→ September 9, 2018
→ By

Stick to baseball, 9/8/18.

My one piece for ESPN+/Insider this week looked at the top prospects at last weekend’s Future Stars Series, including Daniel Espino, the top RHP for the 2019 draft, and Glenallen Hill, Jr. I also held a Klawchat on Thursday.

My annual minor league player of the year column is supposed to run this upcoming week, which means I need to write it (it’s not like the winner is a tough choice, but I like to highlight a few other dudes who had great years too), and I am hoping to get a new edition of my email newsletter out as well.

And now, the links…

  • Slate looks at the sustainability of The Athletic’s business model while raising critical questions about whether their content is actually as unique as they claim it is. (I’m an Athletic subscriber and happy to pay for good content, but I would say I read a very small number of writers on that site.)
  • Two longreads from the great investigative journalism site ProPublica this week. First, how Oregon keeps releasing violent criminals who were judged criminally insane, with several such convicts eventually reoffending for violent crimes.
  • Also, José Bacelga, a cancer researcher and the Chief Medical Officer at Sloan Kettering, failed on several occasions to disclose financial conflicts of interest when publishing cancer research in major journals. He was even editor-in-chief of one such journal that published his research yet broke its rules on disclosure.
  • I loved Will Leitch’s take on Nike choosing to ally itself with Colin Kaepernick despite the entirely expected outcry from the right. I also think they got more publicity value out of the announcement than they could possibly have bought. (Will is a friend of mine.)
  • Ars Technica, for whom I have written one freelance piece, has a short column asking BBQ pit masters for basic tips on pork butts and briskets. I’ve used the foil trick to get around the stall problem with pork shoulders, but prefer not to use it because it softens the bark that forms on the meat’s exterior.
  • The President’s increasingly overt racism shouldn’t be a surprise – he’s been attacking Elizabeth Warren for years by using ‘Pocahontas’ as a sort of racial slur to question her integrity. The Washington Post debunks Trump’s claims that she used her heritage to obtain promotions or admission to schools.
  • A trans woman of color was murdered in Philadelphia this week, and 2018 is shaping up to be an especially deadly year for trans people in the US, although it seems like hard data on the subject is hard to come by. I think it’s fair to say the trend isn’t good – such killings should be going down and they’re probably not.
  • Passengers on four Southwest Airlines flights may have been exposed to measles thanks to a sick passenger who traveled on those planes. The measles virus is extremely contagious and can be fatal at the time of infection or later in life. I would entirely favor a law criminalizing the woman’s actions: flying with a contagious, vaccine-preventable disease, thus putting hundreds of people at risk.
  • Ride-sharing services like Uber may be exacerbating traffic problems because riders choose them over public transportation, not over driving themselves. I do use these services from time to time, but not when public transit is available (and safe).
  • Twitter banned Alex Jones and InfoWars this week after months of pressure to rid the site of the hoax-peddling arch-right conspiracy theory factory and its corpulent founder. Jane Coaston covered these bans last month for Vox, looking at why YouTube, Apple, and Facebook took the same action.
  • Board games! Z-Man Games, an imprint of Asmodee, announced the latest extension to the Pandemic brand with Pandemic: Fall of Rome, which sounds a lot like last winter’s Pandemic: Rising Tide, another game that took the framework of the original Pandemic, added some clever twists to the rules, and shifted the theme away from fighting global epidemics.
  • Floodgate Games announced the Kickstarter for Bad Maps, a light family-level strategy game they demoed at Gen Con. It’s about 2/3 to its goal with 18 days to go. Floodgate also released the 5-6 player Sagrada expansion, which includes a private dice board to tweak the original’s dice-drafting mechanic, to retail this past week. It’s $25 on amazon via that link.
  • Starling Games announced a Kickstarter, opening to backers on September 10th, for Pearlbrook, the first expansion for Everdell, itself in the running for my #1 new game of 2018.
  • It seems like each week brings one great new(ish) comic on vaccine denialism, so here’s the latest.
Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , ,
→ September 6, 2018
→ By

First Reformed.

First Reformed is a return to form for Paul Schrader, the writer of Taxi Driver and writer/director of Affliction, whose recent career has been marred by bad choices of projects, none worse than The Canyons, billed as a comeback project for Lindsay Lohan but a critical and commercial failure. (It also featured porn star James Deen, who was accused shortly thereafter of raping several women on adult film sets.) Featuring a virtuoso performance by Ethan Hawke, First Reformed asks powerful questions about the meaning of our existence, our responsibilities to the planet and to others, and whether people of faith can know or pretend to know the mind of God. For most of its nearly two hours, it is a taut, well-acted, Oscar-worthy film, but Schrader doesn’t quite stick the landing and I’m still not sure what to think about the closing scenes.

Hawke plays a minister named Ernst Toller, overseeing a dwindling congregation in a small rural town, subsidized by a megachurch called Abundant Life led by a charismatic minister named X (played by Cedric “The Entertainer” Kyles). Toller is visited by a woman, Mary (Amanda Seyfried), who is concerned about the mental state of her husband, a former environmental terrorist who remains obsessed with man’s destruction of the planet. She’s pregnant, and her husband wants her to have an abortion because he believes it’s cruel to bring a child into this world and the bleak future for humanity. When the husband takes his own life despite the counsels of Toller, however, the reverend is set off into his own dark night of the soul, reexamining his own past mistakes.

The movie is very much a showcase for Hawke, looking haggard and ground down by life in this role, who carries a drawn look throughout the film, the way someone fighting an inner torment and refusing to reach out for help or accept any offered might present himself to the world. We learn more about Toller’s past, and some reasons why he might act the way he does and be experiencing his own crisis of faith, but it is Hawke’s demeanor and intensity that carries the character and the film as a whole, as no other character, not even Mary, can come close to his role or his three-dimensional nature.

The choices of names in the film can hardly be accidents, and Schrader has cited specific films as influences (although I haven’t seen them, including Ingmar Bergman’s Winter Light, and wouldn’t have caught those allusions). The real Ernst Toller was a German playwright known for left-wing views; he collaborated with anarchists and communists and served for six days as the leader of the so-called Bavarian Soviet Republic, but spent his last six years in exile before hanging himself in 1939; the film’s Toller is himself in exile, figurative and semi-literal (as he’s cloistered himself at the head of a scarcely-attended church). Mary is pregnant in the film, and the child’s father is known but disappears from the narrative, and while she first appears on the scene as someone trying to save her husband, she’s really here to try to save Toller – or at least allow him to save himself.

The ending is distinctive and shocking enough that I won’t spoil it, but I will say here that I’m not sure if what we see in the final scenes is real, and if it is, what it’s telling us about redemption or second chances. The last fifteen minutes or so include a dream sequence that could be a bit of magical realism, and an ending that is at least open to interpretation, especially the way Mary’s character appears in the last sequence, bathed in sunlight. The few reviews I’ve read or heard about First Reformed commented on how the ending doesn’t seem to fit well with what came before, and I mostly agree with that sentiment; I thought we might be seeing Ernst having a religious experience, but if that was the case it wasn’t well set up before or afterwards. It’s a very good movie with a solid script and a great central performance by Hawke, further punctuated by some of the wide shots contrasting Toller’s old but charming church with the antiseptic megachurch that helps keep his going. Whether it’s a great movie to you will probably depend on to what extent you buy the ending.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: ,
→ September 6, 2018
→ By

Klawchat 9/6/18.

My ESPN+ (Insider) writeup of top prospects at this year’s Future Stars Series, including Georgia prep RHP Daniel Espino and NorCal infielder Glenallen Hill, Jr., went up on Wednesday.

Keith Law: Swept away for a moment by chance. It’s Klawchat.

Nick: Is Blake Swihart still a change-of-scenary- type of guy or is he just a weird positional tweener with a bat that doesn’t profile unless he can add defensive value?
Keith Law: The bat will profile behind the plate, and I think if he gets regular playing time and stays healthy the bat would profile elsewhere too.

David: After LeMahieu isn’t re-signed, the plan is for Brendan Rodgers to play 2B, right? Have to think Story has solidified himself at short. But of course the elephant in the room is Arenado – do you think he stays long-term?
Keith Law: I think Story’s a better defender than Rodgers, so yes, I’d expect that, although I have never seen Rodgers as a guy who’d have to move. They should keep Arenado as long as they’re contending, and move him if they think their window is closing – you don’t want to end up in Baltimore’s situation with Machado where you accept half or less of what you might have gotten had you acted sooner.

Addoeh: Does Joe West look like a baked potato?
Keith Law: I would probably not eat a baked potato that looked like Joe West.

mark: Hi Klaw,

What should SD do with Franmil Reyes moving forward… keep him, trade him? Is he at least an average MLB OF?
Keith Law: I don’t think he has the offspeed recognition or discipline to be a league average OF. I will say that Zack Godley demonstrated that Franmil can murder a dick-high fastball though, so maybe teams shouldn’t throw him those.

Jibraun: The college football season has started, and Kyler Murray is actually playing. How are the A’s actually ok with this?
Keith Law: They agreed to it up front. Why they did that, i’m not sure.

KS: can you rank these players based on future potential — muzziotti, moniak, haseley?
Keith Law: Muzziotti is the only one of the three I’d rank right now.

Archie: Hearing the news about Ohtani needing TJ made me wonder if PRP injections ever worked long-term (or, really short-term). Can you think of anyone who has had the treatment and was productive for any meaningful period of time?
Keith Law: My understanding is that they work for some pitchers with partial tears, but not all, and they don’t work on full tears. Of course, you can come back too soon or put in too much effort after PRP and still further damage the ligament.

BE: With the emphasis on controllable talent increasing, are teams pouring more resources into nutrition, instruction, etc. to maximize those early years?
Keith Law: Some are. I’ve suggested sleep as an area teams could look at to try to gain an edge as well. People who don’t obtain sufficient sleep experience cognitive deficits even after just one night. Imagine trying to hit a 95+ mph fastball with your brain at less than its best.

Santos: How significant is Joe Jordan’s departure from the Phillies?
Keith Law: I think they lost a really great baseball mind. I was also a little surprised as I don’t think player development has been an issue there – I know Jordan resigned, and wasn’t pushed out – while their draft results clearly have been. I don’t think it’s going to affect them dramatically long term but if I were in a GM chair I’d hire Joe in a heartbeat.

Moe Mentum: Can you still envision Scott Kingery and JP Crawford as the Phillies’ middle infielders for the next decade? Or do we need to reset expectations based on 2018’s struggles for each?
Keith Law: Kingery yes. Crawford has to prove himself again to the coaching staff – he has more ability than most players on the team, but isn’t putting in the same kind of effort.

mark: A few weeks ago, someone asked you about Padres prospects who will be eligible for the Rule 5 draft. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, players eligible this offseason will include Anderson Espinoza, Chris Paddack, Trey Wingenter, Austin Allen, Brett Kennedy and Pedro Avila, while in 2019 it will include Tatis, Logan Allen and Jorge Ona.
Who from that group would you leave unprotected? And who from the following group of Jankowski, Reyes, Renfroe, Manuel Margot, Franchy Cordero, Clayton Richard, Cory Spangenberg and Christian Villanueva would you rather trade or cut in order to protect the prospects?
Keith Law: Wingenter and Kennedy are on the 40-man already, so they are protected unless the Padres outright them; I might consider Kennedy but Wingenter is a keeper. Jankowski, Richard, Spangenberg, and Villanueva are all fungible extra guys, the type they’ll be able to replace from within rather quickly.

