NERDS AROUND TOWN
Nerds Around Town: The fall of the AAF, David Ortiz update and ghosts
Jun 20, 2019, 6:21 am
Art by Jesus Rodriguez
Born with a comic book in one hand and a remote control in the other, Cory DLG is the talent of Conroe's very own Nerd Thug Radio and Sports. Check out the podcast replay of the FM radio show at www.nerdthugradio.com!
Hey Nerds!
It's Thursday and the weekend is coming, are you ready or what?!
Good deed of the day
AICF and Mark Clayton Scholarship Golf Tournament, it's a golf tournament to benefit a scholarship fund and help kids get to college and better their lives. It's awesome. #NerdsUnite
The fall of the AAF
ESPN did an interesting piece about the fall of the AAF. It's an interesting story and obviously everyone is trying to spin things in their favor because there are still lawsuits going on and also there's a PR war going on for "who is to blame" but there's some real meat in this story. It paints Dundon in a better light than I had viewed him in, he transforms a little bit from corporate raider to guy who sees a failing business and is looking to get out. Ebersol does take a big hit in the credibility department, it looks like his first funding partner Fowler was an absolute criminal and is in fact facing federal indictments unrelated to the AAF.
Another issue is Ebersol grossly undervalued the costs associated with running a league. He should have put together about $400 million dollars, instead he thought he needed $300 million and sold a third of the league to Fowler for about $120 million. That's not enough. For his part Polian didn't seem to be realistic about costs associated with the players involved and honestly, Dundon for his part should have done a better job of getting players home and paying vendors, but all of that will get taken care of in terms of legal issues. Great read though.
Sounding suspicious
In one of the weirdest stories in pop culture and sports is David Ortiz being shot in his home country of The Dominican Republic last week. He is now resting comfortably in the United States and all the people directly involved in the overt act appear to have been apprehended. There's a lot of weird stuff to this story, a criminal called The Surgeon and another criminal called Red are involved and now the AG of the Dominican are saying there's someone in the states that's involved in this and that it might be a case of mistaken identity. One of the most famous Dominicans on the island was shot accidentally and was mistaken for someone else? I don't think that sounds very believable. I'm not "Crisis Actor" guy and I'm not trying to go way down the rabbit hole, but seriously a mistaken identity over David Ortiz? Ok.
Why are we listening to these guys?
So one thing that I always think is crazy is that the sports networks always hire former front office guys and head coaches and that gives credibility to the networks. Except when you start thinking about it, how the heck does that happen? Rex Ryan for example was a terrible head coach, but he for sure knows football and is a great defensive mind.
But why should we listen to him talk about running a franchise or making personnel decisions when the Jets were awful under him? Same with guys like Mike Tannenbaum. They know football it's been their whole lives, I agree whole heartedly with that but when they put his resume up on the screen, I'm always like "but why should we listen to him?" It's a weird thing, if they were better at their jobs they'd still be in the league. They aren't semi-retired like Bill Polian, they're on the back half of so-so careers. It's weird, right?
NOT THAT YOU ASKED
So apparently they're working on another Paranormal Activity movie, and before anyone says "why?" do this math, they spent about $15,000 and made over $190 million dollars. They'll be thinking about making these movies forever. If they do in fact make this movie, it'll be the seventh movie in what has become a bizarre and complicated franchise. They got less and less scary and got more and more ridiculous over time and by the end they were a complete joke. It's an intriguing idea to bring the franchise back, even if you do only a little ok and spend $30 million and make $150 million, it's still a great day.
I'm going to jump out and wish you guys a great Thursday and remind everyone to be kind to each other and try a little harder to have a great day! I'm coming back Friday and we'll be bringing more good times your way.
Feel free to check out my digital short story The Wilson House or buy a shirt from Side Hustle Ts where some proceeds help people struggling with cancer or listen to Nerd Thug Radio. Thoughts, complaints, events and comments can be sent to corydlg@gmail.com.
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With the Astros now officially ten games under .500 for the season, manager Joe Espada is taking a lot of heat from the fanbase for the team's struggles.
While we don't agree with the sentiment, we even hear fans clamoring for the return of Dusty Baker and Martin Maldonado, thinking the Astros wouldn't be in this mess if they were still here.
Which is ridiculous. First of all, Maldonado has been awful for the White Sox, hitting .048 (even worse than Jose Abreu's .065). And for those of you that think his work with the pitching staff justifies his pathetic offense. Let me say this: Where was Maldy's game calling genius for Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, and Framber Valdez last year? All of them regressed significantly.
And as far as Baker is concerned, we have no idea how much a difference he would make, we can only speculate. Baker would also be dealing with a pitching staff ravaged with injuries. And let's not forget, Baker was the guy that refused to move Jose Abreu down in the batting order, even though he would finish the regular season with the ninth-worst OPS in baseball.
The reality of the situation is managers can only do so much in baseball. Which leads us to something else that needs to be considered. Is Espada being handcuffed by the front office? Espada and GM Dana Brown both said recently that Jon Singleton was going to get more at-bats while they give Abreu time off to try to figure things out. Yet, there Abreu was in the lineup again in the opening game of the Cubs series.
It makes us wonder how much power does Espada truly have? The Astros have some other options at first base. Yainer Diaz may only have eight games played at the position, but how much worse could he be than Abreu defensively? Abreu already has four errors, and Diaz is obviously a way better hitter. Victor Caratini isn't considered a plus offensive player, but his .276 batting average makes him look like Babe Ruth compared to Abreu. Let him catch more often and play Diaz at first. Starting Diaz at first more often could also lengthen his career long-term.
Maybe that's too wild of a move. Okay, fine. How about playing Mauricio Dubon at first base? I understand he doesn't have much experience at that position, but what's the downside of trying him there? If he can play shortstop, he can play first base. He's driving in runs at a higher rate (11 RBIs) than everyone on the team outside of Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez. And he's producing like that as part-time player right now.
The other criticism we see of Espada is his use of Jon Singleton to pinch hit late in games. Let's be real, though, who else does Espada have on the roster to go to? Batting Abreu late in games in which you're trailing should be considered malpractice. Espada can only use who he has to work with. This all really stems from the Astros poor farm system.
They don't have anyone else to turn to. The draft picks the club lost from the sign-stealing scandal are really hurting them right now. First and second rounders from 2020 and 2021 should be helping you in 2024 at the big league level.
Maybe they go to Astros prospect Joey Loperfido soon, but after a hot start he has only two hits in his last six games.
Finally, we have to talk about what seems like a committee making baseball decisions. Lost in a committee is accountability. Who gets the blame for making poor decisions?
As time continues to pass it looks like moving on from former GM James Click was a massive mistake. He's the guy that didn't sign Abreu, but did trade Myles Straw (recently DFA'd) for Yainer Diaz and Phil Maton. He also built an elite bullpen without breaking the bank, and helped the club win a World Series in 2022.
The reality of the situation is Dusty Baker and James Click are not walking back through that door. And all good runs come to an end at some point. Is this what we're witnessing?
Don't miss the video above as we hit on all the points discussed and much more!
Catch Stone Cold 'Stros (an Astros podcast) with Charlie Pallilo, Brandon Strange, and Josh Jordan. We drop two episodes every week on SportsMapHouston's YouTube channel. You can also listen on Apple Podcast, Spotifyor wherever you get your podcasts.