→ August 3, 2016
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Music update, July 2016.

I don’t know if this was a weak month for new music or if I was just too busy to find as much of it as I normally do; either way this is a shorter-than-normal playlist, but anything I didn’t discover in July will just have to come find me in August. If the embedded panel doesn’t work you can access the Spotify playlist directly instead.

The Naked And Famous – Higher. I’ve liked most of the Naked & Famous’ output to date, including this anthemic new single, but they also seem to me like CHVRCHES without the charisma of Lauren Mayberry. N&F’s lead singer Alisa Xayalith does her job, and the group’s lyrics typically bring a few clever flourishes, but for whatever reason her voice doesn’t compel you to listen. “Higher” is their most radio-friendly track since “Young Blood,” though, and I’m hopeful they’ll get some crossover airplay.

Jagwar Ma – O B 1. Jagwar Ma is among the leading lights of Australian indie pop, with drawn-out takes on spacey psycheledic pop music. Their first hit “Save Me” appeared in 2011, followed by a full-length album in 2013. This track appears to be the first ahead of their second album, and it’s just as weird and spaced-out as their work to date, almost defying you to grab hold of its twisted melody.

ELEL – When She Walks. ELEL – again with the all caps, although I suppose Elel might look odd – is a pop octet (yep) from Nashville led by Ben Elkins, with a sort of roots-rock element to its instrumentation and arrangements. I kind of liked their debut single last year, “40 Watt,” but this is much catchier and the instrumental bridges elevate the song well above your standard alt-pop track.

Biffy Clyro – Howl. Biffy Clyro is a band name you could only get away with if you were from Scotland, but this trio is, so it’s all good. Once an experimental rock act, they’ve gone indie-pop as they’ve gotten older, with this track reminiscent of another Scottish power-pop act, Teenage Fanclub. Their seventh album, Ellipsis, is due in September.

Local Natives – Fountain Of Youth. Good Local Natives have a little more tension, almost a yearning, the way “Heavy Feet” stood out from the overall mellow Hummingbird album. This song, like “Past Lives” earlier this year, has me cautiously optimistic about their upcoming album Sunlit Youth.

HUNGER – Amused. HUNGER (stylized in all capitals because reasons) is an Austrian electronic pop trio about to release its second album, which is a deep throwback to the post-new wave synthpop era – mid-period Depeche Mode, for example. They also really remind me of Cause & Effect, a band I don’t even know that well.

Jeff Beck – Right Now. Jeff Beck’s guitar work, both technical proficiency and his ability to craft compelling riffs, is incredible for someone in his ’70s, and while the vocals of Rosie Bones are a distraction here I’m still buying in to hear Beck’s fretwork.

Wild Beasts – Tough Guy. Wild Beasts are huge critical darlings in the U.K. but are probably too strange and artsy to find much of a following here; if you’re a fan of alt-J or Everything Everything, then you’d probably enjoy their work, which has a heavy electronic component and plays around with song structures. It’s also very distinctly British, which I consider a positive but others may not.

Zhu – Palm of My Hand. Stephen Zhu had one of my favorite songs of last year with “Hold Up Wait a Minute,” an inspired collaboration with Bone Thugs N’ Harmony and Trombone Shorty, but the California-based DJ and producer’s output is so all over the place I haven’t found another song I’ve liked from him until this almost completely instrumental electronic track, which starts with a melodic guitar solo before spacing out with a mournful piano riff, mostly over a throbbing drum-and-bass line. Zhu’s debut album, Generationwhy, came out last Friday.

Of Montreal – it’s different for girls. These guys are delightfully bizarre; their sound doesn’t always come together for me, but when it does they make some of the most unique alternative pop music out there. Lead singer Kevin Barnes’ lyrics don’t always rhyme, and they cover topics not typically found in pop music. His delivery is over-enunciated and effeminate. The song structures vary from track to track and often fall apart mid-song, like Barnes forgot where he started and didn’t bother to go back to it. This song, which is like a psychedelic reimagining of a vintage Blur track, is the lead single ahead of their album Innocence Reaches, due out August 12th.

Prophets Of Rage – Prophets Of Rage. Prophets of Rage are a supergroup that could easily end up a disaster – the three musicians from Rage Against the Machine together with Chuck D (Public Enemy) and B Real (Cypress Hill). On the plus side, either one of those guys would represent an upgrade over Zack de la Rocha. On the minus side, this could end up some cliche-ridden rap-rock. This lead single, bearing the band’s title, is probably a 55: above average, better than I’d feared, not as good as it might have been 20 years ago.

Pixies – Um Chagga Lagga.

pixies

Nani – I Am Volcano. This LA-based quartet, featuring a singer born in Bosnia and raised in Canada, just dropped this lead single in June, a manic punk rush powered by lead singer Nina’s tumbling, vaguely poetic lyrics.

Descendents – Beyond The Music. The Descendents are pretty much an automatic inclusion on these lists; they’re older but they haven’t grown up musically, just in their lyrics (like “No Fat Burger,” an ode to fighting high cholesterol). Their new album Hypercaffium Spazzinate features twenty-one mostly short, mostly similar tracks, but there are a half-dozen with melodies just a bit better than the rest, including this one, “Without Love,” and “On Paper.”

JEFF The Brotherhood – Idiot. I saw JEFF (grr) the Brotherhood in Tempe in 2012 with Nick Piecoro. They were … adequate. Kind of loud, not very hooky, but “Idiot” definitely brings the hook without materially changing their heavy guitar/drum sound (think Drenge, Royal Blood, and all these other rock duos mining the same formula).

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→ August 3, 2016
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The Third Plate.

Chef Dan Barber first came to my attention with his 2010 TED talk “How I Fell in Love With a Fish,” where he describes his visits to the Spanish fish farm Veta la Palma in Spain, which defies almost everything we think we know about aquaculture. Veta la Palma is an open, integrated operation that connects its waterways to the Mediterranean and thrives because the fish – primarily bass but also grey mullet, which plays a large role in Barber’s new book – are part of the larger ecosystem of the farm, attracting fish from the outside environment with clean waters rich in food for each of those species. It’s a new paradigm in raising fish for human consumption, one that doesn’t keep the fish in unnatural conditions that would require dosing them with antibiotics or feeding them with artificial products that might keep yields high but are unsustainable (if not damaging) and don’t produce flavorful fish.

Barber’s 2014 book, The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food, expands on the concept he explored in that TED Talk, reconsidering how to feed the world in a way that’s environmentally sustainable, sufficiently nutritious, and – let’s not forget – produces tasty food. While some of what Barber prescribes, such as reducing the prominence of meat in the American diet, is obvious, much of it is not unless you’ve spent a lot of time on a working farm. (I listened to the audiobook version, narrated by Barber himself.)

The basic premise of Barber’s book isn’t new – our food system is broken, disconnecting diner from food source – but his approach to the question is novel. He points out the role that chefs play in determining food trends and consumer awareness, and that merely going “farm to table” is a superficial and ultimately insufficient way to try to fix the broken chain between the grower and the diner. He rightly decries the monoculture approach of modern agriculture – grow a lot of one specific plant or strain over and over, using synthetic nitrogen sources, antibiotics, herbicides and fungicides, and so on to maximize yields and reduce costs. But he points out that simply going organic doesn’t always address the real problems with Big Ag, as organic farms can be monocultures too and may use organic chemicals that aren’t actually any safer or more sustainable than their synthetic analogues.

Indeed, if there’s one common thread through all of Barber’s anecdotes – and he meanders extensively, both on the map and within the book – it’s soil. Traditional agricultural practices centered on soil health: crop rotation, composting, cover crops, plowing under, encouraging anything, even “weeds,” that might benefit the soil. Modern practices, whether “conventional” or organic, ignore soil quality or health, instead using chemistry to provide an artificial supplement to soil that’s been depleted through malpractice. Healthy soil is teeming with microbes that make the soil more fertile and ultimately help produce healthier plants that contain more nutrients for us and can be more flavorful as well, but soil itself is part of a cycle that even what Barber calls “big organic” agriculture tries to circumvent. Whether your nitrogen source is synthetic or organic doesn’t really matter to soil health (although synthetic N is typically derived from petroleum and thus contributes to climate change and ocean acidification), because if you’re not feeding the soil, you’re just going to have to dump more N into it next year and every year after that.

Barber doesn’t limit himself to plants, although that’s understandably the main focus of the book. Barber talks extensively about the practices at the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, a nonprofit research center that works with chefs and farmers to develop sustainable agricultural practices, including a working farm that supplies Barber’s Blue Hill restaurants, including one on site and one in New York City. Much of what he and his colleagues there discover around the world, such as the rare strain of ancient wheat they found in Aragon, Spain, or the long-forgotten eight-row corn strain that arrived at the farms one day, unsolicited, in a FedEx envelope, become experiments on the farm’s eight-plus acres. They’re raising some livestock now as well, using all parts of the animal on Blue Hill’s menus and using animal waste to supplement the biomass they till into the soil. Everything revolves around soil health and its connection to long-term sustainable agriculture. The farm isn’t just “organic,” because that’s as much a marketing term as anything else (and indeed isn’t clearly better for the environment than conventional ag); it’s searching for the best possible agricultural practices that will satisfy three goals simultaneously: feed the world now, feed it tomorrow, and make the food flavorful and nutritious too.

The Third Plate is a book of anecdotes, not one of research. Barber travels the world – he’s in Spain a lot in this book, poor guy – in search of these best practices. He goes to Veta la Palma, eats fish served with a phytoplankton sauce, visits the site of the annual almadraba bluefin catch, and hangs out in a Spanish dehesa that produces the world’s best cured ham, jamón iberico, as well as a form of natural foie gras that requires no force-feeding. He visits the Bread Lab at Washington State and plays around with cross-breeding wheat strains. He goes to the Carolinas to the farms that supply Anson Mills, the country’s main purveyor of artisanal strains of corn, rice, and other grains, including the story of how its founder managed to obtain some of his seeds from a family of moonshiners on the South Carolina coast. He talks at length about the grain farmers in upstate New York who supply much of the flour used at Blue Hill. But there isn’t a lot of data here. It’s easy to follow Barber’s logic and understand why these practices might be better for the soil, and thus for the planet and the future of our food supply, but the research isn’t cited here, and what I’ve found over the years, while tilted in favor of these practices, is scattershot. Soil health matters, but if there’s a comprehensive study that proves this, or even provides substantial evidence for it, it’s not here and I haven’t found it either.

However, The Third Plate is a compelling enough argument on its own that it should simultaneously change the way we eat and the policies we support. Going to a farmers’ market is great, but far from enough. Chefs who cook “farm to table” menus are helping, but it’s not enough. We need to think about eating the whole animal and, as Barber puts it, the whole farm too, emphasizing less-consumed cuts of meat, less-common fish in the food chain, less-common plants that might be part of a successful crop rotation scheme. Our diet has become highly specific, and only a fraction of what farmers might grow ends up food for people. Barber says that is going to have to change, something he lays out in an epilogue with a potential menu of the future. But it might be a change we embrace if it means we recapture lost strains of foods we consider ordinary now: a variety of wheat that carries notes of chocolate, a carrot with twice the sweetness of even good local carrots, a pork shank from an heirloom pig grilled over carbonized pig bones. Barber manages to make an environmental alarm reminiscent of Silent Spring that promises a food future that’s still appealing to our palates.

