People love to yap about how he's only good at framing and that his value will crater when that goes away yet he continues to be the best catcher in the sport in metrics that don't even include framing.

Wow, so sad. I had the pleasure of taking a class from him at the University of Oregon, and it wasn't even a music class. The guy was incredibly skilled and creative.

You must be too close to realize it. They're already the evil empire.

Hey Susan, there seems to be a lot of misinformation out there based on a report that Birdsong made the roster, which then led to some blogs running flawed stories about him being named the 5th starter. This kinda smells like a Scott Boras leak to me.

Any update on this?

Between this (no statcast) and always having the fewest spring training tv broadcasts, the Giants spring training experience is way too archaic.

If Brandon Belt couldn't find a job last year, it makes some sense that Rizzo would be left out this year.

Good to know, thanks!

I really lost momentum in the second half when it became more of a Kiryu story (it is also my first Yakuza game, so I became kinda lost).

Maybe I should get back into it? I just want Ichiban in Hawaii.

It's a challenging read and quite slow at times, particularly the first half. I don't think it's a gateway book at all.

That's a good point about the QO. But I think their goal is to stay under the luxury tax, which is much higher than $190. They've got about $60 million to work with. Estimates have Walker getting 3/$60. Completely reasonable in my mind, and still leaves room for other moves.