UPDATE: Yankees Hire Jim Hendry
According to Bruce Levine, the New York Yankees have hired Jim Hendry as special assistant to Brian Cashman. Good news, Yankees. there will always be doughnuts.
LOOGY
The Cubs signed ex-everything left-handed reliever Trever Miller to a minor league contract, and he'll be yet another non-roster invitee to spring training. Just to give you an idea how highly coveted he is, Miller pitched for three teams last season. The Cardinals, Blue Jays, and Red Sox all celebrated Miller time last year, and let's hope the Cubs join that party. Man, 2015 can't get here fast enough.
Thread-hijacking Topic I Recently Enjoyed
If you missed it in the comments yesterday, Fangy inquired about the polymerization process in cast-iron cookery, sparking an enthralling conversation amongst the seasoned veterans of ferrous food prep. While MO argued that intimate relations with flaxseed oil weren't worth the cost and RC's food storage methods seemed both anal and unorthodox, the discussion was pretty informative about cleaning and seasoning and the science involved in the cooking process. Among the gems is Fangy's conclusion that the answer to their question is as elusive as a definitive defensive metric:
Eh, I don’t think the catalyst is that important, actually. The catalysts they used in the experiment were cobalt, zirconium, and calcium, and they were mixed into the oil before applying it to steel. When they use the catalysts, the polymerization starts at like 90C. I think that stuff would be in hardware-grade linseed oil but not food-safe flaxseed oil.
I do get the impression that nobody out there really understands the seasoning process completely, so everybody is just muddling through with whatever their granny used. There’s plenty of “success” stories, but they all contradict each other, and nobody seems to be too confident about the science behind it, on the web at least.
Cool story, bros.
Is There a Cubs Game Today?
No.
Someone Please Make This
I don't always do the Super Bowl party thing. I'd really rather watch it at home with my family than with a ton of people who may or may not be interested in football or commercials or pretending to listen to me talk about the Cubs. But if someone made this, I'd probably be there:
Don’t tell me what to do
BerseliusQuote Reply
Oh, and Jim Hendry———-> Yankees
AndCountingQuote Reply
Wait, I didn’t have time to read the thread…is there a Cubs game today?
MishQuote Reply
@ Mish:
*************SPOILER ALERT********
No.
AndCountingQuote Reply
I predict the Yankees will now make a move to hire Milton Bradley. Let’s See What Happens.
joshQuote Reply
MishQuote Reply
My day is complete. Thank you for the Daily Facepalm.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ AndCounting:
Jim Hendry will be a part of at least one championship team before the Cubs win one.
mb21Quote Reply
mb21 wrote:
[img]http://i0.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/000/015/orly.jpg[/img]
jtsunamiQuote Reply
@ jtsunami:
[img]http://files.myopera.com/drlaunch/albums/37656/ya-rly001.jpg[/img]
WaLiQuote Reply
@ mb21:
He’s this year’s Ryan Theriot.
AndCountingQuote Reply
(dying laughing) at this article title by Colin in the new BP book
“Is It Possible to Accurately Measure Fielding Without Shoving a GPS Device Up Derek Jeter’s Ass? ”
BerseliusQuote Reply
gaius mariusQuote Reply
[img]http://files.myopera.com/drlaunch/albums/37656/no-wai001.jpg[/img]
gaius mariusQuote Reply
(dying laughing)
(dying laughing)
Although the quote you cited was actually DCF’s. I simply refuse to stand by the preposterous claim that the catalyzed polymerization process begins at 200C and not at a lower temperature, as clearly concluded by Wang & Erhan (1999).
/Nobody cares’d
fang2415Quote Reply
@ fang2415:
Oh crap, I need to fix that. I toyed with quoting various things and I used the wrong one. /reunrediscredited
AndCountingQuote Reply
AndCounting wrote:
I appreciate your prompt attention to such a serious matter.
(dying laughing)
fang2415Quote Reply
Best, or at least, most thugging-est, restaurant ever:
http://www.bon-rappetite.com/
MishQuote Reply
O RLY owl is win.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Mish wrote:
Real? Or some ad guys’ school project?
joshQuote Reply
@ josh:
Bon Rappetite seems to be a web design stunt by a social media business called Baby Robot Industries, but that doesn’t stop it from being a treasure trove of puns. Its menu includes:
Read More http://www.bonappetit.com/blogsandforums/blogs/badaily/2012/01/bon-rappetite-the-best-rap-the.html#ixzz1l4L2TAd4
MishQuote Reply
@ Mish:
Okay, that’s how it came across to me. It’s very clever, though, I agree.
joshQuote Reply
I’m starting to see tweets about Peyton Manning may not ever play again…waiting for Rob Lowe to confirm.
