Some people are surprised that O’s manager Buck Showalter was critical of Red Sox GM Theo Epstein in the latest edition of Men’s Journal. The only surprising thing to me is that anyone reads Men’s Journal.
Link time!
The Red Sox were off on Wednesday, but that didn’t mean Ho-Hos and Chocodiles for everyone. It meant Ho-Hos and Chocodiles for everyone but Adrian Gonzalez, who soaked up the sun and the ABs in a minor league game at the Sox player development complex in Fort Myers. Gonzalez managed three singles in six plate appearances while DHing and hitting third every inning. Apparently there are few rules at the Sox player development complex. Had Gonzalez bothered to read the manual he might have had three triples instead of singles by simply running up the other baseline. Three homers? Easy. Just swing and stomp on home plate. See? It really is easier in the minors.
Craig Calcaterra of Hardball Talk noticed that seven of the top ten selling jerseys are of white players. Then he almost accuses himself of race-baiting. (Race-baiting is one thing, but if he really wanted to impress me he’d call himself a master race-baiter.) I wonder about the breakdown by race of people who buy jerseys in the first place. They aren’t cheap (usually at least $100) so it would stand to reason that there is some correlation between personal wealth and jersey purchasing. We know there is a correlation between personal wealth and race so I would bet a bunch of gummi bears that that is a part of the overall equation. If you’re curious, the Biz of Baseball has more on the best selling jerseys, including 11-20 and the most merchandise sold by club.
Continuing with the Business of Baseball love, they made this nifty map showing MLB’s blackout policy by state. For instance, if like me you live in Oregon, you’re blacked out from watching the Seattle Mariners games (though you could always reenact an M’s game by standing in the kitchen, swinging your broom three times and then falling down). That’s not so bad, but if you live in Iowa you pretty much can’t ever see any baseball team play baseball if they’re playing another baseball team in baseball ever ever ever. Never. Also, never ever ever ever. Major League Baseball: Catch the Fever!
Despite what you may have heard, Matt Albers is still with the Red Sox.
Finally, this is not good. If for some reason you feel the need to hear others opine on the specific level of horrendousness, this is the place to go. From here on in I wash my hands of it. It shall never be discussed here again. Now, I take my leave of you and head straight for the bathroom where I must wash my brain out with soap.