Next up: I’m about 2/3 of the way through Richard Price’s 1992 novel Clockers.

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→ July 30, 2016
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Stick to baseball, 7/30/16.

It’s been a busy week already and I assume the next 52 hours will be even more so; here are my three Insider posts on trades from the last seven days:

• The Aroldis Chapman trade
• The Texas/Atlanta trade and the Blue Jays’ two deals
• The Andrew Cashner and Eduardo Nunez trades

I also have a draft blog post up on last week’s Under Armour Game, and I held my regular Klawchat on Thursday.

I’ll be on ESPN’s trade deadline show on Monday from 1 to 4 pm ET, after which I’m taking a few days off to work on my book and on some other personal projects.

And now, the links…

  • Dr. Mike Sonne, an injury prevention researcher and a baseball fan, argues that pitch clocks may increase pitcher injury risk by reducing recovery time for fatiguing muscles. So maybe pace of game isn’t such a huge problem.
  • If you missed this on Twitter you really should read Eireann Dolan’s story about her autistic brother, from how he was bullied as a kid to the nightmare they all just went through with him.
  • Iowa Republican Steve King says racist stuff on a regular basis and keeps winning re-election. The Iowa Starting line blog looks at why.
  • As always, I’m nobody’s expert on these matters, but I feel like the rejection of state “vote fraud” laws, including this week’s invalidation of North Carolina’s law as racist, is the biggest story of this election cycle. One, with African-American voters favoring Clinton in historic proportions, it seems like striking down these laws could help her in several critical states, including the swing state of North Carolina. Two, killing these laws – based on the entirely fraudulent fear of fraudulent voting – will have an effect on many elections to come, and, one might hope, will slow efforts to disenfranchise entire demographic groups.
  • BuzzFeed political editor (and longtime reader of mine) Katherine Miller wrote a great longread on how Trump “broke” the conservative movement.
  • Trump has faced multiple allegations of sexual assault from women over the last several decades, including one from his ex-wife Ivana. Everyone dismissed such claims against Bill Clinton in 1991-92, but a quarter-century later, the climate around rape and sexual assault is, or seemed to be, much changed. Perhaps Hannibal Burress needs to joke about it before it’ll go anywhere.
  • A large Swedish study on the environmental impacts of organic agriculture versus conventional found differences in each direction, with neither side clearly favored. This is especially important for consumers, in that food labeled “organic” isn’t going to be more nutritious or necessarily better for the environment. But there’s a problem within the problem here – the term “organic” has itself been watered down (pun intended) from what the term meant when Lord Northbourne coined it in 1940. So-called “natural” pesticides aren’t going to automatically better for the environment, for example, and dumping organic fertilizers into the soil won’t have the same effect as using compost and working in crops (like clover or legumes) that increase nitrogen content in the soil.
  • Those “recyclable” disposable coffee cups aren’t recyclable at all, not unless you have access to one of the very few facilities capable of doing so. This means tons of cups end up in landfills every year, so why don’t we demand better?
  • Scientific American explains a card trick that relies on a simple cipher and the cooperation of a partner.
  • A tough longread on a 20-year-old unsolved missing persons case on the Isle of Wight. The police seem to have botched the earliest stages of the investigation, which may render the case unsolvable.
  • German scientists found a bacterium living inside human noses that produces a chemical toxic to Staphylococcus aureus, the bacterium that causes MRSA. Now if only it worked against gonorrhea, the bacterium behind which has evolved resistance to all known antibiotics.
  • Joe Biden has to acknowledge the LIQUID SWORDS tweet at some point, right? If I see him around here I’m going to ask him.
  • Why are police officers enforcing Trump’s ban on Washington Post reporters? They’re claiming it’s a security issue, but that’s clearly not the case.
  • I wrote about a year ago about an essay I read on the unsolved abc problem in mathematics and the abstruse proof offered by a Japanese mathematician, Shinichi Mochizuki, who created a whole new branch of math to solve it – which meant no one was sure if he actually had solved it at all. Scientific American offers an update and some new commentary, including criticism of Mochizuki’s unwillingness to travel or work with others on the proof.
  • In a new book, Innovation and its Enemies, Calestous Juma explains why people often hate new stuff, and talks about what variables affect adoption rates or drive opposition.
  • The National Post gave the fraudumentary Vaxxed zero stars and an admonition not to see it.
  • Speaking of fraud, anything that claims it can “boost your immune system” is lying and even they worked, it’s a terrible idea. If you pay for these “enhanced” water products, or for useless supplements like Airborne, you might as well flush your money down the toilet.
  • The elusive DC-area chef Peter Chang is opening what he calls the restaurant of his dreams in Bethesda. I’ve been to his place in Charlottesville, and I thought it was excellent but have very little history or knowledge of Sichuan cuisine to compare it to.
  • Congrats to Pizzeria Vetri, our favorite pizzeria in Philly and just one of our favorite restaurants there period, for winning Philly magazine’s Best Soft-Serve Ice Cream nod for 2016.
  • Seth Meyers on “Bernie or Bust” twits:

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→ July 28, 2016
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Klawchat 7/28/16.

My latest post for Insiders breaks down the Texas/Atlanta swap and the two Toronto trades from earlier this week. Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter!

Klaw: See I’m not insane – in fact I’m kind of rational. Klawchat.

FG: Thoughts on chance adams? baseball america sees him as a number 2 down the line. I would think that would get him on some top 100 lists. whats your take? thanks klaw
Klaw: I haven’t seen him yet but reports I have gotten would put him way below that, with questions over whether he’s a starter because he’s barely 6 foot and isn’t getting fastball plane.

CR: Favorite class at Harvard
Klaw: Comedy and the Novel, taught by Donald Fanger. Reading list included The Master & Margarita, Jacques the Fatalist, If on a winter’s night a traveler…, The Charterhouse of Parma, Don Quixote, Huck Finn, Joseph Andrews, and Dead Souls. I asked Prof. Fanger six or seven years later if he had other suggestions in that vein, and he said if the class were a week or two longer he would have assigned At Swim-Two-Birds, which is also on my top 100 and is one of the earliest and best examples of metafiction in literature.

David: How would you compare Bogaerts’ bat and Polanco’s bat at this point? Are they fairly similar with XB having more positional value?
Klaw: I think Polanco’s going to end up with more power in the long run but Bogaerts is the more valuable player due to positional and defensive value.

Chris: Any thoughts on Tomas Nido? Seems Josh Thole-ish.
Klaw: Better defender than Thole ever was.

Patrick: One of DFW radio host was critizing Yu Darvish for being selfish by “striking out too many batters” and not pitching to contact, thus increasing his pitch count. He’s arguing that if he’s good enough to strike out batters, he should be able to get weak grounders whenever he wants. I thought that it was an absurd statement. Thoughts?
Klaw: I’ve said for a while now that there’s a chunk of the DFW media that is positively atavistic in its view of baseball and athletes in general. It’s embarrassing. Your host there doesn’t understand the first thing about the sport and shouldn’t be commenting on it.

Dale: Would you pay Reddick 4 year / $56 million for Josh Reddick. Reportedly that’s the ask and A’s countered 3 yr / $39 million. Cheers.
Klaw: I wouldn’t but i bet he’ll get it in free agency. The FA class this winter sucks and good Reddick is worth more than that.

Dave: I’m a Cubs fan, and I’m bothered by the Chapman trade. When Theo and Tom say they believe Chapman is a changed man, I believe that they believe it. Aroldis probably believes it himself. I don’t think anyone’s lying. But I wonder how differently that conversation might have gone if there’d been some women in the room. We hear about baseball’s struggles with racial diversity in management, but we don’t hear much about gender. Maybe this is willfully naive, but I’d feel better about this whole thing if it were a woman saying she was comfortable with the odds of Chapman re-offending.
Klaw: I think two things on this. One, if someone hits or throttles or otherwise abuses his wife or girlfriend and tells you six months later he’s a changed man, he’s full of shit. Two, there are no women in the room in baseball, and while you can certainly have men in the room who are thoughtful about issues like domestic violence or sexual assault, having a woman in the conversation would certainly change its tenor. I also wonder how often teams looking at acquiring a player like Chapman or Reyes talk to real subject-matter experts about the chances of rehabilitation vs recidivism.

Davis: Buster Olney has been pretty vocal recently about the Pirates shopping Melancon. While they are fighting for a wild card spot, it’s seems like one of those moves that really wouldn’t have much of an impact on that pursuit, and could land them a decent prospect. Would you deal him if you’re Neal Huntington, especially with how inflated the closer market is?
Klaw: He asked me about this on his podcast this morning and I agreed. Melancon’s a FA anyway and I doubt the Pirates intend to re-sign him. Trading him will have virtually no impact on their odds of winning a wild card spot, and with Nicasio pitching fairly well in relief you could argue they have a surplus.

Bret: Hey Keith – just curious who you would have as the Jays #1 prospect at the moment? Seems like there are a few names in that conversation (Reid-Foley, Urena, Alford, Greene)
Klaw: Alford, still.

Ron: Molitor is out of touch writing a line up and his love of bunting and playing gritty, hard nose players that aren’t any good(D. Santana). Last night down by 2 with 2 on in the 8th and no outs, he has their hottest hitter this year (Nunez) bunt and it didn’t turn out(surprise, surprise). The Pohlads scared off all potential GM candidates by saying Molitor is the manager in 2017. Why did they do that? I don’t think he will work with the young ones. Will you please take the job, Keith? They need a complete house cleaning, don’t you think? Thanks!!!
Klaw: I don’t understand why owners do this with their managers. The GM should have full autonomy to hire the manager he thinks is right for the job – and in Molitor’s case and in Counsell’s case in Milwaukee the evidence we have before us said that those guys were NOT right for the job. If I were GM there, I’d hire a manager who has actually managed somewhere before in pro ball. Novel concept, I know, but I’m way out the box like that.

Anonymous: Is John Coppolella in the top 5 GMs in baseball? Care to rank top 5?
Klaw: No, I do not care to rank the top any number of GMs.

Mike: Thoughts on Dylan Bundy’s return to the rotation? He seems to be showing good velo, three pitches and is generating lots of swinging strikes.
Klaw: Velo’s good. Curveball isn’t close to what it was. Arm swing looks more restricted than it did way back in HS. I’m just hoping he stays healthy – I think they’re asking a lot of a guy who hasn’t had a full season since 2012.

Ben: Keith, any thoughts on how MLB is handling the Jung Ho Kang Rape allegation?
Klaw: I don’t know anything about how they’re handling it – do you? We’ll see what comes out of it and how the league and team react.

