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Post by wildfire2099 on Jan 9, 2022 21:38:24 GMT -5
Bonds and Clemens are going to be close.. so far they're both around 80% with 146 votes made public. Ortiz is a bit higher (83.6%) generally they go down 5-10% when it's all totalled.
A-Rod is only around 50%.. Sheffield and Wagner are around the same.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 11, 2022 13:35:40 GMT -5
Ok, so I don't often do football picks (I freely admit I am terrible at them), but what the hey, it's the playoffs, so my picks...
Raiders over the Bengals Bills over the Patriots Bucs over the Eagles Cowboys over the Niners Chiefs over the Steeler Cards over the Rams
-M
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2022 14:43:44 GMT -5
ESPN is reporting that Tom Brady has decided to retire after 22 seasons.
My guess is Gronk will follow suit, not wanting to play without Brady.
-M
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Post by Marv-El on Mar 14, 2022 13:27:07 GMT -5
And now, nearly two months later, Brady announces he is unretiring and returning to the Bucs.
Yes, I celebrated like it was new year's eve upon hearing of his so-called 'retirement'. Oh well, guess I have somebody to hate and root against this upcoming season after all then.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2022 16:44:19 GMT -5
Well spring training games actually started today, Sox played the Twins and won 14-1, including a steal of home by Jeter Downs of the Red Sox. Still not sure how interested I am going to be in the regular season after the debacle of the CBA negotiations, but it's nice to know baseball is being played, especially on a day where it hit 70 degrees here. Feels like spring is finally here.
-M
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Post by Prince Hal on Mar 17, 2022 17:35:38 GMT -5
Glad it's spring where you are, but back in your old stomping grounds, it was a classic March day: spitting rain, gray skies and a fire going all day long in the woodstove. In other words, a typical day in May as well. But it was nice to see them win, even if it was mostly our Single A guys versus their Single A guys. Of course, as usual, Chris Sale, who disappears when he turns sideways, will be out for a couple of months with a stress fracture of a rib. Who could've seen that coming? And he's not vaxxed, but that's cool, b/c he's already had Covid twice, so he must be invulnerable. On the plis side, Bogaerts and Arroyo finally are vaxxed. And hey, Aaron Judge apparently isn't, so if NY's rules still apply durng the season, he'll be unable to play in Yankee home games in additon to the 8 or 9 they play in Toronto. That's 90 games right there. add his usual time on the DL and he may only play 40 games or so in his free agent year.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2022 17:47:55 GMT -5
Glad it's spring where you are, but back in your old stomping grounds, it was a classic March day: spitting rain, gray skies and a fire going all day long in the woodstove. In other words, a typical day in May as well. But it was nice to see them win, even if it was mostly our Single A guys versus their Single A guys. Of course, as usual, Chris Sale, who disappears when he turns sideways, will be out for a couple of months with a stress fracture of a rib. Who could've seen that coming? And he's not vaxxed, but that's cool, b/c he's already had Covid twice, so he must be invulnerable. On the plis side, Bogaerts and Arroyo finally are vaxxed. And hey, Aaron Judge apparently isn't, so if NY's rules still apply durng the season, he'll be unable to play in Yankee home games in additon to the 8 or 9 they play in Toronto. That's 90 games right there. add his usual time on the DL and he may only play 40 games or so in his free agent year. We'll be back to gray, cool and rainy tomorrow, such is spring. But I am having a hard time working up enthusiasm for MLB this season. We will see what happens when games start to count, but it's going to be harder for me to see games this season, ESPN has severely cut their slate and we don't get MLB Network in our package, and there really isn't anyone with an interesting voice reporting on MLB that I have access to anymore. Their either corporate shills for MLB on MLB.com or fantasy baseball players posing as journalists whose knowledge doesn't extend beyond stats and how they count for fantasy games and not about how the game is actually played. But then I am just cynical about a lot of things these days, especially anything related to any pro sport. -M
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Post by The Captain on Mar 18, 2022 7:39:33 GMT -5
