Slash the payroll by $15 million, add 4.4 wins. Easy as pie!
Paranoia watch: Morneau is one of only two players that has not reported yet.
I'd file that as a reasonable concern rather than paranoia. According to TR, he still has to get MLB clearance for his concussion recovery, which is apparently a formality at this point, but based on that offseason video clip you linked to...maybe he makes it through the formal process but I'll be convinced he's recovered when he's in the lineup regularly and hitting .260 or better.
Oh noes!!!11!1
Since the Twins have $30 million coming off the books in 2013, and because it's never too early for postseason rosterbation [tongue firmly in cheek!], I offer you the 2013 first baseman free agent class, with season ages (via MLBTradeRumors, natch):
First basemen
Lance Berkman (36)
Russell Branyan (37)
Jorge Cantu (31)
Jason Giambi (42)
Brad Hawpe (34)
Eric Hinske (35)
Aubrey Huff (36) - $10MM club option with a $2MM buyout
Casey Kotchman (30)
Adam LaRoche (33) - $10MM mutual option with a $1MM buyout
Carlos Lee (37)
James Loney (29)
Mike Napoli (31)
Lyle Overbay (36)
Carlos Pena (35)
Ty Wigginton (35) - $4MM club option with a $500K buyout
Other potential options:
Ryan Doumit (32)
Mark Reynolds (29) - $11MM club option with a $500K buyout
David Wright (30) - $16MM club option with a $1MM buyout
Kevin Youkilis (34) - $13MM club option with a $1MM buyout
Jack Cust (34) - $1MM club option
Conor Jackson (31)
Andre Ethier (31)
Torii Hunter (37)
Mark Kotsay (37)
Ryan Ludwick (34) - mutual option for 2013
Carlos Quentin (30)
Ichiro Suzuki (39)
Nick Swisher (32)
Luke Scott (35) - $6MM club option with a $1MM buyout
Jim Thome (42)
If Moreau's out of the picture, I guess we can at least console ourselves that Bill Smith isn't in the picture to trade for a first baseman. But based on who might be available, a Terry Ryan solution will potentially be interesting.
Wow. That is quite an interesting list.
[moved to nest under SBG above]
I'm not a Chris Parmelee true believer, but he's still young enough and has done a few things right in the minors where I could see him as somewhat above replacement level. Depending on his fielding, of course. Anyway, he could potentially be good enough where you'd look to spend that money elsewhere if the 1B options aren't tempting.
Plus, you forgot to list Mauer. 🙂
He'll be taking over for the soon to be run off Danny Valencia.
If Morneau can't go for an extended period, I'd like to see Parmelee get a shot at it. I don't know that he's ready yet, and it certainly wouldn't hurt him to play in AAA, but I'd rather he got the chance than to go with a stopgap solution.
It seems like the sort of situation where you might bring in a veteran who is not guaranteed the starting job (and would be comfortable as a backup) and you would let the veteran compete with Parmelee for the starting spot, hoping that Parmelee was good enough to run with it.
If Parmelee can turn in a season somewhere between Garrett Jones' 2009 and 2011 efforts for serf salary I'd be happy with that. My guess is there would be still be a move for cheap veteran insurance, though.
Huh, I didn't realize that Garrett Jones was still kicking around, I'd written him off a long time ago, given his low OBP and high SO% in the minors. It's an interesting comparison to Parmelee, because they have similar SO%, pretty similar averages, and pretty similar power numbers. But Parmelee has walked a ton more (about 12% to 7%), which is really valuable if it means he's got a better eye. It's pretty hard to see Parmelee as anything but better than Jones, though. Through age 23, both hadn't played any higher than AA, and here are their overall minor league lines:
.249/.301/.431 -- Jones
.266/.355/.436 -- Parmelee
Jones had big year at AA at age 23, but it was in some ways the best year of his career (to date.) Anyway, if Jones can be a replacement level first baseman, it sure seems like Parmelee could be a bit better than replacement level.
According to Olney, the Yankees asked the Pirates for Jones in return for A.J. Burnett. The Bucs told them no way, which sounds about right to me.
I hadn't realized Parmelee walked that much more than Jones. A good sign, for sure. I agree with you about Parmelee's seeming potential to be slightly above replacement level, if the Twins leave Parmelee's swing alone and just let him work to his strengths.
if the Twins leave Parmelee's swing alone and just let him work to his strengths.
They already changed it once, what's a few more?
i love that he wasn't even a fan, he just thought it'd be funny.
it went from an inch or 2 of snow this morning to 5-10 inches. cool. We definitely need the moisture *looks at the giant cracks in the soil*
The people around here [meaning the People's Republic, not the WGOM] who have been making a lot of noise about the mild winter don't want to hear my fears about drought and soil health. I do love winter because of the weather, but I'm starting to get concerned about the practical effects.
