False Alarm

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Jul 19, 2006 -> 05:41 AM) Decent write up, but I'm not convinced that Sickels ever really see's these guys play. Mentions Cortes and says potential sleeper, nowhere does he talk about the badass sinker Cortes throws. Talks about Lummy and his lack of strikeouts but nowhere talks about his damn good arm. he doesn't. sickels lives in kansas, i believe. his scouting trips are typically only to midwestern locations, and we don't really have any affiliates in the midwest. he also takes an annual scouting trip to the arizona fall league, and that's pretty much the only time he ever sees any of our minor leaguers (or many west coast players). add to that that he's a twins fan, and i take his opinion of our players with a grain of salt. but i do like his analytical style. i've read him for several years.

QUOTE(Soxy @ Jun 13, 2006 -> 04:33 PM) I've had Gilead and Housekeeping (Marilyn Robinson) on the top of my list for a couple of months now. i just got this one last week. lookin forward to it. currently on this side of paradise by f scott fitzgerald.

anyone know if josh fields is hurt? i read he hasn't played the last few days, and he wasn't in yesterday's box.

did mel kiper coin, or just popularize, the word "tweener"? regardless, i love him for it.

from BA: http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prosp...ews/261062.html

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 29, 2006 -> 03:15 PM) So my question is, what changes did they make that make you think they will improve so dramatically? Its entirely possible i have missed some changes they made, but I'd like to hear them. i think luis castillo's .370 career OBP at the top of their order'll help a lot. i mean, who'd they have there last year? nick punto? jason kubel could come quick and be a significant upgrade over ford or stewart once he knocks off the rust. it's reasonable to expect growth from mauer--he's already proven he can make solid contact and get on base at the MLB level--and if morneau bounces back to live up to his hype, it'd amount to a face-lift for their lineup. as for their pitching, an outstanding bullpen remains such, and baker's probably an immediate upgrade over mays in their rotation, which was already very good. yeah, there's a coupla question marks above, but it's a realistic scenario, so i don't think they're a team to be dismissed.

the trade's pending a physical with miami's doctors. frerotte will be culpepper's backup (same as in minny, and he did a serviceable job with the fins last year). looks like a real nice move to me.

aceyalone & rjd2 at metro in a couple of weeks. it shouldn't suck.

QUOTE(bmags @ Jan 25, 2006 -> 08:55 PM) ...ignoring MF DOOM... he put danger doom among his tops of last year and madvillain as one of the best of 2004. he did ignore edan last year though. no excuse for that.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Jan 30, 2006 -> 06:17 PM) A teaser or short details are fine, but we are infringing their copyright by posting the full articles and that puts this site in a spot it doesn't want to be. In case you wonder where the longer thread went, I had to delete it. Just an FYI, so please be careful with what you post. the "'05 Draft" thread is premium content as well. might wanna do something to it.

QUOTE(bmags @ Jan 29, 2006 -> 07:50 PM) ^^^does anyone think these are the first memoirs to be embellished??? no one ever said or implied that.

