The Dilemma that is Nate McLouth and Jordan
Schafer

post from Talking Chop on 21 February 2011 11:01:52 PM. © Talking Chop

Smile on the count of 3!

Ever since the departure of Andruw Jones in 2006, the Braves have struggled to find a center fielder who's capable of both hitting and fielding with any success (the 2011 Braves Annual has a great piece on this and it's worth checking out.). Anyways, from Gregor Blanco to Mark Kotsay to Jordan Schafer to Nate McLouth, the Braves haven't been able to find a suitable center fielder for one reason or another.

Just about everyone figured Nate McLouth and his -1.3 WAR from 2010 would be the Braves' Opening Day center fielder in 2011, and it was more of a formality instead of performance-based. McLouth will make $7 million dollars this year (which is about 8.2% of the payroll) and it appeared as if Atlanta was content on just handing him the job. Whether it's the right move or not was up for debate, but most had just figured the team would make an adjustment as the season went on if it was needed.

As the whole team was reporting to camp on Saturday, David O'Brien of the AJC had this to say about former top-prospect Jordan Schafer:

CF Jordan Schafer hit a homer off LH Venters couple days ago, and peppered wall with liners off prospects Teheran & Delgado Sat.

This is great to hear, and if it continues into the games (which start Saturday!), the Braves could have a very interesting Spring Training in store for them. Schafer has all of the talent in the world, is in phenomenal shape, and he's eager to get back to the Major League level with his wrist fully healed. He's already a better defender than McLouth is, and if his wrist really is healed, he's probably the more talented of a hitter as well.

As we stand now, Nate McLouth is still the Braves' starting center fielder and will be given every opportunity in Spring Training to save his job. As a matter of fact, the best case scenario for Atlanta is McLouth regains his 2008 and 2009 form at the plate and plays above-average defense in the field. With him making quite a bit of money, it would really hurt to have him warm the bench for the next 162 games. McLouth's re-emergence also allows Atlanta to let Schafer get some much needed at-bats in Triple-A to hopefully get him ready for 2012 and beyond when McLouth is out of town.

But what if Nate McLouth has another horrible Spring Training (don't forget, he had like five hits in all of Spring Training last year) and Jordan Schafer emerges just as he did in 2009? What do the Braves do? This is a team that's capable of winning a world series, and it seems foolish to let the lesser of a player play just because he's making a bunch of money. Should the Braves bite the bullet, risk offending McLouth, and let Schafer start from Opening Day? Should they give McLouth a two or three month tryout to see if he can re-gain his form and then make a decision? Do they stick with McLouth the whole season regardless of how he's performing?

These decisions await the Braves and new manager Fredi Gonzalez, and it should be very interesting to see how things play out.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.talkingchop.com/2011/2/21/2007009/the-dilemma-that-is-nate-mclouth-and
-jordan-schafer

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Overhearing a Standard Interview, Jason Kendall
Goes Crazy

post from Royals Review on 21 February 2011 10:01:49 PM. © Royals Review

So Nick Wright of 610 AM is interviewing Mike Moustakas about character. It's all very positive. The Royals value character, the team is full of high-character guys, that kind of thing. Then Wright asks Moustakas about the fact that he might start the year in the minors, because of baseball's service time system.

For whatever reason, Jason Kendall strongly objected to this question. (Audio here.)

Wright: (To Moustakas) "There’s a decent chance that no matter how well you do this Spring Training, you might still start the year off in the minors just because of Baseball’s rules and wanting to hold on to eligibility, all that stuff. Do you think about that?"
Kendall: (Jumping in) "No, he wants to stay in the minor leagues all f---ing year. Are you s---ing me right now?"

Continuing:

NW: "Well, you heard the question, Jason?"
JK: "Yes."
NW: "The Question wasn’t-"
JK: "Do you wanna start in the big leagues this year?"
NW: "Well hold on, is it not a legitimate question? I know he wants to start in the major leagues."
JK: "He wants to start in the big leagues in this year."
NW: "That wasn’t the question, Jason."
JK: "Rewind yourself."
NW: "Ok, we can rewind it and play it. The question is of course he wants to start in the big leagues, right? But with baseball, how it is, they probably wait til June so they can hold on to him for another year. The question is, would that bother you"
JK: "You asked him if he wanted to start in the big leagues this year."
NW: "Ok, if that’s what I asked you, Mike, my apologies. Let me back it up for a moment. No matter how you do this Spring Training, you might still start in the minors, would that bother you?"
(cross-chat between Moustakas, Kendall, and Wright for a few seconds)
Moustakas: "It wouldn’t bother me one bit just because it’s what’s best for the Royals organization. Dayton’s on board with the plan, the plan is to win a championship, and whatever he says goes ya know."