I've been concerned all winter about soil moisture going into the spring, but growing up on a farm, I can't help that.
We have been helped by the warm weather in that the rain that we have had doesn't totally run off frozen ground but is actually soaking in some, so here in the StL area we should be alright. Now I'm concerned about allergies/insects because of the lack of real winter cold.
too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry. The Farmer's Refrain.
On the bright side, the risk of spring flooding is pretty low right now.
This. Plus, I'm happy to not have to fight snowy weather on the roads all winter long.
People are dancing in the streets down along the Wild Rice south of Fargo because of the lack of snow and warm temps. Well maybe not dancing, but it should help flooding around there.
Sometimes I miss living in DC, but then remember I no longer have to interact with these people on a daily basis. I remember a guy on my floor when I was a freshman would always brag that Boomer Esiason was the previous owner of his Escalade.
The irony of Jalopnik posting that piece seems to be lost on Jalopnik.
Indeed. Still, the last time I was on campus, for our five-year reunion, some douchebag drove by and left his Aston Martin running in the middle of the street while he went to find a valet (despite the fact that he was trying to park in a lot without a valet).
What's the point of going to college? Seems like these guys have already "made it".
Networking. And co-eds.
And networking co-eds.
My kid has GWU on his list of colleges. Thanks, this will help to dissuade him. I think a trip out to D.C. may still be in order to check out Georgetown (stretch school) and Catholic University.
Heh, the tuition will likely dissuade you. There's a lot of great things about GWU, but there's also a lot of negatives. If he ever has some questions, I would be more than happy to answer them.
Completely unrelated to the GWU talk, but I thought you might be interested in this. How does Port get interviewed for this article?
I'm guessing this is the reason. Sheenie and I had dinner with him again Saturday (totally randomly this time because we're both "host families" for an international student at Macalester and there was an event last weekend), so we joked about the case.
Georgetown Law grad here, also happy to answer questions if you got 'em.
If/when you take a trip to D.C., you absolutely must bring your kid to Ben's Chilli Bowl. Nothing else matters.
My favorite meal in the world: chili-cheese halfsmoke, chili cheese fries and a banana milkshake from Ben's.
The halfsmokes were always too dry when I had them, so my order was 2 chili-cheese dogs, chili cheese fries, and a coke.
Yup, best meal in the world.
I liked my half-smokes from the street vendors. Livin' on the edge.
And for your Ben's as a must-stop, I got Bethesda Crab House back at you. For a half-step up in class, Pines of Rome.
Nothing in Maryland is a must-stop. Nothing.
dewd. Just dewd. Your credibility just left the building.
Ok, I won't talk about all of Maryland, just everything north of D.C. and south of Baltimore. In that range, anything good in MD was equaled or bettered in the District. The people who prefer MD can be divided into 2 classes: 1)suburbanites who didn't like to drive into the city and considered themselves above public transportation and 2) people employed by either the post office or the DMV.
I'll even walk this back a bit, since I don't want to be mean to postal/dmv employees.
You do realize that there is a densely populated corridor running out the two sides of the Red Line north of the District, right? 🙂
Now, if you want to disparage Montgomery County outside the Beltway, be my guest. 😉
Yeah, I know about the corridors. They're both boring. VA was the way to be.
Camden Yards. Also while there Gino's Pub, Sliders and Pickles.
I consider Camden Yards to be under a heaven's jurisdiction, not Maryland's.
Granville Moore's good for moules and frites. Also Belga.
We went to Georgia Brown's last time in DC - had the Charlestown Perlau - not bad.
oooh, Belga. Was there once, loved it. Would love to try Granville Moore's some day.
The wife heard about it on a Bobby Flay smack down so had to try it out. Scary neighborhood, good food.
I remember having a hard time getting a cab to come pick us up after our first meal at Belga (I lied; been there twice) back in the late 1990s(?).
Thanks Philo. I actually lived in D.C. for 2 years so I got the drill down pretty good.
Nice.
where, free? #wewereprobablyneighbors
I think we went over this once before at the old site. I was there 1986-88. Lived in Mount Pleasant (just north of Adams Morgan) summer of '86 and on Capitol Hill on North Carolina Avenue the rest of the time.
prolly.
so we overlapped. I was in Cleveland Park for the summer of 1986 (up the block from Ireland's 4Ps), Rock Creek Park at E-W Hwy for fall 1986-spring 1987, and Rosslyn spring 1987-fall 1988.
