tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91312894206189917952024-03-13T19:32:18.839-04:00ShysterBallBaseball from the Shyster's point of view.Craig Calcaterrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00190345915954808542noreply@blogger.comBlogger2314125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131289420618991795.post-37841737671357567512008-11-30T22:30:00.000-05:002008-11-30T22:39:25.527-05:00ShysterBall Has Moved<span style="font-size:180%;"><a href="http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/shysterball/">ShysterBall has moved to The Hardball Times</a>. </span><br /><br />You can find me here: <a href="http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/shysterball/">http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/shysterball/</a><br /><br />The RSS feed can be found <a href="http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/rss/shysterball_art/">here</a>.<br /><br />Please change your bookmarks and blogrolls and all of that jazz at your earliest convenience.<br /><br />Thanks,<br /><br />Craig CalcaterraCraig Calcaterrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00190345915954808542noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131289420618991795.post-33031016055960110912008-11-29T22:13:00.000-05:002008-11-29T22:13:18.570-05:00Reminder: Monday is Moving Day<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HS1spWnkn4o/STID6tzQ0OI/AAAAAAAAD1E/rJjWFOq0_do/s1600-h/moving.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 181px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HS1spWnkn4o/STID6tzQ0OI/AAAAAAAAD1E/rJjWFOq0_do/s400/moving.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274282420866175202" border="0" /></a>For those of you who missed it -- or for those of you who ate so much pie over the past view days your synapses ceased firing -- a reminder: <a href="http://shysterball.blogspot.com/2008/11/shysterball-moving-on-monday.html">ShysterBall is moving to The Hardball Times Monday morning</a>. If things go right, clicking your usual ShysterBall bookmark should redirect you to the New and Improved ShysterBall automatically. In the likely event I screw that up, the new URL is:<br /><a href="http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/shysterball"><blockquote>http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/shysterball</blockquote></a>There's only some old junk there now. New stuff should show up early Monday morning.<br /><br />If even <span style="font-style: italic;">that</span> is screwed up, just go to <a href="http://www.hardballtimes.com/main">THT's main page</a> and click on the tab that reads, you guessed it, ShysterBall, which should appear in the wee hours of Monday morning as well.<br /><br />As I said before, the new ShysterBall will be almost exactly like the old ShysterBall, except it will be different.<br /><br />See you on the other side.Craig Calcaterrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00190345915954808542noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131289420618991795.post-6389190930182192912008-11-27T00:05:00.000-05:002008-11-27T00:05:00.645-05:00Giving Thanks<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_HS1spWnkn4o/SS4GDpCh4CI/AAAAAAAAD00/m3DPxwZ6FsQ/s1600-h/turkeysaway.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 319px; height: 247px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_HS1spWnkn4o/SS4GDpCh4CI/AAAAAAAAD00/m3DPxwZ6FsQ/s320/turkeysaway.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273158873323266082" border="0" /></a><a href="http://shysterball.blogspot.com/2007/11/giving-thanks.html">I did this last year</a> and no one complained, so it seemed appropriate to once again give you ShysterBall's official list of the things which teams -- or their fans -- should be thankful for as we head into the deep dark winter of the 2008-09 offseason. Before you read that, however, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2ifyi8-lxo">please go watch this</a>.<br /><br />That never gets old. Now on to the thankfulness:<br /><div><br /><strong>Rays</strong><br />The Rays can be thankful for so many years in the wilderness, which allowed them to have so many recent high draft picks. If guys like Jose Canseco, Greg Vaughn, Travis Lee, and Casey Fossum had been even mediocre, Tampa Bay may never have gotten a crack at the players they needed to get this operation off the ground.<br /><br /><strong>Red Sox<br /></strong><a href="http://shysterball.blogspot.com/2008/08/red-sox-nation-indeed.html">The Fenway Sports Group</a>, which constitutes a big ol' infusion of non-sharable revenue with which the Sox' very bright front office can play. Of course, it may one day serve as the spark of a giant civil war between the rich owners and the poor owners. But I'm a silver lining guy, so my response to that will be "Cool! Two leagues!"<br /><br /><strong>Yankees<br /></strong>The success of the Rays. If their failure to make the playoffs were simply a function of being outspent and out-thunk by the Red Sox, the Yankees would have no choice but to triple down on payroll and free agents. At least now Brian Cashman has an <span style="font-style: italic;">argument</span> that it's better to develop at least a few players in-house. Sure, they may spend a gazillion dollars on free agents anyway this winter and cut bait on Hughes and Kennedy too early, but at least such a course will be the result of a decision rather than some unbending imperative.<br /><br /><strong>Blue Jays</strong><br />The return of Cito Gaston which, whether he caused it or not, coincided with a stretch of baseball in which the Jays were 14 games over .500. Eighty-six wins was nice too, though in the AL East that may be a curse in that it's not enough to compete but not enough to justify a tear-down either.<br /><br /><strong>Orioles</strong><br />That the offense came through better than expected. Before the season started most folks assumed that Baltimore would wind up near the cellar in runs scored, and instead finished remarkably mediocre in that category. Yeah, that still amounted to a distant last place, but things looked historically bleak for the Orioles this time last year, so run-of-the-mill crappy is worthy of thanks.<br /><br /><strong>White Sox<br /></strong>White Sox fans should be thankful that the Arizona Diamondbacks gave a dumb contract to Eric Byrnes, which in turn made then feel like they had to trade Carlos Quentin.<br /><br /><strong>Twins<br /></strong>The Twins should be thanking their lucky stars that letting their star centerfielder go and trading one of the best pitchers in baseball for a guy with a sub-.300 OBP didn't result in an utter collapse. Not that luck is the real factor here. The Twins have made something out of seemingly nothing for so long that maybe we shouldn't have been surprised that they were in the race until the waning days of the season. If only they had let Livan go a few weeks earlier than they did . . .