Dave in Irvine: Royce Lewis. Is he probably drafted in the top half of the first round pick next June, the lower half of first round pick next June, or is going to end up at UC Irvine due to his advisor (Boras) thinking he could go higher in the draft in three years?
Klaw: I think he’s a first rounder right now, but wouldn’t get more specific than that. Remember Daz Cameron was a first-rounder, not a top 10 talent, but ended up with top ten money as a later pick.

Daniel Wexler: Keith, a prominent MLB pitcher voiced being pretty salty about being left off of prospect lists and critical analysis as a HS player/minor leaguer. What is your take on this? Have current/ex-players ever contacted you in regard to their displeasure with things you have said/written?
Klaw: A few, but the majority understand that what I do is not that dissimilar to what scouts do, and that a ranking or an evaluation is inherently impersonal. The players who do speak up about it tend to be immature, failing to understand that they are being evaluated all the time by lots of people they never see.

JB: A colleague of yours at ESPN wrote an article this week about each team’s “most untouchable players.” And while he limited it to minor league players for contending teams, he listed Bickford as the Giants untouchable player. Sorry for the roundabout way of asking, but does Bickford have any real trade value to headline a deal for a mid-level starter or corner outfielder for the Giants? Between the velocity drop and his issues in college, I don’t see him being very highly sought after
Klaw: That’s just wrong. I know from other teams that Bickford’s available right now.

JD: Have you gotten a chance to read Lila yet? Obama’s speech last night reminded me of Marilynne Robinson, with its quiet, homegrown patriotism and faith in humanity — I see why he has such an affinity for her. And Lila may be the best of the trilogy, IMO — looking forward to your review.
Klaw: I did and didn’t like it – worst of the trilogy IMO. Robinson’s prose is such a joy but she lost that in Lila’s voice.

Patrick: Keith, finding my balance with a Brewers question. Moving two former SP’s down to AA from Colorado Springs–smart move to help them mentally? Or false reinforcement for facing lower-quality hitters than they were facing in the bigs?
Klaw: Smart move. I said on Twitter to Tom Haudricourt that I bet they’ll reconsider sending top pitching prospects to Colorado Springs going forward.

Brad: Gleyber, Mateo, Judge, McKinney, Severino for Sale. Who says no?
Klaw: I hate these fake trade proposals in general, but why on earth would the Yankees do that?

Marco: Velocity is definitely an indicator of success for pitchers, however….while guys are running it up there 95-100, it seems the best guys, the ones who last a long time and provide a steady level of excellence, sit around 90-93 and ramp it up when they need it. Of course, they also have great command of many different pitches. Shouldn’t that tell teams that big strong oxes are great, but they need to spend more time evaluating the pitchability of guys, since there is already a glut of middle relievers with great arms, but not enough starters who can actually pitch?
Klaw: I think the missing variable in your statement is that guys who throw 95-100 can be extremely effective in short periods of time. They don’t last, but while they’re around, they tend to be really good. So if you’re focused on winning now, you don’t mind investing in assets like that. If you’re thinking long-term, then yes, maybe look at guys who aren’t blowing gas all the time, or who aren’t pitching at 100% effort, because it seems more and more like the hardest throwers are at the highest risk of injury.

Daniek: I saw your recent chat comments on Chris Shaw after he was promoted to Richmond. Want to know if you also paid much attention to Hinojosa and/or Duggar – two underperforming college players who’ve had early success and were promoted at the same time. Anything stand out or catch your eye?
Klaw: Not a big believer in any of those three.

Adam: So from what I gather…..Demerritte has Joey Gallo’s swing and miss without his power?
Klaw: No one has Gallo’s power. Demeritte has probably 70 power, and he can play second which Gallo could not.

Kurts: In a top 200 prospect list, off the top of your, about where would Szapucki rank?
Klaw: He’s probably going to end up on the top 100 this winter although I haven’t done any real work beyond the top 50 or so yet.

Alan: Can Dustin Peterson be an every day LF for Atlanta? He’s still just 21, hitting .293/.352/.442 at Double A in a pitcher’s league.
Klaw: I think he can hit. I don’t know if he’ll have quite enough power for everyday in LF but he’s good enough to give him that opportunity. Maybe he’s a high-doubles 15 HR guy who has a high enough OBP to make it all add up to regular status.

Jack: Has Lance McCullers’ dominance of late made you change your mind about the possibilities of him as a starter?
Klaw: No because it was never about his stuff, ever. People who think that was my concern on him either never read what I said or just made shit up.

Doug: Since he wasn’t worth a mention in you’re Upton trade write-up, did Padres pay too much of Uptons contract for Hansel?
Klaw: I thought so. Hansel’s 89-95, below average secondary stuff, good delivery, looks like a starter.

Drew: With Corey Ray’s recent struggles in Hi-A, how do you rank Ray, Senzel, Collins, and Groome for fantasy purposes?
Klaw: Probably right in that order top to bottom. Ray and Collins went right to high-A which is pretty unusual for college guys right out of the draft.

Jesse B: Strahm, Russell, and Blewett. Who looks the best? Who’s got the most upside?
Klaw: Strahm looks the best. I’ve heard Russell’s looked awful and Blewett not very good.

Nick L: Does Oscar De La Cruz have TOR upside? Your protege Eric L over at Fangraphs says future reliever, while some others have talked about a possible ace.
Klaw: Definitely not possible ace. Some starter potential. I’m more in line with Eric than the wishcasters who think he’s a top of the rotation guy.

Scherzer’s Blue Eye: Can you please inform people why don’t trade the #1/#2 prospect in all of baseball for a closer? Thank you, kind sir.
Klaw: If the Nats trade Giolito for a reliever when they already have a reliever of that caliber in Reynaldo Lopez they have lost their damn minds.

Ryan: How likely is it that Atlanta’s rebuild ends in disappointment, seeing that their #1 prospect has a limited ceiling, and all of the pitching prospects have some questions regarding either health or walk rates?
Klaw: Do you complain about the air pressure on a cloudless 78 degree day? Jeez.

Mike: Is Jahmai Jones MLB regular good, or are Angels fans just clinging to any prospect who might be even MLB worthy as a reserve?
Klaw: More than that. Potential star.

Josh in Vt.: Thank you for not sticking to baseball! Your recommendation of “Undeniable” is one everyone living in the real world should follow. Nye doing his own narration of the audiobook adds his incredible passion to the words.
Klaw: You’re welcome and I totally agree. Listening to Dan Barber’s The Third Plate now, also narrated by the author, which is definitely to the good.

Tom: Why is Jose Berrios still in AAA? Duffey was destroyed by Atlanta last night while Berrios had another QS in AAA.
Klaw: I don’t know. Their handling of Berrios has been baffling. Their handling of Buxton has been baffling. They are baffling.

Lyle: In 2015 under JackZ the Mariners farm system had a universally terrible year both in terms of team performances and individual performances (with maybe a couple exceptions). In 2016 under JerryD, the Mariners farm system is putting out playoff teams at virtually every level with a few pretty solid individual performances as well. So my question: how much of this attributable to the change in administration (including the difference in philosophy of promotion) and how much is attributable to just the randomness of a new year? (Feel free to expand as necessary.)
Klaw: The farm system isn’t that much better or even different than last year so I’d say it’s mostly randomness.

Tyler: Have you started The Night Of? I really like it so far through 3 epiosdes.
Klaw: Yep, I think it’s outstanding. I could do without the eczema storyline because it seems irrelevant and frankly doesn’t play well as humor. (I know it’s adapted from a UK series and the storyline was in the original.)

Mike Sixel: Would you rather have Kyle Gibson or Shelby Miller going forward?
Klaw: Miller. I’d absolutely see if the Dbacks would sell low on him now, try to reestablish his 2015 delivery, and recapture his value.

Anonymous: Hey Keith. I know you listed a while back an acronym to deal with anxiety/depression. (Involving a routine and medication if I remember correctly.) Would you mind sharing that again? Thanks.
Klaw: EMMET: Exercise, Meditation, Medication, Eating, Therapy. That’s not in order – therapy might be the most important of the five – but TEMEM doesn’t have the same ring to it.

Judlow: Thoughts on story Eireann Dolan posted re: brother? For dad like me of young autistic son, emotional roller coaster.
Klaw: I retweeted it because it was a great story, well written, and highly relevant with the Republican candidate for President finding it appropriate to mock a disabled person.

TJ: Am I the only person who loves seeing someone not on the top prospect lists make it and become an outstanding MLB player? Not because I like to see the experts look bad, but because it shows to other players not on those lists that it can be done…
Klaw: You’re not the only one. Seeing a low draft pick or Latin kid who signed for peanuts become a star is one of the joys of this business. You’re watching some 8-year-old’s backyard dream come true.

Drew: What kind of ceiling do you put on Delvin Perez?
Klaw: If the makeup improves he’s a potential All-Star. Defense, speed, we think some power, maybe not much OBP.

Raphael: How exactly did Mookie Betts end up being a fifth rounder? What’s changed for him since he was drafted?
Klaw: Multi-sport guy without a ton of baseball experience or present skills at the time of the draft. Great job by Red Sox scout Danny Watkins to know the kid well enough to say he’d learn quickly once he committed to baseball full-time.

addoeh: Your thoughts on Tim Kaine? He seems smart, reasonable, experienced, without any big controversy. Should he be at the top of the ticket?
Klaw: I just wondered how anyone smart, reasonable, experienced, and without any big controversy has lasted this long in politics.

Carl: Austin Riley has improved in recent months since the bad start. When you’re a guy that doesn’t have much bat speed, what are some ways to fix that? It can’t just a death sentence to a career, right?
Klaw: Don’t see a lot of guys with slider bat speed in the big leagues. I’d say you’re hoping that I’m wrong about him, not that his bat speed will suddenly improve.

Tom: Christin Stewart seems ready for a new challenge, any reason he’s still in A+?
Klaw: I’m not sure as most of the other high 2015 draft picks from college are in AA or higher already.

John: Do you think we could see Randy Arozarena in top 100 in near future (next preseason)?
Klaw: Next year? No.

Brandon: Is Brevard a better placement for Erceg? SSS and all, but he commented that he didn’t feel challenged in rookie ball.
Klaw: Yes, I think so. College product. Yes, NAIA, but still, college product, too old for rookie ball.

Ben: Saw you dig the new Jeff Beck tune. Who are some of your favorite guitar players?
Klaw: I’m all over the place. Beck, Page, Vai, Hendrix, and of course Prince.

Zac: Manuel Margot. Do you see him growing in to some home run power? I know i’m scouting the stats, but he only has 4 HR in the hitter friendly PCL (albeit with 10 triples which is amazing).
Klaw: No, not particularly, but I don’t think he’ll need HR to be valuable.

Andrew: Are you still as high on Brendan Rodgers as you were at the beginning of the season? Seems as though he has been struggling for Asheville as of late.
Klaw: He hasn’t played as well since the hamstring injury. I don’t think his outlook has changed.

Tony H: I know you said you saw Lynchburg recently. I’m curious what you thought of Yu-Cheng Chang and Francisco Mejia
Klaw: Mejia didn’t play; he was sick. Chang was a little disappointing at the plate.