QUOTE(Middle Buffalo @ Jan 28, 2006 -> 06:38 PM) There are errors in every auto-biography and biography that gets published. This is done either on purpose, or as an accidental error of ommision. I think that it's most likely done puposefully with the intent of making the subject look good. I don't really get the uproar here. I know the guy presented the story as non-fiction and he embellished and flat out lied about some things, but that happens all the time. There are historical myths that have been perpetuated by scholars and teachers for years and years. The history that we learned in school is, in many ways, propaganda. So this guy changed some "facts" and flat out lied at times. He was trying to make some money. Big deal. Judge the book for the story, not for the truth. sorry, the everyone-else-has-done-it defense is a joke. further, bringing biography and history into the discussion doesn't help your case. sure, there're invented s*** and mistakes and perpetuated myths in these genres, but it's kinda tough to deny that it's standard for authors to attempt to adhere to fact when describing events (thus the exhaustive bibliographies, reference lists, and citations when people do that kinda work). yeah yeah, history's written by the winners; that doesn't mean most peeps who are really interested in history don't try to determine what genuinely happened in the past. as for judging the book for the story, how do you even do that with a memoir? i mean, the events are unalterable; they're what happened. so how do you evaluate the plot? how do you say, "oh, this sequence was implausible," or, "that was an ingenious twist," when it's not a plotted fiction but an account of a chronology of actual events? this isn't really about frey. if it's not obvious, i haven't read MLP and don't intend to. it's about a s***ty and irresponsible genre (memoir) that's flooding the market, and frey's just emblematic of the problems in the genre. y'alls can pass it off as just-a-good-read this and truth-is-relative that and everyone else does it besides, but if no one cares about the fact that these are purportedly true stories, why's memoir outsell fiction by a rate of anywhere from 2:1 to 6:1, depending on your source? it's unlikely that all the writing talent in the language has suddenly and inexplicably flocked to memoir. seems much more likely to me that most readers actually care about and find themselves compelled by what they think is a truthful account.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Jan 27, 2006 -> 08:43 PM) It is interesting that people who found inspiration in this guys story, when they believed it to be true, suddenly have lost that inspiration whe they learned it was fiction. I guess when someone publishes a book that becomes a "self help, here's how I saved myself", people want the guy to actually have suffered. How about a "that is great, you didn't spend all that time in jail". i think the jail thing is balanced out by the "hey, nice job exploiting those girls' deaths" thing. i dunno, maybe my animosity toward him has nothing to do with his betraying his readers' trust or ignoring the ethics of writing nonfiction. i'm really a lot more upset that i lost two hours of my life eight years ago when my then girlfirend (now wife) made me go with her to see this: Kissing a Fool.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Jan 27, 2006 -> 06:58 PM) I dont care if he published it as a dictionary. Its a good book so far, and the fact that its not all true doesnt effect my interest in the book. If you want to argue the morality of how he published the book, im not the guy. cool. i'm just gonna sit here and stare at your avatar, if that's OK.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Jan 27, 2006 -> 05:49 PM) Since its fiction, you need to look at it as fiction. His first book places him in rehab with Leonard. That is where he meets him. I dont care what actually happened, its still a good book, and a great story. if it's such great fiction, why not publish it as a novel (ie, fiction) rather than a memoir (ie, nonfiction)? i don't imagine it has anything to do with the fact that memoirs sell at a much higher rate than fiction in this country. probably has nothing to do with the fact that every publisher to which he submitted "MLP" when it was a novel manuscript rejected it, either.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Jan 27, 2006 -> 05:16 PM) Its in his story. It the second novel is based off of the first novel, thats where he met him. If its fiction, its still the case. Maybe you should write him a hate letter. i understood your first sentence. i didn't understand the second. i didn't understand the third. i understood the fourth but was unimpressed with it.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Jan 27, 2006 -> 04:20 PM) oh, and he met Leonard in rehab not jail. my bad. frey's a straight shooter.

QUOTE(LosMediasBlancas @ Jan 27, 2006 -> 03:37 PM) I'm neutral toward Oprah, but I think it's funny how all the haters are jumping all over her about this. When you read a book that is non fiction, do you assume everything in it is true or do you question it? I'm not familiar with her whole Book Club thing. Does she have a responsibility to verify facts? there's a difference between subjectivity and fabrication (gross fabrication in frey's case). no, you can't assume absolute truth, but when something is presented as nonfiction--and that's what memoir is--it's the author's responsibility to tell the truth to the best of his ability. to do otherwise is a disservice to lit. in frey's case, lit notwithstanding, he's not just pissing on lit and not just saying "f*** you" to all the fiction writers who try and do it the right way, rather than just branding their novel as nonfiction and riding that easy cachet to publication. he also pissed on the memory of a coupla dead girls by inventing a dramatic role for himself in the incident that killed them. same for his friend who committed suicide. he claimed he could've stopped her had he not been jailed. turns out he wasn't jailed at the time. he's scum.

QUOTE(Soxy @ Jan 27, 2006 -> 03:42 PM) I think there's a sequel by him already out. . . "my friend leonard." it's about a friend he made in jail. he was in jail for, like, half an hour.

since xmas: "absalom, abasalom!" faulkner "a man without a country," vonnegut "a clash of kings," george r. r. martin frey is a slimeball.

dude's a career 300/400/500 guy and generally doesn't even catch a look in HOF discussions. dunno how that's overrated.

kenny's a shark. http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/columnists/askba.html

good luck, bull.

taveras = empty batting average. see uribe, juan from 2004 to 2005. the BA of players like that (free swingers) typically fluctuates pretty wildly from season to season across a 80-point spectrum. dunno what taveras's minor-leagus stats are and whether last year was more median or outlier, but he's suspect based off his line. and minor-league stats are reasonably translatable. anderson'll have a better OBP (relative to his average) than taveras and a ton more power. i'll take my chances that he learns to make contact (he's adjusted quickly in that regard at every level [and it's not like rowand didn't strike out a ton himself]). since anderson's also reputed to be a plus defender, i see no reason to replace him with taveras.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Dec 23, 2005 -> 06:22 PM) Bedard put up a 4.00 ERA and is Garland's age. The only problem is the kid has never thrown much any innings and has some serious durability issues. I know the O's have that kid Penn, but I don't think of him on the same level as the Dodgers pitching prospects. didn't adam loewen (sp?) start to put it together this year? i think he's considered to have ace stuff if he ever makes it. dodgers still have better guys; just thowing the name out there.