The Two Weeks Away Weekend Mug!
by NoahJ on Feb 7, 2010 12:54 AM CST
35 comments
Some things to read while showing your generosity.
As of this writing, we are officially less than two weeks away from pitchers and catchers reporting! Unfortunately for 2009 Brewer Felipe Lopez, he is still wondering where he is going to find a job for 2010. Brewers Daily has joined the party wondering why no team has signed him yet. I actually didn't realize that he had a 4.6 WAR last season, though his reputation for being lackadaisical in the field would seem to indicate that he won't be worth as much defensively next year. His offensive talents should probably land him a deal sooner or later, though.
The Ghost of Moonlight Graham ranks Lopez as it's second best available free agent hitter, behind Johnny Damon. Also on the list at number four is Russell Branyan. Now, maybe I am biased a little by my well-documented man-crush on the guy, but they seriously have him ranked behind Hank Blalock?
I don't remember seeing anyone else mention this, but our old friend Battlekow notes that the Brewers have signed 19 year old Dominican pitcher Eduard Reyes, who posted some pretty great numbers in the DPL, though in what looks to be a small sample size.
Want another reason to dislike the Cubs? Here's one: They are trying to get every other team in the Cactus League to help fund a new spring training stadium in Mesa by having a leaguewide ticket fee. The reasoning behind it comes down to the Cubs being the largest spring training draw in the MLB, thus helping the entire leagues attendance so I guess I can kind of understand it.
Around the Majors:
Rockies: Signed INF Melvin Mora to a one year, $1.3M contract
Padres: Agreed to a one year, $1.25M contract with C Yorvit Torrealba
Phillies: Signed Japanese pitchers Shigetoshi Yamakita and Naoyo Okamoto to minor league deals
Blue Jays: Signed reliever Kevin Gregg to a one year, $2.75M contract
Nationals: Signed pitcher Shawn Estes to a minor league deal
Mariners: DFA'd pitcher Yusmeiro Petit
Athletics: Traded Pitcher Dana Eveland to the Blue Jays for a PTBNL or cash
We might be coming near to the end of the constant Jarrod Washburn to the Brewers rumors, as he may be considering retirement if he doesn't find a deal somewhere.
If you have an interest in Baseball nicknames, over at The Hardball Times Bruce Markusen is going to be taking a look at the history of them over the next year. This weeks installment focuses on nicknames received due to a player defensive deficiencies.
And over at Fangraphs, Patrick Newman has had a pretty fascinating series of posts answering questions about Japanese and Asian baseball. It has run in three parts, one, two and three.
I don't know how to read time signatures. Hank Aaron's birthday was Friday. It was also in that day's mug. Whoops. But hey, as KL notes in the comments, it's morineko's Seth McClung's birthday today!
That's all I've got this weekend, unless you're wondering what to make for your Super Bowl party.
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I miss Battlekow and his humor/insight
Get out of my dreams and into my Chuckie Carr
-Molitorfan 12/23/09
by Michael M on Feb 7, 2010 1:07 AM CST reply actions 2 recs
Me too.
What begins in fear usually ends in folly.
by Ted Simmons Speed Camp on Feb 7, 2010 7:17 AM CST up reply actions
Damon, Lopez and Branyan, oh my!
The chatter around Tigers’ boards has included talk of Branyan as a possibility for a DH/OF platoon role. Am I alone in not really having good memories of his time in Milwaukee? I mean, the guy hit the longest bomb I’ve ever seen live, but other than that, I remember a lot of strikeouts, and…well, that’s about it. What am I misremembering?
Official BYB Juju Consultant...now accepting rally creature applications!
I'm all for celebrating Hank Aaron's birthday twice
But it was actually Friday. :-)
And if I were the Brewers or any other team training in Arizona, I’d be pretty angry over forcing fans at my games to pay a ticket surcharge to pay for the Cubs’ new stadium. If they really are the biggest draw in Arizona, then they should have plenty of resources to pay for their own park. The Brewers could use some improvements in Maryvale too – maybe they should get on the phone and see if the Cubs would like to pay for them.
That's all I've got for you today, unless you're interested in some Chris Capuano/Tom Haudricourt Fan Fiction.
by Kyle Lobner on Feb 7, 2010 8:03 AM CST reply actions 1 recs
I don't think it's the Cubs wanting help
It sounds like it’s more Arizona and Mesa pushing for the ticket fee, not the Cubs. That makes sense, because spring training is probably a big part of the local economy. I don’t think teams really care how many people see spring training games. If they’re relying on ST money to make a profit, they have issues.
