Baseball. Blogging. Whenever.

Friday, April 03, 2009

Ch-ch-ch-changes


So, something new is going to happen on Monday. I'm going to start writing for NBCSports.com.

I'm not alone: it will be a group blog -- a small group -- called "Circling the Bases." I'll be joining Rotoworld's Aaron Gleeman and Matthew Pouliot. Given their experience, their readership and the amount and quality of their content over the years, I'm clearly going to be the Shemp of the group. But that's cool because Shemp had a pretty sweet gig. Maybe not as sweet as mine, though: in lieu of paying me in cash, I'm being paid in the form of the still-unreleaed Markie Post-era "Night Court" DVDs. I'm definitely coming out ahead on this one.

I'll be handling morning drive, for lack of a better term, posting from roughly 8:30 AM -- 11:00 AM. Aaron has afternoons. Matt is the Venus Flytrap of the group, taking the magic carpet into the evening hours, my children. There will be regular content Monday-Friday, and some to-be-determined amount of weekend posting. As far as editorial voice goes, we've been told that we can do just about anything this side of dropping F-bombs and making fun of Bill Cosby's sweaters. Of course, given that we're all fairly boring guys, I can't imagine it getting too wild. And before you ask, no I can't give you the URL yet because I, um, don't know what it is.

But before you get worried, know this: ShysterBall isn't going anywhere. I'll still be here bright and early every morning with the daily recaps and, while they may start showing up a bit later in the day than you've come to expect, I'll still be making far too many other posts about far too many baseball-related things in this space for the foreseeable future. NBC will be my job. THT is still my home.

But probably not for the rest of the afternoon. I have to go to court today, and Federal Judges kind of frown on you blogging via Blackberry from the counsel table.

Freakin' Luddites.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 12:19pm (27) Comments

Tom Hicks’ Sports Group: Half Billion Dollar Deadbeats


I kind of went hog wild on the franchise devaluation thing around here last week. Some agreed, others felt I (and my pinch hitting friend Ethan) went a bit overboard. Well, let's throw this bit of news into the pot and see what cooks up:

Private equity legend Tom Hicks’ sports team holding company has defaulted on more than $500 million in loans, a source has told FINalternatives.

Hicks Sports Group, which owns baseball’s Texas Rangers and hockey’s Dallas Stars, failed to make its interest payment on $525 million in syndicated bank loans on Monday. The group is now in talks with its lenders about a forbearance.

Hicks made his billions on leveraged buyouts, founding private equity firm Hicks Muse Tate & Furst, now HM Capital, in 1989. He retired from the firm in 2006.

According to the source, who has seen documents relating to the loans, Hicks defaulted on a $350 million bank term loan, $100 million second-lien loan and a $75 million revolving credit facility. A spokesman for Hicks Sports declined to comment.

Hmmm . . . I wonder what the collateral was for those loans. I wonder how much that collateral will bring in what would be the functional equivalent of a foreclosure sale?

UPDATE: Hicks' response to the banks: A plea for them to "be reasonable." Reminds me of the Shmatte pleading for Tom to "look into ya heart!" when they were walking into the woods out at Miller's Crossing. If that's the best he's got, he's probably in some pretty big trouble.

(thanks to reader Jim D for the heads up)
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 10:59am (11) Comments

A-Rod and the Babe


Ron Rollins was reading ShysterBall -- and yelling at me for saying statheady things -- way back in early 2007. Back then the only other regular readers were my mom and the people Googling pictures of Alyssa Milano. The Googlers soon realized that there was nothin' good here, and even my mom eventually gave up, but Ron still reads, comments and generally stirs up crap around here from time to time. I'm glad he does that.

I'm also glad to report that Ron, who already writes a nice international baseball bog, is now writing professionally for an even bigger international baseball blog. His first post compares the social/media phenomenon that is Alex Rodriguez to the social/media phenomenon that was Babe Ruth. It's striking in that "Kennedy had a secretary named Lincoln, Lincoln had a secretary named Kennedy" kind of way. There will be new posts there every Wednesday, and I highly recommend that you check them out. And of course, don't forget to check out his regular blog, Baseball Over Here.

Another good reason to click thorugh: of all of the people who are trying to make a buck or two off of blogging, Ron deserves your clicks the most. Why? Because unlike the rest of us, Ron is doing this for 100% selfless reasons. Until around a year ago, Ron had a pretty comfortable life in Missouri, working a job like the rest of us, enjoying the occasional beer, reading blogs, and watching a lot of baseball. Ron has a young daughter in the U.K., however, and Ron knew that she needed him in her life, and he needed her. So he quit his job, sold all of his stuff, and at an age where most of us are most worried about lawn care and antacids, Ron picked up and moved to Bournemouth, England. As you might expect, it's not easy to get a job when you're not a citizen, especially in this economy. Ron has nonetheless perservered, long beyond the point most of us would have given up and come home. Our clicks -- both on the articles and the ads if you'd be so good to do so -- would help him out immensely.

Thanks, all.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 10:00am (14) Comments

Between Scylla and Charybdis


Most likely owing to the start time, Catholics in Milawaukee are not quite as bent out of shape about the Brewers' Good Friday home opener as those in Detroit, but in some ways their suggestions as to how to properly combine baseball and religion are even more extreme:

Milwaukee's soon-to-be-departing, but still current Catholic Archbishop has put the hammer down on Catholics hoping to enjoy a brat during the Brewers' home opener, because it happens to fall on Good Friday.

Dolan says Catholics attending the home opener, or just with baseball fever for the Good Friday, April 10th game against the Chicago Cubs, still ought to abstain from meat and poultry.

"I think instead of eating the sausages or hot dogs that day, they just should say a prayer for the Brewers success this season," said Dolan.

Which is the greater sin: eating meat on Good Friday or not eating brats at Miller Park?

(thanks to Lar for the link)
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 9:25am (32) Comments

Cito and Roger


Apparently Cito Gaston is livid to find out that, according to Jeff Pearlman's new book, Roger Clemens had him fired. Jeff Pearlman himself, however, says there's a slight problem with that:

There’s just one problem: I never wrote that.

What my book says is that Clemens had a heavy hand in the hiring of Tim Johnson, Gaston’s eventual replacement. But that didn’t take place until well after Gaston was gone.

Gord Ash, Toronto’s former GM, reacted strongly to the report in today’s papers, saying, “There’s no truth to that. [Clemens] never talked to me about it, that’s all I can say. You know that stuff is about 10 years ago, or more. I can only tell you that he never once brought it up to me.”

I’m not mad, and I guess publicity is publicity. But if you’re gonna cite a book, well …

I haven't read the book so I can't say for sure, but if Pearlman is right here, it makes the controversy a little confusing. My guess: the Roger-fired-Cito thing was included and misstated in the promotional materials provided by the publisher to the media. Those materials are really helpful when you're getting ready to review a book, but the quality varies widely and the facts often get garbled.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 8:53am (1) Comments

HAVOC


From Jerry Crasnick's Reds' preview at ESPN:

But the Reds win out because of their surplus of arms. Edinson Volquez, Johnny Cueto, Aaron Harang, Bronson Arroyo and Micah Owings make for one of baseball’s best 1-through-5 starting contingents. As astute Reds fans and Scrabble devotees have pointed out, you can take the first letters of their last names and spell “HAVOC.”

From Redleg Nation:

Being called astute fans is a compliment, I suppose, but it would have been nice to see The Nation — by which, I mean YOU, the community here — credited for the HAVOC quip. After all, that originated with one of the fine commenters here at RN (here)

I'll say that I've whipped out the HAVOC thing a couple of times too in recent weeks and I didn't credit Redlegs Nation either, though I'm certain that's where I first saw it. In Crasnick's and my own defense, however, that's the kind of thing that's too damn good not to steal. Indeed, the very concept of HAVOC is so cool that it had me actually rooting against Homer Bailey this spring, and I don't even give a crap about the Reds.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 8:00am (3) Comments

Did you hear?


This is a link to the baseball page at the New York Times. Today the top nine (9) stories are about the new stadiums stadia in New York. I don't think V-J Day got this kind of coverage.

My favorite one is "Two New Baseball Palaces, One Stoic, One Scrappy." How can a building be "scrappy?" I thought that word was reserved for under-talented white guys.

Anyway, I just didn't want the season to start without you all realizing that the Yankees and Mets have new stadiums, because that's the kind of thing that could sneak up and surprise you.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 7:30am (10) Comments

Wish list


The Merc's Mark Purdy has a wish list for the Giants' and Athletics' seasons. Among the wishes:

I want A's catcher Kurt Suzuki to get an offer to endorse Suzuki motorcycles — and turn it down in favor of a Harley-Davidson endorsement. (And why hasn't Harley-Davidson thought of this, anyway?)

I want the Giants to trade for a cleanup hitter in July.

I want A's outfielder Matt Holliday to not be traded in July.

I kind of like the idea of Suzuki endorsing Harleys. I also think it may be more realistic than those other two wishes.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 7:00am (3) Comments

Today at THT


Today will be the last day for a long time in which the first post of the day will be "Today at THT." Why? ShysterBall readers who date back before last October know why: the return of "And That Happened," this blog's quaint little daily recap feature. It resumes with the ballgames come Monday morning. Well, there will be one recap on Monday because there's only one game on Sunday, but you get the idea. Tuesday will really be hopping.

For those of you unfamiliar with ATH, here are a couple of examples. It started as a way for me to make sure that I kept track of actual baseball rather than get too bogged down in steroids or stadiums or what have you, but it quickly became my favorite part of this blog after it got going last April. For me it's like the baseball season in blog form: sometimes it's good, sometimes it sucks, sometimes it rains, but it's there every day reminding you that while no single game matters, all of them together mean everything.

But that's Monday, probably at around 5:45 AM. Today at THT:

  • Jonathan Halket has five questions for the New York Yankees. Question number six: the new stadium is impressive and all, but do you think it was a good idea to include that two-meter-wide, unshielded thermal exhaust port right along the outside of it? If someone fired a proton torpedo at it, it could set off a chain reaction and annihilate the whole stadium, couldn't it?


  • In honor of the just passed April Fools' Day, Richard Barbieri's This Annotated Week in Baseball History looks at pranks in baseball history. Like the time Preacher Roe called Burt Shotton and asked him if his refrigerator was running.


  • Chris Jaffe reviews the Joe Torre/Tom Veducci book, "The Yankee Years." I hope it was a better read than "Joe Torre: The Cardinals Years," because that one was pretty boring.


  • Over at Fantasy Focus, Alex Zelvin looks at favorable Opening Day matchups. Most favorable matchup: a fake sick day, my butt, my couch and a cold beer.


  • Finally, Paul Singman plays roster doctor. It's probably better than the ER finale.


    • Only two more baseball-free days to go.
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 5:40am (2) Comments