{"id":8863,"date":"2021-02-06T14:16:56","date_gmt":"2021-02-06T19:16:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/?p=8863"},"modified":"2021-02-06T14:16:58","modified_gmt":"2021-02-06T19:16:58","slug":"stick-to-baseball-2-6-21","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2021\/02\/06\/stick-to-baseball-2-6-21\/","title":{"rendered":"Stick to baseball, 2\/6\/21."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I had two new posts for subscribers to the Athletic this week: a <a href=\"https:\/\/klaw.me\/2YC426w\">breakdown of the Nolan Arenado trade<\/a>, and a look at <a href=\"https:\/\/klaw.me\/39A31Cg\">a dozen prospects who just missed<\/a> my top 100 ranking. <a href=\"https:\/\/klaw.me\/3praWHF\">That ranking<\/a> ran the previous Thursday. I did <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheAthletic\/status\/1356687263720116226?s=20\">a video chat<\/a> via the Athletic&#8217;s Twitter account on Tuesday. Org rankings will run on February 10<sup>th<\/sup>, and team by team reports begin the next day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;ve had two podcasts since my show returned from my holiday break last month, with guests <a href=\"https:\/\/theathletic.com\/podcast\/168-the-keith-law-show\/?episode=44\">Britt Ghiroli<\/a>, national baseball writer for the Athletic; and <a href=\"https:\/\/theathletic.com\/podcast\/168-the-keith-law-show\/?episode=45\">Seattle Mariners prospect Adam Macko<\/a>, who was born in Slovakia and first learned to play baseball in Bratislava. You can subscribe on <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/the-keith-law-show\/id1499877854\">Apple podcasts<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/The-Keith-Law-Show\/dp\/B08JJS4ZKH\">Amazon<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/5ZWZfudyuL6YKsTkUV9yXS?si=Xh_dGPlgRdSUxxVvaA2nmg&amp;nd=1\">Spotify<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over at <em>Paste<\/em>, I reviewed <a href=\"https:\/\/klaw.me\/2YC426w\">the game Cloud City<\/a>, by one of my favorite designers (Cacao, Gizmos, Silver &amp; Gold), but it was a huge disappointment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My last edition of <a href=\"https:\/\/tinyletter.com\/keithlaw\">my free email newsletter<\/a> shared some details of my recent nuptials; I&#8217;m overdue for another issue because I&#8217;ve been writing the team reports and top 20s. You can still buy <em><a href=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/a\/2960\/9780062942722\">The Inside Game<\/a><\/em> and<em> Smart Baseball<\/em> anywhere you buy books; the <a href=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/a\/2960\/9780062942739\">paperback edition<\/a> of <em>The Inside Game<\/em> will be out in April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And now, the links\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Longreads first: One of the worst and most generally underreported aspects of Trump&#8217;s reign of error was the spate of executions of federal inmates while Trump was a lame duck. ProPublica has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.propublica.org\/article\/inside-trump-and-barrs-last-minute-killing-spree\">the inside story of their rush to kill as many people as possible<\/a>.<\/li><li>Jeff Passan has the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mlb\/story\/_\/id\/30800732\/san-francisco-giants-outfielder-drew-robinson-remarkable-second-act\">incredible story of outfielder Drew Robinson<\/a>, his improbable survival from a suicide attempt, and his ongoing effort to come back to baseball despite losing an eye. My colleague Levi Weaver <a href=\"https:\/\/theathletic.com\/2363251\/2021\/02\/03\/levi-weaver-drew-robinson-anhedonia-rangers\/?source=emp-shared-article\">shared his own story of depression<\/a> in the wake of Robinson&#8217;s story.<\/li><li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/01\/29\/opinion\/sunday\/facebook-surveillance-society-technology.html\">We can have democracy, or we can have a surveillance society, but we cannot have both<\/a>.&#8221; This editorial is deeply philosophical but ties into multiple issues of our day, including the erosion of privacy and the velocity of misinformation.<\/li><li>The<em> Guardian <\/em>looks at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/news\/2018\/may\/10\/the-invisible-power-of-big-glasses-eyewear-industry-essilor-luxottica\">the power of Big Lens<\/a>, the duopoly that controls most of the world&#8217;s eyeglasses market.<\/li><li>Josh Miller, a spring training announcer for the Giants, has resigned after an Arizona state Senator revealed that he was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.phoenixnewtimes.com\/news\/michelle-ugenti-rita-scottsdale-sports-announcer-cancel-culture-sexist-troll-zonajosh-11529921?fbclid=IwAR1U96i1H2vumKCIApS9J4sVPknJqYXeNKJR5ljWS6nnKMexTsgCzWFuSkk\">sending her vulgar, misogynistic tweets<\/a>.<\/li><li>Tanzania&#8217;s government has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-55900680\">rejected the COVID-19 vaccine<\/a> as part of their ongoing denial that the virus even exists in their country, which appears to be run by MAGA people (MATA?).<\/li><li>Dungeons &amp; Dragons <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heyalma.com\/dungeons-dragons-has-an-antisemitism-problem\/\">has an anti-Semitism problem<\/a>, derived from its use of JRR Tolkien&#8217;s mythology and non-human races \u2013 the dwarves were, by his own admission, a mythical representation of some awful Jewish stereotypes.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.skepticalraptor.com\/skepticalraptorblog.php\/los-angeles-covid-19-vaccinations-blocked-by-anti-vaccine-terrorists\/\">Anti-vaccine terrorists put a temporary halt to a mass vaccination<\/a> setup at Dodgers Stadium. I have no sympathy for these people. This is terrorism and they should be charged as such, and Facebook should be held responsible for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/health\/2021\/02\/01\/dodgers-anti-vaccine-protest-facebook\/\">their tacit aid in promoting it<\/a>.