January 4, 2012

“Gleeman and The Geek” #22: Marquis and Morris

This week's episode of "Gleeman and The Geek" was recorded at Wild Boar in Hopkins and my beer of choice was Leinenkugel Honey Weiss, plus John Bonnes also ordered me a birthday-decorated Glenlivet scotch pictured below. Topics included me getting old, Jason Marquis filling out the rotation, whether the Twins will sign a right-handed reliever, Jack Morris' case for the Hall of Fame, Jose Mijares making more money elsewhere, and my idea for a dating podcast.

Gleeman and The Geek: Episode 22

In addition to the direct download link above you can also subscribe to the podcast via iTunes.

14 Comments »

  1. Merry birthday, Aaron.

    Comment by Ben H. — January 4, 2012 @ 5:25 am

  2. You’re starting to look pretty svelte there Aaron. Are you a candidate for a “best shape of his life” article?

    Comment by D-Luxxx — January 4, 2012 @ 8:04 am

  3. haven’t listened yet, but I think they should sign Michael Wuertz from the bargain bin

    Comment by spoof bonser — January 4, 2012 @ 9:23 am

  4. Lookin’ Good Aaron, I echo the svelte comment. Happy birthday.

    Also, when are you going to update your podcast picture to replace the 2nd beer with a pint of water?

    Comment by Andy — January 4, 2012 @ 9:39 am

  5. Happy Birthday, and amazing work with the svelteness. Can’t wait to listen to the podcast — I’m headed to the gym today myself, so Gleeman and the Geek goes along for the workout.

    Comment by hrunting — January 4, 2012 @ 2:44 pm

  6. Looking good Aaron! Happy Birhtday!
    That Birthday Scotch is awesome.

    Comment by Dan — January 4, 2012 @ 2:51 pm

  7. Aaron, I agree with you re Jack Morris. But that doesn’t mean that as Twins fans and Minnesotans we can’t root for him to get in the HOF, even if we know he doesn’t really deserve it. That’s what makes someone a fan and not simply an observer.

    Also, in your efforts to shake the Geek of his Morris-colored glasses, I think you may have gone too far the other way. Morris is probably right around the cusp of being one of the top 100 starting pitchers of all time.

    But the HOF cutoff is about the top 70, so there’s still a bunch of guys ahead of him who will never be in (such as Kevin Brown, Tommy John, Jim Kaat, Billy Pierce, Dave Stieb, Ron Guidry, etc.). And if he does get in, he still won’t be the worst pitcher in the HOF, but he will be the worst to have played since before World War II.

    Comment by Alex — January 4, 2012 @ 3:16 pm

  8. Seriously, dude, I do not understand how your brain does not explode out your ear sometimes. BUT HE’S A NUMBER ONE!! YOU’RE ONLY A NUMBER ONE IF YOU’RE GREAT!! ERGO HE’S GREAT!!

    What? You have evidence that categorically shows he WASN’T great, according to the criteria any sane person would use to determine whether a pitcher is Good At Pitching. Irrelevant! People THOUGHT he was great and THAT’S what matters. *cry*

    This had some pretty great numbers:
    http://www.baseball-reference.com/blog/archives/7083

    Neutralizing his W-L record for luck (I assume they use ERA+ and average run support) B-R puts his adjusted W-L % at .472. A 105+ ERA for his career. 109+ in the 80’s. 10 percent (rounding up) better than average during the peak years is Hall of Fame!?!?! Seriously, Jim Rice might have had a better case, if only based on years of true dominance.

    Regarding Bonnes’s contention that the innings he ate inflated his ERA: By 25 pitch grouping, Morris’s OPS against was easily at its BEST after 76 pitches. His best inning for ERA was the 9th, followed by the 7th. The 8th WAS his worst (.16 runs worse than the 4th) so pretty much: if it mattered, it worked in his favor.

    I like the Marquis signing more than you (not that I’m ecstatic or anything). Maholm is a better pitcher but his health is a bigger question mark to me and he will (or at least should) cost more.

    Comment by toby — January 4, 2012 @ 6:15 pm

  9. Hey just wanted to say I LOVE the dating podcast idea.

    Wow how great would that be for all us listeners? Particullary guys like myself, that are shy or have trouble dating as well as yourself Aaron.

    snicker snicker…

    anyways I say around #25 or so DO IT!!!! have the Bonnes’ man set ya up.

    Comment by SHS — January 4, 2012 @ 7:17 pm

  10. Morris will get in — it won’t take as long as Bert, but

    Time to change your photo on the header of this page — looking good. The Twins hoodie is a nice touch too.

    Comment by funoka — January 5, 2012 @ 9:17 am

  11. I bring this up every other year or so, but why isn’t Larry Walker getting more HoF support? MVP, multiple all-star, multiple gold gloves. Durability was a problem, but isn’t there enough of a body of work to focus on the quality instead of the PAs missed? His numbers are a bit inflated by Coors Field, sure, but OPS+, which is supposed to account for ballpark, still ranks him with the very best of his generation.

    Comment by koop — January 5, 2012 @ 1:39 pm

  12. A fan of the podcast and never miss an episode. Two thoughts, that you hopefully take as constructive feedback:

    I love, love, love the theme song. Maybe my favorite podcast theme song, ever (no hyperbole). Short, to the point, and hilarious. I laugh out loud each time I hear it. Big props to whoever did it for you guys. Fun idea, maybe: Maybe throughout the episodes, for between-topic transitions, play the theme-ending little guitar lick as transitional stinger. Would be a funny inter-segment bumper, and remove the need for you guys to do segues. Maybe even throw in a guttural “Geek!” or “Gleeman!” shout in those interstitials. Imagine: You guys chat, chat, chatting. Then, “BA-DA-BA-DA-BA-DADADA, GEEK!” Then: Back to the chat.

    The logo, on the other hand is pretty poor. Not going to pile on with too negative for thoughts, but it’s not up the the level of quality of the content of the show. Consider a new design, maybe.

    Thanks for doing this podcast!

    Comment by Daddy — January 5, 2012 @ 4:46 pm

  13. A robust discussion on Mackey’s piece on Twins team payroll would be a good topic for next Podcast.

    Comment by scott — January 5, 2012 @ 11:52 pm

  14. It is sometimes better to flip the question around for people like Morris: instead of arguing his merits, ask someone who is fixated on Morris why they don’t fixate on the 20-40 pitchers with better stats first. The skewering of the history of lazy and belligerent writing and award voting is so prevalent that it could almost be the subtitle of Hardball Talk. It is why I read AG also.

    Comment by brad — January 6, 2012 @ 7:15 pm

Leave a comment