54 thoughts on “January 19, 2017: One And Done”

  1. Tim Raines is one of my ten favorite players of all time (with favorite players in this case being defined by how much I enjoy looking at their baseball-reference page). So happy for him.

      1. That is really cool. Without Keri, I wouldn't have understood just how good Raines was during his peak.

        1. People like Jonah Keri & Rich Lederer should have free tickets to the HoF whenever they're in Cooperstown.

      1. That would be Dereck Rodriguez. I think he might have a chance. He started as an outfielder and switched to pitching in 2014. His numbers at Cedar Rapids last season don't look very good, but they were trying to get him stretched out to be a starter. What happened frequently is that he'd be doing well early in the game, then hit a wall and give up three or four or five runs before they got him out of there. He got better as the season went along, and pitched well in five starts in Fort Myers. This winter, though, he's been used as a reliever. I have no idea whether that means anything about the Twins' future plans for him.

    2. I guess if you are that delusional, it could help make you really good at whatever you're good at. And really awful at everything else.

  3. Twenty years ago today, Homer enlisted Fat Tony's help in getting Marge's fledgling pretzel business off the ground. (h/t Chris Jaffe)

  4. I just got a cribbage board banner... did this become a thing, or somehow get shuffled in? Also, when's the cribbage tournament again?

  5. I bought a snow blower a month ago. Since then, we've gotten about 1/2" of snow that was gone almost immediately. The high here today is 43 with rain in the forecast. Rain! I'm starting to think I wasted some money.

        1. Mine died two years ago, blew a seal on the transmission and it was too old to bother fixing. I bought a used one on craigslist for $50 last winter that's worked fine expect for one storm last year that was more slush than snow. I do have to tap the starter with a hammer on occasion as the solenoid is a bit sticky, but that's a minor annoyance.

    2. This is one of the reasons I don't own one.
      EAR bought snowshoes at Costco two winters ago. I think I've worn them twice, which makes up 67% of their use.

    3. My riding snowblower has been a godsend, but I'm also in a different situation than most others

  6. I'd hate to think that Posada dropped off the ballot because many were "worried" that he would get voted in, in his first year since he's not "first ballot worthy."

    1. I don't think so. I heard a lot of intelligent writers just say they don't felt he belonged due to his below average defense that affect his WAR values. I don't think there is 75% of the electorate who even sort of believes he might be hall-worthy. That can change, of course (Blyleven, Raines), but I'm not sure Posada ever had a shot.

      Granted, Posada was not one of the Top 10 choices on the ballot for writers who filled out 10 slots, but I'm not getting the impression many of those were ever going to vote for him. Now, JAWS has him as the 16th best catcher ever, and there are over 20 first basemen in the hall of fame. I could be convinced on Jorge

      1. I think he has a good case for the Hall of Fame. I certainly don't think he should be off the ballot already. I think his biggest problem is going on a crowded ballot the same year as Ivan Rodriguez. I think too many voters just figured he wasn't as good as Ivan Rodriguez or Mike Piazza (another contemporary that was considered weak defensively), but those 2 catchers certainly shouldn't be the baseline for catchers in the Hall of Fame. I think that is a very high standard since you can make the case that Piazza is the best hitting catcher ever and Rodriguez the best defensive catcher.

        1. My one issue with JAWS is that it's based off of people who are already in the hall. So theoretically if the only third baseman in the hall was Mike Schmidt, well then nobody would ever meet the standard. Granted, one can easily eyeball the JAWS leaderboards and make their own opinions, but I worry for some it might perpetuate the over-affection for first basemen and underappreciation for catchers and third basemen.

          1. but JAWS just compares a player to the set of same-position players in history. In what sense is it "based off of" HOFers?

            1. When Jaffe talks about a player meeting the JAWS standard for HOF induction, he's comparing them to other players in the hall. In fact, every JAWS leaderboard has a "Avg of #x HOFers at this position."

              1. and while Jaffe doesn't use that average as gospel when making his decisions, I'm afraid others do

                1. you could say the same of any counting stat or rate stat. It doesn't have anything to do with JAWS per se. It's just a yardstick.

    2. the very fact that so many voters made their ballots public early on strongly suggests that Posada was not a victim of that kind of simultaneous decision-making, collective dilemma. Rather, later voters would have updated from the observed ballots. If they wanted him to stay on the ballot, they would have had strong(er) reasons to vote for him.

    1. Oh d@mn! He was a major highlight in Twin Peaks. I've followed him for a long time. Didn't think he ever was in a project with his dad, but the Oracle of Bacon says they were both in 1982's And They're Off along with George Clooney's 2nd screen appearance)

  9. I'm sorry AMR, I couldn't help it.

    Also: I was not expecting to see you at that moment.
    Also: Thank you for altering your route in order to cross my path.
    Also: Double handoffs are difficult. Particularly when wearing gloves.

    1. That was awkward.
      I did make my bus though, so... bonus! (I was worried I could miss it by the detour. Thought of doing a drop but saw you had something for me and everything was wet.)

      I need to look more at this gift.
      You have any thoughts on what I gave you?

  10. Making spanakopita for the millionth time, but this will be the first time with Trader Joe's philo. I'm already impressed with the consistency and size (and price !!!!one!), and am hoping that the taste goes along.

    1. I prefer to think of him as "the son of the guy who put stitches in my head after I hit myself with a hammer."

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