Joe Posnanski: Lord of Lists

[Rasputin]

Posnanski has just named Robinson Cano as the 8th best player in baseball. I assume the honeymoon is officially over?

No, even the best are occasionally wrong. And it's not like Cano is horrible. Unless last year was a fluke he's going to end up being really really good.

 

[Toe Nash]

Posnanski has just named Robinson Cano as the 8th best player in baseball. I assume the honeymoon is officially over?

And no Pedroia on the top 32. That list was kinda silly, but I don't go to him for objective accurate rankings of players...

 

[PBDWake]

Posnanski has just named Robinson Cano as the 8th best player in baseball. I assume the honeymoon is officially over?

Even if I rather disagree with his assessment (9th best, btw), it's because I think last year was the right tail for his career, and not a repeatable year. Projection is an imperfect game, and who we choose to see regression in, and who we believe has found their new baseline will determine that. I disagree that Robinson Cano had even the 9th best year last year, but it's not like he wasn't in the ballpark, either. I disagree with Joe, but he's not out there saying that he's scrappy, and plays the game right. For whatever you think of Dewan Plus/Minus, at least he's attempted to do some legwork on the matter. I'll give him his opinion for projection, as long as if (when?) it bombs, he's not out there trying to justify a Cano for MVP vote.

 

[JimD]

And no Pedroia on the top 32. That list was kinda silly, but I don't go to him for objective accurate rankings of players...

He addressed this right up front:

Anyway, the list ended up being kind of a mess. I have little doubt that the following list is also a mess … but at least I know what I want: I am putting together my prediction for the 32 best players in baseball in 2011. That’s all. I’m not considering seasons beyond. I’m not thinking about who is best to build my team around in 2014. Everything is built around 2011.

Because of this, for instance, Adam Wainwright is not on the list. He was on my original list of the 32 best players — pretty high up on that list. But Wainwright is hurt and won’t pitch this year and so he’s off the list. Chase Utley won’t start the 2011 season, so that affects his ranking. Zack Greinke won’t start the 2011 season. I considered that when putting this thing together. I want the 32 players with the 32 best years.

Seems Pedey's comeback from injury hurt his ranking in Joe's eyes.

It wasn't one of my favorite Pos columns, but it was an OK read.

 

[dirtynine]

This guy can tell a story - maybe, get out of the way of a good story is a better way to put it - and then go back and effortlessly make you understand why it ties in to something else in his mind. I loved this.

 

[AquaNarc]

I disagree as well. Two very knowledgeable and passionate baseball guys talking about baseball? What a novel idea.

Schur is not very knowledgeable. I actually thought less of him after listening to this.

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

This guy can tell a story - maybe, get out of the way of a good story is a better way to put it - and then go back and effortlessly make you understand why it ties in to something else in his mind. I loved this.

Dirtynine, your link is busted. Were you linking to his Honesty post? Because that was a pretty damn awesome piece of writing.

The one thing I really dislike about Posnanski's Blog (and it's not his fault) is the commenters. There's always some asshole that thinks that they're clever by posting "Circle me, xxxx". It's fucking stupid and when this clown posted, "Circle me demosthenes!" it pissed me off. "Circle me" is one of the three online memes I despise. The other two are "First!" and when someone is writing a story and they say, "Let's call him/her Billy/Susie", like the story is going to be so scandalous that someone is going to go through the trouble of finding the real name of the offending person.

 

[Leather]

Dirtynine, your link is busted. Were you linking to his Honesty post? Because that was a pretty damn awesome piece of writing.

The one thing I really dislike about Posnanski's Blog (and it's not his fault) is the commenters. There's always some asshole that thinks that they're clever by posting "Circle me, xxxx". It's fucking stupid and when this clown posted, "Circle me demosthenes!" it pissed me off. "Circle me" is one of the three online memes I despise. The other two are "First!" and when someone is writing a story and they say, "Let's call him/her Billy/Susie", like the story is going to be so scandalous that someone is going to go through the trouble of finding the real name of the offending person.

I'm not defending it, because I agree it's stupid. However, I think the "Circle Me..." stuff on Posnanski's site stems from the fact that A) it's Bert Blyleven's "thing" during his Twins broadcasts to circle members of the audience, and since Joe's been a big (the biggest?) supporter of Blyleven's HOF candidacy, it's sort of migrated over to his site; and B) he once had a post called (IIRC) "Circle Me, Bert!".

But yea, it sucks.

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

Ok. That rings a bell and I forgot exactly where it came from. It's still lame though. Has there ever been a "Circle me" that's made you chuckle? They're all incredibly fucking lame.