Drew: Do you see Alec Mills’ stuff playing up in relief, or is he still on track to be a solid #4 starter?
Klaw: I didn’t have him on track to be a 4.

Pat: What is your preferred exercise for both keeping depression at bay, and generally staying in shape?
Klaw: Anything works for the brain. You just need to exercise to produce more endorphins and norepinephrine, both of which may improve mood.

Peet: What happened with Szapucky that he went from 149th pick to possible top-100 prospect in a year?
Klaw: Pitchers, dude.

bo: If Hillary Clinton were a man, she’d be up 20 points on The Donald right now, no?
Klaw: Probably. She’s not exactly problem-free as a candidate, though. She’s just running against the favorite of the Aryan Nations crowd.

Tom: As someone who works in the area of criminal law, the statistics (which I sadly don’t have at my disposal) are pretty clear that the recidivism rate for someone who commits a violent crime of the sort that Aroldis Chapman did and then is subsequently not punished are very high.
Klaw: Right, and my understanding from psychology research is that it’s even worse for sexual assault, which may be the result of a paraphilia for violence or coercion. But hey, he throws hard, so let him play!

Nick: Alex Reyes would be devastating in the bullpen right now correct? What is the holdup, the wildcard race will likely come down to 1 or 2 games
Klaw: Sounds like they think they might need him to start. I worry about the third pitch with him but his FB/CH might just be so good he can turn a lineup over twice anyway.

Sam: If Gary gains momentum and gets into the debates, would you consider voting for him? Frankly, I think Hillary wins no matter what, but I personally will vote Gary because I’m somewhat sick of the two party system and its movements towards the extremes
Klaw: I would have gladly voted Johnson in most years, but I’m specifically voting against Trump this year, which means voting HRC, even though in my state it’s essentially meaningless. I’ve never been one to claim that the country was in great peril if so-and-so didn’t win – we survived 8 years of Bush and 8 years of Obama and whatever you think of them the two couldn’t be more different – but this time I think the possibility of disaster (if Trump wins) is very real. And I won’t sit idly by and watch it happen without doing whatever little I can.

John: Can the Phillies get a prospect that will have more value than the potential draft pick they’d get for not trading Hellickson? Thanks.
Klaw: I would be afraid he’d take the QO. He’s not getting $16 million a year in free agency.

sean: O’s got anyone in their system that can help this year? Looking pretty thin (thanks Obama!).
Klaw: Don’t think so. Love Sisco, not a position where they need the help. Everyone else of note is farther away.

John: Is Blake Rutherford a GUY or just a guy?
Klaw: He’s a GUY.

Bob: I’m a guitar player who does not have a fraction of Prince’s talent, but I don’t think he’s the guitar player some give him credit for. He is flashy and has incredible speed but his solos are a bunch of intense bursts searching in vain for a cohesive musicality.
Klaw: Oh, I think he could do things with the instrument others couldn’t. The outro to “I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man” isn’t a function of technical virtuosity, but it’s more compelling than any of the shredding he did on other tracks.

Theo: Isn’t it likely that Gleyber is the #1 prospect in baseball soon? Seems like a steal for the Yankees even without the filler prospects.
Klaw: Likely? No.

Pete: How does Michael Fulmer compare to the up and coming prospects (Glasnow, Giolito, Urias) is his ceiling high enough to be considered as valuable?
Klaw: I’m a big Fulmer fan and he’s probably worth more right now than those three because he’s had 100 successful big-league innings, but bear in mind the .252 BABIP is probably not predictive.

Dave: Cleveland is looking at the Twins Nunez. Would Mike Clevinger be enough for him? Probably a low floor but should be a starter with 6 years of control. Twins need pitching and we won’t miss him.
Klaw: All-Star Eduardo Nunez! … who is hitting .269/.295/.394 since june 1st, because he’s not very good and my word he cannot play shortstop. Take whatever you can get.

Ian: It’s horrible but why can’t Theo simply say that he got Chapman b/c if the Cubs win the World Series it will put him in the HOF and immortalize him among front office names. It’s likely that Chapman can stay on the straight and narrow for a few more months and then he is someone else’s problem.
Klaw: We need a sea change in how executives and managers discuss players with DV incidents behind them. Even well-intentioned folks seem to struggle with how to talk about the players and the accusations. I’d much rather see people be more forthright: “We’re aware of the accusations that Aroldis Chapman hit his girlfriend and fired a gun into his garage wall. We as an organization do not condone this behavior in any fashion and we have made it clear to Aroldis that we will have zero tolerance for it while he is playing for us. We believe he can help us win a World Series, which is our goal here in Chicago and the main interest of all of our fans, but want to be clear that this in no way condones what Aroldis did. We will be working with such-and-such shelter for victims of domestic abuse, both financially and with our time, to reinforce our commitment to these ideals.” Maybe that’s not ideal but I think it stops dancing around the subject.

Frank: When do we shift our expectations for what Buxton will be? Which isn’t a way of saying we should now, but rather, how many more seasons like this before we settle on “rich man’s Rajai Davis”; 2? 3?
Klaw: I’d like to see him get an opportunity to play in another regime, in Minnesota or elsewhere, before I walk away from the immense natural talent here.

Marcus: So is Demeritte now the Braves’ best chance at producing a legit power bat? And can he challenge Albies for the 2B job?
Klaw: Albies is a much better prospect and is closer to the majors, but if he doesn’t work out for whatever reason, at least now there’s someone behind him with potential. And if Demeritte can cut his K rate to maybe 25% (a LONG way from where he is now), his bat would play anywhere.

Scott: Do you think there has been improvement in curbing antiobiotic use for meat production, or is it still as bad as its always been?
Klaw: I think we’re seeing improvement in the west but not globally.

Cole: Do you think there will be a time where we go back to seeing relievers throwing more than 100 innings a season? Even pushing upwards of 120-130 innnings? or is that just overworking them at that point?
Klaw: It’s not overworking them if they’re going 2-3 innings an outing and getting 2-3 days of rest between. But that’s a different pitching paradigm than the one under which we’re operating now.

X: Most of the best guitar players probably play death metal which none of us really want to listen to.
Klaw: I listen to quite a bit of it; those guitar players might be the fastest, but that’s not always the best.

Johnny: I’ve seen you refer to Richard Russo books in other reviews, but I don’t recall you reviewing his books. Which are your favorites?
Klaw: I’ve reviewed them all on the dish. Empire Falls, Straight Man, Nobody’s Fool, and The Risk Pool are all wonderful. I haven’t read Everybody’s Fool yet.

Nick: any thoughts on Brady McConnell at the UA game?
Klaw: Didn’t like his swing, late trigger. Flew out to right and then struck out on a fastball up.

Nick: Rangers have interest in Velasquez – is there any incentive for the Phillies to trade him other than being blown away by an offer?
Klaw: Yes, because he has literally no history of staying healthy.

Ken T: Late to the chat today and I just saw your comment about the best guitar players. Your list was good, but how could you leave off Eric Clapton? I’ve heard him in concert and left knowing I could just listen to him play for hours on end.
Klaw: I’ve just never particularly liked his output post-Cream.

Marshall: Daniel Palka…any chance of being even a solid starting big leaguer, or just a 4-A type of player?
Klaw: I think he’s an up and down guy or bench player.

George: Derek Hill has been healthy and has put together a season that has been a huge improvement over the previous two. Is he figuring out how to hit at the professional level, or is his improvement more due to being healthy? Also, can we expect him to advance rather quickly toward Detroit if he continues to hit, since his glove is already big league quality?
Klaw: He hasn’t, though; his season looks a lot like 2015’s, and after a little streak of success in June he’s reverted to not getting on base and of course isn’t showing power. I don’t know that he’s made any progress at all this year, and that’s unfortunate because I like his swing a lot and as you said he’s a legit CF.

sean: Remember when Adam Eaton stabbed himself in the stomach opening a copy of Happy Gilmore? Is that, or Glenallen Hill falling down the stairs running away from dream spiders, the weirdest baseball player injury?
Klaw: Didn’t Rich Gossage throw out his back sneezing? And I remember something about Kevin Appier having a weird reason for the fall that injured his shoulder.

Nick: Is the price being paid for relievers a market inefficiency? It seems fairly easy to create good relievers with failed starters and then flip them 2-3 years later for good prospects?
Klaw: I guess the counterargument would be that teams like the Cubs or Nats need those guys NOW and can’t wait the 2-3 years. You pay the farmer in June for the strawberries he planted in April.

Marshall: Debates about “best guitar” player are always entirely subjective. Is anyone going to claim that Yngwie Malmsteen is the best guitar player ever because he could play really fast and technically perfect?
Klaw: George Lynch is kind of pissed you went Yngwie instead of him.

Mike: Jorge Mateo ends up at short or 2nd base?
Klaw: I think the bigger question is how much he’ll hit.

Jon: Any chance we see Jorge Alfaro in the majors this year?
Klaw: I think so since he’s already on the 40-man.

Ron: How much do you think Brunansky and/or Molitor have screwed up Sano and Buxton at the plate. Just leave them alone to get comfortable in their own way. It looks like Sano has regressed this year. Seems like all their rookies have a better track record in the minors and then lose it at the Major league level. Is it the coaching at the MLB level? I hope they leave Kepler alone and just let him develop. Mauers toast.
Klaw: Yes, I think it’s the coaching staff, which is yet another reason I don’t like the owner saying Molitor etc were staying. If the new GM walks in and says, hey, these guys are actively hurting our organization by mishandling players, then you freaking fire them.

Derek: Any thoughts about why Giolito didn’t miss many bats in his 11 inning MLB stint?
Klaw: It’s 11 innings.

Jon: I am thinking about making Thanksgiving dinner for my extended family this year. How difficult (and how many days of prep) is it to pull off the entire meal?
Klaw: I’ve done this many times. I usually start stuff on Monday, do the majority of the prep and cooking Wednesday, and set it up so that I’m not doing much on Thursday other than the final cooking and reheating. Then I take a nap.

Steve: 30 year old investing for retirement. Best best is just indexing funds with a mix between a US Stock market tracking, Int’l market tracking, and a broad bond fund? Weighted more toward the equity funds for now and shifting over time towards bond fund?
Klaw: I’ve always gone with index funds because that’s what all the research says to do. Paying anyone to pick stocks or funds for you is just money down the toilet because no one seems to be able to beat the market consistently. (I suppose if you’re very wealthy and have access to private equity investments or arbitrageurs that may not be true.)

Miguel: I respect your stance on DV. Do you think that it precludes you from realistically worjking in a front office again? You are essentially enforcing a lifetime ban for an accusation, no less a conviction.
Klaw: One, I don’t care if it precludes me from anything. Two, I’m not enforcing a “ban” by saying I wouldn’t sign such a player. I don’t smoke; that isn’t enforcing a ban on tobacco.

Cole: Do you think AJ Reed has quick enough hands to be successful at the MLB level?
Klaw: It’s a concern. I think he can do enough else that it won’t matter, but it is his one real weakness at the plate.