(hat tip to kscoliny and bhwick here)

My absolute favorite part is Kendall's "rewind yourself." Hands down. Wright's entire interview with Moose was so laudatory, so easy-going, so filled with Spring Training softballs, yet somehow Kendall, who wasn't even a part of it, still managed to jump in with great hostility. If you listen to the entire audio, you'll eventually hear Wright apologize for his question. Amazing. His question was essentially: "you are really awesome and might be screwed by an antiquated system, does that bother you?"

Look, this is a misunderstanding, I think. (Kendall's response is so illogical that it's almost impossible to analyze.) We shouldn't make too much of it. Nevertheless, it's another example of how silly the Sports World's notion of "leadership" is. You see, Jason Kendall is leadership. He's probably only matched by Jeff Francoeur as a player who is endlessly praised, by media and organization members, as a leader, a gamer, a warrior, as someone who plays the right way. Nevermind that he can't play. Nevermind that the details of his private life, at best, suggest an alternative understanding.

It's all silly. It's all a fantasy land of unprovables and reasoning that never gets verified. Sometimes leadership is being funny, being "loose", keeping the guys relaxed. Two days later, it's acting insane, starting a brawl, calling a player's only meeting. Unrelated events happen, we create a false narrative, everyone forgets all of it anyway, and we move on. 162 games. Day after day. Nobody ever goes back and writes about the losing streak that wasn't stopped by a fiery speech, the slump that didn't end with a toxin-releasing brawl, the comeback that never came after the manager was ejected.

The game can never just be about the game, because we've all got to imbue an essentially meaningless activity, really no different at its core than an episode of Real Housewives or any other form of entertainment, with all manner of emotional, cultural, political, and psychological importance. For some reason we have to pretend that it actually would make sense for a baseball player to be "a warrior" or whatever else we want to call him. All that myth, which has seduced just about every supposedly literary account of sports, is hands down my least favorite aspect of being a fan.

We aren't charging up San Juan Hill, Jason. Nick Wright isn't an enemy soldier and Moustakas doesn't need to be protected. He wasn't even being attacked. Go oil your mitt somewhere and work on posting an OBP over .300 in your soul-crushing and needless final year with the Royals.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.royalsreview.com/2011/2/21/2006921/jason-kendall-meltdown-nick-wright

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Giants Full-Squad Workouts Underway

post from The Giants Baseball Blog- A San Francisco Giants Blog and Fan Website on 21 February 2011 10:01:48 PM. © The Giants Baseball Blog- A San Francisco Giants Blog and Fan Website

Well baseball fans, spring is officially in the air, and the World Champion San Francisco Giants are back at work preparing for their tittle defense in 2011. We were going to use today's post as the follow up to our pitching projections with our hitting version, but there's a lot going on in Giants camp and I figured we'd put the hitting projections on hold for another day.

It was the first day of live batting practice, and workouts for all players have started to intensify, yet the piece of news which gathered most of the headlines was the private trip closer Brian Wilson took to Hollywood to hang out at Charlie Sheen's mansion with various celebrities and prominent former baseball players. I don't really put a lot of time into non-baseball off field issues unless it effects on field performance, but the reason I'm touching on this subject, is because of all the fans calling into the Bay Area sports stations and commenting all over Giants fan-sites on the Internet complaining of Brian Wilson not focusing on getting ready for the Cactus League, but rather taking time out from his conditioning to hang out with the likes of Kenny Lofton, Eddie Murray, Todd Zielle and Lenny Dykstra. My take on the situation is that these people are making too much a deal out of nothing. Wilson is nursing a stiff back, and his short trip west did not interfere in the slightest with his work schedule for the Giants. What people are fussing about though is the pitcher is losing focus with all the national attention that he's gained over the last 6 months, going from a solid big league closer to one of the positions most unique personalities.... Long story short, I say don't worry about B.Willy, he'll be ready to answer the bell on April 1st in LA.