Glad it's spring where you are, but back in your old stomping grounds, it was a classic March day: spitting rain, gray skies and a fire going all day long in the woodstove. In other words, a typical day in May as well. But it was nice to see them win, even if it was mostly our Single A guys versus their Single A guys. Of course, as usual, Chris Sale, who disappears when he turns sideways, will be out for a couple of months with a stress fracture of a rib. Who could've seen that coming? And he's not vaxxed, but that's cool, b/c he's already had Covid twice, so he must be invulnerable. On the plis side, Bogaerts and Arroyo finally are vaxxed. And hey, Aaron Judge apparently isn't, so if NY's rules still apply durng the season, he'll be unable to play in Yankee home games in additon to the 8 or 9 they play in Toronto. That's 90 games right there. add his usual time on the DL and he may only play 40 games or so in his free agent year. We'll be back to gray, cool and rainy tomorrow, such is spring. But I am having a hard time working up enthusiasm for MLB this season. We will see what happens when games start to count, but it's going to be harder for me to see games this season, ESPN has severely cut their slate and we don't get MLB Network in our package, and there really isn't anyone with an interesting voice reporting on MLB that I have access to anymore. Their either corporate shills for MLB on MLB.com or fantasy baseball players posing as journalists whose knowledge doesn't extend beyond stats and how they count for fantasy games and not about how the game is actually played. But then I am just cynical about a lot of things these days, especially anything related to any pro sport. -M I’ve just about given up on MLB completely. This lockout was pointless and did nothing to address the elephant in the room, which is the VAST economic disparities between clubs like the Yankees and Dodgers compared to teams like the Pirates and A’s. There was no change in revenue sharing, but they made sure they added a draft lottery to keep teams from “tanking”, because when you’re bad already and don’t have money to spend on big-name free agents, the right move is to punish you by maybe not getting the #1 overall pick. Meanwhile, the Dodgers pony up for Freddie Freeman because their lineup wasn’t loaded enough already. MLB needs to adopt the Premier League model. Two leagues, divided initially by payroll, with spending caps/floors in place. Bottom three teams get relegated to the lower league, top three teams in the lower league get promoted up. It would give teams like the Pirates and Reds something to compete for, which would increase fan interest, rather than the same old “well, they’re destined for the basement AGAIN” feeling that permeates every spring here in Pittsburgh. If a team gets relegated, they have to reduce payroll to a certain limit in the lower league the first year, and if they spend another year there, they have to get under the cap entirely. If a team gets promoted, they have to increase a certain amount toward the floor, then have to reach it if they stay up a second year. Better revenue sharing would help this happen.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2022 7:55:58 GMT -5
We'll be back to gray, cool and rainy tomorrow, such is spring. But I am having a hard time working up enthusiasm for MLB this season. We will see what happens when games start to count, but it's going to be harder for me to see games this season, ESPN has severely cut their slate and we don't get MLB Network in our package, and there really isn't anyone with an interesting voice reporting on MLB that I have access to anymore. Their either corporate shills for MLB on MLB.com or fantasy baseball players posing as journalists whose knowledge doesn't extend beyond stats and how they count for fantasy games and not about how the game is actually played. But then I am just cynical about a lot of things these days, especially anything related to any pro sport. -M I’ve just about given up on MLB completely. This lockout was pointless and did nothing to address the elephant in the room, which is the VAST economic disparities between clubs like the Yankees and Dodgers compared to teams like the Pirates and A’s. There was no change in revenue sharing, but they made sure they added a draft lottery to keep teams from “tanking”, because when you’re bad already and don’t have money to spend on big-name free agents, the right move is to punish you by maybe not getting the #1 overall pick. Meanwhile, the Dodgers pony up for Freddie Freeman because their lineup wasn’t loaded enough already. MLB needs to adopt the Premier League model. Two leagues, divided initially by payroll, with spending caps/floors in place. Bottom three teams get relegated to the lower league, top three teams in the lower league get promoted up. It would give teams like the Pirates and Reds something to compete for, which would increase fan interest, rather than the same old “well, they’re destined for the basement AGAIN” feeling that permeates every spring here in