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So C.J. Wilson failed that test I told you to keep an eye on. His workouts didn't go so well and he will miss the start of the season, at least. But, you know, it's no big deal., Wilson already told us that if he gets 30-something starts he gets 30-something starts so, like, "whatever".
But with the news, it occurs to me that we add Wilson to the Weaver issue, we may start the year with the youngest starting rotation in baseball. Even if not in age, perhaps in service time? Richards is at 3.148, Santiago is the Old Man at 4.016, Heaney is at .150, Shoemaker is at 1.166, and Skaggs is at 1.132 (I think?). Tropeano, should he steal a spot, is at .068.
Taking Weaver and Wilson off the depth chart, we would have Richards + Heaney + Shoemaker + Santiago + Tropeano. That is an average physical age of 26.808, but an average service time of only 1.7096. I wonder how many Halo teams had a rotation with less service time than that? Hell, how many other teams, period?
Have some Fresh-Off-The-Farm-Links:
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Everywhere In Baseball
A Change of Pace: Garrett Richards now has a 100mph pitch on everyone's mind, so it's time for him to focus on honing his Weaver changeup..........
Ranklings: Here is another shot at ranking logos, this time just focusing on how things show up on the caps. I actually find this overall ranking to be quite agreeable. And the outcome for us is rather flattering.............
Won't Anyone Think of the Children??: The Washington Nationals find their chocolate showers to be so last year. I would guess that would be because no other team jumped onto the Hershey bandwagon, and that stuff doesn't shower off easily anyway. So I guess they will just have to come up with some other ridonculous gag over which to bond...........
Contagion: It appears that the Jered Weaver flu is spreading around the Southland, and Scott Kazmir is now suffering from velocity loss............
Running on Empty: Johnny Cueto took a shot to the head. Nothing happened. There is the whole concussion protocol to go through, but I wonder if that pitcher helmet isn't looking a tad less goofy now?...........
Ageless: The comedy that is Bartolo Colon just keeps going, and we all giggle. Colon, at the age of 42 and never having hit a home run in a real game throughout his 18-year career, popped one in batting practice yesterday...........
The Bed You Make: This is delicious. Last year the Marlins surprised all of baseball when they fired their manager, Mike Redmond, and moved General Manager Dan Jennings from the front office to the dugout to take over skipper duties. Jennings had been GM since 2013. Well, that whole thing didn't work out so well and the Marlins canned Jennings back in October. Well, the Nationals scooped up Jennings to go back into the Front Office as an advisor to the GM in Washington. And here is where it gets saucy. When they fired Jennings, the Marlins agreed to pay any difference between what he was owed in Florida and whichever any other club would pay him so that Jennings would remain whole. Well, keep in mind that Miami and Washington are in the same division, so why the hell should the Nats be doing the Marlins any favors? It turns out that they hired Jennings for only $100,000, meaning that Jeffrey Loria pays almost all of Jennings salary so that Jennings can work against him...........
Dirty Dancing: The posturing is in full swing. MLB Player's Union Chief Tony Clark has now gone out and proclaimed that he expects things to go swimmingly this year and both sides will come to an easy settlement on a new contract. Now, I don't have a dog in this fight, but I do admit that I was expecting something a lot tougher coming from the players side this time around. They kind of got taken to the cleaners the last time and they are dealing with consequences with things like the Qualifying Offer mess, the separation between revenue and salary shares, the huge service time controversy as exemplified by Kris Bryant and Maikel Franco, the intake problems with Latin ballplayers and the potential for MLB to cap all that with a draft, and the recent vocalization by the pre-arb players concerning their salaries...........
Pay to Play: Here is an interesting one. When Dexter Fowler and camp were negotiating with the Orioles (which eventually broke down in a rather ugly manner), the Orioles wanted Fowler to pay them! And Tony Clark is OK with this?.........
Meritocracy?: Nope. Baseball is most definitely NOT a meritocracy, and the vast majority of the Players Union membership, being older guys, likes that just fine. So it should not be a surprise that a large number of young contributors are not getting an equal share of the pie. On the other hand, I have been busy searching my bookshelves for the passage that mandates life be fair. Can't find it. Not yet. But I won't give up looking. Maybe I should ask Pete Rose's lawyer.............
Sleep Walks: So, as I expected last week, the problem that Prince Fielder is having is all sleep apnea. And it's an extremely bad case. Fielder stops breathing something like 39 times an hour. That's horrendous and needs to be addressed immediately. A sure sign of what the correct long-term strategy might be, comes with the news that Fielder snores very loudly. Dude. Seriously. Lose the weight. You are clearly unhealthy and your body is not handling your poor health at all. The grim reaper is right around the corner if you don't. And not getting your rest is not helping matters..........
OT: We conclude by, uh, blowing you away............
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