STFU LoMo and important links from important people

By The Common Man

The Common Man loves Logan Morrison. You love Logan Morrison. We all love Logan Morrison. But seriously, Logan Morrison should STFU. Yesterday, after the Marlins put Hanley Ramirez on the DL with a strained shoulder, he told reporters,

“What we don’t have is experience and a veteran who is in the lineup every day that can be an anchor for us. We don’t have it…. He’s not there every game. It’s 162 games. It’s not a 100-game season.” (h/t to Aaron Gleeman)

That’s ridiculous. Hanley Ramirez has been incredibly durable until this year. From 2006-2009, he averaged 154 games a year. Last year, he played in 142 games, though he missed 9 of the last 11. Meanwhile, Morrison broke his thumb in 2009 and missed 57 games in the minors. In 2010, his season got off to a late start when a collision in the field left him with shoulder soreness for about 25 days. And this year, Morrison missed 21 games with a foot sprain. Since his (somewhat delayed) debut on July 27 last year, Morrison has played 155 out of a total of 180 possible games. Ramirez has played 138 of those games. While TCM is sure it’s frustrating when Ramirez is not out there, it’s hard to say that he’s been taking much more time off than LoMo.

LoMo would also be smart to remember what happened the last time Ramirez tried to play through an injury. With his back and knees ailing, Ramirez hit just .210/.306/.309 through the first two months of the season. He wasn’t driving the ball, and posted just a .236 BABIP thanks to his weak contact. Since coming off the DL, the much improved shortstop has hit .280/.365/.459. It’s still not quite what we’ve come to expect out of Hanley, but it’s much improved. And the hope is that with additional time to heal this offseason, he’ll come back and be his normal durable self in 2012.

Finally, and this is perhaps the most important part, the Marlins aren’t playing for anything right now. According to Baseball Prospectus, they have a 0.0% chance of making the postseason. They are last in the NL East, 22 games back of the Phillies and 13.5 games back of the Braves for the Wild Card. There is literally no chance they will be playing in October. To risk the long-term health of the team’s best player because Logan Morrison wants to have a veteran player be an “anchor,” would be the height of irresponsiblity. If Logan Morrison wants someone on the team to hit the damn baseball, perhaps he might consider contributing a little, given that he’s hit .233/.307/.430 since coming off the DL on May 13.

(David Gershman, of Marlins Daily, has a similar take on Morrison's knuckleheadedness.)

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Quick Hits and Links

By The Common Man

The Common Man is tired after he stayed up late last night, putting together a Trade Tree that you should really check out.  It starts with the first amateur draft in 1965, runs through two division titles 20 years later, and three Hall of Famers.  TCM is also working on a big project with Bill today that should start rolling out later this week (we hope), so here are a bunch of links that are heartily endorsed by The Common Man:

Good news for Twins fans, as ESPN prospect and draft guru Keith Law really likes the team's first three picks (sorry, Insider only) after the first day.  The Twins got the best-looking college middle infielder, Levi Michael, with their first pick.  A big bat in Travis Harrison, a 3B who may need to move to 1B.  And Hudson Boyd, a big high-school kid who already looks like a right-handed Bobo Newsom, who throws hard.

Dayn Perry reminds us that there are other ways to take out the catcher than Scott Cousins body-block.  For instance, Ty Cobb preferred the flying kung-fu jumpkick to the groin.  Which might be effective.  We should see more of this.

Big Links

The Common Man has much love for these links, and thinks you will too.

Hey, did you hear about the big podcast on Wednesday night?

Listen to internet radio with TheCommonMan on Blog Talk Radio

Skip the first 8 minutes of technical difficulties to hear the brilliant TCM, Lar from wezen-ball.com and Bill of The Daily Something talk about the All Star Game, George Steinbrenner, the Trade Deadline, and the 1st half of the season.


Speaking of friends of the blog Lar and Bill… Bill’s got a great article up today (inspired by Omar Infante’s inclusion in the All Star Game) of the worst All Stars of all time. Ron Coomer’s on the list, as is TCM’s favorite inexplicable All Star Billy Hunter. Lar’s been getting ready for his big SABR presentation next week on Charles Schulz’s Peanuts and baseball, so he’s had a number of guest bloggers this week. However, Lar did take the time to figure out exactly how long it would have taken the Home Run Derby participants to run out each of their blasts. The “winner,” just as in the Derby, was David Ortiz, who would have taken more than 14 minutes to trot.