MishQuote Reply
How do I post an image that’s on my own computer and doesn’t have a URL?
Steve SwisherQuote Reply
@ Steve Swisher:
You have to upload it somewhere to get a URL. I use Picasa, I saw someone else uses Photobucket.
Aisle424Quote Reply
@ Steve Swisher:
You seem like my kind of guy. Lets talk tech sometime.
Ted StevensQuote Reply
Ted Stevens wrote:
MishQuote Reply
The Cubs are boring.
mb21Quote Reply
I expect we’ll say that quite often over the next 3 or 4 years.
mb21Quote Reply
Supposedly the Cubs have interest in Todd Coffey, per HBT.
MishQuote Reply
mb21 wrote:
I hope that they’ll be at least fun bad instead of facepalm bad.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Ted Stevens:
Cool. I can set up a chatroom on my Geocities account. Or we can use Prodigy or Compuserve — either one. I’m adaptable like that.
Steve SwisherQuote Reply
Interesting.
http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2012/1/31/2760926/trends-in-negative-war-players-since-2002
I guess the Cubs aren’t bad per se, they just don’t have a lot of people who you could call “good at baseball”? I assume during that time period they’d have a lot of 0-2 WAR guys and not so many Sosas and Derrek Lee types. Consistently mediocre.
I didn’t actually do the math or anything, just making a general assumption.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
[img]http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5007/5276962523_724d62c19e_b.jpg[/img]
Suburban kidQuote Reply
@ Suburban kid:
“It’s digestible” (dying laughing)
That’s almost as good as “It’s a (W)ay of Life” (dying laughing)
Rice CubeQuote Reply
“It’s digestible!”
(dying laughing) that has to be the faintest praise I’ve ever read.
joshQuote Reply
@ mb21:
Be optimistic: maybe they’ll be REALLY bad.
joshQuote Reply
JoePoz tweeted something that I had completely forgot: Miguel Cabrera is younger than Joey Votto. And Cabrera is almost approaching a decade in terms of MLB time.
MishQuote Reply
@ josh:
only 9/10 of doctors think it’s digestible
WenningtonsGorillaCockQuote Reply
minor league baseball ——–> Champaign, IL?
http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/johnston120131short/
My favorite part is this sentence: “A former minor league owner, sports enthusiasts, and someone who helped lure a collegiate team to town in the 90’s were among the 15 people at the group’s initial meeting Monday night.” Only 15 people, yet the author doesn’t bother asking any of them for their names.
WenningtonsGorillaCockQuote Reply
.
Steve SwisherQuote Reply
Livan Hernandez is apparently still alive. And is now an Astro.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ WenningtonsGorillaCock:
This is the second time I’ve lived in a town that was trying to get a minor league baseball team going. I won’t get fooled again!
joshQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
I used to follow the negative WAR type of stuff closely, but I haven’t in several years. At the time I was using VORP and the results weren’t too surprising. The Cubs had a lot of negative VORP in years like 2005 and 2006, but in 2007 and 2008 they didn’t.
mb21Quote Reply
@ josh:
I live in Chicago. We are lucky to have a minor league baseball team.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
Yes, The Chicago Cubs. I’ve heard of them.
joshQuote Reply
Rice Cube wrote:
Two of them.
Aisle424Quote Reply
@ Aisle424:
I guess the ones further north are the AA affiliate while the guys down south are the AAA.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
The Crisco Frankman looks like Mr Hanky
Suburban kidQuote Reply
[img]http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyhdihTsud1qctkcl.jpg[/img]
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Rice Cube wrote:
I believe we finally have the proper slogan for the Cubs 2012 season.
Smokestack LightningQuote Reply
At least Florida decided they want to remain part of the 49 states of America.
mb21Quote Reply
florida said no the MOON COLONY. I wish Florida was dead. Team MOON!
dylanjQuote Reply
dylanj wrote:
she’s a harsh mistress
GWQuote Reply
Mish wrote:
Todd Coffey has a nice rack. He’s really let himself go.