 

[MyDaughterLovesTomGordon]

I think the "circle me" comments are more tolerable than the sycophantic online blowjobs other commenters offer: "Oh, Joe, you're the reason I decided to keep breathing!" The dude's good, but he doesn't need you to tell him some story about how he made you believe in the power of the written word again.

 

[dirtynine]

Yeah, it was the Honesty piece I was referring too. Loved it.

I read the columns as they come into my news feed so I never noticed the lame comments before. I'll probably keep it that way. I wish more popular writiers / bloggers would just turn the commenting feature off.

 

[Dehere]

I think the "circle me" comments are more tolerable than the sycophantic online blowjobs other commenters offer: "Oh, Joe, you're the reason I decided to keep breathing!" The dude's good, but he doesn't need you to tell him some story about how he made you believe in the power of the written word again.

Unfortunately this is totally true. The comments section of that blog has fallen apart. At one time the comments there were really smart and civil, pretty rare for a site that doesn't require registration.

 

[Mystic Merlin]

"In my own romantic view of baseball and the world, I tended to see Manny as baseball’s Mozart — an often vile personality who did one thing so beautifully that you could not turn away."
[font="verdana]
[/font]
[font="verdana][url="http://joeposnanski.si.com/2011/04/08/the-retirement-of-mannybmanny/"]Couldn't put it any better myself.[/url]
[/font]

 

[Brianish]

That article contains a new reason to love Pos: He loves a good grammar joke as much as I do.

Yep, I called him “a genius.” Ron Gardenhire. A genius. That is so ridiculous — Gardy is a genius in the same way that I’m silent film star Buster Keaton — that I feel like I should have to write “Ron Gardenhire ain’t no genius” on a chalkboard 500 times*.

*Even if that double negative actually translates to mean that he IS a genius … which would force me to write 500 more times “No way, Gardenhire is not a genius,” but I’d forget to put that comma in there so it would read “No way Gardenhire is not a genius,” and we’d have a double negative again and I’d spend all month trying to make up for calling Gardy a genius, which would be a fitting punishment for saying something that ludicrous.

 

[Leather]

I think “genius” — at least the way it has come to be understood — needs a bit of mystery. We can’t understand, most of us, understand how Einstein could have conceived of a whole new kind of universe or how Shakespeare could have written Othello, King Lear and Macbeth in a rush of two years or how the Beatles could have recorded Sgt. Pepper’s, Yellow Submarine and Abbey Road back-to-back-to-back.

Um. Magical Mystery Tour (if we're counting Yellow Submarine, have to count that one), and The Beatles [White Album] came before Abbey Road. As did "Let it Be" (although it was released later than Abbey Road).

Not a big deal in context, but how Joe butchered that so badly is kind of shocking.

 

[Spacemans Bong]

I love how he just slips in that Bill James is going to be his next Pozcast guest in the middle of his column. Awwwwesome.

 

[Foulkey Reese]

The Gardy love is the only chink in his armour of awesome.

 

[Toe Nash]

I wish SI would get him an audio engineer for the podcast. He sounds like he's talking through a phone and the volume is too quiet.

 

[Scoots McBoots]

He actually addresses that issue:

A couple of things. One, we are hoping to make a quantum leap forward in sound quality with this coming week's Poscast. We now have a lot of sound equipment, and while I suspect we may have to take the stuff out of their boxes, I am told that this will make the sound next week much better. Like everything with the Poscast, it's a work in progress. The Poscast with Bill James this week was done under less-than-ideal circumstances -- in Augusta, with a less-than-stellar Internet connection -- so I hope that the great stuff Bill is saying will make up for any sound quality gaps.

http://joeposnanski.blogspot.com/2011/04/poscast-with-bill-james.html

 

[Brianish]

Pos gives us hope. (And tells us to calm the fuck down I suppose).

http://joeposnanski.blogspot.com/2011/04/16-game-baseball-season.html

Question 1: How likely is it that a team that is in playoff position after 16 games will make the playoffs at the end of the season?

I only looked back five years ... but that was really as far back as I needed to look. The answer is: Not likely. From a quick summary after 16 or so games, only 14 of the 40 teams that eventually made the playoffs the last five years were even tied for a playoff spot. Three of the 14 were the Boston Red Sox, so that should tell you something.

Here's pretty much what you need to know: The last five years, the New York Yankees were only in playoff position once after 16 games. The year? Yep: 2008 -- the one year since the strike that the Yankees did not make the playoffs.

 

[dirtynine]

new columnon the occasion of Willy Mays' 80th.

The play-by-play reads like this.

Bottom of the 5th. Giants leading Dodgers 4-1.

