Happy Ides of March, everyone. Time for some roster cuts.
Per MLB transactions page, the #Athletics optioned the following players to Triple-A:
Pitchers Grant Holmes, James Kaprielian, Wandisson Charles, Miguel Romero; OFs Luis Barrera, Skye Bolt, Greg Deichmann
— Matt Kawahara (@matthewkawahara) March 15, 2021
B team with Blaze + Bassitt
really embracing the “no position” thing today
Why kozma, but at 2b?
Trying to see whether Machin can be backup SS? I’m pretty sure he can’t, but maybe they aren’t.
He is going to vegas to learn to play defense, yeah?
He can barely play second.
Blasé Buddy on his catch yesterday.
I caught a snippet of an interview he did on A’s Cast (or, I think it was him — they edit those things in a way that you often don’t hear the name and Townsend never resets for the listener) where he said he thinks of himself as a five tool player, then went through all of his attributes in each tool, then wrapped it up with “but I just try to stay humble.” I really hope he makes it.
I think we see him this year for sure. I am guessing Brown breaks camp with them, but canha, laureano and piscotty will have an IL stint soon
This is probably right. The Vegas outfield of Bolt-Reed-Barerra in whatever alignment should be fun to watch run and catch and throw.
Ka’ai Tom is like, hold up, that guy is hitting 190
Bassitt strikes out 5 in 3 2/3
no wakls
Yusmero is going to be a margin walker all season huh?
Probably.
He already seemed not as good last year compared to 2018-19 (his ERA was actually better, but his peripherals were all a bit worse, and I think he was worse with inherited runners).
Mandatory
You two would probably appreciate my lunch experience last week. I was outside at Rudy’s Can’t Fail and this older dude was talking to the waiter about “Mike”, who I assume was Dirnt. As the conversation went on the waiter took a picture of him and said he’d put it on their wall. As they kept talking it became clear the guy was Ted Falconi of Flipper.
nice
Not sold on Kolarek either.
Two walks, a single, and a grand slam. What’s the opposite of an immaculate inning?
Nik Turley appears to be…non-good.
The Scoutmaster of my troop was Mr. Turley so I assume Nik is also a gung-ho red ass.
Scoutmaster Turley did take us to see the movie “10” in 1979, for which I will always remember him fondly.
This looks pretty openingdayish, pending Murphy.
Yeah, way to jinx it GM.
Republican congressional brain geniuses apparently trying to make the case for DC statehood even stronger.
55 degrees in Scottsdale and a perfect, sunny 47 out here on the Bill King Deck for the DomCast.
dom spitting fire about pitchers hitting was a surprise
He doesn’t know the meaning of “anniversary” though.
Luzardo WoT.
Luzardo helped the DBacks sell a few tickets today.
JED!!!
“My condolences to Mets Twitter right now” – Dom
CHAD!!!
Moreland is going to come to Oakland and do something like a .175/.250/.350, isn’t he.
I’m getting curious what the developmental playbook will be for Soderstrom. He’s so young, but how many years are they willing to spend trying to teach him to catch if his bat is already as advanced as it seems?
Can they just have him play first now?
Hmmm
It’s dangerous for Kaval to assume this is the full story (even moreso to deliver a Trumpian “sad!”). Perhaps Bleacher Dave was spewing profane invective. And I doubt the entire Task Force as an entity asked him to leave, probably one person did, and it’s not said that he was actually kicked out of the Zoom meeting. Asking people to stop being assholes in not anti-Democratic.
BD is certainly not above a little righteous trolling, from what I’ve gathered from seeing him at AT&Oracle Park and hearing him on the KNBR phone lines.
My underinformed guess here is that Kaval is likely correct about this group acting like a front for industry opposition, but I’m worried about what his need to go public with this stuff says about how strong the opposition is.
They’re not exactly hiding it, but this is not the first time where it has seemed like Kaval does not understand that sometimes the best messaging is to shut up.
No Murphy, though, after they said yesterday he was expected to play today.
The cage got Laureano too. Dangerous in there.
Were they fighting in this cage?
One man enters no man leaves
Is this cage on Talos IV?
