I May Join the Dark (Green) Side

Warning: This post is quickly going to turn into something that will only truly resonate with people who know me.


This is the first thing I’ve written in ages, AGES, that hasn’t been Phillies related and published at ESPN’s CrashburnAlley. That’s just where most of my effort goes now. I haven’t stopped thinking about non-Phillies, non-baseball, non-sports things, I’ve just stopped writing about them. But I had a thought today that as too momentous and noteworthy not to mention here.

I might have to become an Eagles fan.

This is a serious thing, here. Let me explain how this might happen, step by step.

1. The Carolina Panthers want government money for stadium renovations/rebuilding

This has already happened. Like every professional sports franchise, the Carolina Panthers want to renovate their stadium from time to time and eventually build a completely new one. And, like almost every professional sports franchise, they want to use taxpayer money to do it. Lots of taxpayer money. In fact, the Panthers want to use public funds to pay for about 66% of the costs to spruce up Bank of America Stadium. That’s a heavy dose of tax dollars.

2. The government won’t give them the money

Check this one off the list, too. North Carolina’s government has told the Panthers to, “fuck off.” They won’t give them any money to make the stadium nice and spiffy and the Panthers aren’t happy. Look at what Panthers President Danny Morrison had to say when NC legislators declined a bill to increase taxes for the franchise:

"[State officials] have always been supportive of our efforts and indicated the importance of the Panthers to both the State and Charlotte. We are hopeful that ultimately these assurances translate into support for the team."

This leads us to …..

3. The Panthers posture themselves for a move to Los Angeles, like every other NFL franchise that’s fought over tax dollars with the government has since the Raiders and Rams left.

Well that just kinda happened in that Morrison quote, didn’t it? “I hope you remember how important we are to you guys because if we feel underappreciated we’re gonna leave!” You see, the NFL doesn’t want a team in Los Angeles. I know it’s the second largest media market in the country, a beautiful city full of rich people who’d love to spend money on luxury boxes and such poor public transportation that paid stadium parking would set world records. I know the weather, culture and the chance to fuck a Kardashian would lure free agents there like crazy and make the team perennial contenders. But all those reasons are exactly why the NFL wants LA kept vacant, it’s such a viable location for teams to threaten to go. LA’s value to the league is far greater if it doesn’t have a team because now teams like the Panther and Vikings and Saints can grab government officials by the balls, tell them they’re moving to LA if the taxpayers don’t build them a new stadium and then remind the legislators how angry the voters will be if the government let’s their precious NFL slip away. It’s brilliant. It’s despicable. It happens all the time.

4. The government still won’t give them the money

We’re not quite here yet, but apparently from the tone of the negotiations between the Panthers and the state government, we’re going to get there. What we may see in this time are team statements and team commissioned reports about how helpful the Panthers are to the community’s financial condition and how taxes to help keep them in NC are simply an investment, not a total waste of money. This will all be bullshit. All the “Economic impact studies” on how many jobs a stadium will create and how businesses near the stadium will receive huge boosts in revenue from foot traffic on Sundays and Saturdays are false. They’ve been disproven numerous times by several economists who aren’t on anyone’s payroll. Unless legislators get scared that they’re going to be voted out by angry Panthers fans, they won’t budge and they shouldn’t.

5. The Panthers and NFL say, “Shit, someone called our bluff. What do we do now?”

No government has ever done this before. The suits are always caving in and paying for Stadium Wi-Fi and new bathrooms and shit. It’s possible that, since Panthers owner Jerry Richardson is old and has said he wants the team sold after he dies, a new owner wouldn’t hesitate to move the team to Los Angeles. The league might want him/her to. There’s enough room in LA for two teams (probably) and it might be advantageous for the league to show they’re serious about exiting current cities if they don’t get what they want.

I won’t root for a team based in Los Angeles. I hate Los Angeles. I hate Randy Newman and his fucking song. I even feel bad that I kinda liked Shawn Green when I was little. There’s only one course of action to take after that. I’ll climb the stairs to the 700 Level when I come to them.

