Worth the Hype or Not? - The Beatles Remasters
For the last month or so, you've been bombarded with commercials for the Rock Band version of the Beatles and infomercials pushing the remastered re-issues of the whole catalog, but has anyone [who wasn't paid to do so] actually told you IF and/or WHY the remasters are worthy of your hard earned bucks? I thought not. So, in the interest of the true listening public, here 'tis: My review of the best Beatles album, remastered - 1966's Revolver.
First of all, the little booklet that comes with the CD has some great photos from the sessions. But not worth the price of admission [$13.99 + tax, f'ing taxman!, at Best Buy]. But it points out one of the problems the technical people must have had. The Beatles were recorded [until Abbey Road I believe] on a 4 track machine. Which means most of the basic tracks [bass - guitar - drums] were all recorded onto one track with no separation - no way to repair or re-equalize a bass without doing the same to the drums and guitars on the same track. Then the remaining three tracks would be utilized for vocals and overdubs. With computers and high dollar software things may be possible that I can only think about.
And of course, the second issue for judging these CDs is familiarity. I was lucky that I got turned onto the Beatles when I was about 12, so I've been living with these songs for 30 years now and I know most of them backwards and forwards. The CDs we've had for 20 years now - God I still hate the awful separation on Rubber Soul, vocals on one side, instruments on the other! Even the most casual fan has to wonder if it's worth going out and shelling out for the music you all ready know. I know, we did it for the Stones, but those first CDs that CBS put out were fraught with problems. And even though ABKCO did remix and remaster the original London albums [up to Get Your Ya-Yas Out] I much preferred the vinyl of those albums - until the 24 bit remasters came out a couple years back.
But hey, enough of my yakking ... let's let the music do the talking.
Taxman: Oh geeze, McCartney's bass just pumps right out at you all ready and you can hear how locked in with the kick drum he really is. It's lockstep precision. Nice runs, Macca, in the middle eight! Never noticed that guitar line in the last two verses and I've been known to listen at ear splitting volumes in the car.
Eleanor Rigby: Well it's just Paul and a string quartet - the cello drone on the choruses stands out. There does seem to be more warmth in the vocals.
I'm Only Sleeping: Again, the bass has real tone here. Wonder who Macca paid off to fix those bass tones? Really, I've enjoyed his bass playing for years, it's crappy songs like Maxwell's Silver Hammer and Hello Goodbye I have issues with. Anyone else notice their trick there on the middle bits - John's voice goes down and Paul's goes up and it sounds so cool! [They do the same thing with the strings on the fade out of I Am the Walrus.] Backwards guitar solo. The 12 string chords seem to ring and shimmer a bit.
Love You To: This is the Indian song you skip in the car and only listen to when you're at home and don't have a remote to skip over. And it's a George song. You really don't care.
Here, There and Everywhere: Great harmonies on the background vocals. That rhythm guitar actually needs muted a little - is that Lennon on that famous Rickenbacker? Maybe he should have borrowed one of George's Gibsons for this.
Yellow Submarine: I go through periods where this makes me smile and periods where this makes me cringe. I'm sure Ringo goes through them to. I swear you can hear the boredom in George's voice in the choruses.
She Said, She Said: Wow, here Lennon's rhythm guitar really comes out of the muck.
Good Day Sunshine: Harmless Macca fluff. Again, the sound on the piano sounds rounder and fuller, less like the upright Dylan played on The Ballad Of the Thin Man.
And Your Bird Can Sing: Love those double stop guitar runs. Lennon's vocal sounds a hair crisper.
For No One: One of my favorites by Paul. Again, instrumentation seems a little sharper. The bass overdub has real warmth.
Doctor Robert: One of my faves by John. Vocals definitely sharper.
I Want to Tell You: The other George song. You don't care. More sharp vocals. Herar Paul straining at the top of his range in the background. Where did those handclaps come from in the last verse?
Got to Get You Into My Life: Paul's ode to pot. The record that gave Chicago the idea to have a full horn section in the band. That brass is really... loud.
Tomorrow Never Knows: Ah my sweet droning Lennon genius. Vocal again defiantly warmer. Wow, you can really hear the kick drum. Gosh, Ringo really was a good drummer. Again, I'm amazed how locked in he and Paul are. Not that this is a hard part, but they're just incredibly tight. Oh that Leslie'd vocal in the second verse sounds even more slippery and mysterious! Wow!