I was actually going to post a pic from there but it didnt show up right and then work got in my way..
Related-SNW is filming!
Very excited about SNW. I finally watched the Short Treks eps set in that milleu, and they are delightful.
Other random Trek thoughts while I’m at it:
Lower Decks is a lot of fun. Making Trek that is intentionally very funny for entire episodes, and not just “Tribbles pour onto Kirk” or “Riker grins lewdly” fleeting moments is a major achievement.
Discovery continues to be frustrating. There’s so much interesting stuff, a cast of truly top-notch actors, and a visual aesthetic and effects that I really love. But the writing can be clunky, and the stories feel rushed. It didn’t help that they spent two episodes of a too-short season essentially doing a pilot for a Michelle Yeoh spinoff, as entertaining as that was and as fantastic as she is.
I finished my Voyager watch. It’s a lot better than I expected it to be. It never reaches the high points that TNG or DS9 hit, and the fake native american mumbo jumbo is extremely unfortunate, but it is solidly good with a bunch of characters, actors, and storytelling approaches I really liked. Went to the time travel well a little too often though.
I was really frustrated by that Disco backdoor pilot. I’ve really seen enough of the Mirror Universe and dont need to go back unless they find something that is REALLY worth it. (my 1 idea I would want to see-find Lazarus from The Alternative Factor episode of TOS and see his mirror counterpart).
Thanks for the head’s up on Voyager. I’ve only seen a few here and there episodes of both DS9 and Voyager. Was starting a DS9 watch awhile back and got distracted. Maybe it is time to start again.
Be warned: DS9 has a mirror episode per season. They are very silly. But you can just skip ’em.
I did something similar with Voyager a few years ago and had the same reaction. I think at the time it came out, the makeup felt silly (and the teal was too much). Plus, of course, it was no DS9. But it holds up quite well and I kept waiting for it to be hokier than it ever actually was.
Definitely better than I expected too.
I just went back and watched an episode I had skipped because its reputation preceded it: the one where Paris and Janeway turn into lizards and make lizard babies. I’m going to say that is not only the worst episode of Star Trek ever made, which is saying something, but probably the worst episode of any TV show I have ever seen.
This is tough
watch them start selling land.
anybody who puts “better” before the verb is more marketer than academic.
Mills has been in trouble for a while, the pandemic didn’t cause this (though I’m sure it made things worse). I am so glad Primera declined her acceptance to a different prestige women’s college. It’s not remotely worth the debt burden, unless money is no object. Elite private education is a bubble well overdue for bursting.
This. I am happy lil Miss Aces chose a CSU. I only wish I could have convinced her to go JC-UC instead.
If Primera wants to go to Harvard Law School, though, I hope Mom and Dad will chip in a little bit.
lil ms sslinger #1 got paid to do her PHD at Harvard. From her telling, you pay through the nose to go for masters degrees but they pay you for doctorates. Don’t know about law school. Also, not for nothin, the elite private colleges have hella endowments so depending on circumstances grants can make them as affordable as state schools.
Law school is extremely expensive. But for the truly elite ones, you’d have to be a complete disaster not to earn enough to pay it back.
Or to have it paid back for you while you do public interest work.
Sure. Most of my classmates who are now doing public interest work, however, did a few biglaw years first. (For reference, it appears that the first-year big law salary these days is $190k, assuming that article is accurate).
first korach of the year for me
You gotta give McBroom a freeby today
Puk strikes out the side!!
(also walk HR single)
the benevolence of tom yawlky is probably not a wise turn of phrase, ken and ray
Fosse the (Cle baseball team) fan fits perfect with some Yawkey love though.
maybe jed is right handed now?
Puk’s velocity was sitting low 90s today. We may have two Manaeas in the rotation instead of two Luzardos.
One does wonder if Puk-Beck-Murray, 3 top 10s in 3 years, is going to be a total washout.
since the moneyball draft, Chapman (21) Grey (18.8) olson (13.6) russell (10.7) Pennington (10 (does not include pitching in the playoffs)) and Doolittle (9.3 (supplemental)) are the only first rounds above/around 10 WAR. Daniel RObertson is next with 3.3. Puk is rapidly losing team control and stuck at .2
I don’t know how this compares with others, but it seems more like a wash for the past 20 years
Their shit doesnt work in the drafts?
