Mawnin’, Mobsters, and Happy Bobby Bonilla Day to one and all. You think Joey Votto’s contract is expensive? He’s making couch-cushion money compared to Bonilla. ESPN.com:
On Thursday, 58-year-old Bobby Bonilla will collect a check for $1,193,248.20 from the New York Mets, as he has and will every July 1 from 2011 through 2035. Bonilla last played for the Mets in 1999 and last played in the majors for the Cardinals in 2001, but he will be paid through 2035 (when he'll be 72).
How?
In 2000, the Mets agreed to buy out the remaining $5.9 million on Bonilla's contract. instead of paying Bonilla the $5.9 million at the time, the Mets agreed to make annual payments of nearly $1.2 million for 25 years starting July 1, 2011, including a negotiated 8% interest.
At the time, Mets ownership was invested in a Bernie Madoff account that promised double-digit returns, and the Mets were poised to make a significant profit if the Madoff account delivered -- but that did not work out.
No, it surely did not.
Now, then. . .
CAN’T SOMEONE PLEASE DO SOMETHING about all these runs being scored in MLB?
Football scores from Wednesday:
Braves 20, Mets 2.
Nats 15, Rays 6.
Brewers 15, Cubs 7.
White Sox 13, Twins 5.
Marlins and Angels 11 and 11, Phils and Yankees 8 and 6..
Ozzie Albies had a week last night: Five hits, 2 homers, 7 RBI.
Someone please instruct Rob Manfred to bring back the Krazy Glue. Have him mandate it be contained in big tubs and placed just behind the mound. Also, on the bench, next to the Dubble Bubble. This hitting stuff is getting way out of hand.
Let’s get back to the good old days of a couple weeks ago, when batters looked like they were trying to hit canned hams.
Kidding, of course, but it sure is curious how hitters started crushing as soon as pitches couldn’t use the gunk. In baseball, there are no coincidences, just a lot of messin’ with substances.
THE REDS PEN did it again. These mini-spells of solid work can’t mask the overall awful-ness of the team’s relievers. Sure, Antone and Sims are out, but for some teams, that spells opportunity. Here, it spells F-L-A-M-E. You cannot tell me that an entire major-league organization can’t scour the globe and find a couple guys who’d be an upgrade over a couple other guys currently stealing money in the Reds bullpen.
Meanwhile, I’m struggling to understand why everyone seemed to be so OK with calling it a night after 5-plus innings last night.
"The way the forecast looked, and with all the rain that had fallen, we wouldn’t have been able to start the game until around 1 a.m.," (David) Bell said. "It was determined that it was too late to start a game."
Why? I mean, the way things were going, it was anybody’s game. The Reds are capable of slugging with anyone. They were down 7-5, not 17-5. How come Bell seemed so accepting of stopping?
Meantime, they’re 8 games out. Maybe someone should tell someone that relief for the relievers should happen sooner than later.
NO CHEERING FROM THE SABR-GEEKS. Joey Votto became the fifth Reds player to collect 1,000 RBI last night. If you’re a big fan of the current way of measuring hitting greatness, surely you sneezed at Votto’s achievement. Everyone knows that RBI are meaningless. Runs are the thing. Getting on base is king. RBI are simply a fortunate byproduct of a teammate’s ability to get you home.
Of all the silly numbers theories that presume to explain hardball to connect-the-dots dolts such as yours truly, this one leads the list: Runs matter, RBI don’t.
All these decades, I thought you couldn’t score a run unless somebody drove you in. Man, was I wrong. I must have missed the thousands of runs that score each year on wild pitches, passed balls, errors and the ever-common bases-loaded balk.
Props to Votto, a full-time hitting savant we’ve all been privileged to watch all these seasons. And yeah, RBI matter. Always have, always will.