THE VERDICT: I doubt the casual Beatle fan will notice the differences, at least on this CD. Lots of people say the Sgt. Pepper is improved. I can see opening up the lower end will give it a slightly better feel, closer to good old albums.But it's not one of my favorites. I AM curious to hear some of my favorites will sound remastered: A Day In the Life, Strawberry Fields Forever. And I'm sure some of my CDs will get replaced. Probably not the later ones [Abbey Road, Let It Be] but maybe Rubber Soul. I really want to know if they've re-fixed George Martin's original fix for CDs [he remixed Help! and Rubber Soul back in 1987]. And I find I like my With the Beatles and A Hard' Day's Night in mono.
Final verdict: It's your money. But I'm not going to rush out and replace MY catalog.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Someone Explain This to Me
So I'm loading up the ol' MP3 player yesterday, some new stuff like the Heartless Bastards' Mountain and the new Black Crowes After the Frost and the downloadable companion Until the Freeze [they remind me A LOT of the late era Byrds], some old stuff I haven't heard in a while like Superchunk's Come Pick Me Up and I try to pick a couple things I've really never heard from my massive hard drive. And one of the things I picked was Radiohead's OK Computer.
Now this is an album people have been praising to the high heavens forever. It gets 4.34 of 5 stars on Rate Your Music [14,731 rating as of this writing - I gave it a 3.5 for Just Average] and is the # 1 album for 1997. I'm sure those clowns at Rolling Stone rate it high every time they do one of those Best Albums lists... we all know how I love those, right?
And so I put it on tonight - and I don't get it. Maybe 1997 was a shit year for music - I certainly only recognize a couple of artists in the top 50 for that year and I was working part time in a record store then. Whiskeytown, Bruce Dickinson, Pavement, Old 97s... Bjork [BLECH!], Elliot Smith [still never heard it], Modest Mouse and Built to Spill [early albums I guess]... Bill Hicks. Ween. Spiritualized. Maybe I should say I would only listen to a couple of artists in the top 50.
But OK Computer? Meh. Is this another one of those albums like Blonde On Blonde, Pet Sounds and Sgt. Pepper that people have been told is so great that they just assume it is even though they don't get it? I am thinking so. I can see it might be okay if one is hitting a bong on a rainy Saturday afternoon, not unlike some Pink Floyd or Porcupine Tree in spots, but really, I don't get it. Maybe I'm not supposed to. If I'm not supposed to, then mission accomplished.
I guess next I will have to try and figure out the appeal of Coldplay. Anyone want to intervene on that?
Oh, Public Television...
Hmmm another beg -a thon. Is this going to be a monthly thing? It was August 11th when I posted you were begging again. How about finally giving in and running commercials? Oh, you do at the beginning and end of programs, you just call it sponsorship.
So I'm loading up the ol' MP3 player yesterday, some new stuff like the Heartless Bastards' Mountain and the new Black Crowes After the Frost and the downloadable companion Until the Freeze [they remind me A LOT of the late era Byrds], some old stuff I haven't heard in a while like Superchunk's Come Pick Me Up and I try to pick a couple things I've really never heard from my massive hard drive. And one of the things I picked was Radiohead's OK Computer.
Now this is an album people have been praising to the high heavens forever. It gets 4.34 of 5 stars on Rate Your Music [14,731 rating as of this writing - I gave it a 3.5 for Just Average] and is the # 1 album for 1997. I'm sure those clowns at Rolling Stone rate it high every time they do one of those Best Albums lists... we all know how I love those, right?
And so I put it on tonight - and I don't get it. Maybe 1997 was a shit year for music - I certainly only recognize a couple of artists in the top 50 for that year and I was working part time in a record store then. Whiskeytown, Bruce Dickinson, Pavement, Old 97s... Bjork [BLECH!], Elliot Smith [still never heard it], Modest Mouse and Built to Spill [early albums I guess]... Bill Hicks. Ween. Spiritualized. Maybe I should say I would only listen to a couple of artists in the top 50.
But OK Computer? Meh. Is this another one of those albums like Blonde On Blonde, Pet Sounds and Sgt. Pepper that people have been told is so great that they just assume it is even though they don't get it? I am thinking so. I can see it might be okay if one is hitting a bong on a rainy Saturday afternoon, not unlike some Pink Floyd or Porcupine Tree in spots, but really, I don't get it. Maybe I'm not supposed to. If I'm not supposed to, then mission accomplished.