<br /><br /><strong>Indians<br /></strong>Injuries. If Victor Martinez and Travis Hafner (and many others) weren't hurt and/or ineffective this year, there's a chance they would have been in the race this summer. If they were, would they really have traded Sabathia and, in turn, received Matt LaPorta? Would they have realized that Kelly Shoppach could be an everyday catcher if given the chance, thus allowing Victor Martinez to move to first base or DH, thus displacing black holes like Hafner and Garko? No, the stars didn't align for the Indians in 2008, but things look pretty darn bright for 2009.<br /><br /><strong>Royals<br /></strong>The month of September. As a result of that 18-8 record, the year ended up looking far prettier than it felt.<br /><br /><strong>Tigers</strong> </div>The financial crisis, the impending collapse of the Big Three, the Lions and the 3-9 Michigan Wolverines. All of these catastrophes combined to quickly erase the memory of the 2008 Detroit Tigers, perhaps the most disappointing and uninspiring squad in team history.<br /><div><br /><strong>Angels<br /></strong>The A's basically throwing in the towel last season. Sure, the Angels still would have cruised to the division crown, but the lack of any serious competition sure gave them a nice calm September.<br /><br /><strong>Rangers</strong></div>Their really damn fine offense, which helped balance the worst pitching staff and worst defense in the league.<br /><div><br /><strong>A's</strong><br />The icy hand of death. Specifically, the fear of it, which I'm guessing is what has caused owner Lew Wolff to go after Matt Holliday and put the pedal to the metal on the stadium in Fremont. The guy probably realizes that no matter how sound the decision making has been in Oakland during the Beane regime, sometimes you gotta push the limits a bit in order to accomplish something before you freakin' die.<br /><br /><strong>Mariners</strong><br />New blood in the front office and in the dugout. Both Jack Zduriencik and Don Wakamatsu are breaths of fresh air for a franchise that was damn close to suffocating.<br /><br /><strong>Phillies</strong><br />A front office team that realized that Geoff Geary, Michael Bourn, and Michael Costanzo were expendable. Oh, and the World Series title was nice too.<br /><br /><strong>Mets</strong><br />As God is my witness, I can't feature any Mets fan giving thanks for a single thing at the moment. Johan. OK, there's Johan. Other than that, man, it's been two pretty bleak winters in a row, hasn't it?<br /><br /><strong>Marlins<br /></strong>The economic collapse. It's hard to get a publicly funded stadium built in even the most prosperous of times, and when times are tough, you may as well forget about it. But when times are as catastrophically bad as they are now -- when things are so awful that serious-minded people routinely use the word "depression" when discussing the economy -- public officials get all New Dealy on us and decide that a new ballpark isn't a gift to billionaire baseball owners, it's a public works project.<br /><br /><strong>Braves</strong><br />Jair Jurrjens and Jorge Campillo, who did everything they could to hold the fort after all the grownups in the rotation went down. Braves fans may also soon be able to thank Jake Peavy's representation, who have so damaged the bargaining power of Padres management this offseason that Jake may find himself in a Braves jersey next season in exchange for a package that even a doubter like me can live with.<br /><br /><strong>Nationals<br /></strong>That seemingly no one in Virginia, Maryland, or the District of Columbia gives a flying falafel about baseball. You've seen the bumper sticker that reads "If you aren't outraged you aren't paying attention?" I think that was first made for the the seven Nats season ticket holders. No one is really outraged, by the way.<br /><br /><strong>Cubs<br /></strong>No matter how disappointing the playoffs turned out, Cubs' fans should be thankful for the best Cubs team in, gosh, maybe 73 years. Unlike pre-2004 Red Sox Nation, Cubs fans have always stayed just on just the acceptable side of the line dividing genuine misery from overwrought victimization. Here's hoping that, as the Cubbies achieve greater success, they similarly outperform Yankees' fans in dealing with feelings of entitlement and unrealistic expectations.<br /><br /><strong>Brewers</strong><br />Carston Charles Sabathia, who took that team, placed it on his back, and carried its butt into October. No matter where he goes in 2009, CC gave Milwaukee fans a season -- well, a half season -- to remember.<br /><br /><strong>Astros<br /></strong>That the success of a season is judged by the team's record in real games as opposed to the Pythagorean record, because they had a pretty good year measured by the former and a pretty bad one measured by the latter. Unfortunately, a team like Houston is also inclined to <em>plan</em> based on the former rather than the latter, which means that it could be a really ugly 2009 for Astros fans.<br /><br /><strong>Cardinals<br /></strong>It's an obvious one, but Cardinals fans are making a gigantic mistake if they don't wake up each morning and thank whatever deity they believe in for Albert Pujols. When the MVP vote causes all kinds of yelling and starts all kinds of arguments simply because your guy's margin of victory wasn't <em>large enough</em>, you know you have a special player in the fold.<br /><br /><strong>Reds<br /></strong>The end of the Ken Griffey, Jr. Era. Not that it's not sad to see player of Griffey's caliber go, but this has been a franchise and, more specifically, a fanbase, that has been unable to take anything that has happened since February 10, 2000 at face value. Good things have been soured by the feeling that they could have been so much better if Griffey had been healthy or 1990s-productive. Bad things have been truly wretched for much the same reason. I usually take Andy Dufresne's side of things, but when it comes to Griffey in Cincinnati, I have to agree with Red: "Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane." Now that Griffey is gone, maybe the Reds can operate within the bounds of reality rather than lament what could have been and damn what never was.<br /><br /><strong>Pirates</strong><br />It's a rerun from last season, but once again, Pirates fans should be thankful for Neal Huntington, who just over a year ago cleaned house on the player development side and announced that objective measures of player performance were going to rule the day. The Nady/Marte and the Bay trades may or may not end up yielding Major League talent, but they were the right moves to make. It's a long climb back for the Pirates, but Huntington is the guy they need as their mountain guide.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Dodgers</span><br />Management that understands the concept of sunk costs. Sure, they wouldn't need to understand that concept if they hadn't gone out and grabbed Juan Pierre and Andruw Jones in the first place, but better to overpay useless players and trade for Manny Ramirez than wrongly-play useless players and watch the Diamondbacks win the division.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Diamondbacks</span><br />Diamondbacks' management should be thankful that most folks aren't that good at math, because if they were, their fans would all be aware of the following depressing little statistic <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/season-in-review-arizona-diamondbacks/">first observed by Matthew Carruth at Fangraphs</a>: "A sad season for Arizona fans as they saw their team race off to a 9-2 start and if they had simply played .500 ball for the remaining 151 games they would have at least tied Los Angeles’ 84 wins." Oy.