Gotta Be Good

cubfan33 · 08-07-2002, 01:26 AM

I was asked on the radio today how I got started doing this, and for the nth time, I gave my version of "the blind squirrel found a nut." The followup question threw me though. The host came through the phone and said "What makes you different?" Rather than saying the truth - not much, really - I realized that I'd found something better to say. My answer went something like this: "I started this newsletter by sending it to three people - three friends whose opinions I respected and who I thought might get a chuckle about me goofing on injuries. Last night, I did the same thing - I sent my little newsletter out to a few thousand of my close friends, people whose opinions I respect and who get a chuckle occasionally about me goofing on injuries. All I am is a guy with a cell phone, a computer, and ok, I've got some great contacts, but I'm still talking to friends about baseball." So thanks and I hope you chuckle.

Sorry for no email last night. The world conspired against me, but there wasn't much to say and due to circumstances, UTK @ Fox was delayed. Chick Hearn's passing and an impending site re-design have the good people at Fox hopping and, like with the Kile tragedy, to even be on the same page with Chick Hearn is stunning to me. This week's is up now, so check it out. While you're there, check out a new feature there by the former writer of Metsonline.com. The Mets squished one of their fans websites like a bug as part of the "Who Can We Alienate Next 2002 Tour" and Fox Sports stepped up to the plate and gave him a new forum. BIG kudos to Fox Sports for being cool and having a spine.

Welcome to the Majors, Steve Smyth! Barry Bonds just launched #599 off him. The Cubs took Smyth out for a pinch hitter in the fourth so he won't be an answer to Rachael's trivia anytime soon. Joe Borowski on the other hand ... whoa, K'd him looking. Bonds should have a few more ABs tonight.

Think MLB teams are scared of us? I asked whose cause we should take up now that Jack Cust is up in the majors. I got a LOT of great responses and its odd that two of the people named - Travis Hafner and Karim Garcia - were both called up today. Roberto Petagine is in Japan, so its down to Chris Coste and ... why didn't I think of this ... Jim Rushford.

The Dodgers finally have a goal - August 18th. If they can hang on until then, Kevin Brown will ride back into town like a sheriff in an old western. Brown will make one or two more rehab starts. Reports out of Vegas say that Brown is already over 85% and could start for the Dodgers sooner, but the team wants to keep him off the hard turf in Montreal. I guess padding isn't in the MLB budget for the Expos ... or did Loria take that too?

Speaking of the Expos, reports from New York say that Seligula has instructed Omar Minaya and Frank Robinson to hold out injured players like Tony Armas to protect them in case of contraction. The value to MLB is not in wins or ticket sales, but a dispersal draft that will land great players on bad teams not smart enough to get good players on their own. Now, do I believe this report? Not entirely. I don't think Seligula would make that kind of move himself and I'm not sure how much he really understands baseball. No, Seligula seems to operate more like Tony Soprano, keeping his fingerprints off things. Well, except for that whole RICO lawsuit and now Nelson Doubleday accusing him of fraud ... ok, I apologize to Tony Soprano and any member of the mafia for defaming you by the comparison.

I'll keep the chain thing working. Doubleday owns the Mets and the Mets are hurting in more ways than one. Edgardo Alfonzo will avoid the DL, but not the waiver wire. Reports are that Alfonzo and Roberto Alomar (also hurting some, down in the groin area) both hit the waiver wire yesterday, but both were pulled back. The Mets may also run Jeromy Burnitz and Roger Cedeno across the wire at some point.

Across town in the Bronx, the Yankees are still hurting but getting better. The backs of Jason Giambi and David Wells aren't great concerns, while Roger Clemens will take the mound for the Bombers tomorrow. Mariano Rivera is still at least a week away and likely more, but it seems the Yankees always get healthy right around the start of September. (Twice this week I've been asked who'd win the AL and both times I said the Yankees.)

David Wells used to pitch in Toronto, so there's the connection to ... Carlos Delgado missed another game tonight with a sore back. Delgado is very durable so missing any time has to be worrisome, but Toronto can afford to let him heal, even if Dave Berg ends up at first base - ugh. Down on the Toronto farm, Kevin Goldstein (of the excellent KG Prospect Report) writes in to tell us that hot OF prospect Gabe Gross has a hairline fracture in his lower leg and is done for the year.

