Or does Pat Misch look a little like Michael Cera?
Is it just me?
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Author Archives: Ted Berg
Your move, David Wright and The Situation
I normally avoid trying to share more advertisements in this space than already exist in the sidebar, but this one has Gary Busey and Shaq.
Bull just goes for it
Forty people were injured in Spain when this bull proved it was indeed a wild animal. I can’t help rooting for the bull in this situation. I just wish it got that guy who pulled its tail though.
Apparently it’s Dillon Gee day on the Internet
Eric Simon’s turn.
Toby Hyde on Dillon Gee
Toby’s not on board. He makes some good points.
The Taco Bell hat explained
The nice ladies at Taco Bell gave me a Taco Bell hat, so I was really excited about that, and Bart [Scott] was really excited about that. This place is awesome.
– Mark Sanchez.
Amazing. <3 Mark Sanchez. Here’s a very dark screengrab of what Sanchez looked like in the Taco Bell hat, ripped off from Kissing Suzy Kolber, via Evan:
Rubin: Why the Mets don’t win… part lost count
Rod Barajas is due to join the Mets tonight. And while no official move has been made, one report already indicates Fernando Martinez is the one headed to Triple-A Buffalo.
Whether or not that materializes, the mere fact the Mets will carry three catchers is absurd. It’s now essentially a 23-man team, because the third catcher probably sees as much action as Oliver Perez going forward, no?
This. If Josh Thole loses even a minute of playing time in favor of Rod Barajas, I might protest the rest of the season or something.
Too gross even for me
The NY Pizza Burger, expected to debut early next month in midtown, features a gut-busting four broiled Whopper burgers.
It’s topped with pepperoni, mozzarella and marinara sauce, all stacked on a 9-1/2-inch sesame seed bun. The burger is cut into six pizza-style slices, allowing diners to share the agita and the ecstasy.
The massive meal will join the menu at the Whopper Bar in Times Square, the new 24-hour, seven-day-a-week flagship fast food outlet.
– Larry McShane, N.Y. Daily News.
First of all — though the headline doesn’t say it — the URL for that article says, “BEEFER MADNESS,” which is amazing.
Anyway, if that burger came from anyplace else I’d clearly try it, but Burger King grosses me out. I generally think a lot of chain restaurant opinions are colored by particular restaurants rather than the chain as a whole, but I have found Burger King pretty consistently terrible. Though I will say that the Burger King in Farmingdale near where my band used to practice was outrageously bad and definitely fueled my distaste for the restaurant. Sorry, Carl Weathers.
Anyway, what I am on board with is the apparent new trend toward ridiculous flagship food stores in Times Square serving disgusting and over-the-top versions of already garish foodstuffs, since Times Square is itself pretty much garish, disgusting and over-the-top.
I always find Times Square oddly alluring with its weird purple hue and all, until I actually get there and then I’m all, “holy hell get me out of this f@#$ing place.”
Anyway, in conclusion I’m probably going to go there in the coming weeks to visit the new Pop Tarts company store they’ve got. I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes.
Baseball Show with Austin Jackson
Forgive me if I don’t shed tears
In this way, Minaya is not much different from most general managers. Theo Epstein has won two titles with Boston and smartly built a perennial contender. But he has also signed Matt Clement, Julio Lugo and Mike Cameron while giving away Bronson Arroyo in a trade.
Similar examples abound all over: the Philadelphia Phillies’ former general manager, Pat Gillick, overvalued Adam Eaton; the Tampa Bay Rays’ Andrew Friedman blundered with Pat Burrell; the Yankees’ Brian Cashman sank $46 million into Kei Igawa….
But it would be sad, in a way, if Minaya is dismissed. He had nothing to do with so much of the mess at Citi Field, and he would probably leave the team in much better shape than most people realize — kind of like the Padres, who fired Towers at the end of last season and have discovered he was not so bad, after all.
Look: It’s not like I’d root for anybody to lose his job. Omar Minaya is by all accounts a decent guy and everything. But sad? I don’t know. If he loses his job after this season, he’s going to get seven figures for the next two years to do jack. Hardly a tearjerker. I’m sure he’ll land on his feet.
And Kepner’s premise is pretty silly. Every GM makes mistakes, for sure. Cherry-picking certain ones and using them to argue that every GM is “not much different” is ridiculous. Minaya has made more big-ticket mistakes, and more egregious ones, than the men he is compared to in the article. That’s why it seems like he’ll lose his job. That’s why the Mets have a $126 million payroll and a .500 club.
That’s the thing. You want evidence of how Minaya is different from Epstein, Friedman, Cashman and Gillick? Which of those GMs will have teams in the playoffs this year? Which of them had teams in the playoffs last year? The year before? Which of them hasn’t had a team in the playoffs since 2006, despite consistently massive payrolls?
I vaguely agree with part of Kepner’s conclusion. I think the future is a bit sunnier than Mets fans can imagine it right now, because there are decent young players on the horizon and on the current roster. But Minaya’s tenure has been nothing like Towers’ in San Diego. Let’s not sugarcoat it — he has not made the most of the team’s payroll or roster, not now, not in 2006, not ever.
Tedquarters 