• With the news that Jeremy Brown is hanging up his spikes, BP's Kevin Goldstein is done talking about "Moneyball" -- and so should we. I agree with everything Goldstein says ... except that we should stop talking about the book, which remains relevant in every professional sport. What we need to do is stop talking about it wrongly. If you know what I mean.
• Yes,
Yovani Gallardo's going to
miss some time after knee surgery. No, it's not a significant blow to the Brewers' realistic pennant hopes. Gallardo could use a break anyway, and the Brewers -- with
Carlos Villanueva,
Claudio Vargas, and especially
Manny Parra and
Chris Capuano -- have a number of solid options until Gallardo is ready.
• Nothing's official yet, but the Marlins do seem, finally, to have their
deal for a new ballpark nearly in place. Here's
ShysterBall:
Last I heard, the Orange Bowl site is difficult to get to and isn't serviced by mass transportation. Opponents of the stadium deal have suggested that while such a situation was tolerable for six or seven Hurricanes games a year, it will be a nightmare for eighty-one baseball games. That's just silly, of course. This is the Marlins we're talking about. Everyone interested in going to their games can just meet in a Winn-Dixie parking lot and carpool there in a couple of vans.
|
One of my failings as a blogger is that I too often fail to see the humor in a situation; instead, I just see the tragedy, and this one's got disaster written all over it. I know baseball's supposedly recession-proof, but what's going to happen to unpopular teams playing in the middle of nowhere when gas costs four or five bucks per gallon? And by the way, the spin you'll hear from the Marlins and the politicians is that the citizens aren't paying for this boondoggle because it's funded by "tourist taxes" ... but that's still revenue that could be spent on something else that would benefit the locals, right? There might be free lunches somewhere, but this is not one of them.
• Wow. I don't understand everything in Joe P. Sheehan's
assignment of runs saved to pitchers' specific pitches, but I understand enough to know that 1)
Brandon Webb's sinker is one of the best pitches in the game, 2) little-known
Kason Gabbard is worth watching this season, and 3) Sheehan's opened a fascinating line of inquiry.
• John Sickels is running a continuing series called "Not a Rookie," and his most recent offerings include
the Braves' new shortstop and
the Cubs' new center fielder, both of whom figure to become significant figures this summer.
•
Ryan Dempster says the
Cubs are going to win the World Series and
Jimmy Rollins says the
Phillies are going to win 100 games. I don't think it really hurts anything for players to engage in these sorts of rousing predictions. But as Homer Derby's Richie Rich points out,
both predictions are unlikely to come true now that
Johan Santana's joined the National League. Just to pile on, I'll note that the projections have started coming in, and the Mets are
easily the best-looking team in the league, with roughly 95 wins on the proverbial paper (the Cubs
are next, just short of 90).
• Slate's Hart Seely has gone through the
testimony and the
deposition, and emerged with
poetry of Roger Clemens. Good stuff, but here's the thing: There's
plenty more where that came from. In fact -- and this is completely unofficial -- I'll send a copy of my new book to the best new haiku (or near-haiku) that someone gleans and posts in the comments. I'm the judge, but I'll certainly take your opinions into consideration (so vote early and vote often).
Rob Neyer
