pogofan

I was thinking along similar lines: where is it written that the salary has to rise each year during a contract?

I won't invite ridicule from the far more knowledgeable (and analytical) fans here by suggesting that Nick Punto belongs on the list, but I will never forget the comment by Ken Harrelson (a first-ballot inductee if they ever open a Most Annoying Broadcasters wing in Cooperstown) in the final game of a series in which Punto had been killing the White Sox with one stellar play after another: "Man, we've gotta stop hitting 'em to that guy."

Nothing on that list justifies Hosner's presence among the finalists. I'd call his inclusion over Mauer's an outrageous snub.

John, I've enjoyed your writing for years. You are the primary reason I'm subscribed to Twins Daily, and it's been a great disappointment that you've mostly given up writing for podcasting (that's still pretty much true, isn't it?). I'm sure the 'casts are informative and entertaining, but I don't have an hour a week to listen to them. So I was delighted to see your name on an article again---then surprised to find myself disagreeing with it. Souhan manifestly did NOT proclaim a Cult of Access, since he pointed out that team broadcasters have a lot of access but will only say what they're allowed to say by the team. From some of your responses to other people's comments, it seems that 1) you didn't like the way Souhan wrote his original piece on Sano's weight because he didn't identify his sources clearly enough, and 2) you think Souhan (and perhaps other traditional media writers?) "violates ... accountability on a semi-regular basis." Neither of those points was apparent to me in your article. I suspect that there's a much more interesting and thoughtful piece lurking somewhere behind the one you wrote. I hope I'll get the chance to read that one some day.

An ignorant question from a non-athlete (and a Maryland resident who sees MLB highlight clips but not whole games): if arm strength is Polanco's (main?) liability at SS, is there any possibility of him building it up?

Dozier was the "overwhelming" choice when he got 13 points to Nunez's 8, and wasn't even on two of the seven ballots??

I'm guessing that the reason McNamara didn't pick Roger Clemens is the timing of the Red Sox's rotation. Clemens pitched on Saturday the 11th (9 innings, as it happened, though of course McNamara didn't know that when rosters were announced on the 9th) and then again on Thursday the 16th. In contrast, Hurst's starts before and after were Thursday the 9th and Saturday the 18th. Viola also pitched on Saturday the 11th; maybe Kelly asked McNamara not to use him? Or McNamara just looked at the schedule and saw that Viola's turn was coming up on the 11th and figured he wouldn't be fresh for the ASG?

Actually, 0.65 is a 62.5% increase from 0.4 . (I assume I don't need to apologize to baseball geeks for being a math nerd. ;-) )

"...who has spent his entire career pitching well in high-leverage situations, the last few weeks notwithstanding." The folks here in the Washington area would beg to differ. In the deciding game 5 of the 2012 NLDS, Storen entered the 9th with a 7-5 lead (at home); three hits and two walks later, the Cardinals had scored 4 runs (all with two outs, down to their last strike on 5 different pitches). In game 2 of the 2014 NLDS, Storen entered with two outs in the 9th and a runner on first, gave up a single and a double that tied the game, and the Nats went on to lose in 18 innings. Last Tuesday, in a must-win game to get back within 4 of the Mets, with a 7-1 lead in the seventh inning, Storen completed a 6-run bullpen meltdown that tied the game. (The Mets' winning run came on a homer surrendered by closer Papelbon in the 8th.) Again, all the runs scored with two outs. Storen entered with the bases loaded and the score 7-3, thanks to two previous singles and three (!) walks; he started off with the bases-clearing double to Cespedes that brought the score to 7-6, then yielded three MORE walks (with a wild pitch mixed in) to score Cespedes and tie the game. After that disaster, I'm not surprised he lost his temper and ended up breaking his thumb. That game was probably the most devastating baseball loss I have ever watched. I'm not saying Storen's a bad guy or even a bad pitcher; for all I know, a change of scene might be all he needs to be the second coming of Mariano Rivera. But no way in hell can he be described as someone who has spent his career pitching well in high-leverage situations---at least not those with the highest stakes.

