2021 HOT STOVE

@LogCottage

No personal offense intended but sac is a young, inexperienced, unwise and unknowledgeable fool. When HE gets disgusted with what his immoral, unkempt, sewer rat, despicable generation is doing to the Game of Games, you really know society is going over the cliff without a parachute. Give me maybe one more season and unless the game they are playing resembles baseball, I will be ready to check out. Out of the game that is; not yet ready to "buy the farm" as we said back in the days of wooden ships and IRON men. Cal Ripken Jr. has been retired over twenty years and he couldn't understand guys in his day that didn't want to go to work every day. Play every game for seventeen years? Todays guys feel like they have earned their millions if they play one hundred games in a season. At seventeen years they expect to be retired to a villa on the French Riviera. Salute Gehrig and Ripken Jr. One had the guts to set an unbreakable record, the other to say "Oh yeah?", and put another 501 on top of the previously "unbreakable record". Manfred, Mattingly, and the rest of that crowd can just stick it where the sun don't shine.

That first sentence is misinformation 

@undermysac

 FOOL ??

FAKE NEWS IS THE CORRECT PHASE FOR MISINFORMATION.

I'll preface this by stating the obvious, my knowledge of the game pales in comparison to you guys, but imho money has ruined many competitive sports, especially team ones, because you can still be mediocre and make a lot of money, without having to fear for your income, some other guy can pick up your slack. Individual sports haven't been that affected, since you're on your own and don't have a team, who can bail you out or hide behind.

Money has to be the root of all evil, many of the kids that become professional athletes have as their main driver money and the benefits that come along with them. As you guys have said here, in the older days guys had to take jobs in the off season to make ends meet, now compare that to the minimum salary in the MLB, which was $570,500 for 2020. With that kind of money one can live multiple years comfortably. The biggest aspect of the game that money hurt is professionalism, mainly the level of involvement and the seriousness these guys put in their craft, generally speaking, because there still are guys who give it their all and those are standouts. Then there is the fame aspect, some of these guys are seen as gods, I can't even imagine what it would be like to afford anything you'd want and have women throw themselves at your feet, fame has ruined and crippled the potential of many players, throughout different sports. It's a rare feet to have an individual, who if gifted in his sport and also is equipped, with the psychological tools to handle such a position, especially if he grew up poor and with no guidance in his life.

As for the technical part of the game, any sport evolves in time, you can never stop that, unfortunately for us these days the evolving part is pushed by how entertaining it can be, which as we have seen hinders the quality of the game, leaving connoisseurs of the game disgusted. I don't see how you put that genie back in to the bottle, as long as entertainment will be the main driver quality overall will suffer.

@yaongingy

This is a good reflection of today's society in general, not just sports.

"Money has to be the root of all evil"

Indeed.

Look at the music industry for instance. 75% of musicians today are nearly talentless, think about that. They are making $ head over heels. They are on a pedestal but can't write their own tunes, can't sing(autotune enhanced vocals), some don't write their own lyrics. The production of the music is all on a grid on a computer. Most pop songs have no depth, just minimal layers, artificial, but enough to hook the A.D.D. nation.

I remember when bands had to gig and tour their way for years to earn $ and make a name for themselves.

Combine "money is the root of all evil" with "Pride", one of the deadly sins we discussed in last year's Hot Stove. And what you have is a reflection of today's youth. Where selfies turn into social media "likes", strange behavior and accidents caught on camera posted all over the web in a matter of seconds. People paying people on the internet to watch them play video games, really? And this is becoming the kid's influence.

Forget about the days when a man went to work 5 days a week, earned an honest living, disciplined his children, provided them with values, kept a roof over their heads and fed them, taught em how to firmly shake hands with someone and look them in the eye when speaking etc...

I don’t even want to get started on music, except to say that it’s more like 99% of today’s “ musicians “ (it pains me to use that word to describe them) are totally talentless. 