Chris: How far off is Yordan Alvarez from being in your top 50? Is his lower ranking due to the fact that he is a 1B?
Keith Law: He’s a bad 1b with an older body.

Quinn: Other than Bo and Vlad, which (if any) Jays prospects should we expect to see in your top 100 this offseason?
Keith Law: Pearson. That’s probably it, which is one reason of several why I laughed at the Jays’ front office claims that they have a top 5 system. After maybe, maybe six names, it drops off fast.

Tadd: Are we all the way back in on Giolito?
Keith Law: I’m mostly back in. Command still a grade below where it ought to be, but stuff looks better, throwing more strikes, mechanics seem at least more consistent if not perfect.

jaren: christian mccaffery a top 5 rb this year in ppr?
Keith Law: This is America – speak English.

Anthony: So where do the Angels go with Ohtani now?
Keith Law: I would plan to give him 2019 off after TJ, rather than rushing back hi bat and risking any sort of re-injury or setback in the rehab.

Evan: What would be your plan with Tyler Mahle? Can he still be a middle of rotation arm?
Keith Law: I think I’d called him a fourth starter/league average guy, and I would stick to that. Some prospects click right away, some take more time.

Joshua: My dad makes some sly comments that can be offensive sometimes (not often) but doesn’t realize it. When I try to correct him he says that he didn’t know that people take offense to it and that people are more soft nowadays. What’s the best way to correct him but not be disrespectful
Keith Law: Well, you could point out that calling other people “soft” is itself insulting – you don’t tell someone they’re ugly and then yell at them for getting upset over it. And once you’ve said something’s offensive, when he does it again, he’s lost that excuse. But for me, the answer has always been simple: If you’re going to make racist, sexist,
homophobic, or other bigoted comments around me – let alone in front of my daughter – I will choose to spend my time with other people.

Craig: If Sarah Sanders wrote the op-ed, could she find work with the Toronto Blue Jays?

“It has nothing to do with business. It has nothing to do with anything other than we think the best thing for him developmentally is to play in Arizona.”

Clearly, i s you pointed out on Twitter, this is laughably false.
Keith Law: I mean, I understand they can’t tell the truth (or Vlad would file and win a grievance), but don’t lie. That’s just such a blatant falsehood. I’ve scouted the AFL myself the last 12 Octobers. It’s a substantially lower caliber of play than September MLB games provide. The comments were a direct insult to the intelligence of every Jays fan.

Rod: Is it safe to assume that Touki is in the rotation next year? What are the odds for Triston McKenzie?
Keith Law: I think Touki’s a starter for most of next year. McKenzie is a starter if he shows he can stay healthy next year in AAA.

Beau: Do you think the Padres rebuild will actually work out?
Keith Law: Absolutely.

Mighty Ox: What is your advice to a high school junior (just turned 16) who aspires to pitch at an Ivy League School or their close equivalent? FB is 85 mph, SAT 1400 (first try), school weighted avg ~100. Good kid. Thanks
Keith Law: I’m not sure what more to tell you – if he’s got the grades, then he should just keep working on his craft on the mound, and maybe look for one or two things to help distinguish his application like quality volunteer work.

Scott: Do the Pirates have any hope of rebuilding their lineup from within or are they going to have to make some major moves? Also, thoughts on Ulysses by James Joyce and any 2018 board games have a chance of Cracking your Top 100?
Keith Law: They’ll have to add at least one piece from outside this winter. I reviewed Ulysses here on the dish in two posts a few years ago. I expect at least 5-6 games from this year to make my top 100 if not more.

Fred: It seems like the Braves are trying to give Philly the division but the Phillies don’t want it. Why is the whole division in a slump?
Keith Law: Maybe both of those teams were playing a bit over their heads? Both blew away any preseason predictions or projections I saw through the start of August.

Nate: Since making his plate adjustment on June 6, Gregory Polanco is slashing 287/362/563/925 (before yesterday’s games) in 300 PA. Only 11 guys have a 925 OPS this year. Is that the type of player he is going to be?
Keith Law: It’s the type of player I believe he should be, given his tools.

Gary : You seem to be lower on Peter Alonso than most. What would you have to see to change your opinion on him? (I guess this is also a general player development question )
Keith Law: I don’t know what “most” think but I know he’s a 40 defender at first.

Jake: Does Daniel Lynch’s uptick in velo this season change his ceiling?
Keith Law: If it sticks, yes, although I was pretty high on him anyway because he has four pitches with a + slider and good control. Plus he’s an animal on the mound.

Victoria: Is Kevin Kramer and Kevin Newman the middle infield combo for the Pirates next year?
Keith Law: We all hope so.

John: Following the Buxton and several other situations. I have seen several proposals for FA starting at age X or X years after being drafted? Do you see any problems of abuse with those ideas?
Keith Law: Any system will be abused, but I like age-related free agency. You can’t do X years after being drafted because such a system would screw college guys – and as much as I counsel players to sign out of HS if the offer is good, plenty of great big leaguers weren’t good enough out of HS to get that money and needed college.

jaren: is luis urias a top talent at his position the next 5 years?
Keith Law: I would bet no.

Jeff: Amed Rosario is on fire – he finally finding his groove? Still crazy young
Keith Law: Still very young, making a lot of contact, wish he walked a little more but he’s not hacking away, and now he’s getting some better results on balls in play. I haven’t changed my projection that he’ll end up a star.

Josh Nelson: What are your thoughts about MLBPA hiring Bruce Meyer to be the Chief Negotiator (what a title)?
Keith Law: They’ve made a few major hires recently that signal to me that they intend to enter the next negotiations with a firmer negotiating stance. They did not sufficiently exercise their power two years ago. They need to regain some lost ground.

Drew: Are you familiar with the British punk band IDLES? Their new album, Joy as an Act of Resistance, is so damn good.
Keith Law: I feel like I’ve heard one of their songs, but I’ve put it on in the background now to check it out.

Marshall MN: Klaw, when you go to a new well reviewed coffee shop in a different city do you have a go to drink that you try as a point of comparison against other coffee houses? I know you are a light roast guy, is that your point of comparison?
Keith Law: My favorite coffee drink is a traditional macchiatto – a double shot of espresso topped with a little foamed milk. A pour-over would be a better gauge of a shop’s beans, but it’s also going to depend then on which specific beans you get; generally third-wave shops have their own specific blends for espresso that are more consistent, or, in the case of a place like Cartel in Phoenix, they find a single origin bean that they think will profile well as an espresso.

jaren: clevinger has looked like he’s moving into the top 15 or so starting pitchers as far as talent. would you agree? did you ever expect this from this kid? he’s been downright nasty in the second half
Keith Law: I would not agree.

romorr: Would you say the Oriole minor league pitchers, as a whole, had a promising year?
Keith Law: There’s been a lot of progress from their A-ball guys, which is where their most important pitching prospects were.

Marshall MN: What are your thoughts on the Twins handling of Buxton at the end of this year?
Keith Law: Completely disagree with it, and I think he should file a grievance – I think more players should fight these manipulations, because teams do it with impunity right now.

Rum Guy: Big fan of your music playlists, thx. I have a question about your equipment-when you’re listening to these music files, other than thru earbuds —- do you have floor speakers in your home & can u reveal what you own for home use?
Keith Law: I don’t own any music equipment like that.
Keith Law: OK, that’s about enough of that IDLES record. If I wanted to get yelled at I have other places I can go.

Jim: What kind of upside do you see for Jordan Groshans?
Keith Law: I could see an above-average regular if he finds more power – which I think would require a swing alteration as right now it’s a little flat. Good athlete with a great arm. I would probably bet that he’s a regular, but there’s more upside.

Justin: This year Ke’Bryan Hayes suddenly looks like a guy who can hit for a high average, play great defense, run, and hit for some power (all while being at least a little young for AA). What has to happen for him to become a top 25 (or better) type prospect? Add a little more power?
Keith Law: He was already 42 on my most recent list.

Carl: Can Baltimore salvage Chance Sisco or will he need a new manager & coaching staff?
Keith Law: I think he needs a new manager there or a change of scenery if Showalter returns.

jwp: Roughned Odor looks like he has a different approach at the plate. Do you think it sticks long term?
Keith Law: I think it does – i’ll be certain if he maintains it into next season. But I don’t think there are many examples of guys who see their BB% jump like this in their 20s and then lose it all.

EL: Could Chris Shaw benefit from more AAA time, or is he what he is at this point?
Keith Law: He’s a 4A guy for me.

JR: All these Kavanaugh hearings are doing is reinforcing what an awful person he is and how we shouldn’t want him on SCOTUS and yet he will be nominated anyways. Am I missing anything?
Keith Law: He’ll be confirmed anyways, yes, because nothing matters except packing the courts to overturn abortion rights, affirmative action laws, and maybe gay marriage.

Lois Sanborn: Hi Keith, thanks for all of your work! It always makes me happy to hear your thoughts on baseball and non-baseball topics alike. How would you project Alex Kirilloff’s game power going forward? I just looked up his spray chart from this season and noticed that he hit 11 of his 20 HRs to left or left-center, which was surprising to me.
Keith Law: I think he’s a plus hit plus power guy in a corner. Great prospect only limited by positional value.

Jimmy: Best Astros prospect that sees playing time in 2019?
Keith Law: I see no reason Whitley isn’t up next year.

Richard Van Norris: Have you watched Tim Anderson’s defense lately? Since mid May or so he has been exceptional. Is he the long term White Sox shortstop?
Keith Law: Was there a question about his defense or that he was their long-term shortstop? I really never gave that a second thought.

Jerry: Didn’t Josh James take off after getting treatment for sleep apnea? Do you see him as a legit MLB prospect? If so, as a SP or RP?
Keith Law: I believe that explanation is bullshit. More likely RP.

Nick L: True or False: This will be the best year of Javy Baez’s career.
Keith Law: False.

Jeff: Has Jose Peraza surprised you at all? Have the Reds found their shortstop for the next 5+ years?
Keith Law: No, I think they can and will do better. He’s probably not reaching 2 WAR this year.

JR: All yesterday had was: 1. Red Sox win game after being down 7-1, with a HR from a long time vet who played in minors all year hoping for a chance to get back. 2. Ohtani going 4-for-4 with 2 HRs after it was announced he needs TJ surgery. 3. Trevor Story hit 3 HRs, including one where’s falling down and one 505 feet. 4. Javy Baez making another amazing play on the basepaths. All in the midst of teams playing for playoff positions. All the people that say the game isn’t as good today as it used to be can please GTFO.
Keith Law: And yet the current headlines on MLB.com are: 1. Five craziest, most magical games of 2018. 2. Here’s what 2019 ‘super teams’ could look like. 3. Bregman channels Harden … not the beard. 4. On the bubble: How MLBers chew gum. Are you kidding me? All that crazy shit happens and the league itself is talking about chewing gum? I can’t even say ‘please like my sport’ if the league won’t back me up by promoting all this great stuff happening on the field.

Marshall MN: What level of competition do you consider Arizona Fall League…sort of Double A-ish?
Keith Law: Inconsistent, but in general below that unless you get a Whitley type on the mound.

