Outshined_One

Maybe there wasn't any toilet paper in the john...

This sucker is going to go down in history, one way or another. Kenny Rogers just helped his publicity with tonight's debacle.

Looks like Kenny Rogers has been put on notice.

What in the heck is that thing Polanco's wearing on his head?

Nice catch, Jim.

Wait, what happened? I just turned the game on... Fox had a super-closeup of Kenny Rogers where you could clearly see pine tar or some brown substance on his left hand. McCarver pointed it out and circled it.

So...Kenny Rogers has been caught on tape with pine tar on his pitching hand. Am I not the only one bothered by this?

Maz only got in because of his WS-winning HR. That's pretty much about it.

Problem is, minor league players don't get to join the MLBPA until they come up to the majors. The MLBPA was probably fine with it because it'd mean teams would allocate more resources to signing free agents.

The NFL has a rookie cap that is allotted to all teams based on their draft slot and their respective total number of picks. I'm unsure if they're going to do the same thing as the NFL, but it'd probably be a good start.

Word is the Nationals are looking at him as a managerial possibility.

Otsuka has a move that MLB had to make a ruling on, where he slams the ball in his glove prior to delivery. They decided he could do it without men on base, but with men on, it was a balk. He could also have been pitching out of the stretch with men on. That delivery would kill him on steal attempts, imo.

He's going to have to clean up that delivery. There are enough pauses in it to get him nailed with balk calls. Still, he could be a nice pickup.

Verlander's throwing better than 89-92, imo.

Pepsi brought back the Jimmy Fallon commercial. Yay.

Sean Connery at his finest!

I wonder if MLB will allow teams to trade draft picks in the near future? This seems to be a step in that direction.

I'm up and down on it. On the up side, it's been a really arbitrary process. The designation of FAs tends to have no rhyme or reason. How certain guys get designated A,B, or C has never been adequately explained. Remember Matt Clement? I never understood why he wasn't a Type A FA given his success compared to some of the other bums who were given the Type A designation that year. Also, to the Cubs' benefit, because they have a high draft pick, they will have a much better selection of players because of the elimination of the sandwich picks. Granted, they won't have any extra picks, which stinks, but their current picks will be a good step up. Finally, in terms of good things, the Cubs won't be in a situation like in past seasons when they went out and acquired a number of players, losing draft picks in the process. If they want to go out and make a splash in free agency, they won't have to worry about losing multiple draft picks in the process. And now for the bad things... Naturally, the Cubs won't get any compensation for losing guys like Juan Pierre and (hopefully not) Aramis Ramirez. That's problematic. On a bit of a strange note, this could end up hurting the quality of the draft for the foreseeable future if there is a slotting system. High school guys will no longer be able to slip into late rounds and end up getting a ton of money thrown at them way down in the draft (Huseby, Adenhart, etc). These guys will be more reluctant to sign since they will no longer be able to get that nice payday despite being an 8th rounder or whatever. I think this may very well end up increasing the overall quality of college baseball. I'm sure there are a few things I missed, but this is definitely food for thought.

I'm helpful like that. 8)

Anyone else think Beane fired Macha because he wanted to keep Ron Washington from going to Texas?

I just think it's interesting that bunts and the hit-and-run are "useless." In the vast majority of circumstances, they are pretty much useless. Bunts can be good. Guys who bunt for hits can be really effective at getting on base, can draw in the infielders, and so on. I think very few guys in baseball should do that with any regularity, but in that context, it can be highly effective. The same goes for the suicide squeeze and sacrifice bunts in general. If you only need one run to tie or win, that's a good approach to take. Also, pitchers who are terrible hitters often do more by bunting than they would by swinging. The problem the majority of people have with bunting is that it is counter-productive a lot of the time. Sacrifice bunts have a few problems with them. Basically speaking, you are taking the bat out of the hands of a hitter (even if he is Neifi-level bad), sacrificing an out to move a runner over one base, are only marginally increasing the likelihood that a runner will score, and reducing the scoring opportunities you could have in that inning by sacrificing that out. Plus, there is always the possibility of ending up with a runner on first and one out because a guy somehow screwed up the bunt. You want your offense to score as many runs as possible, which means giving your hitters the most opportunities to get on base. I have a huge problem with the hit & run. It might seemingly make sense in certain circumstances (slow runner at first, likely double play candidate, etc), but it is really, really stupid. You are operating under the assumption that the hitter will make contact with a pitch in such a way that the lead runner will not be thrown out. However, as we have seen so many times over these past years, guys will almost inevitably swing at a really bad pitch on a hit and run. At best, the guy fouls off the pitch. At worst, it's a strike 'em out, throw 'em out and you just wasted two outs. It does not succeed often enough to justify implementing it on even a remotely regular basis. Why is there even any problem with that approach? If a manager makes sure his players can effectively hit, field, and pitch while creating favorable matchups and keeping everyone healthy, isn't that a good thing? In most cases, yes.

I thought for sure you'd write "Joe Buck is the real James T. Kirk". ...IIIIIIIIIIIIII'M CAPTAIN KIRK!!!! *Dramatic music plays*

I called it! :D

Joe Buck Molests Collies

Joe Buck and Tim McCarver disgust me. They're such friggin' homers that it's a joke.