-- Willie Mays walk
-- Jack Hiatt single to RF (Mays scores)

That's it. That's the whole masterpiece. Mays walks. Mays scores on follow-up single. What? How? Here's the most amazing part of all: Mays had by 1967 done these sorts of minor-miracles so many times, that the witnesses did not even feel the need to explain it anymore.
[...]
Claude Debussy is the musician who said that music is the silence between the notes. Mays' genius was the silence within the scorecards.

 

[Dehere]

Joe has a long - even by his standards - post up today about his decision to leave Kansas City and move to Charlotte. He cites "personal and professional" reasons. I believe his dad still lives there. I wonder if he's in failing health. Or maybe the idea is to move back there before his dad is in failing health.

Whatever the reasons are they must be pretty damn compelling because Kansas City is a lot of fun for a town that size and Charlotte is a grind.

 

[Leather]

Joe has a long - even by his standards - post up today about his decision to leave Kansas City and move to Charlotte. He cites "personal and professional" reasons. I believe his dad still lives there. I wonder if he's in failing health. Or maybe the idea is to move back there before his dad is in failing health.

Whatever the reasons are they must be pretty damn compelling because Kansas City is a lot of fun for a town that size and Charlotte is a grind.

I always hear nice things about Charlotte and the Carolinas in general. Kansas City? Not so much.

 

[weeba]

What a great blog post.

 

[Freddy Linn]

Another Poscast with Ken Tremendous

 

[Toe Nash]

Thought he fell way short with his Mystique and Aura article today. Usually he is a writer I can count on to cut through the myths of baseball, but somehow last night the Yankees fans just KNEW the Yanks would win, even though they were killing Posada a few days ago and it took a misplay by an outfielder and a "first baseman" to do it.

http://joeposnanski.si.com/2011/05/25/meditations-on-a-comeback-at-yankee-stadium/

With two outs, and the tying run on third, Curtis Granderson stepped in. The stadium did seem to quiet some, not out of disappointment, at least not the way I heard it. I thought it was out of expectation. Here’s what I thought: “These fans are sure — or at least pretty darned sure — that Granderson is going to get a hit.” Now, I can’t know that. It was just the feeling that came over me. But I’ve never had that feeling anywhere else except Yankee Stadium, old and new.

Barf.

 

[mabrowndog]

A superb tribute to the late Paul Splittorff

Splitt, though he didn't throw hard — especially as the years passed — did not back down. He averaged 33 starts and 14 wins a year from 1972 to 1990. He threw 14 shutouts. He coaxed or induced or forced hitters into 276 double plays. He picked off 37 runners. He rarely gave up home runs. He carefully scouted batters long before video sessions became the vogue. He did whatever he could do. He was always there, a workhorse, a Clydesdale (as he called himself). He gave everything, and he played his whole career for one team, and he loved it, he loved the Royals, he would not have traded any of it in.

But when it ended, it ended. He did not long for the cheers again. He did not see current moments as an opportunity to tell stories from the past. He just didn't see any need to relive it. "I lived it once," he told me, "that was good enough." He meant it. The thing that mattered to Paul Splittorff was excellence, striving for it, being good at what he was doing. He once laid into me when I wrote that baseball on the radio was better in many ways than baseball on television. In his mind, the medium didn't matter. Baseball on television was as good as you made it. And he worked as hard as anyone in the business to make baseball on television informative and entertaining and an experience.

He did not talk about his declining health. He did not talk about the cancer that was ravaging his body. People will say that is because Splitt was an intensely private man, and that is so. But I think there was something else too. Paul did not want any favors, and he did not want special treatment, and he did not want to live anywhere but in the moment. He kept studying the players, kept going on the air, kept trying to make baseball a little bit more enjoyable for people he would never meet.

Not too long ago, I spent a day with Splitt in Fort Myers, where he lived during the winter. The Minnesota Twins were playing, and he loved watching them play. We watched the game together and just talked about some things — fatherhood, baseball statistics, the Hall of Fame, the weather. His did slur a few of his words, though he spoke unabashedly. He told me then that he did not expect his voice to get to much better. But, he said, he could still make his voice a little better. And he was going to work on that.

He did not say anything more about his health, and I did not ask. It came out a short while ago that Paul Splittorff had oral cancer and melanoma. He died on Wednesday. He was 64.

There's something about an athlete dying that hits us in a slightly different way. I think it's because athletes, at their best, embody youth and energy and enthusiasm — those things that are the very opposite of death. The people who watched Splitt pitch will remember that today. The people who listened to Splitt call games all those years will remember the sports moments. Beyond that, maybe we will remember being younger ourselves. And though Splitt did not often look back, I think he would like that.

