137 thoughts on “March 12, 2013: Cheap as Free!”

    2. I saw that on Baseball Outsider yesterday. Rough break. Relevant portion of article below:

      * Deolis Guerra was pitching for Venezuela but left in mid-round with what was initially described as a pectoral injury. It turned out to be a blood clot in his shoulder. He's to have part of a rib removed to free up space.
      This was a potentially serious development, but since it's been caught it's not a career-threatening one. There's no reason Guerra shouldn't be able to pitch again. Still, it's a blow; most of this season is lost for him.
      It seems like we've been waiting for him forever; he was the high-ceiling piece of the Johan Santana trade, made just before spring training in 2008. He'll never be the stud starter envisioned at the time, but he's still only 23.

      1. I never heard the slaves complaining when the slaveholder let them play with the pet T-Rex.

        1. For. The. Win.

          I'm glad that I live on the Island of New Orleans and not on the Mainland of Louisiana.

      2. Of course! The slave owners loved their slaves as they would their own children, which a lot them were.

        Someone once put it this way, when describing the miscegenation laws. The purpose isn't to keep us from marrying your children: we've been doing that for a long time. The purpose is to keep us from marrying your wives' children.

  3. so, the co-inventors of Daylight Saving Time were (a) a New Zealand entomologist who liked to collect bugs in his free time and wanted more daylight in which to do so; and (b) an English golfer, who wanted to be able to finish his afternoon round(s) before it got dark.

    basically, the devil's work, in other words.

    1. I am easily more in favor of DST than Standard Time. I am not in favor of the changeover. We should just stay where we are now.

    3. Mrs. Hayes loves it when I bring out my anti-DST shtick every year. That and my overwhelming enthusiasm for hearing every last bit about SXSW for two weeks. I'm just so jelly I'm not in Austin.

      1. Sheenie might slap me if I complain about the light at Lyndale and 58th to enter 35W again. Despite it being the single stupidest, most annoying light in the world, SOMEHOW THEY MADE IT WORSE in the last month!

          1. No seriously. They did. Now, if you're heading southbound, not only do you have to wait forever for the (non-existent) cars traveling on 58th street, then you have to wait (forever) for the two left-turn signals (even though no one turns left heading north onto westbound 58th street), but NOW the left turn signal southbound turns red and it stays green for those heading north so the (non-existent) cars heading north onto Lyndale Avenue can go while EVERYONE who is trying to go south onto Crosstown or 35W has to stay at a light that has now been red for at least two minutes despite there being little to no traffic in any of the other directions. It is so aggravating and mind-blowingly stupid.

            Edited to add: Oh, and when it finally turns green for the only people who ever want to actually pass through the intersection, it remains green for all of about fifteen seconds before the cycle repeats itself. PIRATE SMASH!!!11!!!1!!!

    1. From the comments:

      Many is a paradigma. When h was a star, hate to play. Know a decadent clown, he love baseball.

    1. Booooooooooooooooooooooooo.

      I never understood why he didn't get a better shot in the majors considering how bad the Twins were the last couple of years.

      1. Other teams also passed on him, now twice I think, so it's not just the Twins that aren't high on him.

          1. Maybe, but I think it's possible that Slama's a AAAA pitcher, too. His strikeout numbers in the minors are good, but his walk numbers coupled with low velocity have always made me a Slama skeptic. He didn't help his case by essentially playing into every fear that the Twins had about him in the brief time he's been in the majors.

        2. Sure, I didn't think he was the greatest (chuck james) evah, but just wondered why he never got a better shot at being mediocre at the major league level.

    2. By this time, Slama surely knows he'll never get a shot with the Twins. My guess is he's still there because a) he loves baseball; b) he still thinks that, well, you never know; and c) he's hoping some day to be a pitching coach of something.

