Phoenix.BloggersPub

There are two days that I try to avoid shopping. The first is the day after Thanksgiving since that is typically the day that everyone on the planet goes to the stores making it impossible to find what you are looking for or if you do find it you are likely in line to pay for at least three hours. The second day I try to avoid is the day after Christmas since this is the day where everyone is returning all the items they bought the day after Thanksgiving because they don’t work, are the wrong size, or you just have no idea what the person was thinking when they bought you this item. For that reason I typically try to preplan my Christmas gift purchasing to make sure that what I am buying is the right size, color, style, thing so that it doesn’t need to be returned. Usually that means that I buy from the team shop since no one would ever return an item from the team shop.

It’s looking as if the Yankees are interested mostly in Diamondback pitchers for Randy Johnson. Specific names are hard to come by, but from Sports Illustrated [hey, it does have good articles sometimes, y’know… ]:

Certainly, I’d want to keep most of those pitchers: of the names mentioned, I don’t know much about Ohlendorf. He went 10-8 in Tennessee, with an ERA of 3.29, and an excellent K:BB ratio of 125:29. That got Ohlendorf a late call-up to Tucson and made one start there, allowing one run over five innings, so I’m guessing he would probably be scheduled for the Sidewinders rotation this season. John Sickels rated Ohlendorf as the #20 Diamondbacks’ prospect in his rankings, calling him “a sleeper who throws strikes”, which made him the #7 pitcher, behind Owings, Brett Anderson, Nippert, Brooks Brown, Matt Torra and Steven Jackson.

The good thing is, I would tend to think the Yankees need to trade Johnson more than we need to have him. It’s difficult to see how they can even speculate about entering the bidding for Zito or Clemens, when they already have six starters on their roster. [along with RJ, there’s Mussina, Pettite, Igawa, Pavano and Wang. Hey, is it too late to ask for the last-named? ] Interesting quote from Randy’s agent: “We haven’t discussed it, to be honest. This idea that Randy doesn’t want to come back, that’s not exactly true. I’m not aware of anything coming from our side that would force this. Whatever comes down, comes down, but it’s not because Randy has demanded it or because we’re participating in the process.” I believe he does have a full no-trade clause, so there definitely will have to be participation before anything happens.

Ironically, if we got Johnson, we wouldn’t have to pay him $16m, even at full price, since $1.5m is apparently deferred until 2010. Heck, we can just add it to the debt, since reports say we still owe him $40m from his last stint here, part of the deferred salary lump that we’re paying off. But there’s an interesting point brought up by Mister T in the comments: would Johnson be happy being the #2 in Arizona, behind reigning Cy Young winner, Brandon Webb? He was the Opening Day starter last season for the Yankees (as they thrashed Barry Zito, incidentally!). Does he have the humility to watch Webb, with fifteen fewer years major-league experience, take that spot? Or will it eat away at him? He was never regarded as a great clubhouse presence to begin with, and with the young team we have here, that could be a crucial issue.

It hasn’t stopped Joseph Reaves in the Republic from what can only be described as going off on one: “Unit back to Arizona? Just do it.” I note that the story includes twenty-six consecutive paragraphs of two lines or less, even on my crappy 800×600 screen. It may be the worst example of baseball writing I’ve seen all year, both in style and (lack of) content. Mind you, Reaves’ affiliations and loyalty are well-known not to be with the Diamondbacks, so in this role he may be operating as some kind of fifth-columnist. Or, perhaps more accurately, fifth-rate columnist…

Of course, the entire trade still remains in the world of speculation, not least since Yankees GM Brian Cashman has astutely brought in the other NL West teams, in an effort to increase the return he gets. The same story quoted above reckons the Padres are the most likely destination for Johnson, with Scott Linebrink the reliever coveted by New York. But it then adds, “The Dodgers’ aggressive GM, Ned Colletti, already has signed Jason Schmidt for the front of his rotation and his interest may be in part to keep Johnson away from the division-rival Padres.” As with Mark Mulder, the Diamondbacks do have home-town advantage, but as there, that might not be enough. I’d be as happy to see a divisional rival overpay for Johnson, as I would to see us get him at the right price. But one wonders how genuine the other teams’ interest really is? Let’s see what their blogs say…

Gaslamp Ball seem to be suffering from an overdose of festive spirit, and haven’t mentioned the reports yet. So we turn to Ducksnorts, who point out the Padres already traded an aging leftie (Wells) away: “If they insist on sticking an ancient left-hander at the back of the rotation, why not work something out with the guy they already gave up something to get?” That’s a good point, and Geoff, like me, would be happy to see a rival get screwed in the trade. Similarly, True Blue LA says, “This is almost certainly nonsense. The Dodgers already have eight starters, a full 25 man roster, and a good sized payroll. While Randy Johnson would probably improve the Dodgers in 2007, it’s not worth the loss in personnel for what wouldn’t be that big of a jump in performance.” It sould like this is all Cashman trying to get Arizona to overpay: I trust Josh Byrnes won’t bite.

