Merry Christmas
Hope you all have a fun, exciting, and interesting holiday with friends, family, or both. Merry Christmas, everyone, and thanks for hanging out with us all year long and making USSM a unique community that I’m proud to be a part of.
Break-time news
We’re almost certainly going to be really bad about updating for the next couple of days as we hang out with family and friends, so bear with us.
Saturday:
Texas acquired Brandon McCarthy, who they intend to start, and OF David Paisano for LHP John Danks, RHP Nick Masset and RHP Jacob Rasner.
Danks was rated the #1 prospect in the BA top 10, and Nick Masset was #8. Paisano didn’t rank for the White Sox.
The Rangers’ statements so far make it seem like they intend to start McCarthy even if they do acquire Zito (but they’re not optimistic that’ll happen). That could be interesting: McCarthy’s ground ball percentage was 38.5%, and Texas’ outfield next year has Lofton in center and Wilkerson’s not too mobile either.
USSM Official Pre-and-post-game Meal Endorsement
So the Pioneer Square Saloon is the best place to meet your friends, have a beer or three, and vent about the team before you head on down to the stadium. What if you want food, and you don’t want to go to Subway or wherever and haul something into said Saloon?
Go to Elysian Fields. 542 1st Ave South. It’s across the street from Qwest Field, right next to Sluggers.
It’s beautiful. I don’t know any other way to put it. It’s spacious, the seating is comfortable, there are TVs and… it’s great. You can see how much care went into the design. I love it.
The beers are great. Elysian’s own brews are delicious. The food’s good. You’re making a tradeoff, though, and it’s obvious when you compare Elysian Fields to what’s next door at Sluggers. Sluggers you can get a giant plastic cup of Bud for $4, and at Elysian, it’s a pint of something nice. At Sluggers, if you can get food, it’s standard bar food at ~$10/sandwich and serviceable. Elysian’s food costs more but it’s genuinely enjoyable. At Sluggers, you can’t get a place to sit, but Elysian there’s a comfortable seat available.
There’s the decision, though: if you want a pre-game bite to eat, and that’s the criterion for this endorsement, and you’re not strapped for cash to the point where you’re willing to haul some food into the Pioneer Square Saloon, this is where you want to go:
– ridiculously good food
– great place
– great beer
And you pay more for it. When I had a job, that was a trade-off I was willing to make. Hopefully they’ll comp me now that I’m unemployed and desperate.
Honorable mention: the J+M up in Pioneer Square. It’s bar food, so you’re paying $8 for that chicken sandwich, but everything I’ve ordered has been good, they have some nice drink specials, and – I kid you not – I once sat around drinking there while they played, start to finish, Sonic Youth’s “Daydream Nation”. That’s so cool.
Pyramid has some great food, and I love their DPA (t’s one of my favorite beers in all the world, which is saying something) but it’s really hard to get a table there, so.. it loses out.
Others considered: FX McCrory’s, I’ve gotten really bad service the vast majority of times I’ve been dragged in there and the food’s not as good as Elysian. Larry’s Whateveritscallednow, which was once upon a time my pre-game hangout. King Street Bar & Oven, which is where I got my food after I stopped going to Larry’s. Many other places.
Caple Eulogizes Boone
ESPN’s Page 2 is doing a series of career obituaries, and Jim Caple is handling a requiem for Bret Boone.
He’s forthright about the steroid speculation, if not drawing any firm conclusions.
There are other fake obits in that link of interest, from Brooks Kieschnick to Briant Grant (one of my favorite all-time basketball players, both for his charity work and that time he got in Karl Malone’s grill). But I’ve got a hunch the thread contains more Zinedine Zidane jokes than anything else. Prove me wrong, yo.
USSM Official Pre-and-post-game Meetup Bar Endorsement
Pioneer Square Saloon. 73 Yesler Way. I didn’t realize how much I’d come to value the comfortable simplicity of the Pioneer Square Saloon until I looked through my game notes and realized how often I was there. It kind of snuck up on me.
Two brief digressions:
1. I had some plans for the Drinking at Safeco feature this year that never came to fruition (Google Maps, updated write-ups… my reach exceeded my grasp). Sorry.
2. You used to be able to find me at the King Street Bar and Grill, but the last two years I’ve had increasingly poor service and ill times, so it dropped out.
Cons: the Saloon’s a little farther north. It doesn’t have a lot of TVs. There’s no kitchen.
So why go there?
The lack of proximity means it’s relatively calm, you don’t have to brawl for space, and it’s quiet enough that you can have a reasonable conversation. So it’s ideal for meeting friends, because you can get a table and talk to them.
They’ve got a bunch of good, cheap taps. I like the people who work there. I like the people who hang out there. The music’s been good every time I’ve been there, and I’m picky about my music.