  8. Fascinating.

    At 52 pounds, the cast-iron block of Ford’s new 1-liter EcoBoost engine is a bantamweight among automobile power plants. (Mr. Daitch didn’t even incur an overweight bag fee.) With the total capacity of its three cylinders equal to the volume of a large soft-drink bottle, it’s also tiny: placed upright on a desk, the block fits easily within the edges of a file folder.

    The compact dimensions of 3-cylinder engines, together with fuel efficiency and reasonably good performance, have pushed Ford and a growing list of competitors — including Audi, BMW, Citroën, Mini, Peugeot and Volkswagen — to introduce a new generation of triples, as they are often called.

    “Turbocharged 3s are now replacing nonturbo 4-cylinder engines, just as fours have been replacing 6s,” said Eric Fedewa, an IHS Automotive analyst who tracks powertrain trends. He explained that in the new 3-cylinder engines, the combination of a turbocharger and features like direct fuel injection and variable cam timing “effectively serves as a fourth cylinder.”

    The overall effect is to transform the 3-cylinder Davids into aspiring Goliaths. Ford’s diminutive and technically sophisticated triple will be offered in the 2014 Fiesta in the United States. Its performance — 123 horsepower and 148 pound-feet of torque — is the highest power output for its displacement of any Ford production engine, the company says.

    1. Pfft, 123 horsepower. Back in my day we only got 45 out of our triples! And we liked it, dammit!

    2. That's only twenty-seven fewer horsepower than my F100 from three fewer liters (179 cu.in. Old Style) of displacement. I'm sure my big six blows the new triple out of the water in torque, but there's no way I could put my cast iron block on my desk without crushing it. I don't even want to think about the mileage difference.

      Progress, man.

      2. It's only a matter of time before the internal combustion engine goes the way of the dodo bird. For now, though, we will still develop better and more efficient engines until the day when gas stations will be a thing of the past.

        1. And the oil change, transmission, and related accessories disappear. On the other hand, even more software is used. Always wanted Windows Car Edition...

        2. mayyybe. It seems pretty hard to get the energy density of gasoline/diesel fuel in other packages. Barring a ginormous revolution in battery technology (link to yesterday's LTE on battery technology "breakthrough" here) I think we have a long ride on hybrids.

          there is soooo much room for hybrid tech to improve environmental quality still. As I am sure you are aware, Stick, the high-torquing heavy equipment world puts out a LOT of pollution. there have been some developments (think: the port of LA). but that equipment is so damned expensive and durable, you can't turn over the fleets very quickly to new technology.

          1. I'm thinking Doc's right. When you see large fleet operators (UPS, the trucking industry, the military, etc.) finally making the move to non-fossil alternatives, that's when the transition away from that entire infrastructure will really begin to accelerate.

            In the mean time, I'm gonna have to get cozy with Neil Young so I can get the truck on the hybrid/e-car program.

            1. I'm not saying in the next ten years or anything, but I think that if I live to an average age that I will see it happening.

          2. Absolutely. This doesn't help the ones CH lists, but in an isolated area, you can do more interesting things with electricity. Electrical power storage is a problem, but if you control the infrastructure completely, why bother with storing it? Make it like bumper cars with the power wirelessly pulled from the ground or overhead cables. With driverless cars/trucks, humans can be removed from the mix and safety increased dramatically.

            1. electrical power STORAGE isn't as much of a problem as electrical power TRANSPORT. you might see driverless cars/trucks(/trains) someday, but not with over/under cables.

              1. One of the things which most interested me on my trip to Russia this summer was the veritable smorgasbord of public transport infrastructure in Moscow - not just the Metro, but an extensive network of buses, trams, and especially trolleybuses (plus a small monorail). For someone unused to an infrastructure of overhead wires, it was a bit disconcerting. I don't know enough about how the infrastructure functions to access it, but I would imagine the convenience of running cables overhead as opposed to the massive cost of burying them is offset by the inconvenience of dealing with them every time there's a weather-related outage or some issue with construction or fire department access to buildings near the wires.

                Maybe inductive charging would work (I kid).

