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Beau Vine

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Posts posted by Beau Vine

  1. Didn't come out for the third.  2 innings, 66 pitches.  Luke Bard started the third and poured the gas on the fire.

    He looked a lot like he did for the first few innings of his first start, with the biggest difference being that he was facing a much better hitting team that was much more patient than Oakland was.  Just like that game, he had no idea where his splitter was going.  

    His stuff is still filthy, though.

  2. 1 hour ago, Deej said:
    3 hours ago, Okie State said:
    Can you even imagine all the shit that gets reported to the police on a daily basis?

    I had the game warden come out because the people next to me were shooting doves and cooking them in their fryer in the backyard. They haven't been in their yard in the two weeks since. I probably would have given them a pass, but camera caught them shooting them in my yard and climbing the fence to retrieve them.

    O.o

  3. 2 hours ago, bad_teammate said:

    When did I say it was?

    ANTIFA literally has nothing to do with this story, it's a trigger word used for effect that has no connection to reality.

    EVERYONE I DON'T LIKE IS ANTIFA!

    Here's a page put up by the group in question: https://www.youcaring.com/revolutionarystudentfrontaustin-907208

    Here's the picture they chose to put at the top of that page:

    85166561-6707-45f4-88a8-fc548ea190ed_pro

     

    Nope, definitely not Antifa!

     

     

     

     

    • Haha 2
  4. theathletic.com:

    Quote

    Small-town America evokes images of courthouse squares, houses fronted by white picket fences, backyards with swing sets, the burgs accessible on two-lane roads dividing verdant fields of crops.

    And then there is Barrow, Alaska, a town of 4,400 that is unique for a variety of reasons. It’s known as both Barrow and by the recent change to the native name of Utqiagvik. The northernmost dot on the U.S. map, the most-isolated town in the country and the 11th northernmost public community in the world, Barrow is surrounded on three sides by the Arctic Ocean. It is 730 miles from Anchorage, 4,250 miles from Miami and 3,360 miles from Moscow … Russia, not Idaho.

    You can get there only by plane. The frozen tundra precludes pavement. Barrow enjoys the benefits of the modern world mixed with a culture that dates back thousands of years. The residents rely on a mixed cash-subsistence economy with some food and supplies arriving by air shipment. Each spring, whale-hunting boats break paths through the ice, and successful hunts lead to blanket-toss celebrations with everyone sharing in the spoils of the hunt.

    There is, quite frankly, no place in America more unlikely to be the hometown of a four-star basketball player.

    Well, say hello to Kamaka Hepa, a 6-9 forward who is ranked as the 49th-best player in the country by 247Sports.com. He is also one of four players in a 2018 recruiting class at Texas that is ranked 13th nationally.

    “He can really shoot,” Longhorns coach Shaka Smart says. “One thing he's really good at it is catching, putting it on the floor and then making plays. He makes his teammates better. We're always looking for versatility. When you have a guy of his height, you can play him at multiple positions; combined with his IQ, it gives you a lot of flexibility. He's also a great kid, very bright, terrific energy and vibe that we're excited about adding to our culture.”

    Hepa’s mother, Taqulik, was born and raised in Barrow and is a member of the Inupiaq, commonly known as Eskimos. While there have been dozens of Division I players from Alaska, Hepa is believed to be the first of Inupiaq heritage who will play at college basketball’s highest level.

    “There have been decent players of that heritage but not many who have made it out of Alaska or to a high level in college,” Kamaka says. “For me, being one of the first to do that, I take a bunch of pride in that. That's the culture I was raised in. My mom and her grandmother have made sure me and my siblings experience the heritage. People in Barrow have to work hard to survive, and basketball is small in comparison to that.”

    Hepa’s heritage and his hometown are part of an intriguing backstory. His potential is such that he can become a unique combination, a stretch 4 and a point forward with the court sense and the feel to lift his teammates. Despite playing in isolation – middle school and high school games require traveling by plane for Barrow teams and their opponents – Hepa developed into a promising prospect. But to hone that potential, the Hepas had to leave the outpost they call home.


    During the two months of polar night, the sun doesn’t shine on Barrow, which explains why hoops is a popular sport.

    “Basketball is a community sport,” says Roland Hepa, Kamaka’s father. “It brings us together. There are a lot of family values that we stress to our kids. It's our day-to-day life, being together as a community.”

    Students in Barrow matriculate through one elementary, one middle and one high school, so Hepa’s classmates are his close friends. He was always the tallest kid in his class, always standing in the back for pictures, always being looked up to. “At first it was awkward being the tallest kid, but basketball gave me a place to feel comfortable,” Hepa says. “I never felt out of place on the court. And being different sometimes isn't as bad as it seems.”

    Roland is from Hawaii (his migration from tropical paradise to arctic isolation feels like reverse engineering), and he played numerous sports growing up. In second grade, Kamaka played basketball on a team coached by his father. Instead of putting the tallest kid – his son – under the basket, Roland made sure every player worked on fundamentals. Kamaka says he “learned the game as a player, not as a position.”

