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jkottke · 6 years ago

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My Recent Media Diet, Spring 2019 Edition

I've been keeping track of every media thing I "consume", so here are quick reviews of some things I've read, seen, heard, and experienced in the past month and a half. For books, I'm currently reading Silk Roads and listening to the audiobook of Guns, Germs, and Steel, which are rhyming in interesting ways. Looking back, I haven't listened to any significant new music in months and months. What am I missing?

Turnton kitchen scissors. Ernest Wright very kindly sent me a pair of their kitchen scissors. I've posted so much about their story that I can't really be objective at this point no matter what, so I feel ok saying the craftsmanship of these scissors is flat out amazing. (A-)

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Never not entertaining. (A-)

Tag. Kinda fun but the real-life story was better. (C+)

Alita: Battle Angel. The big eyes worked. (B)

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Liked this even more the second time around and I love reading and watching all the making-of stuff. (A-)

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Cold War. Along with Roma, Spider-Verse, The Favourite, and If Beale Street Could Talk, this was one of the most beautifully shot films of 2018. Every frame a painting, indeed. (B+)

The Grinch. I wasn't expecting to sympathize so much with The Grinch here. The social safety net constructed by the upper middle class Whos totally failed the most vulnerable member of their society in a particularly heartless way. Those Whos kinda had it coming. (B)

Mortal Engines. Why was this panned so much? It wasn't great but it was entertaining...this and Alita felt similar to me. (B)

Leaving Neverland. I wrote some thoughts about this here. (A)

Why Is This Happening? The Uninhabitable Earth with David Wallace-Wells. Fascinating and scary interview of David Wallace-Wells about his new book, The Uninhabitable Earth. Weirdly, I felt almost hopeful at the end of it though. (A)

Captain Marvel. I liked Brie Larson in this role very much. Looking forward to seeing more in Avengers: Endgame. (B+)

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Great movie. Very few films have matched the inventiveness of its action sequences since it came out. (A)

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Apollo 11. The nearest IMAX theater is more than a 3-hour drive from where I live, so I had to watch this in a tiny theater with what sounded like a single speaker located at the front of the room. This greatly diminished the intended effect of the pristine 65mm footage. (B)

Living more than a 3-hour drive from the nearest IMAX theater. (F)

The History of English Podcast. This was recommended to me by a reader because of this post. I listened to a pair of episodes about surnames: What's In a Name? and Trade Names. Super interesting stuff. (A-)

Kohler 10282-AK-CP shower head. My shower head sucked, I replaced it with this one, and now my shower head doesn't suck anymore. (B+)

Salt Fat Acid Heat. The Salt episode intensified my desire to go to Japan. (B+)

Aquaman. Not as good as Wonder Woman, but way better than Justice League or any of the other recent DC movies. (B)

Cooking As an Art, With Jerry Saltz. This podcast episode is pretty uneven in spots, but when Chang just lets Saltz talk, it's a goldmine of quotable ideas. "Pleasure is an important form of knowledge." (A-)

The Unknown Known. Late in the film, Donald Rumsfeld says to his interlocutor Errol Morris: "I think you're probably, Errol, chasing the wrong rabbit here." Morris got a bit unlucky here in his choice of subject -- by the end of the movie, we don't know anything more about Rumsfeld than when we started. (C+)

Chef's Table, Enrique Olvera. Oh man, I can't wait to go to Pujol next week. (A-)

Kindle Paperwhite. I upgraded from my old Paperwhite. I like the flat screen, that it's lighter, and the waterproofing is going to come in handy, but the speed and screen quality are pretty much exactly the same. Are e-ink interfaces already as sharp & responsive as they are ever going to be? (A)

Bumblebee. Entertaining, but I still have a problem with the Transformers movies because the robots are so overly detailed that it's hard to know where to look when they're on-screen. They should be more abstract and iconic (a la Scott McCloud's Big Triangle in Understanding Comics). (B+)

Emily Wilson on Translations and Language. Having not read multiple translations of Homer, some of this was over my head, but the rest was really interesting. (A-)

Generative.fm. Been listening to this while working more or less constantly for the past week, mostly the "Otherness" and "Meditation" tracks. (A-)

Past installments of my media diet are available here.

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crownedcams · 6 years ago

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last day of internship was amazing!!!!!! name dropping again in longform

Toured (in order)

Juliet Morris (Kidding) and dad -- sweet little girl, there was miscommunication about what gifts she could get so that was kinda sucky to have her be so limited

Jillian Estell & mom -- fun girl! totally chill about not getting everything, and just having fun with the photos she’s obligated to take

Manou Oeschger (influencer) -- nice lady, she felt bad i had to carry her bags but really it wasn’t so bad

Maltida Szydagis (Maisel) -- polite, but very hard to talk to.

Lisaraye McCoy (Ballers & Family Matters) & granddaughter -- really captivating woman! knew what she wanted, and was firm but polite about everything. fussy little baby girl with her, but hey. she’s two. grandma’s got gifts to receive.

Marlis Pujol (producer, Kominsky Method) -- super nice!! actually asked about myself, and was lovely conversation.

Holly Taylor (The Americans) and mom -- really nice people. they kept asking me if i wanted to stop holding her gifts but i brushed it off. it was really nice talking to the both of them, and surprising them with a trip to Tahiti and Bali was really special!

Saw/Encountered:

Viola Davis, who was less than 2 feet away from me as i was finishing stuffing my face with omusubi.

Angela Bassett, who literally bumped into me on her way being led to the restroom in the suite

The writers of The Favourite

AAAAaaaaand Indya Moore gets her own section because wow.

First off, she was hilarious and fun (albeit took her sweet time going through the suite). Took lots of pictures with the vendors/products and was clearly having fun with it.

I was by the sweater rack waiting for her to pick one, so I could disassemble the rack and put it up. She comes by and makes a little comment about the magnetix, and I laugh and introduce myself. Indya asks if I’m a designer, and wow no. So I tell her that I’m only an intern, but a big fan of her, her outfit, her show, her everything. Then she just says my name like “Caaaaamdeeenn” and gives me a hug. & then she picks out her sweater dress, which i help her with and like we’re talking but my mind is reeling so i don’t even remember. She still needs to get a picture with the dress, so I use another and hold it up to hide behind. Photographer points out my clever use of camouflage, and Indya laughs. She pulls me to her side to get a pic WITH me, but photographer stopped taking pictures. Then she moves to the next booth, and I have to take down the rack. 😭😭

So I pass by her, and tell her congrats/great to meet her, and she actually says my name when responding back. I disassemble the rack, and do my duties and come back to the room to do more stuff. Indya is tryin on glasses, and she just turns to me out of NOWHERE and says, “Camden what are your opinions on these glasses?”

I tell her they look very Edna Mode, and she laughs and says she’ll take them. Then I left to do take-down duties, and she left :(

#personal

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brido · 5 years ago

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Okay. Let’s Look at the Veteran’s Committee Candidates.

The Baseball Hall of Fame just announced the 10 candidates on this year’s Veteran’s Committee ballot. And it’s a fun one since it’s from the “Modern Baseball” era. Don Mattingly, Dwight Evans, Steve Garvey, Tommy John, Marvin Miller (yawn, a union executive), Thurman Munson, Dale Murphy, Dave Parker, Ted Simmons, and Lou Whitaker are on the ballot. That’s just about the sweet-spot for my elementary school baseball card collection. Let’s see where these guys stack up now in 2019. I’ll go in order of their JAWS score, which is a combination of their career rWAR and peak 7 years. Google it. Okay...