JDinHtown: Francis Martes, still a potential #2 starter or has his up and down year dropped him in your estimation. Still pretty young for AA.
Klaw: Don’t think it’s changed the evaluation other than that he might be further away from MLB value than I thought.

sean: What about that guy that made his guitar talk? His guitar SPOKE ENGLISH!!!
Klaw: wasn’t that Steve Vai?

Joe: Remember when you said Trevor Bauer would be better than Gerrit Cole? You stink. Oh wait, that was just everyone scouting the UCLA stats, my bad.
Klaw: People got angry over that one.

Danny: People vote based on emotion and their money. If wages don’t jump significantly over the next few months and ISIS keeps attacking people, we are going to have President Trump…..meaning, we are going to have President Trump, and the only people to blame for it are Obama and Hillary who messed up the middle east so much that Trump could create that fear among the masses.
Klaw: I agree with the first half of your statement, but US policy in the Middle East has been bad for probably 40-plus years now. And the invasion of Iraq in particular has been a giant fiasco for us across the board, financially and politically, and probably contributed to our unwillingness to act quickly in Syria. I’m nowhere close to an expert on this stuff but pinning our Middle East failures on the last 8 years seems awfully shortsighted.

Kyle: Any chance Heyward becomes a defensive replacement in Sept / Oct if he can’t manage to show some signs of life at the plate? If you have him and Montero / Ross + a pitcher in the lineup that’s three free outs.
Klaw: I don’t know if they’d do it but if he can’t start to drive the ball at all they should consider it.

Zapp: Would you say Profar is fully back? Obviously he missed two years of development, but did all the tools survive the injuries?
Klaw: The bat is certainly still there, although playing inconsistently isn’t helping.

Darryl: Is Bruce still on the Reds come next Tuesday?
Klaw: I can’t imagine he is. That would be a failure.

Johnny: If Tim Raines gets into the Hall next year, who is the #1 injustice among those not in the HOF?
Klaw: Lou Whitaker. Raines had better get in though.

Jason: Do you get extra enjoyment when you are more right about a prospect then any of your fellow prospect writers?
Klaw: Nah, guys like Callis and Mayo and Longenhagen are my friends and we all know we’ll get some guys right and some guys wrong.

Fito: Does Isan Diaz have all star potential?
Klaw: Best case scenario, sure. Not his most likely outcome.

Dallas Comegys: Apologies. It’s only 26 games and he’s older than the competition but Cody Thomas has 8d, 2t, 10hr plus at BP there is video of him beating out a routine GB to SS. Have you heard anything new about him since this performance. The lack of prior playing experience makes me ask the question despite the caveats
Klaw: He’s 21 in short season. Ignore it.

Alex: What are your thoughts on Ronald Guzman-could he be something special? Seems to be having a breakout year
Klaw: He is, now that he’s healthy, and apparently he’s developed some real patience at the plate too. Good chance for an everyday 1b, maybe a very good one.

Anonymous: What is your scouting report on Thomas Szapucki?
Klaw: He’s 92-96 with a plus curveball. I’m glad they started him off slowly but if he keeps missing bats like this they’ll have to move him up to challenge him and develop his command.

YMan: Have you watched Dylan Cease pitch in person this year? Reports are he’s lighting up the radar gun, but without much control. Do you have a sense on his realistic potential now that he’s pitching again?
Klaw: I haven’t in part because he’s hurt again.

Jason: Should I be down on Glasnow after his first 2 starts?
Klaw: You shouldn’t be down on any prospect after two starts, because it’s two starts.

Klaw: That’s all for this week – thank you as always for all of your questions and for reading. I’ll be in Bristol on Monday for the trade deadline TV special. There may not be a chat next week but if there is I’ll post it on Twitter and Facebook. Thanks again.

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→ July 24, 2016
→ By

Monteverde Chicago.

Fellow Top Chef fans will remember Sarah Grueneberg from season 9, where she was the runner-up to Paul Qui, who dominated the season like few other contestants have done, overshadowing her own skill set – especially when it came to fresh pastas. Chef Grueneberg left Chicago’s Spiaggia about a year ago to open her own place, Monteverde, in Chicago’s West Loop, and I finally got to try it out Friday night (and chat with Sarah herself) while in town for the Under Armour game. It could not have been any more impressive, not just for the pasta but for the quality of everything that went on every plate.

The menu is short but covers a lot of ground, from small plates to a half dozen pastas (three traditional dishes and three of their own creation) to a few substantial mains, and they accommodated me as a solo diner with some smaller portions so I could try more things. I started with the fiore di zucca, fried squash blossoms, a special right now since they’re in season and a very traditional Italian delicacy. The squash blossoms are extremely delicate and usually must be cooked within a day of their harvest; they’re stuffed with ricotta, battered, and fried, in this case with a tempura-like coating and served with a grilled vegetable relish and bright pea hummus underneath it. One was plenty – they’re so rich – but a plate typically contains three for the table. I rarely get to eat these so there was no question I was ordering it, and it met expectations largely because of the ricotta. I assume Monteverde makes their own but if not they’re using some of the best around because the texture is just perfect.

The single best dish I had on the night was the tomato salad, which is Monteverde’s riff on an insalata caprese, here using several kinds of tomatoes, some whole and some blanched and salted; apricot slices; burrata, which is mozzarella wrapped around a filling of cream that was decadent; basil; and za’atar seasoning. The tomatoes were singing – bright, sweet, just a hint of acidity, like they’d been picked an hour before. The best restaurants I’ve ever been to around the U.S. have all had one thing in common: they care about produce enough to get items like these tomatoes. And yes, the burrata was incredible, but it ended up playing second fiddle to the tomatoes.

That salad is one of the piattini or small plates on the menu, along with two other items I tried. The grilled artichoke crostini comes with fontina fonduta (fontina cheese melted with milk and/or cream and Parmiggiano Reggiano to make it into a sauce), more ricotta, a sweet Italian onion called cipolla di tropea, and shaved summer truffle. I had just one piece but the balance was perfect across the various elements because I could still appreciate the quality of the bread underneath, which had a creamy texture on the interior but the hard crust of good old-world recipes.

The other small plate I tried, specifically at Chef Sarah’s suggestion, was the fegattini calabrese, wok-fired chicken livers – yes, wok-fired – with tomato, peperoncino, corn, fava beans, shallot, and polenta ‘fries’ around the outside. Sarah said customers compare it to an upscale chicken parmesan, which fits with the tomato/chicken combination, but I also found it reminded me of the Ecuadorian dish lomo saltado, where steak is served in a stir-fried dish with French fries cooked in the same pot or skillet. It’s a true one-pot meal, with your protein, starch, and lots of vegetables within it, hearty like a winter stew, bringing richness from the livers and unexpected sweetness from the corn and the polenta.

Chicken livers with tomato, shallot, fava beans, corn, and polenta "fries" at @monteverdechi

A photo posted by Keith Law (@mrkeithlaw) on

Choosing one pasta dish at a restaurant known already for its pastas was not simple, but sitting at the bar I could see the two chefs making the pasta dishes to order, including the “twin” ravioli, where each piece contains two pockets with fillings, one with eggplant, pinenuts, and more ricotta, the other with lamb sausage, yogurt (very little), and charred onion. They’re served in a piquant red sauce with olive oil and a crushed pepper mix, although there’s just enough sauce to coat the top of the dumplings. The pasta itself remains the focus of the dish, as it’s an incredibly strong dough (they use whole eggs and egg yolks) that the pasta chefs roll out very thin for the dumplings; I’ve made pasta at home a bunch and I doubt I’ve gotten close to this kind of dough strength before, because if I rolled anything that thin it would tear. Of the two fillings, I preferred the lamb sausage and onion, which sort of gave the dish an inside-out pasta and meatballs connotation.

I tweeted some pics while I was at the restaurant and several of you said I had to try the cannoli (but to leave the gun). Monteverde makes its cannolis in-house and fills them to order with sweetened ricotta, dipping one end in dark chocolate bits and the other in bright-green Sicilian pistachios, with a painted swipe of chocolate sauce and some bitter orange bits (candied, I think) on the plate. I grew up strongly disliking cannolis, because most Italian bakeries on Long Island didn’t make their own shells, which meant they had all the texture and flavor of fried wonton strips, and used lower-quality ricotta that gave the filling a cheesy flavor rather than a sweet one. Monteverde does it all from scratch and it shows, and the part with the chocolate bits brought me back to eating straciatella (chocolate chip) gelato in my last trip to Italy in 1999.

Ricotta cannoli with pistachios on one end and dark chocolate on the other @monteverdechi

A photo posted by Keith Law (@mrkeithlaw) on

As you’d expect Monteverde has a long wine list, but I’m not much of an oenophile and went for their cocktail menu instead. They do a take on one of my all-time favorite cocktails, the negroni, using mezcal in place of the gin and Luxardo bitter in place of traditional Campari (although Luxardo and Campari are very similar, with Luxardo bringing a more bitter and less sweet profile). It was a good way to riff on a classic, preserving the essential features, with the bitter flavors out front, with a subtle change underneath I doubt I would have identified as mezcal if I hadn’t known ahead of time.

So, I had a pretty good meal at Monteverde and while I did receive some special treatment I would have said the same things about the food anyway. I can’t imagine anyone who enjoys high-quality food, let alone high-quality Italian food, walking away unsatisfied. There’s enough diversity on the menu for just about anybody (I think you could be gluten-free here pretty easily, in fact) and every dish I had was just one bright flavor after another. I’ll certainly be going back.

The rest of my trip to Chicago featured places I’ve been before; I had coffee at Intelligentsia, as I always do when I’m in Chicago, and then stopped the Tortas Frontera location at O’Hare on my rebooked flight out (my original flight on Southwest out of Midway was cancelled). Frontera is one of the best airport food options in the country, with tortas, a pressed Mexican sandwich on spongy telera bread, made to order inside of ten minutes. I tried a new option this time, the vegetarian torta with mushrooms, black beans, arugula, and goat cheese, because I had to atone for my gluttony the night before. I’ve never had a bad sandwich at Tortas Frontera but I do find their sandwiches with meat a little heavy, whereas this turned out to be just right, especially since my flight was delayed over two hours by thunderstorms and I was on the plane for close to five hours in total.

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→ July 23, 2016
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Stick to baseball, 7/22/16.

My one Insider piece this week ranked the top five farm systems in baseball, a list that may look different by August 2nd. I also held a Klawchat on Thursday, and reviewed the reissue of the boardgame Agricola for Paste.

And now, the links…

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→ July 22, 2016
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Infinitesimal.

Amir Alexander’s Infinitesimal: How a Dangerous Mathematical Theory Shaped the Modern World is less a history of math (although there is quite a bit) than a history of the people and institutions who fought a protracted philosophical battle over something we now consider a trivial bit of precalculus. The idea of infinitesimals, at the time of their development called “indivisibles,” sparked vociferous opposition from the supposedly progressive Jesuits in the 1600s, becoming part of their vendetta against Galileo, leading to banishments and other sentences against Italian mathematicians, and eventually pushing the progress of math itself from Italy out to Germany, England, and the Netherlands.