I think Ben's is a bit overrated but it is still pretty tasty.
I'm not sure how one can overrate perfection.
I've had better dogs from the street vendors on the mall.
I was very saddened on my last trip to DC to discover that Ivy's Place had closed. I can say without irony that it was my favorite Indonesian restaurant evah!
I loved the street vendor dogs too, but they weren't Ben's, that's for sure.
Jon Voigt owned my car last. 🙂
And my first car was previously owned by Joe DiMaggio.
Very cool. Much easier to see the numbering scheme when it's laid out like that.
The only highways with color are the ones ending in 0 or 5. It'd be better if the longer ones with different numbers (94, 29) were colored as well.
I long ago determined that the ones ending in 0 &5 are the main branches.
The interstate system is fun like that. Even is E-W, with the higher numbers to the north. Odd is N-S with the higher numbers to the east.
Three-digit highways are like small branches of the highway that shares its last two digits.
If the first digit of a 3-digit interstate is even, that highway is a loop, typically around a major metropolitan area.
If the first digit of a 3-digit interstate is odd, that highway is a spur.
There are a few nearly-major ones that end in other digits than 0 and 5. I know about 29 and 94 because I live in MN, but looking at that map, there really aren't that many others. 44 maybe?
At the same time, the amount of grey in the east from the minor branches muddles things. Perhaps a different line weight to identify the minor interstates?
Any thoughts on Eric Wedge moving Ichiro from leadoff to #3 hitter? (Other than batter order doesn't matter.) I wonder how often in history a hitter in his age 37 season has his worst-ever year at the plate, then gets moved from leadoff to third in the order. It seems kind of crazy, then I look at the Mariners' roster and I think "well, the other options are pretty crappy, too."
while also moving chone figgins to the leadoff spot, don't forget.
Yes, don't forget that part! Figgins had a .188 average and a .241 OBP last year, and Wedge is moving him to the leadoff spot. To put this in some perspective, the worst OBP Nick Punto ever had with the Twins was .291. Drew Butera's 2010 OBP was .237 and thankfully no one was talking about moving him to the leadoff spot.
The comparisons between his hitting from last year to now is interesting. We need more information in order to compare if the change is something he does periodically in batting practice or if this is an actual change. I'm familiar with the "Ichiro hits tons of home runs in BP" line, so it makes me curious if he's actually capable of, at 37 no less, of making a successful transition between hitter "types".
Yeah, people have said that about Ichiro's potential power for a long time now, but I have always thought it was more or less a joke that some people took a little too seriously. I doubt he'll change a whole lot as a hitter, but he has historically had a pretty extreme approach at the plate, so he probably wouldn't need to make big changes to have some impact.
people said the same thing about Wade Boggs's power potential. He hit double-digit HRs twice in his career.
I'm thinking that if Ichiro could hit 25+ HRs per year while maintaining roughly the same OPS, he'd be doing it already.
Of course, Ichiro would be less productive hitting 25+ HR and maintaining his previous OPS, since he'd have to drop his OBP quite a bit to hit 25+ HR and maintain the same OPS.
yea, yea, math, yea, yea.
I can remember when they said it about Rod Carew, too. Maybe it's just one of those things "experts" say about guys who hit for a really high average without homers, that "he could hit home runs if he wanted to." The great things about saying it, of course, are that it makes you sound like you know something and no one can prove you wrong.
Joe Mauer could hit 40+ homers a season if he wanted tohad man muscles Target Field let him.
I have it on good authority that the left field fence is reachable. If he tried.
Evil Joe Mauer hits home runs at will.
Then I suggest DPWY doesn't sit in the outfield seats.
Or CH.
The good Dr. and I are in a bit of a pickle. Today A school in WNY called the good Dr. and offered to bring her to campus. They told her that she was their 4th choice, and that the other 3 candidates had already accepted positions. They want her to come out next week to do the campus visit, and have told her that they're willing and able to make the decision to hire her immediately. While she hasn't signed a contract for the job in New Orleans, she still feels like shit for even thinking about this other job. This is a bit of a moral dilemma for us. The good DR. doesn't want to be seen as taking advantage of the school in NO, but at the same time can't pass up the opportunity to reach for the brass ring. The job in WNY is more prestigious but New Orleans offers me a whole lot of opportunity. Living in WNY would be great, like a homecoming for the slaughterhouse, but living in NO would be a crazy awesome adventure.
Argh. Just when I'd settled into dreaming about our new life in New Orleans....
is she still negotiating with the NOLA school, or have they just not sent her a contract to sign? (some places are rather lax on that part)
My advice: if she would seriously consider taking the job if offered, she should go on the interview. That would delay the fish-or-cut-bait decision a few days.
