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biggentleben

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Everything posted by biggentleben

  1. biggentleben
    They have investigated his signing and found nothing at the most recent reporting. One of the complaints about Coppolella was centered around the Maitan signing as he accepted less money to go to the Braves than the Nationals and Cardinals came up with at the very end, but by then he had bonded with other Braves signees at showcases and they were very obviously bonded at the fall instructs last season, so there were bonds already in place before they were signed, and many in Florida last fall said in order to get Maitan, there were three others that needed to come with him that were in the Braves class. Where there were issues were with a player the Braves already had pen to paper with who is only 14 currently. Dumb move to put it to paper, basically, and that is the smoking gun that led to the immediate resignation.
  2. biggentleben
    The word is that it is not issues in player signing but in violating putting team name on money given to certain people that other teams essentially put under the table. The investigation is going back to when Frank Wren was still GM, so it's not likely to be something that results in players released - but that's also according to a Braves guy who got a quick briefing this morning and told me what I can go with and what I can't. Not enough to go with to do an article on it, so I'll wait for the rest to come out. The investigation is ongoing, however, and involves essentially all facets of the work Coppy was doing. What intrigues me is that two "bright young baseball minds" that worked under John Hart at some point have now been in big trouble in the Latin market in Preller and Coppolella. He doesn't have a contract for 2018 currently and could find himself without a job. Others have told me that what's investigated involves all the way up to Schuerholz, so it could be a significant front office cleaning in Atlanta - which would not be a bad thing, frankly.
  3. biggentleben
    Curve is impressive in its movement, but he struggled to consistently locate it in the zone, which is why I mentioned it as a "throw-away" pitch. If you get a swing at it, great, otherwise, it's not a great pitch to uncork with a runner on.
  4. biggentleben
    I mention three because I consider his curve a "throw-away" pitch. The rest are viable pitches that could be big league pitches. I think there's a big difference between a control pitcher and a pitcher who utilizes his location for swing and miss. Littell has legit velocity at the top end, though he tends to focus on generating more movement with a tick less velocity. Guys who don't have that ability to generate legit velocity and can only get by with control are a whole different sort of beast than what Littell is.
  5. biggentleben
    Interesting he quotes Jackie Robinson, who was known to say that he could not (and would not) stand or kneel for the anthem due to what he had experienced in his life, both in his military service time and in his time as a racial pioneer in the game of baseball. Of course, we've made this an issue with our own forced patriotism. When the league national anthem conduct rules were first put into writing, the only designated game(s) that the anthem was to be played for was a championship game. Before 2009, players were not expected to be on the sidelines during the anthem, and most of them weren't. Then a huge DOD and NFL deal brought tons of money to the league in order to promote the military and, in order to make them look better, players were very strongly encouraged to be on the sideline during the anthem from that point forward.
  6. biggentleben
    So the fact that the kneeling was originally started in order to HONOR military members matters not? The reason that Kaepernick is kneeling is to honor those in uniform who have given their lives in defense of freedom, in much the same way a soldier will kneel at a fallen soldier's grave. It's part of the actual story of the entire issue that has been lost along the way (and bastardized by the NFL recently in their attempt to turn it into "unity").
  7. biggentleben
    With Falvey and Levine, Molitor is still highly likely to be gone - even if he is a likely candidate for manager of the year.
  8. biggentleben
    Hugh Hefner, dead at 91.
  9. biggentleben
    Oh, I'm sure they are at high schools, but I'm talking at the U of M.
  10. biggentleben
    But you should see that fart noise on defense. Can really clear the boards!
  11. biggentleben
    But the playoff games part would fit where I would be okay with the anthem. That at least falls along the lines of deciding the champion.
  12. biggentleben
    2001. It was sung after 9/11 at Yankee games by various police officers and firefighters (and eventually one particular one during the World Series that became fairly well known at the time) and it was suddenly at every ballpark thereafter, either every game, weekly, or in some other pattern.