Some of TCM’s more foolhardy fellow Twins fans are complaining about Justin Morneau’s concussion. In particular, Jack Steal (who writes the Fanatic Jack Talks Twins blog), claimed on Twitter last night that Ron Gardenhire was babying both Morneau and Mauer, and asked “Who is a bigger Candy Ass. Mauer or Morneau.” [sic] Jack is incredibly pessimistic, especially in 140 characters or less, and his fatalism is endlessly fascinating to The Common Man.

That said, Jack’s being an irresponsible idiot here. In recent years, we have learned more about the damage to the brain caused by concussions. Indeed, Twins fans should be acutely aware of these problems because of Corey Koskie’s catastrophic post-concussion syndrome. Frankly, there’s no such thing as a small brain injury, because any follow-up traumas are potentially debilitating and life-threatening. One would do well to read up on the symptoms and the potential lifetime of problems that can stem from a concussion before criticizing Morneau, Jack.

It’s hard enough hitting a 95 MPH fastball, but it’s damn near impossible when you can’t concentrate, have diminished reflexes, and can’t remember how to recognize pitches. The Twins can't afford to risk Justin's long term health, as well as his ability to come back this year, by rushing him back.


The death of George Steinbrenner obviously disrupted the Yankee Universe this week, with several remembrances (including TCM). Larry at It’s About the Money has a good piece up on George’s legacy, while Jason reassures us that the Steinbrenners aren’t going anywhere. That’s precious little comfort to Muhammad Cohen, who has apparently been nursing a pretty significant grudge for 25 years, and picked a hell of a time to unload it.


As if you needed them, here are 50 excellent reasons to be excited about the second half of the season.


And finally, while there is nothing funny about the racism and apparent violence that Mel Gibson has been guilty of in recent weeks, we can all enjoy this hilarious video of Dennis Leary, calling Mel out during a Red Sox/Tigers game in 2006:

Denis Leary and Lenny Clarke Blast Mel Gibson! | Viral/Other | SPIKE.com

(H/T to Andy on the BaseballReference.com blog)

Link Love

Today's a busy day, so The Common Man wants to send some link love out to the peoples:


If you're going to read one take on the Arizona Immigration Law (AZ 1070), make it Bill's at The Daily Something. Bill even manages to make an appropriate baseball analogy. Bill's take on the bill is reasoned, calm, and detailed. If you read it and still can't see problems with this bill...The Common Man just doesn't understand....

But if you're going to read two takes on the Arizona Immigration Law, read Jeff Passan's terrific article about how the law could influence baseball players. More than a quarter of major league players come from outside of the United States, and the percentage of minor leaguers is even higher. Many teams, as a precaution, hold onto these players' documentation for them, given how often players are asked to fly around the country, in order to ensure that passports and work visas are not lost. And not only do the Diamondbacks and their opponents play in Arizona, but half of the league trains there, and minor leaguers play there at extended spring training and in the Arizona Fall League. Why isn't Guillermo at the ballpark? No one knows, but somebody should probably check the local sheriff's department. After all, he's brown and in the state of Arizona. Obviously, he's a suspect.

The Players' Union is also weighing in on the controversy (h/t to Maury Brown), threatening potential legal action if the law is enacted.

Lar's chart at Wezenball makes The Common Man miss Herb Carneal almost as much as having to listen to Dan Gladden and Jack Morris broadcast Twins games. And that's saying something. By the way, feel better Bob Uecker. You, Moe Berg, and Mike (naked batting practice) Redmond are the greatest back-up backstops of all time.

Padres 2B prospect Matt Antonelli posted video from the aftermath of his wrist surgery the other day. Antonelli had to have his hamate bone removed.

Matt is awfully chatty, but seems very good natured about the whole thing. Best of luck to him. The worst part, however, is that he'll undoubtedly have to take a break from his sideline career as a Nerf Basketball superstar.