I know the Cubs are a draw, and any team Arizona loses is a loss of revenue
But does anyone really think the Cactus League would wither up and die without the Cubs? Sure, Cub fans (some, anyway) would go to Florida instead. But the Cactus League would still have 14 teams. A team like the Dodgers would take over the “biggest draw” mantle and life would go on.
That's all I've got for you today, unless you're interested in some Chris Capuano/Tom Haudricourt Fan Fiction.
If the league loses between a fifth and a quarter of attendance
That’s a big hit, especially to local businesses, etc., that look forward to the spring training flood of people. I’m not saying they should impose the fee they are considering, but it’s not hard to understand the motivation behind keeping the Cubs in Arizona.
But would they really lose a fifth to a quarter?
That would mean the Cubs are a bigger draw than any other 2-3 teams in Arizona combined. It’s not impossible, I suppose, but I’d guess the Angels, Dodgers, D-Backs and Mariners, at the very least, draw some fans.
That's all I've got for you today, unless you're interested in some Chris Capuano/Tom Haudricourt Fan Fiction.
They're probably overstating it
From the article linked in the linked article:
• Overall Cactus League attendance could dip by as much as 22 percent if the team leaves. The league attracted 1.57 million fans in 2009.
• The Cubs represent the biggest spring training draw in Major League Baseball. The team drew 203,100 fans last spring.
That works out to almost 13% of attendance. I’m not sure how they expand that out to 22% (maybe some scare tactics are involved as insurance in case “tax the out-of-staters” proves insufficiently popular) but it’s still a goodly amount. I wonder how long it would take the other teams to make up the difference — I don’t know that the number of people who want to fly cross-country increases that rapidly. Either way, do you want to be the guy who voted against paying for the stadium for the biggest spring draw to move to Florida?
I'd be tempted to call their bluff.
If Naples really wants to break the bank in tough budget years to attract spring training’s biggest draw, then so be it. Mesa can respond by making smaller-scale changes and seeing if they can draw another interesting team to Arizona, like St. Louis or Minnesota.
That's all I've got for you today, unless you're interested in some Chris Capuano/Tom Haudricourt Fan Fiction.
Define draw...
If they are saying that 203,100 fans attended games at Hohokam Park, and the 22% includes Chicago fans at visiting stadiums, it seems reasonable.
Applying Simpsons and Star Wars quotes to Brewers discussions since 2009.
I don't think that ye ol' Cub fans
would re-retire (or re-winter) to Florida, just because their favorite team moves. They’re probably in AZ because they like dry heat and golf courses in the desert better than wet heat and golf courses in the swamp.
So…they’re in AZ – they’ll probably go to a game or two of other teams if they’re really baseball fan.
If the Cubs are really a draw, why don’t they just, oh, increase their ticket (or concession) prices?
An Arizona Native's Take
I can understand why the Cubs are the biggest draw in ST. Half their stinking fan-base lives in Arizona. When it comes to regular season games against the Dbacks, the Cubs have more fans out here than the Dodgers. I have numerous friends who left Chicago for Phoenix because they were sick and tired of the snow, the humidity, corruption in politics, and whatever else causes them to leave.
So if the Cubs were no longer doing ST in Arizona, I wager that most of those fans wouldn’t travel to Florida to watch the team. However, I am not qualified to speak on the number of former Chicago residents in Florida.
Applying Simpsons and Star Wars quotes to Brewers discussions since 2009.
seconded
i am irritated by all this cubs stadium talk. i don’t live in AZ now, but used to. in fact, i was there when the cubs opened up the NEW HO HO KAM IN 1996. just because they don’t want to raze wrigley shouldn’t mean they get a new spring training facility every 10-15 years. (besides, they have plans to improve the wrigleyville area.)
cubs fans live there, though i guess they could move. i doubt that’s likely in the medium-term. those folks would still go to spring training games. plus attendance will probably improve as more dodger fans come out. plus grapefruit teams keep talking about moving to AZ (better weather, shorter distances between camps), so someone will replace them anyway.
by Capt Science on Feb 7, 2010 12:04 PM CST up reply actions
Hey, here's an idea
Thinking back to one of your previous links, the Cubs should set up a number you can text to “donate” money to the new stadium effort in Mesa. Some idiot would do it over and over again and they’d be there.
That's all I've got for you today, unless you're interested in some Chris Capuano/Tom Haudricourt Fan Fiction.
Random note
It took until he left, but I guess we finally found a (sidebar) poll that was friendly to Jason Kendall.
Indeed
I’m reminded of FtJ’s quote about “Hottest lunch lady” polls.
