Results tagged ‘ jon daniels ’
Fabulous Noses and Fluidity in Pitching (AKA, the Alexi Ogando Post)
So it’s less than two hours until game time and to say I am amped would be an understatement. I am so amped it is not even funny. (And I only had one coffee today, so this ain’t a caffeine thing. Probably. It was a big coffee, after all, so you can never be sure.) As you probably know by now, I don’t have cable, so tonight’s Giants-Rangers matchup is going to be the first game of the year on TV for yours truly. As if Giants-Rangers wasn’t exciting enough to start with. Seriously, these people are trying to give me Baseball Fan Collapsing Syndrome or something. I have my mini blueberry muffins and a glass of milk and my flat iron at the ready, just in case it gets real close and I need some stress-relief.
The icing on the cake, in a purely non-actual cake sort of way, is that Alexi Ogando is pitching for Texas. (Texas in Arizona, that is. Spring. Training. Is. So. Weird.) He is currently sporting a 7.20 ERA, but I have serious faith all the same.
Let’s just say I adore him. Even aside from the obvious fact that he has a fabulous nose, there is his long and fascinating story to the big leagues (which you should read about here, if you haven’t already) and then the actual fact of watching him pitch. The fluidity of which returns all my childlike wonder about pitchers and how they move. For lack of a better way to say it, he is ah-mazing.
But this does, of course, lead us to the usual quandary: who am I rooting for? So I’ll just give the usual answer: that remains to be seen. I cannot promise anything right now. When I get plopped in front of the telly, my Multiple Fandom Disorder tends to kinda-sorta-really rear its head and there’s nothing I can do then, right? Right. I should probably get a shrink. But it will have to be after a bunch of mini-cupcakes and one heart-wrenching baseball game. Maybe then. I’ll be in a better state of mind and actually able to discuss normal things like Ryan Vogelsong and Freddy Sanchez and DL stints and train wreck games (cough, last night, cough).
My very favorite train wreck photo, used with alarming frequency last season.
For now, though, I am pushing train wrecks from the mind and baseball as the rain blows in. I love you too, San Francisco weather.
Diamond Girl
Forty Minute Podcasts and the Joe Nathan Fan Club President! (Hint: It’s Not Me.)
For today, I am just going to hand off this this gold nugget of an interview from ESPN Dallas, with Rangers general manager Jon Daniels. It’s forty minutes long, so they go more in depth than is usually possible in a radio interview and it also means that you need to go devote forty minutes of your life to it (time well spent, trust me) so I should probably let you go.
But first… I snorted noisily when I heard him say they were committed- again!- to Neftali starting and Joe Nathan being the closer. My sister, sitting nearby, inquired as to the noisy snorting. When I told her, I also added a choice, Who even likes Joe Nathan?! (Sorry, Joe. I’m sure you’re a wonderful guy. I was just annoyed at the moment.)
Anyhow, a few minutes later, I got an email with this screen grab from aforementioned sister.
She has appointed herself president of the Official Joe Nathan Fan Club, too.
Don’t I possess a fabulous sister?
Diamond Girl
p.s. Go listen. Seriously. Or I will track you down and feed you cupcakes until you die.
You Know, Yu Knows Plus Some Vaguely Out of Place Golden Globes Talk
Wednesday, January 18th, 2012 is the deadline for the Rangers and Yu Darvish to come to a deal and it may be a historic day. Or it may not, but either way, it should be interesting. You know. Yu knows. Well, I don’t know if Yu knows yet but I’m sure he knows a little more than we all do because the Rangers have been characteristically mum about the negotiations.
At this point, I am seriously hoping they are able to work a contract out. I’m getting excited about the idea of seeing Darvish pitch over here and I think it would make those Rangers a whole lot better as well.
If you are out there, Jon Daniels? (Or even if you aren’t.) Do us all a favor and sign Darvish. If nothing else, we’ll get a season full of Yu jokes.
Then again, if it doesn’t work out with him and the Rangers, maybe they’ll be all the more motivated/have the funds to go after Prince. I do rather like Mitch Moreland, but Prince in that lineup would be, as Josh Hamilton put it, “pretty ridiculous”.
Not to mention, they both have very good, late-night-joke worthy names.
All is well in Ranger-Land.