  9. I apologize for the lack of Fitness posts. This is a busy time for me. By the weekend, though, the pressure will be off. I'll get back on the horse then.

  10. My mom is here for most of March - that's the good news. Last night she was over and ended up telling me that my brother's situation - with his drinking and his marriage - has somehow gotten yet worse. The guy's self-destructing and it doesn't sound like any of us can do anything about it. He's constantly calling our 21-year-old sister (he's 33) for a sobercab - she basically feels like she isn't getting the usual 21-year-old life because she's abstaining almost 100% of the time, knowing that if she can't drive him, he'll just drive anyway.

    He's also picking fights regularly at bars these days and my younger siblings have stopped hanging out with him because he's such a dangerous influence. My brother has been my best friend for most of my life, but he may be completely over the edge here and I've stopped thinking he's coming back. It sucks.

      1. As some of the folks here know, I've dealt with addiction issues myself, but I still have fewer addiction problems than most of the men on one side of my family have. I've quit more things than most people ever have the poor judgment to start. The thing is, so has my brother. He's effectively quit some of the most destructive things on the planet. Why fall victim to the drink after all those victories?

        He's very closed off. If he gets the feeling that's why I'm calling, he won't pick up the phone.

        His wife is no help. Their relationship is part of the reason he drinks, and she has just as much of a problem. They enable one another and probably, in the end, aren't very good for each other. Which also sucks.

        Ugh, you guys.

    2. It does. And the worst part is, there's nothing you can do. You can pray for him, if you're so inclined, and of course I feel that's not nothing, but it's not something that's tangible. You can let him know you still love him and you're there for him if he ever decides he wants to change, but as I'm sure you know, he won't change unless and until he decides he wants to. And even then, it'll be tough to do.

      1. I've done a lot of that, and...well, I don't know what I can do besides more of it. He's apparently come out and said to our other brother that he realizes he's an alcoholic but he doesn't want to do anything about it.

        1. Unfortunately, that's often the case.

          One uncle came out of alcoholism alive, another one didn't. One grandfather made a choice to stop drinking, the other never did (or never could). One brother has learned the hard way that he can't drink alcohol, the others are still trying to figure themselves out.

          Based on my family and my experience, I believe there's a genetic predisposition to drink (or be an addict). I think it makes this thing tougher on some than on others. Knowing your family history, admitting your own propensities or predilections and actually doing something about them don't always go hand in hand.

          I wish I had more insight or a better recommendation to offer, but I don't. Good luck, you're both in my thoughts & prayers.

          1. I agree re: genetics. While my family has nothing against drinking, it's not a big deal to any of us to do without. That said, that doesn't mean it hasn't affected us at all; my youngest sister was killed 26 years ago last month by her alcoholic husband.

        2. Still breathing? Still hope. My 1st cousin (once removed) married an alcoholic and his dad was an alcoholic. The old man drank himself almost to the point of death, but when he was staring that in the face, he got sober. And so did his kid after 25-30 years of very hard drinking. Hopefully, it doesn't take that long, but don't give up.

    3. That sucks, man. Best of luck with it. I had an uncle that had similar issues with alcoholism. I was young, but I saw first hand how difficult it is for everyone around them. He made it to 48, so maybe there's still some time for your brother to get the help he needs.

    5. Hang in there, Milkman. I'm not as far down that road with a family member, but far enough to know how frustrating, draining, and saddening it is.

    6. Wow, that's a tough situation. Good luck to all involved. The husband's older brother battled some demons and was essentially out of touch with the family for a decade, but they're now in a relatively good place and his addictions are behind him.

  11. Gardy on Jose Berrios:

    Berrios has thrown the living crap out of the ball and has no fear.

    So, coupled with no fear, is that better or worse than throwing the living fire out of the ball?