That's all I've got for you today, unless you're interested in some Chris Capuano/Tom Haudricourt Fan Fiction.
by Kyle Lobner on Feb 7, 2010 8:24 AM CST up reply actions 1 recs
Today's birthdays, FYI
Seth McClung is 29
2008 2nd round pick Seth Lintz is 20.
Former Milwaukee Brave Juan Pizarro is 73.
That's all I've got for you today, unless you're interested in some Chris Capuano/Tom Haudricourt Fan Fiction.
Washburn
I wonder if he’d consider accepting a minor league contract or a minimal one with incentives? I would think that an offer from the Brewers might look pretty good to him.
My guess is that this is just posturing to get the Twins/Mariners up from the couple of million...
… they’ve got on the table. But I can’t help but think that if he didn’t have Boras he would have signed by now…
What begins in fear usually ends in folly.
by Ted Simmons Speed Camp on Feb 7, 2010 9:41 AM CST up reply actions
How does threatening to retire help, though?
Yeah, I don’t think Boras is helping matters here.
"I will agree that the attitude [at BCB] is ridiculous and they have done so much to instigate animosity and then block us from responding. Real mature!"
Well...
… if the team that’s interested doesn’t believe you have alternatives and thus won’t bump up their offer, maybe the theory is you can convince them that 2 million (or whatever) isn’t worth missing your kids for 6 months. Not saying I buy it, but when was the last time one of Boras’ clients threatened to retire and actually ended up doing so?
What begins in fear usually ends in folly.
by Ted Simmons Speed Camp on Feb 7, 2010 9:54 AM CST up reply actions
Also
Any retirement now would be viewed as “retirement.” As in “Sure, I’m retired…unless the opportunity to play half a season comes up.”
And, if all he’s getting offered is $2 million or so, then it’s possible he could sit home until May and still be worth $2 million to someone at that point.
That's all I've got for you today, unless you're interested in some Chris Capuano/Tom Haudricourt Fan Fiction.
Not sure if either of those teams are still in the picture... at least not for much more than $2M.
The Mariners are re-signing Bedard, and the Twins have signed Hudson.
Too bad Washburn/Boras turned down that $5M from the Twins… they probably wish they would’ve jumped on it now.
Is Washburn actually crazy?
This makes no sense to me. Players usually retire because (a) they don’t want to go through the physical/mental grind of a full season, or (b) they suck and no one wants them on their team.
Washburn still seems to want to play, and although I think last season’s stats aren’t likely to be repeated, he’s coming off a good year. He turned down a deal for $5 million earlier in the offseason, IIRC.
How does threatening retirement help him? Maybe there’s only one league-sanctioned baseball in the world, and he has it?
"I will agree that the attitude [at BCB] is ridiculous and they have done so much to instigate animosity and then block us from responding. Real mature!"
My guess is that 5 million isn't on the table anymore...
… and he’s trying to get that offer back.
What begins in fear usually ends in folly.
by Ted Simmons Speed Camp on Feb 7, 2010 9:55 AM CST up reply actions
Not sure if threatening to retire is going to get the Twins to put that offer back on the table.
Signing Hudson puts their team payroll over $93M for next season, which means that they are likely done with signing any big contracts.
.... and then throw an incredibly dumb pick at the worst possible moment...
… before claiming he went out on top?
What begins in fear usually ends in folly.
by Ted Simmons Speed Camp on Feb 8, 2010 7:17 AM CST up reply actions
Separated at birth?
Buzz WIlliams, Marquette men’s basketball coach has always reminded me of someone. I finally figured it out yesterday during the Providence game.
Buzz Williams-KLSnow separated at birth?
Anyone else notice a similarity?
by statsllc on Feb 7, 2010 12:18 PM CST reply actions 3 recs
Hmmm...
I think the similarity is mostly hairstyle…but you might be on to something.
That's all I've got for you today, unless you're interested in some Chris Capuano/Tom Haudricourt Fan Fiction.
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NL Central Standings
| W | L | PCT | GB | STRK | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cincinnati
|
57 | 46 | .553 | 0 | Won 2 |
|
St. Louis
|
56 | 46 | .549 | 0.5 | Lost 1 |
|
Milwaukee
|
48 | 55 | .466 | 9 | Lost 2 |
|
Chicago
|
46 | 56 | .450 | 10.5 | Lost 2 |
|
Houston
|
42 | 59 | .415 | 14 | Won 2 |
|
Pittsburgh
|
36 | 65 | .356 | 20 | Lost 1 |
(updated 7.30.2010 at 4:51 AM CDT)
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