I guess next I will have to try and figure out the appeal of Coldplay. Anyone want to intervene on that?
Oh, Public Television...
Hmmm another beg -a thon. Is this going to be a monthly thing? It was August 11th when I posted you were begging again. How about finally giving in and running commercials? Oh, you do at the beginning and end of programs, you just call it sponsorship.
Health Care - What's to Debate?
Let me put this as simply as I possibly can: You want the same people that run the post office to be making life and death decisions about you and your loved ones?
Now, that may seem like a simplistic view of a large problem. But then again, we're talking about the Federal government here, a beast that never gets smaller. Now the Prez and his cronies in Congress want to poof another 900 billion dollars out of thin air to pay for health care. Oh, sure they SAY "Well we can do so much by making savings in Medicare and such..." By the way, how is Medicare going fellas? Oh BANKRUPT soon? How about that Social Security "lock box" you've been keeping my FICA money in every month. You get my point.
I heard Rush Limbaugh today [on a rare trip around the dial in my car] saying that if the government begins taking over health care, we will get a system that is more interested in cost savings than saving lives. And I agree on this point. If the health care is so great in all those other places with socialized health care [and I think we only have to look at the state of dentistry in jolly old England to agree that it's not so great], how come those who can fly to the United States for treatment, especially of big ticket items like cancer and transplants? Sure the weather is better here than a lot of places, but I don't think that's it.
I also agree with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell:
“...the President has an opportunity to reframe the debate, but only if he recognizes that the Democrats’ original plan for health care reform doesn’t wash with the American people. When it comes to health care, Americans don’t want government to tear down the house we have. They want it to repair the one we’ve got. That means sensible, step-by-step reforms, not more trillion dollar grand schemes. It means preserving what people like about our health care system, not destroying it all at once or starving it over time.
..."People don’t want risky, sweeping changes that increase the national debt and don’t solve the problems we have."
Let me put this as simply as I possibly can: You want the same people that run the post office to be making life and death decisions about you and your loved ones?
Now, that may seem like a simplistic view of a large problem. But then again, we're talking about the Federal government here, a beast that never gets smaller. Now the Prez and his cronies in Congress want to poof another 900 billion dollars out of thin air to pay for health care. Oh, sure they SAY "Well we can do so much by making savings in Medicare and such..." By the way, how is Medicare going fellas? Oh BANKRUPT soon? How about that Social Security "lock box" you've been keeping my FICA money in every month. You get my point.
I heard Rush Limbaugh today [on a rare trip around the dial in my car] saying that if the government begins taking over health care, we will get a system that is more interested in cost savings than saving lives. And I agree on this point. If the health care is so great in all those other places with socialized health care [and I think we only have to look at the state of dentistry in jolly old England to agree that it's not so great], how come those who can fly to the United States for treatment, especially of big ticket items like cancer and transplants? Sure the weather is better here than a lot of places, but I don't think that's it.
I also agree with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell:
“...the President has an opportunity to reframe the debate, but only if he recognizes that the Democrats’ original plan for health care reform doesn’t wash with the American people. When it comes to health care, Americans don’t want government to tear down the house we have. They want it to repair the one we’ve got. That means sensible, step-by-step reforms, not more trillion dollar grand schemes. It means preserving what people like about our health care system, not destroying it all at once or starving it over time.
..."People don’t want risky, sweeping changes that increase the national debt and don’t solve the problems we have."
Friday, September 04, 2009
Chill Out Right Wing [OR My Turn On the Soapbox]
Okay, this is going to surprise a few people, but the folks saying "The President is going to give a speech to school kids next week to try and fill their mushy little heads with Liberal ideas and agenda and I'm against trying to indoctrinate my little Britney / Jason into the Democratic Party" - NEED TO CHILL THE FUCK OUT!
USA Today is reporting it was the new voice of The Right Glenn Beck who started this talk. I'm not surprised. That guy is so far out in right field he make Sean Hannity look like a bleeding heart Liberal. And I think Hannity is way out to the right of me.