    “We started our own youth (basketball program) with about seven or eight kids,” Roland says. “Some of the parents got together, and we started flying to Fairbanks and Anchorage to play better competition. Kamaka learned early that he had to work hard to get better. I did a lot of research, and we focused on fundamentals – shooting form, dribbling, passing. We stressed it in practice. Every kid gets better doing those things.”

    As a sixth grader, Kamaka was invited to a showcase camp in Tennessee. Roland says his son’s height and skills impressed the camp directors. “Our goal was that maybe the exposure would help him get a chance at a scholarship and a free college education,” Roland says.

    Kamaka kept growing, and by middle school the townspeople were talking about an elusive goal – Barrow’s first high school state championship. When Kamaka began his freshman year, his height and talents turned the talk into expectation.

    Kamaka and his cousin, guard Travis Adams, led the Whalers to a 50-40 victory over two-time defending champion Monroe Catholic to win the 2015 Class 3A state championship. Barrow repeated the following season.

    “For me, at times, it got kind of stressful,” Hepa says of his freshman season. “It felt we had the whole community depending on us. But they were supporting us all the way, win or lose. Bringing back the first one, that's a memory I'll never forget.”


    As Kamaka blossomed on the basketball court, his older brother, Kawika, pestered him about leaving Barrow to pursue better competition and training. Then in November 2015, just before Kamaka’s sophomore season, Kawika, 29, was shot and killed as a bystander in a domestic dispute in Anchorage.

    “That was a difficult time,” Kamaka says. “It was incredibly tough on my parents. I lost somebody who was really important to me. He had always challenged me to be better. He knew I was having success in Alaska, but I needed better competition and to gain more exposure. When he died, part of me knew I had to honor what he wanted for me.”

    Reggie Walker of the Portland Basketball Club AAU team had gotten word that a unicorn was roaming in the Alaska wilderness. He contacted Roland about the possibility of the Hepas moving to Portland. The Hepas had been researching options, including Findlay Prep in Las Vegas, Mater Dei in the Los Angeles area and Montverde Academy in Florida. Kamaka felt comfortable in Portland.

    “We thought with him he would elevate what we thought was a pretty good team,” Walker says. “Kamaka had all the intangibles you want in a player of that caliber. When the coach would talk to the team, he was locked in, hyper-focused. From the first time I talked to him, he was very mature, very serious and wanted to maximize his experience of a new place plus help his chances of playing high-level Division I. This was a step he felt he needed to take.”

    Hepa joined the team in the summer before his junior year, about the time PBC was going to make its debut in Nike’s EYBL circuit. In its first game in the 16-and-under division, the team was playing in New Jersey. When the point guard got in foul trouble, Hepa took over as point forward. Texas assistant coach Darrin Horn happened to be on hand. “I thought, Man, that kid is really skilled,” Horn says. “I saw him handling the ball and making passes that kids his size and his age just don't make.”

    Upon moving to Portland, Hepa also enrolled at Jefferson High School, a prep powerhouse. In 2016-17, with Hepa in his junior season, the school moved up to the biggest classification – and won its ninth state title.

    “Along with his makeup as a person, the winning was the most attractive quality about Kamaka,” Smart says. “If you talk to the guys paid to do scouting at the highest level, one common denominator they talk about and look for is: Does his team win?”

    Kamaka and his parents each made their own evaluation of the Texas recruiting pitch. The collective vote was 3-0 for the Longhorns over Gonzaga. Selecting a school that had just finished 11-22 over one that had lost in the national championship game speaks volumes about Smart’s closing ability. He’s Mariano Rivera when he gets in a recruit’s living room with the parents.

    “When Shaka Smart gets locked in like he was on Kamaka, it's hard for any other head coach to counter that,” Horn says. “His message to Kamaka was, ‘All you've ever done is help teams do something they've never done before. Texas has been to the final Four and had success, but we'd like to take the ultimate step and win a national title. If you want to be a part of that, this is the place for you.’ That resonated with Kamaka.”

    During his time in Portland, Hepa took advantage of facilities not available in Barrow. He became a workout warrior, adding bulk to his 200-pound frame. When he started training in Portland, he typically wore long sleeves to hide his skinny arms. Now his guns are on display thanks to short-sleeve or sleeveless shirts.

    “On the court he's become more aggressive because he's more confident thanks to the work he's put in,” Walker says. “He’s trying to be the hammer, not the nail.”

    The Portland Basketball Club sends a newsletter to Division I programs about its players. Walker recalls getting skeptical responses from numerous high-level schools. Horn also heard other coaches doubting Hepa’s ability to play D-I.

    “A lot of people got caught up in measurables — he doesn't touch the top of the square; he's not as athletic as some guys,” Horn says. “But if you watch him move as a basketball player, the kid's terrific. That's what we really liked about him. We love how he moves as a basketball player. We feel like you can run the offense through him; if he's touching the ball your offense is better. We think he can be a high-level impact player.”

    The day after Jefferson lost in the state championship game – denying Hepa a fourth consecutive title – he moved back to Barrow so he could graduate with his hometown friends. Much was made of that decision and provided ammunition to those who looked at Kamaka as a basketball carpetbagger.