Nick L: Roberta’s in Brooklyn was legit!
Keith Law: I wouldn’t steer you wrong.

Nick L: Who’s your favorite stand up comedian?
Keith Law: I really like the ones who don’t sexually harass or assault other people. But that’s just me.

Ray: to follow up on Joshua’s comment – I was recently in a room with my sister and father during a conversation they were having about a third person. My father asks, “is he black?” and my sister responds, “he is, but he doesn’t act black”. My head about exploded and I just left the room. I should have spoken up.
Keith Law: It’s hard to react correctly in the moment, at least in my experience. I told this story before, but years ago, I was at the Big 12 tournament in Oklahoma (of course), when a Texas fan asked me how the Aggies looked in football … but he put an ‘f’ before the word. I asked him to repeat himself twice, hoping he’d get it, before his wife grabbed his arm and told him to stop. I should have come back at him harder, but in the moment, I was so floored – it had truly been years since I’d heard that word or its other forms spoken at all – that I didn’t call him out directly. That was six years ago, I think, and I’m still disappointed.

Darren: In regards to David suggesting Rodgers plays 2B in Colorado, what do you think of Garrett Hampson?
Keith Law: I don’t think he’s better than Rodgers or Story.

Lance: Nolan Gorman: Superstar? Above Average Regular? Just A Guy?
Keith Law: I’ll go with above-average regular with wide error bars around that prediction. It’s 80 raw.

Jim: German Marquez, Kyle Freeland, Jon Gray, which one has the highest ceiling at this point?
Keith Law: Gray still has the most upside, Freeland is the best present pitcher.

Steve: Gausman has pitched a lot better for the Braves. Another example of the O’s failing to develop a prospect? Function of switching NL? Both? Too early to tell?
Keith Law: That one is squarely on the coaching staff.

Pat D: So the venerable River Ave. Blues has decided to shut down their comment section. I have mixed feelings. I made a lot of really good friends there, to the point where we’ve gone to several games together, but the comments had been getting steadily worse over the last few years, they couldn’t spend time moderating them properly, and apparently now someone was threatening the owners in some way. Totally justified for them to shut it down considering those circumstances, right?
Keith Law: Agreed, totally justified. I may do the same with the comments here at some point, unfortunately.

MikeM: Whats wrong with Luis Severino?
Keith Law: I don’t know if something is physically wrong but he’s visibly not the same and hitters are squaring him up way more often, like they did in 2016.

Dallas: Will Bobby Witt Jr.’s age effect his draft status or will pedigree trump/neutralize it?
Keith Law: His age will work against him, absolutely.

Darryl: Do you have an updated list for good Nashville eateries? Wife and I going for first time in 2 weeks and I want to hit a couple gems. Thanks in advance!
Keith Law: Nothing new since my last visit, I think.
Keith Law: or last post, I should say.

Tony: Do you think Rougned Odor has actually learned some plate discipline? I was completely blown away when I saw he had a .343 OBP
Keith Law: Career high in BB. 10 HBP might be misleading you a little, but yes, I think he has.

Biff: 1. Winker 2. Votto 3. Suarez 4. Gennett 5. Senzel – that lineup will score some runs eh?
Keith Law: I think so – should put a lot of guys on base, at least.

AGirlHasNoName: At what point can I just give up on society and just accept that chaos reigns, and we are all taking a ride on the good ship FUBAR? Is not caring who wrote the NYT op-ed, not being surprised at its content, mean I am already there? I have outrage fatigue maybe.
Keith Law: Yeah I couldn’t get worked up over the op ed … it was so self-congratulatory, and for what? If that’s what the guy is, then invoke the damn 25th already.

joe: If I liked Lush Life – R. Price, what else do you recommend?
Keith Law: His book Clockers is also pretty good.

Jax: Do you think Kershaw opts out after the season?
Keith Law: Yes, for sure.

Nate: You’ve been beating the drum on trading Inciarte for some time. What would be a reasonable return for a streaky Gold Glover?
Keith Law: Less than it would have been a year ago when I suggested it and was insulted eight ways to Sunday.

Tony: I know that Jose Quintana wasn’t exactly an ace with the White Sox, but is there anything you have seen with the Cubs that explains why he has been less effective? Most of the numbers seem similar, although his walks are up a little bit.
Keith Law: Fastball command has looked way off.

Lance: Is Jack Flaherty’s early success in St. Louis sustainable long term barring injury?
Keith Law: Yes. Always liked him over several of their other pitchers like Weaver or Hudson.

Marvin Miller: 4 year Free Agency, elimination of arbitration….the next CBA….take it to bank….
Keith Law: Would love to see it but owners will fight tooth and nail on that.

JT: The Rowdy Tellez circumstance is hard to hear about. Do you ever bury stories you know that would be exculpatory about poor performance? Does learning about his mother affect your rating of Tellez? (or earn him another look?)
Keith Law: It’s a very sad story, but he was never a good prospect, and I can’t let sentiment change my assessment of his tools or swing or other deficiencies.

Ridley Kemp: Keith, I mostly just wanted to thank you for pointing me towards “Why We Sleep”. It was more of an eye-opener for me than it probably should have been. I’m making a point of getting 8 hours of sleep a night and the difference in how I feel in the morning is enormous.

Also, if you’re ever in Austin again, you should check out a restaurant called Loro. It’s a joint venture by Tyson Cole (Uchi) and Aaron Franklin (you probably know his claim to fame), and unlike most supergroups, this one does not disappoint.
Keith Law: The real issue here is that I need a good reason to get back to Austin. All these Texas arms and they’re never from there.

Adam D.: Do you view the Giants system as one that could find itself in the top-10 or 15 in the next 18 months? Ramos, Canario, Bart and Luciano seem like the makings of a potentially impact set of players.
Keith Law: Extremely unlikely. I would guess I’m lower than you are on Bart or Ramos, too.

Steven : Are you a Bon Iver fan? If so have you listened to the Justin Vernon and Aaron Dessner collaborative album?
Keith Law: I’m not, and I didn’t like their new project, even with the baseball name: Big Red Machine.

Mighty Ox: Hi Keith! Does Andujar stay at 3rd base or is he destined for DH?
Keith Law: Third base.

addoeh: Aren’t we in a Constitutional crisis already with un-elected officials actively allowing or taking away which bills our failed leader signs? And the senior official (or officials) are worried about the 25th Amendment?
Keith Law: Yes … and one party does not care as long as they get what they want.

Draftnik: No question, just FYI Michael Lorenzen and Aaron Nola both had PRPs and avoided surgery (so far).
Keith Law: Thank you. I think there are many examples – but they all had relatively minor tears, not full tears.

Dr. Bob: Are all of the players on the field in the AFL prospects signed by MLB teams? Or do they have to sometimes fill out a roster with some college or extra players so that they can have full games?
Keith Law: Always MLB teams, although frankly I wouldn’t be mad if they allowed, say, an NPB or KBO player or two to pop in, maybe someone approaching free agency or whom the parent team wants to post.

cplo: I saw Luis Ortiz got the call up in Baltimore. Has he shown enough over his minor league career to prove he can stick as a starter?
Keith Law: Stuff yes, durability an open question.

Xavier: Is there a valid argument for someone other than Degrom winning Cy Young?
Keith Law: Yes, Nola and Scherzer are right there with him.

John: Has Lewis Thorpe put himself back on the top 100 radar this year with the better performance and being 2 years removed from TJ?
Keith Law: Not yet, not unless the stuff ticks up.

Bill: Should Machado go back to 3B or should he stay at SS?
Keith Law: Third base, where he’s plus. His little time at short hasn’t been promising.

mike sixel: It would be sad if comments went away, we (I) like the interaction……is it really that bad?
Keith Law: I have had to keep moderation on for two years now because of a very small number of abusive people (two, maybe three). One is pretty much a single comment away from me going to the police.

Matt: Honestly, I think if what Fred Wilpon reportedly wants, which is a GM that’s anti-analytics and also has no authority to overrule the owners, I’m out. Probably not forever, but they won’t be getting my money for a long time. Analytics or no, what the team desperately needs in a Prez of Baseball Ops, because Jeff has failed, and the organization reeks of disfunction.
Keith Law: I saw an article this week that listed way too many names, some of whom were good ones, some of whom were not (and really, can we not hire a GM who’s failed in multiple stops already, and give someone else a chance), but that said at the end that the Mets haven’t contacted anyone and no one really knows what they’re thinking. I believe Joel Sherman wrote it but I’m not 100%. But that last part is the lede: We’re all just guessing until they start calling to ask for permission.

Zac: What does Jacoby Jones have to hit to be a glove first everyday CF?
Keith Law: Dude is 26 with a .255 OBP in about 600 MLB PA. Time to let that one go.

Lucky Lindy: Speaking of players turning it around post-trade — shouldn’t people in Texas be fired with how Cole Hamels has improved since going to the Cubs?
Keith Law: I would at least have some questions for the pitching coach(es) about what might have gone wrong, and why the Cubs figured something out that quickly when we didn’t.

tomm: obviously predicting what kind of player a prospect will become is very difficult, especially when it comes to projecting hit/in game power tool. when it comes to pure speed, however, it would seem easier because its just timed and far less up to opinion. that being said, how did bader not get an 80 speed in the minors? Tied for second in the mlb statcast speed. did he get much faster?
Keith Law: He’s not an 80 runner now, but he also was nowhere close to this fast when he signed – I even talked to someone in STL recently who confirmed this.

John: The best part of the op-ed was the self own by an editor at the Federalist who claimed the founding fathers would be rolling over in their graves about the use of anonymity
Keith Law: That whole thread is worth checking out – one expert on the subject kept setting him straight, and the dude kept digging … and digging … and digging … like, my man, take the L already, you lost.

John: If I’m LA, I’m happy if Kershaw opts out. I may just be inclined to shake his hand, thank him, and not give him another 6 years and $180 million.
Keith Law: Easy to say, but he’s an iconic player for the Dodgers, and they’d have a lot of fans to appease if he leaves – plus he takes several wins of value with him that they can’t easily replace.

GP: Since you said it was too early to judge the Archer trade, Archer had a great outing and Glasnow had a disastrous one and it appears Meadows injured his hand. I just wanted to say that
Keith Law: Yeah maybe a month is too soon, i dunno

Grande Esteban: Why didn’t the Angels just tell Ohtani once he signed that he needed Tommy John surgery and he would start the season in the minors until he was healthy enough to come up, and if he didn’t do that, they’d just send him to the minors anyway to start the year? That would have gotten the surgery done right away, and also would have gotten them an extra year of service time.
Keith Law: He didn’t need the surgery right away, and you can’t just tell an employee to go have surgery.

Ben: Wander Franco an overall top 10 prospect to you?
Keith Law: He was #17 on my last update, and graduations alone may push him up a few spots.

Jake: Nick Pratto…is he the first half guy, the second half guy, or the last month guy?
Keith Law: He’s the overall season guy. I don’t like to get too worked up over 2nd half minor league splits, because over the course of a season, the best players in a league will get promoted, and be replaced by, in theory, inferior players from lower levels.