Lou Whitaker

Sweet Lou gets no respect. And that starts at home, where he played 19 seasons for the Detroit Tigers, is the 4th-greatest player in their franchise history and doesn’t even have his number retired by the team. I guess, either does Alan Trammell, with whom Whitaker is forever linked. So maybe they’re waiting for Whitaker to join Trammell in the Hall, but still. No respect. He even hates the nickname “Sweet Lou” and that’s how I started this paragraph.

Whitaker was the best player on the Tigers in 1983, 1989 and 1991. He was the best second baseman in the American League in 1982, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1991 and best in baseball in 1983. His career stats are similar to Ryne Sandberg, (of course) Trammell, Roberto Alomar, Joe Morgan, Joe Torre (who’s in as a manager, but could have made it as a player) and Barry Larkin. And JAWS ranks him as the 13th-best second baseman of all time, behind only Bobby Grich for non-Hall of Fame players. And only Robinson Cano and Chase Utley are better but ineligible. Over his long career (1977-1995), Whitaker is only behind Rickey Henderson, Wade Boggs, Cal Ripken, Mike Schmidt, Eddie Murray, Barry Bonds and George Brett for overall WAR.

And yet in 2001, possibly because WAR wasn’t really a thing yet, Whitaker only received 2.9% of the vote and fell off the Hall of Fame ballot after one chance. This feels like a crime. The man played the 1985 All-Star Game in replica merchandise purchased at the stadium in Minnesota. He wore a mesh cap and his number was drawn on in marker. Let the guy have something. Whitaker is probably the most-deserving player on this year’s Veterans Committee ballot. And if they vote for anyone, it might as well be him. A Hall of Fame with Trammell, and without Whitaker, feels like it’s missing something.

Dwight Evans

Dewey started his career as a stellar defensive right fielder - he has eight Gold Gloves - and then became a power hitter (by 80’s standards) later in his career. He was the best player on the Red Sox in 1974, 1981 and 1982. Although that team, at various times, had Carlton Fisk, Carl Yastrzemski, Jim Rice and Wade Boggs. Evans was the best overall player on the franchise from 1972-1990. And he’s the 4th-greatest player in franchise history (in terms of overall fWAR) after Ted Williams, Yastrzemski and Boggs. He played and lost two World Series with the team, all during the Curse of the Bambino.

Evans was also the best right fielder in the American League in 1984 and 1987, and the best in baseball in 1981 and 1982. And he was the best overall right fielder from 1972-1991. Over that same 20-year time period, he was also the 11th-best player in all of baseball. JAWS ranks him as the 15th-best right fielder of all time with a 52.2 score. That’s a smidge below average for a Hall of Famer, but everyone above him is in the Hall of Fame, except for Larry Walker and Shoeless Joe Jackson.

So the long career gets him his WAR numbers (where he remains 15th all-time), but it’s the relatively quiet peak (30th) that hurts him. Evans was ‘only’ an All-Star three times. He ‘only’ had three elite seasons. And he fell off the writers’ ballot after three tries. I think he deserved to win the 1981 AL MVP (he got 3rd), when he tied for the home run title (22) in the strike-shortened season. I also would have given him second in 1982, when he finished 7th.

The career numbers (385 home runs, 2,446 hits) are good, but not great. Similar to Billy Williams, Tony Perez and Al Kaline. Slightly below average for an inductee. Also, you would think the Gold Gloves would help, but 8 did equally nothing for Jim Edmonds. And 10 ain’t doing much for Andruw Jones. So here we are. Right field is rough. Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron and Stan Musial played right. They bring up all the average numbers at the position. And I could honestly go either way on this one. Which means I’d probably have to vote no.

Tommy John

Tommy John played for fucking ever. He was pitching in the Majors at age 46. And only Cap Anson and Nolan Ryan played in more seasons than John (26). And that’s with him taking off the 1975 season to recover from his namesake surgery. He was a compiler, whether you’re impressed by that or not. And with that came 288 career wins (only Roger Clemens and Bobby Mathews - who was from the 1870’s - have more and are not in the Hall) and lands him 21st all-time in career fWAR.

I should make a note here that fWAR and rWAR differs enough for pitchers that it makes a significant difference in his JAWS ranking. But in plain English, Baseball Reference thinks he was pretty mediocre in terms of Cooperstown worthiness. He’s 85th on JAWS for starting pitchers, which is behind way more non-Hall of Fame pitchers than I care to list. However, 80% of the pitchers with the most similar career stats (Robin Roberts, Bert Blyleven, Fergie Jenkins, Early Wynn, Tom Glavine, Burleigh Grimes, Don Sutton and Eppa Rixey) are in the Hall. That’s not nothing. And his Career Standards (44) would only be slightly below average for a Hall of Fame pitcher.

And since I prefer fWAR for pitchers, anyway, it’s probably important that John is 30th all-time in JAWS for that non-official ranking. And only behind Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling and Kevin Brown for non-Cooperstown pitchers. He’d be an above average Hall of Fame pitcher by that metric. But maybe I’m getting ahead of myself.

John was often the best pitcher on the teams he played on. He was the best on the White Sox in 1968, 1969 and 1970, and the best overall during his tenure there (1965-1971). He was also the best pitcher on the Dodgers in 1976 and 1978 (a pennant year), but second-best overall, after Don Sutton. He was the best pitcher on the Yankees in 1979 and 1980, and second overall to Ron Guidry. He was the best pitcher on the Angels in 1983, third overall after Mike Witt and Geoff Zahn. And he was the best pitcher on the Yankees in 1987, and best overall there from 1986-1989. John only had 3 elite seasons in his long ass career. You could make an argument for him being the best pitcher in the AL in 1979, when he got second in Cy Young voting. His teammate Guidry should have won it, but it went to Mike Flanagan instead. John also got second in Cy Young voting in 1977 (I would have given him 5th).

Any way you slice it, John seems to be a top 10 pitcher in his era. I don’t love the Wins stat. Or the compilation of WAR stats. Especially with no real greatness on which to hang his hat. And I don’t think the ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction surgery that bears his name is so much an accomplishment for him as it is for Frank Jobe, the surgeon. John played for fucking ever. Which is not nothing. I just don’t think it’s quite enough of a ‘something’ to land him in the Hall.

Dale Murphy

There was probably a time in 1983, around the time Murphy won his second consecutive NL MVP Award, that people would have considered him the greatest player in the world. That was before WAR and everything, but still. He had RBI titles and that’s what got everyone horny in the 80’s. Well, that and (I’m assuming) cocaine.

Murphy was the best player on the Braves a decade before they decided to become a National League dynasty. And he’s one of those guys that advanced stats made look worse. Like, I’m sure nobody wants to hear that Chet Lemon was better than Dale Murphy, but here we are.

I’d say Murphy had five elite seasons. I would have given him the MVP in 1983, but not 1982 (I would have given that to Mike Schmidt and considered Murphy 5th). And then after a fairly decent peak, his numbers collapsed after 1987. Whoa. I just realized another hot shit Atlanta center fielder, Andruw Jones, kinda had something similar happen after he turned 30. But the end result is that Murphy is 25th on JAWS for center fielders. That’s behind Kenny Lofton, Jones, Jim Edmonds, Willie Davis, Jim Wynn, Vada Pinson, Cesar Cedeno, Chet Fucking Lemon, Johnny Damon and Fred Lynn. And it’s also behind Mike Trout (obviously) and Carlos Beltran.