<\/li><li>Those same anti-vaxxer nuts are also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vice.com\/en\/article\/qjpmp7\/anti-vaxxers-misuse-federal-data-to-falsely-claim-covid-vaccines-are-dangerous\">misusing the federal VAERS database<\/a> to spread misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccines. If someone uses VAERS to claim the vaccines are unsafe, just ignore them. That data is not clean or reliable enough to use for that purpose.<\/li><li>That misinformation, combined with systemic inequalities in our health-care system, means that the mutations to the SARS-CoV-2 virus <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/coronavirus-mutations-spell-catastrophe-for-black-america\">will spell disaster for our Black communities<\/a>.<\/li><li>Speaking of terrorists, one of the people who has been charged with storming the Capitol on January 6<sup>th<\/sup> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statesman.com\/story\/travel\/news\/2021\/02\/02\/capitol-rioter-wants-go-mexican-vacation-and-court-lets-her\/4358889001\/\">has asked a judge to allow her to travel to Mexico for a &#8220;work retreat.&#8221;<\/a> I&#8217;ve seen a lot of articles saying permission was granted, but that doesn&#8217;t appear to be the case.<\/li><li>Erik Malinowski was right: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/01\/31\/business\/media\/journalists-twitter.html\">Never tweet<\/a>.<\/li><li>Fifty years of cuts to the top marginal tax rates <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/tax-cuts-rich-50-years-no-trickle-down\/\">did not result in &#8220;trickle-down&#8221; benefits<\/a> for people in lower income strata, according to a recent study out of LSE (which I may have linked previously, but it came up recently when my daughter asked about JFK and Reagan as Presidents).<\/li><li>St. Louis is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stltoday.com\/news\/local\/crime-and-courts\/st-louis-finalizing-5-million-settlement-in-beating-of-undercover-cop\/article_85d60437-f0cc-5c36-856a-9edf2fa5d14e.html\">now paying a $5 million settlement<\/a> to a (Black) protester beaten by four (white) cops who turned out to be an undercover cop himself. Great use of tax funds, guys.<\/li><li>Rochester police officers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/01\/31\/nyregion\/rochester-police-pepper-spray-child.html?smid=tw-share\">pepper-sprayed a suicidal 9-year-old girl<\/a>, renewing scrutiny of the department&#8217;s use of a hood on a Black man who suffocated as a result.<\/li><li>Did a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scientificamerican.com\/article\/did-a-supermassive-black-hole-influence-the-evolution-of-life-on-earth\/\">supermassive black hole influence the evolution<\/a> of life on earth? Something to muse about, at least.<\/li><li>Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/www.citizensforethics.org\/reports-investigations\/crew-investigations\/jared-kushner-and-ivanka-trumps-final-financial-disclosures\/\">continued to enrich themselves<\/a> as a result of their unappointed, unelected positions in the Administration in 2020, with combined income of at least $23.8 million. The grift worked, folks.<\/li><li>Copper and Cotton, one of the most acclaimed new restaurant in the Phoenix area of the last few years, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.phoenixnewtimes.com\/restaurants\/cotton-and-copper-will-close-tamara-stanger-to-move-to-a-restaurant-in-utah-11528358\">is closing<\/a> as its head chef is moving to Utah.<\/li><li>Board game news: Jamey Stegmaier, designer and owner of Stonemaier games, asks if the <a href=\"https:\/\/stonemaiergames.com\/is-the-kickstarter-mindset-blurring-reality\/\">Kickstarter mindset is increasing consumer confusion<\/a> around things like &#8216;deluxe&#8217; components and special versions of new games.<\/li><li>Japanese publisher Oink Games has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/oinkgames\/new-oink-games-projects-2021?ref=backer_just_launched_oinkgames_Feb0321\">a Kickstarter up for three new titles<\/a>, one of which is a reimplementation of three previous game Deep Sea Adventure.<\/li><li>Tweet of the week:<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"zxx\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Etccw1hPdp\">pic.twitter.com\/Etccw1hPdp<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Jon Adams\u2122 (@citycyclops) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/citycyclops\/status\/1356286601756770306?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 1, 2021<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I had two new posts for subscribers to the Athletic this week: a breakdown of the Nolan Arenado trade, and a look at a dozen prospects who just missed my top 100 ranking. That ranking ran the previous Thursday. I did a video chat via the Athletic&#8217;s Twitter account on Tuesday. Org rankings will run [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[566,1083,1162,898,844,190,969,1215,907,1082,870,549,1214,940,807],"class_list":["post-8863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-arizona","tag-board-game-news","tag-coronavirus","tag-death-penalty","tag-economics","tag-links","tag-mental-health","tag-rochester","tag-social-media","tag-st-louis","tag-stick-to-baseball","tag-suicide","tag-tanzania","tag-the-swamp","tag-vaccines","entry"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8863"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8865,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8863\/revisions\/8865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}