Also a prospect and also likely done for the year is Angels prospect Casey Kotchman. He injured his wrist sliding into home and the Angels will be cautious with their best prospect. Unfortunately, they should have been cautious enough to teach him to not slide headfirst. Also for the Angels, Garrett Anderson will DH as his hammy heals. They have Darin Erstad and his stupid contract manning the outfield anyway.

The A's seldom make stupid signings, but they will be without recent smart acquisition Ray Durham for a few more days. Durham has a kidney condition right now which has the symptoms of focal glomerulosclerosis. You may remember this as the kidney condition that sidelined Alonzo Mourning for nearly a year. It is predominant in blacks and exacerbated by anti-inflammatories. The way Durham plays, you'd think Motrin might be a staple in his diet.

Darn, I can't think of a chain so I'll just go with the fact that Elmer Dessens was dropped on the DL today and Joey Hamilton was called up to take his start tomorrow. I made Greg Rakestraw very happy today when I said that I thought, despite their problems, that the Reds would win the NL Central. I don't think that the Cardinals pitching will be enough, but if you've seen my results in Lee Sinins' prediction contest lately, you probably wouldn't listen to me on predictions.

Charles Johnson finally stopped circling the drain and went on the DL. Mike Redmond is outhitting him and there was no point in the Marlins keeping him active while he was hurting and unable to catch. Both his thumb and back should heal in fifteen days and he'll return to continue to make outs and not help a great young staff get better.

As expected, Todd Hollandworth went on the DL. As I said before, Travis Hafner was released from bondage and called up to Texas. If you haven't followed him, Jamey Newberg - THE Texas Rangers expert and the top candidate to replace the inept John Hart in the offseason - is very high on Hafner. I won't even talk about the Rangers other issue today because it's not an issue.

Rick Helling had a good rehab outing in Tucscon that I let slide by without mention, but his velocity was fine. His ankle tightened up in the fifth and his command dropped sharply at that point, so don't expect complete games from him, but Brenley shouldn't be either. A Curt Schilling, Randy Johnson, John Patterson, Rick Helling rotation will look pretty good headed down the stretch.

If you need more baseball reading, check out Jason Michael Barker over at strikethree.com. One of the joys in doing UTK is finding - and meeting - some great writers that I hadn't been exposed to previously. There may be no Roger Angell on the horizon, but there are plenty of good writers out there. And yes, mentioning UTK in your column is a good way to get me to notice you, but you have to be good to get my seal of approval. He is.

A request: a kind reader forwarded an email to me about some people being fired at MLB.com due to the strike. Like a moron, I've lost that email in the depths of my mailbox and hope whoever it was will be kind enough to re-send it to me. Thanks. Okay, a second request ... the sunroom is about to start going up. Has anyone added on a sunroom to their home? If so, email and let me know what sort of hell I'm looking forward to. Next report tomorrow ... until then, I'll see you on Netshrine.com.

08-07-2002, 08:41 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by cubfan33
The Dodgers finally have a goal - August 18th. If they can hang on until then, Kevin Brown will ride back into town like a sheriff in an old western. Brown will make one or two more rehab starts. Reports out of Vegas say that Brown is already over 85% and could start for the Dodgers sooner, but the team wants to keep him off the hard turf in Montreal. I guess padding isn't in the MLB budget for the Expos ... or did Loria take that too?

This year, Ze Expos replaced the old concrete turf in The Big 'O' with cushy-extra-foamy stuff. Ask hmrsf. She's been on it. The company that makes Tampa's FieldTurf offered to put the FieldTurf in for free, but since they need the stadium to double as an event center, and at any time, be easily transformable for that 3-down, 110 yard field, rouge scoring version of football they play up there, Ze Expos declined.

I think Ze Alouettes have since moved to Percival Molson Stadium at McGill University downtown, but I could be wrong...

nyyfanfrombirth · 08-07-2002, 10:14 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by cubfan33
A request: a kind reader forwarded an email to me about some people being fired at MLB.com due to the strike. Like a moron, I've lost that email in the depths of my mailbox and hope whoever it was will be kind enough to re-send it to me. Thanks. Okay, a second request ... the sunroom is about to start going up. Has anyone added on a sunroom to their home? If so, email and let me know what sort of hell I'm looking forward to. Next report tomorrow ... until then, I'll see you on Netshrine.com.