<br /><br /><strong>Rockies</strong><br />Colorado should be thankful -- and will be, for many years -- that they won the pennant in 2007, because it probably bought a lot of goodwill for a team that isn't as close to consistent contention as many thought before the season began.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Giants</span><br />That they get to watch Tim Lincecum pitch every fifth day. Cain and Sanchez are no slouches either, so after 15 years of BarryBall, San Francisco may soon have a team that contends based on its pitching. That is, if they can find anyone who can hit. You know, just a little bit?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Padres</span><br />Family. Friends. The fact that no matter how dark these days may seem, there is someone or some reason worth waking up for and facing the day. That the human race has frequently stared into the abyss and found the wherewithal to not blink, to beat a strategic retreat, and build up its strength for another fight, another day.<br /><br />What, you think I'd mention something about baseball? This is the Padres for cryin' out loud!<br /><br />And once again, I offer my thanks to you. I don't write this blog simply to satisfy myself with how clever I am. Well, not mostly. I write it because you guys read it and, unless you're yankin' my chain, you like it. I'd have thrown in the towel a long time ago if you didn't.<br /><br />Enjoy your Thanksgiving. Enjoy some time with your family, your friends, or if neither of those are around, enjoy the peace and quiet that none of us with family and friends will be getting. I think I'm going to take the rest of today and Friday off and, as per usual, I'll be quiet on Saturday and Sunday too. Tryptophyn, pie, and wine will do that to a guy.<br /><br />On Monday morning we storm the pages of <a href="http://www.hardballtimes.com/">The Hardball Times</a>. I hope to see you there.<br /><br />Craig<br /></div>Craig Calcaterrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00190345915954808542noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131289420618991795.post-38686040857744437832008-11-26T14:35:00.001-05:002008-11-26T14:43:24.192-05:00Mama Mia!One of the reasons I can't take the World Baseball Classic too seriously is that even if you take it at face value -- as a battle between nations -- the relatively lax citizenship rules undermine that by giving it a decidedly mercenary flavor. <a href="http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081123&content_id=3689880&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb">Take Italy, for example</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote>In 2009, Italy will have a new manager -- Marco Mazzieri, who became manager of the Italian national team in 2007, will replace Matt Galante -- and a new chance to make a name for itself on the international stage. Italy will likely lose some star power with the recent retirement of Mike Piazza, but the team has current Major Leaguers who are willing to participate. Officially, no roster spots have been filled, though several players have made their desires known. Rangers utilityman Frank Catalanotto, for one, wants in again . . .<br /><br />. . . Angels catcher Mike Napoli, Angels reliever Justin Speier, Astros first baseman Mark Saccomanno, free-agent catcher Paul Lo Duca and free-agent lefty reliever Mike Gallo are also among those being considered by Mazzieri for the Classic club. Rays outfielder Justin Ruggiano, who played for the U.S. in the 2007 World Cup, said he would play for Italy if asked . . . One player who has already turned down the opportunity to compete is Rangers catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia.</blockquote>Places of birth of the aforementioned players:<br /><br />Piazza: Norristown, Pennsylvania<br />Catalanotto: Smithtown, New York<br />Napoli: Hollywood, Florida<br />Speier Walnut Creek, California<br />Saccomanno: Houston, Texas<br />Lo Duca: Brooklyn, New York<br />Gallo: Long Beach, California<br />Ruggiano: Austin, Texas<br />Saltalamacchia: West Palm Beach, Florida<br /><br />That's Italian!<br /><br />(thanks to ShysterBall's European Correspondent, Ron Rollins, for the head's up)Craig Calcaterrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00190345915954808542noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131289420618991795.post-80755213339740140492008-11-26T13:35:00.000-05:002008-11-26T13:35:15.516-05:00The Heir Presumptive<a href="http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/cardinals/story/7333A8BA8ED9E48D8625750D0016A7B6?OpenDocument">A nice profile of Cardinals' coach Jose Oquendo</a>, who as I mentioned recently was one of my favorites from back in the day. Good quote in response to a question about the extent to which Whitey Herzog, Joe Torre, and Tony La Russa have impacted his style:<br /><br /><blockquote>"Each of them had their own way of handling players and handling situations in the game," Oquendo says. "But it's not fair for me to draw so much from Whitey because I was a player then. As a player you view the game a lot differently than when you're a coach. I played for Joe Torre also. He was different than Whitey and Tony. But Torre came to us in a different situation. He didn't have the players that Whitey had early in the 80s. He had the players that were the reason Whitey quit."</blockquote>Personally, I'm hoping he has more Whitey than Tony in him. I'm also hoping that the Cardinals keep him around long enough to where he can move in to the manager's office once Tony finally moves out.Craig Calcaterrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00190345915954808542noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131289420618991795.post-35668539680528706892008-11-26T13:14:00.004-05:002008-11-26T14:37:26.054-05:00Krivsky to BaltimoreFormer Reds' general manager Wayne Krivsky has been <a href="http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baseball/bal-orioles1126,0,3433240.story">hired by the O's</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote>The Orioles today named former Cincinnati Reds front office executive Wayne Krivsky as special assistant to Andy MacPhail, president of baseball operations. Krivsky has more than 30 years of experience in baseball operations and will be involved in all aspects of the Orioles' major league operations, including scouting, contracts and other baseball administration responsibilities.</blockquote>Though Krivsky didn't distinguish himself as the Reds' GM, he is a well respected scouting and player development guy, so bringing him into the fold is a good move by MacPhail.Craig Calcaterrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00190345915954808542noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131289420618991795.post-24652106371087252472008-11-26T11:01:00.003-05:002008-11-26T11:06:54.488-05:00Heh<a href="http://ussmariner.com/2008/11/25/how-things-have-changed/">Quite the observation</a> from Dave at U.S.S. Mariner:<br /><br /><blockquote>Well, if rumors are true, Don Wakamatsu’s bench coach is going to be the guy who was in charge of the A’s hitting last year, and his pitching coach is going to be the guy who was second in command for the Rangers pitching. The A’s had the worst offense in baseball last year. We’re hiring their hitting coach.The Rangers had the worst run prevention in baseball last year. We’re hiring their bullpen coach.