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Friday's Plastic Cup is Pro-Joe

I've got a lot of tabs open right now, which means there are a lot of links to get to.  Let's get at it.

The big news this morning is that it's official, Turnbow is DFA'd and Dillon is back.  It's disappointing that D-Bow hasn't been able to turn it around, but I do think it's well past time we cut our losses here.  One interesting thought that has been popping up a little bit lately is that Melvin is too slow to cut the cord on his reclamation projects--Podsednik is a similar case that comes to mind.  Branch Rickey was famous for saying it's better to trade a player a year too early than a year too late, and while you get bit occasionally for making that mistake, it's better than being saddled with someone as ineffective as D-Bow is right now.

A few writers at The Hardball Times ganged up to write a massive profile of Ben Sheets, including pitch f/x data, mechanics analysis, and injury commentary.

The Junkball Blues looks at how the Crew has done against closers.  It's interesting work, but he draws the wrong conclusions.  In 13 closer appearances, we've been shut out 7 times and have scored 6 times.  That's astonishingly good, to my eyes.  Would you happy if your team's closer gave up a run or more every other appearance?  That's essentially what we're turning opposition closers into.

Some injury news:

I'm not going to wade very far into the muck of the Bissinger/Costas/Leitch controversy, but I will point you to this great piece by Joe Posnanski, who straddles the blogger/reporter divide quite gracefully.  And I'll say one more thing.  Bissinger may have been honing his craft for 40 years, but his LaRussa book, Three Nights In August, was truly dreadful.  Possibly the worst baseball book I have ever read.  There is nothing more insulting than a quasi-analytical hagiography about an overrated, self-aggrandizing figure like TLR.

A couple of ex-Brewers notes.  Richie Sexson hit his 300th career home run, and Greg Aquino cleared waivers (big surprise--his ERA is roughly the same as Turnbow's) and is headed to Norfolk.  I don't remember seeing this in an earlier Mug, but Brady Clark is also in AAA--he talked about retiring, but has opted to spend some quality time with Claudio Vargas in New Orleans.

I think the Nationals Enquirer had too much to drink.  Careful kids: drinking and photoshopping don't mix.

Derrick Goold has a nice article about Rick Ankiel and Pat Jordan's writing about him.  When we played the Cards recently, I was thinking about the stories in baseball today that we'd still be talking about 40 or 50 years from now, and Ankiel is definitely one of them.

It's amazing how rarely I agree with Richard Justice.  A couple of days ago, he decided to rip on the Astros FO for choosing Max Sapp, a high school catcher, in the first round of the 2006 draft.  Amazingly, he uses the phrase, "they blew it" to describe the results of a draft pick made two years ago.  True, Sapp is struggling in A ball, but dude, he's two years out of high school.  He's younger than a lot of the guys who will be drafted this year.  And anyway, first-round picks fizzle sometimes.  We're doing just fine without the services of Jeremy Jeffress, who we chose well before the Astros picked Sapp.

Finally, a happy story.  John Wilson is a 53-year-old senior at Penn State Altoona, and a key part of their baseball program.  He's friends with Dusty Baker, too, though I guess I can forgive him for that.

Drink up, but don't drink it too fast.  This cup runneth over!

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Comments

Display:

hagiography

noun, 1. Biography of saints.
2. A worshipful or idealizing biography.

Word of the day!

by MillerParkSouth on May 2, 2008 10:41 AM CDT reply reply actions actions   0 recs

i feel bad for turnbow.

does anyone else feel bad for him? the angels tossed him on the scrap heap, the brewers help him harnass his natural ability, for awhile he’s lights out filthy and then poof. it disappears. the brewers wait and wait and wait, possibly missing the playoffs in doing so, and it just doesn’t come back.

let’s say he goes to nashville, let’s say he gets everything back, his 2005 filthy stuff. i couldn’t bear to watching him retake the mound at miller park. just the possibility that it is all psychological would be too difficult to watch unfold.

at least he got his contract before his talent vanished.

Bring Back The Old Logo!

by jacob on May 2, 2008 12:07 PM CDT reply reply actions actions   0 recs

really?

you can have no sympathy for people who have lots of money?

i imagine he has the equivalent right now of a broken heart, and money can’t buy me love.

Bring Back The Old Logo!

by jacob on May 2, 2008 12:34 PM CDT to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

millions of dollars

He’s got a family for love.

by ol Pete on May 2, 2008 2:15 PM CDT to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

I'm with you

Even if he gets all his stuff back, the first time he walks a guy at Miller Park the boos will be as loud as ever…then who knows what will happen.

It’d be stupid for him to decline the minors assignment money wise, but I just can’t see him ever pitching in Miller Park again…

by warwick5s on May 2, 2008 12:15 PM CDT to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Maybe we can retool him into a hard-hitting position player? He’s a career 0-2 lifetime at the plate, but one of those was a deep fly ball to left field!

by MillerParkSouth on May 2, 2008 1:04 PM CDT to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

I think that if he recovers

He would probably be traded. If he can get his stuff back, he would still need a change of scenery. What did we get for Dan Kolb?

by grant76 on May 2, 2008 1:21 PM CDT to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

amazingly

jose capellan. which was a huge steal… and then it wasn’t.

Bring Back The Old Logo!

by jacob on May 2, 2008 1:36 PM CDT to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

that was a case of risking trading "a year too early"

though really right on time.

not quite equivalent, but more like shopping dbow around after the ‘06 season. Kolb’s peripherals were pointing the way downhill, but he did have 39 saves and a sub-3.00 ERA the year before we traded him.

Also, cheese.

by Jeff Sackmann on May 2, 2008 1:48 PM CDT to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Richard Justice

Heard him on the radio this morning and he went off on Carlos Lee. Elsewhere, I read a fan who referred to him as “Clank Lee.”

by ol Pete on May 2, 2008 2:18 PM CDT reply reply actions actions   0 recs

In the news

I heard that when Micah Owings had a pinch hit homerun on Wednesday he became the first pitcher to do that since…Brooks Kieschnick.

by sheeter on May 2, 2008 3:30 PM CDT reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Yup, though it's debatable whether Kieschnick counts

Before him, Gene Stechschulte in 2001 for the Cards was the last.

He's extremely quick and good.

by battlekow on May 2, 2008 4:14 PM CDT to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

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