    “It was always our plan to spend two years in Portland,” Roland says. “We originally thought he’d be here for his sophomore and junior seasons and then return to Barrow for his senior season. People are going to have their opinions.”

    The recent FBI investigation into college basketball has cast the spotlight on the relationship between schools, shoe companies and agents. The Hepas’ move to Portland attracted the attention of The Oregonian. The newspaper was asking questions about the Portland Basketball Club, which is sponsored by Nike. After being stonewalled by Walker and Nike representatives, the newspaper approached the Hepas, who declined to be interviewed. Issues were also raised about Kamaka’s high school eligibility, as there were questions about Taqulik’s residency. The family was cleared.

    “It’s the nature of the beast,” Roland says. “There are going to be positive stories and negative stories. And we looked at several other opportunities. Kamaka thought Portland was the best fit and closest to home. He felt comfortable here.”

    Texas has no concerns about Hepa’s NCAA eligibility, and the coaching staff expects him and the other three signees in the 2018 class to be on campus in early June for the start of summer classes and workouts.


    Kamaka Hepa is a product of his environment. Growing up in an isolated community and playing a sport that relies on teamwork has presented him the opportunity to pursue college education in one of the most eclectic and dynamic cities in the country.

    “I've gained attention from playing basketball,” he says, “and a lot of the attention I get is because of where I come from, growing up in such a small village, away from everything. It makes me different, but that has also helped me get to where I am.”

    The high temperature in Barrow during the summer is around 50 degrees. That’s sweater weather in Austin. His official visit came during UT’s football season opener last season on a day when the thermometer hit 94. He prefers snow over rain, but it snows in Austin as often as a Democrat is elected governor. Hepa says he’s looking forward to a different climate. “I’ve never been in an area where the winters are warm,” he says.

    The UT admission process requires prospective students to submit an essay about their background and reasons for seeking admittance. Hepa’s submission was his life story.

    “One of the perks of having such a tight-knit, small community is experiencing the support of everyone in the town,” says Hepa, a 4.0 student who is interested in pursuing a degree in business or engineering. “It's important to me because I know that no matter what I choose to do in life, I have an entire community there for me and supporting me, regardless of what I do in basketball. I want to do as much as I can to put Barrow on the map for future generations.”

     

    • Like 1
  5. 57 minutes ago, UncleCharlie said:

    http://www.espn.com/mlb/attendance

    Yeah, about that demand.  You could strengthen the game dramatically by going back to 24, but I'll give you 28.

    Miami, Oakland and Tampa Bay don't deserve teams.  Only reason they are viable is that the owners are getting an equal share of an increasing tv revenue pie.  

    I just hate watching a sport where 20% of the players on the field should be in the minors.  Rarely in the last 10 years will I sit down and watch a full regular season game and even in the playoffs and WS its hard to get through 9 innings.  

    If you hate watching baseball, then you should probably quit posting in, you know, a baseball forum.

    • Like 2
  6. Quote

    If Nick Saban had gotten what he wanted, Hugh Freeze would be in Tuscaloosa this week helping Alabama prepare for its annual A-Day spring game.

    It's what the former Ole Miss coach wanted, too.

    The Southeastern Conference, though, wasn't in favor of that happening.

    Alabama was one of at least five SEC schools that had contact with Freeze about on-field jobs this offseason. Saban wanted to hire Freeze as a co-offensive coordinator and position coach, sources told AL.com.

    However, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey encouraged Alabama not to hire a man as well known for the personal shortcomings that led to his Ole Miss resignation as he is for his success as a coach.

    It's the primary reason why Saban, the highest-paid and most powerful coach in college football, couldn't add Freeze to his staff this offseason, according to multiple sources familiar with the situation who provided previously unreported details about Alabama's pursuit of the former Ole Miss head coach.

    It was only a few days after Saban's mid-January meeting with Freeze that he learned he couldn't make the hire. Sankey informed both Freeze and Alabama that it would look bad for the SEC for Freeze to be back coaching in the league while Ole Miss suffered from NCAA penalties incurred under his watch. The SEC preferred that Freeze, who resigned in July following a "pattern of personal misconduct," go off the radar for at least a little while before trying to return to work at one of its schools.

     

  7. "Why do we have all of these Tupperware bowls without lids?

    "I don't know."

    "I mean, neither of us threw lids away, right?"

    "Of course not."

    "So the only thing I can think of is that someone took them to work for lunch and only remembered to bring back the bowl.  I don't take these to work.  Do you?"

    Tone.

    • Like 3
  8.  

    This shit needs to change.

     

    Quote

    The Yankees have a decision to make this Wednesday. Should they call up top prospect Gleyber Torres to shore up their injury-riddled and underperforming infield, or should they wait? The decision isn’t purely about on-field performance. It is also about Torres’ service time and just how willing the team is to expose itself to accusations of shenanigans regarding that service time.

    To qualify for free agency, a player must accrue six full years of service time at the major-league level. To qualify for a full year of service time, a player must spend 172 days in the major leagues. As of Friday, there were just 171 days left in the 2018 Major League Baseball season. However, for minor leaguers such as Torres, who are already on their teams’ 40-man rosters, there is an extra layer of complexity involved.