  13. biggentleben
    I sing the anthem quite a bit, and I love singing it - that said, I don't understand why it's before every game. I found it appropriate the memory that I post regarding 9/11 to sing that song the first sporting event after 9/11 at the U. However, the song is sung/performed thousands of times every Friday across the country, many times by small high school bands that are trying hard, but they really don't do the song justice doing it every game. Other countries sing their national anthem at national championship games and international competitions. That makes performance of the song something that is special and held in high esteem. Instead, I remember working in sports marketing and hearing other sports lamenting having to use taped anthems to open their games. Think about that - the anthem was such a required part of the game, yet they could not find someone to actually sing the song, so a taped performance was used. How on earth is that a testament to the nation? How does that honor anything or anyone? We'll just leave the duality of those raging against anthems yet leaving their flags out in the rain or wearing flag clothing or using flag dishes for another conversation...
  14. biggentleben
    Or if this is only an issue in football because it's one of (if not the only) sport where the anthem is actually televised as it plays before the game. I had this conversation with a few friends who are big sports fans and we cannot think of other sporting events than football where you see the anthem in over half of the television broadcasts of the team in a season. I could not tell you the last time I saw the national anthem before a Braves game, for instance, due to watching them exclusively on MLB.tv and the feed not opening up that soon.
  15. biggentleben
    Judge breaks the rookie record with home run #50.
  16. biggentleben
    I'd say his profile if he makes it as a starter is as an inning-eater type in the middle of a rotation - really what Ervin is typically, though obviously he's pitching well beyond that this season. I think there are a lot higher-profile starters that are on par with him in development (Romero, Gonsalves) and others who are coming quickly behind him based on what they showed this year (Thorpe, Graterol) that could force him to either reach that ceiling or be a guy that doesn't have a spot in the org.
  17. biggentleben
    Falvey was one of the guys quoted from the Indians organization in an older article that I perused discussing the future of scouting changing. He could very well be one who is going to be putting it into play, using less on the professional end as much of that work can be accomplished via video and readily available data. Amateur scouting is something that will be invested on as far as guys who can read a player more than those who can put numbers in a notebook. So, to answer the question, not all of them may be replaced on the scouting end if Falvey is taking the first step in overhauling the way scouting is done in the organization. It will be intriguing to see how the structuring happens.
  18. biggentleben
    In all seriousness, it was a great season, but Littell is probably a #3 pitcher at best with not really a single plus pitch in his arsenal. He is a competitor on the mound, and I'm interested to see if he can maximize that three-pitch mix into a successful #3/4 starter role.
  19. biggentleben
    My wife and I got into "This Is Us" finally recently, watching the first season. Why can't network TV do this more often?
  20. biggentleben
    That deserves the Billy Madison meme.
  21. biggentleben
    Graterol is absolutely mine on the pitching end. As I talk to guys from other teams, the Twins guy they talk about is he or Emmanuel Morel. However, the hitter I was blown away by in the growth he made on the year was Aaron Whitefield. Incredibly impressed by the 21 y/o Aussie who looks the part and played the part this year in low-A. Looking forward to see how he handles moves up the ladder.
  22. biggentleben
    I guess that every organization that I've been part of has had set rules on how contract notification works with a contract employee. That includes multiple sports franchises, though admittedly not any MLB franchises. Lawsuits have made these sorts of things nearly a requirement of employing a contract worker, sadly. I'm not saying for sure they have such procedures laid out, but with the issues of lawsuits, it'd be surprising that they didn't, especially with Falvey/Levine at the helm, as that's one thing that both have been praised for is their attention to detail in an organization in talking with people around the game.
  23. biggentleben
    Okay, and that doesn't change anything about the point I was making. There would be procedures in place as a current contract employee if he was informed that his contract wouldn't be renewed. That's all I'm stating. Others are insisting the Twins would not have to worry about procedure on an employee they're dismissing and should have had Falvine make the call. I'm just saying that could have been quite inappropriate according to their procedural rules within the organization, fame be darned.
  24. biggentleben
    You're 100% certain the initiation began with Souhan, not with Doug?
  25. biggentleben
    Because that sentiment has been addressed ad nauseum, and you simply want to keep banging the "he's too important to go by standard procedure" drum.
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