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Random Video of the Undetermined Amount of Time: George Carlin talks about the differences between football and baseball
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Author Archives: danglickman
Who’s in/out/in-between of the World Baseball Classic as of 1:41 PM of Jan. 6, 2013
Some semi-midday news:
- Anibal Sanchez appears to be in for Venezuela. So I’m putting him in possibly/likely.
- An article from a Dutch-language site on American sports mentions briefly that the Netherlands National Team hopes that Rick Vandenhurk will play for the Orange in this year’s WBC, despite his recent release by the Pirates and expected move to Asian baseball. I’m putting him in the under consideration category.
As usual, the rest is under the jump:
Who’s in/out/in-between of the World Baseball Classic as of 3:16 PM of Jan. 5, 2013
Today’s news:
-A Venezuelan sports website has news about some of the players who will or will not be on the roster, which is expected to be released sometime around the 16th. Now, my Spanish isn’t very good, but between that and Google Translate, I’ve figured this out:
- Franklin Gutierrez, Gregor Blanco and Gorkys Hernandez won’t be taking part, hurting Venezuela’s outfield depth.
- It reconfirms that Miguel Montero and Felix Hernandez are likely to play, but adds Asdrubal Cabrera to that list (he’ll be put in the possibly/likely slot).
- It mentions that Gerardo Parra and Carlos Gonzalez have publicly expressed interest in playing. Although there is no official confirmation that they’ve been invited, I have to think they were, since they are two of the best Venezuelan players in MLB, so I’m also putting them in possibly/likely as well… at least, I WOULD for Parra, but there’s also a tweet out that Parra won’t be taking part, so I’m putting him in the ambiguous “Probably?” category.
-Similarly, there’s an article about Puerto Rico’s possible team:
- Besides the already named Yadier Molina and Carlos Beltran, the Puerto Rican squad will likely include position like Alex Rios of the White Sox, Angel Pagan (who’s been mentioned as likely before) and Mike Aviles (who is Puerto Rican-American). They are in possibly/likely.
- Pitchers will likely include Hector Santiago (who had been in “under consideration” but is now put in possibly/likely), Javier Vazquez (as had been known) and Pedro Feliciano (who is new to the list).
–Jose Bautista would like to play for the Dominican but doesn’t like his chances, given his injury. He hasn’t been told no yet, though. I’m putting him in the “probably out” category.
As always, go below the jump for the full list:
Short Predictions for the NFL Wild Card Round
Nothing too deep, just quick predictions:
- I see the Bengals upsetting the Texans, as Houston basically backed into the playoffs, which doesn’t exactly seem like a good omen for them, even if they are playing at home.
- The night game on Saturday between Green Bay and Minnesota is tougher to predict. It’s only a week since their last game, which saw the Vikings win in overtime. This game, however, will be in Green Bay. Advantage: Packers.
- I was until a few days ago thinking that the Colts could upset the Ravens. And then Ray Lewis announced he would be retiring. Given that, I feel like the Ravens are not going to be caught napping, and the defense will take advantage of Andrew Luck’s youth to make a few key turnovers to give them the win.
- The last game of the weekend, Seattle vs. Washington, is probably the toughest to predict, so I’m going with my gut… and my gut says Seattle.
Now offcially www.baseballcontinuum.com!
For months, baseballcontinuum.com simply rerouted to baseballcontinuum.wordpress.com, but no more! Starting last night, baseballcontinuum.com stands for and is mapped to the whole site, this will allow for easier sharing of links and potentially other future developments and features.
Previous favorites and bookmarks should still work, but let me know if they don’t.
With that said, carry on, readers.
Who’s in/out/in-between of the World Baseball Classic as of 8:46 PM of Jan. 4, 2013
Today’s news:
- An article at the Atlanta Braves official site says that Craig Kimbrel (who we knew about already) and Kris Medlen (who’s new) are “both expected to compete” for Team USA. I have to admit, somehow I totally forgot about Kris Medlen as I’ve drawn up my projections in the past. I mean, he went 10-1 last season and the Braves never seemed to lose a regular-season start that he had after he moved full-time to the rotation. Medlen joins Kimbrel in the possibly/likely category. However, Jason Heyward has declined a spot on Team USA. Freddie Freeman, however, could play for for either Team USA or team Canada (as he is half-Canadian), so I’m putting him in as under consideration.