Will, I don't know if this is what you're looking for, but I posted an email in "Just Shooting It" about the Pinstriped Bible shutting down due to layoffs. Your reading it will send it to the graveyard, but oh well...

cubfan33 · 08-07-2002, 03:42 PM

That's what I was looking for . You rule.

nyyfanfrombirth · 08-07-2002, 03:58 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by cubfan33
That's what I was looking for . You rule.

Thanks. And you saved me from the graveyard. YOU rule!

08-07-2002, 01:26 AM	#1
cubfan33 NetShrine All-Century Team Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Indianapolis Posts: 1,359	Gotta Be Good I was asked on the radio today how I got started doing this, and for the nth time, I gave my version of "the blind squirrel found a nut." The followup question threw me though. The host came through the phone and said "What makes you different?" Rather than saying the truth - not much, really - I realized that I'd found something better to say. My answer went something like this: "I started this newsletter by sending it to three people - three friends whose opinions I respected and who I thought might get a chuckle about me goofing on injuries. Last night, I did the same thing - I sent my little newsletter out to a few thousand of my close friends, people whose opinions I respect and who get a chuckle occasionally about me goofing on injuries. All I am is a guy with a cell phone, a computer, and ok, I've got some great contacts, but I'm still talking to friends about baseball." So thanks and I hope you chuckle. Sorry for no email last night. The world conspired against me, but there wasn't much to say and due to circumstances, UTK @ Fox was delayed. Chick Hearn's passing and an impending site re-design have the good people at Fox hopping and, like with the Kile tragedy, to even be on the same page with Chick Hearn is stunning to me. This week's is up now, so check it out. While you're there, check out a new feature there by the former writer of Metsonline.com. The Mets squished one of their fans websites like a bug as part of the "Who Can We Alienate Next 2002 Tour" and Fox Sports stepped up to the plate and gave him a new forum. BIG kudos to Fox Sports for being cool and having a spine. Welcome to the Majors, Steve Smyth! Barry Bonds just launched #599 off him. The Cubs took Smyth out for a pinch hitter in the fourth so he won't be an answer to Rachael's trivia anytime soon. Joe Borowski on the other hand ... whoa, K'd him looking. Bonds should have a few more ABs tonight. Think MLB teams are scared of us? I asked whose cause we should take up now that Jack Cust is up in the majors. I got a LOT of great responses and its odd that two of the people named - Travis Hafner and Karim Garcia - were both called up today. Roberto Petagine is in Japan, so its down to Chris Coste and ... why didn't I think of this ... Jim Rushford. The Dodgers finally have a goal - August 18th. If they can hang on until then, Kevin Brown will ride back into town like a sheriff in an old western. Brown will make one or two more rehab starts. Reports out of Vegas say that Brown is already over 85% and could start for the Dodgers sooner, but the team wants to keep him off the hard turf in Montreal. I guess padding isn't in the MLB budget for the Expos ... or did Loria take that too? Speaking of the Expos, reports from New York say that Seligula has instructed Omar Minaya and Frank Robinson to hold out injured players like Tony Armas to protect them in case of contraction. The value to MLB is not in wins or ticket sales, but a dispersal draft that will land great players on bad teams not smart enough to get good players on their own. Now, do I believe this report? Not entirely. I don't think Seligula would make that kind of move himself and I'm not sure how much he really understands baseball. No, Seligula seems to operate more like Tony Soprano, keeping his fingerprints off things. Well, except for that whole RICO lawsuit and now Nelson Doubleday accusing him of fraud ... ok, I apologize to Tony Soprano and any member of the mafia for defaming you by the comparison. I'll keep the chain thing working. Doubleday owns the Mets and the Mets are hurting in more ways than one. Edgardo Alfonzo will avoid the DL, but not the waiver wire. Reports are that Alfonzo and Roberto Alomar (also hurting some, down in the groin area) both hit the waiver wire yesterday, but both were pulled back. The Mets may also run Jeromy Burnitz and Roger Cedeno across the wire at some point. Across town in the Bronx, the Yankees are still hurting but getting better. The backs of Jason Giambi and David Wells aren't great concerns, while Roger Clemens will take the mound for the Bombers tomorrow. Mariano Rivera is still at least a week away and likely more, but it seems the Yankees always get healthy right around the start of September. (Twice this week I've been asked who'd win the AL and both times I said the Yankees.) David Wells used to pitch in Toronto, so