 

[HoyaSoxa]

A superb tribute to the late Paul Splittorff

I want this man to write my obituary, although it would probably mean dying young. Also accomplishing something worthy of his notice would help.

 

[Trlicek's Whip]

A teaser post about Joe's upcoming podcast with Bill James and one topic in their discussion - the intentional walk:

I ALWAYS root against a team that intentionally walks a hitter. Always. If my best friend was on the mound, and he intentionally walked Jose Bautista with the game on the line, I would root for him to give up 100 runs. If the Indians teams of my childhood would somehow be put back together, and they reached the World Series, and they were one out away from winning the World Series, and first base was open, and the man at the plate was Hank Aaron, and the man on deck was Yuni Betancourt, and my hero Duane Kuiper was standing in his position at second base with tears rolling down his eyes because he was so close to winning a championship … well, OK, let’s not get ridiculous ridiculous, then I would accept the intentional walk. But only then.

 

[RingoOSU]

Um. Magical Mystery Tour (if we're counting Yellow Submarine, have to count that one), and The Beatles [White Album] came before Abbey Road. As did "Let it Be" (although it was released later than Abbey Road).

Not a big deal in context, but how Joe butchered that so badly is kind of shocking.

I'm more shocked he thought Yellow Submarine (which was half score by George Martin, and 2 rereleased songs for a total of a whopping FOUR new songs) as a masterpiece by any means.

Edit: for some reason my last read post bumped back a few posts. Sorry to rehash old conversation.

 

[PC Drunken Friar]

Even the great Bill James makes mistakes during podcasts...he kept confusing "Matt Palmer" with "Dean Palmer" in his Pozcast the other day.

 

[HoyaSoxa]

Even the great Bill James makes mistakes during podcasts...he kept confusing "Matt Palmer" with "Dean Palmer" in his Pozcast the other day.

Noticed that too, and I was surprised Joe didn't slip in some kind of correction - he had to remember Dean from his time with the Royals, at least.

 

[weeba]

Saying goodbye to KC:

http://joeposnanski.blogspot.com/2011/06/my-kansas-city-goodbye.html

 

[johnmd20]

Saying goodbye to KC:

http://joeposnanski....ty-goodbye.html

I have two good friends who live in NY now but are from KC. I forwarded them the column and both wrote back saying, "Thanks, it made me cry." Joe Pos writes poetry, it's impressive.

 

[Bdanahy14]

Joe writes a lot about Bruce, maybe too much... but I thought the Big Man tribute was fantastic. Of course, tributes are right up his ally... no one does them better.

 

[DeJesus Built My Hotrod]

Joe writes a lot about Bruce, maybe too much... but I thought the Big Man tribute was fantastic. Of course, tributes are right up his ally... no one does them better.

Outstanding. It was outstanding.

 

[joyofsox]

I love almost all of Joe's writing, but the Big Man post seemed like a first draft - he wanted to post something, felt it was important and necessary, but was clearly rushed.

Another hour or two to go through it and clarify and maybe expand his thoughts a bit more and cut out some weak stuff/fat would have made it a nice companion to his piece on The Promise (though still a lesser post, because the earlier one was sensational).

 

[Leather]

I love almost all of Joe's writing, but the Big Man post seemed like a first draft - he wanted to post something, felt it was important and necessary, but was clearly rushed.

Another hour or two to go through it and clarify and maybe expand his thoughts a bit more and cut out some weak stuff/fat would have made it a nice companion to his piece on The Promise (though still a lesser post, because the earlier one was sensational).

Yea. As a big Springsteen fan, it didn't work for me.

It felt disjointed and forced, and I know it's a blog post and whatnot, but for once I think Joe could have left his own experience out of it. It was just crammed in there.

1) Rosalita is always young
2) Springsteen shows all have a spark.
3) Clarence Clemons was often the one creating that spark, IMO.
4) He met Springsteen a long time ago, then they got older and kind of grew up.
5) When I saw him play Rosalita, Clarence looked old. Like, really old. Good GOD did he look old. But, you know, it was still a really good show even though Clarence was old and stuck to a chair (?).
6) Bruce told a story I kind of like, but not the ending, so here's a new one.

 

[Dehere]

Yea. As a big Springsteen fan, it didn't work for me.

I don't disagree. It felt kind of obligatory.

To give Pos a bit of a break, his essay on The Promise is arguably both the best thing he's ever written and the definitive piece on what Springsteen means to a great many of his fans, and he cranked that out just a few months ago. I think Joe has pretty much said exactly what he has to say about Bruce.....and then Clarence passes and it's like he has to post SOMETHING but it can't possibly have the depth that the Promise essay had.