Jason Parks' Chili Recipe

2 lbs. ground beef
2 lbs. ground spicy pork (optional)
1 small opinion (Eric's note: This should read "onion" but it should also read "opinion") 
3 cloves of garlic
1 jalapeno pepper
1 dark beer
2 cans of Tomato sauce (15 oz)
1 can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
Assorted spices (cumin, oregano, cayenne pepper, chili powder, salt, pepper, etc)
Worcestershire sauce (1/8 cup)
Cilantro 

Brown the ground beef in a few tablespoons of either saved bacon fat or store bought lard. Add the onions and garlic to the mix, but don’t overcook the aromatics. This would be a good stage to add the jalapenos as well. Let them brown in the fat with the meat, but do not burn. 


After meat is browned and awesome looking, reduce heat and add two cans of tomato sauce to the pot. Play with some spices here. Add a few pinches of cumin, oregano, salt, and pepper. Don’t go crazy, but start a foundation of flavor that you will build on later. Let the sauce simmer until it nears a boil. 


Reduce heat and let simmer. Taste it. Play with the spice, but keep it basic at this stage. 


In a separate pan or skillet, start to brown your secondary meat, either a spicy pork or a different cut of beef. I like to create a different flavor profile with the meats being used. Let’s just assume it pork, but you can use whatever you want. Instead of browning the meat in lard with garlic and onions, brown the meat in a little butter and excess adobo sauce, rendered from the chipotles you can chop up and add to the secondary meat mix. Don’t overdo the sauce, and watch the meat in the butter because it will burn quickly. 

Step back and watch the meat of your choice cook in a buttery chipotle liquid. It’s sexy. Don’t overcook the meat. 


When cooked, add the secondary meat mixture to the main pan with the meat/sauce on simmer. 


Add one dark beer to the mix and let it reduce. Add some of the Worcestershire sauce as well. Use good judgment. Don’t add too much liquid, but add enough to reduce over a 2-3 hour period. Touch up the spice profile with some chili powder and cayenne pepper. Stir. Don’t fuck with it. Let it handle its own shit. Keep an eye on it, don’t let it boil over or stick, but try not to handle it too much. Let it do its own thing. 

3+ hours later you should have this pot of pure sex. Taste it. Add salt/pepper. Add whatever spices you want to kick it up. Don’t ever listen to anybody when they say you have to use certain spices at certain times. Make it taste the way you want it to taste. Also, don’t get too wrapped up in when you do things. Chili is a combination of cheap ingredients cooked slowly over a long period of time. It really doesn’t matter a great deal if you add one thing before the other. Just get the pot full of awesome shit and add to the flavor profile during the process. You have to build flavor, but you don’t have to follow rules to do so. 

In the end, you should have a very delicious chili, with two meat profiles and lots of flavor. You can add beans to the mix if you want, and you can top the chili off with cilantro, which really adds some flavor to the finish. Serve it anyway you want. The entire process should take 4-5 hours. Don’t rush it. It will tell you when it is ready. If the chili is too watery, add a little bit of tomato paste to the mix during the process. It will help thicken it up. Eyeball everything. You don’t need to use exact measurements. Just build the meat profile, build the spice profile, add the beer, add more spice, leave it alone, add more spice/seasoning, leave it alone and then enjoy. It’s easy.

Eric Previews an Eagles opponent: Baltimore Ravens

Since there's no more minor league baseball to go scout I figured I'd satisfy my craving for writing by previewing Eagles games and shit. It's not going to be beautifully written and I'm not going to try be a fortune teller week to week, I just want to present some matter-of-fact stuff (mostly via Football Outsiders) that you would wanna know while you watch the game.  Let's talk about the Ravens.