there's the connection to ... Carlos Delgado missed another game tonight with a sore back. Delgado is very durable so missing any time has to be worrisome, but Toronto can afford to let him heal, even if Dave Berg ends up at first base - ugh. Down on the Toronto farm, Kevin Goldstein (of the excellent KG Prospect Report) writes in to tell us that hot OF prospect Gabe Gross has a hairline fracture in his lower leg and is done for the year. Also a prospect and also likely done for the year is Angels prospect Casey Kotchman. He injured his wrist sliding into home and the Angels will be cautious with their best prospect. Unfortunately, they should have been cautious enough to teach him to not slide headfirst. Also for the Angels, Garrett Anderson will DH as his hammy heals. They have Darin Erstad and his stupid contract manning the outfield anyway. The A's seldom make stupid signings, but they will be without recent smart acquisition Ray Durham for a few more days. Durham has a kidney condition right now which has the symptoms of focal glomerulosclerosis. You may remember this as the kidney condition that sidelined Alonzo Mourning for nearly a year. It is predominant in blacks and exacerbated by anti-inflammatories. The way Durham plays, you'd think Motrin might be a staple in his diet. Darn, I can't think of a chain so I'll just go with the fact that Elmer Dessens was dropped on the DL today and Joey Hamilton was called up to take his start tomorrow. I made Greg Rakestraw very happy today when I said that I thought, despite their problems, that the Reds would win the NL Central. I don't think that the Cardinals pitching will be enough, but if you've seen my results in Lee Sinins' prediction contest lately, you probably wouldn't listen to me on predictions. Charles Johnson finally stopped circling the drain and went on the DL. Mike Redmond is outhitting him and there was no point in the Marlins keeping him active while he was hurting and unable to catch. Both his thumb and back should heal in fifteen days and he'll return to continue to make outs and not help a great young staff get better. As expected, Todd Hollandworth went on the DL. As I said before, Travis Hafner was released from bondage and called up to Texas. If you haven't followed him, Jamey Newberg - THE Texas Rangers expert and the top candidate to replace the inept John Hart in the offseason - is very high on Hafner. I won't even talk about the Rangers other issue today because it's not an issue. Rick Helling had a good rehab outing in Tucscon that I let slide by without mention, but his velocity was fine. His ankle tightened up in the fifth and his command dropped sharply at that point, so don't expect complete games from him, but Brenley shouldn't be either. A Curt Schilling, Randy Johnson, John Patterson, Rick Helling rotation will look pretty good headed down the stretch. If you need more baseball reading, check out Jason Michael Barker over at strikethree.com. One of the joys in doing UTK is finding - and meeting - some great writers that I hadn't been exposed to previously. There may be no Roger Angell on the horizon, but there are plenty of good writers out there. And yes, mentioning UTK in your column is a good way to get me to notice you, but you have to be good to get my seal of approval. He is. A request: a kind reader forwarded an email to me about some people being fired at MLB.com due to the strike. Like a moron, I've lost that email in the depths of my mailbox and hope whoever it was will be kind enough to re-send it to me. Thanks. Okay, a second request ... the sunroom is about to start going up. Has anyone added on a sunroom to their home? If so, email and let me know what sort of hell I'm looking forward to. Next report tomorrow ... until then, I'll see you on Netshrine.com. __________________ UTK available only at www.baseballprospectus.com "I was pulling for Pete and agreeing with (commissioner) Bud Selig that Pete should be eligible for the Hall of Fame," said Giles, now chairman of the Phillies. "Bud was close to making him eligible right after his meeting with Pete (November 2002). Right after that, Pete got into tax trouble (in California), and that delayed the process." - Phillies Chairman Bill Giles in the Dayton Daily News, January 25th, 2004.

08-07-2002, 03:42 PM	#4
cubfan33 NetShrine All-Century Team Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Indianapolis Posts: 1,359	Bingo That's what I was looking for . You rule. __________________ UTK available only at www.baseballprospectus.com "I was pulling for Pete and agreeing with (commissioner) Bud Selig that Pete should be eligible for the Hall of Fame," said Giles, now chairman of the Phillies. "Bud was close to making him eligible right after his meeting with Pete (November 2002). Right after that, Pete got into tax trouble (in California), and that delayed the process." - Phillies Chairman Bill Giles in the Dayton Daily News, January 25th, 2004.

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