Couple of things
- Yesterday proved to be a very productive day. I spent a large portion of it focusing on the preparation of my program on 'Faith & Politics'. My research is done, and I'm the process of organizing it into a speech/presentation.
- The most peculiar thing about the Israel/Lebanon conflict is the oddity of the Lebanese government in this whole thing. Having earned some credit on the international stage during the withdrawel of Syrian forces in the past year, all of sudden it's saying it has no control of Hezbollah. Well, the U.S. may have 'no control' of a renegade group of farmers in, say, Michigan, but if they began lobbing rockets into Canada, we'd probably move in to stop them. So it isn't so much a matter of having 'no control' but rather an apparent 'desire to have no control.'
- Georgia Sports Blog is doing an excellent job keeping tabs on the unfolding scandal at Auburn. PWD has got all the bases covered over there.
- This is unfortunate enough, and the pledges to revamp summer school and the like are very welcome and necessary, but this is ultimately a more complex issue. There's a very significant societal layer with the problem, and parental engagement and responsibility is, quite frankly, lacking. I've worked with two committees assisting the school district and administrators and teachers and even some students have all said the same thing - those who struggle don't have either parents or guardians who are adequately engaged in the process. And they're not engaged for a variety of reasons - some are by circumstance (lack of a car, etc.) and some are not (general indifference, etc.). The former can be resolved, and the school district is taking the appropriate steps to do so, but the latter is much more difficult to fix.
- Lancaster attempts to make sense of what I felt was the most puzzling trade in Major League Baseball this year. Two relievers and Royce Clayton for Austin Kearns and Felipe Lopez? The Reds must be absolutely desperate for bullpen help.
- Texas and Ms. Texas finally had their baby, so everyone welcome Allie Madeline to the world. Paid a visit to the hospital yesterday and was the first to receive the pink, 'It's a Girl!' bubble gum cigar.
- Everyone say goodbye to Brookwood's Cameron Smith, easily the best running back in the Southeast, if not the country. Smith is enrolling at Butler Community College in Kansas this fall, skipping his senior season with the Broncos so he can pull his grades up. This means his prospects for landing with Georgia, or any other prominent Division I-A school, are essentially over. Though the school's coach rattles off the claim that several of his players sign with Division I-A schools, can anyone name one? Or, to make it more specific, name one which has arrived on campus in shape and made an impact?
- The most peculiar thing about the Israel/Lebanon conflict is the oddity of the Lebanese government in this whole thing. Having earned some credit on the international stage during the withdrawel of Syrian forces in the past year, all of sudden it's saying it has no control of Hezbollah. Well, the U.S. may have 'no control' of a renegade group of farmers in, say, Michigan, but if they began lobbing rockets into Canada, we'd probably move in to stop them. So it isn't so much a matter of having 'no control' but rather an apparent 'desire to have no control.'
- Georgia Sports Blog is doing an excellent job keeping tabs on the unfolding scandal at Auburn. PWD has got all the bases covered over there.
- This is unfortunate enough, and the pledges to revamp summer school and the like are very welcome and necessary, but this is ultimately a more complex issue. There's a very significant societal layer with the problem, and parental engagement and responsibility is, quite frankly, lacking. I've worked with two committees assisting the school district and administrators and teachers and even some students have all said the same thing - those who struggle don't have either parents or guardians who are adequately engaged in the process. And they're not engaged for a variety of reasons - some are by circumstance (lack of a car, etc.) and some are not (general indifference, etc.). The former can be resolved, and the school district is taking the appropriate steps to do so, but the latter is much more difficult to fix.
- Lancaster attempts to make sense of what I felt was the most puzzling trade in Major League Baseball this year. Two relievers and Royce Clayton for Austin Kearns and Felipe Lopez? The Reds must be absolutely desperate for bullpen help.
- Texas and Ms. Texas finally had their baby, so everyone welcome Allie Madeline to the world. Paid a visit to the hospital yesterday and was the first to receive the pink, 'It's a Girl!' bubble gum cigar.
- Everyone say goodbye to Brookwood's Cameron Smith, easily the best running back in the Southeast, if not the country. Smith is enrolling at Butler Community College in Kansas this fall, skipping his senior season with the Broncos so he can pull his grades up. This means his prospects for landing with Georgia, or any other prominent Division I-A school, are essentially over. Though the school's coach rattles off the claim that several of his players sign with Division I-A schools, can anyone name one? Or, to make it more specific, name one which has arrived on campus in shape and made an impact?
posted by Jmac at 7:02 AM
11 Comments:
I'll have to check out Lancaster's column more often. Some fascinating points regarding that trade. My thoughts are this...this is obviously a trade made by the Reds in hopes of winning the wild card (or dare they dream it...the division title) NOW. And it's doable...they are just 4 games back of the beatable Cardinals and 1/2 game out of the wild card. They definitely had to give a lot for the chance but let's face it...Griffey ain't getting any younger and can you REALLY count on Harang and Arroyo to be this good next year or the year after? No. They need to make the playoffs now. Here's how I break it down...
The Reds probably had to take Clayton per the terms of the deal...at least I hope so, the guy is trash. He's a short term bench player and defensive replacement. I am with Lancaster, slide Phillips over to short let Clayton spell him from time to time and come in late in the game. This opens up 2nd for Ryan Freel who HAS to play everyday! What is not to love about this guy...he runs, he hits, good OBP, it's outrageous the way they don't make him a rock solid regular. Even without Kearns and Lopez the Reds will have PLENTY of offense.
Second...have you seen the Reds bullpen? I mean HAVE YOU SEEN THIS THING?! It's a bigger disaster than the time McGinty tried to leap Dead Man's Canyon on his BMX. Weathers (4.97), White(6.26), Belisle (4.24), Mercker(4.88), Hammond(6.91). Kent Mercker for God's sake! When you depend on a Brave who was teammates with Bruce Benedict...you need help...pronto. Majewski is about as reliable a setup man as you can find and Bill Bray is young and lefthanded, nuff said.
