12/21/24
August 29, 2012
SportsFilter: The Wednesday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
Fox Sports is having a tough time believing the Red Sox are serious about restraint and spend 1,000 words on potential Joe Mauer to the Sox conspiracy theories. Apparently "is on waivers" is good enough for Ken Rosenthal to go into great detail on his theory.
posted by dfleming at 12:08 PM on August 29, 2012
I'm torn: one the one hand, Rosenthal had the LA/ Boston trade nailed pretty quickly. On the other hand, he throws everything he can think of against the wall to see what sticks and has an accuracy rate of around 0.5% as far as I can tell. Regardless, this would be about as stupid a move as they could make. Ryan Lavarnway looks like a serviceable MLB catcher who will hit, Joe Mauer looks like a guy on the decline. On no, wait:
"Few have noticed with the Twins stumbling to the worst record in the American League, but Mauer is back. He has appeared in 120 of the team's 129 games, putting to rest the questions raised by his injury-marred 2011 season. "Sure thing Ken, sounds like he's got another two decades left in him and his knees will age gracefully, like most catchers.
posted by yerfatma at 12:15 PM on August 29, 2012
Joe Mauer looks like a guy on the decline.
Not really a decline. Simply not the other-worldly catcher he was in 2009. That power spike might never appear again, but a guy who can get on base at a .400 clip, gun down 1/3 of the base runners (that still try), block the plate like a wall, and still contribute 10 HR a year...that's a valuable player. If he slides over permanently to 1B/DH, then his value drops significantly.
Plus, he's got that wonderful hair...
posted by grum@work at 12:50 PM on August 29, 2012
Yeah, and he opens the door to a C/1B/DH scenario, a la Victor Martinez, which warms my heart as a fan to think our first basemen could be a guy making more than Adrian Gonzalez while contributing 8 home runs this year. He's a very good catcher, but at either of those positions he's severely overpaid.
I have a tough time imagining that the Twins eat much of any of his salary and the Sox deal Doubront and/or any of their pitching prospects for a fragile upgrade at a position they have two young guys established. Salty's a 1.5 WAR (consistent over the last two years) for dirt cheap and Lavarnway is not a free agent until 2018. There are bigger fish to fry.
posted by dfleming at 12:56 PM on August 29, 2012
Amazingly, TJ Simers has made me root for Josh Beckett after his in-person trolling. And then Simers goes on WEEI today talking like dealing with TJ is a rite of passage for all LA sports figures, as though he's someone. A small-time Skip Bayless is not something to be.
posted by yerfatma at 01:03 PM on August 29, 2012
What a dick. There's nothing about what he's doing there that's journalism or trying to get a sense of what the guy is like. He's looking to dig enough to get a few sound bites that write his article for him. Lazy shit.
posted by dfleming at 02:34 PM on August 29, 2012
He's looking to dig enough to get a few sound bites that write his article for him.
Yep. Simers was trying incredibly hard to stir up shit and make Beckett say something stupid. It seemed to me like his goal was to make him say something to prove Simer's own preconceived notions about him, and he failed miserably. I don't know shit about Josh Beckett beyond that he had a rough couple of years in Boston and was recently traded to LA, so I really don't have any bias toward or against him. All I read in that excerpt is a guy who gave credit where it was due (to the opposing pitcher and hitters) while diligently avoiding throwing his offense under a bus. What a heel.
posted by tahoemoj at 03:33 PM on August 29, 2012
I caught a bit of the 'EEI thing on TV this morning and it made it 10x worse, all about how Simers had told him the day before he'd be trying to get a rise out of him and how he thought Beckett handled it ok, but he "wasn't happy about Beckett swearing to spoil a sound bite". Because a player should really do your job for you.
posted by yerfatma at 03:48 PM on August 29, 2012
Former Notre Dame running back Allen Pinkett has the recipe for an Irish Revival: "I want guys that maybe get caught drinking that are underage, or guys that maybe got arrested because they got in a fight at a bar, or guys that are willing to cuss in public and don't mind the repercussions of it."
posted by yerfatma at 04:04 PM on August 29, 2012
If you would like to buy you Sacramento Kings paraphernalia online, don't bother going to the team website.
posted by Bonkers at 05:52 PM on August 29, 2012
Watching the Toronto Maple Leafs is kind of like watching paint dry
posted by tommybiden at 08:04 PM on August 29, 2012
I'm surprised there isn't a single vendor that handles all the NBA online stores (basic fan favourites) and then has a single page for each team that handles unique team-specific items.
posted by grum@work at 09:54 PM on August 29, 2012
Simers was trying incredibly hard to stir up shit and make Beckett say something stupid.
Beckett doesn't really need Simers' prompting (nor anyone else's for that matter) to say something stupid. Now Beckett says it was the media who were responsible for chasing him out of Boston. Uh, Josh, have you really done a critical analysis of your performance over the past 2 seasons?
posted by Howard_T at 11:50 PM on August 29, 2012
Beckett doesn't really need Simers' prompting (nor anyone else's for that matter) to say something stupid.
But that's not the point. The point is that, in this situation, Simers was being an asshole and Beckett, in my opinion, handled the situation perfectly. Maybe he's taking the whole fresh start thing seriously, or maybe he just got lucky.
posted by tahoemoj at 11:16 AM on August 30, 2012
Bubba Watson photobombs Golf Channel broadcaster.