ONE OF THE BEST WAYS TO GET YOURSELF NOTICED as a media member is to rip a particular city’s team or players. The great Jim Murray made it an art form, while sports columnizing for the LA Times. In the mid-70s, when Cincinnati’s highways were a construction mess and Murray was covering the BRM in the Series, he noted our traffic issues and wrote, paraphrasing, “It must be Kentucky’s day to use the cement mixer.’’
Presenting MLB.com’s Will Leitch, ladies and gentlemen, who is not in favor of Winker and Castellanos sharing the outfield grass as all-star starters in Denver. “Do we need to see two Reds in the outfield?’’ Leitch wrote.
He’d rather see Mookie Betts, because… because… well, he doesn’t actually say. Leitch just likes Mookie. Better, apparently than Winker. It doesn’t matter that Winker is definitively crushing Betts in almost every offensive category, or that Betts’ preseason MVP hype looks embarrassing now. Will wants Mookie.
You could understand his take if Mookie were Hank or Willie or Pete in their sunset seasons. One more time, for old time’s sake. But Mookie is, well, Mookie.
Will, you still have some time to retract that sentiment. We in l’il ol’ Flyover Town will forgive you.
COWBOY IS LOVIN’ LIFE TODAY. . . His Mississippi State Bulldogs had been playing college team sports for 126 years and never won a national championship. Until last night’s College World Series- clinching W over Vanderbilt. Now go get you some Graeter’s black raspberry chip and a Mexican Coke, big fella.
AND NOW. . .
Imbiber Dave takes off.
It felt so amazing to walk into Brink Brewing this week and sidle up to the bar. We ordered flights of beer, like the good old days, and it was truly a thing of beauty to see each of those little glasses sitting in front of me.
Does anyone remember how to drink a flight? It’s super important to order your beers such that you don’t destroy your palate. The most important factor is hops, so save your IPAs. Malty beers can also affect your palate, so try to consume your lower ABV-neutral lagers, kolschs, Belgians or berliners, then move into the ales, porters and stouts, and finish with the hoppy pours.
We cut our teeth on the delicious Raison Pour La Saison Farmhouse. Next was the Father G’s Bees Honey Brown. This beer is superb and had far more toasted malts than I was expecting. The El Lauro Dark Mexican Lager was easy drinking and crisp. The Hold The Reins English Mild was perfectly balanced. I love this style and could stay here all day. Alas, it was on to the hop factory. The Fashionably Late NEIPA is perfect. It’s 7% ABV and balanced, without too much lactose or alcohol to sway your future decisions. I equally enjoyed the Goldentop IPA, and Lime? Sure Bert Milkshake IPA.
Don’t like my suggestions? Drink the beers in any order you like! Sometimes it’s fun to revisit an English Mild after an IPA and compare how different it tastes. Especially after a Lime Milkshake IPA.
I forgot how much fun it is to plan your attack, and to then discuss if you made the right decision by drinking each beer as you taste them.
Cheers!
FunMaster Brien sees priceless art, for free.
As we come together to celebrate another anniversary of our great republic, it’s fitting to acknowledge a bicentennial integral to the city’s history as well as the nation’s. As part of the building’s two hundredth birthday, the Taft Museum is offering free admission to their “In a New Light” exhibit. Please note that the exhibit is located in the Fifth Third Gallery to allow for a major rehabilitation of the building proper.
On display will be more than eighty pieces from the art collection bequeathed by Charles Phelps Taft and Anna Sinton Taft to the city of Cincinnati. You will be able to get an up close and personal look at tremendous works of art and craftsmanship. The museum invites you to view these priceless artifacts through the lens of the 21st century, revealing “centuries-old social concerns such as the distribution of wealth, environmental destruction, and gender and racial inequality.”
If you would prefer to explore the pieces from the comfort of your own home, virtual tours will be offered on Wednesdays over the course of several weeks. To grab your complimentary tickets, virtual tours, and for more information, please head to www.taftmuseum.org. And have a great Independence Day!
TUNE O’ THE DAY. . . Have a happy, peaceful, brotherly and reflective 4th.
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