Seattle Sports Insider

300-lb'ers in the D.C. humidity - Justin?

Posted by

1/13/12

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Jason has an interesting article up, in which he opines that the anti-Seattle stuff sounds like mostly hooey to him.

He relates a comment that I hadn't considered: the heat and humidity in the D.C. area. Very overweight people are indeed miserable in 85-90 degrees and 90% humidity. If I were Fielder, I might be all right with a road trip there, but to finish my sports career in that stuff? Yowch.

A reader replies, well, he lives in Tampa. Yeah, but he doesn't play sports outside in Tampa.

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Jim Bouton, in his July 4 entry in Ball Four, cracks "What could be better than a 4th of July doubleheader in Kansas City? Anything up to and including a kick in the [man region]."

Would like to hear Justin's impression of what the big athletes say about the heat, but if it's me, I can easily imagine myself saying, "Cubs? Great. Marlins indoors? Awesome. Washington? Man, that place is an oven. Don't we got anyplace else?" Don't know whether Atlanta falls into this category. Sandy?

Of course, it couldn't be the case that ballplayers 40+ lbs. overweight never choose hot, humid cities. Adam Dunn chose the Nationals, though I don't know how overweight he is, or even how much of a choice he had. We're talking about really big ballplayers who had reasonable choices. How often do they really wind up in places that are routinely 85-90 degrees and 90 percent humidity?

Can think of Ryan Howard (if he falls into the category of "choosing" a hot city). Philadelphia can get awfully humid. I was back there one time and had to change my shirt like every 60 minutes...

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If true, that would leave the Dodgers. It's possible; anything is possible.

Supposing that the Dodgers sell for $1.0 billion, even $1.2 billion, that's fine, but ... just before the closing table you simply don't want to add a new $200M liability on your property, do you?

Frank McCourt won't be handed a check with 10 digits on it. He'll get a residue payment, probably in securities and shares and the like, that deduct a WHOOOLLLLLLE lotta zeroes before you get down to McCourt's take. He's not going to use Fielder's contract to score a new TV deal between the contract and the sale, and I can't imagine that he wants to peddle his franchise with a 300-lb., scary 1B liability fresh on the books.

We're just musing. But it seems that every time we look at this thing, we get a replay of the same old song.

BABVA,

Dr D

Comments

Thumbs up

I've always thought the anti-Seattle noise was just that, noise.
How many players would take huge salary hits to not play in a beautiful city, with a team filled with young gun arms and some neat young bats on the horizon.
He's not getting an equivalent offer from the Yankees or Red Sox, so every other team is a bit of a playoff gamble, anyway.
If Seattle clearly has the best offer, he'll be here. If we don't clearly have the best offer, all kinds of things come into play, which the M's can't control. Does he want to be close to family? How about his wife? Does he hate fresh seafood? All those things could come into play....beyond our control.
moe

It all make sense...

Except Texas is back in the mix. It's hot in Arlington, but theyve got cash and two WS appearances. We're screwed methinks.

You mean HOTlanta, Doc? :)

Of course Atlanta falls into the same heat category. :) It may be just a shade less humid than DC or Miami on average...but we're talking a very small shade. And that's only because of the mountain shadowing impact of the Appalachians to their Northeast...which means it's only a shade less humid if the wind is easterly or northeasterly...you can have a hot humid wind out of that direction in the summer, but it's not the prevailing wind. :)

Seattle Air

To me, there is no weather more delightful than a summer in the Pacific Northwest, with the 65-75 degree temperature, the hours long sunsets, the white moon out during the day, the herring gulls divebombing the upper decks of Safeco for unattended garlic fries, and other cool Seattle stuff.
You wouldn't think that sauna hot DC, or fry an egg on the sidewalk hot Dallas is much of a choice to Seattle. But, Different strokes for different folks. We don't know Prince Fielder's domestic situation, what motivates him, or what he likes to do for fun.

Ugh.

Montero? Really?
Though I agree with Sandy to an extent on baseball soul, I also agree with G. Why do this when you have cash to throw.
Sad, sad, sad. Pineda and Campos gone for a Yankees Prospect of Dubiousness.
Watch, Montero's actually 25.

Montero's from Venezuela....