 

[Leather]

I don't disagree. It felt kind of obligatory.

To give Pos a bit of a break, his essay on The Promise is arguably both the best thing he's ever written and the definitive piece on what Springsteen means to a great many of his fans, and he cranked that out just a few months ago. I think Joe has pretty much said exactly what he has to say about Bruce.....and then Clarence passes and it's like he has to post SOMETHING but it can't possibly have the depth that the Promise essay had.

No I agree on that. I don't mean to be overly harsh.

I think there's a much better angle on Clemons dying, and friendship, and the Boss, that should be obvious to any serious Springsteen fan like Joe, and I am kind of amazed that Joe whiffed: the fact that around the same time they stopped playing Rosalita was EXACTLY the same time period that Bruce unceremoniously ditched Clarence as his on-stage sidekick in favor of Patti. It was on the Tunnel of Love tour. And after that tour, he officially broke up the band.

I don't think it's a coincidence at all that "Rosalita", which I agree with Joe probably represents the E Street Band better than any other song (as opposed to Bruce himself) started appearing in the setlist more and more often as Patti became less and less of a fixture on stage and Clarence was moved back into the prime "sidekick" slot over the past 8 years. Not a causation, but certainly a correlation. Shit, in 2008-2009, Patti wasn't even AT half of the fucking shows, and Bruce was having more fun than he seemed to have been having in, literally, decades.

The disappearance and re-emergence of "Rosalita" was a symptom, not the cause, of the more troubling reality: when Bruce turned his back on Clarence, everything great that the E Street band represented evaporated.

That captures the power of friendship, in particular the friendship of Bruce and Clarence, and the role that friendship had in the story and music of the E Street Band more than some hackneyed story.

 

[mabrowndog]

Not sure how I missed it, but I just read Joe's piece on Nick Charles, who passed this weekend. It's not an obit -- it ran three months ago -- but damn, what a poignant tribute.

 

[gmogmo]

http://joeposnanski.si.com/2011/06/28/lorenzo-charles-and-the-shot/

Yet another phenomenal effort from Joe, such a talented writer....

 

[Alternate34]

I know this is a little stupid thing, but when Joe ends his posts and articles, he very rarely ends it with a single line broken off into its own paragraph. He will often end his articles with a single quote or a single pointed sentence, but he does not insert a paragraph break before it. I irrationally adore him for this. I think the practice of doing that is atrocious arrogant writing. His not doing it just reaffirms my belief because Joe is not an atrocious arrogant writer.

 

[weeba]

Joe on Baseball

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1188482/

 

[Rasputin]

Joe on Baseball

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1188482/

that was awesome.

And at that moment, Verlander unleashes an 83-mph pitch that defies description. They would call it a slider on the radio, but we both thought it bent more than any slider either of us had seen before. And yet it did not break like a curveball. It looked like the ball changed lanes at the last second, a tourist trying not to miss his exit. Peña swung, sort of, but he missed the ball by something like three feet. You know how sometimes the sound and picture of movies get out of sync? Peña's swing was like that—not just late and wide, but askew somehow, as if it didn't quite fit the scene.

 

[Senator Donut]

http://joeposnanski.si.com/2011/07/28/the-college-connection/

Joe Posnanski put into words pretty much everything I've been trying to say about college athletics, but haven't been able express by myself.

 

[Fishercat]

http://joeposnanski.blogspot.com/2011/08/two-retirements.html#comments

Matt Stairs and Randy Moss, great juxtaposition and summary.

 

[Alternate34]

http://joeposnanski.si.com/2011/08/25/crafty-lefty-hall-of-fame/

I love this article. It is perfect Posnanski. He melds stats and commentary in excellent fashion. This is why I love baseball. It just seems there is more fascinating detailed narratives than anywhere else. Beautiful.

 

[Kenny F'ing Powers]

Flanagan, it seemed to me as a fan, was the essence of that wonderful phrase: “Crafty Lefty.” I’ve always loved the way those two words bounce off each other. They almost rhyme, but not quite. They evoke an image of a left-handed pitcher trying to hold off the world with a not-too-fast fastball, the guile of a street hustler and a certain unwillingness to accept the unlikeliness of it all.

At least once an article, he catches me by surprise with his prose. He has such a non-assuming conversational form that it's like he baits you into these paragraphs and you have to re-read them to fully appreciate how beautifully put together they are. He really is fucking fantastic.

 

[Tartan]

A bit of a geeky fanboy moment: in his most recent article, he ran with an idea I emailed him about a few weeks ago (about Art Shamsky and the highest single-game WPAs). That he not only read it, but turned it into a column makes me unreasonably excited.