    Players on a major-league team’s 40-man roster who appear in the minor leagues are there on assignment: either a rehabilitation assignment at the tail end of a disabled list stint, or an optional assignment. Rehab assignments count as major-league service time. Optional assignments typically don’t, but there is an important exception. If the player in question spends fewer than 20 days of the season in question on optional assignment and the remainder of the year in the majors, the player is credited with a full year of major-league service time. Tuesday, April 17, is the 20th day of the 2018 major-league season. Thus, any player on optional assignment recalled on or before Tuesday who does not return to the minor leagues later in the year will be credited a full year of major league service for 2018.

    As the relative value of young, team-controlled talent has increased, teams have begun to manipulate their top prospects' major-league debuts in order to delay their free agency. The most blatant example of a team manipulating a player’s service time to delay his free agency occurred three years ago. In 2015, Cubs third-base prospect Kris Bryant hit .425/.477/1.175 in spring training, leading the majors with nine home runs, but spent the first two weeks of the season in Triple A, ostensibly to work on his fielding. As soon as there were just 171 days left in the major-league season, however, Bryant was in the majors, starting at third base. As with Torres and the Yankees this week, there were injury and performance reasons to motivate Bryant’s promotion that April. However, it was clear from the end of spring training just how long Bryant would be in the minors and why.

    In April 2016, the Rangers called up outfield prospect Nomar Mazara with 176 days remaining in the season, five days before the service-time cutoff. However, four notable pitching prospects — the Rays’ Blake Snell, the Twins’ José Berríos, the A’s Sean Manaea, and the Tigers’ Michael Fulmer — made their major-league debuts just a couple of weeks later, in a six-day span from April 23-29. All will be eligible for free agency a year later than Mazara. Last year, the most notable late-April call-up was Dodgers slugger Cody Bellinger. He debuted on April 25 and will thus be under the Dodgers’ control through the 2023 season.

    Of those late-April call-ups, Bryant, Fulmer, and Bellinger all won their league’s Rookie of the Year award. Here, separated into a few distinct categories, are a dozen top prospects who could follow in their footsteps this season — as soon as they get past those service-time cutoffs, of course.

    Spring training storylines:

    Gleyber Torres, IF, Yankees (40-man)

    Given a legitimate shot to win the Yankees’ second-base job in spring training, Torres failed to impress. However, in his first 10 games back in Triple A, the third-best prospect in baseball, per Baseball Prospectus, has hit .385/.405/.564. Meanwhile, the Yankees are off to a middling 7-7 start, and their infielders not named Didi Gregorius have hit a collective .223/.274/.357. With cornermen Brandon Drury (vision problems) and Greg Bird (ankle surgery) on the disabled list, and rookie second baseman Tyler Wade a mere 3-for-32 going into Monday's play, there would seem to be nothing standing in the way of the 21-year-old Torres’ promotion come Wednesday.

    Ronald Acuña Jr., OF, Braves (non-roster)

    By mid-March, Acuña appeared to be this year’s Kris Bryant, a blue-chip prospect (Baseball Prospectus and Baseball America both had him ranked first overall coming into this season) who flat-out raked in camp and appeared to be blocked from the Opening Day roster only by service-time concerns. Acuña hit .344/.393/.548 in 243 plate appearances in Triple A to finish last year, and .432/.519/.727 with four homers and four steals in Grapefruit League games this spring. However, in direct contrast to Torres and the Yankees, Acuña is off to a slow start back in Triple A (5-for-33 with 12 strikeouts in eight games), while the Braves are off to a surprisingly strong 8-6 start, and their primary left fielder, 27-year-old Preston Tucker, is hitting .300/.341/.575 with three home runs. The Braves can and will wait for Tucker to cool off and Acuña to heat up before bringing up their 20-year-old stud.

    Nick Senzel, IF, Reds (non-roster)

    The four prospects who appeared to have the best chances to break camp with their major-league teams this spring were Acuña, Torres, Senzel (ranked seventh by both BP and BA), and the Phillies’ Scott Kingery. Kingery was the only one who did, thanks in large part to his agreeing to a six-year contract that eliminated the Phillies’ service-time concerns prior to Opening Day. Drafted as a third baseman with the second overall pick in 2016, Senzel appeared to be in the running for the Reds’ shortstop job in camp, but didn’t do enough at the plate to push José Peraza, who is just 14 months older. Senzel has since been blocked at the hot corner for the foreseeable future by the Reds’ decision to extend incumbent third baseman Eugenio Suárez. As a result, the 22-year-old University of Tennessee product has been getting the bulk of his playing time in his debut Triple-A season at second base. Given that he is learning a new position, his bat has remained cold, and Scooter Gennett is off to a solid start with the major-league club, Senzel might have to wait until after the Super Two cutoff (likely sometime in early June) to be seriously considered for a promotion.