Besides, it doesn't really matter. If you think your kids aren't getting a full dose of Liberal agenda all ready, you need to stop and smell the coffee. What the hell is Earth Day all about? Save the planet, save the whales, recycling good, big corporations bad, bankers the root of all evil [unless the give Chris Dodd a sweetheart deal], yadda yadda. Oh and Global Warming is totally real and totally a man made phenomenon - never mid that the guy who came up with it said we were headed for the new Ice Age in the 70s.
Don't get me wrong - I recycle when I can, even bringing my plastic pop bottles and 7-11 cups home to drop in my bin. I use fluorescent lights in most of my lamps. It saves energy and saves me buck and it's fairly easy. Hell, my Mom brings her glass bottles here so I can send them back through the system!
But really, how can on 20 minutes speech and discussion 'indoctrinate' anyone? And a discussion afterward? Oh no, we can't have little children trying to think for themselves! You know what I think the response from most 1st - 6th graders will be? "When is this crap over so I can go to recess?"
Kids will eventually have to figure it out for themselves. I went from a Reagan Republican to a Democrat back and forth - I even voted for Clinton in his second term! I eventually decided lower taxes / less government is good, so I tend to vote Republican, but I'm not a straight ticket voter. [BTW, what makes me mad is that there's almost always a mood for a tax cut, but nobody in Congress REALLY wants to shrink government or say "No, thanks, we don't need any earmarked pork for MY district." We can't even get rid of radio direction beacons for ships made obsolete by GPS!] And I didn't vote for Rick Perry [or anyone - left it blank!] for Governor in 2006 and I have declared I will vote for a Democrat in 2010. Rick Perry is drip and Kay Bailey needs to stay in the Senate because that junior Senator, John Cornyn, is an asshole!
And it doesn't matter what the President says in his little stand on the Bully Pulpit. Kids can't vote. The ones near voting age have another year to make up their minds or get sick of the whole process and be totally apathetic stay at homes come next November. I would actually say it's good to get the kids interested in the political process and have those discussions with parents and teachers and relatives, but when they go in that booth it's ultimately up to them when they do whatever their voting machine requires. Say this with me: "UP TO THEM." Mommy and Daddy and Grandpaw and Memaw can go spit once the vote is cast.
I am not "for" Obama - I still think he's too inexperienced to be President, but he IS The President now. I don't hope for him to fail because I think in the end that hurts America too much. But I do hope that the agenda of tax and spend is defeated or at least becomes mired in that beloved Congressional gridlock until the 2010 elections. Having said that, I am encouraged by the sudden renewed interest in the political system - with all its rewards and shortcomings.
I hope and think the President is just going to get up and says "Look what I made of myself with the education and opportunities available in this country... what do YOU want to do with yourself? You can do it if you work hard in school." If people don't want their kids to hear that from a democratically elected black / African American President of the United States, I sadly think it shows just how far we still have to go to being the Great American melting pot.
Okay, this is going to surprise a few people, but the folks saying "The President is going to give a speech to school kids next week to try and fill their mushy little heads with Liberal ideas and agenda and I'm against trying to indoctrinate my little Britney / Jason into the Democratic Party" - NEED TO CHILL THE FUCK OUT!
USA Today is reporting it was the new voice of The Right Glenn Beck who started this talk. I'm not surprised. That guy is so far out in right field he make Sean Hannity look like a bleeding heart Liberal. And I think Hannity is way out to the right of me.
Besides, it doesn't really matter. If you think your kids aren't getting a full dose of Liberal agenda all ready, you need to stop and smell the coffee. What the hell is Earth Day all about? Save the planet, save the whales, recycling good, big corporations bad, bankers the root of all evil [unless the give Chris Dodd a sweetheart deal], yadda yadda. Oh and Global Warming is totally real and totally a man made phenomenon - never mid that the guy who came up with it said we were headed for the new Ice Age in the 70s.
Don't get me wrong - I recycle when I can, even bringing my plastic pop bottles and 7-11 cups home to drop in my bin. I use fluorescent lights in most of my lamps. It saves energy and saves me buck and it's fairly easy. Hell, my Mom brings her glass bottles here so I can send them back through the system!
But really, how can on 20 minutes speech and discussion 'indoctrinate' anyone? And a discussion afterward? Oh no, we can't have little children trying to think for themselves! You know what I think the response from most 1st - 6th graders will be? "When is this crap over so I can go to recess?"