Jeff: Not calling you out or anything – Just having fun – but remember when your ESPN chats used to be JobaMania? Good times. You’ve been doing these chats a long time and I appreciate it.
Keith Law: Twelve years of Klawchats, in fact. My first one was July 2006, I think, maybe a month after I joined. May we all live another 12 years to argue over Joba’s large adult son.
Keith Law: That’s all for this week – thank you all, as always, for your questions and for reading. I believe my next Insider column is my minor league player of the year piece, although I doubt there’s much suspense in the winner. Have a safe and fun weekend, everyone.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With:
→ September 5, 2018
→ By

From a Low and Quiet Sea.

Irish writer Donal Ryan has received significant acclaim in his home country and Great Britain for his works to date, but relatively little attention here so far, although that might change with his latest book, From a Low and Quiet Sea, which was just long-listed for the Man Booker Prize and weaves together three narratives of men adrift in their worlds that is by turns harrowing, wry, and empathetic.

The novel, a scant 180 pages with a lot of white space within, unfurls in four parts, one for each protagonist and then a short final section that brings the three plot threads together. The first of the stories is the most powerful and feels the most timely: we meet Farouk, a Syrian doctor who senses that country’s civil war approaching the city where he lives with his wife and daughter and arranges with a smuggler to take them out of Syria to Europe, only to find that the smuggler has lied and put the three of them and dozens of others on a ramshackle boat that isn’t seaworthy and ultimately ends in tragedy. Farouk is then left to try to assimilate into a new country while bearing the weight of the tragedy that befell him and many of his countrymen, without a home to which he can return.

The next two stories are less gripping, although they will eventually connect with Farouk’s in powerful fashion in the final section. Lampy is a ne’er-do-well of sorts, a college-aged man with a job as a bus driver for local assisted living facilities, living with his mother and her father, with Lampy’s father unknown to him and seldom even discussed. John is nearing the end of his life and expressing remorse for so many of the actions of his younger years, including how many lives he ruined as a “lobbyist” (a fixer, really) and one man he killed by accident. Eventually these characters and a few adjacent ones intersect in part four, with deep consequences for most of them.

Ryan’s prose style is challenging, with meandering sentences that run on for half the page, reminiscent of Faulkner or Ryan’s contemporary Eimear McBride, but his scene-setting skills are remarkable if you can process all the information he’s throwing at you in these endless phrases. He’s at his best as a pure writer in Lampy’s section, explaining the chaos of Lampy’s home life and communicating his disorientation within his own life. Ryan often gives you the sense that you’re observing the action from a remote distance, or perhaps from some altitude, so while the action is clear, the images might be blurred around the edges, which establishes the inner confusion of the three primary characters – Farouk ripped from his normal life into a new country; Lampy uncertain of fundamental aspects of his identity; John grappling with his own mortality, unsure if any repentance will suffice for things he’s done.

That sense of distance and of the reader’s difficulty in fully observing the action before him is strongest in the final section, where Ryan connects the three stories in oblique fashion, enough so that I had to re-read several parts to be sure I had caught the intended connections Ryan had made between characters. You might piece one or two of them together earlier in the book, but I did not, and Ryan’s unannounced shifts in how he identifies certain characters was jarring.

However, Ryan has infused so much of the empathy he has for his creations into this book that even my momentary confusion at how he assembled the pieces in the fourth part couldn’t reduce my investment in the resolution – and that is From a Low and Quiet Sea‘s great strength. This is a literary work, aimed high in prose and complexity, but is still fundamentally an accessible and human work, a novel that is simultaneously timeless and very much a document of our time today.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , ,
→ September 2, 2018
→ By

Music update, August 2018.

I believe this is the longest monthly playlist of new music I’ve ever posted, running 30 songs and just shy of two hours, thanks in large part to a huge spate of new album releases in the last four weeks. Even at that I could have included more tracks and have more songs and albums I still want to check out, but the calendar had other ideas so I decided to call it a day and post this before October loomed. You can access the playlist directly here if you can’t see the widget below.

The Wombats — Bee-Sting. The Wombats put out a new album in February, a solid record but a little bit of a letdown after the amazing Glitterburg, so the appearance of this new single last week was both a big surprise and a huge boost to a month already replete with great new songs.

Thrice — Only Us. Thrice, featuring friend of the dish Riley Breckenridge on drums, will release its new album Palms on the 14th, with this the second very strong single already to appear from the record.

Art Brut — Wham! Bang! Pow! Let’s Rock Out!. I remember a reader (Bill S., I believe) recommending Art Brut to me about a decade ago, but at the time I found their sound a little too out there, almost deliberately non-musical in certain ways, including the vocals. This song seems written to address everything I didn’t like about their earlier stuff, and has a sort of Wombats/Arctic Monkeys vibe to the lyrics and music.

Nation of Language — Reality. This Brooklyn-based quartet appear to have fallen asleep in 1982 and just woken up without recognizing anything has changed in the world of music – and, as someone who came of age during that synth-heavy era of New Wave, I love it.

Broods — Peach. I adore Georgia Nott’s voice, so hearing her get autotuned up in the pre-chorus here is a bummer, but the hook in the chorus itself is tremendous and we do get to hear her sultry voice in its natural environment during the verses.

Ten Fé — Not Tonight. Ten Fé’s album Hit the Light was my #10 record of 2017, and they’re back now with more of the same ‘70s soft-rock sound just slightly updated with the technology of contemporary music.

Black Honey — Midnight. I might be the biggest Black Honey fan going; I think I’ve liked every single they’ve released so far over the last three years, and now we get their first full-length album, called Black Honey, on the 21st. This is on the poppier end for the group, but I’ve liked their stuff more when they keep this upbeat tempo.

Eric B. & Rakim — I Know You Got Soul ( The Double Trouble Remix ). I waffled a little on including this track; it’s a circa 1988 remix of the song I’ve named the greatest rap song of all time, and it’s not as if you could improve on perfection. But the remix is by Norman Cook, better known as Fatboy Slim, and Danny Poku, better known as D-Mob (“We Call It Acieed”), and backs up Rakim’s vocals with the music of the Jackson Five’s “ABC,” with Kool & the Gang’s “Funky Stuff” in the interludes. It works shockingly well.

Wild Nothing — Shallow Water. If you wanted Wild Nothing to revisit the sound of Nocturne, this track is for you.

Spirit Animal — World War IV. Spirit Animal’s album Born Yesterday is a strange mix of bold, almost bombastic rockers like this one and “The Truth,” and songs that seem like Twenty-One Pilots impressions. (I was going to say “bad Twenty-One Pilots impressions, but that seemed redundant.) If these guys stick to big, macho riffs in traditional rock sounds, they could be huge.

Foxing — Nearer My God. These St. Louis indie-rockers released their latest album, with this the title track and the best song I’ve heard from the record, on August 10th. Conor Murphy’s vocals really shine here as he hits notes I couldn’t hit if I took a football to the groin.

Drenge — Outside. I loved this British duo’s debut album, which took forever to show up in tHe U.S. even though they’d found some success in England, but thought they changed their sound too much for their follow-up record. This sounds more like their first LP – straight-up guitar and drum heavy rock with a little British snarl to it.

Alkaline Trio — Demon and Division. Alkaline Trio’s album Is This Thing Cursed? just dropped on Friday, the 31st, so I haven’t gotten into it yet, but this song, released a few weeks earlier as a single, is another strong power-pop (don’t call it “emo!”) single from Skiba & co.

Death Cab for Cutie — Northern Lights. Thank You for Today dropped on August 17th, with “Gold Rush” still my favorite off the record but this upbeat “Soul Meets Body”-ish track among my favorites from the rest.

Allie X — Science. Alexandra Hughes, who records as Allie X, covers a wide range within electronic indie-pop, but she has a knack for sweetly dark melodies, like this one on the third single from her upcoming album Super Sunset. If you like Sia’s music and vocal style, Allie X is the better version, without the commercial trappings or the wig.

St. Lucia — Bigger. I’m optimistic about St. Lucia’s upcoming third album, Hyperion, which is due out on the 21st, given how bouncy and fun the three singles have been – maybe not as impactful as the singles from his debut, but I think stronger than most of the material on 2016’s Matter other than “Dancing on Glass.”

YONAKA — Teach Me To Fight. I loved this British quartet with a feisty-voiced female lead singer’s track “Wouldn’t Wanna Be Ya” when it came out last year, and they’ve had a few singles in a similar post-punk, snarling vein, including this one, where Theresa Jarvis drops what should be an anthem for young feminists.

CLOVES — Hit Me Hard. CLOVES’s voice stunned me when I first heard her on “Frail Love,” a top ten song for me in 2015, but she was never going to find an audience just doing vocals and piano ballads, so a move into more pop territory was probably inevitable. I’m just glad she’s doing so with solid hooks and without surrendering any of her vocal power or the endearing way she articulates certain sounds.

Sarah Chernoff — You’re Free. Chernoff was the lead singer for the Superhumanoids, a sadly underappreciated dream-pop/electronica band that crafted gorgeous, textured music behind Chernoff’s soaring vocals. Her debut solo album was much more mellow, more in the style of torch songs than pop, but this new track splits the difference and I think provides the perfect platform for her vocal operatics. (I saw Superhumanoids live on their last tour, and met the band after the show. I can vouch for her singing prowess – this is exactly how she sounds in concert.)

Arkells — Relentless. These Canadian indie-rockers will drop their new album on October 19th, and this feels like it should be their breakout single here in the U.S., a danceable rock tune that’s easier than the preceding single “People’s Champ.” I just don’t understand why they used the keyboards from “La Macarena” in the background (sorry, you’ll never unhear this).

The Kooks — Kids. We got two new singles from the Kooks this month, this and “Chicken Bone,” with their new album, Let’s Go Sunshine, appearing on the 31st. I don’t think their sound has changed much at all, but I’m fine with that — Britpop itself may be dead but it’s not necessarily out of it as long as the Kooks are around.

Interpol — If You Really Love Nothing. Yet another album that appeared at the end of August (the 24th) that I still need to listen to, Marauder is Interpol’s sixth and so far has at least given us more hooks on its singles than El Pintor had on the final record.

Cullen Omori — Happiness Reigns. Omori, formerly of the Smith Westerns, just released his second solo album, The Diet, which I have seen compared to early Oasis but to me sounds a lot more like the aforementioned Kooks with a little Wild Nothing thrown in. This was my favorite track off the album.

Ovlov — The Best of You. Stoner rock with a Pinback vibe, most notable on this two-minute track off their latest album, TRU.

The Skull — Ravenswood. More doom metal from three former members of Trouble, still rocking the same Sabbath-ish vibe but with a crunchier, less metal guitar sound.

High On Fire — Electric Messiah. Sleep returned from a 19-year hiatus this spring with a new record, The Sciences, but front man Matt Pike didn’t ditch his primary band, High on Fire, whose music is hard and fast like ‘80s thrash or speed metal but with some stoner or sludge metal elements. This is the title track from their upcoming eighth album, due out October 5th.

Riverside — Vale of Tears. Polish progressive rock with a lot of Opeth to their sound with some shredding in the instrumental sections. Their new album Wasteland, their first since the death of founding guitarist Piotr Grudzi?ski, will drop on September 28th.

Voivod — Obsolete Beings. I’ve spelled out my concerns about Voivod’s new output before — it’s hard to accept anything without the late Denis D’Amour’s songwriting or guitar work as ‘real’ Voivod, and their forthcoming album The Wake (September 21st) will be their first record since 2006’s Katorz to exclude founding bassist Jean-Yves Thériault. But damn does this sound like peak Voivod circa Dimension Hatröss.