It seems like they’re quite good at picking the guys who make it to the majors. Even many of the busts get a cup of coffee. But drafting stars? Chapman/Olson possibly, but they ended a long drought.
Yeah, and I’d say Murray, Beck, and Puk were all attempts to take on extra risk to stretch for a star that haven’t panned out (yet, with Puk).
Just scheduled vaccine shot #1 through Kaiser next week!
I’m getting it on Wednesday!
woohoo!
Color me jealous.
Sure Dave
Judging by Kaval’s mentions right now I made the right call not investing in FlexTix.
With exception of Opening Day, and maybe a few other high-demand games in first month or two, I suspect available seats will be plentiful.
I’m hoping so. Some semblance of a season-tickety discount over gate in exchange for the commitment, but I’m not booking many until I’m vaccinated.
My first attempt went fine. 4 vouchers turned into four seats in 117.
Nice!
Indeed. (4/2, not 4/1). A bit of a delay on the tickets getting into the system, but just xferred them to my Season Ticket buddy with no issue (that I’m aware of)
Tons of tickets on StubHub already, including 4 in Section 115 on opening night for $218.90 a piece.
So much for no resale allowed.
Yeah I continue to wonder how they can enforce this.
Stubhub seems like the one place where they should be able to enforce it, given their relationship with MLB.
Right. At minimum it definitely means that the interface does not tie in to StubHub directly (as it did last year). Nor is there an in-system workflow to donate to charity. But the tickets are totally transferrable to my friends as always.
I’m not buying this as a DDOS attack. More likely it was reseller bots overwhelming the system.
The school board for my high school voted to ditch our Indians mascot!! YAY!
I hope Fosse doesn’t take this too hard.
Fortunately Stanford figured that one out 50 years ago or you would have gone from the Indians to the Indians.
Padres TV today.
Tom almost outruns a swinging bunt, but Hosmer is able to field it with his foot on the bag.
Murphy walks in his debut.
Manaea allows a leadoff single to Pham, then with old acquaintance Profar at the plate, throws two wild pitches and a would-be third one that hits him in the ankle with a full count.
The injury to reed makes me reassess my “give tom back” theory
Spurs being Spursy
Manaea/Murphy working on figuring out where the FKing ball is going.
Moreland is very much a DH, isn’t he.
BartonOlson would have had that.Moreland did win a Gold Glove in 2016, for whatever that’s worth.
Manaea’s stuff doesn’t play in Peoria.
Out after 35 pitches, 2 runs, bases loaded.
He did manage to K Machado and Mateo.
3 up 3 down in the 2nd.
wow! Strike out of mateo? impressive.
Montana DuRapau is a fantastic name.
Ka’ai Tom homer
Tom home run.
Given his hot start (and Reed’s injury) it seems like he will make the club.
rtt,e
Bally Sports San Diego??
Apparently they are taking over some of the former “Fox Sports *” regional channels.
And they are also MLB’s official sports betting partner.
It’s actually Sinclair, the right-wing-leaning media company, that bought the Fox Sports RSNs. “Bally Sports” is a branding deal and yes, those channels will likely carry a fair amount of sports betting-related programming.
That name change is effective today, so for example if you want to watch the D’backs and Padres on MLB.tv you can choose between BS Arizona and BS San Diego.
NIck Allen at least looks like he has a clue at the plate. That might be enough to get him to the show.
Are these Padres announcers drunk? High? They really have the giggles.
Orsillo called an A’s playoff series last year and he still doesn’t know how to say Manaea.
I’ve read a lot of bad dissents, but this one may take the cake. Footnotes 10 and 13 belong in a museum.
“And the news section of the Wall Street Journal leans in the same direction.”
It’s weird how, in a paper owned by the far-right Rupert Murdoch, the section that sticks to facts seems to have a left-wing bias.