Kids will eventually have to figure it out for themselves. I went from a Reagan Republican to a Democrat back and forth - I even voted for Clinton in his second term! I eventually decided lower taxes / less government is good, so I tend to vote Republican, but I'm not a straight ticket voter. [BTW, what makes me mad is that there's almost always a mood for a tax cut, but nobody in Congress REALLY wants to shrink government or say "No, thanks, we don't need any earmarked pork for MY district." We can't even get rid of radio direction beacons for ships made obsolete by GPS!] And I didn't vote for Rick Perry [or anyone - left it blank!] for Governor in 2006 and I have declared I will vote for a Democrat in 2010. Rick Perry is drip and Kay Bailey needs to stay in the Senate because that junior Senator, John Cornyn, is an asshole!
And it doesn't matter what the President says in his little stand on the Bully Pulpit. Kids can't vote. The ones near voting age have another year to make up their minds or get sick of the whole process and be totally apathetic stay at homes come next November. I would actually say it's good to get the kids interested in the political process and have those discussions with parents and teachers and relatives, but when they go in that booth it's ultimately up to them when they do whatever their voting machine requires. Say this with me: "UP TO THEM." Mommy and Daddy and Grandpaw and Memaw can go spit once the vote is cast.
I am not "for" Obama - I still think he's too inexperienced to be President, but he IS The President now. I don't hope for him to fail because I think in the end that hurts America too much. But I do hope that the agenda of tax and spend is defeated or at least becomes mired in that beloved Congressional gridlock until the 2010 elections. Having said that, I am encouraged by the sudden renewed interest in the political system - with all its rewards and shortcomings.
I hope and think the President is just going to get up and says "Look what I made of myself with the education and opportunities available in this country... what do YOU want to do with yourself? You can do it if you work hard in school." If people don't want their kids to hear that from a democratically elected black / African American President of the United States, I sadly think it shows just how far we still have to go to being the Great American melting pot.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Is anyone else creeped out that they're going to assemble the footage of Michael Jackson's rehearsals into a feature film? I mean really, they guy isn't even cold yet and the vultures have swooped.
God, how can i be "Beg-A-Thon" time on KERA again? Is it me or is this becoming and every 6 weeks thing? Every 9 weeks? It might be interesting if they're run something like an Austin City Limits day and let you Tivo that! Or a lot of American Experience... but they keep running Suzi Orman and bald doctor Wayne Dyer. And Doo Wop Experience - the Last of the Dying Breed where one of the real guys who's left alive from the Platters comes up with "The Platters Mk. 12" and one of the original Coasters comes up with "Charlie Corbin's Coasters." And 60's Folk Reunion - oooh Roger McGuin and the "Eve of Destruction" guy and Peter or Paul or Mary - but even those guys are so sick of each other they're not playing together anymore! It's just fucking pathetic the way they pander to Baby Boomers - sure they're the generation with any money left, but Jeez Louise!
But it gets the same treatment on VH1 Classic! Oohh Woodstock! Again! How many times have I seen Alvin Lee and Ten Years After doing I'm Going Home..."by Helicopter?" More times than I even care to even think about! How come no one ever shows a letterbox, full screen of Woodstock or Monterrey Pop of Last Days of the Fillmore or anything cool? I should take that back - with VH1 Classic it's either Baby Boomer crap OR it's That Fucking Metal Show! [Followed by 5 hours of Metal Mania! See more Ratt, Poison, Warrant, Enuff Z'Nuff, Motley Crue, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest et al than you ever thought you could stand again!] I kind of dug That Metal Show when it started - doing a short half hour show once a week and having some guys come on and talk about then and now and shit... cool! But they're taken it and run it into the fucking ground! I shit you not, it seems like every third time I flip past, it's That Metal Show! GOD TELEVISION SUCKS ASS!
I somehow get by with the Military Channel, the History Channel, BIO [sometimes] - but all the channels that used to have shows - TNT, Bravo - oh God, don't get me started on Bravo and "Real Housewives of Anywhere" or "Fashion Nazi TV" or whatever - I can't stand that shit! - E! and their never ending lineup of pseudo celebrity shows - there are just nights when I have to turn off the TV because I just think my brain IS turning to mush!