In non-grumpy leftie news, Baseball Digest Daily listed their top 100 prospects over the festive season, and the Diamondbacks were very well represented, with seven players selected. Better yet were our elite prospects, as we placed three men in the top twenty: #6, Chris Young; #7, Justin Upton; and #17, Carlos Gonzalez. Miguel Montero, Alberto Callaspo, Micah Owings and Chris Carter all also made the top hundred, at #73, #89, #95 and #99 respectively.

Rob McQuown points out regarding Upton, “this is a guy who was the youngest player in his league, played a crucial defensive position, and hit 19 points better than average, got on base 28 points better, and slugged 63 points better! Only the tough park in South Bend, situated in the tough Midwest league, hide the fact that Upton had an excellent season.” Hmm, I would counter that 19 BA points above average does not make someone the #7 prospect in all baseball… But he drools fulsomely over Young: “vaults him from the range of stats that Mike Cameron has put up…to that of Jim Edmonds. Playing in Arizona, expect Chris Young to put up some simply amazing numbers in his career,” and adds, “Expect to hear people discussing Quentin-Young-Upton as the best outfield in the NL in 2009.” It’s great to hear this kind of fulsome praise from neutral observers.

On a personal note, did indeed get out of work about 90 minutes early on Xmas Day. Mind you, can’t say it was put to productive use. I played Guitar Hero last night for the first time, and can entirely see why Astros’ pitcher Joel Zumaya had to be barred from playing it, since it was causing him arm problems. For my first effort, I dealt credibly with Smoke on the Water, but let’s just say that the subsequent attempt at Ace of Spades proved me a one-hit wonder, and would have had Motorhead’s Lemmy turning in his grave. [Not that he’s dead yet, as far as I know!] But addictive? Hell, yeah. I think video-games would have the potential to be an enormous waste of time, if I let them…

In the wake of James Brown’s death, I’ve got some good stuff to share from his catalog this week. I won’t pretend to know everything about his career, but I will say that I started collecting his music as a result of his pervasive influence on hip-hop; he undoubtedly is one of the most sampled […]

A grumpy, 6′10″ former Cy Young winner? While we might not quite be able to unwrap Randy Johnson this morning, it seems like the topic is at least being talked about. The story takes a long time to get to any actual facts, spending most of its column-inches printing denials from various parties. But the last couple of paragraphs contain some actual meat:

Yeah, I’m sure the Yankees don’t want to pay any of RJ’s salary. But it’s going to have to happen, because a) we don’t have $16m left in the kitty, and b) let’s be honest, Johnson isn’t worth $16m, even in this high-flying market. The obvious touchstone is Andy Pettitte, to whom the Yankees are also scheduled to pay $16m next season. Let’s compare and contrast the two mens’ performance in 2006:

             IP  SO  WHIP  ERA+  Pettitte  214.1 178 1.437   108  Johnson   205.0 172 1.239    88

Actually, that was a lot closer than I expected, in every area except ERA+. Johnson seems to have been victimized by the long-ball since going to New York: he’s allowed them at a rate of 1.25/nine IP, compared to 0.85 in his time with Arizona (or 0.86 career). And last year, the pitching park factor was Yankee Stadium was only 96, compared to Chase Field’s 106. His strikeouts are down sharply too: 8.00/nine IP, which may sound a lot, but his career stat there is 10.77. I’ve a nasty feeling that the results, if he came back here, might not be pretty - and certainly are not worth $16m.

There’s also the question of his health. At the end of October, Johnson had back surgery to repair a herniated disc. According to the surgeon, Dr. Robert Watkins, Johnson is expected to be ready by Spring Training, but a big questionmark must remain over his health. If it’s not his back, then his knee, which has more missing parts than an Escalade left overnight in Tijuana. And let’s face it: he’s 43. Given the struggle I had getting up this morning - and I’ve still got a couple of years on RJ - I feel I can offer a personal insight here. And I didn’t have surgery on a balky back two months ago…

On the other hand, there’s no denying the appeal of a last hurrah for Johnson, back with the team for whom he achieved his greatest triumphs. In particular, he’s now at 299 career victories - including his nineteen in the post-season. Even if you discount those, good health willing, he has an outside chance at reaching 300 wins this year, or almost certainly next. It’d be great to see him do that it AZ, especially since he could be the final pitcher to reach the mark for a long time. The next currently in line is Mike Mussina (239 victories at age 38), though Pedro Martinez (206, just turned 35) might have a better shot. Neither are guaranteed though.