If you’ve taken calculus at any point, then you’ve encountered infinitesimals, which first appeared in the work of the Greek mathematician Archimedes (the “eureka!” guy). These mathematical quantities are so small that they can’t be measured, but their size is still not quite zero, because you can add up a quantity (or an infinity) of infinitesimals and get a concrete nonzero result. Alexander’s book tells the history of infinitesimals from the ancient Greeks through the philosophical war in Italy between the Jesuits, who opposed the concept of indivisibles as heretical, and the Jesuats, a rival religious order founded in Siena that included several mathematicians of the era who published on the theory of indivisibles, including Bonaventura Cavalieri. When the Jesuits won this battle via politicking within the Catholic hierarchy, the Jesuats were forced to disband, and the work involved in infinitesimals shifted to England, where Alexander describes a second battle, between Thomas Hobbes (yep, the Leviathan guy) and John Wallis, the latter of whom used infinitesimals and some novel work with infinite series in pushing an inductive approach to mathematics and to disprove Hobbes’ assertion that he had solved the problem of squaring the circle.

Wallis’ work with infinitesimals extended beyond the controversy with Hobbes into the immediate precursors of the calculus developed by Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz, including methods of calculating the area under a curve using these infinitesimals (which Wallis described as width-less parallelograms). Alexander stops short of that work, however, choosing instead to spend the book’s 300 pages on the two philosophical battles, first in Italy and then in England, that came before infinitesimals gained acceptance in the mathematical world and well before Newton or Leibniz entered the picture. Hobbes was wrong – the ancient problem of squaring the circle, which means drawing a square using only a straightedge and compass that has the same area as that of a given circle, is insoluble because the mathematical solution requires the square root of pi, and you can’t draw that. The impossibility of this solution wasn’t proven until 1882, two hundred years after Hobbes’ death, but the philosopher was convinced he’d solved it, which allowed Wallis to tear Hobbes apart in their back-and-forth and, along with some of his own politicking, gave Wallis and the infinitesimals the victory in mathematical circles as well.

Alexander tells a good story here, but doesn’t get far enough into the math for my tastes. The best passage in the book is the description of Hobbes’ work, including the summary of the political philosophy of Leviathan, a sort of utopian autocracy where the will of the sovereign is the will of all of the people, and the sovereign thus rules by acclamation of the populace rather than heredity or divine right. (I was supposed to read Leviathan in college but found the prose excruciating and gave up, so this was all rather new to me.) But Alexander skimps on the historical importance of infinitesimals, devoting just a six-page epilogue to what happened after Wallis won the debate. You can’t have integral calculus without infinitesimals, and calculus is kind of important, but none of its early history appears here, even though there’s a direct line from Wallis to Newton. That makes Infinitesimal a truncated read, great for what it covers, but missing the final chapter.

Next up: The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1966.

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→ July 21, 2016
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Klawchat 7/21/16.

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Klaw: The past is gone but something might be found to take its place: Klawchat.

Brian: Can you think of a player that has sustained the type of injury Kyle Lewis did this week and return Ed to form after rehab? Thanks,
Klaw: Off the top of my head, no. I’m afraid in this case that it takes away his chance of staying in CF, which was never a given and now might be close to zero.

Ryan: What do you think of the Cubs trade for Mike Montgomery? Theo seems to think that he is the next great left handed reliever. Your thoughts?
Klaw: I think he’s a great left-handed reliever. I also think Vogelbach had no value to the Cubs but could end up a league-average DH now that he’s in the AL. As much as we’ve all mocked his lack of position and his, uh, physique, he has very real (70 or 80) power and a decent feel to hit.

Bob: Have you had a chance to see Jorge Alfaro this year? Seems like there are some indications that his catching has improved. His offense – at least by OPS – is about as good as it’s ever been too. What do the Phils have there?
Klaw: Yep, the catching has improved, at least according to the scouts I’ve talked to. (I haven’t seen him myself.) And if he stays back there and is even just fringy with the glove he’s got a very good chance to be an above-average regular because I think he’ll be a fairly high BABIP hitter (who never walks) with power.

Brian: Have you been able to see much of Aaron Sanchez? I’m curious if his mechanics have changed sufficiently that your concerns have been mitigated. He has certainly been a delight to watch this season.
Klaw: I discussed him in the top 25 under 25. His mechanics are not very different and I’d still like to see his stride longer for his long-term health. His body, however, is very different and I think that’s the cause of his jump in performance this year.

Jack: Last week you said something like Jose De Leon doesn’t have a strikeout (or swing and miss) weapon. I’m trying to reconcile that observation with the fact that he keeps getting strikeouts. He’s been over 30% K% in both AA and AAA now. He’s got a high minors strikeout pitch that won’t translate? Can you give us some other examples of guys who generated these kinds of strikeout totals in the high minors who couldn’t translate any of that success to MLB?
Klaw: History is littered with guys who had adequate K rates in the minors and couldn’t hold it in the majors. Sean Manaea punched out 146 in 121 innings in his first year in pro ball, but that hasn’t held up. I like De Leon as a prospect but see a limited ceiling because he lacks that out pitch – and you’re not telling me he has an out pitch, or what it is, but are just pointing to a stat line.

Eric: Is it time to move Jake Thompson to the big leagues? Doing really well in AAA
Klaw: I assume he’ll be up shortly. Another guy with good feel to pitch but probably lacking that swing-and-miss weapon.

Von Hayes: Hi Keith, do you believe Yoan Moncada will start next season in the big leagues? Also, what is your major league projection for Bobby Bradley? Can he be similar in production to Chris Carter?
Klaw: I don’t think Moncada will be in the big leagues to start next year nor should he be. Carter is a good comp for Bradley’s ceiling although I don’t think Bradley has that kind of present raw power – you’re projecting on it quite a bit there. I saw Bradley again the other day and his recognition is really poor.

Aaron C.: A’s SS Marcus Semien has worked hard to improve from a horrific defensive player to merely a below-average one. In addition, he’s enjoyed a nice HR spike in his age 25 season. Are these sustainable gains or — to his bat — is he still the same hitter (.307 OBP in 2016) that he’s always been with a sprinkling of fluky power?
Klaw: The defensive gains could be real – we’ve seen a lot of guys improve at the big-league level on defense because they’re getting good coaching for the first time. But the power looks like a stone fluke.

John: Why is Julio Teheran constanly on the trade rumor despite that his GM asserts he won’t be traded.
Klaw: Because writers need to eat.

Alan: I know you’ve said that Atlanta shouldn’t deal Teheran. What am I missing? He’s a pitcher who could fall apart at any point, they won’t be good for a couple years, and he could bring back the type of impact hitter they need. I know he’s cheap, but it seems shortsighted for them to keep him.
Klaw: I don’t agree with the premise. He could fall apart at any point only in the sense that any pitcher could – I don’t see any particular reason why he would. And I don’t know that he brings back the impact hitter they need, not by himself; he’s not getting you Benintendi, for example. He’s good, not great, probably still improving but not as good as his ERA might imply. And I think they need him to be respectable next year in their first year at the Big Con.

Alex: Dakota Hudson seems to have everything a front of the rotation starter needs- do you believe he has that high of a ceiling?
Klaw: He has nothing a front of the rotation starter needs. I’m not even 100% sold he’s a starter, given the delivery. I believe he should start as long as he’s able, because there’s a good chance he’s a mid-rotation guy, but front of the rotation? Top 20 in baseball? I don’t see that at all.

Tony: I’m traveling to Nashville for work in two weeks and staying at the Gaylord Opryland Resort. How effed am I with regards to doing anything interesting without having to spend $30+ for a cab? Based on an old review of yours I stumbled on when looking for restaurant recommendations, it seems like I’m pretty effed
Klaw: Yeah, pretty much. Or rent a car. Might be cheaper. Nashville’s a wonderful city, but the Gaylord is somewhere in the state of Franklin.

Max G.: While I agree with you that the Astros should move Correa to third and put Bregman at short, It isn’t going to happen. Do you think Bregman could handle CF?
Klaw: No. I think he could handle 3b or 2b but really right now he is their best SS option, and they’re going to have to have that conversation with Correa this winter.

Jon: Triston McKensie keeps trucking along with a sub 1.00 ERA. Have you heard anything about his stuff? Making a push to be a top 100 prospect over the winter?
Klaw: Heard he’s the most promising of all the arms on that MV roster but it’s still a lot of projection (meaning stuff to come in the future rather than present).

Eric: I am a fan of the Phillies selling high on their overachiever bullpen guys Gomez, Nerud and maybe Hernandez. But when is the line between getting value for them and holding onto a few so your bullpen isn’t completely decimated? Thanks!
Klaw: Neris is the one to keep, as he’s younger and costs nothing. The other two, ship ’em out, then start trying other arms from within the system to fill the middle relief roles and see who can handle it. Every system has failed starters who could at least find value in the bullpen – even so-so starters like Pinto, Lively, Pivetta could break into the majors in relief, with an eye toward maybe sliding one or more into the rotation next year.

Rickey: What is Ryon Healy’s ceiling and what are reasonable offensive and defensive expectations for A’s fans excited by his first week in Oakland?
Klaw: I think bench guy/below average regular.

Kraig: What is the difference between DJ Peterson this year and last year? His numbers this year are dramatically better.
Klaw: Repeated AA, and wasn’t even that great there. Now he’s in the PCL, which is full of hitters parks, with a .426 BABIP (including HR). You tell me.

Tom: How good is Yulieski Gurriel?
Klaw: I saw him in 2013 and he was awful – out of shape, moving slow, appeared not to have a position. But scouts who saw him last winter and execs who saw him work out this past month raved – body in shape, quick twitch returned, bat speed better, actions in the field better. So he might be a star today who turns into a bench guy by the end of the deal (when he’ll be at least 37).

Munchkin: Dom Smith: are his weight and body type concerning? Some people wonder if that might affect his health, flexibility and durability in the future, while others think that doesn’t matter as long as he keep hitting.
Klaw: I think he’s going to have to work more on his conditioning. He’s a great defensive 1b, but if he puts on 20 pounds he’s going to be a DH. Another reader asked about his recent surge and whether i’d slide him up the rankings (he was #44 last week) – no, although I’m very glad to see his performance, it’s over a fairly small sample and I prefer to see more extended success. The fact that he’s striking out so infrequently is probably the best aspect of this little run he’s on.

Derek: What’s Tohomas Szapucki’s realistic upside? Any chance you’ll be stopping by Bkln to see the loaded Cyclones team?
Klaw: Might be #2 starter upside. Not sure I’ll get up there as I have been spending most of my free time working on my book.

Jay_B: Can you tell us anything about Blackburn and Pries, the two lesser-known pieces of the Cubs-M’s trade?
Klaw: Blackburn’s a command RHP, had projection in HS but stuff never ticked up. Might be a 5th starter, probably less. Pries is an org starter but I wonder if there’s a thought to put him in the pen full-time and see if his fastball ticks up.

