Colorado Rockies 1976

Seriously there's two DBAs that seem to have endless coaching lives: Dumb But Ancient in Lindy Dumb But Angry in Hynes

I don’t fully hate them but not a fan by any stretch. I would’ve gone without names on the back for these. The 1920s-style font is OK but can’t say I love it. A 3 out of 10 from me. If the names were removed, maybe a 3.5 or 4.

What I hate about some of Fitz's recent quotes is that almost from the BEGINNING he clearly didn't like some things that he saw, but the way to deal with all of that was to...do next to nothing?! At the very least, I would've shortened Lindy's leash considerably if I had observed that from the same first-hand perspective that Fitz had. If you see patterns developing that you don't like, here's a crazy idea...maybe ADDRESS IT?! I know Lou is past his prime and I wouldn't want him back, but think if he saw the same sh!t, that any of that would've flown under his watch? No fvcking way. Anyway, goes back to the same thing at this point...it's all about the actions now. That's why I'm trying not to make TOO much of these quotes for now. But they're not making Fitz look great at the moment.

Yeah simple case of individual “Is it really worth it to me?” preference, where there’s no right or wrong; people spend whatever disposable income they have on the things that makes sense to them. I don’t blame anyone who doesn’t want to spend a lot of money to attend a sporting event, especially since there’s expenses beyond that (such as parking, for starters). Once it became increasingly clear that the Devils weren’t turning this thing around, I almost completely stopped going, after having gone plenty in the first four months. I don’t mind paying to go (especially since I enjoy the time spent with my daughter, who I go with most of the time), but it gets to a point where if they‘re going to be a hot mess most nights, I can watch that at home, save the money and time spent driving to and from the Rock, and just change the channel when I’ve had enough.

As Yogi would say…it’s getting late early. He’ll be 25 in July…he still strikes out a LOT and he’s put up an insanely unsustainable BABIP for the season (.583). It’s obviously small sample stuff to date but let me see if he’s putting up decent numbers by late July - early August. Another way to look at it: one team has already given up on him. When you’re a 6OA pick you’ll get multiple chances. But he’s gotta really start showing something soon. The early signs this season point to him being lucky as opposed to being better.

I’d be stunned if any seats down there were anywhere near under $100 ea. I buy most of my tix off Stubhub and when I do, it’s usually for the Lofts. I did buy center ice club seats for the final game, and before fees they were $177 ea (included the buffet). I used to just walk up to the ticket booth at BBA and buy tix right there for most games. I was broke in my youth but I never found the price to be overly prohibitive, and I could always find affordable seats.

In case anyone's curious, $17 back in 1982 is equivalent to about $55 in today's money. Sadly like many things, ticket price inflation for many things entertainment has a way out of outpacing general inflation.

Yeah I'm not a Licata guy...when I think "obnoxious Noo Yawk blowhard", he comes to mind for sure. But I think he does have a point re: Soto. Soto's not exactly impossible to strike out but he definitely has a better chance of putting the ball in play than Judge. Judge has whiffed in 28.5% of his plate appearances for his career...Soto's at 17.1%. If I'm as good at the plate as Soto is, I'm not leaving it up to a guy who's not as good of a hitter as I am (even though Judge obviously has more power). Soto has the ability to do more than leave it up to the next guy in certain key spots.

I watched the video and started welling up, I admit it...you could even see that the players were really fighting it. The older woman in the crowd who was crying got me too, but once I saw the woman waving the flag...man that one REALLY got me. When the Mets played the Marlins the game after Jose Fernandez passed, I'm pretty sure that's the most emotional that I felt watching a sporting event...in the pregame show (just after a tribute to Fernandez), Gary Cohen's voice just cracks and you can tell that he's just barely keeping it together...even now if I watch that, it still gets me. And then Dee Gordon hits a leadoff home run and is bawling as he's circling the bases and his teammates and the fans are all in tears...I actually had to leave the room for a while.

I feel for the fans and others in a big way, but the Yotes aren’t the first franchise to move and they won’t be the last. Our own Devils are already on their third stop since 1974 and almost moved to Nashville. Hell, in this case, Arizona got their team because the original Jets left Winnipeg. As raw as it is, fan emotion won’t ever be enough to keep certain franchises in their current locations…like you alluded to, lots of moving parts that lead to this actually happening.

Man the woman waving the flag who was crying...that was heartbreaking to see.

It's been said plenty, but that CANNOT happen. If it does it's pretty much impossible to defend Fitz from that point on.

Player A's last 6 GP: 3-for-20 (all singles), 2 BB, 11 K in 22 PA, .377 OPS That would be Jarred Kelenic, who's apparently getting back to his usual form. BTW that crazy hot start that he was off to? His BABIP was .733...this is the equivalent of an NHL grinding forward scoring 8 goals in 10 games on about 60% shooting. Basically, I'm not all that worried about this guy suddenly figuring everything out and becoming a star. He's still the whiff machine who got off to a surprising start last season, but slashed .233/.312/.353 over his last 77 games. He'll have occasional short bursts, maybe even the occasional nice month (like last April), but from month-to-month, he'll put up OPSs of .727 (last May), .588 (last June), .686 (last July, before getting hurt), and .653 (last September). Got lucky, in that in the end, it turns out that he's simply not very good. That trade wound up not being the complete disaster that it could have been, really. No one that the Mets gave up have done much, and fortunately with Cohen buying the team, he was able to eat Cano's remaining money. The best player in the deal is the one still pitching for the Mets.

Even if Arizona gets a "new" Coyotes team in however many years, is anyone going to get the warm and fuzzies with the same owner hanging around? Sad is that most feel that is wasn't really lack of fan interest that got the Coyotes to this point (I had almost assumed that had played a role). Yeah seems more like a Cleveland Browns situation...or maybe even Brooklyn Dodgers?

Funny thing about Soto...he's obviously off to a ridiculous start AND the guy can get on base like no one else... BUT, I get the feeling once the BA drops a bit (he's a .286 career hitter), as good of a pure throwback hitter as he is, he's going to draw some criticism at times for almost being TOO scientific at the plate, for leaving things up to Judge (who does whiff a LOT) instead of occasionally breaking out of his "draw walks" MO. But man, I do loooooove the guys who live on the basepaths. Especially since when they're slumping, it's not like they're completely invisible, the way guys like Javier Baez are...he has a .296 OB% for his career, and since signing for nice money with Detroit, he's slashed .226/.268/.353...he doesn't even get ON BASE 27% of the time. Baez is basically Rey Ordonez at the plate with more power and a lot less contact...that's really fvcking terrible. And of course when the low-walk, low-OB% guys start to decline, it gets very ugly very quickly; by contrast, even though Mickey Mantle's final two seasons were rough compared to the rest of his career, he still got on base almost 39% of the time. Check out a former player named Gene Tenace. He's the true "Greek God of Walks". He was only a .241 career hitter, but owned a career .388 OB%, as well as a .817 OPS (he hit 201 HR for his career) and 136 OPS+. Probably among the best .241 hitters ever to play the game.