Author: Obstructed View Staff

Can Rosenbloom out-stupid Rosenbloom?

Steve Rosenbloom’s streak of semi-reasonable articles came to a screeching halt yesterday (we’re all regression fans here, so we saw this coming) with his “thrashing” of the Cubs’ Carlos Zambrano and his decision to go adopt a child during the All-Star break.  Cue Rosenbloom:

Latest cases in point began when Zambrano went on the disabled list with a bad back that forced him out of a game. He had experienced back trouble before, such as when he was trying to win the batting-practice home run title, one of the many idiot things Zambrano has done while apparently been enabled by the apparently neutered Cubs.

Rosenbloom starts by relating two injuries that may or may not be related.  And maybe Zambrano was swinging too hard in batting practice, but is it that shameful that an NL pitcher who’s an okay hitter is getting his hacks in?  The blame is all hindsight – no one chastised David Price for hitting BP home runs and then cartwheeling around the bases.  Injuries happen, and sometimes they happen at unfortunate times. Blaming it on Zambrano’s “idiocy” is a non-sequitur.

Anyway, Zambrano got hurt and then threw out the first pitch at a softball game. It’s not that his back was in much jeopardy, but it was the appearance of idiocy.

I’ll give “Rosey” some credit here, as he at least notes that throwing out the first pitch for a softball game is not going to hurt Zambrano (credit that cannot be given to many Cubs fans who thought Zambrano should have gone home without dinner following the injury).  Still, by invoking the “appearance of idiocy”, Rosenbloom is enabling the idiots who do think the first pitch was a big deal.

(And that’s just one of the problems with Chicago’s baseball writers.  When they aren’t overtly trying to run players out of town *cough Sullivan cough*, they are too busy enabling braindead fans.  I know this happens everywhere, and I’m sure the Cubs aren’t necessarily exceptional on this front.  I like that Rosenbloom will be adverserial with this team, but he panders to every mouth-breather’s gripes and qualms that renders his overall product unreadable.)

Zambrano threw a bullpen session at Wrigley Field on Wednesday while the Cubs were looking stupid in a third straight one-run loss in Washington on a suicide squeeze that just pantsed everybody from the manager on down. More of that later. For now, the story is that Zambrano threw a bullpen at Wrigley instead of in Washington because the Cubs didn’t want the big goof to further hurt or strain his back sitting on an airplane. This spasm of lucidity could impact the Cubs’ chances reaching first place in the Frickin’ Idiot League.

Okay let’s work on the timeline here.  Zambrano gets hurt Thursday, June 30th.  The Cubs fly out to Washington Sunday, July 3rd.  Zambrano throws a bullpen session in Chicago on Wednesday, July 6th.  You with me so far? If you’re not Steve Rosenbloom, you probably are, so let’s go on…

Now get a load of this: Zambrano plans to fly to Guatemala over the All-Star break to prepare for the adoption of his son. Can you say “utter disrespect,’’ boys and girls?

First off, Richie Whitt says hi.  Secondly, Zambrano is flying out at least a week after he didn’t fly to Washington, and more than a week and a half after he got hurt.  And nevermind the fact that he’s obviously fine enough to make a rehab start at Class A Peoria today. (To the OV guys, I will not eat dinner since I just linked to Al).  He’s also not missing a start, or otherwise affecting the team in any other way. In fact, the All-Star Break is the perfect time for something like this.

But let’s not lose sight of what’s important.  Carlos Zambrano, wealthy athlete, is using that wealth to help enrich a little boy who likely would have dealt with a life of hardship.  He’s taking him in as his own son.  To me, this is an exemplar of valor.  This is what I’d love to see more people do.  He’s positively affecting the life of a kid for whom no one else would have cared.  I mean seriously, this deserves the Orson Wells applaud.gif.  But Rosenbloom finds this as an “utter disrespect”?