In his own career (1976-1993), he’s 28th in overall WAR. That’s not Hall worthy. But he seems like a nice and charitable Mormon man. I heard they can turn it off like a light switch. We all should too.

Ted Simmons

Should the top 10 players at every position be in the Hall of Fame? I think so. As it stands now, Simmons is 10th in all-time JAWS as a catcher and is the only one (other than Joe Mauer, who retired in 2018) who isn’t currently enshrined. If we go around every position’s top 10 non-enshrined he’s in a pretty elite company with Bobby Grich (2B), Scott Rolen (3B), Bill Dahlen (SS), Barry Bonds (LF), Pete Rose (LF), Manny Ramirez (LF), Kenny Lofton (CF), Larry Walker (RF), Roger Clemens (SP), six relief pitchers I don’t care about and non-eligible superstars like Mauer, Albert Pujols, Robinson Cano, Adrian Beltre, Alex Rodriguez and Mike Trout. It seems pretty clear to me that Simmons should be in the Hall.

He was the best player on the Cardinals in 1972, 1973, 1975, 1976, 1977 and 1978 and was the best overall player there during his (1968-1980) tenure. He was also the best catcher in the National League in 1973 and 1977. And he was the best in baseball in 1978. And over his entire career (1968-1988), he was second best overall to Johnny Bench - the greatest catcher of all time - who’s own career (1967-1983) was occurring at the exact same time as Simmons’.

Maybe he’s a victim of bad timing. Simmons’ contemporaries, besides Bench, include Gary Carter (2nd all-time) and Carlton Fisk (4th). But as Jay Jaffe has pointed out, there were 5 active Hall of Fame catchers in 1929 and every year from 1931-1937. So the fact that 4 Hall of Fame catchers would have played between 1974-1983 would not be weird at all. And we’ll talk about a 5th, Thurman Munson (1969-1979), in just a second.

Simmons’ bad timing also included a playoff drought for St. Louis. Which probably had more to do with trading Steve Carlton than the play of Simmons. I would say he had 4 elite seasons while he was in St. Louis. He has similar career stats to Alan Trammel, Joe Torre, Carlton Fisk, Gary Carter, Barry Larkin, Joe Cronin and Yogi Berra. And the top 10 in similarity scores are rounded out by Lou Whitaker (who I heavily insinuated should be in the Hall a moment earlier) and Miguel Tejada.

There have been a lot of theories as to why Simmons still isn’t in Cooperstown. There were contract disputes. There was the fact that he was against the Vietnam War and against Nixon. He was seen as a bad defensive catcher, although current metrics show that to be way overblown. He butted heads with Whitey Herzog, who also wound up as a Veteran’s Committee voter. Which would be even more bad timing. But I think Simmons has mainly been vindicated on all of those things over time. And the timing should finally be right for his induction.

Thurman Munson

His career was cut short after a tragic Cessna crash in 1979. Otherwise, who knows? Munson was the best player on the Yankees in 1973 and 1975. And the best overall from 1969-1979. He was the best catcher in the American League in 1970, 1975 and 1976 and the best in baseball in 1973. His 11-year career also includes a Rookie of the Year Award, two World Series rings and an MVP Award in 1976. The Yankees also made him the team’s first captain since Lou Gehrig. And after his death, the Yankees immediately retired his number and never replaced his locker at old Yankee Stadium.

A short career makes for some sub-par Hall of Fame numbers. And nobody with similar career stats is enshrined in Cooperstown. And that 1976 MVP was a bit of a stretch, even though he was 10th in the AL in fWAR. I would have given him a top 5 finish in 1973, when he finished 12th, but what are you gonna do?

Even with Munson’s untimely death, he’s still 13th all-time on JAWS for catchers. And he’s 8th in peak (WAR7) for catchers, above average for a Hall of Fame catcher and tied with Buster Posey. Which is extra fun since Munson and Posey both won a Rookie of the Year, an MVP, a Gold Glove, a World Series title, and a College Baseball All-American nod. And they’re the only catchers to do all that.

It might be hard to say yes to Munson without putting Ted Simmons in first. Simmons is two spots higher on JAWS. And over Munson’s career (1969-1979), he’s third in fWAR after Johnny Bench and Simmons. But that peak is still better than Simmons’. And Munson still hit .357 in the postseason. Including a 9-for-17 outburst in a losing effort against Bench and the “Big Red Machine” in 1976. I mean, a Yankees team that won back-to-back titles considered Munson their heart and soul. And they had Catfish Hunter, Goose Gossage, Reggie Jackson and some pretty good years around that time from Willie Randolph, Graig Nettles and Ron Guidry. I could honestly go either way. So why not? But Simmons probably needs to go in first.

Don Mattingly

Two of my closest friends consider Mattingly their favorite player of all time. And he’s in one of the greatest "Simpsons" episodes of all time. Oh, and unbeknownst to the writers, he was benched for refusing to trim his mullet in 1991. So there’s that too. But let’s talk about his career.

Donnie Baseball was the face of the New York Yankees when the Yankees were in the longest postseason drought in their post-Babe-Ruth history. They were in the World Series the year before he joined the team. They won the World Series the year after he retired. You could argue that they would have won it all in the strike-shortened season in 1994. But as it stands, Mattingly’s only postseason with the Yankees was that 1995 ALDS against the Seattle Mariners that ended in the bottom of the 11th with a walk-off double (ahem, THE Double) by Edgar Martinez and an elated Ken Griffey Jr. at the bottom of a doggy pile. Mattingly is considered the greatest Yankee to never play in a World Series with the team (probably Rickey Henderson only played 5 seasons in the Bronx) and he’s the only Yankee to have his number retired by the team, without winning at least one ring (Your move, Aaron Judge).

It definitely wasn’t his fault.

Mattingly was the best player on the Yankees in 1984, 1986 and 1987. Henderson was better in ’85, even though that’s somehow the year Mattingly won his MVP (I’d would have given him 4th, after George Brett, Henderson and Wade Boggs). Mattingly SHOULD have won an AL MVP in 1984. And there’s a really good argument for Mattingly winning it in 1986, even though the bozo writers gave it to Roger Clemens (Pitchers have their own awards, guys! And Boggs was on the same team! How are you so stupid???).

Mattingly was also the best American League first baseman from 1984-1987. And probably the best in baseball at first in ’85 and ’86. During Mattingly’s own career (82-95), Eddie Murray was better. And Mark McGwire played in more All-Star Games. But I already know what you’re gonna say about that. Pat yourself on the back for your moral superiority.

Mattingly won 9 Gold Gloves. He was the A.L. MVP in 1985. He won a batting title in 1984. And then he got into a clubhouse wrestling match with Bob Shirley in 1987, injured his back, and wasn’t really the same after that. I guess, it was the same year as Hogan-Andre at WrestleMania III and wrestling was pretty big at the time, but yeah. The Yankees promptly released Shirley, by the way. Mattingly would have moments where he looked like his old self. He was still great, defensively. But the back problems persisted. And Mattingly ended his career after only 14 seasons, when he was 34-years-old.

Mattingly is ranked on JAWS as the 40th-best first baseman of all time. That’s behind first basemen like Rafael Palmeiro, Todd Helton, McGwire, Keith Hernandez, John Olerud, Will Clark, Fred McGriff, Norm Cash, Dolph Camilli, Gil Hodges, and Carlos Delgado. That’s also behind not-yet-eligible first basemen like Albert Pujols, Miguel Cabrera, Joey Votto, Jason Giambi, David Ortiz, Mark Teixeira, and Paul Goldschmidt. He has 222 career home runs, 2,153 hits, and a .307 career average. Of the 10 most-similar batters, only Kirby Puckett is in the Hall of Fame. He would be well below average for a Hall of Fame first baseman. Better than Mark Grace. About half as good as Frank Thomas.

