's a bit more than just a 2 year rental. Definitely like this deal a whole lot more than Delgado for Dempster.

And the Pirates got Travis Snider from the Jays tonight. Could be a pretty interesting outfield piece for them.

[El_Josharino]

Man, I'm going to get so very little done at work tomorrow.

[Thermofusion]

Definitely like this deal a whole lot more than Delgado for Dempster.

Still can't believe this trade happened. Sheesh.

[El_Josharino]

It didn't! Dempster has 10/5 rights and vetoed it because he wants to go to the Dodgers.

[El_Josharino]

AJ Burnett

!!!

[Thermofusion]

I know! He's kicking ass this year. And the best part is, the Yankees are still paying most of his salary.

Random thought: it's gonna be real funny when the Dodgers finish 3rd in the NL West

[distance]

sometimes i feel like i know/remember baseball stuff
and then i come across ridiculously frustrating things like this:

http://www.sporcle.com/games/Ben/last_5_mlb

[El_Josharino]

Okay. Guys. This is amazing.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/2012/08/umpire-ejects-music-man-in-daytona-for-playing-three-blind-mice/

I love baseball so much.

[El_Josharino]

sometimes i feel like i know/remember baseball stuff
and then i come across ridiculously frustrating things like this:

http://www.sporcle.com/games/Ben/last_5_mlb

And yeah, I wouldn't even attempt that quiz. I just hope that one of these days I'll ace the 500 homer club quiz.

[El_Josharino]

How does the ump even eject the music guy? Just point up toward the box and give the ol' "You're outta here" sign? Or did the ump have to haul himself all the way up there and do it right at him?

[El_Josharino]

My favorite part, I think, is that some fan took over introducing the players, just calling that shit out from the stands. Dude's probably all, "This could be my big break to get into the broadcasting game."

[El_Josharino]

Ha! Looks like there's a precedent:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/10/sports/wilbur-snapp-83-organist-ejected-by-ump.html

[distance]

sometimes i feel like i know/remember baseball stuff
and then i come across ridiculously frustrating things like this:

http://www.sporcle.com/games/Ben/last_5_mlb

And yeah, I wouldn't even attempt that quiz. I just hope that one of these days I'll ace the 500 homer club quiz.

that one's not bad for me at all.  usually if i forget anyone it's like gary sheffield or something.
it's just frustrating to not be able to remember names -- especially when you can picture their faces.

[RavingLunatic]

Okay. Guys. This is amazing.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/2012/08/umpire-ejects-music-man-in-daytona-for-playing-three-blind-mice/

I love baseball so much.

This is great. I umpire a lot, and now if I eject the a scorekeeper or PA announcer or whatever, I'm totally gonna cite this as precedent.

There was another music guy that fairly recently got fired for playing a song that mentioned some opposing team's player's estranged wife I think. I want to say it was the Rockies, but I can't remember for sure.

[RavingLunatic]

It didn't! Dempster has 10/5 rights and vetoed it because he wants to go to the Dodgers.

Though the Rangers were apparently OK too. The Dodgers ought to be glad as Dempster is pretty overrated, and his pathetic Rangers debut yesterday should have come as no surprise. My favorite part of that game was when Texas manager Ron Washington decided to put closer Joe Nathan in to protect a seven-run lead in the ninth inning despite the fact that he'd thrown 33 pitches the day before. He struggled and had to throw 29 more pitches to get out of the inning. Seems like every day Washington is making some really stupid managerial decision. I hope the Rangers have one-run leads in the ninth inning today and tomorrow and lose both of them because they wasted their closer on a game that was already over.

[RavingLunatic]

I'm not sure how I missed this at the time the news first broke, but Rangers manager Ron Washington tested positive for cocaine in 2009? I had no idea they even tested managers. Why? Seems unjustified to me. Regardless, I'm pretty amazed he kept his job. Making bonehead decisions night in and night out, costing your team games, is of course forgivable, but snorting coke is normally enough to get a manager canned.

Someone did a video on this subject, some of which is pretty good, some of which isn't. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXrSzzvn3FQ

[Thermofusion]

I got into a pretty funny exchange with a Reds beat writer yesterday when I emailed him to say I was worried that Cincinnati would get in trouble for failing to report Brian Gorman on their payroll.

[El_Josharino]

It didn't! Dempster has 10/5 rights and vetoed it because he wants to go to the Dodgers.

Though the Rangers were apparently OK too. The Dodgers ought to be glad as Dempster is pretty overrated, and his pathetic Rangers debut yesterday should have come as no surprise. My favorite part of that game was when Texas manager Ron Washington decided to put closer Joe Nathan in to protect a seven-run lead in the ninth inning despite the fact that he'd thrown 33 pitches the day before. He struggled and had to throw 29 more pitches to get out of the inning. Seems like every day Washington is making some really stupid managerial decision. I hope the Rangers have one-run leads in the ninth inning today and tomorrow and lose both of them because they wasted their closer on a game that was already over.

Yeah, Wash does weird stuff sometimes, like not starting Napoli against a lefty in Fenway tonight, but the Rangers have been in the last 2 World Series, so he's probably not going anywhere in the immediate future. And with Texas pretty well set up to be good for a long while, it'll be tough to justify getting rid of him unless they really crash and burn.

[El_Josharino]

Also dudes should maybe turn on this Brewers game that's going on right now.

[El_Josharino]

Whoa, Thermo, Baltimore is calling up Manny Machado today.

[Thermofusion]

Crazy, and they're going to have him play 3rd instead of short. I'd like to think there's one lowly sabermetrician tucked in some cubicle in the B&O Warehouse who's trying to make his voice heard about the 10-win deviation between the Orioles' actual and Pythagorean records and maybe saying stuff about how it's not worth stunting your top position prospect's growth when the O's are several months overdue for regression, etc. But at the same time, it's kind of fun how they've managed to win so many extra-innings games (their bullpen literally has an ERA of, like, 1 in extra innings) and defy statistics with such aplomb. So hey I hope the Machado experiment works.

[Thermofusion]

Also Josh, davy: it's getting to a point in the National League wild card race where, you know, I'm kind of forced to root against the Braves every night and you guys are probably rooting against the Pirates. But instead of that, how about we all just agree to root against the Dodgers and Cards?