The collected thoughts of sportswriter, bookworm, & food critic Keith Law
Just about everything is up. The top 100 ranking starts here with 1-25. I also ranked the top ten by position, the top 5-10 by organization (top 10 prospects for the top 10 orgs, top 5 for everyone else), and quick notes on ten who just missed the list.
I’ll be chatting in English at 1 pm EST and in Spanish at 4 pm EST. You can also chat with Matt Wieters at 4 pm EST.
The first article in the top prospects series is up on ESPN.com; I think the top 10 are free and the remainder is Insider, although I’m not certain.
Tomorrow’s content includes the global top 100, with capsules on each player (averaging 190 words per player); the top 5-10 prospects in each organization; and the top 10 by position. I’ll also be chatting in English at 1 pm EST and in Spanish on ESPNDeportes.com at 4 pm EST.
I’m not huge on brownies with nuts, but this “luxury brownies” recipe, from a woman who sells them in a London market stall, looks amazing. (Hat tip to Chocolate & Zucchini.)
It Is About the Money, Stupid’s series on “Commissioner for a day” ideas starts with one from yours truly about territorial rights.
I’m mildly hooked on Mental Floss quizzes, and today’s is appropriate: Can you name all of the U.S. Presidents in under eight minutes?
My friends at River Ave Blues join the chorus of proposals to alter free agent compensation.
The International Baseball Federation has released its first-ever baseball rankings, by country.
I can’t believe they put Thailand 26th – that’s an outrage – and there will be rioting in Lahore when word gets out that Pakistan ranked last.
Eleven of them, all summed up in one table.
And to think, in January 2019, I might have a “KL” column of my very own, with an “x” in the row for Tim Raines.
Then read this, an article by an self-proclaimed ethicist on why no one signed Barry Bonds. He compares Bonds to a murderer, a convict, and a drug abuser; misunderstands the purpose of the Mitchell Report (it was about getting Congress to back off, and perhaps scoring some PR points); and argues that teams also didn’t sign Bonds because he wasn’t a good bet to “duplicate” his previous performances, even though a 20% drop in performance would still make him obscenely valuable.
I thought THT took a great step forward in adding Craig Calcaterra’s Shysterball blog – among my must-reads every day – but content like this “ethics” article is just inexcusable.
UPDATE: The article’s author, Jack Marshall, posted a lengthy rejoinder in the comments below.
Three lost posts, which I’ll just consolidate into one:
So if you scrutinized the NL MVP voting results, you might have noticed two things:
1. Pujols was listed on every ballot, but one voter had him seventh. That was Milwaukee writer Tom Haudricourt, who put Howard first and had Sabathia and Fielder ahead of Pujols, as well as three Brewers in his ten names.
2. Someone omitted Ryan Howard entirely. That was Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star writer Rich Campbell, who covers the Nationals.
I’ll save other thoughts on the results of this vote – and tomorrow’s, which should be really interesting – for my chat this Thursday.
Edinson Volquez appears on three NL Rookie of the Year ballots, even though he’s not a rookie. It wasn’t even something esoteric like the days-on-the-roster rule; he threw 80 innings for Texas prior to 2008, and the cutoff is 50.
I think the truth about my rejected membership is that I failed the board’s intelligence test – I have some.
UPDATE: The three voters who included Volquez were Jeremy Cothran of the Newark Star-Ledger, John Klima of the Los Angeles Daily News, and Jay Paris of the North County Times in San Diego.
Other – um, harsher – takes: Dugout Central, The Slanch Report, Shysterball, Epic Carnival, Fanhouse.
Named on 27 of 28 ballots … not sure how I feel about his omission. It could go either way – an anti-stathead/anti-twerp vote, or someone like antone, who looks at production (but not versus replacement-level?) and sees Pedroia’s production as not really MVP-caliber.
UPDATE: Just found this fisking of Paul Sheridan’s anti-intellectual whine today about Ryan Howard not winning the NL MVP award.
UPDATE #2: Evan Grant is the one voter who didn’t include Pedroia, and he said he’ll try to blog about his ballot later today. He did send it to me, and it’s a mix of favorite players of both camps.
If anyone can explain to me why you don’t pinch-hit for J.P. Howell there in the 7th inning, I’m all ears, because the mere sight of it made my brains start to leak out my nose.
A classmate of mine from high school (and junior high, and elementary school, dating back to 2nd grade) appeared on NPR’s All Things Considered today, in a segment about Dolly Parton’s song “Jolene.” Mindy Smith – who also shares my birthday – recorded a version of the song for a Dolly Parton tribute album in 2004, and Parton herself said it was her favorite of the 30-odd covers of the song. (You can buy the mp3 on amazon.com
And while I’m pimping NPR, the first segment of today’s Diane Rehm Show, “The International Response to the Financial Credit Freeze”, was an outstanding listen, with a ratio of reason to rhetoric that approached infinity. Nobody screaming about the Dow dropping to 5000 or an imminent depression – just serious analysis of what’s happened, what might happen, and what should happen.
Oh, and Casey Weathers left tonight’s game holding his elbow.
Those of you looking for a live blog for the final day of the regular season should check out Vegas Watch, where our favorite degenerate gambler will be providing commentary on the four games of relevance.