General Offensive stuff:

Baltimore's offensive formula isn't hard to decipher. Hand the ball to Ray Rice, throw bombs and dump the ball off to Ray Rice when the deep routes aren't open.  That's mostly it.  It makes sense when you realize that Ray Rice is one of the league's most valuable players, Joe Flacco has the howitzer to chuck it down field and Torrey Smith is one of the NFL's fastest wideouts.  The problems with this offense are that it often lacks rhythm and Flacco is statuesque so he needs the O-line to block well to give deep routes time to develop since he's not creating time for himself.  The Ravens generally suck against standard nickel pakages and thrive against vanilla 3-3-5 nickel looks.  The Eagles don't have the true nose guard to play a 3-3-5 so don't sweat that.

The Ravens are one of the few NFL teams to still use a true fullback, Vonta Leach, and he plays a lot. Last year the Ravens ranked last in the NFL single back looks.  It follows then that they ranked 30th in 3-wide receiver sets. You're gonna see a lot of 2RB 1TE 2 WR looks today.

Individual Offensive stuff:

Joe Flacco: Joe throw ball far. Flacco threw 78 passes last year that traveled 20+ yards (third in NFL) and drew 5 more pass interference penalties to go with it.

Ray Rice: Rice rushed 290 times last year, about 240 of those coming with a fullback in front of him.  of the 90 passes Rice caught in 2011, 60 of them were as checkdowns. He is the Ravens' bellcow.  He's had 200+ carries and 60+ catches for 3 straight years.  The only other gys to do that? Marshall Faulk, Priest Holmes, Roger Craig and Marcus Allen.  He's a very special player.

Anquan Boldin: Awesome career is starting to wind down.

Torrey Smith: Look for Smith to be targeted off of play action. 22% of his targets last year were off play action, as were 3 of his 7 TDs.

Offensive Line: Left tackle Michael Oher is freakishly talented but doesn't pick up blitzes well.  No more Ben Grubbs at guard is a big loss for Baltimore.


General Defensive Stuff:

This was the best defense in the league last year.  They've lost Terrell Suggs who, despite the presence of Ray Lewis, Haloti Ngata and Ed Reed, is the best player on the squad.  Suggs had 14 sacks and 2 INTs last season but also pressured the opposing QB 39 other times last year.  Those pressures led to 3 INTs, 2 fumbles, an intentional grounding penalty and several holding penalties.  He's a monster but he's not playing.  The Ravens rush five guys almost 30% of the time, fifth most in football last year.

Baltimore only got pressure on Andy Dalton 8 times last week.  If they can get to Vick (after his 35 yard completion last week, Vick was 0-18 on passes under pressure) this game is going to be a disaster.   Last week the Eagles had trouble with defensive backs blitzing and struggled to communicate on stunts.  Danny Watkins sucks. No more Jason Peters.  Evan Mathis is just okay.  It could be a problem.

Okay that seems pretty good.  Go football.

MLB Prospect Scouting Report: Trevor May (Phillies)

Scouting Phillies righty, Trevor May, this year has not been easy. A whiff inducing howitzer one start, a frustrating, homer prone mess the next, May entered the 2012 season as the Phillies' consensus #1 prospect and leaves it having taken an enigmatic step backwards. It's not an insurmountable retardation of the Washingtonian's development, especially when you remind yourself that May only realistically projected as a mid-rotation starter anyway. Of course, a full page write-up and action shot in Baseball America's annual handbook will often alter the layperson's perception of a player, no matter how uninspiring a system for which he is the masthead.  There was more hype surrounding May this year than was warranted and, as such, his tumultuous season feels worse than it actually was.  It's time we take a step back, forget about May's pre-season status as the top dog in the Philly system, and have a context-free look at what there is to work with.  That's what I've got for you here.