Via MetsGrrrl, say what you want about the Mets, they really know how to engender loyalty in their season ticket holders. To paraphrase the great Norm MacDonald talking about a Kenny G Christmas Album, "Happy Baseball Season! Hope you enjoy crap!"

Morgan Ensberg is kind enough to take you through the day he was released from the Rays and his career ended. It is sad, but also poised and hopeful. TCM is really enjoying Morgan's writing and his willingness to share a ballplayer's perspective on the inner workings of the game. He writes with a great deal of humor and humility, and his topics are always interesting. For instance, just for his specialest readers, he showed off baseball's unwritten rulebook.

John Bonnes has been writing about baseball for a long time as TwinsGeek, and is an essential read for Minnesota fans. But he also does cool stuff like figuring out which stats are most predictive from year to year. Awesome.

Guest blogger Ryan Kath, writing on Howard Sinker's A Fan's View, asks an interesting question. How well will Twins fans travel in 2010 and beyond? Ryan, a Minnesota native and reporter in Kansas City, remembers Twins fans who wanted a change from the Metrodome flocking to Kauffman Stadium in previous years. With a brand new gleaming park in the Twin Cities, will so many fans follow their team to KC, Milwaukee, and Chicago?

Finally, James writes about the politics of booing over at TrueGrich. The Common Man happens to agree with him, that booing struggling players generallly sucks. That said, and TCM hopes James will forgive him, TCM plans to boo the hell out of Torii Hunter the next time he sees him.

Fig. 1 Booooooo!

Dead Snow, Live Links

It’s a relatively slow Monday on the baseball front. A lot of games were rained out at the end of last week and no one has said anything so blatantly stupid that The Common Man needs to comment on it. Instead, The Common Man takes the lazy way out. After a one-sentence movie review, TCM dumps some links.

Last night, while waiting for The Uncommon Wife to finish with some work so they could finally watch Lost, The Common Man streamed the Norwegian horror-comedy Dead Snow on Netflix. The review: Dead Snow gleefully works out the remaining angst Norwegians feel about their occupation during WWII by pitting Nazi Zombies (or Zombie Nazis) against young people in a secluded cabin in the mountains; fans of gore, snowmobile-related dismembering, and general hilarity will appreciate this celluloid therapy session, as the humor lands consistently despite the subtitles.

As a special bonus, here is what The Common Man tweeted during the film, a new feature of TCM.com he calls Mystery Science Tweeter 3000 (Snark in 140 characters or less):

Should I make a movie about zombies or Nazis? Why not both? Hurray for Dead Snow! The best Nazi Zombie movie Norway has to offer.

Which is more correct Zombie Nazis or Nazi Zombies?

70 years later, the Norwegians are finally fighting the Nazi occupation.

This movie must have been so cathartic for Norwegians.

What did @Ebertchicago think of Dead Snow?

Lesson learned: Never sneak up on a guy when he's hacking the shit out of a platoon of Nazi Zombies (or Zombie Nazis, which do they prefer?)

Good God, how many Zombie Nazis are there in Norway? Can't frickin walk to the bathroom without tripping over one.

Zombie Nazis: All they want is their gold. They're like Zombie Pirates that way. And Leprechauns.

Look, TCM doesn't want to question the logic of a movie that is based on the premise that Zombie Nazis walk among us...

but who hides the zombie gold in a cabin in the Norwegian woods anyway? Why didn't the zombies just keep it? TCM is confused.

Now, on to the linky goodness:

TCM is embarrassed he didn’t know that yesterday was Kirby Puckett’s 50th birthday. Like Friend of the Blog, Bill at The Daily Something, The Common Man’s favorite player of all time is undoubtedly Puckett, despite the unfortunateness that plagued his final years. Bill has a terrific, and fair, retrospective of Kirby’s career up. Shocking question: Has it really been 15 years since Puckett played his final game?

Lar at Wezen-ball has a repost up today from last year’s Pi-Day festivities. It’s fun to see, but not nearly as interesting as his long, engaging, and impressive history of the batting helmet. Not even The Common Man knew that batting helmets were so interesting.

