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Post by wonk on Dec 17, 2012 21:47:44 GMT -8
Alex Anthopoulos is officially insane. I understand the enormous financial responsibility he took on with that Marlins trade (sort of), I understand giving a two year contract to the biggest pile of shit in baseball (sort of). But dishing out your top prospect, and your third best prospect, for the opportunity to pay a 38 year old knuckle ball pitcher $30 million over the next three years is absolutely atrocious. Giving up two of your top three prospects usually lands you a young bad-ass cost controlled starting pitcher.
This is a desperate attempt at ownership to be significant, and a desperate attempt by Mr. Anthopoulos to save his job. The Blue Jays window to win is next season. After that, they lose the best piece of the Marlins trade (Josh Johnson), and the Jose Reyes contract grows exponentially. Because the Marlins don't allow no trade clauses, they massively back loaded his contract to make him untradable. That means he made $10 million last season, $10 million next season, $16 million in 2014, and $22 million each of the next three years. OUCH.
What a season Dickey had. I'm still scratching my head how it happened, and I'm glad he got paid. Will his success continue beyond this season? Hopefully, but there is no fucking way he comes close to repeating his 2012 stats, not even close.
As for the A's, they had a ridiculously difficult schedule the last month of 2012 with much ground to make up, and they did it. I give part of the credit to Drew. He was outstanding defensively, and and OPS over .700 in an injury plagued year showed signs to come. They obviously got enormously outbid by the Red Sox, where free agents go to re-establish their offensive value. If the A's wanted him for $9.5 million, they would have picked up his $10 million option. They paid $1 million to decline it and make him available to anyone, which means they thought he was worth about $6 million. While I do like the Japanese dude's .850 OPS, I guess that would relate to around a .700 OPS in the show, which is what Drew already provided. And the Japanese dude is not going to be as great of a SS as Drew, no way.
It is exciting to see what he can do, I'll give him that. It's a low risk contract, and I was at least impressed that some of his HRs in the video I posted went to right field. The second to last HR he hit to center field was a legit shot, well over 400 feet, so I think he has at least double digit HR potential. His glove though?
At least the A's got that kid from the Padres who will routinely be a late innings defensive replacement.
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Post by wonk on Dec 17, 2012 20:49:58 GMT -8
If I played his minutes, I'm confident I could get more than two assists and a steal in ten games. It's so incomprehensible, it needed to be pointed out. Maybe. However, there is no way you are scoring 25 points and grabbing 17 boards over those same 10 games. 2.5 points and 1.7 rebounds per game with starters minutes? Mark it down!
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Post by wonk on Dec 17, 2012 20:07:45 GMT -8
I caught the second half of the SillySonics game today, watching my other man crush (Serge Ibaka) tie his career high with 25 points. He also added 17 boards. Halfway threw the fourth quarter, I checked his recent game stats and realized he had exactly one assist in the last ten games, and exactly one steal in the last ten games. How does that happen? Playing starters minutes, only one time in the last ten games he passed the ball to a guy who then scored? Only one time in ten games an opponent accidentally threw the ball to where Ibaka was standing? This seems amazingly improbable, like standing against the rail at a GWAR show without getting jizzed on.
Ibaka did get an assist with three minutes left (2 in 10 games!) and nearly got another on the next play but Durant missed an open three. If I played his minutes, I'm confident I could get more than two assists and a steal in ten games. It's so incomprehensible, it needed to be pointed out.
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Post by wonk on Dec 17, 2012 16:40:53 GMT -8
Notice how he hits every single pitch out of the ballpark. This should project well to MLB. I'm predicting 143 HRs next season.
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Post by wonk on Dec 17, 2012 13:54:11 GMT -8
Hey, looks like it's happening. Congratulations, guys. Dramatic answer for that. Possibly U never know!!!
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Post by wonk on Dec 17, 2012 10:45:46 GMT -8
BOOM!
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Post by wonk on Dec 15, 2012 14:27:14 GMT -8
DANCIN IN THA STREET WITH DAVID BOOWEE
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Post by wonk on Dec 15, 2012 14:01:02 GMT -8
Haha I wondered how long it would take people to notice that. Did you completely forget about the ten or so posts discussing this two weeks ago? It's okay, I know memory isn't your strength.
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Post by wonk on Dec 15, 2012 13:48:17 GMT -8
Since there isn't a college football thread, this will suffice. That Arizona v. Nevada game was crazy. Arizona was down 13 at their own 25 with less than two minutes remaining in the game. They won. Go Pac-10 (fuck you, I'm not calling it the Pac-12).
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Post by wonk on Dec 15, 2012 11:50:40 GMT -8
I remember watching his dad play for the Hornets back in the day. Dell had one of the quickest releases in NBA history. Steph has a super quick release too, but his shot is much prettier than Dell's. And seriously, when Steph is open, that shit goes down like 80% of the time. The D focuses on not letting him get open, but he still gets his.
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Post by wonk on Dec 15, 2012 11:47:03 GMT -8
DIRECT VIOLATION!
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Post by wonk on Dec 14, 2012 21:44:26 GMT -8
ESPN's fantasy website is pretty solid. They routinely update stats before I see them on almost live TV, even with ESPN broadcasted games. Pretty funny.
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Post by wonk on Dec 14, 2012 20:32:55 GMT -8
Warning: This will probably read as an "I told you so," and it is.
