Klawchat at noon EDT today. EDIT: Link.
You can hear my hit from last night on Baseball Tonight Radio, but the AllNight hit isn’t up yet.
I’ll be on our Atlanta affiliate today at 4:30 pm.
Sorry the posting here has been light, but I’ve been sick and busy with the draft content, which should start to show up on the Four-Letter today, including a top 100 draft prospects ranking with reports on 35+ guys already.
I just can’t agree with you more on benching Francoeur: it is really sick and tired of watching him swinging on first pitch he sees when the runners in scoring position. I don’t care how much RBI he will have at the end of the season, but do care how much he would have wasted by doing that.
KLaw,
Saw you were taking suggestions for dining options in St. Louis . I highly recommend the Schlafly Tap Room at 21st and Locust in downtown. Schlafly is a local brewery that brews roughly 15 different styles of beer. My guess is that their coffee stout would be right up your alley.
http://www.schlafly.com/brewpubs.shtml
I read your chat on espn about the J.D. Drew debate… I think holding out a year for a bigger bonus pisses people off because the player is going to be rich whether they get 3 million or 10 million to play a game people play for fun/free. Not that I agree just saying I can see both sides.
Hope you’re feeling better….nothing more frustrating than a stomach bug that keeps recurring. Not severe enough to garner any sympathy but brutal enough to impact every aspect of your life – kids, work, etc.
Quick question – I know you’re getting a ton of these in the chats, but at what point can Jays fans actually get their hopes up that the team is a legit playoff contender? It seems like the AL is Boston and then everyone else, and the AL West and Central are brutal this year, so the wildcare is really the AL East’s to lose. The Yanks and Rays are much better on paper, but if the Jays are still 5-6 games ahead of them at the break, and SPs return to health, there’s a real shot isn’t there?
Hi Keith,
I was hoping you could weigh in on a debate going on in Yankeeland right now. What do the Yanks do with Phil Hughes when/if Wang comes back healthy?
Do you make him a swingman of sorts and let him long relieve, spot start, skip Joba, etc. or do you send him back to AAA to work on his game until a need arises for an extra starter?
Also, is there any merit to the belief that pitchers often need to take their lumps on the major league level after they have exhausted the learning curve in AAA in order to become effective?
SA: he answered that question in the chat!
Kathy(Toronto): Can the Jays play like this all year? Will they win the East or take the wildcard?
SportsNation Keith Law: No … and no.
By the way I loved the opening line on that chat. My head exploded when I heard Clemens explanation. Isn’t in Ben Franklin with that great quote about keeping your mouth shut? Terrible.
“I read your chat on espn about the J.D. Drew debate… I think holding out a year for a bigger bonus pisses people off because the player is going to be rich whether they get 3 million or 10 million to play a game people play for fun/free. Not that I agree just saying I can see both sides.”
People also cook for fun but we don’t bitch about elite chefs being overpaid for wanting/getting fair market value for their services.
“I’d play for free!” continues to move up my slam-head-off-wall list.
(Bright side: Cloud Cult just came on the radio. Life’s ledger is again balanced.)
Why do hitting streaks bore you? Because they’re fluke-y? You’ve said in the past that you love no-hitters, and those are pretty fluke-y as well. There are a lot of mediocre pitchers that throw no-hitters, too. 30+ game hitting streaks aren’t much different.
Re: the JD Drew debate. I think the last point to make is that he wasn’t guaranteed to make a lot of money after his bonus. He’d make major-league minimum until arbitration, and there is always the risk of an injury ending his career, thereby threatening his big payday. I mean, this IS Drew we are talking about.
How it is even a debate is beyond me.
If you give up a home run to Brett Gardner, does that automatically disqualify you from having a good season?
Drew got his money. Good for him. Harrington didn’t. There’s a risk but I can’t see how it’s unethical. If I graduate from Harvard Law I’m not forced into a system where my leverage is stripped from me and I can only go to one firm.
All the rules ate stacked against draft picks to get their full market value. It’s completely ethical for them to use WHATEVER tool available to try to gain even a modicum of leverage.
It seems as though part of the issue hinges upon the draft and its representation. We as sports fans endure poor periods with our favorite teams due to the renewed view that “help is around the corner” and the potential that every draft pick could be the difference to a title. When a player is choosen by a team and then fails to sign, it’s a slight to an entire fan base. It’s that missed opportunity for a championship because a kid was greedy. I find it interesting that ball players are evaluated as a commodity, yet only when necessary do we remember they are human beings.