*Sigh* I just feel so cut off here sometimes. All you guys are sleeping and having real lives between 5 O'clock to 11 and on Saturday and Sunday and I'm just stuck on the night shift and missing everything!
God, how can i be "Beg-A-Thon" time on KERA again? Is it me or is this becoming and every 6 weeks thing? Every 9 weeks? It might be interesting if they're run something like an Austin City Limits day and let you Tivo that! Or a lot of American Experience... but they keep running Suzi Orman and bald doctor Wayne Dyer. And Doo Wop Experience - the Last of the Dying Breed where one of the real guys who's left alive from the Platters comes up with "The Platters Mk. 12" and one of the original Coasters comes up with "Charlie Corbin's Coasters." And 60's Folk Reunion - oooh Roger McGuin and the "Eve of Destruction" guy and Peter or Paul or Mary - but even those guys are so sick of each other they're not playing together anymore! It's just fucking pathetic the way they pander to Baby Boomers - sure they're the generation with any money left, but Jeez Louise!
But it gets the same treatment on VH1 Classic! Oohh Woodstock! Again! How many times have I seen Alvin Lee and Ten Years After doing I'm Going Home..."by Helicopter?" More times than I even care to even think about! How come no one ever shows a letterbox, full screen of Woodstock or Monterrey Pop of Last Days of the Fillmore or anything cool? I should take that back - with VH1 Classic it's either Baby Boomer crap OR it's That Fucking Metal Show! [Followed by 5 hours of Metal Mania! See more Ratt, Poison, Warrant, Enuff Z'Nuff, Motley Crue, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest et al than you ever thought you could stand again!] I kind of dug That Metal Show when it started - doing a short half hour show once a week and having some guys come on and talk about then and now and shit... cool! But they're taken it and run it into the fucking ground! I shit you not, it seems like every third time I flip past, it's That Metal Show! GOD TELEVISION SUCKS ASS!
I somehow get by with the Military Channel, the History Channel, BIO [sometimes] - but all the channels that used to have shows - TNT, Bravo - oh God, don't get me started on Bravo and "Real Housewives of Anywhere" or "Fashion Nazi TV" or whatever - I can't stand that shit! - E! and their never ending lineup of pseudo celebrity shows - there are just nights when I have to turn off the TV because I just think my brain IS turning to mush!
*Sigh* I just feel so cut off here sometimes. All you guys are sleeping and having real lives between 5 O'clock to 11 and on Saturday and Sunday and I'm just stuck on the night shift and missing everything!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Take My Baseball Team - PLEASE! [A Plea to Mark Cuban]
It's hard watching a team that you used to love continue to throw itself into and then FLUSH the toilet. But my formerly beloved Pittsburgh Pirates have done it yet again.
They traded center fielder Nate McLouth back in early June - yes, hitting.259 but with an .829 OBP - AFTER he singed a 3 year 16 million extension! - for 3 minor leaguers. Add 1B Adam LaRoche to the Red Sox last week for two minor league pitchers, left fielder Nyjer Morgan back on July 1st for a minor league outfielder. And lets not forget center fielder Jason Bay to the Red Sox last season - .280 hitting, 30 HR power Jason Bay - for a slump prone 3B [Andy LaRoche], a fourth outfielder in Brandon Moss and a couple minor league pitchers. And left fielder Xavier Nady to the Yankees. And super 3B Aramis Ramirez back in 2003 - yes I am still pissed over that! How good would a .290 hitting, 30 HR guy look now? How about Jason Kendall in 2004? A great contact hitting catcher? Who needs that?
Today they traded 9 year veteran shortstop Jack Wilson and the 2 - 8 pitcher Ian Snell to the Mariners for an underachieving Ronny Cedeno and 4 minor leaguers. They then flipped 2006 batting champ and 3 time All Star second baseman - injury prone this year, but still - Freddy Sanchez for another minor league pitcher.
This week alone, the Pirates dealt away almost 24 million - HALF OF THEIR PAYROLL. And their payroll was all ready 3rd lowest in the National League, if not the whole league [Yahoo Sports is unclear].
What they got in return will restock their minor league systems - not bad. But the Pirates have shown a streak for bringing talent to the majors then trading it. And this week just leaves the major league club just decimated.
Manager John Russell, obviously toeing the company line said on Yahoo Sports:
“People now might wonder what we’re doing, but if you keep looking at all the names we’re getting and all the premier talent we’re getting, it’s going to equate to a very solid, very good ballclub in Pittsburgh."