The NOLA school ostensibly has drafted a contract, but it has not arrived. The decision is made, she's going on the interview. I just cracked open this to celebrate.
I'd say she's still a free agent at this point. I understand that it's important to keep your word, of course, but if there's no signed contract yet, then I suspect the NOLA school would have no hesitancy on reneging if they found someone they preferred. Sauce, geese, etc.
Ask yourself, what would John Wooden do? (WWJWD?)
Stupid snow storms.
I hear WNY is a nice area.
It has zero Ricky Rubio's, from what I've heard.
I don't know if it's actually a good idea, but I prefer to be honest in such a situation (should the offer officially come from WNY).
Tell them you* were all set to accept the position, but that the WNY option came up and that due to reasons X and Y, it really wasn't something to pass up. You realize that this puts them in a bind and that you regret the way it worked out. Etc, etc.
Of course, the only time I had to do this was when I had temp work in Mankato during the summer. I had signed up with several agencies, and the first job was short-term, didn't pay well, and ended up being spotty (no work for you this morning, come back this afternoon!). The second job was full-time, paid at least 50% more, and left me some opportunity for overtime should I want it and the regular employees not take it. That second job asked me to quit college to come work for them, it was quite enjoyable, but it wasn't what I wanted to do for more than a few summers. (If I could have, I definitely would have started working there earlier though.)
*you = Dr.Chop in this sitch, I guess.
My wife got a call today from a friend she used to work with until recently. She was calling to see if my wife could go take care of their pets because she and her mother are in the hospital in Alexandria. They were in one of the vehicles involved in the crash that killed those four college girls during the snowstorm. The wife is pretty shook up about it.
I'm reasonably certain I know who you're talking about. Monday was a hell of a evening in the Alexandria area. Lots of bad times.
Terrible news up north. My thoughts are with the families, and yours, twayn.
An interesting response from the guy who made the infamous Lin "armor" headline.
#humblebrag
what, he hasn't found a cure for cancer yet?
yeah, no shit. This guy disgusts me.
How is it remotely possible that Robinson Cano and Burt Reynolds are cousins?
cause... it's not?
So I had a barely used sofa that I bought in 2004. Other than some cat hair, nothing ever got on it. No spills. It was in my basement, which was a bit damp. The basement also flooded once, but the water just soaked the carpet, never hit the couch material. Sell it on Craigslist for $125. The lady who bought it is now threatening to sue (if she gets a disease) because it's so "musty." She feels I must be hiding something about the sofa, and if I don't refund the money, we're in trouble. Also, she can't get rid of the sofa herself because it's all she can afford and they need a couch.
P.S. The couch never smelled musty to me.
Refund her money, take it back and sell it to someone who isn't crazy. Maybe have the next buyer smell it first and sign a waiver saying the couch smells fine.
if someone wanted me to smell a couch before i bought it, i probably wouldn't be too interested...
true, but you'd also probably smell the couch before you bought it without prompting...
I've smelled every used couch I've ever bought. I don't really miss college...
The banker in me wants to know if you harvested the coinage before selling it?
harvested the coinage
I love your phrasing! The farmer in me requires me to salvage any fallen crops.
I'm with Bhiggum.
I sold a stroller for 20 bucks on Craig's list. Two weeks later, the guy called me back and wanted to bring it back for a refund because the wheel was wobbly. He got mad because I wasn't at home that moment he called. I told him I'd be home around noon on Sunday but to call first. He started calling at 11:30. I got home at 12:05 and was calling him back when he showed up at my house with the stroller going off about me not returning his call, etc. I shoved the money in his hand and asked him to leave.
So, yeah, get rid of crazy people as quickly as possible!
You're just used to that musty basement smell. If the couch is covered in any sort of fabric, it prolly bears a whiff of the environment in which it sat all these years.
Disease? I'd just tell her it wasn't diseased when you gave it to her.
Caveat Emptor. She had plenty opportunity to inspect the couch, did she not? Let her effin' sue. You counter with a threat to sue for defamation or some other multisyllabic word.
I'm with the Perfessor. You likely didn't make any gross misrepresentations of fact, so all you'll be out is the time to defend yourself in small claims court if she's crazy enough to take it that far.
I doubt she will. And yeah, she certainly wasn't pressured into buying it. She even admitted she didn't notice the smell until three days after she had it in her apartment.
This.
actually less worried about lawsuit than I am her or her boyfriend wanting payback in some other form than cash
So will too much alcohol.
I haven't read anything suggesting it was involved either way, but it won't surprise me when I read it.