Omnium Gatherum — Refining Fire. Add one more album to the list of those that came out on August 31st that I need to listen to, Burning Cold, the latest record from this Finnish melodic death metal act. I did also like “Rest in Your Heart” from the same album, the music of which wouldn’t have been out of place on a pop-metal album in the late 80s with its huge synth lines and downtempo power-chord riffing.

Horrendous — The Idolater. I’ve been a big proponent of Horrendous, a Philly-based technical/progressive death metal band, even with their guttural, indecipherable vocals, because their music is intricate, experimental, and utterly fascinating. Their second album, 2014’s Ecdysis, was like nothing I’d ever heard before, and their follow-up, Anareta, wasn’t far behind. The first two tracks from their fourth album, Idol, which drops September 28th, are both absolute beasts of technical work, but this song feels like their songwriting has become more sophisticated since their last album. I could do without the blast beat, though.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
→ September 2, 2018
→ By

The Song of Achilles.

Madeline Miller is a scholar of Ancient Greek and Latin and of Greek mythology, so her Orange Prize-winning novel The Song of Achilles seems very on brand for her – she has taken one of the classic myths of antiquity, featuring one of the most famous names to be found in Bullfinch’s guide, and created a stirring novel around it. She mostly hews to the standard myths of the time, adding some notes at the end to explain why, for example, she didn’t use the part of the myth where Achilles’ mother dips him in the water to make him invulnerable, but leaves his heel dry and thus the one place where he can be slain. (It turns out that part of the story came very late to the Greeks and isn’t canon.) Where she does take a liberty is in turning the friendship between Achilles and the exiled prince Patroclus into a romance, one that probably isn’t inaccurate to the norms of Greek society but absolutely changes the very nature of the two characters and why Achilles died the way he did in the original myth.

Achilles was a half-god, half-mortal, conceived during the rape of the sea goddess Thetis, and the godhead within him made him into a fearsome warrior who appeared to be immortal on the battlefield and capable of feats of strength and quickness that were beyond the capacity of any other mortals. In the original myth, he befriends Patroclus, exiled from his own nation after he accidentally kills another boy (who, in Miller’s telling, was attempting to bully him). In this book, Patroclus, the narrator, is quickly smitten with Achilles, and their friendship turns first into an awkward teenage romance between the two boys – one that Miller’s Odysseus remarks isn’t uncommon for the time – but then into a full-fledged relationship not that far from the state of marriage. Miller uses this to put Patroclus right at the center of all of the action, and adds depth to the story of Achilles’ death at the end of a sequence of killings that leave Patroclus and Hector of Troy dead as well.

Miller truly does hew to the story she was given by the gods, and spends more time filling in the details than in trying retell or in any way alter the core myth of Achilles – but that’s part of this book’s problem. It’s a stirring read and moves extremely quickly – I’d guess I knocked this out in under five hours, very fast for a 360 page book, and the last half of it took me two hours on a flight – and yet in some ways felt insubstantial, especially the bulk of the material that comes before the Greeks head to Troy to fight for the return of Helen, the beautiful wife of Menelaus who was kidnapped by Paris (Hector’s brother … seriously, not the best of families there, Mr. Priam). When Miller takes us to war, even though some of the drama there, again drawn from the source myth, has little to do with battle and more to do with grown-ass men (and one demi-mortal) acting like teenagers, the material moves away from dialogue and idyllic scenes in the forest to acquire some actual weight. Of course, by that point, the reader realizes we’re in the place where Achilles and Patroclus will die, so the narrative greed picks up, but there’s also a marked difference in the intensity and realism of the prose between the two halves of the book. So much of the description of the puppy love between the two boys reads more like a bad YA novel with better vocabulary; the interactions among the soldiers and their leaders ring far more true.

There’s also a weird disconnect between how Patroclus perceives Achilles, since the reader sees his inner thoughts, and how Achilles treats Patroclus, which always, even in moments that are supposed to read as tender, come across as distant. It is as if Patroclus idolizes Achilles – which is kind of understandable, since Achilles is a handsome, athletically gifted half-god, sort of a Greek Kris Bryant I suppose – but Achilles is just dabbling in the love that dare not speak its name. Perhaps he is just playing around; perhaps Miller’s Achilles is bisexual, and his brief infidelity is a reflection of a conflict within him that Patroclus faces. By making Patroclus the star-struck gay kid within the story, Miller put the less interesting character of the two in front of the microphone. Had she told the story in another way, and spent a little less time on Achilles’ youth, perhaps she wouldn’t have needed the crutch of war to power the novel through to its conclusion – a conclusion that, by the way, is very sweet and befitting a myth of this magnitude. If only the rest of the book lived up to its ending.

Next up: Donal Ryan’s From a Low and Quiet Sea.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , ,
→ September 1, 2018
→ By

Stick to baseball, 9/1/18.

My one Insider/ESPN+ piece this week ranked the best tools among MLB players, which is probably my least favorite piece to write each year. And I held a Klawchat this week.

I reviewed the incredible new board game Everdell for Paste this week. It’s got a Stone Age vibe, but adds so much more to that worker placement framework, and the artwork is some of the best I have ever seen.

And now, the links…

  • Longreads first: There’s a new health scam out there, targeting desperate people like cancer patients, that claims that food-grade hydrogen peroxide can cure many ailments. There is no such thing as food grade hydrogen peroxide, which has never been proven to treat any disease and is very, very dangerous to consume at even moderate doses.
  • Esquire looks at the imminent global water crisis, caused by overuse, pollution, climate change, and unwise or even deleterious government policies. This, not Islamist terrorism, is the greatest threat to global stability for this century.
  • Alan Rusbridger, former editor-in-chief of the Guardian, has a new book coming out titled Breaking News, on how the business of news has broken the concept of news; his old paper has a lengthy excerpt that focuses on a major phone-hacking scandal within Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.
  • Recode’s Kara Swisher interviewed OB/GYN and GOOP debunker Dr. Jen Gunter, which you listen to as a podcast or read in a transcript. It’s funny and also very telling about how patients use “Dr. Google,” and how people like Gwyneth Paltrow take advantage of the gullible and the desperate to line their own pockets.
  • Mother Jones investigates the broken federal student loan forgiveness program, which has had problems for years but has taken a bigger dive off a cliff under Betsy DeVos.
  • A few weeks ago I posted a story about a female NYU professor accused of harassing a male graduate student, after which many women stood up for her, the predator, not the victim. A graduate student who studied with that professor writes in the Chronicle of Higher Education that she believes the accuser, saying that Professor Avital Ronell is a bully while questioning her academic and feminist bona fides.
  • Conservative writer, evangelical Christian, and Iraq War veteran David French and his wife adopted a two-year old girl from Ethiopia in 2010. He writes for the Atlantic how he has seen attitudes of Americans shift towards hate against his daughter, his wife, and himself for daring to cross racial lines in the name of love. He also covers some policy changes from the current and previous Administrations that have discouraged such adoptions from outside of the United States.
  • BlacKkKlansman includes a line from David Duke where he mentions being a friend of technology pioneer and Nobel laureate William Shockley, one of the inventors of the transistor and founder of Shockley Semiconductor (from which the Traitorous Eight left to found Fairchild Semiconductor). I had no idea that Shockley became an inveterate racist shitstain and eugenics proponent.
  • The “age of privacy nihilism” is upon us, although I’d argue nothing has really changed – we’ve given away our data for decades, in exchange for the occasional coupon for 50 cents off Nutter Butters.
  • Mollie Tibbetts was murdered by a man because she dared to say no; that man was Latino, possibly in the U.S. illegally, so within hours of her murder, the white supremacists in power chose to politicize her death (which, I was told, we’re not supposed to do when a white man shoots up a school or a church). Her family is having none of it, and her father came out to show his gratitude for and support of the Iowan Latino community.
  • The Nordic countries’ economies are often held up, with good reason, as exemplars of Western democracies that use broad social safety nets and other progressive policies to produce high employment rates with low rates of poverty, homelessness, and crime. They also tend to score very high on economic “happiness indices,” but the BBC points out that such rankings obscure increasing mental health issues in those countries, especially among younger citizens.
  • The collapse of the Venezuelan state and economy has led to a growing refugee crisis in neighboring countries, with this Washington Post article focusing on the Brazilian town of Boa Vista.
  • The ongoing European measles epidemic has killed 37 people and sickened 41,000 – and remember, children can survive measles only to die of the virus a decade later due to an incurable condition called subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE).
  • Roland’s Market, the new Phoenix restaurant and collaboration of Chris Bianco and the Holguins (Tacos Chiwas), earned a very positive review from the Arizona Republic.
  • The Arizona Republican Party packed its Supreme Court, and just got a big win from their efforts, as the Court blocked a ballot measure that could have funded state schools with an extra $690 million. The proposed question had over a quarter of a million signatures. The governor who stuffed the Supreme Court is facing a challenge this November from David Garcia, a Democrat, a veteran, and an education professor at Arizona State. If he wins, he’ll be the first Latinx governor of Arizona in 44 years.
  • A neuroscientist discusses how skimming rather than deep reading can alter our brains for the worse.
  • This is simply perfect.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,
→ August 30, 2018
→ By

Klawchat 8/30/18.

My review of the beautiful new worker-placement game Everdell is up at Paste.

Keith Law: Sayonara, tomorrow, now he’s blood on the ground. It’s Klawchat.

Go Go Gadget Hamate Bone: Any noticeable change to Luis Urias’ hitting profile since adopting the leg kick tweak?
Keith Law: No, not that I think he really needed one. If anything changed, it’s that he got to hit in El Paso.

Joe: Keith, is it fair to question Showalter’s handling of young players? He sat Sisco on the bench for long periods earlier in the year and now he is sitting Mullins to get a look at some guy named John Andreoli.
Keith Law: I think it’s fair, yes. He certainly seems like he’s never taken a liking to Sisco, at least. He hasn’t been the same with young pitchers, though – if anything he might have used them too much.

Dana: How stupid do the Yankees fans who booed Stanton in April look right now?
Keith Law: Any fans who boo players in April look stupid. I’m not big on booing players period, but every year, a handful of great players will get off to ‘slow’ starts. So to answer your question, they look grade 80 stupid.

Gene: Keith, a couple of contracts remain to be shed or survived, but is there any way to accelerate the rebuild in Baltimore? With their luck with the draft and player development, I can’t foresee any return to competitiveness within the next three to five years. The farm, with a few exceptions seems to be littered with spare parts, fourth outfielders, relief pitchers, and offensive pieces without defensive positions. Is there any light at the end of the tunnel?
Keith Law: They’ve drafted better the last few years, I think. Certainly a lot of arms in the lower levels right now. They need to do something more on the international front, of course. My argument has been that ownership waited too long to trade Machado, and as a result, the return was just OK, but seems unlikely to deliver them any cornerstones.

Pathmark: What is the optimal Sep/Oct use of Justus Sheffield in terms of what is best for him and the team?
Keith Law: I’d like to see him get some long relief outings. One, it’s a good way to break in a young starter. Two, what I have heard from multiple scouts this year is that he’s not showing the command he’ll need to be a mid-rotation starter or better. He’s super athletic and very smart, and the delivery is fine, so there’s no real reason he can’t get there – but he’s not there yet. Reps in the majors could help.