Rodrigo RamirezQuote Reply
@ Berselius:
You’re assuming you’re somebody.
shawndgoldmanQuote Reply
dylanj wrote:
For the life of me I don’t know why Newt went there, especially when he said he wouldn’t need to increase NASA’s budget to do it, but would instead privatize NASA and thereby make things more efficient.
It was essentially the biggest pork project pander ever, except it was all “facon.” Strange.
shawndgoldmanQuote Reply
Berselius wrote:
Isn’t that the point of Field F/X? (dying laughing)
shawndgoldmanQuote Reply
@ shawndgoldman:
It may affect fielding if they have to be tracked with G-P-Asses.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Read all the comments: http://www.insidethebook.com/ee/index.php/site/comments/do_relievers_today_perform_better_because_they_have_shorter_outings/ One comment down the page makes it worth it.
It's a great discussion, but that one comment is awesome.
mb21Quote Reply
mb21 wrote:
(dying laughing)
(dying laughing)
(dying laughing)
BerseliusQuote Reply
@ Berselius:
I’m glad somebody actually read through it. I’ve been laughing since I read it about 15 minutes ago.
mb21Quote Reply
mb21 wrote:
Are you an expert on comments? No? Then why are you commenting on them?
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
I’m an expert commentetrician.
mb21Quote Reply
mb21 wrote:
If I asked 20 blog operators about a comment, I guarantee most of them would answer incorrectly.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
But that’s too small a sample to be reliable. You’d need at least 3500 and then you’d have to run a regression analysis.
mb21Quote Reply
Just an FYI, crew.
When I use my phone on the site and hit the desktop button it takes me to the homepage. Then I click the thread and it brings me back to the mobile version. And also signs me out. Could just be my own issue but I thought you should know.
RodrigoQuote Reply
mb21 wrote:
You’re wedded to rule and to custom.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
mb21 wrote:
(dying laughing) That was great.
MishQuote Reply
Calcaterra takes issue wih Rogers’s latest:
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/02/01/columnist-phil-rogers-has-decided-ryan-brauns-appeal-for-us/
MishQuote Reply
@ Rodrigo:
There will be a different mobile version within the next week or two. When we first transferred to WordPress we used a different theme, but since the first attempt was all fucked up we stuck with the same theme. I just haven’t had the interest in messing around with this crap since we moved. I will before too long though.
mb21Quote Reply
@ Mish:
Yeah and you have to read the entire thread for it to be funny.
mb21Quote Reply
[img]http://i.imgur.com/247c5.jpg[/img]
Dr. Aneus TaintQuote Reply
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/01/sports/baseball/cashman-and-epstein-recall-the-recent-yankees-red-sox-past.html?_r=1&ref=sports
MishQuote Reply
@ mb21:
I read it at like 5 AM and was struggling going through comment by comment waiting for it. I think I learned a lot about relievers in the process. (dying laughing)
MishQuote Reply
I figured Berselius and ACT may read it, but wasn’t sure the rest of you would. It’s not light reading, but you do learn a lot about relievers.
mb21Quote Reply
@ Mish:
“Sometimes it really is good to think about something.” — Phil Rogers, 12/1/11
Pell MellQuote Reply
@ mb21:
(dying laughing) that’s awesome
WaLiQuote Reply
@ mb21:
Asshole, I read the heavier stats stuff too. (dying laughing)
MishQuote Reply
mb21 wrote:
I skimmed the thread and found it in about 5 minutes. As an academic I’ve had a lot of practice skimming through pedantic bullshit to find the one or two facts I care about (dying laughing).
BerseliusQuote Reply
MLBTR put out a commenting policy. You aren’t allowed to say “Are you talking about this AGAIN!?”
joshQuote Reply
@ Berselius:
Yeah, I got bored of the pitcher stuff quick, but still found the funny.
joshQuote Reply
@ Berselius:
I wish I did that. I tried skimming through but was looking more torwards the beginning and end but didn’t know what I was looking for so decided to read it. Interesting, but boring topic (dying laughing).
WaLiQuote Reply
@ mb21:
(dying laughing)
(dying laughing)
GBTSQuote Reply
I humbly request another “Bottom of comments” button.
GBTSQuote Reply
@ GBTS:
I just ctrl + end
joshQuote Reply
@ josh:
I do too but now I’m on a smartphone.
GBTSQuote Reply
New facepalm
http://obstructedview.net/chicago-cubs/daily-facepalm-2-1-12.html
BerseliusQuote Reply