Should Mattingly be in the Hall of Fame? No. Then again, he was better than Harold Baines, so what do I fucking know? But Mattingly spent 15 years on the writers’ ballot. He never got higher than 28.2% of the vote (his first year). His final season only garnered 9.1%. His peak wasn’t high enough. His career wasn’t long enough. And he definitely shouldn’t have played grab ass with Bob Shirley in 1987. The sideburns, however, can stay.

Dave Parker

They called him “The Cobra”, he used a sledgehammer in the on-deck circle, he wore a Padres helmet AND a Reds helmet in the 1977 All-Star Game… while he was on the Pirates, and he loved cocaine. Boy did he ever, apparently. He was also the best player on the Pirates in 1975, 1977, 1978 and 1979. And then he was the best player on his hometown Reds in 1984 and 1985. I’d also say he was the best right fielder in baseball in ’75, ’77, ’78 and the best in the N.L in ’85. Parker was a seven-time All-Star, he won two batting titles, three Gold Gloves, two World Series rings and received MVP votes in nine different seasons, including winning one in 1978. He was baseball’s first million dollar contract. I think he had five elite seasons. He deserved that ’78 MVP. And I would have given him 2nd in 1975 (he got 3rd), 4th in 1977 (3rd again), 6th in 1979 (10th) and 5th in 1985 (he got 2nd). Parker also got 5th place in 1986, which is stupid. Dude had a 0.7 fWAR, but he also had 116 RBI and you know how stupid these guys were with the RBI.

It’s possible the cocaine got the best of him. Or the injuries. Or the weight gain. Because it looked like he was well on his way to a Hall of Fame career in the late 70’s, and except for a brief bump (sorry) in 1985, he didn’t do much else after 1979. That leaves Parker as the 5th-best right fielder, even in his own exact timeframe in the Majors (1973-1991, after Dwight Evans, Dave Winfield, Andre Dawson and Reggie Jackson). He would be well below average for a Hall of Fame right fielder. JAWS ranks him as the 39th-best right fielder of all time. That’s behind Larry Walker, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Evans, Reggie Smith, Sammy Sosa, Bobby Bonds, Gary Sheffield, Brian Giles, Jack Clark, Tony Oliva, Rocky Colavito, and Rusty Staub. He’s also behind not-yet-eligible players like Ichiro Suzuki, Bobby Abreu, and Mookie Betts. He was better than Darryl Strawberry. Miles behind Tony Gwynn.

With over 2,700 hits and 339 home runs in 19 seasons, Parker does have similar career stats to Tony Perez, Billy Williams, Harold Baines and Andre Dawson. Not quite inner-circle guys. And Parker never got more than 24% of the vote from the writers. And I think he’s relegated to the Hall of Very Good. But he’s not a Hall of Famer.

Steve Garvey

They called him Mr. Clean, even though he totally wasn’t. He has some, uh, ugly relationships with women. A weird fact that dashed all of his hopes to become a Republican Congressman later in life. I think a lot of Garvey’s popularity and fame during his career had to do with his looks. He was never the best player on the Dodgers. And during his tenure there (1969-1982), he was second to Ron Cey in overall fWAR. And while he was the best first baseman in the National League in 1975, 1976 and 1978, he was only 7th-best over the 15 years he played first base (1973-1987) after Keith Hernandez, Darrell Evans, Rod Carew, Eddue Murray, Gene Tenace and Pete Rose. JAWS ranks him as the 51st-greatest first baseman of all time, behind too many non-Hall players than I care to type. His career numbers are similar to Orlando Cepeda (#33), but they look more like those of John Olerud (#22), Will Clark (#26) and Mark Grace (#41). Even though all of those players were better.

It was the FAME part of the equation that Garvey seemed to have down. He was a 10 time All-Star. He remained a part of a Dodgers infield with Ron Cey, Bill Russell and Davey Lopes for 8.5 years. He played in 1,207 consecutive games (1975-1983), which is the 4th-longest streak ever. He won a ring with the Dodgers in 1981 and was a two-time NLCS MVP. And in 1974, he won an NL MVP while only finishing 20th in the League in WAR. And he got really close again in 1978. But he didn’t really deserve to be in that conversation either. Of all the player’s on this year’s ballot, Garvey is the weakest candidate.

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thebarbieblogzzz-blog · 5 years ago

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BCRT (Barbie’s Comic Review Time) #1

Rabbids- by Thithaume- Pujol

Haha, yeah.

Okay, so basically its a comic book, so not only becuz its just took a very short time and light-er, i also very love a book.. who has an illustration on it, which is what comic book is!

İt was a comic book from french author , Thithaume, that ive searched was created by a french descent, Okay suddenly i forgot the name, but like just focus on the questions.

What i like? İt was a funny, creative, and like maybe it was meant for children, but every adult should really feel amused by it too, like it was just so witty, ridiculous and funny. And i guess it just reminded me of the style of minions in term of the ridiculousness silliness and just their move their quirk theyre out of this world cute aliens stuff, but its not a yellow banana like creatures, its a rabbits (As the title suggests) and it was fresh and yeah i was laughing reading this, it was just creative piece.

What i dislike? What i only dislike about this, is and i know it was just this little part of the whole comic, but there is one picture of a woman, and its lke many comicbook, always so exagerrating woman’s body like this tiny waist this big boobs this big hips,and this is for children, i think you shoudnt slip somehing like that, especially with exageration, like just why. Thats it. and like, it was kina funny, but like the rabbits female is basically a male rabbit with a tenis ball boobs? Okay? Not really see the point, it was maybe quite creative, but i dont really see the backstory or a backup or maybe something ambiguous or actually really genius behind it. nothing like that. And the frist time, i was just wonder why, i mean it was kinda funny, but it wasnt have any backup story funny so like that was just ... okay. Whatever.

The quality? İt was good overall- and like creative, smimple, memorable, and like , it was just funny.

What i feel about it? it was a funny story, i feel amused of course. Would i read another rabbids book? if i have the time, and in the right moods, but like it snot something that i will seek for no. İf i just have the time and the mood again i will probably read it, cuz theres nothing really bland in there it was basically funny fresh and just ... simple. Like that.

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independentartistbuzz · 7 years ago

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Indie 5-0: 5 Questions with The Slovaks

The Slovaks are steadily a band on the rise with their infectious blend of indie rock goodness. The group who are currently signed to Nashville's Jeffery Drag Records, brings the vibrancy and fun with their latest video for "101st." We had the absolute pleasure of catching up with the group earlier this Summer for an exclusive Indie 5-0 which you'll find below.

From Adam Saylaby

Watch "101st" here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7WL9KPbeps&feature=youtu.be

1. Congrats on the new video, "101st"! What was the inspiration behind the video's theme?

-Thanks, we love this video, one of our favourites in fact, it’s basically a love letter to The Slovaks. We wanted to take the viewer on a 5 year journey(of our band’s history), visually documented by our photographer Lee Saylaby. Lee has worked everywhere with us: shows, tours, press shots and he has also sat in a lot our of studio sessions. The song itself holds a lot of sentimental value to me, it is about Jimi Hendrix “…Jimi’s soul is growing older, decomposing fills the sky…”so we basically reflected all of that lovely sentiment back onto ourselves in this video- narcissists??? Ha. Visually the video looks incredible, it has a kinda stop motion effect with the quick montage style of cutting, in fact this video features over 4000 still images of the band, the people over at Short Form Media in Manchester did a really great job cutting it together and adding all of those cool filters and effects- this technique gives the video real momentum and energy- we love it, thanks Dave.