James: Before Chris Paddack was shut down his fastball was apparently touching 98. Is that just a blip or is that a newfound velocity post TJ?
Keith Law: I saw 95 or 96 in March. 98 wouldn’t shock me but I don’t think he’s going to pitch there. The question around his upside revolves around his breaking ball anyway, not his velocity. I don’t think he’s markedly different with a 92-95 mph fastball or a 92-98 mph fastball.

Pathmark: Do you watch the LLWS? Thoughts on the quality of play or perils of the excessive breaking balls?
Keith Law: I don’t watch it. Don’t care as much about breaking balls as I do about kids trying to throw too hard.

Nick: I read your recent report on Adam Haseley; is there reason to be concerned about the Phillies’ ability to develop hitters given your report as well as Moniak and Randolph’s struggles? Or is this just bad luck?
Keith Law: Neither was a great pick for his spot. I think if there’s been a weakness in the Phillies’ rebuild, it’s been in the draft. Their trades have been solid and their international amateur department keeps finding gold.

Joe: Good afternoon, Keith. Roy Halladay: Hall of Famer?
Keith Law: I’ve given my provisional ballot before – he’s on the bubble. I had seven definites for ten spots, I think, and then 6-7 guys I’d consider for the last three. He’s in the latter group.

Jason : As an Oakland fan I still can’t believe this team is competing. They are bringing up guys that I have never heard of and they keep coming. First off is this one of the worst lineups from a talent aspect that you have seen competing for a playoff spot this late in the season? Who should get credit for this (besides the players) front office? manager? organization as a whole?
Keith Law: You can credit all of those plus acknowledge they’ve had a lot of luck this year. They’ve collected a lot of guys who probably wouldn’t be as good without the juiced ball to help. They’ve had guys like Matt Chapman make enormous (but apparently very real) development leaps in the majors. Sean Manaea is 2 innings short of qualifying for the ERA title for the year, which is either luck or credit to the training staff or both. But also picking up discards for the rotation seems more like when the Yankees acquired Aaron Small and he had two months that were completely out of nowhere.

The Killer Klaw: There are a lot of ‘dudes’ that Padres fans want to keep track of. Should Tucupita Marcano be one of them?
Keith Law: He is; he was mentioned in my preseason Padres writeup, and it’s very rare for me to mention DSL guys at all because we really know virtually nothing about them.

Nick: If you’re Josh Donaldson, do you sign a one-year “prove it” deal in hopes you returns to form (4-5 win players) and sign a better deal in 2019? Or is that too risky given his age and injury?
Keith Law: He might not get any long-term offers after this year, so if he’s just getting one- and two-year deals he should consider taking the one-year deal and hoping he’s healthy enough for 140 games.

Reuben Amaro Jr.: Considering the Phillies have outperformed their run differential this year how would you approach next year if you were management? Do you think their young pieces will be ready to make that leap next year or would you target 2020 as the year to go all in? Asking for a friend…
Keith Law: I think they already started to go in with Arrieta and Santana; there’s no reason to stop now, especially in a huge free agent class with plenty of cash available. I do think they’ll have some real decisions to make, like whether JP Crawford, who seems not to have clicked with the new coaching staff, is part of the future or needs a change of scenery. I don’t think their top prospect arms are going to be ready till the middle of next year, which could also inform their decision-making.

Jed: Any info on Robert Puason? Top 2019 J2 guy?
Keith Law: I don’t follow that market, sorry.

The BigSauce: Eloy Jimenez raking and the call up watch is T- 1.5 days. Do they do the right thing and make the call for the next series home opener? Sticking in the central does Lovelady get the call too?
Keith Law: I think they’ll call up Eloy, since he’s already on the 40-man. No clue on Lovelady – he’s a reliever, not someone you manipulate service time on.

Trevor: I refuse to believe Arenado has 3 DRS this year when he’s never had less than 16 in a season. The baseline defensive stats are there so is the statistic flawed or is he having a down year defensively?
Keith Law: He’s been having a down year defensively. You’ve sort of made the argument from personal incredulity – it isn’t true because I can’t believe it’s true.

Trevor: Can we please give the creator of the opener a raise. Hearing the Braves announcers bash the idea, whilst citing Teheran’s 1st inning struggles and the Rays AL best ERA since it’s inception, is laughable.
Keith Law: Given what’s gone on this year down there, it’s a good night if those guys aren’t laughable.

Bill G: Hi Keith. Seems like expansion to 32 teams is inevitable. Would you favor 4 divisions of 8 teams, or 8 divisions of 4 teams (like NFL). Would you favor geographical alignment or a more traditional AL and NL. Thanks!
Keith Law: Fewer divisions. Adding divisions increases the chances of a sub-.500 team making the playoffs.

Abed: The Pirates farm system seems pretty barren, and I thought this before the Baz inclusion was announced. Now, outside of the core group (Keller/Hayes/Swaggerty, and to a lesser extent, Tucker/Cruz) is there anyone else worth getting excited over? Someone who has made a major leap in your eyes this year?
Keith Law: Cruz has made the biggest leap. Hayes has really established himself as at least a solid average hitter with a 70 glove. I might have said Calvin Mitchell earlier this year but he cooled off quite a bit and doesn’t offer any value beyond the bat.

Zach: I know Trevor Williams isn’t a 3.30 ERA (his 2018 figure) caliber pitcher, but going back to last season, as a starter, he sports a 3.99 FIP (50 starts). Is it stretching it to say he’s a high-3s/low-4s ERA caliber starter?
Keith Law: No, I don’t think that’s stretching it at all. Probably just about right.

Danny: Kevin Newman made his debut last week – a guy I know you absolutely loved coming out of the draft. His time in the minors has been a bit of a disappointment, but do you believe that he can still be a starting caliber middle infielder?
Keith Law: I do, but he has to bring some of the power he’ll show in BP into games more. He really hasn’t done enough to try to drive the ball. He’s going to make a ton of contact, he can play short, he’ll add value on the bases, but he needs to be more of a 35 doubles, 10 homers guy.

Ron: Hi Keith- How many more productive years of being a catcher would have made Mauer a HOFer? If he could of had 3 or 4 years more behind the plate, could he have knocked on the door? Too bad he had to move.
Keith Law: He might still get there. I could see him becoming a cause celebre among the stat crowd, because his career value requires more than a cursory look at the old stats.

Buddy: Surprised by Cardinals turnaround?
Keith Law: No.

J.P.: As we await your writeup on Manning (and the Senators/Wolves), were you pleasantly surprised by how he handled his Double-A debut or no?
Keith Law: No, I wouldn’t say that. He was fine, three average pitches, changeup might have been a 55. What I really liked was how they’ve gotten his delivery to make better use of his height. He extends way out over his front side now, and he must have some of the best extension in the minors now. That helped the fastball, which was 91-95 without a lot of life, really play up even in the zone. Hitters reacted like they didn’t have enough time.

John: Greg Bird drawing a lot of ire from Yankees fans. (You hate to see that.) Justified?
Keith Law: I think it’s been unfair of the org to talk him up as a future first baseman given the state of his defense even before the injuries. Let him DH and hope he hits like he did as a prospect – low average but tons of walks and 25+ homers.

Ted: How do you feel about the A’s strategy to target high-ceiling/high-risk players like Beck and Murray in recent drafts over other players that were generally deemed to be “safer” because they wouldn’t be able to afford these high-upside players on the open market? How do you feel about Beck as a prospect? Keep up the great work. Thanks.
Keith Law: I go back and forth on Beck; he’s only 19, and he struck out a lot less this year than I expected, but, damn, Gina, where the heck did the 70 raw power go?

Mike: Playing Azul with people who primarily work the top rows, how do you maximize your score in what ends up being a quick race to the finish?
Keith Law: Try to hit the big bonuses – the 10 point bonus for getting the same color in all five rows or the 7 points for finishing a column. I think those exist in the game to balance out the top-rows people (who suck, just play the fucking game right, people).

JR: Is the Klaw Factory hiring? Does it offer decent pay/benefits?
Keith Law: There’s one employee and he gets worked to death.

Justin: Shane Bieber’s having a respectable rookie season. Do you think his command is advanced enough that he can reduce the hard contact and BABIP issues as he goes around the league/learns hitters?
Keith Law: I think he can mitigate them enough to be a solid fourth starter. His stuff is marginal enough in today’s game that BABIP/hard contact will just be part of his game in most seasons.

Rob : From your pre-season review of the Mets farm system it seemed you liked the upside in the system assuming bouncebacks from injuries etc. Any updated thoughts based on how this MiLB season played out?
Keith Law: Several of those guys did bounce back, right? Dunn and Kay did. Peterson’s been very good outside of a dead-arm stretch. Lindsay has been a big disappointment (and got hurt again, I believe). Newton’s been a surprise. Kelenic and Woods-Richardson have both looked great in their debuts. Mauricio has made himself a Guy in the GCL. The farm isn’t the problem. It’s been a combination of bad roster management in the majors, ownership involvement, and for a while a manager who was just not up to the job.

Tristan: While acknowledging that being consumed by a Rookie of the Year vote is a bit silly, the race in the AL is quite interesting this year. Ohtani, Torres and Andujar all look like guys who’ll have good careers. And on a rate basis you can argue Ohtani has outhit the Yankee kids. He hasn’t played defense, though. Do voters give him credit for those 9 starts (and for being Amazing)? Would you?
Keith Law: Of course Ohtani should get credit for those starts. I would seriously object to any voter claiming they would only consider him as a pitcher or a hitter. You add up all the value of everything he’s done and compare him to the other candidates.
Keith Law: Oh, I have no ballot this year. How droll.

Paul: Is this offensive version of Matt Chapman here to stay? If so, what is your long-term projection?
Keith Law: I’m buying. Way improved approach at the plate. All-Star.

Bob Pollard: Know you’re high on Wander Franco, but am wondering what you think his ceiling is (apologies if you’ve noted this). Are we looking at a Lindor-type superstar SS?
Keith Law: Less of a runner, not the same defender, more average and more raw power. (Then again, Lindor is going to hit 30+ again this year, so I no longer know what average power looks like.)

JR: You buying Zack Wheeler stock? He’s on a very impressive streak. Possible he’s finally fully recovered from TJ surgery and this is who he can be going forward?
Keith Law: He’s looked as good as I can remember him looking since he was in the low minors.

Bighen: What’s the Mets 2019 plan if it doesn’t include spending serious money which just isn’t going to happen. You can squint and see a decent team if a few breaks go their way. You can also see a full blown disaster if 1 or 2 big things go wrong. Tough needle to thread
Keith Law: Agreed. If I were named their GM (that’s not happening, this is hypothetical), I’d shop deGrom for sure this winter, as his value will never be higher, and you pretty much have to use him to try to get some more impact into the system. I don’t think they’re a few breaks away from contention next year; they’re a lot of breaks away.