In movie award show land? Not so much.
I filled out my Golden Globes ballot for tonight and came to the regrettable conclusion that the only category I really care about the year is Best Soundtrack, which has to go to Howard Shore forHugo or I will boycott for the next hundred or so years.
Speaking of Things Which Should Not Win: Moneyball. Which took a perfectly solid concept and put Brad Pitt (‘nuff said) in it and confused everything about it that was simple. And made itself an instant member of the Atrocious Baseball Movie Hall of Fame. You know I couldn’t stand it. I’ve said that before. But with the award season here, my feverous feelings have come right back up.
Then there is the ultimate, existential question: who is better looking?
If it wins anything tonight, I will… yep, you guessed it. Boycott.
At this rate, it seems alarmingly likely that I will be boycotting this show in future years.
Let’s just say it’s been a rather unfortunate year in film.
2012 has got to be better. What with The Hobbit and… The Hobbit. And The Hobbit.
Can you tell I’m a little bit excited?
Maybe Elijah Wood will show up in another green velvet suit tonight and make my viewing time worth it. A girl can dream.
Diamond Girl
Wrapping Up the Winter Meetings
I am already going into post-Winter-Meetings-depression mode. That means dried apricots with whipped cream (very good) and staring dismally at the wall and pondering the meaning of life (not good at all). As I’ve said before, the Winter Meetings are pretty much my favorite time of the year so I’m always sad when they come to a close. But I can’t lie, right now I’m also a teensy bit happy. Because all that drama is a little unsustainable, you know? Which would explain the endless revolving door of reality shows on TV.
Anyhow, now all the GMs can go back to their cool offices and hang out in sporty-wanna-be-sunglasses, communicating by phone and email and all that. Probably for the best.
Today was obviously a big one, because both Pujols and C.J. have settled on the Angels of Anaheim and signed ten and five year deals respectively this morning.
Swish is a bit surprised. So am I.
At first I was in mega-Diamond-Girl-rage state because, yes, Dipoto we know you are new and want to show off a bit, but that’s kinda-sorta extreme.
But after a little while I went into mega-Diamond-Girl-mellow state and decided that the Rangers still have the division in the bag. I am sure of it. Positive affirmations go far, you know.
I was never huge on C.J. in the confidence department anyway and they’re going to have Albert long after the Kardashian’s get pulled off air and skinny jeans go the way of shoulder pads. This is for the best, Diamond Girl, this is for the best. (Me talking to myself, right there.)
“Our goal is to win, but within a responsible business model,” says Jon Daniels.
Right.
Everything will be okay.
With the Giants, meanwhile, I can’t say I am sure about everything being okay. Sabes says they’re done for the offseason (no Christmas gifts for use long-ish suffering fans?!) and that puts more than a few question marks on my world view. There is, unfortunately, only one first base on the diamond so Huff/Pill/Belt will have to fight that one out in the boxing ring, I guess, and then I’m a wee bit skeptical of Crawford at short and of the Cabrera/Pagan/Schierholtz outfield. Basically the whole team. No biggie.
But I’m all into them positive affirmations today, so you know what? I think the NL West is up for grabs and the Giants could very well grab it.
There. We are all leaving the Winter Meetings as winners.
Winning.
Yeah.
That.
Diamond Girl
The 2011/2012 Offseason, or In Which the Marlins Grab Players and Everyone Else Blinks and Watches
I am in a much bouncier mood than I’ve been in a long time. Because there are no boxing tweets in my Twitter timeline! There are actually tweets about baseball! There is actually baseball news!
Well, some baseball news. Mostly it’s beat writers musing on the pointlessness of bringing so many media members to Dallas to mill around in the lobby. In fact, my favorite Winter Meetings quote ever which completely sums it up was from Rangers beat writer, T.R. Sullivan last year, “Talked with Red Sox manager Terry Francona 1-on-1 in the lobby today and he told me exclusively, ‘Hey TR, good to see you.’” Isn’t Sullivan awesome?
But still, something is better than nothing. And we have something, for sure.
Heath Bell is in Florida. So is Jose Reyes. So might be C.J. Wilson, Cody Ross, heck, Brandon Belt! Yeah, Brandon might be going to the fab new Marlins stadium. I mean, probably not, but them Marlins do seem to be getting just about everyone, so who knows?