The age-gate players are mostly from the Dominican Republic. Significantly better chance that Pujols himself has lied about his age than Montero.
Suspect Dr. D is not going to be a fan of this trade because Pineda was such a personal fav. However, IMO this was the exact kind of deal the M's should have been looking for.
The M's are loaded with SP depth and the Fielder talks are a good example of the reputation that Seattle/Safeco has with hitters. Montero is one of the elite offensive prospects in all of baseball, and immediately mashed MLB pitching as soon as he was called up. Ignoring position (which the M's can afford to do), Montero was probably among the top 3 or so bats you'd want for this team. My one concern on a trade like this would be the M's compromising on the quality of the bat they got back; definitely not the case with this deal!
The M's still have plenty of pitching depth. Felix is less than 3 years older than Pineda, with a better tracker and much safer injury risk. Hultzen, Walker, and Paxton are three A-level arms on the farm. And perhaps most importantly, free agent SP will be much easier to acquire than free agent hitting.
This trade makes the M's a better team for now and the future.

DC

Can't say I recall any athletes complaining about the DC heat, but FWIW will add that the heat and the traffic are the two reasons I personally avoid going down there during the summer.
The Nats have had 4 everyday 1B's in their 7 years of existence, all of whom were big....
Nick Johnson (6'3'', 235 lbs)2005 - 453 AB, 15 HR, 74 RBI, .289/.408/.479, 137 OPS+2006 - 500 AB, 23 HR, 77 RBI, .289/.428/.520, 149 OPS+
Dmitri Young (6'2'', 295 lbs)2007 - 460 AB, 13 HR, 74 RBI, .320/.378/.491, 129 OPS+2008 - 150 AB, 4 HR, 10 RBI, .280/.394/.400, 111 OPS+
Adam Dunn (6'6'', 285 lbs)2009 - 546 AB, 38 HR, 105 RBI, .267/.398/.529, 144 OPS+2010 - 558 AB, 38 HR, 103 RBI, .260/.356/.536, 138 OPS+
Mike Morse (6'5'', 230 lbs)2011 - 522 AB, 31 HR, 95 RBI, .303/.360/.550, 147 OPS+
So some BIG guys with favorable results (despite lousy teams and a pitcher friendly ballpark). Who knows whether they were miserable or not, but at minimum we can deduce that a dropoff in performance is probably not a significant concern for Fielder.
With that said, I do not believe the Nats get him, he's just not a good fit.
As posted above, Morse posted a 147 OPS+ last year. They're on the books for $8 million on Adam LaRoche. Anthony Rendon needs somewhere to play long term, and contrary to popular doesn't look like the Nats are planning for that to be at 2B.
Most of all, Ryan Zimmerman's defense has taken a monumental decline. He was the first draft pick in team history, he's the only player to play for the Nats in all 7 seasons, and he's in advertisements all over the area - he is the face of the franchise (at least until Strasburg stays healthy). Don't believe for a second that they're planning on letting him leave, and they've got to know his days at 3B are numbered.
The Nats have money burning a hole in their pocket. It's possible they cast all logic aside in order to catch headlines with a big move. But they're already suffering for the Werth decision, and I'd like to think they've learned from their mistake. I believe them when they say they're not interested.

Almost forgot we have a meteorologist on staff! :- )

Does he have a sense of whether big guys tend to steer clear of the sauna regions?

It's NOT a dry heat ...

Yes, Atlanta is like playing in the everglades in August. But, (little known) to most ... Turner Field is 1,050 feet above sea level.
As a 5' 10" 240 pound geek who took up soccer at the age of 49 last summer to try and lose weight, summers on the south atlantic coast can be brutal. But, the notion that a 1B is in any way whatsoever going to get gassed is IMO the height of desperation to find an argument.
Baseball players sprint once every 30 minutes, and they get to rest in the shade on the bench for half of the 3 hour game period. Yes, every now and then you'll see an ump succumb to the heat (wearing waaaaay more gear than any 1B, and not getting anywhere near the rest that the players get). But, c'mon ... when was the last time anyone saw an MLB go down based on fatigue? I've watched the game since 1970 and have never seen it.
A 300 pound pitcher I might be concerned ... just a tad. That just means I'd expect to come with the hook an inning earlier. But a 1B ... seriously?!?