Trevor May looks mighty impressive in his uniform. A broad-shouldered 6'5", he has the frame of an inning eating horse.  There's no projection left, but as May has filled out nicely.  He's only listed at 215lbs but trust me, he's carrying more than that and he carries it quite well. May 's athleticism isn't anything to write home about.  He doesn't always repeat his delivery well and his command suffers as a result.  He cuts himself off a bit before he gets to his 3/4s delivery, an arm angle which stifles some of the downhill plane you'd like to see s 6'5" pitcher get on the ball.  Onto the stuff…

May mostly pitches with a low-90s fastball that will touch as high as 94mph. I did see him kiss 96mph several times in a start early this season but I didn't see that much heat again all year.  May will incorporate a two-seamer every now and then ( it usually hums in around 89mph) but it's not much of a weapon right now.  While previous reports indicate healthy armside run, from my vantage point May's fastball looked straight.  And boy, does he leave it up in the zone a lot.  Many of the whiffs May induces come from high fastballs that big league hitters will either scoff at or launch into orbit.  It's been an issue of May's for a while now and it hasn't been corrected or even improved. 

May’s stable of secondary pitches is headlined by a good looking curveball.  It’s usually sharp with good depth and breaks late.  He can bury it and throw it for strikes and he adds and subtracts from it well.  It usually sits upper-70s but he’ll take some off and throw a big, loopy curve in the low 70s once in a while. I can’t decide if I’m pleased he’s learned this little trick or concerned because he thought he had to.  There’s one HUGE problem with May’s curveball.  He throws it from a different arm slot than his other pitches.  He’s 3/4s for everything except the curve for which his arm becomes more vertically oriented upon acceleration.  As such, it’s easy to pick up out of his hand.  This needs to be corrected yesterday.

May’s changeup is bad.  In his Eastern League Semifinal start last week he threw just one handsome changeup through 5.1 innings of work.  He often leaves it up in the zone, same as the fastball, and it rarely exhibits the fade/action you look for en un buen cambio.  May also throws a slider/cutter type thing in the 82-86mph range.  It’s short and unrefined but it exists.

So what exactly do we have here? In short it’s a pitcher with an ideal build and above average velocity with some fatal flaws in his secondary stuff and whose control/command development has stagnated.  I wouldn’t be surprised if May began next season back at Reading, though if I were in charge, I’d send him to Triple-A where more seasoned hitters won’t let him get away with the stuff he still mostly gets away with against Eastern League bats.  Maybe adversity and failure in front of minor league baseball’s biggest crowds will catalyze development.  If he’s an abject failure next season, maybe I start thinking about penning him.  Regardless, May’s ceiling is mostly the same (folks, I saw 96mph, a plus curve and a plus change at various times this year. A mid-rotation starter is in there somewhere) but the chances he gets there are now minute. 

I could go on forever about May because, most of the time, prospect failures are far more interesting than their successes.  You’ll see a new name atop the Phillies organizational prospect rankings next year but that doesn’t mean it’s time to give up on Trevor May.  It’s just time to over hype somebody else. 

MLB Prospect Scouting Report: Tyler Cloyd (Phillies)

Tyler Cloyd is now set to make his first career big league start tonight so why don't you read this hastily written scouting report so you know what you're watching?

Just named International League Pitcher of the Year, Cloyd has been fantastic for the IronPigs this year but the scouting reports are underwhelming in comparison. My thoughts are no different.  I've got notes on Cloyd from two periods of his development (from some relief appearances he made in last year's Arizona Fall League and two starts with the 'Pigs this year, including one last week) and they're identical both in my subjective evaluation and all sorts of objective measures like his times home from the stretch (about 1.35 seconds).  I'll make this short and sweet since I'm at work charting Justin Verlander, who diarrhea'd in the tub last night.

Cloyd is a 6'3", 190lb righty with a comfy, athletic delivery which he repeats very well. His arm comes through a little late but his mechanics are otherwise effortlessly smooth.  It's allowed him, for the most part,  to consistently throw strikes.  However, be forewarned that I've seen him have multiple batter lapses where he just can't find the zone and, contrary to how most pitchers respond to these swoons, Cloyd starts to work faster and faster until the catcher needs to come out just to calm him down.  Most of his listed weight is located in his ass and thighs and he uses his lower half well to generate "velocity" which I have in Bennett Brauer quotes because there just isn't very much of it.