Hope you are, in the words of the great philosopher Paul McCartney, “simply having a wonderful Christmas time.” Mine has not been too bad, though having to get up at 7am, and drive to work as the temperature read 34F, was no fun. However, it has been very quiet here: in just over five hours, I have taken exactly four calls. I’ve spent more time trying to locate Area 51 on Yahoo Maps than actually providing customer service. I do note that large parts of the Nellis Air Force Range don’t appear above a certain resolution instead being entirely - and possibly scarily appropriate - grey…

The good news is, we now have Tivo in SnakePit Towers! I got my Christmas present a couple of days early, and that should now take care of issues like the whole Sleeper Cell marathon. And perhaps also allow me to watch Diamondbacks’ games, even if I have to work. In fact, it’ll be more time-efficient that way, since I’ll be able to whisk through all those pesky adverts, pitching changes, etc. Now, let’s just see if I can do a Jedi mind-trick on my supe and talk him into letting me go early so I can play with my new toy…

Ah Christmas morning, nothing brings back memories quite like that. After a night that never seems to end, daylight finally starts to break and the first rays of sunlight pierce through the stillness bringing anticipation and hope everywhere. It is those first moments when sleep is the farthest thing from your mind and you lay there in the warm and toasty bed listening to the quiet and wondering what joyful bounty Santa Claus has left under the Christmas tree. You are also intently listening for a sound from anyone else in the family since you don’t want to seem overly eager and you are just hoping that your brother or sister is likewise in bed waiting for someone else to make the first sound thereby signaling that it is time to get up and begin the gift unwrapping festivities. In what could be described as cruel and unusual punishment in many countries, Trina has decreed that no one is getting up before 8:30 AM and that alarm clocks have been banished for a 48 hour period of time. She of course used me as the scapegoat stating that I needed to rest by doctor’s orders. She obviously underestimated how many kids were in the house and who would be most excited for Christmas morning.

Terrible news. I’m sure there will be more news to follow. The Godfather of Soul dead at 73. This is awful.
James Brown | It’s a New Day

Christmas Eve is a wondrous day filled with lots of family tradition around our house. It is a time when we gather together to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and enjoy each other’s company. It typically involves several activities that have been repeated throughout our years as a family. Some of the traditions seem relatively normal and sane such as watching a movie together as a family after dinner and having the children lay out their Christmas stockings for Santa to fill before retiring to bed. Then there are other traditions which none of us remember how they started but are nonetheless a part of our holiday celebration. This includes the dinner menu that is served consisting of a steak fondue followed later in the evening with a chocolate fondue (the kids favorite). There is also the tradition of setting out cookies and milk for Santa which is fairly normal and throwing raw oatmeal on the grass to feed the reindeer which seems very odd and random. All of these things together make up the day before Christmas. What we had not planned and what I hope doesn’t become traditional was how I spent the day.

Journey of the Magi

‘A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.’
And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the […]

Why, one may ask, does Project Forever only get around to being productive in the winter? We don’t know, but we hope to cure this in 2007. And even if we don’t, there will be good intentions all around.
A few new things about Sharoute:

A new direct domain, sharoute.com  Of course, it forwards to the original and […]

I have never scaled Mount Everest, but I have been to the summit of Piestewa Peak quite a few times. All without the benefit of supplemental oxygen. Lately, Robyn and I have come about as close to Everest as we will ever get, thanks to the new Discovery Channel documentary, Everest: Beyond the Limit. It doesn’t take much to get me to watch something on DSC (as long as that something doesn’t showcase those overhyped Orange County idiots). However, if it is on DSC and Robyn likes it, it must be great. Truly, this series is great.

Unlike seasoned climbers, the times I have been at 29,000 feet above sea level have been in the back of a commercial aircraft. As I struggled to relieve the numbness in my lower back during our flight to Boston yesterday, I found that there were other startling similarities between scaling the highest mountain on the planet and traveling coach class in an A319. Here are my reflections from the top.

Miles of walking over rugged and unfamilar terrain are required just to reach an intermediate camp (or connecting flight).

Only sherpas have the über-human strength and stamina necessary to carry the hundreds of pounds of required bags and supplies.

At altitude, there is barely enough food to survive. Minimal sustinence consists of processed rations in one of the following forms: gel, dehydrated, freeze dried, or powdered.

Ultimate success or failure is at the behest of Mother Nature. For climbers, failure is the end of a dream. For air travelers, failure is the start of a nightmare that includes sleeping at gate B26 and eating TCBY for breakfast, Cinnabon for lunch, and Pizza Hut for dinner.

Space and movement are so limited that you have to urinate in a cup and throw it out. Ok, on a commercial flight, this is frowned upon.