No, I wasn't saying it was necessarily in this particular case.
Thirty-two years ago tonight...
My very good friend and best man was born...How do you know Tom? Did something else happen?
I highly recommend following the directions in this FanGraphs post.
Speaking of FanGraphs, worlds are colliding: the Wall Street Journal has published a story on baseball offseason moves, using FanGraphs projected WAR data.
#6 org!
Slash the payroll by $15 million, add 4.4 wins. Easy as pie!
Paranoia watch: Morneau is one of only two players that has not reported yet.
I'd file that as a reasonable concern rather than paranoia. According to TR, he still has to get MLB clearance for his concussion recovery, which is apparently a formality at this point, but based on that offseason video clip you linked to...maybe he makes it through the formal process but I'll be convinced he's recovered when he's in the lineup regularly and hitting .260 or better.
Oh noes!!!11!1
Since the Twins have $30 million coming off the books in 2013, and because it's never too early for postseason rosterbation [tongue firmly in cheek!], I offer you the 2013 first baseman free agent class, with season ages (via MLBTradeRumors, natch):
Other potential options:
If Moreau's out of the picture, I guess we can at least console ourselves that Bill Smith isn't in the picture to trade for a first baseman. But based on who might be available, a Terry Ryan solution will potentially be interesting.
Wow. That is quite an interesting list.
[moved to nest under SBG above]
I'm not a Chris Parmelee true believer, but he's still young enough and has done a few things right in the minors where I could see him as somewhat above replacement level. Depending on his fielding, of course. Anyway, he could potentially be good enough where you'd look to spend that money elsewhere if the 1B options aren't tempting.
Plus, you forgot to list Mauer. 🙂
He'll be taking over for the soon to be run off Danny Valencia.
If Morneau can't go for an extended period, I'd like to see Parmelee get a shot at it. I don't know that he's ready yet, and it certainly wouldn't hurt him to play in AAA, but I'd rather he got the chance than to go with a stopgap solution.
It seems like the sort of situation where you might bring in a veteran who is not guaranteed the starting job (and would be comfortable as a backup) and you would let the veteran compete with Parmelee for the starting spot, hoping that Parmelee was good enough to run with it.
If Parmelee can turn in a season somewhere between Garrett Jones' 2009 and 2011 efforts for serf salary I'd be happy with that. My guess is there would be still be a move for cheap veteran insurance, though.
Huh, I didn't realize that Garrett Jones was still kicking around, I'd written him off a long time ago, given his low OBP and high SO% in the minors. It's an interesting comparison to Parmelee, because they have similar SO%, pretty similar averages, and pretty similar power numbers. But Parmelee has walked a ton more (about 12% to 7%), which is really valuable if it means he's got a better eye. It's pretty hard to see Parmelee as anything but better than Jones, though. Through age 23, both hadn't played any higher than AA, and here are their overall minor league lines:
.249/.301/.431 -- Jones
.266/.355/.436 -- Parmelee
Jones had big year at AA at age 23, but it was in some ways the best year of his career (to date.) Anyway, if Jones can be a replacement level first baseman, it sure seems like Parmelee could be a bit better than replacement level.
According to Olney, the Yankees asked the Pirates for Jones in return for A.J. Burnett. The Bucs told them no way, which sounds about right to me.
I hadn't realized Parmelee walked that much more than Jones. A good sign, for sure. I agree with you about Parmelee's seeming potential to be slightly above replacement level, if the Twins leave Parmelee's swing alone and just let him work to his strengths.
if the Twins leave Parmelee's swing alone and just let him work to his strengths.
They already changed it once, what's a few more?
SI Vault serves up a bunch of Julius Erving photos
My favorites are #10 and 14
Nice. Back when shorts were shorts, and afros were big.
great moments in trolling #462734.
that story made me laugh.
i love that he wasn't even a fan, he just thought it'd be funny.
it went from an inch or 2 of snow this morning to 5-10 inches. cool. We definitely need the moisture *looks at the giant cracks in the soil*
The people around here [meaning the People's Republic, not the WGOM] who have been making a lot of noise about the mild winter don't want to hear my fears about drought and soil health. I do love winter because of the weather, but I'm starting to get concerned about the practical effects.
I've been concerned all winter about soil moisture going into the spring, but growing up on a farm, I can't help that.
We have been helped by the warm weather in that the rain that we have had doesn't totally run off frozen ground but is actually soaking in some, so here in the StL area we should be alright. Now I'm concerned about allergies/insects because of the lack of real winter cold.
too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry. The Farmer's Refrain.
On the bright side, the risk of spring flooding is pretty low right now.
