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Everywhere In Baseball

Yin & Yang: On the one hand, the Mets have killer pitcher Matt Harvey and are learning that Harvey has a streak of loyalty running through his veins. He wants to remain a Met and is open to a long-term extension. Sounds like the kind of guy Arte Moreno would want to sign in to his organization, right?.............On the other extreme, the Nationals have Stephen Strasburg, pretty much the same age and size as Harvey, but with considerably more playing time since he came into MLB as a phenom. He also came with Scott Boras, so Strasburg will not be contemplating any long-term extension with Washington until after the 2016 season..........

Halo Mystery: Paul Lukas of Uni Watch digs into the strange appearance of a black strip patch on California Angels uniforms back in the 70's. The answer to the mystery lies in this neighborhood.............

Smiling Faces: Not my thing, but I'm sure there are more than a few of your out there who would find these emoji uniforms of the Kalamazoo Grizzlies (independent) to be just the thing...for pajamas or something..............

Broadcasting: The future of baseball broadcasting is upon us, and it succeeds with fresh ears because it forgoes nostalgia. I dunno. Baseball is a languid game and presents quite a lot of opportunity for observers to mull over more than the next pitch. I suspect that this trend is a mistake. Today's games will be tomorrow's nostalgia.............

Good luck with that: Yeah, kid. So you have had a change of heart concerning that whole sign-Pablo-Sandoval-for-a-shitload-of-money thing. And you want the Giants to take him back. Well, sometimes that actually happens. The player does go back. But that doesn't mean you don't have to keep paying that shitload of money.................

Chicks Rule: At least, for a day. Sarah Hudek, freshman pitcher for Bossier Community College in Louisiana, claimed a victory working out of the bullpen last week. Hudek pitched 2 2/3 innings and gave up 3 infield singles against  3 K's..............

Pre-integration Integration: I have written about this before, but not in this depth. There actually were black baseball players in the Major Leagues for a while, long before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier that had been erected to boot those early black ballplayers out of the game in the first place............

Slip Sliding: One person very interested in the potential of new rules regarding takeout slides remains Ruben Tejada. Tejada was, of course, the victim of Chase Utley last year in the NL playoffs. And it reads like it will be interesting to watch Tejada when he faces Utley again............

Bringing up the Rear: Billy Eppler, the Jeff Spicoli of the 2015-2016 Winter Season of the American League teams..............And the outlook looks rosy only on paper............

Deep Freeze: One guy on the wrong side of history is David Freese. With no QO attached, he can get picked up by anybody in need of a 3B without the threat of losing a draft pick. If only somebody happened to need a 3B right now. It's kind of odd since Freese played at a rate of 2.94 fWAR had he stayed healthy all season. Not bad, actually. Better than Yunel Escobar..........

Media Biz: I don't know what to make of this stuff going on with Peyton Manning (we have the ongoing HGH stuff and, more recently, a sexual assault incident back when he was a college bro). Jurisprudence needs to run its course. But are we mulling over the weight and status of the Peyton Manning stories because we like to tear down our heroes, or because we like to pretend that sports reporting is actually quality journalism?..............

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