We might as well rename this: The 2011/2012 Offseason, or In Which the Marlins Grab Players and Everyone Else Blinks and Watches.
Fun, right? The Giants are not expected to be big buyers this year (then again, are they ever?) and the Rangers are busy mixing cocktails or whatever because hosting this shebang is a full-time job, so they probably won’t do much either.
That means I am free to sit back and enjoy the show and speculate as to what it’s like when Jon Daniels and Jed Hoyer run into each other in the back hallway.
Right now I’m thinking it’s all:
Jed: Hey, you hear I’m with the Cubs now?
Jon: *grunts*
Jed: Pretty spiffy, what we’re doing over there. Even SF Diamond Girl predicted we’d go to the World Series in ‘13 or ’14.
(At this point fantasy ends abruptly.)
Okay, that last part probably didn’t happen. But this is my blog, à la my dream in Inception, so I can just make it go however I like. Which definitely means references to yours truly.
I think I need to do another GM roundtable in honor of these meetings now. Can you tell how smiley I am, even through cyberspace? This is quite possibly my favorite time of year, baseball-wise, which means altogether. Yes, I am a wee bit odd. Yes, I am aware. Yes, I appreciate you telling me, even so.
Work it out, Jed and Jon. You guys will be meeting at a roundtable tomorrow and I want no bickering.
Diamond Girl
The Truth You Haven’t Been Hearing About CJ and the Rangers
You’ve probably been hearing that the Rangers don’t-have-enough-money-think-they’re-good-without-CJ-just-aren’t-interested. But the truth is something quite different and, in fact, quite peculiar. It has to do with an iPhone app and a long-forgotten interview clip with Wilson himself. What is it? Read on.
(And yes), it took a whole bunch of super sleuthing on my part to find it out. I’m channeling my inner James Bond rather well these days, huh?)
Do you remember way back when the media couldn’t get enough of the Rangers playing Words With Friends in the clubhouse? And they interviewed CJ over and over (and over) about his genius intelligence and absolute brilliance at the game? Yeah. And in one of those interviews that I remember distinctly but can’t really (at all) find. [Update: thanks to the wonderful @cat4d1 on Twitter, we have the clip! You can watch it here.] CJ says: “He [Jon Daniels] was really frustrated that I beat him the first time, so… we’ll see. Hopefully it doesn’t, you know, complicate the contract negotiations next year.” We all laughed. It was funny. It was a joke. Or so we thought.
But then he became a free agent and there were the Rangers and JD; distinctly, well, chilly about him.
At which point I leapt to my feet and stuttered excitedly, “It was the… it was the… the… game! Words With Friends!” And while everyone around me was completely puzzled, I was and still am confident that I have hit the jackpot.
I can’t decide if I suspect it was CJ or Daniels who made the mega-move, but someone here is a sore loser and I am inclined to suspect CJ. Either way, this just goes to show that GMs and players should keep their distance or else be prepared for the consequences.
Or, at least, play Hanging With Friends by the same creators because it is seriously a lot more fun.
This is, of course, the scoop you come to my blog for. You’re welcome
007 (Diamond Girl)
One Tough Act to Follow
(How cheesy is it to use an Eminem line when talking about a Detroit ballplayer? Very cheesy indeed.)
Verlander. One tough act to follow, no doubt about it.
Not only is he funny and sweet and humble, he also won 20+ games, went to the ALCS and then won the American League MVP today, backing up his Cy Young Award win last week. First pitcher to do it since 1986. (Cue the googly eyes.)
Whoa. Whew. And other expressions of surprise and admiration that begin with “W”.
Congratulations to Justin and the Tigers and the city of Detroit and Marshall Mathers, III, while we’re at it. And Chrysler. And Ford. Actually, not Ford. They make hideous cars. Just Justin and the Tigers.
But can I just get all critical here, though, and suggest how mega-ly dramatic this all would have been a red carpet show? I think I’ve said this before. In fact, I’m sure I have. But really, picture it. Baseball players in wonderful silver suits and funny presenters- like, yes, myself- and major drama, camera-cutting-from-face-to-face as the announced the award winners.
Some crocodile tears wouldn’t be too bad either.