I love baseball more than I love most things (probably to my detriment), but I never lose sight that it’s just a silly stickball game that provides both leisure and escapism for me.  I can forget my worries with a ballgame and an IPA or I can intellectually masturbate to my spreadsheets.  I love this fucking game.  But never, ever is it more important than family, friends, or making positive contributions to society. Baseball allows us to simulate the emotions of real life, but it does not replace them.  I really can’t put it better than Craig Calcaterra did yesterday:

Some folks get criticized for missing the game as a result of having their heads buried in spreadsheets. Better that than to miss the important things in life as a result of having your head buried in a game.

At this point, there’s no real reason to continue with the article.  Rosenbloom kvetches about Kerry Wood and blisters and the Cubs enabling Zambrano…all standard drivel from our resident fuckopath.  I can stand the daily hackery of lambasting pitchers for not getting wins or hitters being clutch; that’s all just confined to the sport and the discourse therein.

But when people start running hatchet jobs on a person for doing one of the more commendable things imaginable, well, I just can’t take it.   There is idiocy out there, and it must be fought without pity or hesitation.

Continue reading “Can Rosenbloom out-stupid Rosenbloom?”

A look back at “Major League”

Sports Illustrated has a lengthy interview with the minds behind “Major League,” one of the greatest sports comedies of all time in my humble opinion.  It’s probably worth a half hour of your time to skim through it.  Hopefully Bob Uecker is still kicking around when they finally decide to make a good sequel; Major League II and III never happened.

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Joe Posnanski’s SI story on Jose Bautista

Joe Posnanski is, of course, a very good sportswriter, and his story for Sports Illustrated this coming issue is on Jose Bautista and whether you can believe that his feats can simply happen rather than be the result of some bionic enhancement.  I’d recommend reading if it you have about 20 minutes to kill.

Continue reading “Joe Posnanski’s SI story on Jose Bautista”

A Look Back: Michael Barrett

This season sucks. I wanted to bring up something (kind of) relevent from year’s past. Different people will have different opinions, but I never fully grasped the impact Michael Barrett had on the Cubs during his tenure. Why Barrett? 1) White Sox-Cubs is tonight, and punching A.J. Pierzynski is something I think we all wish we could do and 2) On this day in 2007 he was traded to the San Diego Padres for Rob Bowen and Kyler Burke.

Michael Barrett was signed in the 2003 offseason (ZOMG JIM HENDRY) on a 4 year deal. He started an average of 103.5 games from 2004-2007. During his 3 productive years (’04-’06) he had a .843 OPS producing 8.3 fWAR. His salary those 3 years was ~$9m. His surplus value was $19.4m.

2007 was a down year for him. With the Cubs, he was hovering a little above replacement level. He was traded on June 20, 2007 following 2 altercations with Z and Rich Hill. In return, they got Kyler Burke who was selected out of HS in the supplemental round of the 2006 draft. He was considered a very good OF prospect. Burke is still in the system. He converted to pitcher and is (or was) at EXST in AZ. The Cubs sent along money in the trade and saved $970K in the second half of 2007.

Barrett, while unappreciated by some, provided enormous value given his salary. When evaluating Jim Hendry, many point to his successful trade history and awful contracts he’s handed out. Somehow lost in all this was a free agent catcher Hendry signed that produced like a top hitting catcher but was paid like he was in arbitration.

If only Hendry could go back to finding hidden talent instead of splurging on his then-manager’s wants and wishes. We’d have more Michael Barretts and less Sorianos, Fukudomes, and Bradleys.

Oh ya, he punched A.J. Pierzynski in the face during the Crosstown Classic.

Continue reading “A Look Back: Michael Barrett”

TOOTBLAN and rundown silliness

Had a bit of fun with this rundown of Brett Gardner in the Yankees-Cubs game at Wrigley Field on Saturday.  Officially I think it’s a 1-3-4-3-4-2-6 putout.  