Nathan: What else will the new Twins’ GM need to do to right the ship? As a fan, I’m frustrated with the talent failing to develop and I’m wondering where the issue lies and what needs to be done to fix it. But getting a new GM is at least a start if they can hire the right one for the job and not Ryan 2.0
Klaw: They need to build an internal analytics department, first and foremost. You can’t operate in MLB right now unless you have that, if only for competitive intelligence purposes. I also have real questions about the MLB coaching staff, and the owner’s statement that Molitor is the manager next year would really concern me if I were a Twins fan. It’s a great job for someone – good market, great city, fantastic stadium, solid farm system, strong amateur scouting dept – but not if it comes with shackles.

Adam: Could it be argued that the Padres didn’t do enough to mitigate risk in the Pomeranz trade considering the volatility of young arms, especially in a one-for-one deal?
Klaw: I guess, but I don’t think you worry as much about mitigating risk when you’re rolling the dice on someone like Espinoza, who’s about as good an 18-year-old arm as we’ve seen in pro ball in a while.

DH: Boba Fett, sorry, Bo Bichette is off to a good start. You’ve been fairly bullish. What are the skills/results you’ll look for to indicate he’s on track to being the player you think he can be?
Klaw: If he keeps up the contact rate, I’ll be satisfied. But remember his brother, whom I was very down on as a draft prospect (not even on my top 100), had a huge GCL stint, and hasn’t done anything since.

Brett: Does Max Kepler becoming an All Star or even an every day regular help bring MLB popularity to Europe?
Klaw: I certainly hope so. I figure there are probably some good restaurants to check out in Munich.

Larry: When you rank Anderson Espinoza so high in your mid-season rankings, do you feel you accurately account for risk of such a young pitcher? Do you use a statistical model to properly value the risk/reward value?
Klaw: Yes, I feel I do. No, I don’t use a statistical model; such a model would be worthless because of the subjective nature of the inputs. GIGO.

Anonymous: Are you a believer in Verdugo (I do not recall your thoughts previously) and has his performance in AA at 20 solidified or changed your opinion. Is there a chance of All-Star game with him or is best case a first division regular? Thanks too for the board game reviews. My young-ins are thoroughly enjoying multiple suggestions.
Klaw: He was on my top 50 last week.

Ralph: From this year’s draft, who do you see having bigger upside, Josh Lowe or Alex Kiriloff?
Klaw: Kiriloff, although I understand why some people would argue Lowe.

Ralph: Why do you think Bryan Reynolds dropped so far in the draft? Seemed pretty polished for a college bat. Do you think he ends up a major leaguer?
Klaw: Strikeout rate. Has plate discipline, but needs to be more aggressive when ahead in the count. Jeren Kendall is going to face a similar criticism next year but is more athletic overall and I think is a 1-1 candidate.

Andrew: What are the Rangers doing with Profar? He started hot but now it seems like he starts once a week and is otherwise a pinch hitter? Is he good enough to contribute now or just a trade chip not being showcased?
Klaw: I think he’s good enough to play every day, and I assume now that Fielder is out he will do so.

Nick: Did Tyler Naquin show big raw power as a prospect, or is his performance thus far really completely out of nowhere?
Klaw: I think it’s really out of nowhere. Glad they gave him the opportunity, though.

D: I bought your Allen and Ginter card off eBay… Is there somewhere I could send it for you to sign?
Klaw: Yes, to me c/o ESPN, 1 ESPN Plaza, Bristol CT 06010. A couple of people have found my home address and sent something here, but I do ask everyone to respect my family’s privacy and I will not return anything that comes here.

Scrapper: Who says no to Eloy Jiminez straight up for Andrew Miller?
Klaw: I would think the Cubs would.

Scrapper: For those of us who care about things, hate political rhetoric and anti-science jibberish, this last year has been particularly frustrating. Has the last year affected how you view our country?
Klaw: Yes, almost entirely for the worse. I did not think this white-resentment strain of politics would be as popular as it is, but apparently I was quite out of touch.

Hal Steinbrenner: Do you see future stardom out of Ronald Guzman or Tyler O’Neill?
Klaw: More like future everydaydom.

Brian: I was wondering if you might comment on the differences between Joey Gallo and Dylan Cozens? I know people have said that Cozens has massive raw power like Gallo, and I was curious as to what the difference that has you thinking Gallo is at minimum a .230-.240 hitter w/big power and Cozens is something significantly less.
Klaw: Gallo is a way better athlete and a better pure hitter. Cozens’ year is skewed by playing at Reading and he doesn’t hit LHP at all.

Mike: Do you think Tyler Skaggs will pitch well coming back from injury for the Angels?
Klaw: I’m optimistic. Was always a fan, going back to HS, except for the year when he was with Arizona and they decided to screw up his delivery.

Drew: If the Twins called you tomorrow and offered you the GM job would the idea that Molitor can’t be fired be a road block? If you took the job would you trade Joe Mauer for just about anything? One of my favorite Twins but he’s not going to be on the next playoff team and I’d rather see Sano/Park/Vargas/whoever play 1B/DH. If there are no takers, would you cut him loose?
Klaw: Speaking strictly hypothetically – I don’t expect this call and don’t want anyone to think I’m campaigning for any job here – I would say yes, it’s a roadblock, and would want that on the table for discussion. I’d be willing to sit down and make the case for a managerial change, not just that I want to hire my own guy for its own sake. As for Mauer, I think he’d be close to untradeable, I doubt he or ownership would be amenable to a trade, and I don’t know enough about his health to guess what kind of player he’ll be going forward.

John: You listed Matt Strahm as your sleeper in the KC system and he’s doing quite well in Double-A. Potential #3 starter? Or too optimistic?
Klaw: I think I had him as a potential 4, but I wouldn’t argue the point here. Has touched 96, will pitch at average, curve is a potential out pitch and kills LHB.

Jack: What are your thoughts on Giants prospects Austin Slater and Steven Duggar?
Klaw: Both are probably bench guys/4th OFs, although I think Slater could be more if he can make more hard contact. He can hit, but I would bet his exit velocity isn’t very good.

Todd: Do you think we’ll get to see JP Crawford and Nick Williams in Philly this season?
Klaw: Probably both. I would hope this silliness with the AAA manager benching Williams is over now.

David: Cheslor Cuthbert legitimate? Or just a fringe guy?
Klaw: I have always loved his swing. I think he can be an average defender at 3b. But he either has to take a walk or develop some above-average power to be more than a fringe guy. I’d probably still bet on him because I just really like the swing and I think where there’s this kind of feel to hit there’s always hope.

Pete: Would you say that your ceiling has changed at all for Conforto with his recent struggles? Or is it just an injury that is delaying the true breakout?
Klaw: Nothing has changed except that Terry Collins appears to have lost his mind.

Kay: I try not to scout the stat line – but often that’s the only way I can check in on most of these guys. What stats are MOST useful in checking progress of MiLB players?
Klaw: There’s no easy answer to that. It depends a bit on the player’s tools/skills, and also what you might want to see improve. So for Joey Gallo, we know he has power, but we want to see his K% improving. Same for an Aaron Judge. But I mentioned Slater above – his K% is fine, and probably always will be, so for him it’s other things like more extra-base hits or more walks.

JG: In your humble opinion, who’s the best person (keeping Kim Ng in mind) that the Twins could bring in as the GM?
Klaw: Aaron Gleeman mentioned Jason McLeod on Twitter yesterday, and I seconded it. He’s got a good track record of success and has worked in several analytically-minded organizations, so he should be able to come in and help build that department. (I view that as the single most important criterion for the Twins in hiring a new GM. If you can’t build that capability, you can’t be the GM.)

JWR: Are you watching the conventions this year? Why or why not?
Klaw: I never watch that stuff. I’m voting straight-line Democrat this year and I still won’t watch the DNC. Bunch of rah-rah bullshit.

Andy: Strange as it seems, picking up Jean Segura hasn’t been terrible for the D-Backs. He’s walking slightly more than before and looking like an adequate fielding 2B. There’s still major questions about the process in getting him, but he hasn’t been their issue this year.
Klaw: He’s been fine, not great, still not a good leadoff hitter, but they’ve had much bigger problems. The problem was, as you said, the process – they gave up way too much, especially given how bad he’d been the previous two-plus years.

addoeh: Do you think Christopher Correa is the fall guy or did he act alone?
Klaw: I have been surprised all along that he was the only person accused in this, but absent any other evidence how could I claim otherwise?

Ray: Any chance Willie Calhoun can stay at 2B? Can Francisco Mejia be an Impact fantasy catcher down the road?
Klaw: I think Calhoun’s a LF. Can hit, though. Yes on Mejia.

UGW: Erick Fedde is on a heater… 3 ER in his last 38 IP. # 3 starter?
Klaw: Reliever. Lacks a third pitch. Not sold on the delivery.

Jacob: Jose Berrios continues to dominate in AAA. Have you heard any reports of him refining his stuff to allow him more success in the majors?
Klaw: No, sounds like the same guy, too good for AAA, needs to pitch in the majors even if it means struggling now. Gotta learn to get those guys out at some point.

Anonymous: Mandated apparently said they’re looking into limiting the use of relief pitchers somehow (due to speed-of-game and effectiveness concerns). Good idea?
Klaw: I assume that’s Manfred, and I said on the BBTN podcast today I’m not a big fan of changes that materially alter the game on the field for marketing reasons. If teams had to carry fewer active relievers per game, however, that might accomplish the same goal without limits like saying a reliever has to face a minimum of three batters.

Patrick: Keith, I’ve got no place to go, so Klawchat question! For three-year college players, is being assigned to rookie ball seen as a step backwards? Should these players be skilled enough for low or high A immediately?
Klaw: Good three-year college players should be able to go right to low-A after the draft. I understand sometimes players go elsewhere for other reasons (taxes, geography, working with a specific coach), but when they’re placed too low it makes their performance suspect.

Jonah: Have your thoughts changed on Travis Macgregor? Seems to be doing very well in the GCL and making a name for himself
Klaw: He’s thrown 8 innings. What?

Jim: You said earlier this year Beede’s velo was down, is it back? Has Bickford improved the breaking ball?
Klaw: His velo was down because he was throwing sinkers, not four-seamers. He’s throwing the four-seamer again, so the velo is there. Bickford you saw at the Futures Game – his velocity really is down and I don’t think there’s good enough secondaries there. He’s very available in trade.

Jay: Kevin Newman or Gleyber Torres?
Klaw: Newman is the higher probability guy, Torres has much higher upside.

DHS: Wilco is coming out with a new record in September. Are you a fan? If so, your favorite record by them?
Klaw: Nope, sorry.

Matt: I remember you were a fan of Mike Folynewicz when he was coming up. It’s been a rough few years of development, but he looks to have turned a corner of late in terms of harnessing his absurd stuff. Do you think he can be a legit mid-rotation type long term?
Klaw: I think he can be a #2 or better.