That thought undergirds our entire interest in prospects and development of these kids. Who cares what they make financially as long as they produce when we want them to!
Haven’t read the chat yet, so I’ll have to check that out before weighing in. But, in a related note, did you see Simmons/Gladwell’s conversation on the 4-letter today? Gladwell makes some really interesting points regarding how sports draft systems work (or why they don’t work). He spoke only specifically about the NBA/NFL, and I think, to an extent, that his point is somewhat muted with regards to the MLB because of A) how money influences decisions as much as skill and B) because of the generally longer wait before a prospect is realized. Anyway, I’d love to hear Keith, or anyone else’s, opinion on the matter. Was a really interesting commentary (mostly Gladwell, not Blowhard Simmons).
I saw in the chat that you were up for suggestions on places to eat in St. Louis. I have a couple recommendations for you. If you are looking for good BBQ then I highly recommend Pappy’s Smokehouse. My favorite restaurant is Niche, they use fresh local ingredients and the chef won Food and Wine’s best new chef in 2008. I’ve never had a dish there that I didn’t enjoy. Lots of people will tell you to go to the hill for Italian, but I prefer Acero, west of the hill. It’s more traditional Italian than American-Italian. Monarch is also very good. Enjoy
brian-
Good points about the fan’s perception of the draft. And, I’d add, that the fan’s perception is highly inaccurate. As you point out, the fans take a failed signing as a “slight” and that it is the player’s responsibility to turn the tide, and they are “selfish” if they don’t. Shouldn’t the onus be on management? The player has no connection to the team, other than being quasi-randomly selected. For fans to hoist expectations on these guys before they are even members of the organization, yet say nothing about the management system that has put them in a position to need to “turn things around” seems unfairly skewed towards the young guy trying to make some dough.
BSK,
I read the Gladwell/Simmons commentary and found it interesting (even if I founf myself skipping most of the Simmons part).
Personally when Gladwell talked about doing away with the draft I was most tuned in. I may be in the minority but I find drafts to be irrational compared to American market beliefs.
I think they are a way to limit bonuses and contracts, and sports would be better without them, because of the exact reason Malcolm Gladwell says. There would be no reason to fail, ever. Also, the money would be dealt more to the players than the billionare owners.
Hope you feel better soon Klaw.
I don’t know that I agree with doing away with the draft entirely, but it IS an interesting idea. I personally think that sports leagues need to stop viewing themselves as a collection of independent companies and, instead, as one large companies with several sub-company. Sports, in some extent, is a zero-sum game. An individual team can only be so successful before they start being a detriment to the game (either by making it less enjoyable or by actually putting other teams out of work). I think certain leagues do this far better than others. So, I agree with the idea of a draft, in the sense that you are applying to work for the company (MLB) and they are choosing which branch (team) you will work for.
However, I agree with your point about the way in which it limits player leverage and is designed to shift control to the owners. Perhaps there are ways to do this sans draft, but I think it would not to be a bit more deeply thought out than Gladwell implies. I love the idea though, that if the draft remains, it is completely absurd that it is in revers-record order.
PS: Agree with you on Simmons. My favorite is when Gladwell will say something brilliant, and he’ll be like, “Yea, totally, it’s like when my cousin Sal eats his toenails.” WTF? Gladwell is 10x smarter than Simmons; I don’t think we need him “improving” on Gladwell’s explanations/analogies.
Keith, quiestion didn’t make it into the chat but was wodnering your thoughts on The Village Smokehouse and how it compares to other BBQ in Boston. Also, any tips for home made pulled pork?
I would like to second Schlafly and warn you that Niche is very upscale/pricey. Check out Fitz’s for some fresh root beer.
Andy-
Village Smokehouse is the best I had in Boston. Better than Blue Ribbon, which was the only joint I really found in my time there. This is not a comprehensive list, and Boston isn’t exactly a Q hotspot, but I didn’t find better than Village in my 5 years there, for what it’s worth.
Never been to Village Smokehouse, and I’ve only smoked a pork shoulder once – got good flavor but dried it out.
On the St. Louis dining scene, I’ll throw in another recommendation for Niche. It is St. Louis pricey, but this is a cheap town so it’s a great deal compared to comparable restaurants in other parts of the country. I also highly recommend the Iron Barley, which has a unique vibe, great food, and a really interesting menu.
2nd for Iron Barley. Very unique vibe and somewhat surprising menu / food quality for the neighborhood.