2. Your latest album "Get Down," has been on rotation in our headphones for a little while now. What was the overall influence for the record?

This our debut record, so we wanted to give it everything that a debut record should have, we wanted it to be raw, dirty and full of ideas! Influences include a lot of garage rock bands from Nashville, Tennessee: bands like Pujol, Turbo Fruits, Bad Cop and also a lot of older bands such as, The Velvet Underground, The Stooges and Jimi Hendrix. The overall theme for the record is rhythm and energy.

3. How would you best describe your sound to new listeners; what make The Slovaks unique?

Our sound is brutally honest, exciting and raw, we write songs that are quick and punchy and also make you sweat!

4. What is the creative process like for the band?

I (Adam) write all of the songs, I start with a guitar, my 8 track recorder and then go from there, once the demo has been tracked I show it to the rest of the band, then we add all of the finishing touches together.

I usually write the music first then write the lyrics later on, lyrically I include a lot of cultural references, I write about bands, books, people and films that I like, sometimes I slip in some past experiences too.

5. Are there any tour dates or releases planned for the remainder of the year?

We toured the states back in November when the record was released and it was a huge success, we are now looking to record and release a new E.P at the end of this year, we have so much new material to choose from, it’s sounding great.

We will also continue to play shows in the UK and we are also planning our American return, watch this space!

#the slovaks #jeffery drag records

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junker-town · 8 years ago

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Giancarlo Stanton cleared waivers, and we ranked the teams that might trade for him

What’s the scarier nightmare: Stanton and Aaron Judge together, or Stanton in Coors Field?

Giancarlo Stanton cleared waivers, according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports, which removes one of the last mysteries of this particular saga. Would another team take the burden of Stanton’s entire salary, even if they didn’t even have to trade a single prospect? The answer is no, at least for now. There wasn’t one team out of 29 that would even take that chance.

This means we get to speculate which teams would want him, and how much of their contract they would be willing to eat.

It’s Hot Stove Christmas in August.

(There’s also the chance that there was some sort of understanding between Major League Baseball and all 30 teams that claiming Stanton would have messed up the particulars of the Marlins’ sale. An unwritten rule, if you will. It sounds tin-foil-hattish, except it also makes a ton of sense.)

For now, we’ll assume that every team in baseball is scared of Stanton’s contract in some capacity. He’s owed $295 million over the next 10 years, and the deal takes him through his age-37 season. If that doesn’t scare you, consider that Albert Pujols is 37 now. Also consider that Albert Pujols averaged 155 games played per year before he turned 30. Stanton ... has not. There are good reasons for letting Stanton pass through waivers and negotiating with the Marlins without the threat of them handing over the contract as a cost-cutting measure.

We’ll also assume that Stanton’s full no-trade clause is something that can be worked out. Because they usually are.

Which teams would be interested in Giancarlo Stanton?

All of them.

Which teams would be interested in Giancarlo Stanton at full price?

Some of them? Maybe two or three.

Which teams would be interested in Giancarlo Stanton at a discount, provided they empty the farm system first?

Some of them.

Our job today is to make a Venn diagram of the likeliest teams to nab Stanton, then.

Not far-fetched at all

The Los Angeles Dodgers are the most obvious bogeyman, here. By 2021, they have only $32 million in obligations, and they can add Stanton’s contract next year and still lower their payroll from this year. That’s the power of getting Carl Crawford and Andre Ethier off their books. Stanton is from Southern California and grew up a Dodgers fan. The Dodgers have prospects. They have money. Maybe just put him on the Dodgers, then?

Ah, but the Dodgers will eventually have to pay Corey Seager and Cody Bellinger. They’ll be paying Clayton Kershaw for a long time, unless he opts out and they have to pay him more. They’re run by a cavalcade of GMs who were weaned on the idea that spend, spend, spend comes at a cost, and while they’ve done a pretty good job of ignoring that when it suits them, I’m not convinced that they would be comfortable with a $300 million commitment.

Just mostly convinced.

The Philadelphia Phillies are a burgeoning big-market bully. I’m old enough to remember when they already were one. But they haven’t spent any money in recent years, likely because they’re saving up for that one cobra strike of a transaction. Bryce Harper? Manny Machado? Dunno, but they have about $100 million burning a hole in their pocket, and if there’s any team that can absorb Stanton’s contract, they’re at the top of a short list.

At the same time, they’re also the team that knows what a drag an oversized contract can be as it stretches on for years and years. Now, Stanton isn’t Ryan Howard on several levels, but that point stands. A bad contract like that can stink for a long, long time and mess everything up.

The Atlanta Braves have the new ballpark, and they’ve been aggressive in their attempts to acquire talent, even if it costs a little scratch. This would be a player they could put on their marquee, and they can market it as the player who can make the home run record Brave again.

What’s more is that if the Marlins want prospects and are willing to pay the contract down, the Braves can load them up that way, too. I could see a contending 2020 Braves roster that’s basically Freddie Freeman, Stanton, and 23 players making pre-arbitration money or close to it.

The only thing stopping me from predicting this is the Braves’ iffy TV deal. They don’t have that sweet cable money like the Phillies. They’ve never been big-market bullies before, so it’s hard to see them starting now.

The New York Yankees are the classic bogeyman, though they’ve waned in that department because of recent austerity. Still, their payroll commitments drop off even more quickly than the Dodgers’. The presence and continued success of Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Luis Severino, Didi Gregorius, Dellin Betances — as well as the stocked farm system — will allow them a luxury or two. Or three or four.

And the dream of a big-boy bookend in the outfield to smack dingers for the next decade is a beautiful dream. I’m not a Yankees fan, but if they’re not giving up Judge, then this is the only way we’ll get this dream.

The Detroit Tigers are the team I’m using in this spot just to make sure that you’re paying attention.

The Boston Red Sox have been one of the more persistent teams involved in these rumors, and like the Dodgers or Yankees, they have a lot of options. They can choose to absorb most of the salary, which would give the Marlins the gift of financial relief, or they can add prospects and young players as a way to avoid absorbing that much money. Would the Red Sox enjoy an $18 million Stanton at the expense of Andrew Benintendi? What about a $14 million Stanton at the expense of Benintendi and a couple of prospects? I don’t know, either, but it seems like there are a lot of sliders to play with in the settings.

Also like the Dodgers and Yankees, the Red Sox have a bunch of young players right now who will be underpaid, which will allow them to spend more on veterans. Starting to think that pre-arbitration salaries and arbitration awards should be tethered to a team’s payroll and market size. I’ll write a manifesto up before the next CBA.

The Chicago Cubs also have a young team without a ton of long-term commitments, and ... look, just copy and paste most of the crap from the Red Sox section. Or Yankees section. All of these big market teams can ride these young players for the next few years, and while Kris Bryant is making less than Justin Grimm, the Cubs can do things like consider a contract like Stanton’s.

The difficulty with the Cubs is that they’ve built their roster and organization in a way that forces them to spend on pitching, so I’m not sure if they would leverage everything to get another outfielder, even if he’s the lord king of dongs.

The Houston Astros oh come on seriously another one of these big-market teams that’s loaded with young, cheap talent and can afford to take a significant payroll gamble on an anomalous superstar who is on pace for a Hall of Fame career come on this is absurd. How many of these teams are there? It’s like we’re staring into the future, and it’s the same teams, over and over again.

