Joe Lucia
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Posts posted by Joe Lucia
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re: Spring Training.
Arizona is better is nearly every aspect.
-The weather is better (rained once in three weeks when I was there two years ago, and isn't oppressively hot in March)
-Parks are mostly all new/newish and not falling apart
-Lawn seating at I believe every park, which means cheaper tickets
-Parks are centrally located, meaning the longest drive you'll have is ~40 minutes
-The food in Phoenix is sooooo much better than nearly any Florida ST city
-I believe parking was free at all but one or two stadiums, too. Been to something like six parks in Florida, and I think the only free parking is, oddly, the absurdly expensive Disney
Basically, if you go to Spring Training in Florida, you have two choices. Your first choice is to stay near your team and go to every game, which can require waking up and getting on the road at 8-9 AM some days. Your second choice is stay near your team, go to home games, and do whatever the hell you want on the other days. As a Braves fan, I've always done option B since there are just two (one starting next year) teams within an hour drive of WWOS and another two within two hours.
In Arizona, you wake up in the morning, look at the schedule, and decide which game you want to go to without much planning based on the probable pitchers, the lineup, and whether or not you want to see a team or park you haven't seen. We didn't pre-buy any tickets, and only had issues getting into two parks, both on Saturdays.
In short, if you're a fan of a team that trains in Arizona, go and have an awesome time. If you're a fan of a team that trains in Florida, think about if you want to see a lot of baseball or if you want to see your team.
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And remember - Fowler's agent is also Brady Aiken's agent. So yeah, this situation must've gotten sloppy.
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The FA market is so bad next winter that he could probably get something dumb like that with another strong year - especially if Cespedes doesn't opt out
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Orioles were in a bad position this winter. Can't let everyone walk, but there weren't really any massive upgrades available to them on the FA market. That led to them bringing back three of four major free agents from a team that finished third in the AL East. They can't blow it up, but probably should have looked into trading some of these guys (Hardy, Davis) last summer. Now...yikes.
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Setting the bar high is fine. Setting the bar THAT high is ridiculous. He either needs to shave off two years or $50 million.
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Apparently there are medical issues with a non-Bruce player (probably Saunders) that will kill the deal.
Poor, poor Reds can't get a break trying to rebuild.
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Because all they're giving up is Michael Saunders, who may be A Good Canadian Boy, but can't stay healthy.
FWIW, I'm not a huge Bruce fan, but if that's all the cost...fuck it. Reds are probably eating some of the cash, and his buyout next year is only a million if he stinks.
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FRENCHY
BACK
it is so lit y'all
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The Strasburg market is going to be wild because of how shitty the rest of the FA class is. Plus, he's not exactly a slam dunk for production with his injury history.
Angels have money coming off the books next year and Moreno loves to spend like an idiot, so that's my way too early pick.
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I mean, AJ Pollock was their primary starter in center last year, and he was awesome. Inciarte mainly played in the corners. They're apparently going to play Tomas every day in right, which will be a fucking adventure. I'm not exaggerating when I say over the course of a full season, there could be a 30 run difference on defense between him and Inciarte.
Their infield is also pretty crappy aside from Goldschmidt, though I really do like Jake Lamb at third if he can stay healthy.
Favorite Diamondbacks thing - they went 79-83 last year. Fangraphs has them at 79-83 this year, PECOTA has them at 78-84. Reminds me when they traded Justin Upton to get grittier or whatever...and finished with the same damn record.
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I reserve the right to change my opinion in the next six weeks, but right now, I think that's what I'm feeling.
Even though the Brewers and Reds are going to be terrible and the Cubs, Pirates, and Cardinals are going to feast on them, Pittsburgh treaded water, the Cardinals got worse, the Giants and Diamondbacks got a lot better, and the Nationals won't be nearly as bad as they were last year.
The NL is weird this year because it's not wide open - there are only eight or nine teams competing for the five playoff spots. That's why a middling team like the Marlins could conceivably be contenders - if they shit kick the Phillies and Braves and just hold their own against the Mets and Nationals, they've got a legitimate shot at sneaking into the playoffs.
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USA Today, the paper of record for bored hotel guests in 2016.
The most egregious thing in those predictions to me is the White Sox winning 90 games. NOPE.
I haven't made any predictions yet, but here's one bold one I'll make right now - the NL Central only gets one playoff team this year. That hasn't happened since 2010.
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Well...duh.
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I mean, it's a non-starter for someone like me, who essentially has to order the whole league package because of my job. Saving the extra cash with the price drop is cool, though.
But if you're someone who doesn't give a shit about any team but your own? Makes sense. Think we talked about this last month when the terms of the settlement were leaked.
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The fact that we've gone on this long without mentioning the Wayne Brady sketch goes to show you how incredible this show actually was.
"Is Wayne Brady gonna have to choke a bitch?" is one of the greatest lines in television history IMO
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The Mad Real World still sends me into hysterics.
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I made a chicken carbonara pizza.
It was good. #analysis
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Olbermann is on Jonah Keri's podcast this week.
God I miss his show
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TNF package will be split between CBS, NBC, and NFLN next season. Yikes.
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Shut the internet down.
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$75 not $70, but whatever. If he sucks ass this year, Mets fans don't have the right to complain since they wanted him back so badly and wanted the team to spend so damn much.
All of a sudden...decent looking winter for the Mets. And the Nats will end up uh...probably doing something dumb next week in an attempt to counter that.
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Three years, $70ish million, an opt out after one year, and a no trade clause is all it took to keep Yoenis Cespedes with the Mets.
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"Fuck you, Dale"
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So, what do you do...ya know...for money?
in LAND OF CONFUSION
Posted
Turn tricks on the corner.
Or, I'm a sportswriter/editor. You decide.