And hey, if you can get someone who happens to be Jennifer Lopez to wear a sparkly bodysuit and drive around in a weird car on stage? That’s even better.
But why or why or why do the Rangers insist on Neftali starting and then put a knife to his back and make him pretend to like it (looking at you, Jon Daniels Knife Bearer)? Speaking of drama.
Diamond Girl
Did Epstein Say Strawberries ‘N Cream?
General Managers talk in a dialect of their own. This, we know. But sometimes that dialect resembles more of a full-blown, foreign language. Sometimes I have absolutely no idea what they are talking about. Case in point (this is Theo Epstein, talking about not hiring Mike Maddux as manager of the Cubbies):
“Mike was a very strong candidate and we spent a lot of time talking about the job. The thing that stood out with Mike is that were some more factors that went into our discussions with him with any other candidates. So in the end, it wasn’t the right fit at the right time.
“But I’ll say he’s going to be a fantastic big league manager. He’s already an incredible pitching coach and will make a great manager some day. I’m glad he was part of the process.”
-Quote from the fantastic blog of T.R. Sullivan, the Rangers beat writer, http://trsullivan.mlblogs.com/.
I read that quote maybe five times over, before deciding it wasn’t just me. It was also him. I’m sorry, but what does, “The thing that stood out with Mike is that were some more factors that went into our discussions with him with any other candidates” mean? I mean, really?
Maybe there was supposed to be a “than” or “as opposed to” in there, between “with” and “any”. Or maybe he said “strawberries ‘n cream” (that would be “our discussions with him strawberries ‘n cream any other candidates”. Totally likely, that.) and poor Sullivan was just so confused that he decided to omit the word altogether and hope nobody noticed.
Questions, questions.
One GM thing that does make sense? This. (Okay, it actually made no sense- who would willingly choose to visit Times Square, let alone sleep there?- but that makes the gesture all the more wonderful and selfless, I suppose.) Cashman also does awesome things like dressing up as an elf.
He is getting on my good side quick, needless to say. So was Theo, actually. Until that quote and this video where the focus is most definitely off. Not his fault, but still. Wrigley Field is beautiful and all, but you generally have the camera focused on the foreground or the interviewee when doing an interview.
Maybe they should get a new cameraman in addition to a new everything-else-that-could-be-new-under-the-sun.
In all seriousness, though, I am sort of selfishly glad that Maddux is staying in Texas. He looks better in Ranger blue than Cubbie blue. Not to mention that he’s a darn good pitching coach.
Diamond Girl
p.s. JD is still siddin’ down and talking things over (as previously discussed here). I can’t speak for the Force, but the world is in balance.
Papelbon and Cheesesteaks, Executive of the Year Stuff and Kemp and His Billion Years
Papelbon to the Phillies was announced officially today.
(Do I use those eyes too much? Well, of course I do. But then again, I am so bemused most the time that they are the only way to express my emotions. A picture speaks a thousand words and all that.)
It’s a boatload of money and a boatload of years. You want specifics? Fine, more specifically, it’s four years, 60 million. For Papelbon. Yeah. That makes sense, right? I don’t meant to question the wonderfulness of Rubén Amaro Jr. or anything like that, but I personally would pay that kind of money to send Papelbon elsewhere- anywhere else than my team. Still, if he was going to leave, him and dem Phils were probably a match made in heaven. Okay, yes, I kinda really don’t dig Jonathan. That much is clear.
But does he like cheesesteaks, I wonder?
(Sorry, terribly, necessary joke.)
Anyhow, my whole thing from last year about being willing to get stuffed into someone’s suitcase to go the General Manger meetings still stands true.
I mean, don’t endless talks about labor plans and the ‘Stros moving leagues- will they? Won’t they? Will they? Won’t they?- sound absolutely riveting?
(Not, that is.)
Then again, I would dearly love to be there when Jon Daniels is named Executive of the Year.
Because he will.
He most definitely will.
Or else… there will be consequences. Dire ones.
Diamond Girl
p.s. And, oh, Dodgers? Not to question your brilliance either, but do you really- and I mean really- want Kemp for so many billions of years? Think carefully. Yes, there is a right answer. Yes, you are totally being tested.
sfdiamondgirl
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