Pittsburgh. If a team gets relegated, they have to reduce payroll to a certain limit in the lower league the first year, and if they spend another year there, they have to get under the cap entirely. If a team gets promoted, they have to increase a certain amount toward the floor, then have to reach it if they stay up a second year. Better revenue sharing would help this happen. Turns out, it seems it's the players who are against better revenue sharing. They think it means the richer teams won't spend money on players because they have to give it to other teams instead, and lower revenue team don't use it on player salaries, but on things like infrastructure, scouting, player development in the minors, etc. And the players want that money going to them at the major league level and not to other things, so they were not going to allow for any revisions to revenue sharing that increased revenue sharing, only those that lowered it. But they don't want lower revenue teams to tank, because tanking means they are not spending on player salaries. Their only concern is making sure as much of the revenue winds up in the hands of the players as possible. Which is understandable, and not necessarily a bad thing, but it is a bar to any real substantive change in the economy of baseball and the divide between the haves and have nots. Thy player solution for lower revenue teams seems to be just find a way to make more money so you have more to spend and be competitive because if you spend more, we get more. Fiscal responsibility on the part of the teams is not in the current player's interest. Restructuring the economy of baseball is not in the interest of current players unless it involves reslicing the existing pie so they get a bigger piece of it. Therefore any economic revisions that will occur during a CBA negotiation are not going to improve the economic divide between teams. Such moves are seen as anti-player and the general perception of fans and customers of MLB is that they are on the players side in such negotiations and the owners are the bad guys for wanting to take money away from the players even if such money would be used to reinvest in the game and improve the infrastructure of the league's economy and increase potential future growth. Nope it's the owners being greedy and wanting to keep the revenue for themselves and not give it to the players who deserve it because they "are the ones who actually generate that revenue" and so the economic spiral will continue until entropy takes its natural course and we start having contractions in the the league as smaller teams become economically unviable and fold or try to move to different markets (The Montreal Expos syndrome) and when that happens, there will be far fewer job opportunities and far less revenue for the players and everyone else. But long term is not a concern of the Player's Union in these things, they want to get theirs now. I don't blame them, that's natural, but it doesn't make them the good guys in these kinds of talks. The owners certainly aren't the good guys either, but the de facto assumption that the owners are the bad guys, therefore the players are the good guys in these things, is just a delusion. -M
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Apr 1, 2022 5:27:44 GMT -5
I wondered why the Carolina Hurricanes' third jersey sported a capital B... I just couldn't find the B in either North Carolina, Raleigh or Hurricanes!
Turns out the logo represents a hurricane warning double flag with the outline of the state between the two. That's pretty clever... but my eye still sees a capital B!
It's like a secret logo, meant only for the true Canes fans.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 1, 2022 6:50:47 GMT -5
I wondered why the Carolina Hurricanes' third jersey sported a capital B... I just couldn't find the B in either North Carolina, Raleigh or Hurricanes! Turns out the logo represents a hurricane warning double flag with the outline of the state between the two. That's pretty clever... but my eye still sees a capital B! It's like a secret logo, meant only for the true Canes fans. I still think their logo should be green and blue with a combined H and W shape, but that's just my 25 years of bitterness speaking!
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Apr 1, 2022 7:24:49 GMT -5
I wondered why the Carolina Hurricanes' third jersey sported a capital B... I just couldn't find the B in either North Carolina, Raleigh or Hurricanes! Turns out the logo represents a hurricane warning double flag with the outline of the state between the two. That's pretty clever... but my eye still sees a capital B! It's like a secret logo, meant only for the true Canes fans. I still think their logo should be green and blue with a combined H and W shape, but that's just my 25 years of bitterness speaking!
This ex-Nordiques fan hears ya...