Cloyd's fastball sits in the upper 80s (86-89mph, might touch 92 tonight with the adrenaline pumping) and is mostly straight, though it does exhibit some natural cut when he locates it to his glove side. He'll throw a two-seamer on occasion.  It's not a good major league pitch and I expect it'll take a back seat to his best offering, a cutter, which he tosses in anywhere from 83-86mph.  Cloyd's cutter moves quite a bit and he uses it as a multi-tasker even Alton Brown would be proud of.  To left handed hitters, he'll back door it for strikes or run it in on hands to induce weak contact.  He'll run it away from righties to garner swings and misses or throw it early in counts for called strikes. I'm comfortable putting a 50 on it despite the lack of velocity just because Cloyd has harnessed it so well.

Cloyd's secondary stuff in underwhelming.  His curve, which has 11-5 movement and sits in the mid 70s, will flash average but it's mostly a liability.  He didn't work with his changeup enough for me to slap a grade on it. To me, that's telling.  From the scout seats at Coca Cola Park it was easy to pick up release variation on the curveball but I have no idea what it looks like 60 feet away.

Folks, we're looking at a back end starter/bullpen guy here. Someone who'll provide value for the big club by virtue of the fact that he's not awful and probably won't get hurt. Spot start him, get mop up innings out of him on his day to throw, send him down, call him up, long man....Cloyd's going to have a major league career as a swiss army knife as long as being jerked around doesn't negatively impact his performance.  That's great, and guys like this are useful to have around on the cheap.  But don't look at his Triple-A ERA and expect a savior. He's not one. He's just a reason to watch tonight's game.

MLB Prospect Scouting Report: Adam Morgan (Phillies)

Adam Morgan has made impressive strides

It’s been a pretty upsetting year for Phillies fans on all fronts.  Not only has an aging Major League roster provided the fan base with perhaps 2012’s most disappointing season in all of sports but a farm system bereft of elite talent doesn’t inspire much optimism for the future. A small ray of light, peering out through the morass of injuries, IronPigs and subtle radio caller racism, was recently brought up to Reading.  This faint but legitimate photon, poking his head out from an obscure corner of an all time dumpster fire, is young lefthanded pitcher, Adam Morgan. 

Adam Morgan didn’t come into the season with much heat on him at all. He wasn’t on Keith Law’s organizational top ten, he wasn’t on Kevin Goldstein’s Future Shock top twenty and he barely made it on to Baseball America’s top thirty, sneaking onto the Phillies’ list at number twenty nine, seven spots behind his Crimson Tide rotation mate, Austin Hyatt. Something has changed. No longer is Morgan, a third rounder from the 2011 draft, being described as a “soft tossing, command and control guy.” He’s started missing bats, more than one per inning, and forced his way up from Clearwater into a really fun, prospect laden rotation at Double-A Reading.  With the fan base’s silver lining forty five minutes away from me, you know I made the drive with my stopwatch and notebook.

What was cool about this scouting trip was the clean slate on which I could conduct my analysis. I didn’t accidentally stumble upon any opinions or reports on him because there just aren’t any yet, and I didn’t actively seek any out before I saw him because I wanted to be surprised and uncontaminated by anyone else’s ideas. I hopped in the car not knowing if Adam Morgan was right handed, short, fat, black, handsome, blonde or cross eyed. It made me all the more excited to see him and drink everything in.  If you’re not into dry, vanilla, missionary position type scouting reports then I’ll just tell you now that I like this kid quite a bit and I think he’s going to be a useful big leaguer. Here are those sentiments expressed in more detail….