Historian Adrian Burgos Jr. guest-posted on JoePos’s essential blog last week on some context behind Torii Hunter’s idiotic statements last week. Burgos writes that “there is a long history of black Latinos experiencing racism and discrimination in U.S. professional baseball,” and reminds us that Minnie Minoso, Vic Power, Martin Dihigo, and the first Ozzie Virgil endured great injustice in their effort to just play baseball. But the experiences of black Latinos has been largely invisible in the history of baseball’s race relations, largely because their history doesn’t easily fit into the larger narrative of Americans’ struggle for racial equality and we, as a people, are less familiar with it. As Burgos reminds us, “The national pastime has become predominantly a middle-class sport. And that is a discussion from which Latinos ought not to be shut out of.”

Unlike Aaron Gleeman, The Common Man is bullish on both the signings of Denard Span (5 years, $16 million + $9 million option) and Nick Blackburn (4 years, $14 million + $8 million option). Span’s contract figures to be a terrific deal for the Twins, and even may end up being a highly tradable commodity if the team comes up with some additional impact outfielders down the line (five years is a long time). Blackburn’s deal is a little less team-friendly, as he is averaging just slightly more money than Span and pitchers have a higher collapse rate than hitters. Still, Blackburn has been incredibly consistent over the last two years, and even at $6-8 million he’ll be below market for an average pitcher. Barring a ridiculous collapse, Blackburn figures to earn his money. Again, if the Twins continue to develop mid-rotation starters, and Blackburn holds his value, this is an entirely dealable player and contract when the team is looking to upgrade elsewhere. And anything the team can do to demonstrate to Joe Mauer that it's looking to compete for the long term, and encourage him to sign up, is good in TCM's book.

And finally, The Common Man considers himself a huge baseball and Twins fan, and will eventually need to go in for a bit of knee surgery at some point in the future. All of which is why TCM is so disappointed he didn’t think of this first. To think, while he was under, the doctors could help TCM contribute to Joe Nathan’s recovery and success. Kudos to John McDonald of Very Well Then for thinking of the team first. (h/t to Howard Sinker)

Dumping Grounds

The Common Man has bigger posts he's working on for later this week. Otherwise, he's pretty swamped today. In the meantime, check out:

The Daily Something, where Bill names his teams of the half-decades. But who led the decades in wins and batting average, Bill? Ye gads, what about Saves?

Wezenball, where Lar posts a delightful picture of Mark McGwire and Oddibe McDowell (one of my all time favorite baseball names), includes a now-ironic quote about how big McGwire is, and also recounts the 1984 Olympic baseball team.

Via Craig at HardballTalk comes the awesome beard of Wild Man Jayson Werth.


Fig. 1 The official RF of The Common Man.com.

As TCM tweeted earlier, it appears that Werth has forsaken the company of women, or at least wants to find a sturdy one with child-bearing hips to move into his small shack in the hills of Montana. Also, it gives me an excuse to link back to The Common Man's review of Jeremiah Johnson.

John Bonnes reminds us of the best four words in baseball, in verse.

Drew Silva caused a minor riot over at HardballTalk this weekend when he came down against guns in a major league locker room. The comments read like an NRA and Daily Kos propaganda-fest back and forth. The Common Man falls in the middle. Despite the fact that Ryan Franklin (the pitcher quoted in the story) is a steroid-using, mouth-breathing moron who can't find his chin with a razor (seriously Ryan, if you want a beard, look how Werth gets it done),
TCM thinks ballplayers are welcome to their legal personal firearms, but thinks that employers have a right to keep you from bringing those firearms into their place of business, as it affects their liability and the rights of other employees.


Fig. 2 Ryan Franklin, at his calmest.

Besides, why would any Cardinals fan want a firearm anywhere near Albert Pujols? Any risk to Prince Albert is too great. He should be wrapped head-to-toe in bubblewrap under a kevlar vest when he's not on the field.

This is about a week old, but you owe it to yourself to appreciate the digging done by Baseball Researcher in figuring out why in the hell the 1914 Braves had a swastika on their caps. This is archive researching at its finest and offers a great insight into the culture of baseball around the turn of the century.