</blockquote>Dave's point, though, is a good one, and that's that Wakamatsu is not doing the brain-dead thing of hiring people simply because of recent track record. I'm guessing, however, that some newspaper guy will run with that observation and cast it as damning criticism if and when the Mariners are slow getting out of the gate next spring.Craig Calcaterrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00190345915954808542noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131289420618991795.post-686194645802133472008-11-26T09:43:00.003-05:002008-11-26T10:33:59.129-05:00The Hits Just Keep-a-Comin' for ClemensPeople keep <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3727812">doing the moonwalk</a> from Roger Clemens:<br /><br /><blockquote>Roger Clemens has been asked to end his involvement with a charity golf tournament he has hosted for four years as the fallout from the Mitchell report continues to haunt the seven-time Cy Young award winner, the New York Daily News reported in Wednesday's edition.</blockquote>Let's be clear here: all of the bad crap happening to Roger Clemens in the past year <em>is not</em> the result of "fallout from the Mitchell Report." Lots of guys were named in the Mitchell Report and they aren't becoming pariahs. One of them even gets <a href="http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/8848586/Sources:-Pettitte-talking-to-Torre,-Dodgers">nice stories written about how cool it would be for him to go pitch for the Dodgers</a>.<br /><br />Roger's problems stem from <a href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/5434320.html">holding belligerent news conferences</a>, issuing <a href="http://shysterball.blogspot.com/2008/01/flyspecking-clemens-manifesto.html">silly, overly-defensive reports of his own</a>, <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/01/03/60minutes/main3671585.shtml">media whoring</a>, <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3184646">filing a high profile lawsuit</a> against a pathetic nobody of a guy who most people probably would have just let slink away, <a href="http://shysterball.blogspot.com/2008/02/guns-blazin.html">making a moderate fool of himself in front of Congress</a>, becoming the subject of <a href="http://shysterball.blogspot.com/2008/11/feds-are-closing-in-on-clemens.html">a criminal perjury investigation</a> and last, but not least, <a href="http://shysterball.blogspot.com/2008/04/monster.html">having his sordid sex life come out into the open</a>.<br /><br />Look, if Roger truly never ever did steroids it would be a real shame for him to be forced to admit that he did. The fact remains, however, that if on December 14, 2007, he had simply said that he shot up once in 1998 because his shoulder was bugging him or something and that he wished he never had, no one would have dug deeper, no one would have held it too much against him, and none of the bad crap of the past year would have happened. That's not a retrospective opinion. Any PR person could have told him that was the smart play at the time.<br /><br />PR is no substitute for the truth, but <a href="http://www.bobdylan.com/#/songs/brownsville-girl">a wise man once sang</a> that people don't do what they believe in, they just do what's most convenient, then they repent. We can all say we wouldn't do that, but I'm not sure I wouldn't have done that in Roger Clemens' place.Craig Calcaterrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00190345915954808542noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131289420618991795.post-83029755750000507852008-11-26T05:54:00.000-05:002008-11-26T05:55:03.581-05:00George Mitchell is Quite Proud of Himself<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HS1spWnkn4o/SSy-9OXLoqI/AAAAAAAAD0k/Gyyf_N6IGnw/s1600-h/georgieboy.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 158px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HS1spWnkn4o/SSy-9OXLoqI/AAAAAAAAD0k/Gyyf_N6IGnw/s200/georgieboy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272799222780633762" border="0" /></a>It's not yet been a year since the Mitchell Report came out, but <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/26/sports/baseball/26mitchell.html?ref=sports">George Mitchell is giving interviews in which he expresses his satisfaction</a> with both the results of his investigation and the fallout:<br /><blockquote>“I believe we accomplished our objective of providing a thorough and fair accounting about what we learned about how the steroids era occurred, what happened and what ought to be done about it,” Mitchell said. “In a report of that length, 409 pages, including thousands of details, names, dates, facts and otherwise, I think it has held up quite well.”</blockquote>Parse that comment carefully. He's not saying that he provided a thorough and fair accounting of the steroids era. He's saying he provided a thorough and fair accounting of what he and his staff <span style="font-style: italic;">learned</span> about that era. Those are two very different things.<br /><br />As I write in my article about the Mitchell Report in the <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.actasports.com/detail.html?id=079">2009 Hardball Times Baseball Annual</a>, the famous report didn't learn all that much. It certainly didn't come close to providing anything approaching a comprehensive look at how steroids came to baseball, what they meant to baseball, and what, exactly, baseball was to do with all of this new information after December 13, 2007. All of which, I humbly offer, would be useful stuff to know.<br /><br />The Mitchell Report was never intended to do that, however. Its primary purpose was to serve as the very public signpost marking the end of The Steroids Era. To give the teeming masses what they wanted – blood in the form of many named-names – while assiduously ensuring that not too many rocks were turned over and not too many apple carts were upset. To highlight baseball’s dirty past in just such a way that allowed people to believe that it was all in the past so that baseball could rid itself of its P.R. problem and look forward to its glorious future.<br /><br />If Mitchell wants to call the Report a success he can. He should just be accurate about the very specific way in which it was successful.Craig Calcaterrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00190345915954808542noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131289420618991795.post-59318504270244029682008-11-26T05:50:00.001-05:002008-11-26T06:06:27.022-05:00Commodore?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_HS1spWnkn4o/SS0q5ZZgV7I/AAAAAAAAD0s/DMywa-inS6Q/s1600-h/c64.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_HS1spWnkn4o/SS0q5ZZgV7I/AAAAAAAAD0s/DMywa-inS6Q/s200/c64.