This. Plus, I'm happy to not have to fight snowy weather on the roads all winter long.
People are dancing in the streets down along the Wild Rice south of Fargo because of the lack of snow and warm temps. Well maybe not dancing, but it should help flooding around there.
Sometimes I miss living in DC, but then remember I no longer have to interact with these people on a daily basis. I remember a guy on my floor when I was a freshman would always brag that Boomer Esiason was the previous owner of his Escalade.
The irony of Jalopnik posting that piece seems to be lost on Jalopnik.
Indeed. Still, the last time I was on campus, for our five-year reunion, some douchebag drove by and left his Aston Martin running in the middle of the street while he went to find a valet (despite the fact that he was trying to park in a lot without a valet).
What's the point of going to college? Seems like these guys have already "made it".
Networking. And co-eds.
And networking co-eds.
My kid has GWU on his list of colleges. Thanks, this will help to dissuade him. I think a trip out to D.C. may still be in order to check out Georgetown (stretch school) and Catholic University.
Heh, the tuition will likely dissuade you. There's a lot of great things about GWU, but there's also a lot of negatives. If he ever has some questions, I would be more than happy to answer them.
Completely unrelated to the GWU talk, but I thought you might be interested in this. How does Port get interviewed for this article?
I'm guessing this is the reason. Sheenie and I had dinner with him again Saturday (totally randomly this time because we're both "host families" for an international student at Macalester and there was an event last weekend), so we joked about the case.
Georgetown Law grad here, also happy to answer questions if you got 'em.
If/when you take a trip to D.C., you absolutely must bring your kid to Ben's Chilli Bowl. Nothing else matters.
My favorite meal in the world: chili-cheese halfsmoke, chili cheese fries and a banana milkshake from Ben's.
The halfsmokes were always too dry when I had them, so my order was 2 chili-cheese dogs, chili cheese fries, and a coke.
Yup, best meal in the world.
I liked my half-smokes from the street vendors. Livin' on the edge.
And for your Ben's as a must-stop, I got Bethesda Crab House back at you. For a half-step up in class, Pines of Rome.
Nothing in Maryland is a must-stop. Nothing.
dewd. Just dewd. Your credibility just left the building.
Ok, I won't talk about all of Maryland, just everything north of D.C. and south of Baltimore. In that range, anything good in MD was equaled or bettered in the District. The people who prefer MD can be divided into 2 classes: 1)suburbanites who didn't like to drive into the city and considered themselves above public transportation and 2) people employed by either the post office or the DMV.
I'll even walk this back a bit, since I don't want to be mean to postal/dmv employees.
You do realize that there is a densely populated corridor running out the two sides of the Red Line north of the District, right? 🙂
Now, if you want to disparage Montgomery County outside the Beltway, be my guest. 😉
Yeah, I know about the corridors. They're both boring. VA was the way to be.
Camden Yards. Also while there Gino's Pub, Sliders and Pickles.
I consider Camden Yards to be under a heaven's jurisdiction, not Maryland's.
Granville Moore's good for moules and frites. Also Belga.
We went to Georgia Brown's last time in DC - had the Charlestown Perlau - not bad.
oooh, Belga. Was there once, loved it. Would love to try Granville Moore's some day.
The wife heard about it on a Bobby Flay smack down so had to try it out. Scary neighborhood, good food.
I remember having a hard time getting a cab to come pick us up after our first meal at Belga (I lied; been there twice) back in the late 1990s(?).
Thanks Philo. I actually lived in D.C. for 2 years so I got the drill down pretty good.
Nice.
where, free? #wewereprobablyneighbors
I think we went over this once before at the old site. I was there 1986-88. Lived in Mount Pleasant (just north of Adams Morgan) summer of '86 and on Capitol Hill on North Carolina Avenue the rest of the time.
prolly.
so we overlapped. I was in Cleveland Park for the summer of 1986 (up the block from Ireland's 4Ps), Rock Creek Park at E-W Hwy for fall 1986-spring 1987, and Rosslyn spring 1987-fall 1988.
I think Ben's is a bit overrated but it is still pretty tasty.
I'm not sure how one can overrate perfection.
I've had better dogs from the street vendors on the mall.
I was very saddened on my last trip to DC to discover that Ivy's Place had closed. I can say without irony that it was my favorite Indonesian restaurant evah!
I loved the street vendor dogs too, but they weren't Ben's, that's for sure.
Jon Voigt owned my car last. 🙂
And my first car was previously owned by Joe DiMaggio.
What did you do with the pencil?
I grew up absolutely obsessed with maps, so this is pretty cool
Very cool. Much easier to see the numbering scheme when it's laid out like that.