    Also on the 40-man:

    Eloy Jiménez, LF, White Sox

    The fourth-best prospect in the game per Baseball America and arguably the top power bat in the minors, Jiménez went 4-for-7 with a pair of home runs and a triple in four Cactus League games before being reassigned to minor-league camp in mid-March. A pectoral strain has since delayed the start of his regular season, but, despite that delay and the fact that he will return to Double A to start the season — he has just 18 games above High A under his belt — don’t be surprised to see the 21-year-old make the majors after the Super Two cutoff. If so, he could tear into the league’s second half in a manner that recalls Gary Sánchez’s dazzling 2016 debut.

    Willy Adames, SS, Rays

    The key piece acquired from the Tigers in the 2014 David Price trade and a top-20 prospect coming into this year according to both BP and BA, Adames might finally be ready for his close-up. At 22, he already has a full-year of Triple A under his belt, he raked in camp (.364/.400/.727, 2 HR, in 10 games), and the major-league incumbent, Adeiny Hechavarria, is both in his walk year and off to a slow start (9-for-47 with no extra-base hits). The Rays might wait for Adames’ bat to heat up a bit in Triple A, but it seems like a lock that he’ll be their starting shortstop sooner rather than later.

    Stephen Gonsalves, LHP, Twins

    Gonsalves isn’t a blue-chip prospect like the other players listed here. He just snuck onto Baseball America’s top 100 at No. 97 — and missed Baseball Prospectus’ top 101 entirely — but he might have the clearest path to major-league playing time. The Twins have yet to use a fifth starter this season and won’t need one until next Tuesday, giving Gonsalves time to make his third minor-league start of the season, rest and recover. Minnesota’s top pitching prospect, the 23-year-old lefty hasn’t allowed a run in either of his first two starts for Double-A Chattanooga this season and worked 5 1/3 hitless frames in the first of those two outings. The Twins might prefer to give Gonsalves more development time and plug the remainder of Ervin Santana’s absence with Phil Hughes, but a setback in Hughes’ recovery from his oblique injury and another strong outing by Gonsalves could change their mind. Either way, Gonsalves seems likely to be in the major-league rotation before the year is out.

    Other elite prospects (non-roster):

    Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 3B, Blue Jays

    The Little Impaler has played just nine games above High A. But with Josh Donaldson on the disabled list with a bum throwing shoulder and the team still boasting the third-best record in the American League, the Blue Jays have to be awfully tempted to rush their top prospect. Guerrero just turned 19 in March and is probably a first baseman (or designated hitter) over the long run, but he went 7-for-13 with a home run in his brief time in major-league camp, has hit .361/.419/.639 in his initial exposure in Double A, and was rated the game’s third-best prospect coming into this season by Baseball America. If Donaldson is slow to return and Yangervis Solarte cools off in his absence, we could see Guerrero ahead of schedule.

    Michael Kopech, RHP, White Sox

    Flame-throwing Kopech fired the wrong kind of warning shot in spring training, walking seven men in seven innings, but he has shown better command in his first two starts for Triple-A Charlotte. With Miguel González pouring gasoline on opposing lineups thus far, and Carlos Rodón likely out until at least June following shoulder surgery last fall, the White Sox could be tempted to bring up their ostensible Chris Sale replacement somewhere around his 22nd birthday on April 30.

    Already debuted (all on 40-man):

    These last four prospects all made their major-league debuts last September and would thus need to remain in the minors into May to avoid accumulating a full year of service time between the 2017 and ’18 seasons. However, the dates on which they could no longer get to 172 days of service, listed below, will all arrive in the next four weeks.

    Willie Calhoun, LF, Rangers

    Accumulated service time: 20 days

    Cutoff date: May 3

    Despite the perceptions that Calhoun was sent down in mid-March due to service-time concerns, the Rangers are one team that doesn’t appear to let service time dictate its roster moves. Again, they called up Mazara just five days before the cut-off in 2016. First baseman Ronald Guzmán was promoted on Friday despite the fact that he was already on the 40-man. He would have had to remain in the minors through Wednesday to be ineligible for a full year of major-league service time this season. More likely, Calhoun’s cold bat (after a hot start, he went 2-for-his-last-23 in major-league camp without a walk or extra-base hit) and limited exposure in left field (just 43 starts prior to this season) motivated the 23-year-old’s demotion. Since then, Guzmán’s promotion has pushed Joey Gallo into left field, blocking Calhoun for now, but Calhoun has hit safely in 10 of Triple-A Round Rock’s 11 games thus far and could make things interesting on the Rangers’ depth chart next month.

    Víctor Robles, CF, Nationals

    Accumulated service time: 25 days

    Cutoff date: May 8

    Adam Eaton’s ankle injury and Michael Taylor’s slow start would appear to have created room in the Nationals’ outfield for Robles, Baseball Prospectus’ No. 2 prospect, who went 5-for-13 to open his debut season at Triple A. However, Robles, who will turn 21 in late May, hyperextended his left elbow attempting a diving catch on April 9 and hasn’t appeared in a game since. Robles is sure to return to the majors at some point this season, but his ultimate assignment might be replacing Bryce Harper in next year’s lineup.