Based on a conversation I had elsewhere, I wonder if it’s possible to have a “pi” putout.  Pi from memory is 3.14159265358979 and the digits allow for every position on the diamond to participate.  Let’s see how that works:

Carlos Pena keeps the ball on a hidden ball trick without a balk being called (I think that’s possible, right?).

James Russell breaks to 2B to receive the throw from Pena.

Russell throws to Blake DeWitt covering 1B which was vacated by Pena.

DeWitt throws back to Russell at 2B.

Russell throws to Aramis Ramirez who dashed all the way to 1B to cover for DeWitt because Pena is off to the side picking his wedgie or something.

Ramirez then fires to Kosuke Fukudome, who ran in from RF to cover 2B.

Kosuke throws to Geovany Soto, now covering 1B.

Soto throws to Starlin Castro covering 2B.

Castro throws to Ramirez at 1B.

Ramirez to Pena, who decides to rejoin the play at 2B.

Pena back to Ramirez at 1B.

Ramirez now throws to Reed Johnson covering 2B.

Reed fires to Kosuke at 1B.

Kosuke fires to Alfonso Soriano, who covers 2B.

Soriano throws back to Kosuke at 1B, and Kosuke delivers a death touch to Brett Gardner, that squirrelly motherfucker.

That was fun.  Knowing the Cubs and their fail at rundowns it might actually happen.

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Paul Sullivan Has A Problem, Pt. ∞

On April 30th, a scant 13 days after an 8 IP, 0 ER, 1 BB, 10K appearance by Carlos Zambrano, Paul Sullivan wrote that Garza was the first Cub to go eight innings that year. We mocked it, but thought nothing of it. Unfortunately, we were asleep on the watch.

Last week, Zambrano again took the mound to great success, but made the mistake of snapping a bat over his knee. Unfortunately, Marmol came in and surrendered more runs than the 1927 Yankees scored, and Z took the ND. Not only did Sullivan allow the bat-breaking to dominate his column, Sullivan systematically went to manager for comment, then to Z, in a move obviously designed to instigate trouble. Luckily, both Z and Quade are adults, which makes them unlike Sullivan, both in terms of height and bearing.  It was passed over, despite Sullivan’s pissing and moaning.

Then, last night, Zambrano again pitched a gem, only to watch it go down the tube thanks to Marmol.  And Z had had enough, and did what team leaders do.

He aired out the motherfuckers he felt weren’t pulling their weight. And here’s what he said:

“The problem wasn’t Pujols,” Zambrano said. ” The problem was the previous at-bat. We should know better than this. We played like a Triple-A team. This is embarrassing, embarrassing for the team, for the owners, for the fans. Embarrassing. That’s the word for this team. We should know better than this, we should know better than we did on the field. We should know that Ryan Theriot is not a good fastball hitter. We should know that as a team. We should play better here. We stink. That’s all I’ve got to say.”

Note the use of the royal “we.” Because Sullivan didn’t.  He immediately went on a Twitter rampage, saying Z threw his mates under the bus, etc.  He then pumped out a column faster than ever, using the lede that Z may have finally run himself out of town.

Because that’s what players do in Chicago. They run themselves out of town. By writing newspaper columns with ad hoc narratives that magnifiy their negative character traits and use them in service of the prejudices of the smarmy dwarf that pens them.

In a brilliant stroke of fate, Sullivan’s machinations blew up right in his puffy, pube-bearded face.  The comments on the online newspaper articles were overwhelmingly in favor of Z taking a stand. The bloggers, even Sullivan’s professed GOOD FRIENDS and, Heaven forfend, Al Yellon, came out in support of Z.  And then it became very apparent what was going on.

One pasty, impotent, half-grown schmuck had been twisting the entire situation to suit his purposes. And he wasn’t done. Not content to spew his particular brand of ignorant bile in print, Sullivan went on TV.  Confronted with the video proof that his in-print allegations of a “rant” and “tirade” by a “screaming” Zambrano were outright lies, what did this puny pundit say?