The twenty two year old Morgan is not a jaw dropping physical specimen. He’s in fine shape, but his 6’1” frame offers no positive projection. What you see is what you’re going to get.  If Morgan’s physique is going to change, it will change horizontally. Let’s hope it doesn’t because sometimes guys who gain weight have a hard time maintain the athleticism in their delivery, which right now for Morgan is just fine. Morgan lands hard on a stiff front leg and there’s a little bit of effort as he fires but nothing is so violent that I’m concerned about repeatability or sustainable health. These sound mechanics help produce above average control and average command of a slightly above average fastball (I’ll put a 55 on it, 89-92mph) that plays up thanks to terrific movement.  That movement, however, is inconsistent and Morgan’s heater will get flat and straight at times.  His somewhat diminutive stature prevents him from getting natural downhill plane on his fastball which he left up in the zone a handful of times on Tuesday. He got away with it because, hey, it’s Double-A and Trenton’s lineup is pretty bad but that won’t fly in the big leagues and Morgan will have to continue to hone in on the lower third of the zone to avoid becoming homer prone.

The fastball is complimented by a plus changeup (60 but flashed better three or four times), a true swing and miss pitch which consistently made Thunder hitters look both uncomfortable and ridiculous.  It is clear this is where Morgan has made strides this year as his changeup was previously just a footnote on his scouting report. The pitch sits in the upper 70s with lots of fade and action and, most importantly, Morgan maintains his fastball’s arm speed when he throws it. I see this as a weapon that will miss some bats in the big leagues one day.

Morgan has two breaking balls, a slider and a curve.  The two can overlap a little but the hook (30) will usually sit mid to upper 70s while the slider (45), which I like much better, hangs out in the low 80s.  Further development of one of these pitches is crucial to Morgan’s future.  He has an idea what to do with the slider, getting a swing and miss or two at some back foot work against righties, but it needs refining and I’d like to see him pitch backwards with it later in his starts to get ahead of hitters with something new. 

I’d love to get another look at Morgan before the season’s out to better grasp the nuances of his craft.  After one look, I think the Phillies have stumbled upon a nice backend starter who has a chance to be a solid mid-rotation guy if he improves even just one or two of his current deficiencies.  Stick a feather in the cap of the Phillies’ player development staff.

Eagles Pre-Season Notes

I was at the game Thursday which offered a unique look at several aspects of the Eagles' processes.  I brought a little pad of post-its for not taking, you know, because I'm me.  Here's some stuff I noticed:

Offense:

There's communication and decision making rust all over the place. Whether or not this is the result the unfortunate circumstances that have befallen the Eagles is unclear, but pre-snap issues with the first team were evident. Whether it was Vick's fault or Jason Kelce's (I think it was the latter in the cases I saw. Trouble IDing overloads and assigning blockers) it needs to get worked out or Vick will be killed.

Demetruss Bell is just sorta alright. Jason Peters was one of the best players in all of football last year and they're going to miss him sorely.

Danny Watkins is not good. But I've been saying that since day one.  Drafting guys in their mid-20s is not a good idea.

I like Bryce Brown. I need more looks to narrow my evaluation of him.  He belongs in the league but I'm not sure what his ceiling is just yet. Might be special.

Damaris Johnson looked interesting. Not great straight line speed and he's really tiny but boy can he change direction quickly in space. He had a ton of off the field trouble in college and really only played on year of ball due to suspensions and stuff. I like him but might be a practice squad guy for now.

Marvin McNutt is big but slow and the route running is poor.

Mardy Gilyard looked just fine. May slip onto final roster.


Defense:

Derek Landri (ex-Panther) and Phil Hunt looked great. I've always liked Phil Hunt, even when he came out of Penn State. He's a SackSEER darling (google that). The Eagles have so many viable D-linemen it's ridiculous. Fletcher Cox has excellent horizontal range, making plays on sweeps as he rifled through bodies to get there.

The defense looked vulnerable in the flat and against screens. Such is the price of a pass rush that is as aggressive as the Eagles have been for the past decade.

Tackling. Still poor at safety.

Mychal Kendricks be fast.

I have more notes but it's stuff that can improve as more reps occur in practice.