While there’s no kitchen, but they’re cool about letting you bring in food, which works out well. If you want a meal, I’ve got another post coming about that.
The best alternative is probably the beer garden at Pyramid, because it’s so easy to find. You’re standing around in a parking lot, paying more, and the beers are often a little nasty, but meeting people from out-of-town or something is a cinch: “It’s across the street from the ballpark”. If they can’t find the park, you’ve got bigger problems than meeting them for beers.
Pioneer Square Saloon, folks. Check it out.
Also considered: Owl & Thistle (horrible service), other places on 1st, the Outback encampment just south, King Street, Tiki Bob’s, Sluggers, etc etc.
Next up: the pre-and-post-game meal endorsement.
If you’ve got a suggestion for a good meetup spot that is
– reasonably priced
– not overflowing with people
please, drop a comment.
Friday’s news: M’s sign Burroughs
Also: Griffey broke his hand.
Pettitte’s indeed going to the Yankees for 1y, $16m.
Sean Burroughs. 3B-L, 26.
Ah, I remember when he was a superprospect, before everyone realized he hits 200% ground balls and that makes for a pretty poor power hitter. And before it was widely known that he didn’t listen to coaches that tried to help him with his swing. Or anything else.
You know he pitched an inning in 2005? Maybe the M’s scouts saw something they liked and want to use him in middle relief.
He’s a decent glove in the infield, which means, and this is at least interesting to me, that potentially he’s a direct competitor to Dobbs, who will be 28 next season. Burroughs spent some quality time on the DL last year with a back problem, but really, even the Devil Rays didn’t want him – they played Huff and Wigginton over him, and then Upton. He was DFA’d during the season, which is a sign of how little they cared about him at that point.
Here’s the thing, though: Burroughs is, and has always been, potentially a star. Without drawing walks, he doesn’t get on base enough. Without making the adjustments to his swing that coaches fell over themselves to try and help him with, he doesn’t hit well enough to contribute anyway.
For instance, select quotes from the BP annuals.
2000: The power will come, and the rest of his offensive game is already major-league caliber.
2001: Burroughs will be moving Nady and Nevin to other positions–or other cities–sooner rather than later.
2002: As expected, Burroughs’s power is coming around. […] Burroughs is the early-line favorite for the NL Rookie of the Year Award.
2003: Burroughs can still rake, the power’s eventually going to increase, and if there’s anything to worry about, it’s the declining walk rate, not anything more mysterious than that.
(no comment on his card)
2005: Without more walks or extra-base hits, Burroughs is only a moderately useful player, and nowhere near the future star many expected.
I bring this up not to point out that BP was wrong, because especially with stathead-centric evaluation, the goalposts are always moving: if you find out that players with old skills age really badly, you can’t be as enthusiastic about the long-term future of those guys as you were the day before.
I bring this up because those were typical views: everyone saw the major-league pedigree and his raw talent.
He’s an interesting minor-league invite and possible bench player. If his failures have opened him up to listening and the M’s can get him some good people to work with, I’m willing to hold out hope, but what happens if he suddenly blossoms? We’ve got Beltre, and the DH spot’s blocked for that matter.
The chances that would happen anyway are pretty slim, of course. The list of low-walk, extreme groundball hitters who turned their careers around this late would be, pretty much, Sean Burroughs. But at least there’s some kind of possibility here, which is more than we can say for a lot of their moves.
USSM Endorsed 2006 Albums
Because it’s the off-season and nothing’s happening. Also, this seems to come up in conversations at Feeds and baseball fans seem to be disproportionately music freaks. Hopefully Jeff (at least) will join in and update this here post with his. Here’s what I’ve been listening to this year while posting/doing site work/tearing my hear out trying to keep USSM up.
Anyway, feel free to comment/complain/add. I tried to do ten and found I’d done 15 before I stopped myself. In no particular order:
Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
Fishscale
Mr. Beast
The Loon
The Greatest
Blood Mountain
Game Theory
Taking The Long Way
Everything All the Time
A Blessing And A Curse
Let Me Introduce My Friends, I’m From Barcelona (no link, this ‘CD’ is copy-protected).
Magic Potion
Night Ripper
The Audience’s Listening
So This Is Goodbye
Silent Shout
Nine Times That Same Song
(And now I’m tagging them with Amazon links because I’m unemployed. Hee hee hee.)
Dave’s Additions: I’m not a big music guy, but these two guys are friends of mine, and if you’re a Christian, you’ll like their CDs. If you’re not, not so much, so don’t say you haven’t been warned.
The Awakening – Jonathan Helser
Closer to the Burning – Stephen Roach
Jeff’s additions
I won’t duplicate anything Derek or Dave have already mentioned except to say that Neko Case does rock. With all the hip-hop I’ve been listening to lately, I’m surprised there is so much indie rock on my list, but I guess I was disappointed by a lot of the releases I was highly anticipating from my favorite MCs (Mr. Lif’s “Mo’ Mega,” anyone?).