    Walker Buehler, RHP, Dodgers

    Accumulated service time: 26 days

    Cutoff date: May 9

    Buehler’s service time will likely be less of a concern to the Dodgers this year than his workload. The 23-year-old had Tommy John surgery just two months after L.A. drafted him 24th overall in 2015, missed most of the 2016 season, and threw just 98 innings between the minors and majors last year. Buehler impressed in a brief look in spring training (seven strikeouts against one walk in four scoreless innings), and has continued to do so with Triple-A Oklahoma City (11 Ks against two walks in nine innings with just two runs allowed). However, he’ll likely be limited to 140-150 innings this season, at the absolute most, nine of which he has already thrown. Still, given their disappointing start (5-9 after Sunday’s win over the Diamondbacks), the Dodgers might not be able to resist calling on the fireballing Buehler should a hole emerge in the major-league rotation.

    Francisco Mejía, C/LF, Indians

    Accumulated service time: 31 days

    Cutoff date: May 14

    Cleveland appears very happy with its defense-first catching tandem of Yan Gomes and Roberto Pérez, which is under team control through 2021 (Pérez through 2022). As a result, Mejía, the game’s top catching prospect due more to his bat than his receiving skills, has been getting work in left field this season after failing his audition at third base in the Arizona Fall League. The outfield experiment remains in its early stages, as Mejía stuck to catcher and designated hitter in major league camp. However, the 22-year-old switch-hitter also went 8-for-19 in the Grapefruit League, with half of his hits going for extra bases. Mejía has since gotten off to a slow start with Triple-A Columbus, which isn’t terribly surprising given this is his first exposure at that level, and he has been splitting his time between two positions at which he needs to improve. Still, it likely won’t be long before his bat forces the Indians to make a decision about his position and find room for him on the major-league roster. If that moment doesn’t arrive until May 14, however, Cleveland will have an extra year to figure out how to maximize Mejía’s value.

     

  9. Holy shit:

    Quote

    TORONTO — Late Sunday night, a group of weather-beaten ballplayers filed into a charter bus after touching down here in Toronto. Bleary-eyed from a flight delay in Kansas City, tested by another postponed game, they had a short commute down a Canadian highway to the team hotel. Most were ready for bed.

    Third baseman Mike Moustakas trudged to the back, his usual spot. Reliever Kevin McCarthy buried his head in his phone. Blaine Boyer, a 36-year-old relief arm, chose a seat at the front, near Alex Gordon, Ian Kennedy and Drew Butera.

    Here sat the 2018 Royals. In 18 days, they had won just three times. In all, they had played just 16 games, the season ravaged by a brutal Midwestern spring. They had weathered snow-outs and frigid wind chills and wet days in which they could not feel the baseball. They had stood frozen on baseball fields in Detroit, Cleveland and Kansas City. On Monday, they would lose a chance to play when the roof at Rogers Centre was damaged by falling ice from the nearby CN Tower.

    It has been that kind of season.

    Yet, none of that could compare to the story of late Sunday night. In the minutes after the Royals' traveling party headed out into the night, a large chunk of ice would smash into the windshield of the players' bus. A bus driver, a local named Fred Folkerts, would be blistered by shards of glass. And Boyer, acting on instinct, would hop up and grab the wheel, hoping to make sure Folkerts could still see.

    “He was bloodied up,” Boyer said. “The whole bus was rocked. It seemed like we got hit by an IED or something crazy.”

    What actually happened, the full story of how a piece of ice smashed into the bus’s windshield, is still not totally clear. Yet a basic sketch was culled together on Monday, in interviews with players and coaches who shared the harrowing story with The Athletic.

    “It was insane,” Moustakas said.

    “That could have been real serious,” third-base coach Mike Jirschele said.

    “We’re lucky that we’ve even got a team,” manager Ned Yost said.

    Yost’s tone was mildly flip. The situation produced no serious injuries. Folkerts, the bus driver, was examined by paramedics and released at the scene. Yet in the context of this season, an unmerciful run of horrid weather and freak mishaps, it was a bewildering moment, Yost said.

    In the minutes before impact, he was sitting on the traveling party’s first bus, which is usually reserved for coaches, staff members and members of the broadcast media. As the two busses chugged down the highway, the first one zoomed under an overpass. Two large “ice boulders,” as Yost described them, appeared to jar loose, flying backward at the second bus. Sitting in his seat near the front, Boyer had a perfect view. He could see a larger chunk fly to the side. He saw a second chunk headed right for the windshield.

    Inside the bus, the sound of the impact stunned the players. Starting pitcher Jason Hammel thought the bus collided with the overpass. McCarthy thought it sounded like a thunderous “gust of wind.” Kennedy looked up from his seat, and Boyer was already at the wheel, his arm reaching toward Folkerts.

    “He got up there and was like, ‘You all right, sir?’ ” Kennedy said.

    GettyImages-946268364-1024x683.jpg
     
    Blaine Boyer (Photo: Ed Zurga/Getty Images)

    The bus was traveling close to 55 mph at impact. The crash sprayed shards of glass shrapnel back to the third row, landing near outfielder Jorge Soler. Moments later, Butera joined Boyer at the front as they helped Folkerts guide the bus to the side of the road.