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272917904279492530" border="0" /></a>I'll admit that I don't keep up with tech news, but I had no idea that Commodore was back in the computer business. <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10108051-1.html">But they are</a>, and they're offering custom painted cases with your favorite team logo:<br /><blockquote>Currently, there are only four teams offered--Mets, Yankees, Red Sox, and Phillies--but the press release states that additional teams will be added in the weeks to follow. So stay tuned Kansas City Royals fans. <p> Since its reemergence, Commodore has offered many custom paint themes, which it calls C-kins. The MLB themes feature standard C-kin pricing: $275 for a full ATX chassis and $210 for just the painted panels, which you would them slap on the Commodore PC you already own.</p></blockquote><p><span style="font-style: italic;">My</span> Commodore PC? My Commodore was made in 1985 and it doesn't have a case. The CPU is under the keyboard and the monitor is a 13-inch television set. The baseball stuff would look pretty sweet though, especially when I'm rockin' the Lance Hafner and Microleague Baseball.<br /></p>Craig Calcaterrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00190345915954808542noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131289420618991795.post-68749632865349122422008-11-26T05:36:00.000-05:002008-11-26T05:47:03.879-05:00Invention?Time Magazine claims that baseball's instant replay for home run calls is <a href="http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1852747_1854195_1854177,00.html">the 38th best "invention" of 2008</a>.<br /><br />That's like saying if I run a line out to the shed in my backyard I've "invented" electricity.Craig Calcaterrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00190345915954808542noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131289420618991795.post-59671591401913869082008-11-25T14:15:00.000-05:002008-11-25T14:16:02.455-05:00ShysterBall Moving on Monday<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HS1spWnkn4o/SSxNlaD2_FI/AAAAAAAAD0c/ix_EoAfX0RM/s1600-h/change.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272674568790015058" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 213px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HS1spWnkn4o/SSxNlaD2_FI/AAAAAAAAD0c/ix_EoAfX0RM/s320/change.jpg" border="0" /></a>I've been thinking about the future of this blog a lot recently, and I've run into more questions than answers.<br /><br />What do I want out of it? What do I want it to look like? What do I <em>not</em> want it to look like? Do I want to try and make some money off of it now by taking ads or devoting all of my posts to a paying group blog? Would I rather make a long play and try to get a real job out of it over the next couple of years? Would I be a partner at my law firm right now if I hadn't started this blog in the first place?<br /><br />Answering those questions in various ways presents all kinds of options, and not all of them are mutually-exclusive. They're all difficult questions, however, and since I can't see the future with a crystal ball, they have become somewhat agonizing questions to consider. Well, not the partner one. I don't think I ever really wanted that.<br /><br />What I do know, though, is that I want three things above all others: (1) the ability to reach as many eyes as possible; (2) some assurance that as many of those eyes as possible are connected to functioning brains; and (3) the continued ability to write what I want in a space that is mine and mine alone.<br /><br />Putting those things together led me to accept an offer made by <a href="http://www.hardballtimes.com/">The Hardball Times</a> to relocate ShysterBall to its esteemed pages. The move will be effective sometime in the wee hours of Monday morning, December 1, 2008. I'm pretty excited about it.<br /><br />So why move? An easy answer is traffic. While I'm pretty proud of the level of readership this here blog has garnered in the 20 months it's been live, the fact is that you sort of plateau once you get to a certain point with a stand-alone blog. THT has many more readers, and given their content, I know that they're smart readers who will be interested in the kinds of things I write.<br /><br />A less shallow answer is -- and please pardon my use of this awful word -- synergy. As you may know, we simulposted "And That Happened" on THT this summer, and all parties agree that it was a success. There were people who would have never otherwise read ShysterBall reading it, and people who would have never otherwise read the THT Daily post in which it appeared reading that. All-in-all, I think moving the whole kit and caboodle is a chocolate and peanut butter kind of move, with my jackass opinions complementing THT's stats and analysis quite nicely. Both THT and I are interested in seeing if we can't crank the Reese's Cup factor up more.<br /><br />The beauty of the move is that virtually nothing you have come to know and love about ShysterBall will change. It will still be me and me alone writing it. I'll still be writing the same kinds of things with the same level of frequency. Comments will still be enabled. You can still set it up in your RSS feed or whatever it is you crazy kids are doing these days. The only thing that won't be there is this generic, off-the-shelf Blogspot template. I asked THT's Dave Studeman if we could keep it, but he explained that the code behind it is far too ancient for THT's servers to translate. Alas. If you're curious what it <em>will </em>look like, you can get a pretty decent idea by checking out THT's <a href="http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/fantasy/">Fantasy Focus blog</a>. I think my little baseball player next to the blog title will be a batter, however.<br /><br />As for location, there will be a tab at the top of the main THT page that says "ShysterBall." It will obviously have it's own permanent URL as well, but I'm not going to give it to you now because we're still testing stuff there. Of course, I'm sure you URL hackers can figure it out if you apply yourselves. I'm probably going to have this URL and Shysterball.com automatically redirect to THT starting Monday morning, but I'm a technical idiot, so I'll probably screw that up.<br /><br />So that's that. I know no one likes change. I especially don't. But I think this is change we can believe in, and my understanding is that everyone likes that sort of thing these days.<br /><br />CraigCraig Calcaterrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00190345915954808542noreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131289420618991795.post-70101020309591469222008-11-25T13:00:00.000-05:002008-11-25T13:00:36.005-05:00The Padres are Dead in the Water<a href="http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081125&content_id=3692094&vkey=news_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc">The Cubs are done</a> playing the Padres' Peavy games:<br /><br /><blockquote>If there were any lingering questions about whether the Cubs had pulled back from pursuing San Diego ace Jake Peavy in a trade, manager Lou Piniella answered them this week.