The only highways with color are the ones ending in 0 or 5. It'd be better if the longer ones with different numbers (94, 29) were colored as well.
I long ago determined that the ones ending in 0 &5 are the main branches.
The interstate system is fun like that. Even is E-W, with the higher numbers to the north. Odd is N-S with the higher numbers to the east.
Three-digit highways are like small branches of the highway that shares its last two digits.
If the first digit of a 3-digit interstate is even, that highway is a loop, typically around a major metropolitan area.
If the first digit of a 3-digit interstate is odd, that highway is a spur.
There are a few nearly-major ones that end in other digits than 0 and 5. I know about 29 and 94 because I live in MN, but looking at that map, there really aren't that many others. 44 maybe?
At the same time, the amount of grey in the east from the minor branches muddles things. Perhaps a different line weight to identify the minor interstates?
Any thoughts on Eric Wedge moving Ichiro from leadoff to #3 hitter? (Other than batter order doesn't matter.) I wonder how often in history a hitter in his age 37 season has his worst-ever year at the plate, then gets moved from leadoff to third in the order. It seems kind of crazy, then I look at the Mariners' roster and I think "well, the other options are pretty crappy, too."
while also moving chone figgins to the leadoff spot, don't forget.
Yes, don't forget that part! Figgins had a .188 average and a .241 OBP last year, and Wedge is moving him to the leadoff spot. To put this in some perspective, the worst OBP Nick Punto ever had with the Twins was .291. Drew Butera's 2010 OBP was .237 and thankfully no one was talking about moving him to the leadoff spot.
The comparisons between his hitting from last year to now is interesting. We need more information in order to compare if the change is something he does periodically in batting practice or if this is an actual change. I'm familiar with the "Ichiro hits tons of home runs in BP" line, so it makes me curious if he's actually capable of, at 37 no less, of making a successful transition between hitter "types".
Yeah, people have said that about Ichiro's potential power for a long time now, but I have always thought it was more or less a joke that some people took a little too seriously. I doubt he'll change a whole lot as a hitter, but he has historically had a pretty extreme approach at the plate, so he probably wouldn't need to make big changes to have some impact.
people said the same thing about Wade Boggs's power potential. He hit double-digit HRs twice in his career.
I'm thinking that if Ichiro could hit 25+ HRs per year while maintaining roughly the same OPS, he'd be doing it already.
Of course, Ichiro would be less productive hitting 25+ HR and maintaining his previous OPS, since he'd have to drop his OBP quite a bit to hit 25+ HR and maintain the same OPS.
yea, yea, math, yea, yea.
I can remember when they said it about Rod Carew, too. Maybe it's just one of those things "experts" say about guys who hit for a really high average without homers, that "he could hit home runs if he wanted to." The great things about saying it, of course, are that it makes you sound like you know something and no one can prove you wrong.
Joe Mauer could hit 40+ homers a season if he
wanted tohad man musclesTarget Field let him.I have it on good authority that the left field fence is reachable. If he tried.
Evil Joe Mauer hits home runs at will.
Then I suggest DPWY doesn't sit in the outfield seats.
Or CH.
The good Dr. and I are in a bit of a pickle. Today A school in WNY called the good Dr. and offered to bring her to campus. They told her that she was their 4th choice, and that the other 3 candidates had already accepted positions. They want her to come out next week to do the campus visit, and have told her that they're willing and able to make the decision to hire her immediately. While she hasn't signed a contract for the job in New Orleans, she still feels like shit for even thinking about this other job. This is a bit of a moral dilemma for us. The good DR. doesn't want to be seen as taking advantage of the school in NO, but at the same time can't pass up the opportunity to reach for the brass ring. The job in WNY is more prestigious but New Orleans offers me a whole lot of opportunity. Living in WNY would be great, like a homecoming for the slaughterhouse, but living in NO would be a crazy awesome adventure.
Argh. Just when I'd settled into dreaming about our new life in New Orleans....
is she still negotiating with the NOLA school, or have they just not sent her a contract to sign? (some places are rather lax on that part)
My advice: if she would seriously consider taking the job if offered, she should go on the interview. That would delay the fish-or-cut-bait decision a few days.
The NOLA school ostensibly has drafted a contract, but it has not arrived. The decision is made, she's going on the interview. I just cracked open this to celebrate.
I'd say she's still a free agent at this point. I understand that it's important to keep your word, of course, but if there's no signed contract yet, then I suspect the NOLA school would have no hesitancy on reneging if they found someone they preferred. Sauce, geese, etc.
Ask yourself, what would John Wooden do? (WWJWD?)