    “The fellow that was beside me, he kept talking to me,” Folkerts said of Boyer, recalling the scene from his home on Monday night. “He was asking me silly questions: ‘Are you a hockey fan? Do you follow baseball?’ But now that I’m sitting here with my wife, I think he was keeping me from going into shock.”

    Boyer downplayed his role in the near disaster. He is in his first season in the Royals’ bullpen and his 13th in the majors. He is here to offer guidance to a young bullpen and experience and professionalism to a clubhouse. As he spoke about his role, he sought to heap praise on Folkerts’ composure.

    “He was a stud,” Boyer said. “That guy Fred was a trouper. He had shards in his face, and he was locked in on trying to get the bus slowed down.”

    Boyer did not seek attention, of course. Yet inside the clubhouse, the image of him at the wheel was burned into his teammates’ minds.

    “He saved us,” Gordon said, smiling as he walked toward the batting cage on Monday afternoon.

    “Talk to Blaine,” Moustakas said.

    In the minutes after the crash, after Boyer had helped Folkerts guide the bus to the side of the highway, they waited for an ambulance and police. Folkerts called his company, asking for another bus.

    “We pride ourselves in making sure the players are taken care of,” he said.

    Folkerts has driven a coach bus for nearly 25 years here in Canada, he says. He’s semi-retired now. But he has spent the last six years working for Pacific Western Transportation. He enjoys shepherding athletes around. Good hours, interesting people. So, as he was treated by paramedics on late Monday, his head still bleeding, he worried about his next shift.

    It will come on Tuesday. Folkerts is set to drive the Royals to Rogers Centre for a doubleheader, a result of Monday's postponement. He would like to offer thanks, he said.

    “These guys were phenomenal,” he said. “They guys basically helped take over.”

     

    • Like 2
  10. 4 hours ago, shakahorn said:

    Cedeno wasn't part of the Big Red Machine.  Do you mean Geronimo?  I don't think it's fair to say that Rose was "at best" third-best on those teams.  Maybe any given year he might have been third-best, but for the lifespan of the Machine, it comes down to Bench, Morgan, and Rose and any one of the three could easily be called the best.  And I can't stand Pete Rose...well, current day Pete Rose anyway.

    Nope.

    Bench is the best catcher in MLB history.  There's really no way to argue that.

    You could make a reasonable argument that Morgan is the best 2Bman in MLB history.

    You can't make any sort of argument like that for Rose, and his fame is mainly due to the hits record, which is a longevity record, something that he was allowed a personal interest in creating.  If you're going to argue that you can't make that argument because he played so many positions, the reason why he played so many is because he wasn't good at any of them.

     

    I'm not a huge fan of historical WAR because of the D component (and especially for catchers), but if you look at WAR from 72-79 (BRM years), you get:

    Rose: 40.7

    Morgan: 58.0 (!!!!)

    Bench: 47.4

  11. 3 hours ago, APEX said:

    1,2,4,5,6,7 to be exact with a Canadian at 3 spoiling the party.

    To be fair, the Africans will just drop out and save themselves for the next race on the calendar if they know they're not going to win.  

    I like to brag that there was one year where I beat the two previous champs -- they dropped out because it was so hot and they knew they weren't going to win.

     

  12. 1 minute ago, Jive Turkey said:

    And damn.  ToY just barely barely missed a sub 3  hour marathon today. 

    That is fucking legit.  

    That is a brutally hard course even when the weather is good.  

    My best time there was 6 minutes slower than my PR, but I consider it my best marathon because everything about that race starting with the bus ride is a complete mindfuck inviting you to fail.

    • Like 1
  13. Man, I spent the last 20 minutes trying not to cry, and when they interviewed Des I just started bawling.

    First time I qualified for Boston, I had a horrible first mile (Houston).  I spent the next couple of miles trying to decide whether to drop out and try again at Austin the next month.  I basically didn't drop out because my wife and daughter were out on the course and I wasn't sure I'd be able to contact them.  So I kept fighting.  At mile 10, my hamstrings were already sore from the concrete.  Kept fighting.  Got the cramps somewhere in the 22nd mile.  Told myself I had about four miles to go and was somehow four minutes ahead of pace, and to just get to the next marker in less than 8 minutes.  Did that.  Same thing for the next mile.  Did that.  Same thing for the next mile.  Did that.  Did it again, and spent the last quarter mile as the happiest person on the planet, screaming, "I'M GOING TO BOSTON" the entire way. 

    So when she said that she felt awful for the first couple of miles and thought about dropping out but stayed in to help Shalane, all those memories came flooding back and I think I seriously know how happy and how fulfilled she is right now, and IT IS OFF THE FUCKING CHARTS.

    Gotdam, that was wonderful.  So proud of her.

    • Like 3
  14. I loved this, from theathletic.com:

    Quote

    A good friend who is a Red Sox fan messaged me the other day to call my attention to this tweet:

     

    The Red Sox and Mets having the two best records in baseball, even at this early date, can’t help but make their loyalists think about the possibility of a rematch of the 1986 World Series, and about that miraculous or tragic — depending on your allegiance — Mookie Wilson/Bill Buckner Game 6 in which the Red Sox never got the one final out they needed to win the Series.