So, even though they're not new to Giants fans by now, there are a bunch of Giants in their first Spring Training camp with the club, including post-season hero's Cody Ross and Javier Lopez, regular season savior Pat Burrell and relievers Santiago Casilla and Ramon Ramirez. Also in his first spring training camp with San Francisco is their new $6 million shortstop Miguel Tejada. The 36 year-old shortstop was out on the field at 8 A.M. taking grounders and working on fundamentals, proving just why he's been so highly praised as a lead-by-example-type. I think he's going to be a great influence on Pablo Sandoval, as Tejada is a fierce competitor and serious about his conditioning and preparation. Speaking of leadership, former Giants' MVP 2nd basemen Jeff Kent has been a special guest in camp early on, and word is that his main focus here will be to work with Buster Posey on his hitting approach in the cleanup spot. This tells me that Bochy is planning to use Posey in the cleanup spot again this year, which, don't get me wrong, worked out great in 2010, but I really wanted him hitting 3rd with Huff in the cleanup spot. However, Bochy traditionally splits up his right handed hitters and lefties in the lineup when possible, and with Freddy Sanchez slated in at 2nd, the left-handed Huff would fit seem to be Boch's logical choice.

Read The Full Article:
http://giantsbaseballblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/giants-full-squad-workouts-underwa
y.html

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Today Was One For The Ladies

post from Lady Loves Pinstripes on 21 February 2011 09:18:56 PM. © Lady Loves Pinstripes

Today, Monday February 21, 2011 will go down as the first time in baseball history a lady threw to Major League hitters. Congratulations to Justine Seigal, for sticking to her passion and making her dreams come true. Here is the story, as reported by[...]

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ladylovespinstripes/~3/OXH4KJIjwag/2011-spring-tra
ining-historic-day-ladies

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Jason Kendall F Bombing after Moose was talking
about character

post from Royals Review on 21 February 2011 09:04:08 PM. © Royals Review

Jason Kendall F Bombing after Moose was talking about character

Jason Kendall is a class act clearly

Read The Full Article:
http://www.royalsreview.com/2011/2/21/2006811/jason-kendall-f-bombing-after-moose
-was-talking-about-character

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Oh That Shifty Abner Haynes

post from Sports Locker on 21 February 2011 08:01:48 PM. © Sports Locker

I'm down to my final four for this completed team set.

Abner Haynes, 1962 Fleer, Dallas Texans is the latest addition. Haynes was the AFL Player-of-the-Year in 1960.

Once again, the back of the card has the great description. "Fleet, shifty Haynes sprinted 841 yards in 179 carries for an average of 4.7."

Oh that shifty Haynes.

Read The Full Article:
http://sportslocker.blogspot.com/2011/02/oh-that-shifty-abner-haynes.html

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Peter Moylan Interview From Atlanta Braves Spring
Training

post from Talking Chop on 21 February 2011 07:02:09 PM. © Talking Chop

I've got some raw feed coming at you today and tomorrow (and hopefully throughout spring training). The Braves are making interviews with players available for use, so we're going to use them. Here is the first one, an unedited interview with Peter Moylan. The interviewer is not miked, so he's a bit hard to hear.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.talkingchop.com/2011/2/21/2006635/peter-moylan-interview-from-atlanta-
braves-spring-training

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Jason Heyward Interview From Atlanta Braves
Spring Training

Here is the second interview for the day with Jason Heyward. I do like J-Hey, but he gives horrible interviews. I'm guessing it's his least favorite thing about baseball.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.talkingchop.com/2011/2/21/2006657/jason-heyward-interview-from-atlanta
-braves-spring-training

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Dan Uggla Interview From Atlanta Braves Spring
Training

Here's the last one for tonight, of Dan Uggla. It's a good interview. He looks pretty good in a Braves uniform.

I'll have some cool b-roll tomorrow morning, and an interview with Fredi Gonzalez as well.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.talkingchop.com/2011/2/21/2006682/dan-uggla-interview-from-atlanta-bra
ves-spring-training

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A-Rod healthy, upbeat going into spring (AP)

Alex Rodriguez arrived at spring training and promptly discussed the most significant activity of his offseason: getting fed popcorn by Cameron Diaz at the Super Bowl in the snack seen ’round the world. The New York Yankees third baseman, known for dating actress Kate Hudson during the 2009 World Series, was pictured on TV with [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://www.mlbnewsblog.com/2011/02/21/a-rod-healthy-upbeat-going-into-spring-ap/

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