“The best part of that, I hadn’t seen the clip until right now and like right at the very end, when he’s looking over at Marmol’s locker to make sure that he’s listening and Marmol wasn’t there, obviously. But, he was really shouting at that point in the clubhouse, so that everyone could hear him. And, uh, It was quite a performance. Uh, Z, I mean, uh, you really outdid yourself buddy, good one. “

Confronted with the video proof that what he put in print was a lie, Sullivan not only stuck by his mendacities, he asserted them yet again. 

Look, we’ve extensively catalogued Sullivan’s long train of lies, half-truths, and unprofessionalism. And for that effort, today we feel vindicated.

But not by the fans, who’ve finally realized what Sullivan is up to.

And not by Zambrano, who just continues to roast Sullivan’s doughy hobbit ass.

No, we feel vindicated by Sullivan himself, who, when given the chance to tell the truth, refused, and in refusing to do so proved what we’ve been saying all along: Paul Sullivan is a biased hack who lacks even a shred of journalistic credibility, and who will leave no depth unplmbed in service of the skewed narratives he constructs.

We’ve said it once, and we’ll say it again: between Paul Sullivan and Carlos Zambrano, one them is a solid, decent human being who is good at his job.

And the other one is morally bankrupt fuckwit-for-hire Paul Sullivan.

Continue reading “Paul Sullivan Has A Problem, Pt. ∞”

Something for Memorial Day

I know some of you folks served in the military and would appreciate something like this.  As Memorial Day is tomorrow I thought I’d hunt down some information on veterans associated with baseball who served during war time.  The most well-known were those who served in World War II, and this website does a good job of documenting those players, as well as the ones who died in WWII as well as the Korean War.  I wasn’t really able to find as much information on Vietnam or the Gulf Wars.  

Obviously there are the famous guys who served in WWII, like Yogi Berra, Bob Feller and Ted Williams, but it’s amazing how many players skipped their prime years and went off to fight for our country (or in my case, my naturalized country) and while a lot of the MLB folks survived the war, there were a couple who did not and that’s in the memoriam section.  There were also lists of college, minor league, and even high school players who didn’t make it back.

I thought this might be a nice resource for you guys who actually served to write a more proper tribute.  I thought about enlisting before I became a citizen but ended up just going to college instead.  My wife’s family has a rich military history: her grandfathers fought in WWII/Korea and Korea/Vietnam, respectively, and her father was a Marine.  So I have the utmost respect for our veterans and appreciate those who make the ultimate sacrifice.

That’s all I have to say.  Happy Memorial Day.

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Pirates (sorta) winning, attendance goes up

1.  PNC Park is really nice.  As reported below:
According to Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, ticket sales this year at the gorgeous PNC Park are already up 2.4 percent and are 14 percent ahead of the sales pace set in 2010.
2.  The Pirates are actually above the Cubs in the standings, just a game below .500, and for a team with little expectation, that’s pretty much winning.  Winning or even the threat of winning, with a team that’s full of potential, seems to bring the fans to the yard.
Funny how that works.

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Soriano’s Contract: Disability Insurance

It makes sense for Major League Baseball teams, when handing out large multiyeared contracts that are “guaranteed,” to have an insurance policy to lessen the loss to the organization should the player suffer a career ending inury or be otherwise physically unable to play for the team. 

Given Alfonso Soriano’s contract, I thought I’d be interesting to take a look and see if the Cubs might be eligible to collect insurance on Soriano’s contract.  A certain individual, [named redacted], from [blog name redacted], has suggested continously that the Cubs might be able to use insurance on Soriano.  If they could, the story goes, it would greatly reduce the cost of releasing Soriano and save the franchise a lot of headaches in the years ahead.  Let’s take a look. 

First of all, It’s worthy to note that MLB contracts are guaranteed- the player is guaranteed to receive the full amount of money for the full number of years he is signed to, provided he doesn’t breach the contract.  Generally, these contracts are stacked in favor of the player, even when it comes to off-the-field injuries.  The exception is the hazardous activities clause written into MLB contracts, which allows the team to void the player’s contract should they engage in dangerous activities and become injured.  On the field injuries that end careers, are more common, however.  In this case, MLB teams have little choice but to pay out the contract to the player.  It is for this reason that MLB teams often purchase disability insurance for their players.