<br /><br />The Chicago Sun-Times' Gordon Wittenmyer asked Piniella at an event in Chicago on Sunday whether the Cubs were still pursuing starting pitching in the wake of their four-year contract extension with free agent right-hander Ryan Dempster.<br /><br />"No," Piniella was quoted as saying in Tuesday's Sun-Times. "Starting we don't need. We're set. We've got six good starters, and they're all experienced. Getting Dempster back was the key. We're in good shape with our starting pitching. Bullpen-wise, [we're looking for] possibly one more experienced pitcher. We've got a lot of young kids out there."</blockquote>And with both the Cubs and Braves out of the picture, the Padres are experiencing that feeling you get when everything is going wrong at once and all you can do is stand there, <a href="http://sandiego.padres.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081125&content_id=3692093&vkey=news_sd&fext=.jsp&c_id=sd">dumbstruck and frozen</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote>The lack of progress in a deal involving pitcher Jake Peavy has had a significant effect on the Padres' ability to address their other roster needs this offseason . . . not knowing if the team can or will move Peavy and his $11 million contract for 2009 has all but left Towers in a standby mode until the future of the 2007 National League Cy Young Award winner is decided.<br /><br />"That's pretty much it," Towers said. "It's certainly a large sum of money we would be moving. Once that's decided, we will have a better idea of what holes we would be plugging."</blockquote>I realize that the owner's big divorce settlement has thrown a wrench into whatever the plans the Padres had going into this offseason, but did Kevin Towers really not have any sort of a contingency set up in the event that couldn't happen? Was it not always a possibility -- and indeed, was it not arguably preferable -- to wait until the trading deadline next season and send Peavy off to a more desperate suitor?Craig Calcaterrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00190345915954808542noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131289420618991795.post-68558274370139228322008-11-25T12:51:00.000-05:002008-11-25T12:51:26.343-05:002012As a result of the Norman Braman litigation, the Marlins' new stadium <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/breaking-news/story/786876.html">is set to open in 2012</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote>The Florida Marlins announced Tuesday that the new 37,000-seat retractable roof stadium on the site of the Orange Bowl will not be ready for Opening Day 2011 as the team originally had hoped. Instead, team officials said, the stadium will open in 2012 . . .<br /><br />. . . The Marlins had been eyeing 2011 because their current lease with Dolphin Stadium expires after the 2010 baseball season. Because of the delay, the Marlins are seeking a place to play in 2011. The team is optimistic it can work out an agreement to remain at Dolphin Stadium for an additional year. Samson said the organization already has begun preliminary talks with Dolphins co-owner Stephen Ross to extend the team's lease.</blockquote>And if the Dolphins say no, it's the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1899_Cleveland_Spiders_season">1899 Cleveland Spiders</a> redux!Craig Calcaterrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00190345915954808542noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131289420618991795.post-10846062736749782202008-11-25T11:42:00.000-05:002008-11-25T11:42:25.994-05:00Does it Come in a Honda?For <a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/220-MLB-Signatures-One-Chevy/story.aspx?guid=%7B07FCF6DC-6855-4791-9601-F1D93530F5F6%7D">the baseball fan who has everything</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote>Take the hood of a Chevy Tahoe; bring it to six Major League Baseball parks; have more than 220 players sign it, including the biggest names in baseball today, Baseball Hall of Fame members and future stars of tomorrow; and what have you got? One of the most unique pieces of baseball memorabilia ever created.<br /><br />Baseball memorabilia collectors and auto enthusiasts will have the opportunity to bid on this one-of-a-kind vehicle on January, 16, 2009, at the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction in Scottsdale, Ariz. A portion of the proceeds will be used to help create future stars, as they will be donated to non-profit youth baseball programs across the United States.<br /><br />The Chevy Tahoe (Lot #961) will be sold at No Reserve and has been dubbed the Ultimate Baseball Ride because of some special upgrades. In addition to "standard" luxury features like top-of-the-line stereo, DVD player with several screens and custom paint, the SUV features Rawlings baseball glove leather seats and steering wheel and baseball-bat ash wood dashboard, door panel and steering wheel accents. </blockquote>Good thing that dashboard is ash rather than maple. I'd hate for baseball to have a lawsuit on its hands.Craig Calcaterrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00190345915954808542noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131289420618991795.post-34209533630533177952008-11-25T10:34:00.002-05:002008-11-25T10:36:01.192-05:00The Crown Room ClubDelta Airlines is now <a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/story.aspx?guid={36896C83-4DB6-46B6-8DC4-04DC75A539DA}">the official airline of the New York Yankees</a>. This wasn't as easy a deal to make as it sounds, however. Before committing, the Yankees demanded that Delta make some changes so that its corporate culture matched that of the Yankees' more closely. Most notably, <a href="http://www.eturbonews.com/6382/delta-dumps-coach-seat-selection-program">the Yankees asked Delta to adopt a similar seating strategy</a> to that of the baseball team:<br /><br /><blockquote>After a backlash from some of its elite fliers, the world's biggest carrier has halted a program on Delta Air Lines-operated aircraft that allowed customers to purchase better seat assignments on certain flights.<br /><br />Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines Inc. in late October began offering coach customers on certain flights the ability to purchase a better seat assignment in their cabin for $5 to $25, depending on distance traveled and seat location. The "coach choice seats" represented less than 10 percent of all seat assignments available on Delta-operated flights, the airline said at the time.<br /><br />But in an e-mail last week to elite fliers, Jeff Robertson, vice president of loyalty programs for Delta, said that some Medallion members of the carrier's frequent-flier program were upset that their access to preferred seats without charge at the time of booking was restricted as a result of the new program.