Author Archives: Ted Berg

Items of note

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This is one of the most interesting things I’ve read about baseball this offseason. I have no idea who to believe — smart money says no one here is entirely accurate with his figures — but it’s certainly an important and concerning topic.

Friend of TedQuarters Eric Simon weighs in on inefficiencies in the pitching market, and saves me a lot of legwork the post I was planning on Jon Garland. Garland’s not great, mind you, but he stays healthy enough to pitch 200-some passable innings every year, and that’s a valuable thing.

The debate over whether steroid users belong in the Hall of Fame continues. My stance? Consider their achievements in context of the era’s offensive outburst, but let the deserving guys in. I outlined this here, in a column that got very few eyeballs because it came the morning of the Jeff Francoeur deal:

There’s talk that four of the very best players of this or any era — Manny, Alex Rodriguez, Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds — should be excluded from the Hall of Fame. I like the Hall of Fame, and I fear if those men don’t make it in, the honor will someday seem like the Gold Glove Award or something, like some sort of pageant that bears little correlation to actual accomplishments within the game.

Frank Isola says Donnie Walsh might just be waiting on James Dolan’s go-ahead to sign Allen Iverson. Do it.


Culture Jammin’: The Prisoner

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Did anyone watch The Prisoner miniseries on AMC? It’s a remake of a series from the 1960s, presented in three two-hour installments, or, depending on how you like to divide things, six one-hour installments. It aired Sunday, Monday and Tuesday of this week, but it will be re-aired starting on Sunday.

Anyway, it’s pretty awesome.

It starts with Jim Caviezal waking up amnesiac in a desert to the sounds of gunfire as a militia hunts down an unarmed old man.

He soon learns that he’s been somehow transported to the outskirts of a creepy little town run by Ian McKellen and known as The Village, kind of like in the M. Night Shyamalan movie, only this time I wasn’t able to predict the plot twist from the trailer.

Residents in The Village cannot escape, and many don’t want to, as they are unaware that anyplace besides The Village even exists. But Caviezal — known as 6, since everyone in The Village is numbered — remembers living in New York, and suspects at least a few other villagers have pre-Village memories, too.

I’m not finished watching it yet plus I don’t want to spoil anything, so I won’t recap the plot any further. The narrative itself, though, is disjointed and nebulous, so the viewer — through the first two hours at least — feels a bit like 6 must: confused and without foundation.

The show appears to be thematically and aesthetically similar to Lost, one of my favorite TV shows of all-time. Some of the parallels are so striking that it seems like Lost might be borrowing heavily from the original — which I haven’t seen — or, alternately, that the AMC remake was made with Lost in mind.

One advantage it has over that series is its abbreviated format. Though I’ve invested countless hours watching and rewatching the first five seasons of Lost, I’m still a bit skeptical that it the narrative will conclude in some satisfying way, as — despite claims to the contrary — it’s always unclear whether the writers and producers had an ending in mind at the series’ outset.

With a miniseries there are no such concerns. Clearly everyone responsible for The Prisoner knew exactly when and how the story would wrap from the start of the project, so the plotline should be tighter and more clearly defined.

That’s cool, and with scripted serial sci-fi dramas all the rage these days, I hope that the industry trends toward more programs with planned end-dates, as is more common in Europe.

I recognize that there are some pretty huge differences between the American and British television industries and that ratings have long determined the length of series in the States. But since shows like Lost bank on viewers making long-term investments in solving their mysteries and trusting the writers to end them well — leaps of faith, if you will — it strikes me that, after a few disappointing or dragged-out series finales, it might become a better business strategy to assure audiences that the storyline is fully crafted from before a show’s premiere.

Housekeeping: Sharing is Caring

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Here is a blog post about blog posts:

Thanks to the tireless work of Matt Cerrone, there are now buttons at the bottom of every post to allow you to share said post as you see fit.

And — and I’m completely unbiased here — you should do that all the time. In the words of the great Ron Howard, “Please tell your friends about this [blog].”

Also, I’ve added categories to the far right column. I’m trying to keep them as general as possible to keep the widget from growing unwieldy, but I figure there’s no reason naming series of posts if I’m not going to have someplace to aggregate them.

That meant I had to go through all 160-some posts in the history of the blog and add categories, which was tiresome. But it’s done now, so please feel free to use them and justify my last several hours.

Reese’s piece

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Toby Hyde, just returned from a trip to the Arizona Fall League, provides a great scouting report with video on Mets’ prospect Reese Havens. He writes:

The game film validates, to some degree, the power he showed in St. Lucie, and his approach was plenty patient.   Add a few more singles to his batting average in the FSL (where he struck out just 73 times in 97 games) and his .247/.361/.422 line would look a lot better.   I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to see Havens hittin .280/.380/.450 by July of next year for AA Binghamton.

Havens will likely continue his transition from shortstop to second base with the B-Mets this year, under the watchful eye (or maybe the watchful shimmying hips) of Timmy Teufel.

If you recall, Havens was a guy expected to move quickly through the Mets’ system when they drafted him in 2008. On paper, his stats with Port St. Lucie in 2009 weren’t overwhelming, but it’s important to keep in mind that the Florida State League is generally considered a pitcher-friendly one.

