caulfield12

Rodriguez? In theory, they have him, Kelenic and Lewis for the outfield, with Haniger traded (maybe not!) and Trammell the fourth. But who knows with the M’s. I’m not going to take Kelenic seriously until he at least gets his average up to .200. Also happy that no Wander Franco thread was started, although he’s hanging in there a la Vaughn in the beginning of the season upon early recall.

Better voice, a bit smoother in his delivery…it’s never easy for an outsider to quickly feel like he belongs, especially paired with Stone.

We are spending all our broadcasting petty cash fund on Kimbrel apparently…

Despite the three homer game, wish the White Sox would have picked up Wilson Ramos instead…oh, well, Sox also have the luxury of waiting around for Grandal to get back as close as possible to 100%.

Miles away from Koskie, Rivas, Guzman and Mientkiewicz.

Looks like a carbon copy of the Indians/Reds game…

Now tied for 20th in homers but only 10 away from 12th place (Seattle at 139).

Reds are closer than 3 1/2. This will be a lot more interesting after those four upcoming “tough” series have been completed and after we have a better gauge on Robert and even Chris Sale…guess that would make for some high media drama if they cross paths.

Great, more Nationwide jingle attempts. Pete V. is definitely getting his money’s worth this year.

Twitter threads…

Someone was saying the same about Cotts and Politte at some point in 2005…

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/idiot-on-the-field-dodger-stadium-ball-girl-mlb-012256084.html Ball girl the highlight of the week…if not the year.

Tanaka would be another...

3 on 3 basketball, beach volleyball….two more golds USA competitive niche right now is definitely here, NCAA scholarships and Title 9 funding.

Or, that was the reason he was more leery about it?

Yep, it has really taken a bite out of fraternities/Greek life as well…and then there’s the military, see A Few Good Men. Lots of dramatic changes in such a short period of time compared to how long those “secret society” traditions had persisted over time.

At best, you will get Paddack+ for Giolito. They’re not going to sell low on Clevinger coming off injury when they sent a boatload of prospects to get him…then turn around and sell low on Gore as well. Trading two for one when their biggest need is starting pitching still…it’s kind of like our three for one to get Todd Ritchie from the Pirates back in the day.

Not a problem at all if willing to pay $6-8 million per year…if the team can afford that luxury.

Not much of a young man anymore….unless the definition of “youthful” indiscretions has jumped from late 30’s to late 40’s/early 50’s. That clubhouse “boys will be boys” thing with former athletes bullying in the clubhouse never goes away with many regardless of age. Surprised it took so long for this story to come out. Btw, they’re already putting the victim’s name out there on social media.

Don’t forget Joey Albert Belle…

Great Olympics for the volleyball team playing without Jordan Thompson for the week. Drews has been outstanding.

Are we still going by gold medals, total medals or giving them a 5-3-1 or 3-2-1 points ranking? https://sports.yahoo.com/sorry-america-chinas-leading-the-real-olympic-medal-count-081228981.html If you go by a points system awarding more for first, US still wins. Of course, US prioritizes team sports…whereas China and Russia more systematically will determine which individual sports, no matter how obscure, provide the greatest ROI in terms of winning gold medals. The US was heavily favored coming in, had the most athletes by far…but it kind of feels almost like a draw. Maybe if we keep adding team medals in BB and volleyball it will be super tight by the end of tmrw. https://news.yahoo.com/chinese-nationalists-furious-beijing-backed-032700286.html Then perhaps the biggest shock…the Chinese government has twisted themselves into a pretzel on those Mao pins they simply can’t escape. Can’t have your cake and eat it, too, and I worry about the nationalistic social media being 10x worse next February compared to the flareups with Japanese, Taiwanese and Chinese athletes.

Now every team has one? Guess that is Manfred-proof for now…

Looking at things objectively, there's a reason that very few teams in baseball have ever used two closers together earning that type of money for 1 1/2 seasons together. Because it's hard to retain their value...with Andrew Miller (who was always more of a multi-inning high leverage guy) perhaps the closest in his prime. The hard thing here is the ideal situation would be Hendriks pitching high leverage and Kimbrel closing, but that's the opposite of the way it's likely to play out. Just have a feeling that Kimbrel won't do as well as Hendriks in that role because Liam has done it for so much of his career, whereas Kimbrel is so acclimated with being THE guy down in the pen. It's a big adjustment, especially for a future HoF who statistically was the best closer in baseball this season...until he changed teams.

Here we go again…