</blockquote>Now that both Yankee Stadium and Delta flights are designed to cater to the desires of the rich and elite, experts predict that the relationship will be a long and successful one.Craig Calcaterrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00190345915954808542noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131289420618991795.post-33446306007053351382008-11-25T09:24:00.000-05:002008-11-25T09:25:01.828-05:00Baseball's Vigorish to IncreaseEveryone talks about the prospect of lower ticket sales cutting into the teams' ability to spend on players and stuff, but there are other factors in play too. <a href="http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/article/60655">Such as the league's big line of credit expiring</a> and teams having to actually start borrowing money like everyone else:<br /><br /><blockquote>Major League Baseball is the latest sport to confront the harsh reality of the global credit crisis, with the league’s $1.5 billion credit facility set to expire Dec. 8. The NFL last month decided to let its loan pool terminate, automatically converting it into debt with accelerated principal payments. But unlike the NFL, whose first payment is not due until 2011, if MLB does not refinance, it will have to begin making some principal payments as early as next month, finance and baseball sources said . . .<br /><br />. . . MLB briefed its owners on the situation last week and updated the teams’ chief financial officers a week earlier. Bank of America, MLB’s lead lender, has been trying to refinance the credit facility into a seven-year loan that would push the first principal payment off to 2014, the sources said. That loan would carry rates 2 percent to 3 percent higher than what teams are charged through the current credit facility, banking sources said.</blockquote>I'm a finance moron, but my guess is that 2 to 3 percent is worth at least a couple of relief pitchers.<br /><br />(thanks to ShysterBall's Minister of Finance, Pete Toms, for the heads up)Craig Calcaterrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00190345915954808542noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131289420618991795.post-12057501693470507552008-11-25T06:03:00.000-05:002008-11-25T06:03:39.026-05:00The Feds Are Closing in on ClemensWe've been checking up on the Clemens-McNamee defamation case from time to time, but we must not forget that something far more interesting has been happening, and that's <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ievDiRj0aLwyo9hujQPCHowoeBawD94LTE180">a pretty major investigation of whether Roger Clemens lied to Congress</a> during that comic/pathetic hearing back in February:<br /><blockquote>Roger Clemens' former trainer gave samples of his DNA to federal investigators trying to ascertain whether the star pitcher committed perjury before Congress, two New York newspapers reported.<p>The request for a DNA sample from trainer Brian McNamee suggests that investigators found readable DNA on the syringes, needles and gauze pads McNamee turned over to federal prosecutors in January, The New York Times and Daily News reported Monday night.</p></blockquote><p>As <a href="http://shysterball.blogspot.com/2008/02/guns-blazin.html">I noted at the time</a>, someone was very obviously lying during that hearing, so unlike our friend Barry Bonds' perjury trial, there will be no complicated question and answer parsing if Clemens gets indicted.</p>Craig Calcaterrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00190345915954808542noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131289420618991795.post-33415348241054419162008-11-25T05:50:00.001-05:002008-11-25T06:10:12.341-05:00Let Her PlayIf Major League Baseball is open minded enough to allow <a href="http://shysterball.blogspot.com/2008/11/widening-net.html">Indians with no experience</a> into the game, you'd think that high school baseball would be open minded enough to allow <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i2wGCtCprV0YiwQyA8b_86QICAtQD94LKDB80">non-traditional <span style="font-style: italic;">Indianans*</span> into the game too</a>:<br /><blockquote>Logan Young has been playing baseball with the boys for nine years, and she and her parents don't think that should change now that she's in high school. The 14-year-old and her family have filed a federal lawsuit over an Indiana High School Athletic Association rule that prohibits the Bloomington South freshman from trying out for the high school baseball team because she is female . . .<br /><br />. . . An IHSAA rule prohibits girls from trying out for baseball if their school has a softball team on the basis that the sports are comparable. But the lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis argues that baseball and softball aren't the same sport, so girls should be able to try out for baseball.</blockquote>And the plaintiffs are right. Softball <span style="font-style: italic;">is not</span> baseball, and the fact that schools have long treated them as such is an insult to both baseball <span style="font-style: italic;">and</span> softball players. If Ms. Young has the chops to play with the boys, she should be allowed to play with the boys.<br /><br />*<span style="font-style: italic;">As a Midwesterner, I am well-aware that the only acceptable label for people from the great state of Indiana is "Hoosier." Using the word Hoosier, however, would rob this post of a lame segue from the last one, so it simply wouldn't do.</span>Craig Calcaterrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00190345915954808542noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131289420618991795.post-58412475475888862572008-11-25T05:41:00.000-05:002008-11-25T05:41:39.366-05:00Widening the NetPeople have long speculated whether cricket bowlers would make good pitchers. <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/nl/pirates/2008-11-24-indian-pitchers-sign_N.htm">The Pirates are about to find out:</a><br /><blockquote>Dinesh Patel and Rinku Singh, cricket players who had not picked up a baseball until April, on Monday became the first athletes from India to sign professional baseball contracts, agreeing to deals with the Pittsburgh Pirates.<br /><br />"This is very intriguing for us," Pirates general manager Neal Huntington said. "We are trying to broaden our horizons internationally and to get into some non-traditional markets. I've always been curious about India, knowing they have a cultural passion for cricket, which involves throwing, hitting and running. We want to see how that translates to baseball.</blockquote>They were found by a promoter of a contest called "Million Dollar Arm." For the Pirates' sake, I hope the signing bonus was well south of that. Of course, according to the article, these dudes have fastballs in the low 90s, so hey, maybe this will work.<br /><br />(thanks to reader Blaze -- ShysterBall's Asian Subcontinent Bureau Chief -- for the heads up)Craig Calcaterrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00190345915954808542noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131289420618991795.post-52329131972683241332008-11-24T15:20:00.004-05:002008-11-24T16:33:41.481-05:00Bonds Goes 5 for 14Though the replay official may change <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601079&sid=aGFod2W190tM&refer=home">one of those hits</a> to a foul ball:<br /><br /><blockquote>Barry Bonds, Major League Baseball’s homerun record holder, won dismissal of five of 14 charges accusing him of lying about taking steroids. U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco ruled today that the charges were redundant, vague or couldn’t lead to a conviction. She refused Bonds’s request to throw out four other perjury charges and a charge that he obstructed justice. The government may recharge Bonds on one count, the judge’s order says, which would leave him facing 10 counts of perjury.