While We’re Waiting serves as the early morning gathering of WFNY-esque information for your viewing pleasure. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email at tips@waitingfornextyear.com.
Stepien Rules with a guest post by Dan Coughlin- “Some people took advantage of him. I’ll never forget the day he called a press conference to announce the signing of a free agent. Ted thought he had the deal done, but no papers had been signed. The press conference was set for noon at his “Competitors’ Club,”a girlie bar in the basement of the Statler Office Tower. Half an hour before the press conference, Ed Keating, the player’s agent, said to me, “Wait right here. I’m gonna get another million out of Ted.”
Both Keating and Stepien had offices in the Statler Office Tower.Keating asked Stepien to step into his lair, where he had his secretary type up a fresh contract that raised the player’s salary by an extra million dollars. “Sign it or cancel the press conference,” said Keating.
Stepien should have cancelled the press conference and sent everybody home. He should have told the caterer to take away the tray of cold cuts and close the bar, but Ted caved in. With his back against the wall, Stepien signed the contract and held the press conference. In the corner of the room Keating laughed his rear end off. Keating could be vicious. That’s how people did business with Ted. They squeezed every dollar out of him.” [Coughlin/Stepien Rules]
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“If you want perhaps the most revealing barometer that best reflects the Indians’ systematic demise as an American League powerhouse from the late 1990s until now, look at the evolution of the left-field position. It goes something like this: from Albert Belle to David Justice to Ellis Burks to Matt Lawton to Coco Crisp to Jason Michaels to David Dellucci to Ben Francisco to Michael Brantley to Austin Kearns to The Goodyear Seven.
Go ahead, connect the dots. It is not a pretty picture.” [Ingraham/News Herald]
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Getting Blanked doing work this season tracking the effectiveness of shifting infielders. [Fairservice/Getting Blanked]
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Another argument for Claiborne at #4- “The Browns need to continue to work to build a defense that can bring the pain and shut down the Steelers, Ravens and Bengals. Pair Claiborne with Joe Haden in the secondary and suddenly the linebackers don’t look so suspect.
Pair Claiborne with Haden and suddenly Ben Roethlisberger, Joe Flacco and Andy Dalton don’t have anyone open, which allows Ahyta Rubin, Jabaal Sheard, Phil Taylor and Frostee Rucker more time to make their life miserable (instead of the other team making Browns fans miserable).” [Red Right 88]
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Great list of the ‘Unwritten Rules’ of baseball. [Cameron/Fan Graphs]
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Kind of an amazing headline- “Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau homer in the same game for first time since July 2010″. Wow. [Big League Stew]