Except while the Astros seem like burgeoning big-market bullies like the Phillies, there’s no evidence that they’ll actually be that kind of organization. They also might prefer to keep the payroll open for needs as they arise instead of pouncing on an expensive superstar because he’s a superstar. The future of the Astros’ outfield is kind of rosy, after all.

Pretty far-fetched, but not impossible

The San Francisco Giants’ beat writers had some parallel thinking when it came time to write up Monday’s game against the Marlins.

The Giants stand ready to engage the Marlins' new owners about Giancarlo Stanton. In the meantime... https://t.co/GrUCxbBpJf

— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) August 15, 2017

Giants lose 8-3, Stanton shows power they covet -- hey, it's OK for fans to dream: https://t.co/fxR1gAwkhX via @sfchronicle

— John Shea (@JohnSheaHey) August 15, 2017

The Giants have hit -343 home runs since the All-Star break, and Stanton has hit 343, so the symmetry makes sense. You can understand how the Giants and their fans are so starved for power that they’re desperate for someone like Stanton.

Except their only chance is if the Marlins want to do a full salary dump and nothing else. That’s it. And we don’t know that yet. If the Giants claimed Stanton and refused to put forth a good-faith offer of prospects and baubles and trinkets, the Marlins might have yanked him back. They might be far more interested in trying to pry a future star away from the Yankees, Dodgers, or Red Sox. It would certainly be better PR. The Giants can’t match that kind of organizational depth.

They’re also super-leveraged for the future, owing more than $100 million to over-30 players for the next several years.

This isn’t going to end well. Not without a sudden pipeline of young, cheap talent. Stanton is young talent. But he’s not that last one, and that’s what the Giants will need for the next few years.

The Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals are both teams facing a choice. Do they lock up their young superstar for a decade at superstar prices that might even exceed what Stanton is owed? Or do they trade them in for the superstar with a contract they can predict? Both seem pretty unlikely, and the Nationals have some gnarly payroll commitments in the future, but that would be the gambit anyway.

Would you rather have Stanton at $30 million or Bryce Harper at $36 million? What about Stanton at $30 million or Manny Machado at $32 million? I’m not answering. I’m leaving those hypothetical questions on the floor and running out of the room.

The St. Louis Cardinals are excellent at not spending, not spending, not spending, BAM, Matt Holliday! But American’s favorite mid-not-big-but-kinda-big-market team isn’t usually one to blow up their future commitments that much. If they were, they’d still have Albert Pujols.

Stanton makes sense on their roster, but only because he makes sense on every roster. It’s harder to see how the Cardinals actually acquire him, though.

The Texas Rangers have a solid combination of youth and money, but they don’t have that much money. They would have to give up young talent to get the costs down, I’d imagine, which would sort of defeat the purpose of adding Stanton to a pile of young talent.

I’d imagine the Rangers are more concerned about finding pitchers at this point, but they’re not that far away from the Cubs/Astros dynamic of young talent and financial resources. They’re just far away enough.

The Seattle Mariners would need to commit to becoming a regular $200 million team to add Stanton, and I’m not sure if they’re comfortable with that. Like the Giants, their farm system means their best hope would be a Marlins team that just gives Stanton away. Considering the Mariners didn’t claim Stanton on waivers, I would guess that their owners aren’t too wild about that idea.

And if the owners aren’t wild about Stanton at full price, guess which teams are at a disadvantage bidding against the rest of the league for Stanton at a discount?

The Colorado Rockies will need to pay Nolan Arenado, which should take up a huge chunk of their future payroll, but I would like to put the idea of Giancarlo Stanton on the Colorado Rockies into your brain right now. It’s seductive. It’s terrifying. It’s basically the One True Ring of baseball ideas, and we need to throw it into the Marlins’ home run sculpture just to be safe.

This is a team with almost zero financial commitments for the future, though. They’re sleepers. They’re dark horses. They’re sneaking up on the baseball world and threatening to club us over the head with dingers.

oh god this would be terrifying i can’t look away

Almost impossible

The Tampa Bay Rays, Toronto Blue Jays, Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Royals, Minnesota Twins, San Diego Padres, Cincinnati Reds, Milwaukee Brewers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Oakland A’s, and New York Mets are all extraordinarily unlikely to pursue a deal if their past history is any indication. I’ll listen to arguments for all of the above, but I’ll be only half-listening, possibly with an ABBA song stuck in my head.

Note that it’s both horrifying and strangely satisfying to see the Mets on that list. I’ll put the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox in the almost-impossible pile because the former has too much salary weighing them down, and the latter is too invested in a rebuilding process to mess around with a $30 million player who might start declining before their vision is realized.

The Los Angeles Angels might be scared because of Pujols, but the real reason they’re probably here is because they know they’ll have to build a moon base for Mike Trout in the future. Getting Stanton would be the Angels’ way of saying, “Later, Mike,” which doesn’t appear to be a wise baseball or PR move.

If they can afford both, sure, I’ll listen, but I’m not sure how many teams other than the Dodgers or Yankees could afford to compete annually with those two contracts, especially if one of them stumbles.

The Arizona Diamondbacks are in a similar spot as the Giants, in which it would take the Marlins wanting to dump salary more than any other consideration. The difference there is that the Diamondbacks traditionally have a lower payroll than the Giants, and they’re also going to be worried about Paul Goldschmidt’s future salary. They probably had one high-salary bolt in their quiver, and they used it on Zack Greinke.

It’s irresponsible to power-rank this sort of thing, but I’m not known for my restraint:

Official Giancarlo Stanton Trade Power Rankings

Miami Marlins

Los Angeles Dodgers

Boston Red Sox

New York Yankees

Philadelphia Phillies

Chicago Cubs

Atlanta Braves

Houston Astros

Colorado Rockies

Texas Rangers

Seattle Mariners

St. Louis Cardinals

Washington Nationals

San Francisco Giants

Baltimore Orioles

Arizona Diamondbacks

Toronto Blue Jays

Los Angeles Angels

Chicago White Sox

San Diego Padres

Cleveland Indians

Detroit Tigers

Minnesota Twins

Milwaukee Brewers

Cincinnati Reds

New York Mets

Kansas City Royals

Pittsburgh Pirates

Tampa Bay Rays

Oakland A’s

Yeah, the Marlins are still number one, you know. The new owners just might keep the face of the franchise around to build trust. Also, hit dingers. That’s the likeliest scenario, but if there is going to be a trade, I’d take the above list with a serious grain of salt. The drop off after the Yankees is steep, and the one after the Astros is pretty much a bottomless pit.

My money is that he stays with the Marlins for several different reasons. I don’t think they’ll mind.

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brido · 7 years ago

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Was Robinson Cano A Hall of Famer Before This Happened?

Another one bites the dust. Robinson Cano tested positive for a PED-masking substance this week, which, for all intents and purposes renders his Cooperstown candidacy a moot point. He’s now banished to Rafael Palmeiro Island with Manny Ramirez, Mark McGwire and the rest of the great, what-if and say-it-ain’t-so players we’ve come to love and forget over the past twenty years. But just how good was Cano? Let’s take a look with Bill James’ tried and true Keltner List method to see just how many tears we should be shedding for the latest in a long list of players to let us down.

1. Was he ever regarded as the best player in baseball? Did anybody, while he was active, ever suggest that he was the best player in baseball?