Stupid snow storms.
I hear WNY is a nice area.
It has zero Ricky Rubio's, from what I've heard.
I don't know if it's actually a good idea, but I prefer to be honest in such a situation (should the offer officially come from WNY).
Tell them you* were all set to accept the position, but that the WNY option came up and that due to reasons X and Y, it really wasn't something to pass up. You realize that this puts them in a bind and that you regret the way it worked out. Etc, etc.
Of course, the only time I had to do this was when I had temp work in Mankato during the summer. I had signed up with several agencies, and the first job was short-term, didn't pay well, and ended up being spotty (no work for you this morning, come back this afternoon!). The second job was full-time, paid at least 50% more, and left me some opportunity for overtime should I want it and the regular employees not take it. That second job asked me to quit college to come work for them, it was quite enjoyable, but it wasn't what I wanted to do for more than a few summers. (If I could have, I definitely would have started working there earlier though.)
*you = Dr.Chop in this sitch, I guess.
My wife got a call today from a friend she used to work with until recently. She was calling to see if my wife could go take care of their pets because she and her mother are in the hospital in Alexandria. They were in one of the vehicles involved in the crash that killed those four college girls during the snowstorm. The wife is pretty shook up about it.
I'm reasonably certain I know who you're talking about. Monday was a hell of a evening in the Alexandria area. Lots of bad times.
Terrible news up north. My thoughts are with the families, and yours, twayn.
An interesting response from the guy who made the infamous Lin "armor" headline.
#humblebrag
what, he hasn't found a cure for cancer yet?
yeah, no shit. This guy disgusts me.
How is it remotely possible that Robinson Cano and Burt Reynolds are cousins?
cause... it's not?
So I had a barely used sofa that I bought in 2004. Other than some cat hair, nothing ever got on it. No spills. It was in my basement, which was a bit damp. The basement also flooded once, but the water just soaked the carpet, never hit the couch material. Sell it on Craigslist for $125. The lady who bought it is now threatening to sue (if she gets a disease) because it's so "musty." She feels I must be hiding something about the sofa, and if I don't refund the money, we're in trouble. Also, she can't get rid of the sofa herself because it's all she can afford and they need a couch.
P.S. The couch never smelled musty to me.
Refund her money, take it back and sell it to someone who isn't crazy. Maybe have the next buyer smell it first and sign a waiver saying the couch smells fine.
if someone wanted me to smell a couch before i bought it, i probably wouldn't be too interested...
true, but you'd also probably smell the couch before you bought it without prompting...
I've smelled every used couch I've ever bought. I don't really miss college...
The banker in me wants to know if you harvested the coinage before selling it?
I love your phrasing! The farmer in me requires me to salvage any fallen crops.
I'm with Bhiggum.
I sold a stroller for 20 bucks on Craig's list. Two weeks later, the guy called me back and wanted to bring it back for a refund because the wheel was wobbly. He got mad because I wasn't at home that moment he called. I told him I'd be home around noon on Sunday but to call first. He started calling at 11:30. I got home at 12:05 and was calling him back when he showed up at my house with the stroller going off about me not returning his call, etc. I shoved the money in his hand and asked him to leave.
So, yeah, get rid of crazy people as quickly as possible!
You're just used to that musty basement smell. If the couch is covered in any sort of fabric, it prolly bears a whiff of the environment in which it sat all these years.
Disease? I'd just tell her it wasn't diseased when you gave it to her.
Caveat Emptor. She had plenty opportunity to inspect the couch, did she not? Let her effin' sue. You counter with a threat to sue for defamation or some other multisyllabic word.
I'm with the Perfessor. You likely didn't make any gross misrepresentations of fact, so all you'll be out is the time to defend yourself in small claims court if she's crazy enough to take it that far.
I doubt she will. And yeah, she certainly wasn't pressured into buying it. She even admitted she didn't notice the smell until three days after she had it in her apartment.
This.
actually less worried about lawsuit than I am her or her boyfriend wanting payback in some other form than cash
We accept.
- Time.
- Tomorrow?
After dark.
- Place.
- The park?
The river.
Under the highway.
- Weapons.
- Hey, Doc!
Weapons.
- You call.
- Your challenge
Afraid to call?
Rocks.
- Belts.
- Pipes.
- Cans.
- Bricks.
- Bats!
- Clubs!
- Chains!
- Bottles, knives, guns!
.
HOW TO RUMBLE...
But then you get to sue!
I'm hiring you.
Let me tell you your first mistake...
Whoa! Frightwig sighting!
Shit. He's all over Facebook. 😉
That's what I get for spending my time on Google+...
You must be very lonely...