Cardinals -6 over Eagles

Jalen Hurts is making his first road start. I know the Eagles won last week against the Saints, but it was a day their defensive line couldn't get any pressure and remember they were not with a typical QB as Drew Brees was still out. The Cardinals will be able to move the ball with the duel threat ability of Kyler Murray. The key in this game is the Eagles Secondary. I have never heard of some of these cornerbacks playing due to injury. Kyler Murray will role out of the pocket and with time for his receivers to break open they will absolutely light up this secondary. We have that going for us and again it's Jalen Hurts first road game. This Eagles Offensive Line has been banged up this entire year and I would be shocked if they can stay in this game. Take the Cardinals.

 This guy has been on fire this week,9-1 so far,I have not been playing as it being Christmas week and all,so done for the year I believe,I am lucky I have not lost any money this year and going to keep it that way,betting on game during this time frame has been tuff,sure hope people stay home for holidays,we are seeing alot of the last holiday travel in this month,hope people wake up,no matter what Trump has said this is real bad stuff,a GOP Sen.from Minn.passed away Friday night,he contracted the virus on Nov.5 at a Republican Caucus where other GOP SENATORS were also infected.He quarantine on Nov.10,started getting sick on the 13th and passed about a month later,first term in Senate.

Agree with you Jeg, I took AZ +7(+112) 

@yaongingy

 I am curious if you do not mind,BTW,what Country did you grow up in,if you do not want to say that is OK,but you seem like you been around for awhile so was just curious,I do agree in America the drive for money has taken over to be all anyone thinks about,while the 60s hippie celebrated their victory in the 70s with Watergate and Vietnam ending,most of the protesters joined the rat race and those that used college to stay out of war and were able to stay off drugs enough to graduate are now part of the money is the root of all things have ruined us and Social Media helped speed the process and now our Pres.,who spends all day on Twitter to condemn anyone that refuses to do his bidding and using it to incite his followers for us older types that see thru his act are in shock that he is able to use the end of his run to fund raise and cause more division in the Country and he is not done.January 6th will be his last hurrah at trying to not leave the WH,I am not sure how it works but some GOP in the House has to object to the electoral votes and I am not sure what happens after that,it has never happened before which is normal for the last 4 years.

And also the part of our Govt.that helped end JFK laughed at those that thought they had changed things and just let things run there course and every chance they had to get things back to the Rich being in control and we are now at a point that they have won and once again they make the rules and use their wealth to buy our elected officials to do the bidding they order them to do,look at McConnell fighting to get his Donors that own the Companies free from harms way from the workers that died or spent a painful period being alone in a hospital with no family to visit you,and using a relief package for the American People to force his will upon our Country that politicians have now declared as their Country.And more proof of who is in charge,the Drugs Trump was given for virus would cost a person thousands of dollars,will Trump gave that Company 450 million for the virus,and now Rudy has been given it also,but with all the people dieing none are being given this wonder drug that 2 days later Trump was ready to leave the hospital,and my last rant is to help his Russian friends without any proof which is the way he runs,he has tweeted it was China that hacked us not Russia though everyone in the business has said it is a fact Russia attacked us,anytime you are changing Presidents we are at our most danger of being attack and his actions have made it much easier for those so inclined to do what they want to us because he is not allowing Biden team the ability to take over while he is doing everything he can to hurt the Country because he lost lost lost.

@undermysac

 You have +7 and + juice,WOW,I have -6 at -115,if I had your line I would have to play that,

also my Bears m/l is down to +130 so you have a nice line by playing it early,

GL today guys,

also sac I have the Guys fancy write up to.

Sac your still working right,you do not deal with bars at all correct,be safe everyone out there,do not want to get sick few months before vaccine comes your way,esp.you old guys.

I know your young sac,just saying.

I do not even know what to say about today's music,the songs my older brother listened to was real music and reflected the times we were in,

WOODSTOCK BABY    1/2 OF A MILLION KIDS JUST HAVING A PARTY,NEVER AGAIN.

@JEG53

 Clearly a typo. -7(+112)

Music is worse sac, imo, the decline in quality has been constant over the decades, but 2010-2019 has to be the worse decade in recent history, quality wise, not that quality music isn't or hasn't been made in that period, it's just not mainstream any more, nor has the volume it used too. Nowadays mainstream consists of "music" that lacks depth, authenticity, creativity and downright talent, a constant display of mediocrity, repetitiveness, and shallowness.