I have to imagine he has at least one clerk who considered pointing that out to the judge and decided “eh…FK it. Not my problem.”
You underestimate the power of the Federalist Society on young ambitious conservatives.
You’ll never guess what self-proclaimed defender of civil liberties thinks this is great stuff.
yeah, that is trash
WHat is up with twitter? I clicked that and it showed the GG string, but after it was the grossest messages from “intelectual” right wing twitter. It was making me mad. like for real, i thought uhg this is gross why is it in my timelike. D’nesh, megan kelly, scott adams etc.
That’s a good question…
I edited the link slightly. Does it still do that for you?
seems to be fine, then there is a page break and “more tweets”
My guess is that the algorithm thinks you want that content if you click on a GG tweet. Which is hilarious.
First rule of social media: let one thing link to another and very soon it’s trying to persuade you the earth is flat.
He doesn’t have much power. He has vested retirement. He is always going to be “judge.” I can’t see why he hung on through trump if this is his attitude.
He must really hate his family.
Being an appellate judge on senior status is a sweet gig. You can sit on panels as little as you want, you don’t have to deal with any en banc sniping, you have an office suite you can hole up in whenever you feel like it, you have a staff assistant to order around, you get to shape the minds of a new batch of sycophantic young psycho law school gunners each year, and you get to crap your takes into the Federal Reporter whenever the mood strikes you. I can see why so many of them decide to die with those boots on.
didn’t even think senior status. Yeah, that makes more sense.
My dad kept an office until two years ago. He is a civil engineer in solo practice since 1979. He is 85. He basically wanted an office to go to to read the news for a few hours before going to el pollo loco for lunch.
For only 4 of the last 10 years did he take any design review jobs, and no design jobs. He just didn’t want to be at home.
I honestly have no ide what changed his mind. Maybe the landlord jacked up the rent.
Best legal job there is, probably. It’s the long-snapper of the legal world.
That really went off the rails fast. The first part of the dissent was a fairly reasonable argument against over-liberal Rule 12 orders, with which I am often sympathetic. But then he went full-Trumpist.
Korach day
left wrist cortisone shot for piscotty. leaves brown and tom in play
I always assume Piscotty is injured at any given point until and unless I see his name on the lineup card.
And even then …
Ticking the word “bitcoin” off my Korach bingo card.
I want Fosse to try to explain bitcoin.
Fosse: 12 and a half cents.
lol
How great is it you can buy something that doesn’t exist. For $60k!
might not exist but at least you can access it.
unless…
Until someone hacks wherever you’re storing your “currency.” Again.
hack wilson 5’6″
That will teach all you talls
I want more 1929 World Series recap from Korach. Hope he’s not done.
But is he gritty?
if everyone is white, is anyone gritty?
a s v d
wendelken WoT
PADJL
Merciful quick end for the Heels. I have the Eds in my seed-hungry eliminator pool. And Primera’s Gauchos (and Korach’s) go tomorrow for first time in ten years.
I wouldn’t have thought that SU would be the only ACC team to advance on the first day
Sweet sixteen!
I didn’t see the first game but they sure looked great today. That’s Boeheim’s third double-digit seeded team to the Swet 16, incredible accomplishment.
Yeah, playing against that zone on a short prep is a pretty big obstacle. I hope they have some 2016 miracle in them left
I hope Charles o’bannon is up to the task for you
Happy ED day.
Which reminds me, when FK had one of its crashes recently I noticed the “WAP websites” title on the crash page now has a whole new meaning.
Thanks.
I’m glad i didn’t tell FSU my college tends to lose on my birthday.
Elvis with an infield hit. Now 4/26 for the spring.
table setter
It’s important not to clog up the bases.
I’m sure you mean pillows.
thank you.
Olson is killing it.
Mr. Tom is definitely making this team.
Should we call Elvis “Ground Control”?
Nick Allen…I am intrigued.
Come on, Scioscia!
I thought that rule ended a week ago.
Classic Scioscia.
They’re really letting Mehmet Oz host Jeopardy? Gross.
Alex Trebek > Ken Jennings > that producer guy > Katie Couric > Oz > ???
