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Cardinals and Red Sox  

missed it by that much  

If you root for St. Louis and you're not from the immediate St. Louis metro area, you're a horrible person.

I love Koji.

 

http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2013/10/29/translating-red-sox-koji-uehara-japanese-blog/ucJ8rvZdfxAgNDy2XYxegI/story.html

 

 

With no margin for error, Uehara brilliantly recorded a four-out save in a 1-0 Sox victory in Game 3 against the Tigers.

 

“To be honest, I feel like throwing up. Stomach also hurts,’’ he wrote afterward. “We’ve come this far so I guess I have to whip my body a little bit more and keep pushing myself. After everything is finished, I’m going to drink a lot of beer.’’

 

He noted that Detroit fans taunted him by calling him “Ichiro’’ and “Daisuke.’’

 

“They also say ‘konichiwa,’ ” he wrote, which means “hello’’ in Japanese. “This isn’t an insult, though.’’

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So John Lackey had a clause in his contract where if he missed a year due to Tommy John surgery (I'm not sure how specific the clause was, or if it covered any major injury) the Sox would get him for an extra year at the end of his contract for the league minimum. In 2014 he's making $15 million. In 2015 he's making $500k.

 

Why isn't this standard?

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I can't see many players accepting such a clause. I haven't been following John lackey's career very closely, but what kind of situation was he in when he signed the contract that the team had enough leverage to convince him to include that clause?

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This article explains it pretty well: http://www.fangraphs...-lackey-clause/

 

Basically he'd had some recent elbow troubles that the Sox were concerned about, so together they came up with this as a solution, and were willing to give him a juicy 5 year deal despite his elbow questions because of the clause.

 

The article also says that Felix Hernandez's new contract has a similar clause.

 

As far as players being reticent to accept a contract with a similar clause, I would kind of expect mlb owners/GMs might all try to just make it a standard thing for pitchers at least, considering how common Tommy John surgery has become. It's pretty shitty for a team to pay a guy a full salary while he is not playing for them, and get no compensation.

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brv, yeah...looked quite close. I don't think it diminishes the fact that he still made an amazing throw from his butt.

 

Agreed. I only looked closely at the play because you specifically mentioned it. He's amazing.

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I dunno if any of you watched any of the coverage of the WSOP main event this year. I recorded the final table broadcasts and was watching a bit (they now do a massively long broadcast on ESPN2 and show every hand on a 15-minute delay).

 

Anyway, I was only half-watching, but I kept hearing some portion of the crowd chanting "Larry Walker" at various points. I didn't know who they were supporting and didn't know why they were chanting it, and didn't think too much about it. That is, until this likeable young shortstacked Canadian got a walk in his big blind while the crowd was chanting Larry Walker, and I finally figured out what the hell they were chanting for. They went nuts when he got the walk and he did a Lambeau leap into his rail. And then did it again when he got another walk. It was funny and endearing, especially cuz he was so shortstacked and had nothing much else to cheer about. They eventually interviewed Jonathan Duhamel who was on his rail and who verified that they used to be Expos fans.

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Last word on Koji's amazing season -

 

He took over as closer on June 26. From that time until the end of the season opponents hit .097/.108/.152 off of him, over 44.1 innings. He gave up 2 earned runs on 14 hits and 2 walks, and struck out 59. At one point he retired 37 straight batters, a streak of 11 consecutive perfect appearances.

 

In the playoffs he went 13.2 innings and opponents hit .152/.152/.261 off him and scored 1 run.

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Pretty unexpected.

 

What a joke. **** the Braves. **** everyone but Simmons. What a disgrace of a team, city, etc. The Cobb Co. Braves will continue the same tradition of sucking dick, but their tradition of breaking my heart ends here.

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I don't know how I just saw this. It's Phil Coke talking about a conversation between him and Cabrera, after Cabrera asked if they had ever faced each other. Half the time he's doing a Miguel Cabrera impression, and it's hilarious.

 

http://youtu.be/k-GDPRQ7bos

 

I was trying to pick out a favorite part, but I can't. The entire thing is amazing.

 

Edit: After watching 200+ times, I've decided my favorite part is Coke's facial expression and subtle body wiggle when he says, "home run."

 

Edit: An underrated part of the video is trying to determine exactly what language Cabrera used. Coke uses some "I had to clean this up for public consumption" code words, and Miguel has always favored... colorful language.

 

 

"Si or no? Si, motherfucker!"

 

I feel like if Cabrera were a native English speaker, he'd be one of the most popular figures in the history of sports. Instead, he speaks kindergartner level English, and we're left to guess what genius lies behind those wily Venezuelan eyes.

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Well we needed a 2nd baseman since it sounded as if Infante wasn't getting resigned. Now we move Miggy back to 1st and then we finally have a spot open at 3rd to bring in our top prospect, Castellanos. Hes been playing LF I think last year since he thought his chances of ever cracking 3B in Detroit was slim to none. Well now the spot is open I think it is his spot to lose in the spring. I assume we then take the money saved and get a closer and LF which are much needed at this time.

 

If none of that happens I hate this move.

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