[i already posted this on the TwinsGeek page that has this same blog post; didn't realize it appeared on two different pages on the site.] I don’t know that there is a lesson to be learned here. There absolutely is a lesson to be learned here, John, though as a non-listener to your podcasts (who has time?), I can only take your word for it that it applies to you. The lesson is, "Seek first to understand, and then to be understood," or in other words, "Really take the time to listen before you talk." Our country would be far better off if all our discussions about politics and public issues followed that guidance! Whether you and Aaron follow it isn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things, of course, but if you want to strike one little blow for better dialogue in American society, I recommend keeping sentences like "I'm not sure I followed that; can you run it by me again?" close at hand. Thanks for another of your always-thoughtful posts.

I don’t know that there is a lesson to be learned here. There absolutely is a lesson to be learned here, John, though as a non-listener to your podcasts (who has time?), I can only take your word for it that it applies to you. The lesson is, "Seek first to understand, and then to be understood," or in other words, "Really take the time to listen before you talk." Our country would be far better off if all our discussions about politics and public issues followed that guidance! Whether you and Aaron follow it isn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things, of course, but if you want to strike one little blow for better dialogue in American society, I recommend keeping sentences like "I'm not sure I followed that; can you run it by me again?" close at hand. Thanks for another of your always-thoughtful posts.

Balk rules exist because _some_ balks give pitchers an unfair advantage against runners. I don't have a problem with umpires exercising some degree of judgment about which technical balks to call, nor with them erring more on the side of the spirit rather than the letter of the rule if the game is on the line. That said, even if I thought rules should be enforced exactly the same way throughout the game, I would still think the professor's argument is interesting as an explanation of the logic underlying the "let 'em play at the end" position that many other people take. Maybe that's because I'm an economist, and we're the guys who see something that works in practice and wonder if it works in theory. ;-)

@whydidnt: The law prof isn't arguing that rule violations that are directly, strongly relevant to the game's outcome shouldn't be called. He's not suggesting that goaltending rules be ignored, for example. I think a better baseball analogy would be a balk call on a move that didn't affect the batter or runners. Would you want a pennant or World Series decided on a call like that? I wouldn't. That said, I think the issue is less relevant for baseball than for clock-driven sports. The ninth inning is different from the second, but not as much different as the last thirty seconds is from the first quarter (as we were shown so spectacularly on the last day of the 2011 MLB regular season!).

You may be right about them ignoring Expos history--I don't remember seeing it honored on the tour we took (though memory is not my strong suit). There are, however, lots of tributes to Washington's previous teams--the Senators and the Homestead Grays of the old Negro Leagues.

I live in the Washington suburbs and think Nationals Park is great. (And I hate to say it, but I think the Nats' chances are much better than the Twins' this year.) If you come up to D.C. for something else on a Saturday when the team's away, I highly recommend the behind-the-scenes tour. You get anecdotes about baseball history in Washington, learn about architectural and environmental features, go through the luxury suites, the pressbox, and the clubhouse, sit in the dugout, AND throw a pitch in the bullpen! Camden Yards is certainly attractive, not counting the local product on the field. A little-known gem next door is Geppi's Entertainment Museum, which is an amazing collection of pop culture memorabilia. Steve Geppi owns the company that has a virtual monopoly on the distribution of comic books, and the crown jewel of the museum is the comic book room, with his collection of every historic comic you can think of, but there are other rooms devoted to toys and games, figures and dolls, cartoon clips, movie posters, etc. from different periods in history. A must-see for comic fans, and well worth a trip for anyone who wants to say, "Hey, I remember that toy / game / doll ...!"

The Washington Post has a sports column today by Sally Jenkins that might be of interest to folks here. The column summarizes a Georgetown Law Journal article that provides support for the widespread preference for referees to go easy on technically correct but minor calls (e.g., lane violations) near the end of a basketball game. The basic logic is simple: the reason for fouls and other penalties is to prevent the perpetrating team from gaining an unfair advantage; but penalties at the end of the game matter more, because there's less opportunity to overcome them, so a penalty that provides the appropriate degree of compensation to the other team early in the game can be excessive by the end. IIRC, the same logic shows up in baseball statistics in calculations of Win Probability Added: a hit or an out affects WP more in the 9th inning than in the 2nd. If you're interested, the column is here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/redskins/ncaa-tournament-refs-should-adjust-in-games-final-minutes/2012/03/21/gIQAYes9RS_story.html