I don’t think so. Albert Pujols, Miguel Cabrera and/or Mike Trout have basically had a lock on that designation for Cano’s entire career. He finished 3rd in A.L. MVP voting in 2010 and he was 4th in baseball in fWAR in 2012. But nobody was saying he was THE guy.

2. Was he the best player on his team?

Well, to be fair, Cano played on the Jeter/A-Rod Yankees from 2005-2013. Those Yankees also had Jason Giambi, Jorge Posada and Johnny Damon. But Cano would have been the best player on the Yankees in 2010, 2012 and 2013 and over that 2005-2013 time period, he was second to A-Rod in overall WAR, edging out a fading Jeter. In 2014, Cano went to Seattle. There were some strong years from Nelson Cruz and Kyle Seager, but since 2014 (2014-2018), Cano has led the Mariners in overall WAR. And you can add 2014 and 2016 to the years he was the best on his own team.

3. Was he the best player in baseball at his position? Was he the best player in the league at his position?

Yes. Cano was the best second baseman in baseball in 2010, 2012 and 2014. And he was the best in the American League in 2013. During his own playing career (2005-2018), he’s been the best second baseman in the American League and second in overall WAR to Chase Utley.

4. Did he have an impact on a number of pennant races?

Yes. All in New York. Cano played in 7 postseasons from 2005-2012 and has one ring with the Yankees.

5. Was he good enough that he could play regularly after passing his prime?

This is Cano’s 14th season in the bigs. He got MVP votes in 2016. He was an All-Star last year. You could probably argue that he’s still in his prime. Dude’s on fucking steroids. That’s what they do.

6. Is he the very best baseball player in history who is not in the Hall of Fame?

No. Barry Bonds. I don’t even have to look.

7. Are most players who have comparable statistics in the Hall of Fame?

No. But Cano does have similar stats to Ryne Sandberg. And Joe Torre, who was a borderline candidate as a player and is in the Hall as a manager. On the list of 10 most similar include Scott Rolen, Jeff Kent, Matt Holliday and Ken Boyer, who are borderline candidates (I’ve said yes to Rolen in the past). But his career numbers after 14 seasons look most like Miguel Tejada.

8. Do the player’s numbers meet Hall of Fame standards?

Cano gets a 48 on the Standards list, with a 50 being average for a Hall of Famer. 305 home runs, a .304 batting average. 2,417 hits. That’s pretty fucking good for a second baseman.

9. Is there any evidence to suggest that the player was significantly better or worse than is suggested by his statistics?

I guess there is now.

10. Is he the best player at his position who is eligible for the Hall of Fame?

Yes, actually. Cano is the 7th-best second baseman of all time, according to JAWS. And Rogers Hornsby, Eddie Collins, Nap Lajoie, Joe Morgan, Charlie Gehringer and Rod Carew are all in the Hall. Carew was mostly a first baseman, but whatever.

11. How many MVP-type seasons did he have? Did he ever win an MVP award? If not, how many times was he close?

Cano got MVP votes in 8 different seasons. He got 3rd in 2010, 4th in 2012 and 5th in 2013 and 2014. I would have given him 4th in 2010, 3rd in 2012 and 5th in 2013. So 3 elite seasons. That’s okay.

12. How many All-Star-type seasons did he have? How many All-Star games did he play in? Did most of the players who played in this many All-Star games go into the Hall of Fame?

Cano has been an All-Star 8 times. And that puts him in pretty elite company. Just as a comparison, Utley has 6, Jose Altuve has 5, Dustin Pedroia and Ian Kinsler have 4. But, I could also point out that Roberto Alomar had 12 and Ryne Sandberg and Joe Morgan had 10. Not that Cano is done.

13. If this man were the best player on his team, would it be likely that the team could win the pennant?

I kinda hate this question considering Mike Trout hasn’t played in any World Series games. But the Yankees made it to the ALCS in 2010 and 2012, when Cano was the best player on the team. But those teams also had Jeter and A-Rod and CC Sabathia.

14. What impact did the player have on baseball history? Was he responsible for any rule changes? Did he introduce any new equipment? Did he change the game in any way?

I can’t think of anything.

15. Did the player uphold the standards of sportsmanship and character that the Hall of Fame, in its written guidelines, instructs us to consider?

Nope.

Conclusion: There might not be a lot of glory in being the best second baseman of your era, but that designation gets you elected into the Hall of Fame. Or at least it should. So if there isn’t already a Chase Utley Career Appreciation Club, let that begin now. Cano would have gone to the Hall, eventually. In the meantime, focus your outrage on the exclusion of Bobby Grich and Lou Whitaker. Possibly even Willie Randolph. Because for now, the only plaque Cano is getting is as the starting second baseman on Rafael Palmeiro Island.

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junker-town · 8 years ago

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These teams stink at finding second basemen, and these teams are great

Did you know that Chase Utley and Robinson Cano had good careers? Sure, but about those White Sox ...

Welcome back to SB Nation’s series of the teams that are bad at filling positions around the ol’ baseball diamond. If you’re a glass-half-full kind of person, you can call this a series of the teams that are great at filling these positions. But as the planet burns and we sink deeper into the cosmic tar, I prefer to laugh at incompetence.

You can find our look at which teams are good/bad at finding catchers here, and which teams are good/bad at finding first basemen here.

Here’s the problem with today’s position, though: Teams are generally pretty okay at finding second basemen.

Our last installment about first basemen pointed us to the devastatingly sad recent history of the Pittsburgh Pirates, who found more All-Star-caliber catchers over the last two decades than barely competent first basemen. There isn’t a team nearly that bad with second basemen. Of the 30 teams in baseball, two-thirds of them had a deserving starter at second just last year.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t a couple of exceptions.

The goal is to look for which teams found the best second basemen over the last two decades, from 1997 through 2016. The system is simple, and it uses the Baseball-Reference quick-’n’-dirty guide to what WAR totals mean:

2+ starter 5+ All-Star 8+ MVP

Note that I’m rounding up — a 1.5-WAR player counts as a starting-caliber second baseman — because decimal points in WAR are kind of silly.

So which teams have been better than others at getting their hands on second basemen? Which teams have failed more often than their fans would like? To the numbers!

The quietly consistent

At the bottom of this post, there’s a table, and some of the teams won’t surprise you at all. With the catchers, for example, the Rangers fared well and, yeah, that’s because they had Ivan Rodriguez for a chunk of the last two decades. The Cardinals had the most MVP-caliber first basemen because Albert Pujols was absurd.

When you think of the Tigers and second base, though, who do you think of? Ian Kinsler recently, sure. Hall-of-Famer Charlie Gehringer and Should-Be-Hall-of-Famer-I-Will-Fight-You Lou Whitaker from the past, of course. But it’s not like they had someone you instantly identify with the franchise.

They usually had someone, though. Of all the teams in baseball, the Tigers have been the most consistent team at finding second basemen, doing it in 17 seasons out of the last 20. It’s even more impressive when you consider how awful they were in the early ‘00s. It’s a varied list, too:

Damion Easley (five times)

Placido Polanco (five times)

Ian Kinsler (three times)

Omar Infante (twice)

Ramon Santiago

Warren Morris

That’s the best part of this series, in my opinion. One minute, you’re sipping a cup of coffee, not thinking about Warren Morris, and then, BAM, Warren Morris.

youtube

And now you’re thinking about Alex Cora, who showed up on this search for the Dodgers. What a world.

The East Coast Second Base Hegemony

The Tigers have been consistent, sure, but if you want stars? It’s the Phillies’ and Yankees’ world, and all we can do is be super jealous about how awesome their second basemen have been over the last few years.