Where do you go from there? Tucker Carlson?
Charles Barkley.
Turrible.
OK, Bill Walton then.
Aaron Rodgers!
It’s hard watching two teams with orange/black color schemes (OSU-OSU).
looks like jeopardy is changing its answer in form of a question format.
now answers will be in the form of vague allusions to health benefits derived from unpublished trials conducted by partial parties.
hey-o!!
Luzardo not wearing glasses today, per reports.
I wonder if he got contacts or just decided he didn’t need full vision.
I remember thinking hitters must’ve been terrified when Troy Percival would throw heat toward a plate he could barely see.
Wasn’t that part of the legend of Steve Dalkowski, too?
Also Ryne Duren.
Oh, right.
Dalkowski did also wear glasses, but Duren was the one I was trying to think of.
Barreto out with sore elbow
Christian God is kicking ass in the NCAA tournament so far. Oral Roberts and Loyola-Chicago to the Sweet Sixteen, and now Abilene Christian is gunning for the Eds.
Liberty lost its opener, probably because God is still mad at Mr. + Mrs. Jerry Jr and the pool boy.
Looking at the calendar, I guess we’re looking at Bassitt-Luzardo as the 1-2 punch against Houston?
Yeah. Vince was speculating that it would be Luzardo first, since opening day is 10 days from today, but Bassitt makes more sense to me, with a couple extra days of rest before then.
I think it has to be that. Otherwise, Bassitt is getting too much rest having pitched yesterday.
Guess that’s why they call him Blaze.
Korach, answering the question I was psychically asking, says that not only was Pavin Smith named after Corey Pavin, Smith’s dad was Corey Pavin’s agent.
Puk WoT, like strikes specifically working on throwing strikes
Rough day for the defense.
He’s on the mound throwing-that in and of itself is a victory. #teamflatground
The jingle in the ubiquitous Kaiser Permanente ads always reminds me of this JGB song:
aqualung without the last note.
Trivino going to be OK?
I don’t mind ken and ray banter in spring. How great is it to cap on Ray’s age?
Sounds bad?
while she’s not wrong…
Reality is no longer an absolute defense against libel.
Disbar her.
Apparently the Pac-12 is the best hoops conference in the nation. Did not see that coming.
Bring out your dead:
Not sure what to make of this? I suppose it’s good for Newsom, but is it good for the rest of us?
Recalls are stupid when they arise out of “we don’t like the results of the election.” Last time we got karmic justice in the form of Ahnohld.
The threshold for a recall needs to be much higher. 1.5 million signatures is easily within the reach of one angry wealthy person or corporation; it’s surprising it hasn’t happened more often. Recalls to overturn a fair election should require demonstrated breadth of support, not just loudmouths and rich people.
I think looking glass moment was the contested election. that really beefed up the desire to “overturn” elections.
The Davis thing, as I recall, was a reaction to a crisis (of the republicans making) and run of the mill mismanagement by davis. Gavin is a little sharper with more powerful allies
It was actually because he fell victim to the Enron scam, in my memory at least.
But I’m with FSU on it being too easy to initiate.
It was the rolling blackouts that triggered a lot of unhappiness with Davis. For Newsom, it’s obviously because he’s a Democrat without a color in his name.
First democrat without a color since Culbert Olson 1939-1943
“Gavin” is a color in Marin I’m pretty sure.
It was short listed for our kitchen walls
Culbert?
Father of Culbertson.
Michigan wants California to hold its beer.
Now THAT is stupid.
We went through this last year. The stated reason for the petition was the onerous Covid restrictions, but in truth it was a second attempt to install NRA puppet Adam Laxalt in Carson City after Sisolak soundly defeated him in November 2018. In my right-wing county the signature gathers stationed themselves at high-visibility places such as the Walmart entrance/exit. Anyway, the effort fell way short.
“signatures from 25 percent of the voters who cast a ballot in the last election”. That is a legitimately high bar. In CA it is 12% of the number of total ballots cast, half the percentage, but much more importantly your signators don’t actually have to have voted last time. Which is why here you can pretty much get anything on the ballot by throwing money at it.