So...yeah they gave up Lopez and Kearns. But let's face it...isn't Kearns about the most overrated player to come down the pike since Brien Taylor? And as for Lopez he's got potential but he's also pretty miserable in the field and from what I hear, about as sharp as a marble. So I say...it's not as bad as the Reds fans think, you got to give to get, and if they wind up making a run to the postseason this becomes a pretty good looking deal.
And so concludes the longest post ever written about a topic that is of miniscule importance and probably even less interest to anyone who reads McGinty's blog. Thank you.
TIM
First off, you get bonus points for the Brien Taylor reference. I thought those Score rookie cards I had of him were going to be money.
Second, Kearns may be overrated ... but then again, he's hitting .275 with close to 20 homers. And he's 26. I think he's a legitimate threat to hit .270 to .300 each year and slug 30-plus homers. I've got no problem trading that, but to trade it for two relievers - even if you have severe bullpen issues - seems to be a stretch.
Seems to me they could have packaged Kearns with Lopez and gotten much more for the deal. My problem isn't with trading those guys, it's getting what they got in return for it. Two middle relievers which, by in large, are almost a dime a dozen. You've got to think someone like the Yankees would have jumped all over Kearns seeing how they're on the verge of seeing if Reggie Jackson wants to play outfield.
Also ... can you name the other pitcher, along with Mercker and Alejandro Pena, who threw the combined no-hitter in 1991 for the Braves?
And, I would love to have a copy of the TBS special of the Braves they showed prior to opener in 1992. It was hosted by John Goodman ... I remember it being pretty freaking cool for a 1992 TBS-funded documentary on the 1991 Braves season.
I have to seriously disagree with the "dime a dozen" comment on middle relievers. The one thing EVERYONE is looking for is pitching, specifically middle relief. What's the Braves problem? What's the White Sox only real vulnerable spot? Even your beloved Red Sox have some serious middle relief issues outside of Timlin. And the one thing everybody wants...no one wants to give up. The Padres are asking for the moon to give up Scott Linebrink. I think this is just the beginning of a trend. Teams will have to give up more than you think if they want bullpen help.
As for Kearns...sure he's got potential (and has for about a decade it seems) and sure he's having a pretty good year (.270, 16HR, 50 RBI) but he's also ridiculously injury prone,never had more than 380 ABs in a single season and is a career .267 hitter who strikes out way too much. I suppose the Reds could have traded him to the Yankees but for what? Who? The Yankees need middle relief just like everyone else and if the Reds shipped Kearns off for prospects that would just be a sign that they gave up on this year. I think the Reds felt they matched up best with the Nationals as far as who they wanted and what they could afford to give up. They had spare offense, needed, badly needed, pitching.
Point blank - the Reds would NEVER have made the playoffs this year without this trade. They simply did not have the bullpen to do it. Now, they have a shot. I like the deal for them.
As for the last pitcher...I'm going to say Berenguer. He was HUGE!
TIM
Mark Wohlers.
Jared has the commemorative baseball card for it.
Damn, Hillary, you beat me to it. Indeed it was Wohlers. I was there.
Darren
The Lebanese government has only been existent in its current state since the Cedar Revolution last year. That Revolution was, in fact, against Syria and Hezbollah. But that government's stability is tenuous at best, and is only on its first coltish steps to bring Lebanon out of 20+ years of strife.
Asking a brand new government to modernize its crime fighting infrastructure in only a year is a little much, especially when the crime they will be fighting is the well funded, better armed and more organized terrorist group that controls (not operates out of, but controls) whole parts of the country.
But all that is still doable.
But asking all that while at the same time destroying what infrastructure the new government does have? Not gonna work.
I'm pretty sure that Cam Smith was a SR last year. The Butler kids who've made it big (i think ) were Rudi Johnson, Daniel Cobb and some others.
It's the Hargrave of Jucos.
pwd
Do you mean in actuality? For instance, that he was really a senior last year, but we didn't know? Because he is listed by all of the recruiting services as a rising senior and as the state's top prospect.
Monte Williams went out to Butler at the end of his senior football season, while still enrolled in school, to 'work on his grades.' I just think it's overrated in terms of its production. A lot of players may make it to college, but they often show up to school out of shape and physically unprepared for the rigors of Division I-A football.
So while I can grant you Rudi Johnson, I'd suggest that was more of a one-time deal. Daniel Cobb didn't exactly have a stellar career at the collegiate level.
Batting Average is so over with, guys. It's all about OPS now. Sheesh. klajf;kldja
And Kearns' OPS looks to be better than average for an outfielder (who of course are generally the best hitters, along with first basemen).
As for Lebanon (nice combination of topics, JMac), Patrick makes a good point that the Lebanese government is new and probably has a pretty limited ability to actually reign in Hezbollah. But, frankly, I don't think that matters much. Hezbollah represents a clear threat to Israel (as in: is actually launching attacks against Israel), and Israel has every right to drive Hezbollah back if it thinks it can. It's unfortunate that Lebanon is a current home of Hezbollah and is thus getting caught between a rock and a hard place, and if Lebanon was in a position to reign in Hezbollah herself then that would of course be ideal. But she isn't, and that fact doesn't place any obligations on Israel to keep letting itself get hit.
Of course, many Lebanese civilians are dying in the bombings, but that's the way terrorists fault. It is not Israel's fault that Hezbollah chooses to fight in a way that inextricably involves civilians. (Though if Israel deliberately attacks any civilians then that would be an obvious injustice.)
Post a Comment
<< Home