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Post by Deleted on Apr 18, 2022 14:54:15 GMT -5
So question for Prince Hal or other Red Sox fans who can actually see the games. Let me preface this by stating I think the April games are simply spring training games that happen to count in the standings this year because of the shortened camps due to the lockout and that I don't think April performances are true indicators of what players are going to be this season. With that said has Kutter Crawford been as big a clusterf**k as his number indicate? I saw the numbers through camp and the promise everyone thought they indicated. but it seems from my detached and uninformed perspective that it was folks getting fooled by a guy who did well against minor leaguers and camp invitees he faced before the big leaguers were ready to go and not a prospect showing he was ready for the Show. It's early and there is certainly time for him to bounce back, but I'd guess he's the guy going down when Taylor is ready to return? I haven't seen him actually pitch yet (he didn't appear in the one game I have managed to see this season) so I don't know, but it doesn't seem like he is fooling anyone or able to locate any of his pitches to get the number of walks and balls in play he has gotten. What's it look like from the front row? -M
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Post by Prince Hal on Apr 18, 2022 15:27:22 GMT -5
Well, @mrp, I like your thinking re this year's April games. The bullpen hasn't been all that terrible, all things considered. Too early to tell re Crawford, I think. And you know how up and down relievers can be these days. Whitlock is an enormous exception; he's a strike-throwing machine with pinpoint control. So damned efficient. Why others can't be like this is beyond me.
He was the victim of a grounder to the left of second by Donaldson that beat the Sox on Opening Day in extra innings that would have been an easy out in the pre-shift days.
However, he was lights out in NY last week in his appearance in the game they won. Shaky start, men on second and third in the fifth with one out, but he wormed out of it. In the sixth he struck out Rizzo and Judge on cutters (!) and got the next day (forget who) easily.
Today he screwed the pooch a bit, but he truly was the victim of a plate that expanded during the game and looked more like a rookie than he did in NY. However, he has always started and now is learning to be a reliever. He is certainly more consistent now than Barnes or Brasier, whose body language shows that they lose it when they get a bad call or a bad break in the field.
If Crawford does go down to Worcester, I will not be surprised or upset, either. His stuff plays, I think, but he needs more work, more experience. Cora seems fine going to him, though I realize that there is some "consider the alternative" factoring into that decision. But he throws strikes, works fairly quickly, and the change to relieving has apparently helped his velocity.
Remember, too, that one poor inning can completely throw a reliever's stas out of whack, especially this early in the year.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 18, 2022 15:38:47 GMT -5
Well, @mrp, I like your thinking re this year's April games. The bullpen hasn't been all that terrible, all things considered. Too early to tell re Crawford, I think. And you know how up and down relievers can be these days. Whitlock is an enormous exception; he's a strike-throwing machine with pinpoint control. So damned efficient. Why others can't be like this is beyond me. He was the victim of a grounder to the left of second by Donaldson that beat the Sox on Opening Day in extra innings that would have been an easy out in the pre-shift days. However, he was lights out in NY last week in his appearance in the game they won. Shaky start, men on second and third in the fifth with one out, but he wormed out of it. In the sixth he struck out Rizzo and Judge on cutters (!) and got the next day (forget who) easily. Today he screwed the pooch a bit, but he truly was the victim of a plate that expanded during the game and looked more like a rookie than he did in NY. However, he has always started and now is learning to be a reliever. He is certainly more consistent now than Barnes or Brasier, whose body language shows that they lose it when they get a bad call or a bad break in the field. If Crawford does go down to Worcester, I will not be surprised or upset, either. His stuff plays, I think, but he needs more work, more experience. Cora seems fine going to him, though I realize that there is some "consider the alternative" factoring into that decision. But he throws strikes, works fairly quickly, and the change to relieving has apparently helped his velocity. Remember, too, that one poor inning can completely throw a reliever's stas out of whack, especially this early in the year. I haven't scoured every box score this season, but the two times I noticed his name in the pitching box both had outings with more baserunners (more than 2X) and earned runs than innings pitched and high walk totals. It's early, but two such outings in under 10 games is concerning. -M
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