    3. So, essentially, Gardy is telling us that Berrios has a unique pitch and we should refer to it as the dead crap ball.

  12. WBC game (in Spanish) on ESPN2
    Chris Colabello blasted a HR to the opposite field power alley and Drew Butera went nuts

  13. The most shocking thing about this is that they serve potato soup in the clubhouse. I totally would not have expected that.

    1. They might want to spring for some signs identifying the food at the buffet if the food isn't recognizable by taste or some of their players have food allergies.

    1. You can get 10 seats together in four different price ranges ($67, $49, $47, $36) and other price ranges have up to 8 tickets together. Wow.

        2. I would be up for it but there is no way we top the entertainment level provided by our Boston friend!

  16. @dadboner lost his family, his job, and now it appears he's been kicked out by his roommate. But, he's still the CEO of Bad Boy City, USA!

  17. From a recap of the second day of SABR Analytics Conference:

    Hoyer:
    Looks at FanGraphs, Baseball Prospectus, and The Hardball Times every morning.

    Hahn:
    Reads South Side Sox (the White Sox SB Nation site) often. Believes that fan blogs are a good source of information.

    I wonder if either the Twins GM or AGM does that. I remember Ryan saying he read Gleeman's blog, but did he read it regularly?

    2. I have to say, I haven't read any of those regularly for at least a year, maybe longer. I can't think of anything terribly interesting that's come out since Voros McCracken's DIPS--what am I missing? (Also, SSS always seemed like one of the more useless SB Nation sites, but maybe I'm missing something there, too.)

      1. Range bias, PitchF/X (lot of data, still trying to comprehend everything), quantifying pitch framing (thanks to the previous), better valuation models. I think if you're looking for paradigm shifts, PitchF/X might be it. The next shift will be tracking of players, which is still a number of years away.

        At this point it's primarily refinement and more data leading to more refinement. There are some things that will take many more years, such as looking at a pitcher's aging via PitchF/X. We have five years of data and need 20 plus to get a decent sample.

  19. PredictionMachine.com sims the 2013 season 50k times. Here's the blurb about the Twins:

    Minnesota Twins
    Power Rank: 28
    Division Standing: 5
    2012 Wins: 66
    2012 Losses: 96
    Playoff Probability: 2%
    Biggest Strength: Joe Mauer and Control
    Greatest Weakness: Starting Pitching
    Most Important Pitcher: Vance Worley, SP
    Most Important Position Player: All Unproven Youth in Lineup (Hicks, Parmelee and Florimon)
    Fantasy Sleeper: Trevor Plouffe, 3B
    Fantasy Dud: Kevin Correia, SP

    There's a chance!

    1. Miami Marlins
      Power Rank: 30
      Division Standing: 5
      2012 Wins: 69
      2012 Losses: 93
      Playoff Probability: 1%
      Biggest Strength: Playing Time for Prospects
      Greatest Weakness: Baseball
      Most Important Pitcher: Wade LeBlanc, SP
      Most Important Position Player: Justin Ruggiano, OF
      Fantasy Sleeper: Justin Ruggiano, OF
      Fantasy Dud: Adeiny Hechavarria, SS

      L. O. L.

    1. There are lots of things I could say, but I'll just say it makes me wonder how much of this applies to the other big stories Woodward has been involved in.

  21. Fellas, I know nothing about women.

    My wife was emailing me today about some babysitting service that she's interested in. We have high school girls living across the street that babysit. We have never had a babysitter in our house, ever. When we go out, we take Miss SBG to the gym (four hours, $15, food, and fun activities). I send her a message back saying, we don't use babysitters and if we did, I would just use the girl across the street. We know her and she's a lot cheaper.

    This is not the end of it. She comes up with a number of different implausible scenarios where we might need to select a stranger instead of the girl across the street. Annoyed, I send her a message that says, okay, in those situations we can do it, but I'm not going to think about that right now, I'm busy.

    I'm thinking that is going to get her mad because I've basically told her not to bother me, but I need the time to work. I get another reply. The following is cut and pasted from the response.