Major League Baseball does not have its own disability insurance program.  Instead, teams looking for insurance contract out as needed.  Perhaps a bit confusingly, contracts as a whole are not insured.  Policies are generally agreed upon for two or three years at a time, even if the length of the contract is longer.   This isn’t ideal for major league teams, particularly given the wealth of exceptionally long contracts signed in recent years, but it’s the maximum length insurance companies will agree to in order to protect their interests.  Who can blame them?  Contracts such as Soriano’s show why this is very smart thinking from the insurance companies.

Disability insurance generally is specified for players with career ending injruies.  However, if a player is out for two years due to Tommy John surgery or another injury that requires a long recovery time, teams can often collect temporary disability insurance.  Temporary disability insurance for MLB contracts is generally agreed upon with a 60 day, 90 day, or full season waiting period.  The player must be injured for the full length of the waiting period before the team can collect on the policy.  As with all insurance policies, the older or more injury prone the player, the more expensive the premium.  In 2002, the average premium for a MLB outfielder was $7.27 per $1000 insured.  Policies generally cover no more then 50-70% of the player’s contract, due to hesitance by the insurance companies to insure a higher percentage.

So, have the Cubs insured Alfonso Soriano’s policy? At what cost?  Unfortunately, these figures are not public, unlike salary or contract figures.  It would be very shortsighted of the Cubs not to have agreed on an insurance deal for Soriano, particularly given that much of his value was based on his speed, an ability that can decline rapidly.  However, given the incremental basis insurance policies are agreed upon, it’s likely the Cubs are on their second, or even possibly third policy on Soriano’s contract.  Given his injury problems and fragility, it’s likely that the current policy has a very high premium while actually covering very little of Soriano’s contract.  

None of this changes the fact that Soriano is not currently injured.  This means the Cubs are unfortunately on hold for the entire length, and amount of Soriano’s contract, regardless of his preformance, so long as he doesn’t breach his own contract.  Should Soriano suffer a temporary, or permanent career ending injury, it’s possible the Cubs may be able to collect on an insurance policy for Soriano’s contract.  however, they would have to prove that Soriano had really suffered a career ending injury, and not just a convienent phantom injury to opt out of his contract.  Even if they were able to do this, in all liklihood, the amount would probably be very small and rather insignificant, given the high amount of risk Soriano represents to potential insurers.
TL;DR: No 

Continue reading “Soriano’s Contract: Disability Insurance”

St. Louis Cardinals @ Chicago Cubs

Gameday
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Cardinals wOBA wRC Def Cubs wOBA wRC Def
Ryan Theriot .298 .39 -.01 Kosuke Fukudome .343 .57 -.06
Colby Rasmus .348 .57 .01 Darwin Barney .297 .38 .03
Albert Pujols .413 .79 .02 Marlon Byrd .334 .50 -.01
Matt Holliday .389 .68 .02 Aramis Ramirez .347 .53 -.03
Lance Berkman .378 .62 .00 Alfonso Soriano .347 .52 -.10
Yadier Molina .317 .41 .01 Carlos Pena .365 .56 -.01
Nick Punto .294 .32 -.05 Starlin Castro .330 .44 -.03
Daniel Descalso .317 .38 .00 Geovany Soto .353 .50 .00
Chris Carpenter .175 .00 .00 Carlos Zambrano .175 .00 .00
4.2 .0 4.0 -.2

 

Starting Pitcher IP/GS FIP
Chris Carpenter 6.27 3.68
Carlos Zambrano 5.83 3.84
Bullpens xFIP
Cardinals 4.01
Cubs 3.99

Score: Cardinals 4.4, Cubs 3.8
Win Probability: 47.3%

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