Imo this decline can be correlated with the rise of social media, especially facebook, which brought this need for instant gratification through validation by likes, that is fed by a dopamine feedback loop. Facebook has to be the perfect example, of how unintended consequences can arise after a social experiment like this, because no one knew beforehand how this experiment will unfold. At the moment zuckerberg had to be one of the biggest pieces of $hit in the world, on this problem, because of his unwillingness to reform facebook and the man literally has blood on his hands, since he allowed his platform to be a driver of literal genocide, the Rohinga's in Myanmar through baseless conspiracies. People need to understand one thing, for facebook you are not a customer, you are a product they sell to advertises, the algorithm is built in such a manner to ensure it keeps you on the platform, regardless of the validity of the information. This lack of fact checking is what has made facebook, a safe heaven for all the crackpots and morons to spread the most ludicrous and baseless conspiracy theories.  Now this wouldn't be a problem, if these people wouldn't go out in the real world and propagate those conspiracies, all because zuckerberg refuses to use fact checkers or even remove blatant lies. I never had facebook, for me all it represents is a cesspool of human misery and atm a real threat to democracy, in a lot of places. I highly recommend everybody sees a documentary: The Social Dilemma, it perfectly explains why social media has become so dangerous.

@JEG53

 I already said it here, I am Romanian living in Romania, but I am pretty familiar with everything that is American, since I've watched a lot of movies, TV series and also read books. Besides those aspects I also like following sports, like baseball and the NFL. I agree with everything you said about trump and the whole situation, sadly the current situation was just a matter of time, given the path on which the gop has been for decades, but it's absolutely mind-boggling that such a large part of the population, can support that vile excuse of a human being. Take this pandemic, to make the use of the mask a political statement has been the worse thing anyone could've done. Can you imagine the number of people trump and the gop have killed, abided by facebook?! So much useless death and for what? The main problem with facebook is it's algorithm, which deeply taps in our tribalism, as a species, it identifies your interests based on what you click on and it keeps you in an echo chamber, without providing any information that would counter your position, this is basically the anthesis of critical thinking, the main reason you have large swats of absolute morons who live in a parallel reality, that has nothing to do with logic, reason, and science. The saddest part is trump is just a conman, he dosen't give a flying f#ck about anyone, but himself, and these people treat him like a god, while he fleeces them of money...

Yes, yes, thank you. Please, everyone remain seated.

I will be available for comments tomorrow afternoon 

@yaongingy

 I have people I have know all my life that think Trump is God,also my Dad married my step Mom 50 some years ago who had 3 Daughters,for them it was hitting the lottery,they went from a welfare family with an abusive Husband and Father to a new guy that was a Production Manager for Dow Chemical,the gigolo Father ended up married to a rich lady that kept him on a short leash so everything this second family received came from my Dad,these people are die hard Trumpster's and none of them told me because my Dad warn them not to talk to me about it because it could cause me problems with them.

This segment of America are a big part of Trump follower's as most of them have been living off Govt.and States for Generations,one to the next,I knew Girls when I was younger that would have another kid to get a raise in benefits,the town 5 miles from where I grew up was a welfare town,the girls had kids as teens just like their Mothers and same as 2 of my Step Sisters had kids early and were living in housing on welfare,now this is just one segment but any small towns with a high % of whites only are another big part of Trumpster base,mostly in South and Mid West seems to be where the news would go after election to find those people that would say Biden win is illegal.The strange thing to me is that Trump did nothing for these people and using Regan's slogan to Make America Great Again is the opposite of what he has done and letting Putin treat him like a step child that he looks down at should at least make his Military types wonder about him,but they believe his lies for some reason the other half can not understand.

And I grew up in a Union area where up to early 80s we made everything and the Dems.I grew up with are now big Trumpster and they will repost his tweets as gospel and it was Regan that killed this Country IMO.So all these people that are being conned by Trump send money to him that they really can not afford to,maybe after he is out of office the brainwashing will go away and they will wake up,but my guess is Trump will use social media to keep his fund raising going.So at this point the final nail goes to Trump to not make us great but a pathetic looking country.