GM Neal Huntington told the Pittsburgh Trib-Review Sunday July 26th that this was good for the team:
"It is (owner) Bob Nutting's intention that any money saved from trades goes back into baseball operations," Huntington said.
It is unclear to me what baseball operations are left.
Let's not fool around here - when baseball talks about contraction again - and they will - let's put Pittsburgh at the top of the list. This is a team headed for a Major league record 17th straight losing season. These guys make the St. Louis Browns look like the Yankees! They make bad teams look... well... okay by comparison.
Let's stop trying to put happy face on an unhappy story. All the Pirates are doing is stocking other major league teams anyway, let's put them out of the misery. Yes they have a great ballpark there and a history, but let's face facts - current ownership is not about to spend one thin dime more than they have to to keep any player worth their salt.
Mark Cuban is a good boy from Pittsburgh - sell him - hell, GIVE HIM the club! I'm willing to bet the team that the 12 Dallas Mavericks could beat the Pirates in a real baseball game. PLEASE MARK! PLEASE! I know you were turned down from the Cubs because you say what is on your mind - but this is Pittsburgh. You're not going to get a hint of national media here unless you're sitting with the Rooney's at a Steeler game or Mario in the owners box at the new Igloo! Please find a way!
Christ, I may have to watch the damn Rangers now. Or the Astros. Or the Cubs. Never the Red Sox or the Yankees, though.
ADDENDA:
I thought the cupboard was bare as Old Mother Hubbard's place, but the Pirates managed to squeeze a little more blood from the turnip flipping lefty reliever John Grabow and lefty starter [and Chicago native] Tom Gorzelanny for Kevin Hart [who had just finished beating the Astros] and two more minor leaguers. This leaves the Pirates short of left handed pitching - not that it matters. The Pirates will struggle now to get to 70 wins.
That leaves Zach Duke and Matt Capps. The deadline isn't until 4 p.m. Eastern. See if the Bucs can get their payroll under $ 20 million by then.
It's hard watching a team that you used to love continue to throw itself into and then FLUSH the toilet. But my formerly beloved Pittsburgh Pirates have done it yet again.
They traded center fielder Nate McLouth back in early June - yes, hitting.259 but with an .829 OBP - AFTER he singed a 3 year 16 million extension! - for 3 minor leaguers. Add 1B Adam LaRoche to the Red Sox last week for two minor league pitchers, left fielder Nyjer Morgan back on July 1st for a minor league outfielder. And lets not forget center fielder Jason Bay to the Red Sox last season - .280 hitting, 30 HR power Jason Bay - for a slump prone 3B [Andy LaRoche], a fourth outfielder in Brandon Moss and a couple minor league pitchers. And left fielder Xavier Nady to the Yankees. And super 3B Aramis Ramirez back in 2003 - yes I am still pissed over that! How good would a .290 hitting, 30 HR guy look now? How about Jason Kendall in 2004? A great contact hitting catcher? Who needs that?
Today they traded 9 year veteran shortstop Jack Wilson and the 2 - 8 pitcher Ian Snell to the Mariners for an underachieving Ronny Cedeno and 4 minor leaguers. They then flipped 2006 batting champ and 3 time All Star second baseman - injury prone this year, but still - Freddy Sanchez for another minor league pitcher.
This week alone, the Pirates dealt away almost 24 million - HALF OF THEIR PAYROLL. And their payroll was all ready 3rd lowest in the National League, if not the whole league [Yahoo Sports is unclear].
What they got in return will restock their minor league systems - not bad. But the Pirates have shown a streak for bringing talent to the majors then trading it. And this week just leaves the major league club just decimated.
Manager John Russell, obviously toeing the company line said on Yahoo Sports:
“People now might wonder what we’re doing, but if you keep looking at all the names we’re getting and all the premier talent we’re getting, it’s going to equate to a very solid, very good ballclub in Pittsburgh."
GM Neal Huntington told the Pittsburgh Trib-Review Sunday July 26th that this was good for the team:
"It is (owner) Bob Nutting's intention that any money saved from trades goes back into baseball operations," Huntington said.
It is unclear to me what baseball operations are left.