    Having been born in Flushing, not far from the site of the old Shea Stadium, and grown up a Mets fan, it doesn’t take much to bring the memory of that classic Game 6 to my mind. But lately, it’s not just the fast starts of the Mets and Red Sox that have done it. Other, non-baseball stories, like the two African-American men arrested at a Starbucks in Philadelphia while merely waiting for a friend, and the 14-year-old African-American boy who was shot at when he knocked on a door asking for directions, have reminded me of where I was when I witnessed that amazing ending.

    On Oct. 25, 1986, I was in Tuscaloosa, Ala., a young sports writer at the Miami Herald covering one of the biggest games in college football that afternoon, sixth-ranked Penn State at No. 2 Alabama. (As hard as it is to believe now, there was a time when newspapers had the budget to routinely send reporters to important games that weren’t even in their market.) I don’t remember much about the game, which the Nittany Lions won 23-3, although I do recall being in a group of writers who talked to Penn State's defensive coordinator about how his unit had shut down the Crimson Tide’s offense. (You may have heard of the guy. His name was Jerry Sandusky.)

    I was distracted by thoughts of Game 6 that night, a must-win game for the Mets, who were trailing 3-2 in the Series. It took me well into the evening to do all the postgame interviews, then write and file my story, by which time the Mets and Sox were in the sixth inning, tied 2-2. My hotel was more than an hour’s drive away — try getting a room on a few days’ notice in Tuscaloosa on an Alabama football weekend — so I decided to find a nearby bar to watch the rest of the game. I came across one not far from the stadium, and though I’ll never remember the name of it, I’ll never forget the feeling I had when I walked in. I was the only black person in the place, and the decor was about a 50/50 split between college football and the Confederacy.

    This, I thought, might have been a mistake.

    Even more disconcerting, the TV behind the bar was tuned to football — Auburn vs. Mississippi State. But the pull of watching the Mets in a do-or-die Series game was stronger than my urge to get back in my car, so on a Saturday night in the deep South, in bar full of white customers who were watching SEC football, I sat down, nodded toward the television and asked the bartender, “Any chance you could flip that to the World Series?”

    The bartender put the question to the dozen or so patrons sitting at the bar and received no objection. In fact, there wasn’t much reaction at all, as most of them seemed either to stare straight ahead or check me out from the corner of their eye. So he changed the channel and the voice of Vin Scully came from the television as the Mets and Red Sox headed into the late innings.

    What happened next was what tends to happen when people watch a compelling sporting event together — the game gradually connected us. We talked about managers’ decisions — should the Red Sox have stayed with Roger Clemens longer? Should the Mets use one of their starters in relief in this do-or-die game? As we all became more comfortable with each other, the bartender encouraged me to drop my business card in the fishbowl full of them on the bar, explaining that they pulled one every week and gave the winner a free lunch. I did it, even though I knew I’d never visit the place again.

    Other customers asked how a guy who was clearly not from around those parts happened to walk in to watch this game, and I explained why I was there. Since I was the only one in the place with a rooting interest, by the time the game headed into extra innings tied 3-3, almost everyone gathered around the bar had decided to become a temporary Mets fan.

    “Who we pulling for?” I heard one woman ask her husband.

    “New York,” he said with a drawl.

    “New York?”

    “It’s not the Yankees.”

    “Oh, OK.”

    When the Red Sox scored a pair of runs in the top of the 10th, all those customers I had been eyeing warily earlier were now my buddies, consoling me as what appeared to be the inevitable drew nearer. Keith Hernandez made the second out for the Mets in the bottom of the 10th, putting Boston one out away from the title, and a fresh beer appeared in front of me. On the house.

    And then, of course, magic happened. Gary Carter singled. Kevin Mitchell singled. Ray Knight singled to make it 5-4. Calvin Schiraldi’s wild pitch brought Mitchell home to tie the game, 5-5. That left Mookie Wilson at the plate with a man on third, and you know the rest: Ground ball. Buckner. Through the legs. Mets win.

     

    There was bedlam in Shea Stadium and a pretty fair amount of noise at the best little Mets bar in Tuscaloosa. My new friends clapped me on the back and slapped me five and offered to buy me drinks, partly, I think, out of gratitude for being the reason they had seen one of the most memorable sports endings of all-time. By the time I left the bar, I couldn’t believe what I had just experienced, and I don’t mean the baseball.

    Flash forward two nights later. I’m back home in Florida and after a rainout the previous night, the Mets win Game 7 to take the Series. Shortly after the end of the game, my phone rings. I don’t recognize the voice on the other end until he identifies himself. It’s the bartender from Tuscaloosa, calling to congratulate me. He explains that he pulled my business card from the fishbowl.

    You can draw your own conclusions about what this story says about the power of sports to unite people, about the importance of pushing past our preconceived notions about others, and about how far we have or have not come in this country in the way we relate to those who don’t look like us.

    It makes me think about all of those things, and about how I wish I could have gone back for that free lunch. 

     

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