04/25/24
May 12, 2015
SportsFilter: The Tuesday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
We at least have a game in Bayern v Barca.
EDIT: Or maybe not.
posted by yerfatma at 02:55 PM on May 12, 2015
posted by grum@work at 03:57 PM on May 12, 2015
posted by tommybiden at 11:04 PM on May 12, 2015
Eleven years ago today:
Ball
Strike
Ball
Foul
Foul
Foul
Foul
Foul
Foul
Foul
Foul
Foul
Foul
Foul
Foul
Foul
Foul
Home Run
posted by grum@work at 12:03 AM on May 13, 2015
Had that been cricket, all that contact after the two dot balls would've been a bunch of singles and maybe a few boundaries before the six. All in three overs. Not bad.
posted by NoMich at 08:48 AM on May 13, 2015
Actually NoMich, he would have been out second ball. Clean bowled.
posted by owlhouse at 07:43 PM on May 13, 2015
Why is it bad that Barry Bonds is pursuing legal action against MLB? On the surface, that sure looks like collusion: when the greatest hitter that ever lived offers to play for league minimum and gets literally zero offers- even from teams in the heat of a pennant race- there's got a be a reason for it besides Hester Prynne syndrome.
posted by hincandenza at 09:40 PM on May 13, 2015
I think the leap between an outcome which seems relatively implausible and proving there was a concerted effort to get to it is going to be a problem for him.
If at some point during the offseason, a team chatted with him and priced him out (say - the Mariners who employed 308 AB of Jose Vidro at DH that year) then his offer later to play for the minimum doesn't mean that much in the grand scheme of things.
Bonds also had one monster postseason in 22 seasons in the bigs. He didn't have an extensive pinch hit resume. It's questionable whether a team would've kept him happy as a part-time player, which would've really limited his available pennant run teams to teams with a gaping full-time hole in LF or DH. Plus he was 44 and would've missed half a year. I could see any combination of those things making a GM think of going another direction.
That said - I think a damning piece of evidence was how many shots Manny Ramirez got late in his career, despite over and over again showing he couldn't play in the field and his bat was gone. If a guy like that is worth a flier (at 40 and as a former PED user), then if Bonds could prove he would've accepted a similar deal and didn't get one, that's really tough to put back on those GMs in particular why one guy was worth it despite recent evidence, but a guy who had a 1.045 OPS the year before he was unemployable was not.
posted by dfleming at 10:09 PM on May 13, 2015
It's questionable whether a team would've kept him happy as a part-time player, which would've really limited his available pennant run teams to teams with a gaping full-time hole in LF or DH. Plus he was 44 and would've missed half a year. I could see any combination of those things making a GM think of going another direction.
LF performance by AL teams in 2008 (OPS):
Rk LF 1 CHW.902 2 SEA.825 3 BOS.815 4 BAL.805 5 NYY.776 6 DET.767 7 CLE.761 8 KCR.749 9 OAK.747 10 TEX.724 11 TBR.719 12 LAA.719 13 TOR.709 14 MIN.707 AVG .766
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/13/2015.
Minnesota finished one game out of the playoffs in 2008.
LF performance by NL teams in 2008 (OPS):
Rk LF 1 COL.950 2 HOU.884 3 PIT.870 4 MIL.869 5 PHI.865 6 CIN.861 7 CHC.856 8 FLA.833 9 LAD.816 10 STL.774 11 SDP.767 12 SFG.757 13 NYM.730 14 ARI.687 15 ATL.682 16 WSN.632 AVG .803
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/13/2015.
Arizona finished two games out of the playoffs.
You don't think even half a season of Barry Bonds in LF (at the pro-rated league minimum, which he was going to donate to the team's charity of choice) might not have propelled one of those teams into the playoffs?
posted by grum@work at 10:57 PM on May 13, 2015
Why is it bad that Barry Bonds is pursuing legal action against MLB?
I think it's great. I just used the "villain" simile because that's how MLB sees him.
What makes it even MORE interesting is that the MLBPA, in 2008, made a statement saying they found something that indicates a breach of the agreement with regards to Barry Bonds and free agency:
Michael Weiner, October 2008: "Our investigation revealed a violation of the Basic Agreement. It's a violation of the Basic Agreement related to Barry Bonds and free agency."
posted by grum@work at 11:03 PM on May 13, 2015
Oh, and in case people actually think it was a decision not to sign Bonds based on his age/performance/history, I'll point this out:
The season before Bonds was not given a contract, the 2007 Texas Rangers signed Sammy Sosa for $500K to DH for them.
Sosa did not play baseball in 2006, and had put up a 78 OPS+ in 2005.
I don't see how anyone can honestly believe that teams that would sign Sosa the year before would think that Bonds (162 OPS+) wasn't a good candidate to be signed.
How about the Dodgers re-signing Mark Sweeney in 2008, after he put up a 55 OPS+ for them (and an 89 OPS+ for the whole season)? He put up a 13 OPS+ for them before they finally cut bait.
posted by grum@work at 11:19 PM on May 13, 2015
Like the horror movie villain that just won't die despite all the efforts of the MLB (and the government), Barry Bonds has popped back up and is coming for them again.