As usual, the full list is after the jump:
Suggestion: Count in terms of stadiums
You occasionally hear of weird ways of measuring things. Perhaps the best baseball example is the Altuve, which measures things based on the size of Astros 2B Jose Altuve. But one baseball-related unit of measure I sometimes use when I envision things is based on the capacity of stadiums.
It works to help give yourself some context. Stalin is said to have once quipped that “The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of a million is a statistic.” And, the sad thing is, that is more-or-less true: you may well cry your eyes out if you hear the story of a man dying of cancer, but when you hear that tens of thousands of people have died in a war, it’s far harder to quite grasp the magnitude. Thinking in terms of stadiums changes that, giving you an idea of scale, of just how many or how few of something there is.
For example, when one hears that there are, say 12 thousand Humpback Whales (I’m just guessing that number off the top of my head- it may well be fewer) left in the world, you have no idea of how many or how few that is. But when you consider that the top, standing-room-only capacity of your local AAA ballpark is only a little greater than that, you realize just how few Humpback Whales there are. Suddenly, you have that perspective
Take a look at some of the numbers in the news recently, for example:
For example, the American economy added 155,000 jobs in December (source), which is sort of a weird number to think about. So, instead, perhaps it’s a better idea to imagine that as about three Yankee Stadiums worth of newly employed people (it’s actually a little more than that as Yankee Stadium’s baseball capacity is 50,287).
Between 600,000 and 800,000 are expected to attend the inauguration in Washington. Or, to put it another way, that’s between 14 to 20 Nationals Parks.
Of course, it gets a little more difficult the higher numbers go. 19 million people watched last night’s Big Bang Theory, and saying that that is the equivalent of a little more than 339 Dodger Stadiums doesn’t quite give a good idea of scope, does it? I mean, other than it saying that a lot of people watched it.
Still, a good way of getting your head around big numbers: use stadium capacities as a guide!
Who’s in/out/in-between of the World Baseball Classic as of 7:54 PM of Jan. 3, 2013
Today’s news:
- Miguel Montero of the Arizona Diamondbacks basically confirmed he was going to play for Venezuela in the WBC on Twitter. So into possibly/likely he goes.
- The Cincinnati Enquirer‘s John Fay has some WBC tidbits in his latest news about the Cincinnati Reds. He repeats that Joey Votto will take part for Canada if healthy, that Brandon Phillips will be asked for Team USA, and that Johnny Cueto will likely take part. But he does have the new information that Jay Bruce will probably be asked to play for Team USA. Bruce, 25, is a two-time all-star and is one of the most overlooked outfielders in the National League, in my opinion. Since Fay doesn’t say either way that he has been invited, merely that he is “likely” to be invited, I’m placing him in the “under consideration” category.
- A tweet from William Aish, who works for a ESPN Radio station in Santo Domingo, quotes the manager of the Leones del Escogido as saying that Adrian Beltre is more practicing with them to prepare for the WBC, not play for the Leones. I’m going to put Adrian Beltre in the possibly/likely category.
- Adam Rubin of ESPN New York writes that David Wright is likely the only Met to be scheduled to play in the WBC. Considering that Johan Santana is the only player that immediately comes to mind who would probably good enough to even be invited (and he probably won’t be allowed by the Mets due to his injury), this isn’t too much of a surprise.
As usual, go after the jump for more.
Wednesday Links: Mister Baseball
I’ve featured links to a site that covers Japanese baseball, and a site about Korean baseball, so today, I’m putting up a link to a site on European baseball. It’s called “Mister Baseball“. It has nothing to do with that one movie about Tom Selleck playing in Japan, and instead covers all of the ups and downs of the various leagues in Europe, both the two professional ones in the Netherlands and Italy, as well as the smaller competitions elsewhere, while sometimes also giving some general baseball news.
You can find it above, or in the links section of this blog.
Who’s in/out/in-between of the World Baseball Classic as of 8:13 PM of Jan. 1, 2013
Not much today:
- Taylor Green, of the Milwaukee Brewers, is “in line” to play for Team Canada. I’m putting him in as possibly/likely.
As usual, check under the jump for the full list.
The Baseball Continuum 