Chris S.: Hi Keith, thanks for the weekly chats. Logistics question: with 400k followers on Twitter, how do you keep up? I imagine you get bombarded all day long with a mixture of intelligent discourse and trolling. You’ve responded to me a handful of times and I’m amazed I can get through the chattel. How do you manage it?
Klaw: It’s becoming more and more difficult, but I use the mute and block features there very heavily to try to keep my replies manageable. People who troll or insult me are just wasting my time, and clearing them out makes it more likely I’ll see stuff I really want to see – stuff that’s worth the response, whether it’s there, here, or somewhere else.

Shining Light: Did someone run over your puppy today? Good God you’re in a bad mood.
Klaw: Right, you read a bunch of chat questions and answers and decided what kind of mood I’m in. That’s clever. Go away.

Tony: Forrest Whitley is a big Texas RHP. Build reminds me a little of Tyler Kolek. Is a 3rd starter too much to rely on for Whitley?
Klaw: Built like Kolek, WAY better pitcher today. Kolek was a breaking point for me – I’m done overrating the big kids who throw hard but aren’t much in the way of pitchers. I missed on too many of them over the years and I should have learned my lesson earlier.

Tony Alva, Dogtown, CA: How high could you have seen Brandon McIlwain being drafted if he played his senior baseball season instead of leaving early for Univ. of South Carolina?
Klaw: He was a first-rounder. MLB teams don’t particularly care for that because it doesn’t work.

Tony: Reasonable expectations for Jordan Sheffield?
Klaw: I think he’s a reliever in the long run. Maybe a great one, but short RHP with rough arm action usually ends up in the pen.

Tony: Nolan Jones was high on a lot of draft rankings but then fell pretty far in the draft. Reasonable ceiling for him?
Klaw: Fell only due to money. I think he has star potential.

Tom: Verdugo was your top 50, but there seems to be others who think he’ll end up as a tweener. Can you see that viewpoint at all?
Klaw: No, I can’t.

Oren: Justin Smoak – he’s bad, right?
Klaw: He’s one tick above replacement level. You don’t give that a two-year deal.

Zach: Hey Keith, I used to cover basketball for a living and it’s pretty accepted that teams have access to a lot of sabermetrics that fans/journalists don’t. Do MLB teams also have inside analysis/metrics that greatly differ from what’s available on say, fangraphs? It strikes me that the individual nature of baseball would make the gap between insider/outsider knowledge less pronounced. Thanks, always appreciate the chats.
Klaw: Yes, they do, and they’re not going to tell us about it.

Billy and the Boingers: Favorite Bloom County Character or Storyline?
Klaw: I loved everything with the Banana Jr. 5000.

Cal: Does Nick Gordon still profile as an everyday SS?
Klaw: Yes, I think he does. Probably a solid-average regular or a little better.

BlueInSF: With MLB getting younger generally + the latest knowledge showing that defense and pitching peak much earlier than previously suspected, shouldn’t we logically see the draft shade more towards HS over college prospects?
Klaw: No, because in that case college guys should be able to come quickly to the big leagues. And they have.

Jeff: Cashner for Yohander Mendez and Ronald Guzman…who says no?
Klaw: Rangers would say no. And so would I.

Scherzer’s Blue Eye: How do you differentiate trolling and just good-natured giving you a hard time? (psst…I rely on the latter one)
Klaw: Judgment call, but when in doubt, I mute. Think about how many replies I get – and all the comments/feedback I get through outlets other than Twitter, too. If I don’t attempt to curate, it all becomes useless to me. If I mute someone by mistake, it’s a shame, but it’s probably not doing any significant harm. And I’ve always unblocked people who’ve asked me to.

Glen: Can Gregorius handle 3rd base if/when Mateo is ready?
Klaw: I’m not moving Gregorius for Mateo. Didi’s going to be the better defender.

Klaw: That’s all for this week – thank you as always for reading and for all of your questions. I’ll be at the Under Armour Game at Wrigley on Saturday and hope to see some of you there.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With:
→ July 20, 2016
→ By

The Sellout.

My updated ranking of the top five farm systems right now is up for Insiders.

I first heard about Paul Beatty’s farcical novel The Sellout when looking at predictions of nominees for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, which also led me to Edith Pearlman’s Honeydew … neither of which ended up a finalist for the prize, won by Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer. It did win the National Book Critics Circle award for Fiction, and ended up on several top ten lists for 2015. I’d already picked up Beatty’s book at Changing Hands during one of my trips to Arizona, however, and am glad I found it, because it is absolutely hilarious – offensive by design, taking Zadie Smith’s brand of hysterical realism and distilling it through a filter of American racism to produce a unique work of indignant comedy.

The narrator of Beatty’s book, known only as “Me” in one of many examples of absurdist wordplay in the novel, grows up in the Los Angeles-area town of Dickens, so poor that cartographers prefer to ignore its existence. It’s a segregated, neighborhood originally filled with farms, but the only farm remaining is the one the narrator runs, having inherited it from his militant black atheist sociologist father, who had some rather interesting ideas on child-rearing. (The novel’s satirical strain runs deep; the narrator is raised by a single father, and has no idea who his mother is, eventually finding the woman his father claims gave birth to him only to learn she had no idea what he was talking about.)

After his father is killed by a white policeman – prescient, or merely evergreen? – the narrator embarks on a bizarre quest to reestablish Dickens on the map and improve its lot by reinstating segregation, first on the local bus route and then in the local schools. He even takes a man as a “slave,” although the slave sort of volunteers for the role, doesn’t work, and loves to rant about the lost Little Rascals films in which he appeared. He erects new road signs and paints a literal border on the ground around Dickens, all of which has intended and unintended consequences. Of course, he can only get so far in this effort without running afoul of white authorities, and he ends up facing the Supreme Court – getting high on one of his hilariously named strains of marijuana while waiting in the corridor.

The novel’s best character, however, is Foy Cheshire, the would-be intellectual whose ambition outstrips his abilities, and whose brand of liberation theology involves quixotic endeavors like rewriting classics to improve or star African-American characters, such as The Great Blacksby, Uncle Tom’s CondoThe Point Guard in the Rye. By turns fatuous and pathetic, Foy is part con man, part demagogue, representative of a brand of empty black intellectualism for which Beatty appears to have no use whatsoever.

Beatty doesn’t spare anyone or anything in The Sellout, and that includes many jokes at every race’s expense that, if we’re all being honest here, wouldn’t see the light of day if they came from a white writer. I have no problem with this; if anything, the parody is far more effective coming from a writer of color, lampooning many of the people and institutions that purport to help black and Latino Americans but are primarily there just to help themselves. Charles Dickens was known for social commentary in his work, some of it veering into satire; Beatty draws on that tradition of criticism, marrying it with realism run amok – what critic James Wood termed “hysterical realism” in an essay on Zadie Smith’s White Teeth – for a sendup that scorches the very earth Me uses to grow his prize satsumas, watermelons, and weed.

I’m sure there are allusions and subtexts in The Sellout that I missed or simply couldn’t appreciate as a white man who grew up in a very white town and knew racism because I read about it once, but I still found the book by turns funny and thought-provoking. It’s one of the most laugh-out-loud books I’ve read in the last few years, and pushes the boundaries of what modern realism in literature can include. There may simply be more here that I didn’t catch.

Next up: Amir Alexander’s Infinitesimal, on how the Jesuits did everything they could to stamp out the mathematical concept that gave rise to the calculus.

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→ July 18, 2016
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The Stories of John Cheever.

John Cheever won the Pulitzer Prize in 1979 for the compendium The Stories of John Cheever, which contains his complete output other than a few pieces of juvenilia. I’d only read Cheever in novel form, the outstanding Falconer (on the TIME 100) and the middling The Wapshot Chronicle (on the Modern Library 100), but his short stories nearly all cover the same old ground: Failing marriages and alienation in suburban America, with the settings and times changing but the themes and the drinks remaining the same.

Cheever himself was bisexual, alcoholic, and depressed, and these factors inform nearly all of his stories. His characters all drink; spouses rage and cheat; children suffer emotionally; marriages falter, but in many stories they hold together for the sake of appearances. He makes frequent half-joking references to sumptuary laws and his women (and many men) gossip excessively. Whereas Richard Russo’s output shows that author’s clear affection for his wounded suburbanites and their dying towns, Cheever seems to disdain everything about modern suburban life, which is especially evident in the stories he wrote after World War II, in the first stages of urban flight. His husbands become, if anything more faithless, and more drunk, while his wives increasingly show the desire for independence or at least some greater standing in their own homes.

The sixty-one stories in the collection include some variation, with Cheever even showing a charitable take on human decency (as in “Christmas is a Sad Season for the Poor”), and even delving into the occasional bit of what we might now think of as magical realism. A few of my favorites from the collection:

* An Enormous Radio: When a couple in a New York apartment building replaces their radio with a large, expensive new model, it allows them to tune in to the conversations of all of their neighbors. At first, of course, it’s salaciously amusing, but eventually the wife starts to hear things from other apartments she wishes she hadn’t.

* The Angel of the Bridge: A story about what we’d now call panic attacks, although at the time I doubt the disorder even had such a name. The narrator can’t drive over a bridge without suffering from one, until an “angel” appears to distract him as he’s struggling to complete such a trip.

* Reunion: The narrator is meeting his father during a 90-minute stopover in New York, a lunch that turns increasingly disastrous as the father, an alcoholic with a haughty, condescending air, gets them thrown out of four restaurants as he abuses staff and becomes more drunk and belligerent with each stop. I wondered if this was Cheever’s swipe at his own father, who was also an alcoholic and a financial failure.

* An Educated American Woman: Jill and George are a married couple with one child, Bibber, living in suburbia, of course, but Cheever flips the script by making Jill the intellectual half of the couple (George is just a Yalie) and the ambitious half as well, where George seems to resent her drive and perspicacity, while she feels unappreciated by her husband and stifled by suburban mom life.

* The Geometry of Love: An engineer decides to apply mathematical principles to some decidedly unmathematical problems in his life, including problems in his own marriage. Hilarity and tragedy ensue.

* The Swimmer: Cheever’s most famous story – one turned into a somewhat obscure movie starring Burt Lancaster that had to play like a horror film – involves a suburban husband and father, drunk at a party where everyone else has also had too much to drink, who then decides to swim his way home across the various pools and lawns of his tony neighborhood. Partway through, however, his memory starts to fail him, and it appears that time is passing at an abnormal rate, enough that when he arrives at his house he doesn’t find what he expects to.

Where Cheever lost me was in the stories he set in Italy, which frequently touched on dated themes like the declining aristocracy or life as an American expat. As much as I adore Italy and Italian culture, the country he depicts doesn’t resemble the bits of Italy I’ve seen or what I know of the country from my cousins there. While his paintings of American suburban life after World War II or even marriage and infidelity between the wars don’t apply directly to any of my experiences, in those stories he managed to capture more universal themes that make those stories the timeless entries in this collection.

For more on Cheever’s mastery of the short story, the Telegraph ran a great profile of him and his works last October, doing a better job with this collection than I could.

Next up: I’ve already finished Paul Beatty’s madcap farce The Sellout and begun Amir Alexander’s Infinitesimal: How a Dangerous Mathematical Theory Shaped the Modern World.

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