</blockquote><p>For what it's worth, I went and read the decision. It breaks down like this:<br /><br /><li>Counts 6, 7, and 8 -- in which Barry is accused of lying for saying that he never knew of Anderson giving him PEDs -- were ruled to be redundant, in that he is basically being charged three times for lying in response to essentially the same question. The government can't do that, and so the government gets to choose which two of those three counts it wants to drop;<br /><br /></li><li>In count number two, Bonds was asked if he had ever taken "anything like steroids" or, to take the government's explanation for it, "anything like steroids that could have led to a positive steroid test." The court found this question ambiguous and thus dismissed the count because, according to the court, "[t]he characteristics that make a substance 'like' a steroid defy ready definition";<br /><br /></li><li>Count 14 may represent Barry Bonds' finest hour as a grand jury witness. Here, Barry was asked about whether he got flax seed oil in January 2002. Barry's glorious answer was as follows:<br /><br /><blockquote>A: Not that I can recall. Like I say, I could be wrong. But I’m – I’m – going<br />from my recollection it was, like, in the 2002 time and 2003 season.<br /></blockquote><br />The court dismissed the count regarding this answer because it was ambiguous. Repeat: it wasn't a bad <em>question</em> that got the charge tossed, it was Barry's farkakte <em>answer</em>. OK, to be fair, it was really because the prosecutors weren't smart enough at the time to try to pin Barry down, which the court correctly notes is their job. Still, I love the idea that Barry's lawyers got a count dismissed by saying that their own client made no sense.<br /><br />So that's that. Nothing really game-changing here from a legal perspective. Barry's lawyers made several arguments that the questions and answers in play were vague and ambiguous, and for the most part, the court said that issue was up to the jury to decide. Still, the court did note a handful of poorly-constructed questions and possibly non-responsive answers. If it did, the jury may very well too. Unlike the court, however, the jury does not give anyone else the benefit of the doubt on the matter.<br /><br />I've said in the past that I think Barry skates, and I'm still leaning in that direction. On the other hand, some smart people I know with a bit of inside information regarding the greater steroid investigation world are telling me that Barry is toast for a number of reasons. They may very well be right.<br /><br />All that said, I suppose facing nine or ten counts is better than 15. </li>Craig Calcaterrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00190345915954808542noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131289420618991795.post-27262216671606006212008-11-24T11:24:00.003-05:002008-11-24T11:27:04.120-05:00Sox Offer Tek a One-Year DealThat's what <a href="http://blogs.weei.com/robbradford/2008/11/23/source-initial-offer-to-varitek-for-one-year/">WEEI is reporting</a>. No word on how much it was, but I'm guessing it wasn't a lot. I'm also guessing that the Sox have no desire to bring the guy back. I'm <em>also</em> guessing (hoping?) that Sox fans have come to trust team management enough to where they realize that not bringing Varitek back absent an extremely team-friendly, make-good kind of a deal is the right move.Craig Calcaterrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00190345915954808542noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131289420618991795.post-54011549188181175082008-11-24T10:59:00.003-05:002008-11-24T11:17:39.011-05:00Only 22,000 Lost Their Jobs When Enron FoldedGiven the news about Citigroup, it was only a matter of time before someone unloaded on the naming rights deal with the Mets. That someone is <a href="http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/mets/ny-sprieber1125,0,2303180.column">Anthony Rieber in <em>Newsday</em></a>, who starts with the premise that naming rights deals are stupid, but then remembers how successful they've been in the past:<br /><br /><blockquote>Or maybe naming rights deals really are good business. Maybe Citi Field will become a shining beacon of sports/business synergy, just like Enron Field and Bank One Ballpark and Pacific Bell Park and SBC Park and Ameriquest Field and Edison International Field and Network Associates Coliseum and McAfee Coliseum.</blockquote>Great. Now my sarcas-o-meter is on fire.<br /><br />But as <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aB.2gApqozI8&refer=home">the latest news suggests</a>, Citgroup may make it out of the woods with the help of you, me, and Uncle Paulson. I think it's only fitting that, in exchange for the public's assistance, the new stadium in Queens should have some very New Dealy kind of name like "Workers' Field" or "Arthurdale Park."Craig Calcaterrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00190345915954808542noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131289420618991795.post-77860639014116785702008-11-24T09:03:00.000-05:002008-11-24T09:03:00.826-05:00The Church of Baseball > Kabbalah<a href="http://www.myparkmag.co.uk/articles/celebrity/madonnas-rodriguez-rage.html">Trouble in paradise</a>:<br /><blockquote>Madonna is reportedly furious Alex Rodriguez dropped out of Kabbalah training because he was "bored". The 50-year-old singer - whose divorce from Guy Ritchie was granted last week - has so far failed in her attempts to get her rumoured boyfriend Alex to share her interest in Kabbalah, a mystical off-shoot of Judaism . . . "This is certainly off-putting to Madonna. She did drag Guy into Kabbalah, she's doing the same now with Alex. But he's bored. He's basically a Kabbalah school dropout."</blockquote>Sources indicate that the problem stems from the fact that the Kabbalah classes began in October, and that's really not A-Rod's best month.Craig Calcaterrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00190345915954808542noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9131289420618991795.post-20729805225968483542008-11-24T08:55:00.000-05:002008-11-24T08:55:00.377-05:00More HistoryBeyond the Box Score is continuing its survey of baseball history. For those of you who missed it, Part I of the history of the leagues<a href="http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2008/11/18/664028/the-history-of-the-america"> is here</a> and Part II is <a href="http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2008/11/20/665854/the-history-of-the-america">here</a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2008/11/24/668999/marvin-miller-and-the-how">Today</a>, BTBS goes into the history of how free agency came to be.<br /><br />Like I said last week, it's a lot of stuff you know already, but it's worth reading again.Craig Calcaterrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00190345915954808542noreply@blogger.com0