23 thoughts on “January 30, 2018: State Of The Nation”

    1. I saw Will Leitch tweet about it on Friday and read his final post. It bummed me out, but I probably only checked it out once a month or so towards the end.

      When it launched I checked it out each day, but I'm honestly impressed it lasted this long once Posnanski left and USA Today pulled support for the site. Adding and featuring Mike Lupica was an odd, seemingly off-brand choice (Leitch didn't seem to be a fan).

    2. We discussed it a bit last Friday. Like I said then, I love that The Hardball Times has survived almost fourteen years — about 3.5 times longer than Grantland existed, and with considerably fewer resources. I still miss John Brattain.

        1. Trido.

          As someone who is tempted frequently enough into the FZ, that little bit of resistance has sometimes served as a good reminder.

  5. The more I think about it, the more I feel the Twins need to add a corner infielder who hits from the right side. Hear me out:

    Going into the offseason, the apparent plan was for a Sanó/Polanco/Dozier/Mauer arrangement, with Sanó getting occasional time at 1b to let Mauer rest against lefties or get a day at DH. Sanó’s a question mark now — and obviously should be. It still sounds like Vargas is going to be given a shot at a bench role and occasional starts at 1b or DH, and he’s a switch hitter who’s been better from the right side. Escobar’s the primary backup at 3b & 2b (and somewhere on the depth chart at SS), but he’s not the kind o of guy you run out at third for half the season if you can help it. As a super-sub, he’s very good.

    If Sanó’s out for a third to half the season, Escobar’s going to be tied up at third. If Mauer gets hurt, Vargas is the fall-back — provided he can keep his gig.

    I don’t know if adding someone like Todd Frazier is within the scope of the budget the Pohlads have articulated to the front office, but that’s the kind of addition a championship-intender makes with this level of uncertainty swirling around a main cog in their lineup.

    1. I agree that the Twins have really needed help from the right side the past few seasons, but I'd rather add an OBP guy than a SLG guy, especially a slow one.

      1. In general, I agree with that preference. There aren’t many right-handed OBP guys who can play 3b/1b on the free agent market this year, unfortunately, and with Sanó gone, replacing a power threat in the lineup seemed more pressing. But there might be a couple other alternatives to Frazier, who’s likely to want a multi-year deal:

        Neil Walker is a switch hitter and has appeared at 3b (19 games) & 1b (17 games) in the past, and, like Frazier, he doesn’t have a qualifying offer attached to him since he was traded last season. No one has been silly enough to give Mark Reynolds any time at 3b since 2015. (I totally forgot he played a season for the Cardinals until I looked to see when he’d last stood wearing a glove near the hot corner.) Plouffe is available, but Terry Ryan’s in Philadelphia and Plouffe isn’t an OBP guy anyway.

    1. Its quite the image. (although its not overly gross because of deadened sensitivity of mangled deer from a lifetime of interstate driving.)

  9. More dental work today, have to squeeze it all in before the end of the month. Today was just a filling, last Friday was a crown prep and temporary. Not that it matters either way, once I get past the injection phase of the operation I'm fine, it's my fear of needles and a sensitive gag reflex that makes getting numb the hardest part. I get through it basically on will power and coping strategies, breathing and meditation techniques, and for me information helps overcomes fear, so I like to have my dentist and doctors give me a blow by blow rundown of any procedure before we start. If I know what to expect, I can focus on dealing with that instead of imagining all kinds of things that won't happen.

  10. To warm up for the Olympics, HPR and I have watched some Canadian curling on Youtube.
    First we watched the final of the 2017 mixed doubles world championship (it's a new event at this year's olympics).
    Tonight, we finished the "2017 Roar of the Rings" (Canadian Olympic qualifying tournament) Women's final from last month.
    I think I'll have a hard time cheering for any other team.

    We've already planned to watch the Roar of the Rings Men's Final tomorrow night. Please don't spoil it for me.
    I see the 2017 World Championship had a Muirhead vs Homan match, all on Youtube. I think I'm going to watch that now. I can't tell if that's a final, and would likely spoil it for myself if I looked it up.

    1. If you have a cable subscription, the Scotties is going on this week and is being streamed on ESPN3. I think the Curling Canada youtube channel is also replaying the matches as well.

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