A lot of records missed the list either because I like them, but not enough (the RJD2 and Aceyalone disc), or I like them, but not as much as everyone else seems to (“Return to Cookie Mountain” by TV On the Radio). I swear I did not plan for exactly 15 albums to be on this list, but it mirrors Derek’s list, so there. Maybe I’ll add two more later to mirror Dave’s list.
The Coup, Pick a Bigger Weapon
M. Ward, Post-War
Asobi Seksu, Citrus
The Brazilian Girls, Talk to La Bomb
Golden Smog, Another Fine Day
Jenny Lewis with The Watson Twins, Rabbit Fur Coat
The Long Winters, Putting the Days to Bed
Loose Fur, Born Again in the USA
Madlib, Beat Konducta, Vol. 1-2
Mates of State, Bring It Back
Nouvelle Vague, Bande a Part
The Pernice Brothers, Live a Little
Snow Patrol, Eyes Open
Soul Position, Things Go Better with RJ and Al
Viva Voce, Get Yr Blood Sucked Out
Stuff you might not have heard that is worth picking up: Pigeon John’s album “… and the Summertime Pool Party” is uneven, but has some really fun high spots if you like feel-good hip-hop; The Hold Steady’s “Boys and Girls in America” sounds like the halcyon days of Bruce Springsteen updated for the indie kids; I wish Of Montreal’s “The Sunlandic Twins” and “Caravane” by Raphael had been released in 2006 so I could include them; I must confess I haven’t heard the new Mason Jennings record (hard to find in Okinawa), but if it’s anything like his previous folk-rock work, it’s awesome.
2007 AL West Rough Comparison Chart
For your enjoyment and discussion of the relative merits of these teams, I decided to throw up this depth chart I was sketching out today. I’m sure after posting this I’ll immediately start to fix it, and there are a number of issues I don’t think are entirely sorted out yet – like in LAoA, I put Rivera in the field and Anderson at DH, but that may be flipped. Likewise, I’m guessing McPherson finally takes over at third, and Figgins returns to being a useful version of Bloomquist, but that may be premature. And — well, you’ll see. I’m also neglecting bench players, etc, and the rotations/bullpens are shots in the dark.
| Seattle | Oakland | LA of A | Texas | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | Johjima | Kendall | Napoli | Laird |
| 1B | Sexson | Johnson | Morales | Teixeira |
| 2B | Lopez | Ellis | Kendrick | Kinsler |
| SS | Betancourt | Crosby | Cabrera | Young |
| 3B | Beltre | Chavez | McPherson | Blalock |
| LF | Ibanez | Swisher | Rivera | Wilkerson |
| CF | Ichiro! | Kotsay | Matthews | Lofton |
| RF | Guillen | Bradley | Guerrero | Cruz (Cat?) |
| DH | Vidro | Piazza | Anderson (?) | Catalanotto |
| SP | Hernandez | Harden | Lackey | Milwood |
| SP | Washburn | Loaiza | Santana | Padilla |
| SP | Batista | Haren | Weaver | Tejeda |
| SP | Ramirez | Blanton | Escobar | Volquez |
| SP | Baek/Woods | Halsey (?) | Saunders/? | Rheinecker |
| CL | Putz | Street | Rodriguez | Gagne |
| RP | Mateo | Duchsherer | Shields | Otsuka |
| RP | Sherrill | Embree | Oliver | Mahay |
| RP | O’Flaherty | Flores | Speier | Bauer |
| RP | Green | Calero | Carrasco | Benoit |
| RP | Baek/Woods/Wood/Huber | Gaudin | Resop/Bootcheck/? | Rupe/etc |
I feel like I’ve been too close to the team’s bad moves: this division’s going to be competitive, and even a team like the M’s where it’s extremely unlikely they break 85 wins, might find themselves in the hunt.
Post-outage notification
We’ve been up and down since about three.
Lincoln lauded, lands laurels
or, for M’s fans,
Lousy leader’s labors lacking, losses lessen locals’ love
The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) sent word today that former president of Nintendo of America, Minoru Arakawa, and chairman emeritus of Nintendo of America, Howard Lincoln, will be the first recipients of the newly-created Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s Interactive Achievement Awards (IAA), which will take place during the D.I.C.E. Summit 2007.
…
Lincoln became chairman in 1994 and is currently the CEO of the Seattle Mariners. “There may be no other business where fortunes can change so quickly, and that makes it great fun,” he commented. “This is a pure entertainment industry where you place big bets, rely on creativity and reshuffle the deck every time a new generation of machines arrives.”
Professional sports is another business where fortunes change that quickly, where you place big bets, rely on creativ– I guess this is a great example of how expertise doesn’t always translate from one industry to another.