JR: SSS, but Amed Rosario has looked much better at the plate of late, which is encouraging. It seems like there have been a lot of top prospects that have debuted over the past few years and immediately played well, so when a top prospect takes some time to develop (which is fine), the hot takes come fast and furious. Oh, and it helps when they play you everyday at your normal position cough Dominic Smith cough.
Keith Law: Your middle point in there is the salient one: Not every great player performed in his first stint in the majors. Josh Donaldson made my top 100 list one year, bounced around via trades, had some injuries, didn’t hit that well at first, and became an MVP candidate in his late 20s. Even Mike Trout wasn’t Willie Mays in his first month or so in the majors at age 19. Just be patient.

Drew: If Madson and Gio are still in Washington come Saturday, will Mike Rizzo be guilty of managerial malpractice?
Keith Law: Too strong. Those guys have some real value to contenders. We’re not talking Jose Bautista here.

George : I feel like people are being way too quick on evaluating the Archer trade. Lots of good pitchers have bad months
Keith Law: Yes and give the Pirates an offseason to get to know the guy and work with him. I saw most of his last outing vs Milwaukee, and there was some really bad pitch selection in addition to the usual problems with location. You can’t get beat like that on sliders to lefties unless you are burying that sucker at his back foot.

Ted: The Sox have 3 third basemen, Devers, Dalbec and Chavis. Who should be the long term Sox third baseman and where should the others play or should they be traded?
Keith Law: Devers is the best overall player of the three and I would take him. Dalbec has emerged as a prospect, and can really play third, but he’s had a 30%+ K rate at every level of full-season ball, and I can’t fully buy into him as a big league caliber bat. Chavis can hit some but I’ve never liked his defense at third in the past.

Bruce: With all the second generation hitters taking prospect lists by storm nowadays, any reason for a Giants fan to get excited about Luis Gonzalez’s kid Jacob? Stat line this year doesn’t show much promise, but maybe you have more insight?
Keith Law: Thought he was a reach in the second round. Older HS kid too, turned 19 just after the draft, so he’s young but not THAT young. I thought he was power over hit, as did a lot of scouts I asked.

Darius: Archer for Meadows, Glasnow and Baz…one month in, does this look like a bad trade for the Pirates or too soon to tell?
Keith Law: Too soon to tell.

Jim: What is going on with Riley Pint? He hasn’t pitched in forever. Is he just done? Any chance he regains top 100 status down the line?
Keith Law: The story has been a forearm injury and then an oblique strain and then a paper cut and then he caught smallpox … and would it surprise anyone at this point if we heard he had TJ surgery? Not me. Huge arm and gifted athlete who has always had trouble throwing strikes. I heard he was looking worse earlier this year in the control department; maybe that was the injury’s fault.
Keith Law: I don’t foresee him being a top 100 guy unless he can find the plate.

Shuck Bowalter: What’s your hot take on Moncada? Future All Star, or all time over-hype bust?
Keith Law: Somewhere in between those two.

OoOoO: The Rangers have Taylor Hearn, Joe Palumbo and Jonathan Hernandez all at AA Frisco right now. Are any of them legitimate starting pitching prospects, or are they all relievers in your mind?
Keith Law: Maybe starter, probable starter, likely reliever.

Paul: Is there a specific reason the Mets aren’t bringing Alonso up? Is it a service time issue?
Keith Law: Where does he play?

Ben: Not that you would ever publish one, but do you have a list of worst tools in the majors in your head?
Keith Law: A few come to mind, yes.

Bobby Higginson: What Erie prospects impressed you most last night?
Keith Law: Great to see Castro live for the first time this year. Also Paredes showed what he always shows, dude can really hit. Alcantara might have a 70 arm. Manning I discussed above.

Evan: Saw you tweeted you were at Matt Manning’s game last night. Has your longterm outlook on him changed?
Keith Law: See above. More optimistic now that he’s getting that extension out front. An above-average breaking ball would be nice, but he has better feel for his changeup anyway.

Mike: I noticed you’ve touted Micker Adolfo a few times in the past. What kind of player could you see him developing into? Do you think there’s top 100 upside once he’s back on the field in 2019?
Keith Law: He’ll be someone I consider for the top 100 this winter.

Oscar: Has your outlook on Julio Urias’ potential comeback changed at all? Recent reports have him up to 94mph, but I know that’s not the be-all-end-all.
Keith Law: I don’t believe that, and it really doesn’t matter until he shows he can do that in game situations.

Rob : Javy Baez was named most popular player by little league world series players. Shouldn’t that be a sign to MLB owners and players that its OK to look like you’re having fun while playing?
Keith Law: Yes. Except if you look at MLB owners – the players aren’t the problem here, not overall – you don’t see a lot of people who look like Javy, do you?

Pat D: I was reading a story about the possibility of Elsa having a girlfriend in Frozen 2. A commenter said he had no problem with homosexuality being “accepted,” but objected to it being “normalized” to younger generations. I challenged him to define the difference in the terms and he said that something that isn’t most “common” means that it’s not normal. I ended the conversation right there, though he took that as a win for himself. Is there really any hope for progress with attitudes like that?
Keith Law: Reading the comments was your first mistake. You will not win with those people. They’re already a minority, and they will die off, with their outdated attitudes. LGBTQ+ acceptance is the new normal, as it damn well should be. I personally have never found some stranger’s orientation or gender identity to have any effect on my life. And there are people I love dearly in the LGBTQ+ community. I hope I can simply keep people who might be unsure where they stand on these issues from falling into the fallacious thinking of those who preach hate and bigotry.

Josh in DC: Aside from “let him have fun,” do you have any advice for my 9-year old son’s father, a man whose son is about to try pitching for the first time?
Keith Law: Don’t throw all out – throw comfortably hard, no harder.

Juwan: Assuming you view Soto and Acuna as the front runners for rookie of the year, how do you evaluate their respective candidacies? Acuna has the higher WAR, but Soto seems destined to finish with 20 or so home runs (perhaps he’ll take the record for a teenager), while having a .400+ OPS. Does the additional year of development for Acuna factor into your decision (as well as the teenage records Soto might set), or do you simply evaluate them based on objective performance this season?
Keith Law: I do consider a player’s age for RoY, since that’s an award designed to highlight a future star. I don’t think that award will be settled until the last few days of the season.

Mike: Is David Bote an every day player? He’s been a good story and I enjoy watching him but curious as to what your opinion of him is
Keith Law: I think so. Maybe not for the Cubs once everyone is healthy, but for someone, yes.

Bill: If you were the Braves would you look to offer a long term contract to Folty and buy out some his arb/FA years?
Keith Law: Yes, why not? He’s good, and those contracts have value if the player stays healthy.

Nat: Heading to Philly tomorrow for Cubs v Phils. Any recommendations for beer and/or BBQ in the area? Don’t want to spend an arm and a leg at the park.
Keith Law: There’s nothing right in that area – the sports complex is south of the city, accessible via subway, but there isn’t anything good nearby. I haven’t been but Village Whiskey in center city gets raves and might fit what you’re looking for.

HH: What, other than pesto, can I use basil for? I’m drowning in it this summer.
Keith Law: Caprese salad. Chiffonade it and toss it into salads. Throw some leaves on pizza if you make your own. Pesto freezes well too, although some sources suggest you make it without nuts before freezing.
Keith Law: Apparently it makes good ice cream too. I haven’t gone there yet.

Chad: It seems like the Padres are confident that Mejia can stick at C – supposedly his receiving has improved. With a lineup of Tatis, Urias, Mejia, Myers, Renfroe, and whoever else sticks, is it really that improbable that the Padres have an elite offense as early as next year?
Keith Law: Renfroe isn’t part of an elite offense, not with a career-best .309 OBP this year (and dropping). Myers hasn’t been consistently good enough for that either. And they’re going to play that replacement-level first baseman for whom two years and $20 million would have been an overpay. So it’s not terribly likely just yet.

Josh in DC: What are your feelings about expanded September rosters? As a fan, I hate them (too many pitching changes, for example). What’s your opinion?
Keith Law: I hate that part. I don’t hate seeing young guys get some service time, and exposure to the big league environment and coaching staff. I don’t hate seeing teams have more pitchers in total to spread out workloads. But having, say, only X pitchers available per game would go a long way towards keeping September games from running four hours and September box scores look like Russian novels.

Mac: Do you think Nick Solak will get serious consideration for your top 100 list? I get the draw backs. He’s not physical and doesn’t have tools that jump out at you but he does have an innate feel and approach to hitting that lets him play above his tools. He’s very much like Paul DeJong in that way. I think he’s going to be very good hitter for a long time.
Keith Law: No, definitely not a top 100 guy.

Pramit: If you were working in a front office for a team and the President/GM and/or owner didn’t want to call up a top prospect for service time reasons, what argument would you make in favor of calling up the player? How would you present it?
Keith Law: That he needs the development time in the majors. Vlad Jr is not progressing as a hitter in AAA right now (or as a fielder, but that’s another story). If you want him to get better, you promote him.

DanB Greenwich: hey Klaw…brWAR has Nola at 8.9 and DeGrom at 8.2. fWAR has DeGrom at 7.3 and Nola at 5.7. What causes that kind of discrepancy?
Keith Law: They don’t calculate pitcher WAR the same way. Fangraphs’ version relies on the pitchers’ peripherals and assumes league-average BABIP. Baseball-Reference’s version relies on actual runs allowed.

Andrew: My wifeis a big fan of Takenoko, Catan, and Lanterns, but tends to get turned off by overly complicated/complex games. Would you recommend Everdell for her?
Keith Law: This would be a half-step upgrade in complexity – but it doesn’t feel or play complex. It’s really a masterful design. And the components are stunning.

Jo-Nathan: Stetson Allie is sooo close to being a major leaguer and you just have to feel good for the guy; However there is no way this happens living off $1,100 a month over the past 8 years unless you have something like a $2.25 million bonus to supplement your income. What is the solution here, unionize?
Keith Law: I don’t think they can unionize, can they? If the MLBPA found a way to include them, that would be the best solution. Also, maybe more people should have called their Representatives over the rider MLB had the recipients of campaign contributions slip into the GOP tax bill.

Jim: Mark Vientos looks like one of the most exciting pieces in the Mets system. Do you think he can be an impact player at the big league level, or is it too soon to tell?
Keith Law: I do – I’m a buyer. I forgot to mention him earlier. Kelenic has looked so good early that he’s overshadowed Vientos through no fault of the latter.

Andrew: Hey Keith. I’m considering getting my MBA, and had Tepper on my short list of schools. How was your experience there? I’m looking at things from a challenge/knowledge standpoint rather than networking, for the most part.
Keith Law: I enjoyed my two years there and learned a lot. It’s a very quantitative program, which was unusual then and probably much more relevant today to more jobs. I will say Pittsburgh in the winter is the grayest place I’ve ever spent any time.

Wes: Is Austin Meadows’ performance in Durham anything other than SSS noise?
Keith Law: It is a SSS. 27 games, I believe.

Donald: If you worked in the Astros front office, how would you have handled the Osuna trade?
Keith Law: I would have opposed it, and if they’d made it anyway, I would have found another job.

Kevin w : Why are people so resistant to science? It’s what literally makes everybody’s life better/easier
Keith Law: Much of science denial is tied to a strain of religiosity that holds that what is written in holy texts is literally or at least primarily true, and thus adherents feel that science, by proving some of these beliefs to be false (like creationism), undermines religion. Of course, there are many people on both sides of the religion/science divide who argue that the conflict is not real or essential – that you can be a person of faith and still believe in science. Math is the fundamental language of the universe; you may simply choose to believe that a higher power created math.