According to MinorLeagueSplits.com, Havens’ line, when neutralized for park and luck, becomes a much more impressive .280/.387/.465, far more in keeping with the one Toby predicts for him at Double-A.

I’m far from sold on Havens, but his plate discipline and power — even at a low level — are promising signs. If he can continue progressing and successfully make the positional switch, he could be ready for regular play at Citi at some point in the 2011 season.

That’s a long way off, but it’s an important factor to consider while rumors abound about the Mets dealing Luis Castillo and signing Orlando Hudson to a multi-year deal.

Havens almost certainly won’t help the Mets in 2010 and it’s  silly to plan the team around a guy who’s still a couple of years away. The Mets will have a much more accurate sense of Havens’ longterm value to the team after he faces higher-level competition this season, though, so it might be imprudent to sign any second baseman on the backside of his prime for multiple years when they could have — in either Havens or Ruben Tejada — a good, inexpensive, young, homegrown solution ready midway through that player’s contract.

Again, if I was certain the Mets could compete in 2010, I’d be all about finding an upgrade over Castillo. But that’s not really the ticket to building a sustainable winner, and since the Mets frequently demonstrate no willingness to move on from sunk costs, it’d be a shame to see a guy occupy precious payroll and a starting spot just because the team made a misguided attempt to win immediately.

One quick note on Toby, for what it’s worth: He’s an excellent guy and does a tremendous job, plus he recognizes how I’m killing it, but he might be a vampire. We e-mail with some frequency, and I’m not certain I’ve ever received a message from him that didn’t arrive between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m.

The Ted Quarter

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Reader, budding stop-motion animator and TedQuarters artist-in-residence AJ admittedly has a lot of time on his hands, but he’s making the best possible use of it.

His latest masterpiece, the Ted Quarter:

tq

That mustache picture, familiar from the header of my Flushing Fussing column, is a bit controversial around here. Some of my co-workers feel I shouldn’t use it anymore, because it makes me look like a 45-year-old weirdo instead of a 28-year-old weirdo.

The conversation usually goes like this:

“You shouldn’t use that mustache headshot anymore.”

“Why? It’s me with a hilarious mustache.”

“But it misrepresents you. It makes you look like a pervert.”

“Maybe, but a pervert with an awesome mustache.”

In truth, I can’t even grow a mustache. It’s massively ironic. My beard grows quickly, but under the nose I just get a few lame, stringy hairs.

I used the fake mustache in the picture above because when I started writing for SNY.tv, I looked about 16 years old (I was 25) and my editor didn’t think anyone would be interested in a teenager’s baseball analysis. I happen to disagree, but I recognized it as a fine opportunity to use one of my impressive collection of fake mustaches.

On Iverson

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I mentioned yesterday that I would watch the Knicks way more if Allen Iverson was on the team. I suppose I should note that I would watch Allen Iverson do pretty much anything.

I feel that way about a couple other athletes, but usually they’re the ones who are epically great, guys like Albert Pujols and Michael Jordan who are tremendous in stature both physically and metaphorically.

Iverson is different. Iverson’s appeal is more akin to Carlos Beltran’s. Both great players, no doubt, but not legends like their contemporaries. They’re athletes whose appeal is bolstered by some kind of palpable aesthetic cohesiveness.

Beltran’s, I would say, is grace. Every part of his game is elegant and smooth, there are no hiccups or excess movements.

Iverson’s is something else entirely. Watching him, and actually considering the moves he’s making, you’d think he should look awkward, herky-jerky. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen another NBA player spend so much time stumbling.

But there’s a fluidity to Iverson’s game that creates some unified sense of style, and one that’s difficult to define.

It’s like he’s mastered the rhythm of basketball. When you think about it, I guess, that’s really the nature of his game: He knows exactly when everyone else on the court expects something to happen, and exploits it to his advantage. That’s how he pulls off the crossover dribble into the jumper, or the improvisational layup, or the takeaway at halfcourt.

It’s all about timing, I suppose, and that’s nothing new. Iverson just toys with it so perfectly. It’s like bebop, intentionally awkward and disarming, but inarguably poetic.

You can even see it in that thing he’s probably, and pathetically, most famous for — “We talkin’ about practice.” Was there anything so outlandish about what Iverson said there? Not really. It’s the way he said it — the rhythm of it, the repetition, the weird pauses and stutters — that made it so entertaining.

It’s the same stuff that makes him so awesome to watch, even now past his prime.

I have the utmost respect for what Donnie Walsh is trying to do with the Knicks. It takes a whole lot of chutzpah to maintain a patient approach to building a team in a city with such demanding fans and media.

But Iverson wouldn’t jeopardize that at all, not signed to a one-year deal. He’d simply be a diversion, a reason to watch the Knicks now while we all sit around and wait to find out what happens with LeBron.