Let's not fool around here - when baseball talks about contraction again - and they will - let's put Pittsburgh at the top of the list. This is a team headed for a Major league record 17th straight losing season. These guys make the St. Louis Browns look like the Yankees! They make bad teams look... well... okay by comparison.
Let's stop trying to put happy face on an unhappy story. All the Pirates are doing is stocking other major league teams anyway, let's put them out of the misery. Yes they have a great ballpark there and a history, but let's face facts - current ownership is not about to spend one thin dime more than they have to to keep any player worth their salt.
Mark Cuban is a good boy from Pittsburgh - sell him - hell, GIVE HIM the club! I'm willing to bet the team that the 12 Dallas Mavericks could beat the Pirates in a real baseball game. PLEASE MARK! PLEASE! I know you were turned down from the Cubs because you say what is on your mind - but this is Pittsburgh. You're not going to get a hint of national media here unless you're sitting with the Rooney's at a Steeler game or Mario in the owners box at the new Igloo! Please find a way!
Christ, I may have to watch the damn Rangers now. Or the Astros. Or the Cubs. Never the Red Sox or the Yankees, though.
ADDENDA:
I thought the cupboard was bare as Old Mother Hubbard's place, but the Pirates managed to squeeze a little more blood from the turnip flipping lefty reliever John Grabow and lefty starter [and Chicago native] Tom Gorzelanny for Kevin Hart [who had just finished beating the Astros] and two more minor leaguers. This leaves the Pirates short of left handed pitching - not that it matters. The Pirates will struggle now to get to 70 wins.
That leaves Zach Duke and Matt Capps. The deadline isn't until 4 p.m. Eastern. See if the Bucs can get their payroll under $ 20 million by then.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Random Thoughts:
What is this fascination with everything Jack White of the White Stripes touches? The Raconteurs were ok at best and this new thing - The Dead Weather - is just awful. But it gets pushed by the few hype sits - My Space Music and ads all over the place. I'm not even big on the White Stripes anyway, but dude, stick to your own band.
The Michael Jackson Circus has begun. You thought Michael was a freak show while alive, just the way the family - well, Latoya and Joe, not the stablest bananas in the bunch - think there is some sort of conspiracy rather than face the fact that Michael was an anorexic drug abuser.
I had to get a greatest hits of Fishbone recently and I blasted it for two days straight. Why the Red Hot Chili Peppers got huge and these guys are forgotten is beyond me.
As far as Wilco - The Album goes, If you liked Sky Blue Sky, you'll like this. If you didn't, you'll be moaning "Tweedy's no fun since he went to rehab." I recently had Yankee Hotel Foxtrot on my MP3 player and I really really like it, a lot more than I did before.
Another thing I discovered loading random things on my MP3 - Be Bop Deluxe. Haven't listened to much of their studio stuff but their Live at The BBC titled Radio Birdland is really interesting in a Cars / Gary Numan / little 80s King Crimson kind of way.
A 4 song [plus demo] EP and a new single from Superchunk in the last 3 months - I hope this means the band is gearing up for a full length album really soon!
What is this fascination with everything Jack White of the White Stripes touches? The Raconteurs were ok at best and this new thing - The Dead Weather - is just awful. But it gets pushed by the few hype sits - My Space Music and ads all over the place. I'm not even big on the White Stripes anyway, but dude, stick to your own band.
The Michael Jackson Circus has begun. You thought Michael was a freak show while alive, just the way the family - well, Latoya and Joe, not the stablest bananas in the bunch - think there is some sort of conspiracy rather than face the fact that Michael was an anorexic drug abuser.
I had to get a greatest hits of Fishbone recently and I blasted it for two days straight. Why the Red Hot Chili Peppers got huge and these guys are forgotten is beyond me.
As far as Wilco - The Album goes, If you liked Sky Blue Sky, you'll like this. If you didn't, you'll be moaning "Tweedy's no fun since he went to rehab." I recently had Yankee Hotel Foxtrot on my MP3 player and I really really like it, a lot more than I did before.
Another thing I discovered loading random things on my MP3 - Be Bop Deluxe. Haven't listened to much of their studio stuff but their Live at The BBC titled Radio Birdland is really interesting in a Cars / Gary Numan / little 80s King Crimson kind of way.
A 4 song [plus demo] EP and a new single from Superchunk in the last 3 months - I hope this means the band is gearing up for a full length album really soon!