    Thanks:) for your validation!!! 🙂

    I swear to God, I was getting pissed and basically trying to get her off my back about this. She saw my response as the best possible answer.

    This should make me happy, I suppose, but instead, I'm pretty upset. Why? Because I have no hope of understanding what the right response is, ever. I just lucked into this one.

      1. That part, I'm sure about. See the smileys? There was other stuff in the email unrelated to this that indicated that she was happy.

        Then again, what in the hell do I know about it?

        1. I'm curious, where did you learn to speak Venusian? It could be an accent or dialect thing.

    2. Because I have no hope of understanding what the right response is, ever. I just lucked into this one.

      I'm getting better at recognizing what the wrong response is, so now if I can just manage to squish the little imp in my head that continually makes me choose that response, I'll have a better chance of lucking into the right one. I'm looking forward to that eventually happening.

      1. I've gotten really good at recognizing they wrong response. My problem is similar to yours separated by timing. I recognize it well after saying it.

    3. i heard somewhere recently something to the effect of men shouldn't try to understand women. women understand women, and they hate each other.

      1. I googled that quote to see who it was attributed to, and uh, wow- the results are a rabbit hole that I have no interest in entering. I'll just say it was Mark Twain.

    4. Never fear. I am out of the good graces. I have been selling girl scout cookies for a month. Tonight is the last practicable night to do this. We have seven houses in the neighborhood that need to be hit. I did all of the rest of the selling. I have been reminding my wife to get these seven houses for a week. Every day, she doesn't do it. We are going to get stuck with a lot of cookies.

      I reminded her again tonight. This was a mistake, apparently. I have sold all the cookies that have been sold! Just hit those houses and unload the cookies that we need to unload!

    5. Another adage of sorts, likely not from Mark Twain, that may apply in this situation is that women want someone to listen sympathetically and men want to solve problems. So she felt better after you indicated you understood she had a concern about a (perhaps very unlikely) need for a babysitter and thought the service she found would be a good way to deal with that situation.

    6. That message reminds me of the Simpsons parody of The Shining where Marge looks at the typewriter and it says 'Feelin' Fine'.

    7. I have a very easy relationship with the Milkmaid. I hope nothing ever happens to that, because every relationship I had before this one was confusing and irritating.

      1. It helps that she completely puts you in your place immediately whenever necessary.

        /podcast listener
        //it sounded like you guys had a great dynamic

  22. North Dakota St -v- Nate Wolters and South Dakota St on ESPN2 right now.

    also, the Wolves are playing exciting basketball tonight (but the Spurs are resting everyone)

      1. Chris Johnson with 5 blocks! Wolves 11-18 from 3PT range! Dante going 1-7 and still being +29!

        That's some ugly Spurs basketball.

          2. I saw him play when he was a freshman, he alternated between looking completely lost or almost out of control. He's really developed into a heck of a player.

      2. Wait... someone on my facebook feed has as his status: "Ricky Rubio just messed around and got his first triple double..."

        You guys aren't the same person, are you?

    2. SDSU cannot miss. NDSU cannot buy a bucket. NDSU can't draw a foul to save their lives. SDSU are experts at it apparently.

      1. You have to wait for a real hitter like Wright to score you, Mauer! BOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

        1. I know that it's spitting into the wind to complain about "professionalism" and sports journalism, but this stuff will never not piss me off:

          #USA up 1-0 thanks to Mauerness, which means taking two pitches that should be crushed for strikes before being interested in the at-bat.— LaVelle E. Neal III (@LaVelleNeal) March 13, 2013

            1. Maybe I'm reading too much into it. Maybe he isn't TOTALLY DRIPPING WITH DISDAIN FOR THE BEST PLAYER ON THE TEAM THAT HE COVERS FOR A LIVING. But I don't think so.

          3. I think LEN3 is totally giving it to all the Stribbies for complaining about Mauer's approach, you know, the one that got him only three batting titles and an MVP.

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