Dylan Garner: Is Kolby Allard’s future in the MLB solely tied to him adding velocity/quality to his fastball? It seems impossible for him to succeed against major league hitters with 89-90 as his main pitch.
Keith Law: Not impossible, just an added challenge. His CB can be plus or better. He just has to get to it.

John: A few years ago, we couldn’t quantify much that catchers do defensively. Now there are data on framing. But it seems like there’s some other quality that goes to the relationship with the pitchers, which is very hard for statistics to capture. Is that accurate, or is that characteristic akin to clubhouse chemistry?
Keith Law: I think that we have a decent idea of the value of framing but not as strong an idea about where that value is generated or how sustainable changes in framing value or skill are. I’m loath to consider it too heavily in matters like awards voting or especially the Hall of Fame.

Kevin: If you could only watch one decade of baseball, as a fan what would you choose?
Keith Law: This one. Game’s never been better, folks.
Keith Law: Thank you all for reading this week and for all of your questions – I’m sorry I didn’t get to more but for whatever reason I’m a little slow on the draw today. I should be back again next week for another chat and will try to keep to a regular chat schedule through the rest of the regular season. Have a great Labor Day weekend, to those of you here in the U.S., and please be safe on the roads. Labor Day and Memorial Day are the two most dangerous weekends of the year on American roadways. If you’ve had even a little too much to drink, don’t get behind the wheel. I’d rather have you get home later, but safe, and here for the next Klawchat.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With:
→ August 30, 2018
→ By

BlacKkKlansman.

Spike Lee’s return to directing with BlacKkKlansman has been met with wide critical acclaim and a positive commercial response, with the film earning back its reported budget in its first week of release. The film is based on the true story of African-American cop Ron Stallworth, who infiltrated a local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan while working in the Colorado Springs Police Department, surrounded by white officers, detailed in Stallworth’s memoir Black Klansman: Race, Hate, and the Undercover Investigation of a Lifetime.) Stallworth paired with a white partner who was his stand-in at KKK meetings, and eventually managed to speak to and meet David Duke, while revealing that there were members of the chapter who worked in law enforcement, the military, and, in two cases, NORAD. (Those last two were allegedly reassigned to Greenland or somewhere else in the Arctic.) Lee invents a few details and then intersperses the story with vignettes that are far more clearly targeted at the modern audience, closing with footage from the neo-Nazi rally and the eventual murder of Heather Heyer in Charlottesville last year. It’s a powerful story that offers no pretense about its ideals or what viewers should think and do in this era of New Racism, and is by turns terrifically funny and intense. It’s also a total mess of a film that reeks of the director’s self-indulgence and eventually works to undermine some of its most important messages.

BlacKkKlansman is at its best when Lee focuses the story on the investigation as it was led by two men, Stallworth (John David Washington) and Phillip “Flip” Zimmerman (Adam Driver). After about 30 minutes of prologue that gives some backdrop to the racial animus in the country at the time and gets Stallworth into the police department under its minority hiring initiative – and exiles him to the records room – he makes the fateful phone call in response to an ad in a local paper, looking for new members, from the local chapter of the Klan. Stallworth calls, tells the man on the phone how much he hates black people and every other group the Klan was known for targeting, and is invited to a meeting that Friday night, which is a problem given the color of his skin. He recruits Zimmerman to go in his stead, under his name, wearing a wire, which begins the investigation that, in reality, lasted nine months and uncovered those members’ identities. (The film creates a fictional, planned bombing that never happened, but that does allow for an intense climatic scene that drowns in its own bathos as the overwritten script piles clichés on top of a pivotal moment.)

Lee appears to have been given a free hand with the project, which was produced by Jordan Peele (who was set to direct it but gave it to Lee to work on other films), and I wonder if Peele felt unable or unwilling to confront one of the most important figures in black American cinema over some of the film’s many bombastic or incoherent sequences. There are gimmicks galore here, such as the isolated head shots of black audience members listening to Kwame Ture and the hallway scene near the film’s conclusion, that are nothing more than directorbation, the film equivalent of an umpshow, where Lee has to remind us that he’s at the wheel and we are watching an artist at work. One of the film’s many interludes from the Stallworth narrative itself is the Klan initiation rite, where Stallworth’s partner attends in his stead and David Duke presides, showing the racist 1916 film Birth of a Nation to whip the members (and their wives) into a frenzy. Lee intersperses that with scenes from a black student union meeting at the local college – I think it’s University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, but wasn’t sure if it was named as such – where a man, played by Harry Belafonte, tells the story of the lynching of Jesse Washington in Waco, Texas, in 1917. Belafonte’s character was a close friend of Washington’s, but the character and the meeting appear to be fabricated for the film, although the grotesque torture-murder of Washington was very real, attended by thousands of whites as if the castration, mutilation, and slow immolation of a black teenager were merely the day’s entertainment.

The unexpected star of the film isn’t Washington – yes, that’s Denzel’s son – but Driver, who delivers a nuanced, two-sided performance as a cop who finds his stolid attitude that any case is just part of the job affected by his exposure to such inveterate hate, while also posing as a very convincing racist, anti-Semitic zealot. (Zimmerman’s character is a non-observant Jew, but the real undercover officer, known only as “Chuck” in Stallworth’s memoir, was not.) He’s so magnetic in the role that the film lags when he’s out of the dialogue, which I’d say is the opposite of the effect he has as Kylo Ren in the Star Wars franchise. Washington is fine, but isn’t charismatic enough to be the center of the film, and he’s often overshadowed by others on screen including Driver; Topher Grace as a dead ringer for David Duke; and Laura Harrier as Patrice, Stallworth’s (fictional) love interest and President of the Black Students’ Union in the film. Corey Hawkins has a small part earlier in the film as Ture that is a clinic in delivering a rhetorical speech, although it’s again blunted by those camera tricks Lee employs to remind us he’s in charge.

For a film with a deadly serious subject, BlacKkKlansman doesn’t skimp on the humor. There’s a Wire reference near the start of the film that had me laughing very loudly – and I was the only one in the theater who did so – although I was disappointed not to hear Paul Walter Hauser drop an “incorrect” somewhere to nod to his scene-stealing performance in last year’s I, Tonya. The allusions to our modern era of ‘very fine people’ can go too far – Stallworth telling his white sergeant that Americans would never put an openly racist person in the White House is a bit too on the nose – but work well when Lee steps back and lets the dialogue and/or action show us how little has actually changed. An early scene when Patrice and Ture are stopped for driving while black and then threatened and assaulted by the officers, while also fictional, is extremely effective for how it just tells a story and lets the audience connect the dots. The telling of the Washington lynching might have been more effective as a straight scene, rather than one cut back and forth to the frothing Klan members watching and cheering on Birth of a Nation. The film just needed less of these trappings and more of the basics. The scenery, the clothes, and the hairstyles all set the scene incredibly well; even little touches like background colors in offices or the weaker lighting in some of the scenes in Klan members’ houses (so the film looks like movies or TV shows from the time period) contribute to the atmosphere. The one gimmick that really works, the transition to Charlottesville footage, with a clip of Trump referring to violent neo-Nazis as “very fine people” just in case anyone still wondered where his sympathies lie, is a masterstroke – but it’s the only gimmick BlacKkKlansman needed. Instead we get a half-dozen on top of that, so by the time you get to the end of the film, you’re exhausted from trying to figure out where any of this is going.

Note: The Slate piece discussing what’s real and what’s fictional in this film was essential in writing this review.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , ,
→ August 29, 2018
→ By

Word by Word.

Until just last year, if you wanted to read a popular non-fiction book about dictionaries, there was really just one title – The Professor and the Madman, the runaway hit by Simon Winchester that tells the story of the strange relationship between James Murray, the primary editor of the first Oxford English Dictionary, and, Dr. W.C. Minor, an erudite murderer who contributed countless citations for words in the book while writing from the Broadmoor psychiatric hospital. The book was more about that partnership than the creation of the dictionary itself; Winchester followed it up with The Meaning of Everything to tell the rest of the story of the OED’s creation, but it lacked the verve of the first book.

Kory Stamper, a lexicographer who worked for Merriam-Webster for about two decades, has now contributed to this niche with a ribald and totally fascinating book about her experiences there and what really goes into the making of a modern dictionary in Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries, which turns what might appear to be a staid subject into almost a romp through the process of making and revising definitions. That process is changing rapidly in the digital age, and Stamper seems to have hit this topic at the perfect time, right up to a description of the staff cuts at M-W that happened just a few years ago (right before her departure, I think), and to a last chapter on the way lexicographers – people who write and edit dictionaries – now have a much different role, one that has them interacting with readers more than before and in more direct fashion. With Merriam-Webster also making aggressive moves on to social media – their Twitter account is a must follow, as their subtweet game is a grade 80 for me – and re-establishing itself as the preeminent brand in its space even as Google tries to obviate dictionaries completely by defining words on page one of search results, it’s an ideal time to examine and reconsider the importance of dictionaries in the lives of anyone who loves or lives by language.

Word by Word doesn’t have a straight narrative, but there are consistent themes running through the book that tie widely disparate chapters together, none more strongly than the innate love of words and language that connects lexicographers and folks, like me, who still find pleasure in getting lost in a dictionary. (I was one of those kids who, when bored, would pull the dictionary or a volume of our World Book encyclopedia off the shelf and read pages at random.) Stamper uses those ties to walk readers through and around the dictionary’s essential contents, such as the way definitions are written, the structure and purpose of etymologies, and how dictionaries handle thorny matters like how to handle offensive words or when to even identify words as such (in the chapter “Bitch”), how to ensure that definitions aren’t unintentionally biased (in the chapter “Nude” – think pantyhose), and how to handle words that some people don’t think are words (“irregardless” – not a proper word, but because it’s a word people use, it has to be in the dictionary). I’m sort of amazed at how much flak Stamper reports getting from readers who believe that the dictionary has the authority to control the language, like the Académie Française, or even to alter society. The chapter on the word “Marriage” revolves, of course, around Merriam-Webster’s internal debate over how to handle same-sex marriage – first acknowledging it in a second definition, and eventually simply defining it, as they do now, without regard to gender or identity: “the state of being united as spouses in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law.” There’s a usage note at that link, discussing the controversy and saying that “This is not an issue to be resolved by dictionaries,” although it’s clear that no one ever reads the intro or the usage notes.

Stamper has a prodigious vocabulary, which is hardly surprising, and writes with a mixture of the erudition and ease of a David Foster Wallace, mixing high and lowbrow humor with aplomb, and never dumbing down her prose or patronizing the readers. This is an unapologetically smart book for people who don’t blench at obscure words or mind a didactic or technical discussion of word origins or how best to phrase a definition. It’s also laugh-out-loud funny in many places, in part because Stamper can really craft a good story, and in part because some of what she describes – reader feedback, in-house arguments, even an escapade with the cleaning crew messing up her notes – is just so ridiculous. And throughout it all is a genuine love of words, one I truly share. I still write down new words I encounter in books – ouroboros is one I recently found – so I can look them up, and have a little notebook with those words and their definitions because maybe some day I’ll need one of them. Even if I don’t, I still have them and can appreciate them for their own sake. I think Ms. Stamper would approve.

Next up: Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , ,