27 Burst results for "John Lester"
Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast
"john lester" Discussed on Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast
"It, Jeff. Short jokes. Son of them. All right, so we have lost Meg, Jeff and grant are still here so we can ramp up with anything else that was on our list here. Jeff, do you have any other favorite baseball topics from the past ten years? Yeah, if we were going to do a lightning round, but like the next one on my list was John Lester not throwing a pickup first. That was my next pick too. Yeah. I mean, that one was just the psychology of people trying to steal bases against John Lester. Which is absolutely one of my favorite genres for a game a month, three years. I don't have any sense of how long it went on or if you ever started throwing pick off those again. I remember when MLB tweeted out that John Lester threw a pick off through a guy like 8000 retweets or whatever because he was such a big story, but that was incredible. I was absolutely incredible. I love that story. Yes, it's so much. That was the best. That went on for, yeah, some period of years because for a while he was trying to fix the pick off attempt and he had the bounce one and then he was trying to do a different one and it never really worked that well. But I love that story because if I'm remembering right, didn't it come to light initially like in a fan graphs comment or something like wasn't there a post about that wild card game and someone noticed that he had not thrown any pick off attempts in a really long time and that became a talking point. It was like it was pointed out by someone in the public sphere I think just before that game began so we knew about it like possibly before the teams did or at least it hadn't really been mentioned. It was wet but 22. 23, 22. I'm gonna have to look up and say at the end of the episode how that first came to light. But we all kind of discovered that fact and then we were marveling at it and wondering what it meant and then in that wild card game it seemed to come into play and people were stealing off him and then it was like, well, is this a game breaking career ending kind of flaw? Or does it not actually matter at all? Either of those were totally in play. I remember doing a story at grantland, I guess, where I went to all the companies that simulate baseball games and I was like, can you simulate this? Someone never throwing a pick off attempt and they couldn't really, because. It's like, how do you know what the impact of this is? And the estimates range from not a big deal at all to a pretty big deal and actually he's not going to be good now. Either of those seem to be on the table and then the greatest surprise of all of it, which I remember you writing about Jeff was just that like players would not or could not bring themselves to take advantage of it that much because it was like either they couldn't internalize the idea that this guy actually couldn't throw to first and so they just stood there and watched him 'cause he was like the lefty picture and they were just so conditioned to like go back to the bag that they just couldn't shake that habit or maybe they had some sympathy or felt sorry for him or something. It was never totally clear, but ultimately it was like kind of a nothing burger. It was like low stakes. Yep. So it was like we could all obsess over it, but not have to feel bad about it really, right? Or feel like we were picking on him pointing this out because it wasn't adversely affecting him that much. He was just this one weird thing that I didn't know it was possible not to be able to do while being able to do all of the other things that he could do, like throw pitches. So yes, I think back on that as just an amazing story on multiple levels. This is just like the Astros thing where you think like, okay, this is like a funny story on its own, but you think about the implications of it and you're like, well, this does kind of change the way that I look at baseball. This kind of thing is the way I think about pitching and running the bases. John Lester for his entire career. So fangraphs his little metric right for like stolen base value for pitcher fielding, whatever. Let's assume that it's a character. John Lester's entire career. Four runs below average. So, you know, stolen bases were bad for him and you know, it took a turn for the worse around the time that that became news. Like he was, he was -8 runs over three years between 2014 and 2016. After that, he's still threw like another, I don't know, 500 innings, minus one run, strong bases like John Lester, was fine. He allowed 44 swollen bases in 2015. That's a lot of stolen bases, but also 11 dudes got caught, and that was the worst year that he had. Noah syndergaard, active pitcher. First career. -21 runs. And nobody talks about it. He's terrible at it, but nobody talks about it. Okay, I don't know what the number is, but I'm going to pull up Adam on a vino here because I know he's really bad at it too. So he's a release pitcher, of course, Adam on a universe career, -16 runs. Most of that in the last 5 or 6 years, which is phenomenally insane. They're just slow to the plate. John Lester could not throw a ball the first base could not had the thing. Like you wouldn't believe. Like you genuinely wouldn't believe we saw it and we can't believe it now, that he can't put the ball there, but he was throwing strikes left and right, the home plate. No part of it makes sense. And they're under steel couldn't go. It was unbelievable. It was incredible. And I guess he had the advantage of a, not allowing a lot of base runners to begin with, B, I guess he had David Russ catching for him at that time and he would do a lot of back picks, so he got some help there, and see maybe he was pretty quick to the plate, so that helped a little, but still like people just could have taken longer leads and they just didn't, for the most part. It just baffled me. And then it taught me something. So yes, thank you to John Lester for your one weird yip in an incredible career. We got to say in this just for one second so I could pull something up because I remember this. I want to quiz both of you and maybe this is more of a grant thing that he would remember because, you know, Padres, but you remember Chris young before he ran a baseball team when he was a hugely pitcher, right? Tall drink of water. So in 2007, Chris young was a figure for the Padres. He started 30 games. He was really quite good. He had a 3.12 ERA, which corrected for petco at that time, was equivalent to like an array of 5 and a half. So he was, you know, he allowed his run. But Chris young that year allowed 44 stolen bases and that was out of 44 stone based attempts. Wow. Nobody got caught. And the year before that, he allowed 41 stolen bases and four people got caught. And then you're like, why was he allowed so many stolen bases? And then you look at him and you're like, it takes him four seconds for his body to unfurl. Like a horse. Yeah, he'd like hands the ball to the catcher basically when he pitches, but the entire thing is like a butterfly coming out of a cocoon.
Baseball Tonight with Buster Olney
"john lester" Discussed on Baseball Tonight with Buster Olney
"He will much of the rest of his career in all likelihood will be played in anonymity if he chooses to go that direction. Again, not a value judgment. It is a statement of fact based upon the base full of situated right now in the national scene. All right, before we go, let's play a rapid fire game, which you made up called reminds me of. I'm gonna give you a name of a rookie and you're gonna tell me who that player remind you of. And we'll start with Bobby witt junior. Mister Bobby went junior reminds me of Ryan Braun. Here's what I see. I see similar bat path that sort of violent hip rotation that high finish. It's a swing that looks very similar to me. And obviously his season so far has been I think sort of a mixed bag. But look over his last 40 games. 11 doubles, three triples, 9 homers, a 5 39 slugging percentage. That's a premium bat. Will he be a superstar? Well, I think that will be largely dependent upon whether or not he ever learns to control the strike zone at a high level. The buster, what I know for sure is that Bobby witt is going to hit the living snot out of the ball for a really long time. Yeah, he's going to have 80 extra base hits and his rookie year and all. That's a pretty good season for a first year player. Michael Harris center Fielder for the Atlanta Braves. Michael Harris reminds me of Johnny Damon. Here's where I'm coming from. So the swing obviously has got the high leg kick and a high hands with that sort of classic sweeping swing. And you've noticed buster that produces just a lot of hard opposite field contact. He's got 30 hits this year is only pulled 8 of them. That bat stays in the hitting zone forever. I see a plus glove. He's obviously a better thrower than Johnny Damon, but I want when I watch Harris hit, especially, that's the swing that he most reminds me of. Johnny Damon. Yeah, I just can't get past the arm. And preparing for Sunday baseball was we going to did some digging into his history. I'm sure you know this. A lot of teams viewed him as a better pitching prospect than position player prospect before he was drafted in 2019. Johnny Damon's arm was not of someone who was going to be a pitcher. I agree. Like to me, Michael Harris has been a big part of the reason why the braves are just gathering momentum as we go along. And lastly, the Padres Mackenzie gore. Buster Mackenzie who reminds me of John Lester. Here's what I see. I see a picture that hides the ball really well behind his body, a really quiet lower half outstanding balance and a really calming presence. He's the co favorite right now to win the national league rookie of the year, despite just being lit up in his last two outings. But he allowed 8 runs over his first 8 starts during which time the league posted just a 5 21 OPS against him. I see a very similar makeup on the mound, a body that I think you'll really, really grow into and sort of the frame of someone who I think can be a really effective picture of the big league for the better part of a decade. I'm glad he bounced back, you know, there's a lot of conversation last year about whether or not he was developing a case of the yips. Would he be able to bounce back and he's been terrific this year? All right, ambo, thanks for doing this. Later, man. All aboard. It's the rabbit train we're call rabbit. More.
Baseball Tonight with Buster Olney
"john lester" Discussed on Baseball Tonight with Buster Olney
"With the Grom out, I'm going to extend my comparisons between those cubs teams that went on to win the World Series in 2016 in this meds team. Do you see shares are having the same sort of impact on that team that lesser did when he signed with the cubs potentially? Well, I think it's similar. I mean, the mets were pretty decent team, you know, the last couple of years. They were sort of building this thing after Cohn took over. So I think it's a little different. The cubs have had no history of winning at all, really. Remember, John Lester took a leap to sign there. I don't think Max Scherzer necessary took a leap at 43 million a year. Lester left 14. Lester left money on the table to come to the cubs. So I think it's a little different this Lester signing was a real sign that the cubs had arrived as big time players. I think we kind of knew the mets were going to be big time players with Steve Cohen and they were a decent team these last couple of years. I think it's a little different. I think it's just kind of reemphasize the point that Steve Cohen was not going to outbid get out bid for anybody he wanted. And I think that was more of the message than anything. Right. Let's focus on the teams in Chicago, the cubs have a very distinct trait early this season and that is they tend to put the ball in play in an era in which teams don't do that. Tell me about the cubs in that strategy. It's fun to watch. If we needed to be reminded that balls in play that doubles, they set a franchise record for doubles in a series in Colorado last weekend. If we needed to be reminded, while I'm seeing it firsthand. And remember, the contrast for a cub fans to go from the Rizzo bias, Bryant years, swarm of home runs and strikeouts like a lot of the league to this is a huge change. And it is absolutely entertaining to watch. They probably don't have enough power now. They've gone a little bit too far the other way. Jen Hoyer has said as much as recently as last night at the field. But that's okay. It's a little bit of a transition year. Nick madrigal says Suzuki, Nico Horner. These are contact players that don't grow on trees. I mean, it's not easy to find guys, guys like that. So now they need to go out and replace the left handed power. They lost again something Jed knows, but it's a nice little foundation he's building in what we think is a transition year. It's been fun. Suzuki this year, 12 walks, 9 strikeouts, 5 81 on base percentage, and I think you'd agree with me. He looks like he's the odds on favor to win nationally rookie of the year. After ten games, can you believe we can say that 11 games? That 5 81 on base percentage. Wow. I mean, it jumps off the page 12 walks so far. Already too intentional walks buster and he's in a lineup that again isn't that dangerous in terms of hitting the ball out of the park, but teams are starting to realize we can not pitch them in the zone. We've got to nibble a little bit. We've got intentionally walking. He's the real deal. I thought so back before they signed him, they went out and spent 17 million a year, 85 total. You don't spend that kind of money if you don't have an idea that he's going to be pretty good. His plate discipline at an early will say sort of time in his career, not an age necessarily because he had time in Japan, but to be, you know, this early in his MLB career in understand what he should be swinging at, what when he should be going the other way is just amazing. You know, his hit streak ended last night when he took three walks, David Ross put him up to second in the order when you're walking that much. You want to be up near the top and I think that's going to be his long-term position. Just has a great overall gay buster, great arm, great awareness in the outfield. And again, a combination of plate discipline and power, I think he's the real deal and that 5 81 on base is obviously going to come down, but I think that's not a fluke. He knows what pitches to swing at, and that is key early in his career. Okay. This type of lineup where they put the ball in play, I'm assuming that that probably is the vision of Jed Hoyer who took over for Theo Epstein about 18 months ago his head of baseball operations, yes. Absolutely. They realized that they went way too far in one way. It wasn't working. And so they changed up the dynamic. And now look, you've got to have the right balance. They don't quite have it yet, but they have a lot of core guys that can hit the ball and play, and that's put them on play. And that's what Jed wants. And I got to say, Jesse, I really feel like because of what we've seen in Wrigley Field, especially since they put up that jumbotron that's above left field. I kind of wonder if this is the way to go. If you're the cubs, because for years, of course, the cubs were known as a team and Wrigley Field because it's the perception of it as a band box and you can hit a ton of home runs. They would always have a lot of sluggers and to be guys like Sammy Sosa would handle a ton of home runs there. But day in and day out, you know that's better than me because you covered the team on a daily basis. Day in and day out, Wrigley Field is a pitcher's park. And I wonder if that was part of the thinking that they had that you know what? 80% of the days, this is a ballpark that might lend itself more to small ball than actually a bunch of big sluggers, Harry Jess and guys trying to hit the ball 450 feet because you can and Wrigley Field on those days when the wind's blowing in. There's absolutely some truth to that buster. There's no doubt about it. And here's the other thing I'm learning and watching a contact oriented team. They're never really out of games. And they sort of keep scrapping away and yes, first of all, in the bad weather, which we've had terrible cold weather so far, it plays. And I had a scout tell me, hey, the cubs are going to be okay in April. He told me this in March, because of what you're talking about. It can play in this kind of weather at home or on the road. But again, you still need that left handed pop every team needs it. This is why they actually made a phone call to Kyle schwarber after the lockout. It's a math equation at some point. You still need to hit the ball out enough to win enough games in those moments when you're facing great pitching. And then schwarber runs into one by accident and you beat the ground one nothing. They don't have that ability right now. So you still need that, but I think you're right about at least having that combination because it is a misconception, the wind blows in as much as it blows out if not more. And we've got at least two months, sometimes two and a half months of temperatures in the 40s, maybe 50s. It's finally going to warm up a little this weekend, but I'm telling you, sometimes it's cold here till June. And I'm not hyperbolic. That is the truth. We'll see what may brings us..
Fore Play
"john lester" Discussed on Fore Play
"You really don't know. We're here at the Hilton gravitational tournament of champions. So the LPGA and you haven't played golf in four months. There's a rumor going around golf club. I have it. I have not. But whenever you're at our level of golf, sometimes like when you just don't play like, you just come back and play like better when you're not thinking about it and I'm not sitting here trying to work everything out in my head and try to fix everything in one little hit a few balls and think I'm gonna fix my whole freaking golf game. So you're about to play in a pro am and then you're about to play for four. So the program's gonna be, you know, it's a little more fun like this. So I'm getting my swings in the day and so you're nervous about that though? I will, I'm not. Today, the program is fun. I've had the same folks like bid on me every year. I actually had a fun time every year. So the today's playing around both my buddies. So I get my swings in. And then I usually would be really nervous about the tournament tournament. But a, I'm not gonna win it. So I'm just gonna have fun and because every time you put more pressure on yourself like the worse you do. So I have learned that in the last 5 years of doing this tournament. So I think the less pressure I put on myself, the more fun I have, the better I'll do, and then the more file have. Less expectations and then you end up over achieving your goals. The same you promise over deliver. The same music. I don't set a bar, like this high down here. Yeah, right now I'm just gonna have fun. This is a great tournament. This is a fun time, all the people that all the same folks, a lot of the same folks. This is a very cool thing. It is our first time and we had heard a lot about it and we've had folks here they've been trying to get us out for a few years. This is an extremely cool event. We're gonna play this next year. We have a whole vibe last night. Everyone, you got John Lester running into elevator..
Red Sox Beat
"john lester" Discussed on Red Sox Beat
"I mean, there always has to be, look, we all love a sports argument, right? A debate. And those have been around since the beginning of sports. And I'm not saying that they have it. But my problem now is there's so much animosity that vented towards baseball toward sports owners, agents, and players that a lot of the fun has come out of it. And that's why it's important and I think we recognize a guy like John Lester when he retires after 16 years. Yeah. And again, in 5 years, hopefully we get a chance to kind of bring him back up and do it all again when he's eligible for the Hall of Fame. Well, Alex, we got to get out of here and I got to wrap up this podcast. Thanks for joining me on it. Got anything you want to push? By the way? Just full coverage. We got the Patriots in the playoffs, two Caracas back to south, it should sell the deadline and we'll talk more about Ortiz candidacy, 98, 5 sports sub dot com. Well done, Alex, I'm very proud of you. We all taught you well, you know? And by the way, keep Evan Lazar in line, would you? Oh, I will. You know I am. By the way, when I text you, Bengal texts from the playoffs, will you please respond right away? I will try. I will. See, prime is, 'cause it's during after this, you know, once a patriots get eliminated definitely. If it's in the middle of a patriots game, I don't know what's going on, but are you going to buffalo, by the way? I am not. I will actually be on with Ted Johnson Sunday warning on the sports of from 8 to ten after the game. So there you go. Stick it sticking around to excuse me, sticking around to jump on air, so. All right, 8 to ten on Sunday morning with Ted Johnson, the former Super Bowl winning patriots linebacker. That will be much less than win or lose in Buffalo on Saturday night. I want to thank everybody for downloading today's podcast. Thank our terrific guests,.
Red Sox Beat
"john lester" Discussed on Red Sox Beat
"Back with Alex barth of 98 5, the sports hub. Can I give you one more stat on John Lester? Yeah, please do. Okay, so when the Red Sox traded Jon Lester in the 2014 season, right, they go out. They signed David price the next year and that was kind of seen as the tradeoff. If you look at the numbers for David price and John Lester between 2015 and 2019, when price was in Boston, they're nearly identical. Lester has the edge in some categories price as the edge of a categories. I think that says a lot because price was hailed as this monumental signing. Obviously, it didn't turn out great, but you hailed as this monumental signing, right? And the guy he replaced the guy they didn't want to pay basically did the same thing. And they could have had them for a significantly less. So that's kind of you, I'm glad you did this, Alex. Thank you. You saved my bacon here. You can't tell the John Lester story without explaining what happened in 2014. And what happened preceding that and how the Red Sox let them get away to recap everybody, I think Red Sox fans know that the Red Sox had a chance to sign him at a much lower value and Red Sox ownership decided to take a pass. They thought that John Lester was asking too much, they lowballed him. And that is the reason why John Lester in the end decided not to sign with the Red Sox and the Red Sox. Waited too long and then they had to decide as we mentioned in 2014 to trade him to the Oakland a's and you know Alex, what were your memories of that? That whole thing. I was crushed. Like I said, lesser is one of my favorite players at the time. And. I knew I knew the whole thing sports as a business and these guys are hired guns and all that. Like, I was holding. I was in college at that.
Red Sox Beat
"john lester" Discussed on Red Sox Beat
"Covering all things Boston sports. He's a great follow on Twitter. One of the things I love about Alex barth is you can really kill him for his passion. And his sometimes absurd hyperbolic takes on Twitter. But that is Alex barth. You should be following him at real Alex barth. He does a great job covering the Patriots, but he also does a great job of stand on top of other things, Boston sports, and that's what brings us to the Red Sox. Two big storylines we're going to get to in this Red Sox beat podcast. First of all, on Tuesday, a Red Sox legend retires from Major League Baseball and I don't think that's hyperbole. One of my very favorite words, John Lester, retiring from Major League Baseball after a terrific career, one with the, that's obviously started with the Red Sox. I think he's a Hall of Famer. Alex is based on his Red Sox career alone, but then he goes to Chicago with the cubs, starts game 7 there, wins the World Series with the cubs, of course, the cubs snap that incredibly long drought World Series drought dating back to 1908. And they broke that in 2016 in Cleveland a 108 year drought. And any finish up this past season with the Saint Louis Cardinals, he was part of that historic 17 game winning streak that got St. Louis into the wild card and got them into the postseason. So John Lester goes out of winter, your thoughts, Alex on John Lester's career. Yeah, well it's a damn shame I didn't get to spend more of it in Boston. I'll tell you that first and foremost. Everything you kind of want, you know, he wasn't the flashy ace. He wasn't Kershaw, got like that for a lander, but you felt good when he was on the mound. He was just a, I think, consistency is something we undervalue as sports fans and sports evaluators like maybe a guy's peak is so high, but you know how reliable are they John Lester? You pretty much knew what you were getting every time he took them out and he'd go out there and get on the mound. He started over 30 games. I believe every season of his career until this most recent one or for the most of his career, the early seasons, obviously interrupted, but to overcome cancer and then be that reliable physically. I think is really a testament to what he did. And I mean, a lot of people talk about Lester in the World Series and all that. I was actually at John Lester's no hitter. And it was a very cool moment for me as was I, I was in the press box covering it. Yes. So I was 2010, so I would have been like 16 years earlier than that. Let's go back. I think it was 2000 and 7. I believe it was 2007 against Baltimore. So I would have been 13. My Kansas City. Now I gotta look this up. Go ahead and continue. No, I think it was one of those buckles, one of those is Lester, Kansas. Anyway, Kansas City, I believe, is Lester. But I'm looking it up. Go ahead. Okay..
Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast
"john lester" Discussed on Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast
"And with Lester, I mean, it probably bothered him and it affected him somewhat, but he was still a pitcher and still a really successful pitcher. He just couldn't throw the ball to first base. So it was so strange and it seemed like it should matter so much more than it did. And that was the most perplexing thing to me. And I think he was able to transcend this issue because for one thing he didn't allow a lot of base runners in the first place and for another he was quick to home plate and David Ross was his catcher for a while and he had a good arm and he was good at back picking, so that would keep runners closer. So there were ways that he got around it, and it was always fascinating to me that it didn't matter to him more, and yet, rather should have taken advantage of him. Oh, yeah. They did. And it is just wild that they didn't. I remember Jeff Sullivan, writing about that multiple times at fed grass because it fascinated him too. I mean, this was something that came to light before that AOL card game. Yes. 2014, and it wasn't until like 2018 or it was years before he finally figured it out or developed his bounce pass throw over to first base that he kind of compensated. I mean, there were years there where everyone knew about this and there were like big playoff games and you would see the runners threatening to go and dancing off first base and they just would rarely go. I mean, occasionally, but they did not run nearly as wild as you would think that they would. And it was always the question of why don't they go more and maybe it was partly sympathy, but I think Jeff ultimately developed the theory that they just couldn't internalize the fact. Right. That he couldn't throw to first base. They knew it. It was in the scattering report. Maybe the first base coach was telling them that, but once they were on the base, and they're looking at a lefty who looks like he's about to throw over there, they just couldn't bring themselves to accept that he wouldn't, and that they could take really as long a lead as they wanted and run with impunity. And so it just never happened. And that will fascinate me to the day I die probably. And I would submit that even after he figured out the bounce pass thing, they still should have run on him more than probably did. Like they still should have run on him more than they did. It is one of the it is one of the best things that has ever happened in the history of the sport. I'm not overstating it. It ranks in a profound way. It should be, you know what? MLB dot com. You need some content. Go and it inspected this mystery more. I know that Jeff wrote about it, you know, at length, but there is still grist in this mill, because it is one of the wildest things that has ever happened. And I wonder, I imagine that there were a couple of categories of sort of reluctance, right? There were the people who were just not based runners anyway, right? And so they thought, look, even though this strange circumstance exists, and even though I in theory, if I'm going to be able to run on anyone, it is going to be him. I'm just not, I'm not, I'm not a vern vroom guy, you know? I'm not the room from guy and I don't want to look silly because I will say that in that stretch where he just really literally couldn't throw her first space. Can you imagine how you'd feel if you had gotten cut? Like can you imagine if you're the guy who's still here? That's in the first line of your obituary. Really? Gets the thing that travels with you, you know, from Clubhouse to Clubhouse, just forever. So there's like that category of the guy. And then I'm sure that there were some guys who were convinced and had like a carry Matheson color coded board in their apartments that this was all a long con. This was a bit and he was waiting to deploy it until the ideal moment. And so if you were the guy who was going to run in that situation then, oh no, John was going to get you because he was just committed to the bit. It was a years long operation. And then there were the people who were just, I don't know cowards, maybe, like, do we want to call them that? That seems like too strong a judgment, but I just don't, it's the best thing. It's one of the best things that's ever happened in the sport. So yeah, it really is. And I don't know how well we'll be remembered because just looking at a few news articles about Lester's retirement. I mean, if I were writing them, I would say John Lester, the former major league pitcher, who for a while there could not throw over to first base and also was a 5 time all star and won three World Series and beat cancer, et cetera. That's the order of things that I would highlight in my first sentence or first paragraph of his baseball obituary. So I don't know that this will be remembered. I'm sure that future generations of baseball fans and future baseball podcast hosts will come across this somehow somewhere and then they will marvel at it the way that we did. And maybe now that he is retired, he'll be more open to revisiting it and talking about how that happened and how he got around it. But it's really incredible. Beating cancer way more personally significant and notable than beating first base pick off attempt yips and yet it just really it boggles my mind to this day. I remember doing an article for grantland, I guess it was going into the 2015 season where I had all of the makers of all of the various simulation software for baseball run the numbers for Jon Lester if he could never throw to first base..
Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast
"john lester" Discussed on Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast
"I don't know how much spring training is really required to start the season on time or how much later they could start the season and still get the full slate of games and I think what's worrisome is you mentioned this coming down to the wire. I don't know where the wire is anymore. Exactly. The wire could be in any number of places because when there was a CBA expiration deadline, we knew where that wire was. It wasn't a real wire, they just tripped that wire and kept going, but it was at least a deadline. And now there isn't a deadline in the same sense. There are various deadlines. There's pictures and catchers reporting. There's the first game of spring training. There's opening day every day is a deadline of sorts, but there isn't exactly one agreed upon day. So that's kind of concerning because if there isn't one unified deadline that everyone is aware of, then you might have multiple parties with different levels of urgency and I don't know that you're as likely to get something done. So the fact that they went 42 days without talking, I don't know how negative I should feel about that because on the one hand, it seems like what you can talk all you want, but nothing actually productivity gets done until it really comes down to wherever the wire is. So if they had been talking regularly and exchanging slight amendments to their proposals for the past 42 days, would we be any closer to actually having a deal? I don't know. But it is kind of disconcerting that after more than a month to think of things, it sounds like based on what we know right now that MLP was basically just like, yeah, we were good with the previous proposal more or less. And here are a couple of tweaks maybe and the players unsurprisingly weren't having that. So something's got to give clearly and I don't know that the owners are all that willing to give these days, I suppose that they suffer more from missing spring training than the players potentially, just because the players are not paid spring training and teams do make money off of those games. So let's hope that that Greece is the wheels at some point here soon. So not panicking yet from the perspective of, yes, it would be nice for there to be a full season and for us to have something to say on this podcast. But it is getting to the point where the clouds are getting darker and they're gathering. Yeah, and then how do I plan an editorial calendar Ben? Yeah, good luck with that. You know? Season preview podcast right, when do we do our system? When do we do that? Yeah. I have no idea. Can someone send smoke signals and or wink at us to indicate which team will sign Carlos Correa and then we'll do that one last. Sure. You know, we'll just do it last, and then it'll be fine. We could start soon question mark. I mean, these are not the most important aspects of this, right? When the progression of the sport and people's livelihoods, like the players livelihoods are involved, these sort of trickle down issues are, I think, we're able to put them in their proper perspective, right? And I think that the jobs of the people who work in baseball media are important, but I can appreciate how we don't want to just rush to get a deal done to make sure that I know when to run positional power rankings. That's silly. But it's not unimportant. To me, personally, and to the people who listen to this podcast into the writers, who I'm going to have to say, hey, you have to write 30 blurred about a billion dudes, just like so many guys. So I think that we can acknowledge the strain that the uncertainty places on any number of people while not also wishing for a bad deal. We can do both of those things at once and I'm just here to say like Aristotle, get off my back man, I'm doing my best. I know that living your good life is a matter of habituation and practice. I gave that lecture at Wisconsin. I know the rules, but I'm just very stressed today. So anyway, I guess we should answer some emails. Yeah, we'll get to some emails. If there's any additional detail then we can discuss it next time, but it doesn't sound as if we're missing much relevant information here. And the winter is really testing the contention that no news is good to say at least when it comes to hosting a baseball podcast. But I do have some other stuff to say. And the good news, I guess for MLB dot com is the league's official website can now run articles about John Lester because John Lester is no longer an active Major League Baseball player. He announced his retirement. And I just wanted to say, obviously, incredible career just so many reasons to remember him long and successful career. He won three World Series. He was a 5 time all star. He beat cancer. He pitched almost 3000 innings at a well above average clip. He pitched almost another full season's worth of postseason innings with like a two and a half ERA, which is really incredible. So any number of reasons to celebrate and remember John Lester. And yet I think when it all comes down to it, the thing that I will most remember about John Lester is that for a while there, he could not throw to first base. Yeah. That's the lasting legacy of John Lester for me, I think. One of many, but probably the most salient thing about John Lester. In my mind, the thing that I'll remember about John Lester and my deathbed if I remember anything is the fact that for a while there, he could not throw to first base. And we got a ton of podcast fodder about that at the time and there was a thread in our Facebook group the other day, which was really fun. It was about things that happened in baseball that we would have talked about AD nauseum on the podcast if the podcast had existed at the time. So pre effectively wild news and we could get some bent or maybe a whole episode out of that thread, one of these days because there were a lot of fun suggestions. But that is a perfect example of an effectively wild story that tickled my fancy for three or four years there. And it was fascinating for a few different reasons, I think. First, the fact that he had extremely selective yips, which I didn't really realize was a thing. Pitchers sometimes get the epson can't throw the ball to home plate. We know catchers sometimes get the yips and can't throw the ball back to the pitcher. We know that infielders sometimes get the ips and can't throw the ball to first base, but to be a pitcher who can throw to home plate perfectly fine, but not be able to lab the first base. That broke my brain in a new and different way. And it was also something that was not like painful to talk about in the way that the yips often is because when the yips comes up I mean, it's a fascinating subject, but you also just feel for the person so much because suffering so clearly in their whole livelihood is at stake..
Bloomberg Radio New York
"john lester" Discussed on Bloomberg Radio New York
"Check of sport from around the world Here's Dan Schwartzman Thanks Brian Sports build in Germany reports that Russia Dortmund wants to open contract talks with star airline horland this month at the club wanting a decision on the future of the 21 year old by the end of the month Portland is one of the most sought after players in all of Europe and has released clauses summer of €75 million Real Madrid getting past Barcelona three to two extra time in the Spanish Supercopa semifinal in Saudi Arabia as Federico Valverde scores a winner in the 98th minute Madrid will face the winner of athletic Bill bow versus athletic in the final on Sunday Meanwhile Chelsea advancing to the carabao Cup final with a three nil aggregate win over Tottenham including a one nil win over the spurs in the second leg at Todd and Hotspur stadium In Italy and to Milan winning a thrilling Italian super Copa two to one over Juventus as Alexis Sánchez scores of winner in the 121st minute Novak Djokovic may not be in the clear yet to play the Australian open as an investigation done by German publication there Spiegel seems to indicate inconsistencies and dates but when Djokovic allegedly tested positive for COVID According to the publication computerized numbers and codes given to each test results suggest possible manipulation with dates and results Djokovic still has come out and admitted he broke isolation guidelines in Serbia after testing positive which is also punishable by up to three years in jail Finally after 16 years John Lester announcing his retirement from Major League Baseball I'm Dan Schwartzman that your Bloomberg world sports update Markets headlines and breaking news 24 hours a day As Bloomberg dot com the Bloomberg business at and at Bloomberg quick take This is a Bloomberg business lash And I'm Juliette Sally in Singapore We check the markets every 15 minutes here on Bloomberg daybreak Asia it is a little bit of a mix to a start to the Asian trading session of course have been watching the reaction to the U.S. inflation index which rose its fastest pace since 1982 in line with forecasts and a gauge of the dollar had its worst session since May on the back of the CPI data Here we've got the ASX 200 up by half of 1% in Sydney but the nikkei two two 5 in Tokyo is down by 6 tenths of 1% Fairly flat in South Korea and in New Zealand We've got U.S. futures little change but commodity and retail companies certainly led the games in the S&P 500 We'll be watching the reaction to chip makers today while TSMC coming through later in the day with full fourth quarter results and it will also host its earnings call Remember on Monday we had the sales numbers coming through but they will be reporting also net income and a raft of other factors too to the market TSMC was up 16% over the course of last year lagging behind a 24% gain of the local benchmark Tarek's index the stock though has jumped since last December and last week touched its highest level since February We are seeing a big spike in copper in Shanghai futures up by 2.7% steel also rising by around 2% and WTI crude is holding at $82 73 a barrel the Aussie tenure yield 1.87% the U.S. ten year 1.75% Let's get over to San Francisco now for a check of global news with our investor edge All right thank you Juliet some U.S. lawmakers are very concerned now that Olympic uniforms may use products from forced labor They say cotton used from China's Xinjiang region Novak Djokovic.
Bloomberg Radio New York
"john lester" Discussed on Bloomberg Radio New York
"A check of sport from around the world Here's Dan Schwartzman Thanks Brian Novak Djokovic may not be in the clear yet to play the Australian open as an investigation done by German publication dare Spiegel seems to indicate inconsistencies and dates for when Djokovic allegedly tested positive for COVID Djokovic though has also come out and admitted he broke isolation guidelines in Serbia after testing positive which is also punishable by up to three years in jail Real Richard gets past Barcelona three due to an extra time in the Spanish super Copa semifinal in Saudi Arabia as Federico Valverde scores a winner in the 98th minute Madrid will face the winner of Athletic Bilbao versus Athletico Madrid in the final on Sunday Meanwhile Chelsea advances to the carabao Cup final with a three mil aggregate win over Tottenham including a one nil win over the spurs in the second leg gets Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as Antonio Rüdiger scores the loan gold in the 18th minute in the Premier League west am united moving up to fourth in the league table at the two nil win over Norwich City In Italy Inter Milan wins a thrilling Italian super Copa two to one over Juventus as Alexis Sánchez scores the winner in the 121st minute while Atlanta shuts out venezia two nil in around a 16 Copa Italia match Finally after 16 seasons John Lester has announced his retirement from Major League Baseball The lefty starter finishes his career with exactly 200 wins with three World Series rings earned with the Red Sox in 2007 and 2013 and with the cubs in 2016 And Dan Schwartzman that your Bloomberg world sports op day Markets headlines and breaking news 24 hours a day At Bloomberg dot com The Bloomberg business app and at Bloomberg.
WTOP
"john lester" Discussed on WTOP
"What happened today on Wall Street with Jeff klab By the close of Dow is up 38 the S&P 500 up 13 money news in ten minutes on WB Sports at 15 and 45 on And we return to Dave Preston wizards facing Orlando this evening and during a year where coach west until juniors had to employ multiple starting lineups he's happy to have kentavious Caldwell Pope and Spencer did witty at his disposal Those guys who aren't afraid of the moment I give those guys a lot of credit because they are coming from a situation where they want a championship So Kyle's done it popes done it They've done it all year And it's why they're here and that's why they're going to continue to be a big part of what we do Wizard two and O against the magic so far this season 7 p.m. game time on 1500 a.m. meds college troops Maryland visits northwestern they lost to the wildcats back in December and what was interim coach standing Manning's debut I really like to resolve the young men that we have on our roster We've continued to go out and battle and fight and every day is different Every day presents new challenges And just making sure that we're locked in and we're connected as a team is something that we try to spend a little bit of time on Tariffs lost the December matchup by 6 9 p.m. tip off in Evanston same game time in Blacksburg Virginia tech hosting Virginia the hokies are zero and three in the ACC check out the bell way basketball beat on the sports page at WT dot com Major League Baseball 5 time all star and former nationals pitcher John Lester retires after 16 seasons in the majors college football Maryland announces its 2022 schedule beginning Saturday September 3rd at home against buffalo and wrapping up Saturday November 26th against Rutgers of tweeted the schedule at DAV presto and at W TOP Dave frost and WTO sports All right thanks so much Dave up ahead A controversial nun and the Pope We seem to be pen pals I'm John doeman That's after traffic and weather.
Baseball Tonight with Buster Olney
"john lester" Discussed on Baseball Tonight with Buster Olney
"If Kurt Schilling gets in this year, it really bodes well for a guy like John Lester. Not necessarily in his first year eligibility, but much later, maybe towards the end of his eligibility. You got to witness this part of his game, which I found to be fascinating because I've just seen in you have seen a lot of players. You know, an issue pops up and they and I really don't mean this as a criticism. I mean it is an observation, a flaw will develop in a player and they melt. They don't know how to deal with it. I don't remember another situation comparable to what we saw with Jon Lester in that he clearly had this issue throwing to first base the industry, other teams began to focus on that and try to take advantage of it. And man, he battled. You know, he didn't ever clean it up. He never got past that, but between he and David Ross and Joe Madden and Anthony Rizzo, they battled. I thought that was a cool part of his career. It's a great example of what you said earlier about his toughness. He attacked that sort of with this mentality that it wasn't going to beat him. Okay, if he gave up the stone base, he was going to strand him at second base. But even better than that, buster, he found ways to keep that guy at first. Listen to these stolen base totals off the top of my head. When he came over to the cubs first time in the national league of league where you're going to run a little bit more, he gave up 44 stolen bases his first season with the cubs. It went from 44 to 28 to 19 to ten, four years later. That's what he gave up on the bases by the end of his run with the cubs. He figured out a way he varied his time to home plate. You're right, David Ross, Anthony Rizzo and later Wilson Contreras certainly helped him out that in that department. And then he was able to pick off I forget the cardinal he picked off and that really set the tone because he actually did throw over there and now everybody had it on tape that he was at least willing to do it and he really attacked it with that toughness. You mentioned, one other point I want to make regarding that towards the end with the cubs especially, his skills were eroding, right? He didn't have his fastball. His cutter wasn't even as good. He remade himself. He reinvented himself several different times. Even this last year with the nationals, a 5 O 5 ERA, and then he goes over to the Cardinals and has success there winning his 200th game. Several different times, he went into that video room and found his flaws and fixed himself to go on a little bit of a run. Then he might have that he might come back down to earth, figure some things out and go on that run again. So that's where that toughness came in. He didn't let those deficiencies beat him or define him late in his career. His career comes to an end in the midst of a labor stoppage, the owners locking out the players. You know, I wonder about this for John Lester in the same way that I wondered about it when Kyle Seager announced his retirement. If we had a normal off season, right? Where there was business taking place and contenders were filling spots and everybody knew for sure when spring training was going to open when the season was going to open. I wondered when Kyle Seager retired, you know what? I wonder if he would have continued playing, maybe not as a star player at the same salary, but if he would have continued playing if it was just a regular off season and he could just go about his business and stay in the same rhythm. John Lester is the same way. I mean, we saw at the end of last season with the Cardinals. He could be an effective pitcher. Yeah, I don't think so he was breaking down last year was the first full season in like a decade. He didn't reach 30 starts. He told me in the piece that I wrote, it was just getting harder and harder between starts and certainly in the off season to prepare for the regular season. I don't disagree with your sentiment. The game is right now unhealthy off the field, labor problems, and it's a little bit unhealthy on the field. We know it needs some changes in terms of the rules and the flow and the pace. So with those two things combined, I could see how there be some players a little down in the game might call quits. And John's case, I think it was more physical than anything. And he also offered this up to me that the pandemic opened his eyes, he's home with his family. He's enjoying his kids a little bit. So maybe without the pandemic, maybe a physically, he felt a little bit better at 38 years old. You might be right. But certainly the labor strife and the issues on the field in terms of just the flow of the game and everything. It certainly contributed to some people in their sort of negative feelings towards the even the game that they love and that they get paid a lot of money for..
Baseball Tonight with Buster Olney
"john lester" Discussed on Baseball Tonight with Buster Olney
"Yeah, and I'm going to ask you about Alex for again. I had a follow up on that. But just about Nick pavetta, I've just been it's been fun to watch him in this role, you know, getting the save in the final day of the regular season. You know his background, you know, he was someone when he was with the Philadelphia affiliates, which you'd hear all the time was boy he's got a temper. Like he has a hard time maintaining his composure. Maybe that doesn't suit him well and being a starting pitcher because he can't get control of that. You see it come out from time to time kind of reminds me a bit a little bit of John Lester. Remember there are times when John Lester would get mad at an umpire's call and David Ross would have to go out to the mount and yell at him and tell him to get a control. But you know pavetta, how much fun is that to watch him sort of evolve as a pitcher? It's amazing. And he's a guy and I've seen him a lot in the blue Jay part of my life. They tend to play the Phillies every year in interleague play. And now, of course, you know, he's with the Red Sox and they play the Red Sox a ton. So I've seen him pitch a lot. And even in games in which he got hit, and I'm sure you would agree with me. Like pretend you don't know the name or the background or the bio or the stats or anything. Just generic picture. You'd watch him and you'd say, boy, that's good stuff. Like that is that fastball plays. That curveball plays. And to me, at the time of the deal last year, honestly, my thought of the moment was what a perfect change of scenery kind of guy Nick pavetta is. Like, it just felt like he needed a fresh start. And I'm not saying I could foresee he would turn into this. And he had it up and down. Year or two, but his up is pretty good. And like you said, he's got a lot of intensity, a lot of emotion on him. I've had a chance to visit with him a couple of times, as you know all Canadians know each other and I visited with them. And he's, you know, with me for the nicest kid in the world. Nice young man in the world. You know, you've heard other things like you said about the temper or the you know he can really get in his own way a little bit sometimes, you know, maybe just a change of scenery and some maturity and different voices talking to and boy whether it's the 6th inning that I'm getting the first inning. He seems to embrace be embracing his role right now. And again, I suspect he will be in the bullpen tonight. We saw him after game two as a war of bores and I were sitting in the booth doing our postgame hit up on the monitor in our booth that you're familiar with. He went down to the bullpen and put that through in the bullpen because he wasn't needed in game two. That says to me, he's starting game four. That was his between outings, throwing session. But if Eduardo Rodriguez gets knocked out on the second, he could be in tonight. We know Alex Cora, but I gotta believe plan is that he starts game four. And again, he's still stretched out enough where he could give Alex Coro 5 good innings, I think. Maybe even a little bit more than that if it goes well. You've talked about Alice core is acumen for making pitching changes in finding out in a pitching staff, even when his guys are tired. How would you describe what makes him great as a manager? I think he is the best combination we have in the game today of the numbers and the people. Understanding and using the numbers and relating to the people. I think he makes the 26th person on his roster feel like the most important person on this roster. We asked him what he said to Chris sale when he took sail out of the most recent start in the third inning because Alex stayed out there for a while. And he said, I looked him in the eye and I think he patted him on the chest, and he said, you did great, and you're going to be a big part of this going forward. He's conscious. He doesn't want to lose Chris sale, knowing he's going to need Chris sale later on. I think and you've known Alex a long time. I think Alex port is great with people. I don't know that he gets enough credit for that. I think even when the lineup card is posted or a reliever comes in or rolls change, I think he's got a way of making sure that guys feel important. And he empowers them. And listen, we all know that a lot of the decisions that managers are making are group things. They're getting input from the analytics department in the front office pregame. So some of it is dictated in advance. A lot of it still has to be done on the fly. He's not going to get outmaneuvered. He's way too smart for that. He's not going to panic. He's way too, you know, way too cool for that. And I think he's as good with people as I said as any manager in the game. What a pivot point for the Red Sox franchise that's 72 hours last fall when they were debating whether or not to hire Alex's manager or Sam fold. And there were voices within the Red Sox organization who wanted to go with saint fold. I remember hearing that Dan and thinking, what are you crazy? That Alex is so good as a manager and it turned out well for the Red Sox and look sampled probably going to be a great manager too. But Alex corp as a manager for the Red Sox a perfect fit. All right, before you go, I wanted to ask you about the Blue Jays. You meant to do a lot of Blue Jays game during the course of the year. Give me the lay on the land and Marcus Simeon and Robbie ray, who were both hitting the free agent market. And what do you think chances are the Blue Jays keep one or both of these guys? The fan base buster by and large, of course, wants both of them resigned. And how could you not, right? With the kinds of seasons they had. I think they financially could resign both of them, but that would probably hamstring them in other areas. Vladimir Guerrero junior is hitting arbitration. Oscar Hernandez is in arbitration. And Jose barrios is a free agent at the end of next year. So P either requires arbitration or a one year deal or an extension. I think you're asking me what I think will happen. If I had to guess, I would guess neither one of them is back to be honest with you. With Simeon it's interesting. There are a couple of things the Blue Jays can't compete with. They can't become a West Coast team and Marcus is a West Coast guide, you know, east bay played with Oakland, the Blue Jays..
Scoops with Danny Mac
"john lester" Discussed on Scoops with Danny Mac
"On the whole well run in spite of all that there also been a little bit of luck like things sort of break their way and i told matt i said he goes will martin. If you're well run organization that will happen. I know but i do believe. There's a little bit of cardinal devil dust or whatever the hell they call it well you create your own luck right. It's the cliche that you hear about. And i can go on fan graphs you can go on it. We can go on all these different websites that tell you that j hap is not a good pitcher and john lester before he got here was not good. And why do you sign. Tj mcfarland and wade blank leblanc and luis garcia but inside those office walls. There is their own system of looking at players and how they evaluate and saying well if we get this guy. And i think this is. What's happening right now at the club. And he throws strikes. We have a really good defense. So maybe some of these outs or base hits that we can turn into outs benefit us if we bring them into what we and we also see. Maybe we could change him. Things guy works with yati. Maybe working with mike. Matic's maybe gets with adam wainwright see something that is part of what mad holidays talking about in terms of it's a well run organization work. Pick up little things that may be on the outside. You're saying are you kidding. Me with jay happen. John lester but inside those walls they say maybe we catch lightning in a bottle with these guys because we see some things that might fit into our club. I do think that that's happened. And also think you got to have a little devil magic. And they've had there is something to it just over the years you know like that nationals game where they come back sheringham five. It was just weird stuff happens but as it pertains to this year the moves have worked out because these guys are throwing strikes primarily and they used the defense and the defense might be the best in baseball and we're also seeing that it's a pretty athletic club. They run the basis. Well always have so with the speed of o.'neil baiter edmund. Sosa some of the others. Now you're seeing the athleticism on display. The defense is going to work and that's one of the reasons that they're winning. It is amazing. If i'd said two months ago well if we could just get john lester. J hat and luis garcia and tj mcfarland. We'll be fine and wade block. Yeah it'd be like what are you an idiot and right. now you're like me more garcia. Gimme more mcfarland. And that's dad's part of that devil magic like sit on tv. Give them more reasons to hate you. You know it's so much fun is mad as you've been at. This team has many times if people wanted. Mike shield fired on twitter wherever they go on social media right now. You're kind of forgetting all that and enjoying the game. Now that said.
The Lab
"john lester" Discussed on The Lab
"Because you know carter and hernandez guys were traded for or acquired whereas the cubs were mostly except for. You know ben zobrist. And i guess john lester auroras was on that team when they won but you know besides for that they really were all their core and to win that much. It's tough. i think they probably could have one more but at the same time it. It also kind of makes sense. Like i think the aggressive rebuild at least in this case you know with expiring contracts in rizzo and brian. What are you gonna do resign. Those guys so they're they're on the team deep into their thirties. I think we've talked enough about how that's probably not a great idea and current baseball. Unless you're the san francisco giants where you know. The age doesn't matter raise over there in a tough spot. But i think you in a position where you don't. You're gonna win this year. You don't think you have enough this year. Which is certainly seemed to be in that position. This is kind of to me the shrewd move but yeah. It's tough to see. I think it's interesting that they're it's the dismantling happened now. you know they. They didn't make the playoffs in two thousand nineteen. They only one eighty four games. You know the the the dynasty idea was really over by that point and then it took a couple more years for them to really you know for them to really fall apart. This year even looked for a hot second like they might be buyers at the trade deadline. Which you know especially the beginning of your young great if they had one of lost in the first week of july or whatever you know this might be a completely different scenario. And that's how quickly things change in baseball From one season to next as a fan of a team that just you know. It is also rebuilding completely. It's hard as a fan. And i ensure i know i know a lot of distraught cubs fans who really are gonna miss. Rizzo bryant and and by. I mean unbiased. Everybody i it's. It's a tough situation for sure. But this is kind the reality of baseball. And so you have to ask you why. You're team to rebuild. You don't want your team to just sit and you know live on the memory of five years ago. So and then we've seen these teams kinda take these half-measures these kind of quasi rebuild like the phillies come to mind where they always kind of lake somewhere in between rebuilding and loading up. And i think they are right now. And and i don't know if that's the best approach While i do think like the phillies as smart this year. Frankly because i think the mets are pretty vulnerable of first place team. As i've said numerous times and i don't think i'm just being pessimistic. I don't i think sometimes it's it might be better just to be a little more aggressive with it and it's really you know. Get rid of all the the big money you have to pay especially when the team is willing to part with significant prospects. Who are who are close to major league ready. Which in a lot of cases some of these traits. That certainly applies. Yeah it's such a crapshoot when you're when you're dealing with prospects you just never know and i think that's what's frustrating as a fan. It's like i'm losing a player. I really like and i know can perform and like okay. These guys will be good. Who knows wait. Yeah exactly. that's that's fun. I don't know this. This trade deadline was was very active. Lots and lots of players moving. I saw it like ten. Allstars are now with a different team. Which is the some astronomical number. What what do you think made this trade deadline so active. Why were teams really going out and getting guys..
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
"john lester" Discussed on The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
"They were all over. They added pieces by themselves. They were supposed to keep getting better. They those guys aren't supposed to need a whole bunch of help. They were the core their patient after two thousand sixteen was bad. You darvish i. He's gotten better since his first year on the cubs was not great. You criticize people are unreal. You criticize when teams don't sign free agents. then you criticize when they signed free agents. Who don't work out so what you can't win for losing they'd pay jason heyward. They paid yu darvish. It's not like their payroll is fifty million dollars. It's not like they're the marlins we brought our payroll down to nothing in two thousand six two years three years after winning the world series. That's total firesale. Rebuilt the cubs have not had a low payroll. They just haven't been able to win another world series. That doesn't mean that they're making bad decisions. They kept that core together. It's two thousand sixteen. It's five years ago. Wouldn't kill them to spend some more money the ricketts they have more money than god. First of all. It is so nice for fans to spend other people's money. It's my favorite thing in the world to do. There's rumors that they could sign kris. Bryant this off season have you got. Have you ever done that. David with a guy that you're trading saying. Hey we'll we'll talk to you in the off season but we just want to get something for you. Well we say that but then we never did it but the yankees did it. The the yankees did it with Chapman they traded chapman to the cubs won the world series. And then the yankee stadium is a free agent but the cup. But i don't think chris. Brian will sign with the cubs. Because jed warriors too smart to fall scott boris's line kris. Bryant is not who he could have been now. He was unbelievable as a younger player. But he's not a twenty five million dollar player by any stretch. The cubs could've at least made some type of effort in the last five years to extend one of those players just for the sake of the fans like the fan. Now it'd be very are bad at scoring. Those players didn't get any better unemotional. Like you're spending all your money with their with your heart. The cubs just did something cold and wise by tearing your heart out and stepping on it. Yeah well maybe. If i were super rich i would just be like you know i. I don't really care about the fans that much. But i care a little bit about baya's rozelle and there is those guys. They can't score. Let's just. Let's move on san jose lester. I'm not moving on. John lester stinks. He was great. But you wanna sign john. John lester i was just making it an exaggerated point that they got rid of the entire team basically in one night okay. I can't even argue at that. Then no i know we already discussed. Rehash this with mike. Sure on friday. And i trust mike sure he. He said that the cubs did the right thing. Mike sure more about baseball than anyone. I've ever met in my life. He just baseball team. Just rally aronie s total on all counts. Here's the thing. I know what the cubs did. What jed hoyer did probably the right move in the long run if the cubs are competitive into your fool. Jessica sound like emotional sports fan like what do you want me to manses winning him. What do you have. who did you lie to. In order to trade them and then wanna bring them back in free agency. It's so you say why i say. Hey you never know what's going to happen. David give us all. The names is what you're saying dirty when you when you trade away a player whoever it is whenever you trade them aim the near gonna be free agents. The names. i'm not. There's no reason to why not. I've made a decision. Dan and you cannot have me on your show..
Off The Mound with Ryan Dempster
Ian Happ on Jon Lester’s Impact: 'He Changed This Organization'
"John lester he leaves a legacy here. We all know that we all know what an incredible human being is. But for you personally. What did john mean to you. I know you guys were really really close. What he teach you. What kind of life lessons and baseball lessons did he give to. So that you could have your own your own path and your own career. John john taught me how to be a pro. You know from from that first year in two thousand seventeen It really took me under his wing And and just taught me all the little things that go into preparing He was the most prepared player. Most prepared pitcher. I've ever seen The way that he went about his bullpens the way he went about his day before. Prep i think he taught a lot of of guys that he played with how to do that. and it was just so amazing to watch him compete. He was one of the guys that You'd run through a wall for every day Being behind them and it was such a privilege to get to the play with him for a few years and to get to experience that for me. He's a no doubt hall of famer if he changed his organization And i can't say enough good things about what he's done for me personally As a baseball player and just as a person
News, Traffic and Weather
MLB -- Chicago Cubs offense needs to be better
"The. Pirates and the cubs dominated, by pitching not, a lot of scoring especially for Chicago. But the pirates get the, last laugh, Adam Frazier, with, a huge, big swing, a big fly a game ending home run in the eleventh inning on Sunday and the pirates beat the cubs for. A split of their four game. Series so that was kind of cool and you know what they. Do after a win at. PNC park they raise the jolly
Get Up!
Tom Brady sharp in 2018 debut against Eagles
"The way with Michelle Beedle and Jalen. The band is back together, but now to some NFL eagles backup quarterback, Nick foles suffering a strange shoulder during last night's preseason game against the patriots, and he was hit by Patsy and Adrian clayborn. Wally was stepping into the throw in the second quarter. He didn't return to the game after being injured said afterward that his short fills pretty good and that he's optimistic. So when we think about this
Under The Hood
Veteran Cole Hamels a worthwhile risk for Chicago Cubs' rotation
"The good thing for the cubs is that they have a three, game lead the Rizzo hadn't been hitting this year until recently Bryant hasn't been playing their pitching staff other than John, Lester, hasn't been helping them out much and they still have, a three game lead in the division yes it's all been working in that sense, they're in a comfortable spot because the National. League has, really outside of the dodgers has not really, put any front runners out there so the cubs, are in a good, spot in that regard. But I still maintain despite this nice win today if you're a cubs fan I would be leery about feeling confident going into the playoffs with the roster. As it's currently constructed, all the more reason you need to add some depth to this pitching staff but I'll be honest because again. We're going to be kind of just tip toeing around it until we get official. Confirmation, of Cole hamels coming to the cubs even if they land Cole hamels I'm not sure that he's going to be he's a nice Name that's the thing if you're a sports fan. But, you don't follow baseball all that closely. And a day in day out basis you know Cole hamels Cole hamels is because of the World Series heroic steady provided for the. Philadelphia Phillies but he has not been that Cole hamels and. At least four years and he really hasn't been. A you know a good, pitcher in two years his last five stars he's got a ten Twenty-three ERA and it's funny because, usually when there's a possibility of a deal getting done managers usually don't talk, about a guy they'll, talk about, a guy that maybe pitched against them that day they'll talk about a guy that might be pitching the next day against them but Joe Matt was asked about. Cole hamels today and gave an opinion you've. Been pretty good I've not liked him. For a long time Put some really big games against teams that I've. Been involved with and has done really well He's a he's a great competitor Good stuff but he's just he competes and he. Knows what he's doing out there so I'd have to rank them as a. Pretty, pretty, competent major league pitcher now Jeff you're Mr., analytics and I'm the old man. But we hear a lot people you'll hear it, if in fact. This, deal happens, you'll hear that well you know Cole hamels getting an opportunity to pitch in, in a playoff. Stretch postseason run things. Like that he's he's..
Wintrust Business Lunch with Steve Bertrand
China pulls approval for Facebook's planned venture: NYT
"Your, money on WGN orients Samuelson a report in the New York Times, today says, China has withdrawn its, approval for Facebook's plan to open a venture in the, eastern province of j. John and the Chinese government database showed that Facebook had gained, approval to open a subsidiary but the registration has since disappeared according to checks made by Reuters the move but setback for Facebook which has, been struggling to gain a foothold in. China the most populated country. In the. World where the website and messaging app wants up, remain blocked Sinclair broadcast group, and, media company, shares higher today after President. Trump criticize the Federal Communications Commission for deferring a decision last week On their proposed three, point nine billion dollar tie-up and a federal appeals court upheld the, rules change, on broadcast ownership rules, Trump tweeted so sad and unfair that the FCC would, not approve this in Clare brunt gas merger with Tribune this would have been a, great and much-needed conservative voice four and of the people Sinclair shares up to into third percent and Tribune stock of two point four percent The tariffs partly to. Blame today for lowered full year forecasts by General Motors and Fiat Chrysler automobiles and their stocks hard today GM cited higher steel and aluminum, cross for its two thousand eighteen profit forecast reduction and chief financial officer Chuck Stevens said GM put in a. Solid performance in the second quarter despite some. Fairly significant headwinds that have built throughout the. Year that's your money on seven hundred twenty WGN WGN, sports Dave at the cubs are getting set to play at Wrigley field against the Arizona, Diamondbacks and hoping, to get their first win the series but they'll have to do it without Kris Bryant out of. The lineup for the second day in a row he deals with another bout a shoulder inflammation second baseman havi or by has also out he was on, the receiving Out of a hard slide left. Him with a bruised knee and last night's loss John Lester starts today for the Cavs against, Robbie Ray for Arizona tonight. The White Sox try to win three, in a, row, for, just. The third time this season or they play the angels in, Anaheim again James shields makes the start shields hasn't won. On the road since opening day he'll be opposed by the angels Tyler Skaggs pre-game anti Andy her at eight thirty. At the first page with that Farber Derrick Jackson little after nine on seven hundred twenty WGN the Boston Red Sox owning baseball's best. Record of acquired right ahead there Nathan of all the. From Tampa Bay for a minor leager and Mets outfielder you out for the season let it go surgery for chronic pain in both heels, recovery is expected to take eight months the bears take a day off from training camp while just three first. Rounders remain on side including the bears roquan. Smith the Buffalo Bills today signed their top. Pick Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen To a four, year contract they ladder falcons have given three year extensions. To their coach Dan Quinn and their general manager Thomas Dmitrov the. Falcons, have been in the playoffs the last two years including a Super Bowl appearance David WGN sports, WGN traffic Violeta podrumedic thank you came. Traffic, is sponsored by KFC no delays yet on the Edens between lake cook road. In the junction inbound Kennedy's forty minutes O'Hare to downtown twenty four minutes out the Eisenhower is bit heavy at fifty five minutes, three ninety to the old post office twenty eight minutes out inbound Stevenson's forty five three fifty five to lakeshore drive thirty. Two minutes outbound and of the Dan Ryan is twenty five minutes ninety. Fifth to the circle just fourteen. Minutes out get the new crispy Colonel. Sandwich from KFC the new KFC crispy Colonel five dollar. Fill up comes with wedges cookie and a drink this offer is not everywhere and not forever, price may vary tax subsidies. Are extra for personalized traffic on demand, get the, traffic, Chicago, app App approved by the reverse mortgage loan experts of team hockberg just search t. r. a. f. f. I x. Chicago I'm Violeta podrumedic in WGN traffic central the WGN. Chicago weather center forecast mostly sunny warm today a high of eighty eight tonight partly cloudy there's a.
First and Last with Lundberg and Golic, Jr.
France, Roger Federer and Pete Sampras discussed on First and Last with Lundberg and Golic, Jr.
"The final call on fox sports france doubles up grows your two for their second world cup in their country's history the other was in nineteen ninety eight in paris killian bob day with his fourth goal anthro gap the nineteen year old is just the second teenager to score world cup final goal joyti palay who did it in nineteen fifty eight novak djokovic straightsets win over kevin anderson what his fourth career wimbledon title joining roger federer beyond and pete sampras as the only men to win wimbledon four or more times since the start of the open era final day before major league baseball allstar break and onto scoreboard intead innings twins take down the raise eleven to seven on a brian dosier walk off grand slam his fourth career grand slam guidroz get past the angels five to three as take down the giants sixty two cubs over the padres seventy four john lester goes to twelve in ju warriors knock off the rangers six five manny machado with his twenty four th home homerun red sox have won twelve thirteen beat the blue jays at fenway five to two indians have five two victory over the yankees new york now four and a half games back of boston for the aliens.
Dave Ramsey
Trump shares "very nice" letter from North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un
"That he and his house judiciary committee called exempt some big decisions to make if we find criminal activity going on here we're going to have to refer that over to the attorney general's office and see what jeff sessions and his team will do with that strikes former fbi lover lisa page is scheduled to testify president trump twit tweeted out a letter this morning that he says he's received from north korean leader kim jong un in the letter dated july the sixth says that his meeting with trump in singapore was the start of a meaningful journey wound refers to trump as quote your excellency and says he extends his convictions that another meeting between the two leaders is in the future ktar is on the economy under governor doug ducey is way again on a new report showing why arezzo china is a top place for business simply put he's not surprised cnbc ranked arizona twentieth on it's best state for business lists up six spots from last year the governor tells ktar more people are moving here and for good reason we've created over a hundred and sixty thousand private sector jobs in the last three years and had three hundred companies were you locate tarazona right now see says there are more jobs available than there are people to fill them adding the key moving forward is not increasing taxes or regulations jeremy foster ktar news well if you're hoping to get to a build a bear location today to take advantage of the pay your age event you are out of luck the company now says they can't accept anymore guest at any of their us locations due to crowd and safety concerns at build a bear the third arizona diamondbacks player is going to be headed to the major league baseball all star game in washington later this month pitcher zack greinke he has been named as a replacement attendee for the game he replaces chicago cubs starter john lester who was unavailable to pitch into game because the cubs moved up one of his starts and pitched him too late before the all star game grank he joins fellow dbox paul goldschmidt and patrick corbin on the national league team that follows seven with traffic every six minutes here's larry lewis live from the valley chevy dealers traffic center bob we got double trouble now ten westbound we've got.
The Steve Cochran Show
Phillie Phanatic launches hot dog woman says hit her in face, eye
"By wintrust chicago's community banks with an update on wgn sports here's dave eanet good news for the white sox they only have to go back to cleveland one more time and not until september progressive field has not been good to them they're owen six there after getting swept for the second time in less than a month with the twelve nothing loss the socks are home tonight against the oakland athletics they could have avas sale garcia back off the dl lucas g alito makes the start tonight's game six thirty five right here on seven twenty wgm the cubs made it two of three in their rematch with the dodgers john lester winning his fifth straight start back by some outstanding defence as they blanked la four nothing kyle schwaiger homered kris bryant drove around soon anthony rizzo jason heyward throughout a band at the plate from deep right field the cubs have won seventeen of twentyfive their percentage points ahead of milwaukee again for first place the brewers washed out in pittsburgh cubs hurt cincinnati tonight the bulls zone two picks including number seven in tonight's nba draft in brooklyn phoenix has the number one pick expected to be arizona senator deandra eytan dukes marvin bagley the third wendel carter junior missouri's michael porter texas center mogambo and european star luka don't chichewa expected to be among the lottery picks tonight the blackhawks announced their home opener will be sunday october seventh with an original six matchup against toronto the full schedule is due out later today the nhl holds its draft beginning tomorrow in dallas world cup soccer dead bark at australia a one all draw today italy france against peru peru next up and argentina takes on croatia the fire advanced to the us open cup quarterfinals with a win over atlanta united and philadelphia phillies fan kathy mcveigh's recovering after being struck in the face by a hot dog she was hit by the hotdog launched by the phillies mascot the philly fanatic because she had a shoulder injury she couldn't stop the hot dog from hitting the face it left mcvay with a small hematoma in her eyes but she says she's a big fan and is not planning any legal action against the team although the blackhawks the northwestern wildcats and white sox baseball david.
CBS Sports Radio
Bax, Terence Crawford and Andrew Putnam discussed on CBS Sports Radio
"Sports play thank you huge we start baseball the angels continue to roll the halos going for their sixth straight win they visited the twins albert skies went to deep left beal this was way out there all deals alber bulls connects per solo home run and gives the angels a to nothing lead here in the sixth inning that's victor row house angels radio network in kinzler also homer the angels go on for the two one win their sticks than row the blue jays won three straight after a four three walk off win in ten innings over the orioles the tigers also walked off on the indians for two and twelve thank the jamar candle our ios two run homer jd martinez belted his leagueleading twentyfirst homer the red sox doubled up the white sox four to raise got by the mariners seven three the royals blanked the as to zip astros four rangers three and al bryce harper his nineteenth homer the nationals defeated the giants seven five the padres edge of the marlins five four cardinals six reds four the cubs blanked the pirates to zip behind seven scoreless innings once again from john lester is good right now it's not like we've reinvented any wheel or try anything new just feel like i'm for the most part executing pitches and when they do you know hit the ball hard it's right so at the same time i feel like like i said i feel like i'm executing pretty well lester as tossed fifteen straight scoreless innings the brewers power past the phillies twelve three g man show a pinch hit grand slam the bax took out the rockies twelve seven braves five dodgers three and for the second time in four years we have a triple crown winner and horse racing justify wins the one hundred fiftieth running of the belmont stakes going nearly wiretowire for the victory trainer bob baffert also one with american pharaoh back in two thousand fifteen overall is the thirteenth triple crown winner in history gronkowski finished second hoff berg third tennis numberone seats motor halla beat american sloan stevens in three sets to win the french open on the men's side it'll be number one rafael nadal against dominic theme for the men's title golf three rounds complete at the st jude classic dustin johnson andrew putnam tied atop the leaderboard at fifteen under boxing terence crawford be jeff horn by.
Tiki And Tierney
Simona Halep beats Sloane Stephens to win French Open
"Out hunter pence representing the time run his sixteenth save gives the nationals ace seventy five win over the giants that series tied at a game apiece bryce harper hit his nineteenth homerun adam eaton were the single and a couple of runs and his return from these sixty day de l for the giants evan longoria andrew mccutchen end nick only had two hits each hundley had a three run homer andrew rubin for the brewers got a pinch hit grand slam in the top of the sixth from g man choi first career grand slam off reliever luiz garcia has helped the brewers to an eight to three lead they're in the top of the seventh in philly the blue jays hanging onto a three two lead over the orioles it's three two in the top of the eighth inning and the cubs still ahead of the pirates to nothing going into the bottom of the fourth with john lester on the mound games coming up in the four o'clock hour you've got the white sox visiting the red sox the royals dropping in on the as tigers hosting the indians padres head to miami the rays are home against the mariners blake snell against felix hernandez should be a good pitching matchup there and finally michael walker seven and one for the cardinals as they visit the reds they're just twenty two and forty to the warriors won their third nba championship in four years but last night's one eight eighty five win to sweep lebron james and the cavs justify is the favourite heading into the one hundred fiftieth running of the belmont stakes as it looks to become the thirteen tours to win the triple crown french open the fourth time was a charm on clay for world numberone simona halep she won her first career grand slam in three sets against american sloan stevens tomorrow you've got rafael nate doll and dominic team taking centre court in sunday's men's final doll sixteen grand slams a record ten at the french team appearing in his first ever grand slam and final that's a one versus eight matchup nidal has won all but one set so far at roland garros i'm greg caserta you can.