This shouldn’t be a surprise, really, when you remember Chase Utley and Robinson Cano. Of the 12 seasons where a second baseman cracked that magical 8-WAR barrier, half of them came from those two (with three each). In addition to those MVP-caliber seasons, the Phillies also had nine starting-caliber seasons and three All-Star seasons.

The Yankees got the three MVP-caliber seasons from Cano, and they also got four starting-caliber seasons and five All-Star seasons. If there’s a tiebreaker between these two teams, it’s that the Yankees haven’t had a second baseman worth two wins since Brian Roberts in 2014. Starlin Castro appears ready to break that drought, though.

As for the other guy on the East Coast? Dustin Pedroia got close, and the Red Sox have enjoyed five starting-caliber seasons, six All-Star seasons, and one MVP-level season, which is outstanding compared to the rest of baseball, but they couldn’t quite get where the Phillies and Yankees were.

I’m using this specific article as my only source for making Hall of Fame picks in 10 years. And it looks like the numbers say ... hey, wait, come back.

The Worst

Again, there aren’t any completely destitute teams in this regard. But there are a few teams that stand out.

The Braves got an MVP-caliber season from Marcus Giles, who finished with 7.8 WAR in 2003, when he was 25 ... and then finished with 7.8 WAR over the final four years of his strange career. Other than three seasons from Giles, though, the Braves have had seven kinda-sorta-okay seasons from Dan Uggla, Kelly Johnson, and Quilvio Veras, but nothing more.

The Dodgers, Pirates, and Brewers all had a decent-to-good second baseman every other year, roughly, but none of them have had a breakout season in the last 20 years, with no All-Star seasons to be found. You might expect that from the small-market teams, but the Dodgers is something of a surprise. Logan Forsythe might help them get over the hump soon, but if that doesn’t happen, expect them to pay cash for Jose Altuve or D.J. LeMahieu soon.

The worst of the worst, though? I’m guessing that White Sox fans were waiting for their team to come up since the opening paragraph. The only reason they weren’t the biggest story here is that they employed Ray Durham, a two-time All-Star who was one of the more underappreciated second basemen of his generation. The White Sox got five solid seasons from him (and more earlier) in the last two decades. When he left, they got an okay-OBP, sweet-defense season from Willie Harris, two pretty-okay seasons from Tadahito Iguchi, and a stellar rookie campaign from Alexei Ramirez in 2008.

Since then: nothing. Absolutely nothing. In order, the second basement they’ve tried:

Brett Lawrie

Yolmer Sanchez

Micah Johnson

Gordon Beckham

Angel Sanchez

Tyler Greene

Chris Getz

Oh, my goodness, there’s a lot of Gordon Beckham in here

Danny Richar

D’Angelo Jimenez

Roberto Alomar, but bad

It’s not exactly the Curse of Ray Durham, but you can call it something like the Curse of Please Just Find One Lousy Second Baseman if it makes you feel better.

As for 2017, we’ll just peek in at what’s going on, and ...

Yolmer Sanchez, .291/.333/.425, 1.2 WAR and counting

[rubs eyes]

Well, alright.

Career BABIP: .291 2017 BABIP: .359

Not now, facts. He’s probably just hitting more line drives

Career line-drive percentage: 25% 2017 line-drive percentage: 25%

NOT NOW, FACTS. His defense is solid. He’s probably fine.

(Root for him if you get a second, though. Thoughts and roots go out to the entire White Sox organization in these troubled times.)

The full table:

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junker-town · 8 years ago

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Albert Pujols quietly sits one homer from 600

Wednesday’s Say Hey, Baseball talks about the plight of Albert Pujols, the aftermath of the Harper-Strickland brawl, and airborne baseballs.

Listen, we know it’s tough to catch up on everything happening in the baseball world each morning. There are all kinds of stories, rumors, game coverage, and Vines of dudes getting hit in the beans every day. Trying to find all of it while on your way to work or sitting at your desk just isn’t easy. It’s OK, though. We’re going to do the heavy lifting for you each morning and find the things you need to see from within the SB Nation baseball network, as well as from elsewhere. Please hold your applause until the end, or at least until after you subscribe to the newsletter.

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Albert Pujols opened the scoring gates for the Angels Tuesday night, allowing his spryer teammates to force errors and wreak havoc in a nine-run inning against the Braves. The key to the gates was home run number 599. A no-doubter of a bomb put Pujols at the edge of the 600-cliff, looking forward to the company of greats known for both offensive prowess and indiscreet notetaking. Pujols has been tucked away in Anaheim’s obscure corner of the MLB universe, where even the game’s best player has difficulty commanding attention as he shines, but the lack of organic excitement is hard to explain.

Pujols’ three-run jack consolidated the role he fits into now: a pull power hitter who still likes striking out less than Johnny Cueto likes passing up selfie opportunities. His swing is still akin to watching a wine bottle uncork. But, like, a wine bottle you open with an old friend and not one from a hip wine tasting at Dusty Baker’s vineyard. It’s familiar and majestic, but his telomeres’ betrayal tinge the sight.

I don’t need to tell you that Pujols is still very good. Recent production puts him in the company of Yeonis Cespedes and Josh Donaldson. The Machine has, however, lost some of his shine, or else the inevitably of a ninth player touching 600 would create more buzz than it has. As the legend goes, Pujols, in his 31-year-old season when most players begin their decline, signed a mega-contract with the Angels. Pujols hit sub-.300 for the first time in 2012 and played 99 games in 2013 because his Achilles heel is actually an Achilles foot. All of baseball hoped he’d return to his .328/.420/.617 peak even a handful of seasons post-2011. Sometimes if you just turn A Machine off and put it in rice it works again, but injury and age don’t respond quite as well.

Baseball’s Velveteen Rabbit could hit number 600 in Detroit next week if his AB/HR serves as any kind of a predictor. He could even make the 700 club a quartet by 2021 when his contract expires if he stays at his home run average since 2011. Every time Anaheim plays, an Angel gets closer to earning his 600th home run swing.

Lay off the low ones, Kit! Unless I guess, if Corey Dickerson is going to hit balls in the dirt for doubles every time, then he can do whatever he wants.

Punishments were doled out in response to the Great Harper-Strickland Fiasco of 2017. Do the crime, pay the time, gentlemen.

During the Harper-Strickland fiasco, Harper solidified his place in history, kinda.

As the hashtag goes, Puig your friend. So, of course, the Dodger superstar was behind the team’s conciliatory gift of candy to their save opportunity-less closer, Kenley Jansen.

In a battle of established vs emerging, Royals prospect Kyle Skoglund outdueled Justin Verlander, and he did it in his first major league start.

The Mariners made the Rockies look stupid in front of all of their friends, scoring ten runs in stark contrast to their 20 inning scoreless streak earlier this week.

It’s time for Kyle Schwarber to visit the land down under to sort some things out. The minors are looking like the only option for the Cubs slugger right now.

Gary Sanchez’s power is playing hide-and-seek, which is like, pretty rude. Where is it hiding?

The baseballs in Toronto are on their way to some serious frequent flyer miles. Blue Jays homers (including a monster shot from Josh Donaldson) powered the team to victory.

The air-ball revolution is alive and kicking, according to this Travis Sawchik update. Joey Votto weighs in.

Here come the big, bad Red Sox. Boston is positioning themselves to make waves in the American League.

Ah, yes, beanball-brawl philosophy. What if Bryce Harper didn’t charge at Hunter Strickland, Eddie Matz?

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