February 8, 2010 – 5:36 am
Once upon a time in the ’80s, when baseball men believed Vince Coleman had the skills necessary to compete at the highest level and considered Donell Nixon a prospect, my friend Dan and I stumbled across a newspaper crossword puzzle that had as one of its clues, “____ Winningham” (four letters). The correct answer was [...]
January 23, 2009 – 7:44 am
First off, thanks for the excellent discussion on fan disillusionment. You’ve helped me see the problem in new ways, and I’ve got additional thoughts that I’ll share as soon as they make sense. It’ll probably come in the form of a thought exercise — sort of along the lines of Kobayashi Maru.
Until then, we’ve got [...]
By Geoff Young
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Posted in Notes and Links
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Also tagged baseball prospectus, bbtf, bruce hurst, chris cannizzaro, disillusionment, games community, gene tenace, impact players, khalil greene, kobayashi maru, lake elsinore storm, madfriars, ozzie smith, ryan klesko, shane victorino, sterling hitchcock
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November 26, 2008 – 5:35 am
Not much of a theme today. Just… whatever…
Remember when we used to lust after Marcus Giles? This was in 2002 — years before he actually arrived and demonstrated an alarming inability to hit baseballs. We kinda had a thing for Jose Vidro and Bobby Hill back then, too. Don’t ask. On the bright side, Royce [...]
By Geoff Young
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Posted in Draft, Off-Topic
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Also tagged bobby hill, brady anderson, chase headley, francisco cordova, free agent signings, jaret wright, jesse orosco, jose vidro, marcus giles, mark kotsay, mark loretta, matt antonelli, royce clayton, ryan klesko, trevor hoffman, will venable
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November 24, 2008 – 5:08 am
I usually make one or two trips out to Phoenix each year. Spring training has become a must, and I always enjoy taking in some Arizona Fall League games. Today, we’re all about the AFL… and whatever else happened to come with it on a particular journey… and whatever else that triggers in my mind, [...]
By Geoff Young
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Posted in Travels
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Also tagged adam dunn, albert pujols, arizona fall league, baseball books, brian giles, ducksnorts, grady fuson, hank blalock, jeremy hermida, manny ramirez, mark grant, rancho bernardo, scouting report, third baseman
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November 12, 2008 – 5:53 am
Let’s see, what were we talking about this time last year? Two years ago? Four years? Six?
2007
We were chatting with our pal Steve Poltz about music, baseball, and life:
I have a song coming out on my new CD that’s called “A Brief History of My Life.” It starts off with us moving to Pasadena from [...]
By Geoff Young
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Posted in Odds and Ends
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Also tagged becoming an american citizen, bruce bochy, drew brees, ernie harwell, history of my life, jack buck, jason bay, jason kendall, jay payton, jerry coleman, josh barfield, khalil greene, marcus giles, mark loretta, phil nevin, steve poltz, vin scully, wally backman
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September 5, 2008 – 7:20 am
Five years ago today I was extolling the virtues of one Sean Burroughs, noting the similarities between his second big-league season and that of Derek Jeter. It sounds ridiculous now, but the comparison seemed valid at the time:
Sean Burroughs vs Derek Jeter, Sophomore Season
Age
PA
BA
OBP
SLG
OPS+
Statistics are courtesy of Baseball-Reference.
Burroughs
22
578
.286
.352
.402
105
Jeter
23
748
.291
.370
.405
103
The key word here is “seemed.” It’s important [...]
January 31, 2008 – 7:15 am
Before we get started, I’ve got a new article up at Hardball Times that takes a look back at what Bill James once predicted for the future of Barry Bonds. As they say, it’s interesting if you’re interested in that sort of thing.
Moving on, let’s talk about Chase Headley. Far be it from someone named [...]
March 22, 2004 – 12:00 am
The big news, of course, is that Khalil Greene has won the shortstop job. Rey Ordonez abruptly and unexpectedly left camp, essentially giving Greene the nod. It should be said that Greene was making a strong claim on the position even before Ordonez left (which may also have been a contributing factor to Ordonez’ departure). [...]
By Geoff Young
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Posted in Game Recaps, Spring Training
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Also tagged aramis ramirez, brian giles, corey patterson, eugene kingsale, jeff cirillo, khalil greene, mark grudzielanek, padre fans, ramon hernandez, rey ordonez, ryan klesko, wgn
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November 6, 2003 – 12:00 am
Sorry ’bout yesterday. Sometimes that happens. On the bright side, it did inspire some of you to write. I guess that whole Spam thing did come off as kind of a cry for help, didn’t it? Anyway, I’m okay.
The Padres re-upped Trevor Hoffman. After pulling in $9M for 2003, Hoffman is guaranteed $2.5M for 2004. [...]
Padres April Wrap
Why even bother with an official scorer? Xavier Nady hits a lazy fly ball to center in the 10th on Friday night that Ricky Ledee loses in the lights; ball clanks off Ledee’s glove and it’s ruled a hit. Then Saturday night, Mike Lieberthal hits a ducksnort to right that Nady has to run a [...]