Further babble about the Rolling Stones. Pea texted me a week ago wondering who I thought who headline Coachella, so I've been thinking about this for a full week. My reply was the Rolling Stones, because it's the only chance Coachella will ever have to land them. Then they could save money on the other headliners by giving those slots to Mumfords and Bjork. Since then, I've read several comments on the Coachella board about how the Rolling Stones won't be there because it doesn't make sense to blow 20% of your budget on one act, and the festival will sell out anyway.
Business strategy involves knowing where you are at, and where you are going. If the goal is to sell out a festival, like many assume, it makes no sense to pay the Rolling Stones to headline. If the goal is to be the greatest music festival in the world, you pay the Rolling Stones to headline. There is a bit of ego involved, and a cash payout as well. I can guarantee Coachella has a five year plan, because that is how you make a successful business grow. It's way too easy to get caught up in status quo.
With that said, Coachella already has a reputation in the states as being the festival who pays bands to reunite, and the festival with the occasional rare headliner. Sure, everyone gets the recycled headliners like Radiohead, and the newest popular Black Keys/Kings Of Leon type band, but Coachella is getting names like Paul McCartney, Prince, Dre & Snoop, and (maybe) the Rolling Stones. You don't see those names often at other major festivals. "Remember when we landed the Rolling Stones" would be a high five haven in the Goldenvoice headquarters for the next decade. It will also help guarantee the festival continues to sell out regardless of the lineup for several years. They don't need the Rolling Stones, but continually delivering an amazing lineup to the regulars is a very good idea. Didn't Glasto sell out in a second without a lineup? It's not because they give headlining slots to Muse, the Killers, and Kings of Leon every year.
To be continued, because I have another 15 points on why this should happen.
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Post by wonk on Dec 14, 2012 19:42:45 GMT -8
Yeah, and Ben Grieve had a sweet swing, but so did Ken Griffey Jr.
I did buy the league pass. It's Drew's fault.
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Post by wonk on Dec 14, 2012 19:36:51 GMT -8
Even wonk. Big surprise, though, dude's never even heard Graceland. Boys II Men was my first concert, IRL. Don't think I don't know that shit.
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Post by wonk on Dec 14, 2012 19:32:34 GMT -8
Klay Thompson has the most pure stroke in the league. Fuck that. I try not to talk out of my ass too often, so I did in fact look up his stats before my post earlier today. He is shooting 41% from the field, which is borderline terrible, and 36% from threes, which isn't very good. Correct, I don't watch every game, and yes, I've never heard of the guy before two months ago, but he seems to get a ton of open shots, while Curry is never open and has much better shooting stats. If we're purely speaking aesthetics, I still side with Curry. Is my man crush too obvious?
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Post by wonk on Dec 14, 2012 19:03:03 GMT -8
I don't listen to any late-period material from any of the artists that you named, and I wouldn't pay to see any of them perform. And that's why it's such a big deal. 100,000 people who share the same view as you (might) get to see the Rolling Stones at a festival they are already attending, and that is pretty fucking cool.
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Post by wonk on Dec 14, 2012 18:37:51 GMT -8
I'm sure SOMEONE can, but I sure as fuck can't. More than once have I stopped listening to a band because of how badly they grew to suck. And I don't mean that I just refuse to listen to the bullshit material, either. The bitch of it is that when a band starts to deploy the same songwriting techniques that they used to write their classic material in the service of writing fucking terrible songs, it reveals the flaws in the classic material as well and I grow to hate the entire catalog. The reason I'm going to bat over it is that I fucking KNOW that Coachella people are going to be all HOLY SHIT FUCK YEAH ROLLING STONES MOTHERFUCKER because, y'know, they're the Rolling Stones. People know who they are; they're a big, expensive act that's been going for fucking ever, whatever. People are shitting themselves over the NAME, and the problem with that is that it is the reason that the Stones have spent the entire second half of their career taking a huge, steaming shit on the entire first half of their career. Oh, the people will keep giving us money because we used to be the most important band in the world? Well, alright then! Fucking HAVE DIGNITY, Rolling Stones. Calling it now: y'all are gonna come back from Indio bitching about having seen a very, very old man sing a couple of songs that you've heard on the radio out of key, and everyone but Stamper is gonna say how terrible it was. SEEING the Rolling Stones perform isn't a big deal at all. SAYING that you've seen the Rolling Stones perform is a big deal. Which I guess makes them a perfect fit for Coachella, the world's premiere fashion show/beer garden/food court/open air drug market/status symbol that also happens to feature musical performances. Most acts who have been around 50 years quit making relevant music halfway through their career. They are also making exactly the type of music their fans have grown to love. There aren't many 60 year old dubstep fans. I don't see how you can blame only the Rolling Stones for this when your comment would read the same for Paul McCartney, the Who, the Beach Boys, Led Zeppelin, and like womp said, Roger Waters. How many amazing albums has that crew created since you've been alive (and I've argued with you enough to know that your reply would completely overlook my point, and you would start blindly naming your favorite Paul McCartney albums as a defense)?
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Post by wonk on Dec 14, 2012 17:40:08 GMT -8
I've never heard an Imagine Dragons song, but that Atlas Genius song that plays on the radio is just awful. You may not know it but it's really unlikely you've made it this long without hearing this dumb song. I think it is just automatically placed in commercials at this point I made it this far without hearing it. Thanks a lot.
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Post by wonk on Dec 14, 2012 16:53:20 GMT -8
ZOMG, PEARL JAMZ
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