I double-checked that in the law to make sure the reporter got that point correct.
Nevada law is largely based on California’s, but there are some key differences where California might take a few pointers, most importantly on the initiative/referendum process for amending the state Constitution. If a Constitutional amendment is by initiative, the voters have to pass it in two consecutive general elections (so anything that got a Yes vote for the first time in November 2020 will not become law unless the voters go Yes again in November 2022). If the amendment is by action of the Legislature, two consecutive Legislatures have to pass it and then it goes to the voters for a single referendum (so the 2021 Legislature would pass something, the 2023 Legislature would have to ratify that decision and then the voters make the final decision in November 2024). We don’t get that many Constitutional amendments presented to us, maybe 3-4 per election.
Fosse roasting Kaval re the ticketing situation while Korach gently tries to steer the conversation elsewhere.
Foss has already smacked the Rockies around a couple times for trading Arenado, which seems risky for an A’s broadcaster. Something about people in glass houses.
Fosse’s house is impervious
The secret is to just never have Arenado in the first place.
5ks in 2 innings is good, right? For mr Jeffries?
Pretty good imo
Looks like he will be the #5 starter.
I wonder if Puk will get to work on things out of the bullpen or at the alt site.
I guess i have not been following correctly. The site is Stockton, and eventually there will be a minor league season?
Yes. Minor league season starting about a month late.
Apparently this happened when Khris was trying to BUNT (!!11!1!) for a hit.
He got hit in the head yesterday; related?
LOL
“But he was a good mule”
like the SST pod but for dischord.
i hear from a friend of theirs to go ahead and skip the first few as they learn the ropes.
still, +3hrs per episode? this is podcasting by people who don’t listen to podcasts.
WE FINALLY GOT THE BANKERS IN CRIMES!!!!
I think that was inevitable.
Once Garcia got the in-game radio interview yesterday I knew he was a lock.
They were talking about it as Garcia for the glove vs. Allen for the bat.
But Allen didn’t really hit well last year, and while he has done ok in spring training, Garcia has been even better.
this one is on the white sox broadcast
Jason Benetti day!
The White Sox didn’t pick a very good one to send to their TV viewers.
Oh, right, Tony LaRussa. That happened.
I usually hate hate hate spring training uniforms but I gotta say these SOX kits are A+
names on the back are key
I don’t want to make a joke about Jimenez getting injured, but I do want to make fun of LaRussa for not getting out there with the trainer.
I would suggest getting a golf cart to bring him all the way to deep left field, but, you know, he needs a driver.
Maybe the cart has a thing TLR has to blow into.
Damn it, I drafted Jimenez yesterday #NoOneCares
#NoOneCares about your fantasy team but people do care about the White Sox. Ouch, if true.
FK
You just can’t let that guy play anything but DH. He’s a physical specimen, but also a total oaf out there who makes terrible decisions.
TLR has lots of faith in his replacement
From what I understand, the deal with this guy and Jimenez coming into spring was basically “well, they can’t both DH.”
Hasn’t played in the minors above A+ ball, and hasn’t played OF at all in either the minors or college. Should be interesting.
He’s blocked by the AL MVP at his real position, so he was going to DH, but now the LF who should also be a DH injured himself being an idiot, so we’ll send the kid out there to a position he’s basically never played and see what happens.
Solid plan.
The A’s
survivedendured Jack Cust’s outfield play (OK, the team sucked in those years). Vaughn’s wise selection of university to attend and play ball at suggests that his intelligence in the field will more than compensate for his lack of any actual defensive ability. GO BEARS!!Random memory triggered: some Brewers outfielder crashing into the wall at the Coliseum during the Harvey’s Wallbangers era. Kuenn was operating on an artificial lower leg in his final years, and he made it out there and back but some rain delays are shorter. Particularly at the Coliseum it took Harvey a little while just to get to the infield to argue.
Lynn has to love TLR playing the infield in during the third inning of a cactus league game, costing him an out.
Getting tim anderson out on the bases seems to be the only way to retire him
umpire could have avoided that foul ball to the nuts by calling more strikes
Burch smith is throwing strikes at least