Social Media needs a reform.

@ JEG53

Oh so sad. To put it bluntly; the Retardlicans regard all but the top 20% of WHITE wealth as enemies and have proven it time after time, but you are not going to get anywhere in this forum, or any forum on Covers, so I won't expound on it. BOL Brother.

Today, first let me dispense with the thorough azz-kissing sac thinks he is entitled to. He, who has lead us astray innumerable times, now wants to be the hero of the hour. Very well sac, or should I say Lord, Savior, Master and Redeemer? A pin would not burst his bubble. It would take a spear or harpoon to do that. But, since he insists................

     SAC, the ALMIGHTY

Now that we have that B.S. out of the way perhaps someone can suggest a baseball related topic?

@LogCottage

https://www.mlb.com/news/nick-madrigal-contact-few-strikeouts

Now here is a guy you can fall in love with

Throwback player par excellent  

Good article. I watched him play some, definitely an old school looking batter. He made pitchers miserable fouling off their best pitches. There is no 2 strike count that he's not afraid of.

One glaring thing I got out of the article was that the strike out rate has gone up in 13 straight seasons?! It's really been that long? And when will it plateau?

I mean...if the league average strike out rate was 23.4% last year. Detroit's was highest at 27.3%. The Astros was the lowest at 19.7%, and get this, the Astros were the only team under 20%

Jeez I remember not too long ago capping strikeouts, and when I saw ANY team over 20% I'd laugh. Good bye to those teams who were hoovering around the 15 and 16's.

@KeyElement

 Pretty impressive..Must have had a good hitting instructor somewhere along the line. Maybe they should have him visit every spring training camp.

Hitting instructor my ass. The guy is 4 foot 6, he's learned the hard way all his life and has found a way to play with the big boys.

@KeyElement

 Sometimes when I watch news and hear the latest on Trump I go nuts like he is

I did not ever think a player would have an on base higher than slugging % but it did say rare that it would happen,made me think of Pete Rose but then I remember that he would not stop running until he had to,stretch a lot of singles to doubles and so on.So we can at least watch this guy who puts the bat on the ball but it will be hard to watch the White Sox.

Wait until the analytic idiots poison his mind with launch angles and exit velocity being more important than contact.....

“No shame in striking out” is their battle cry.

Hank Aaron, a HR hitter, said there was nothing more embarrassing than striking out. And he dealt with a bigger strike zone and chin music.

It wasn't too long ago when Billy Bean revived a good strategy in taking pitches, taking walks, increasing OBP, and with analytics to boot. All without a healthy payroll. The results kinda kicked ass.

Where did that go astray?

@undermysac

 sac you did what the movie Moneyball with Brad playing Bean I assume,they show him having an interview and offer from Boston who wanted to play that style of ball and they did hire the guy that wrote a book on it,not it is hard to believe that someone would turn down real money from Red Sox to stay with cheap As,and Boston did win a few titles around that time frame,so I guess Billie would of won a few if that shit is true.

So he is still at Oakland losing in playoffs or just missing them and I really do not know if Boston does or ever did use this system,but it is not a style of play that the old baseball guards will switch to,it is all about playing good fundamental baseball,which has been out of baseball at least before the Roid phase and during, where every team played for the 3 run homers,first couple hitters had good OBP and then 3 4 and 5 hitters could all hit it out of the park,that was the offense esp.during steroid years.

Now the problem is most teams do not have that many home run hitters that I can see,and most of the power guys hit 250 if lucky,but 25 homers and a 240BA will get you a nice chuck of money which is so stupid,to me a player with those #s should be making 10 mill.for 8 years and only reason that much is minimum wage is close to 600 grand,which I have no problem with.I do not really care how much any player makes either,the Owners have teams worth a billion or 2 in some cases,but the money has ruined the game for my enjoyment.

I thought the style of play Oakland used was awesome,but it takes a certain team to use it as players then making 300 grand or less would be hard to find that get on base and no one else wants them as I am sure OBP is now a part of how much you make,so I would guess it is not as easy to put that kind of team together because they want more money.