Items of note

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Ben Shpigel reports that Omar Minaya is planning a visit to Puerto Rico to scout Carlos Delgado. I understand the thought process — Delgado could be had on the cheap and serve as a nice one-year stopgap for Ike Davis — but I’d rather see Murphy get more at-bats to show what he can or can’t do. Would a healthy Delgado be better than Murphy? Almost certainly, but Murphy could be a much bigger part of the team’s future.

The Brooklyn Cyclones introduced Wally Backman as their manager yesterday, prompting John Harper to speculate about whether Backman could replace Jerry Manuel, and also write this maddening sentence:

He was never afraid to get in the face of a teammate, once even calling out Darryl Strawberry for missing games because of hangovers disguised as sick days, so if anybody is going to tell Carlos Beltran he’d better slide next time, it would likely be Backman.

IAHFSKLJH%^#&%#$&#$&$*!!!. I won’t even start.

ESPN aired 24 hours of college hoops yesterday, and friend of TedQuarters Howard Megdal stayed up for the whole thing. Georgetown beat Temple in one of the ugliest offensive games I’ve ever seen, 46-45.

Let he who has not gotten liquored up and fancied himself a ninja cast the first stone.

Anonymous sources say the darndest things

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James Kannengeiser at Amazin’ Avenue, obviously as giddy as I am about the Georgetown hoops game that starts at 4 p.m. today, posted a pretty amazing rundown of things he heard from his anonymous sources.

My favorites:

– My anonymous sources are familiar with the thinking of people who have knowledge of a league official’s inside man.

– My anonymous sources are trying to find the words to describe Bengie Molina without being too disrespectful.

He included a few from my Twitter feed, which I appreciate, though I should note that I completely stole the idea to tweet about anonymous sources from James’ Twitter feed.

Anyway, here’s some more undeniable insight from the MLB Hot Stove, courtesy of my giant network of baseball insiders:

– According to a person familiar with the Cubs’ thinking, it doesn’t happen very often.

– An MLB insider close to Brian Sabean says he has terrible B.O.

– A well-placed source with connections to the Mets organization says, “I’m Keith Hernandez.”

– According to a Yankees insider, Brian Cashman has suggested to ownership that the team trade Derek Jeter, and even maintained a straight face for about 10 seconds before cracking up.

– According to a Japanese baseball expert, Hideki Matsui 大人のビデオの印象的なコレクションを持っている。

– An anonymous MLB source tells me he was just speculating, and that it was really irresponsible of me to spin that into an entire column.

Art Attack: The Berg Manifesto

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Little-known fact: I did my master’s studies in Arts and Humanities, an interdisciplinary arts program I began immediately after giving up my dream of a career in sports journalism. I had no solid plan in mind for turning it into an actual job, but it seemed like — and was — a damn fine excuse to move out of my parents’ house, meet interesting people, and learn a whole lot about a bunch of different stuff I found interesting.

It was through my coursework there that I developed my still-unfinished plan for Dawn of the Awesome, the art manifesto aimed to foster appreciation for the spectacular and unsubtle, one I detailed in greater length in July.

Anyway, to better utilize my long-dormant arts background and to forward awareness of my art movement, Awesomeism, I’m starting a new non-sports feature on this blog in the vain of From the Wikipedia and Culture Jammin’: Art Attack.

The debut Art Attack installment: The Berg Manifesto

The Berg manifesto, amazingly, was not written by me. In fact, unbelievably, it’s not even about me. It’s about The Berg, a proposed 1,000-meter tall manmade mountain for Berlin, Germany by architect Jakob Tigges.

The Berg would stand about 1,000 feet taller than any other currently extant man-made structure, a literal mountain of unapologetic Awesomeness right in the heart of Berlin.

Oh, and it’d be great for skiing, apparently. And a safe haven for mountain goats, too.

Needless to say, this has to get done. Naysayers in the Popular Science comments section say things like, “oh, it’ll affect the weather.” Damn right it’ll affect the weather! It’s a f@#$ing mountain! You think people haven’t been living beside huge awesome mountains since the dawn of civilization? Think of the goats, guy!

A bunch of others bring up more practical applications for the money that would need to finance the Berg, and one even says, “Just because we can do something, does not mean that we should.”

What? No! That’s exactly why we should do something. Do you even understand the fundamental tenets of Awesomeism? Sometimes tremendous and awesome things don’t need a reason. That’s the whole point.

This absolutely needs to happen. It’d be, at the very least, the most certain way the city of Berlin could earn my tourist dollar, not to mention my utmost respect.

Still, because people somehow doubt that this would be a good idea, proponents of the mountain have penned The Berg Manifesto. And to make it even more awesome, it’s all loaded up with Schadenfreude:

Hamburg, as stiff as fat, turns green with envy, rich and once proud Munich starts to feel ashamed of its distant Alp-panorama and planners of the Middle-East, experienced in taking the spell off any kind of architectural utopia immediately design authentic copies of the iconic Berlin-Mountain.

Suck it down, Hamburg! You too, Munich! Yield to our ridiculous homemade mountain! Do you have a giant mountain in the middle of your city? No, I didn’t think so. And yeah, Dubai, we et that you’ve got some pretty awesome buildings, but do you have any giant mountains? Bow down to our architectural utopia.