Daily Archives: March 8, 2007

The magic of innovation and markets

Posted on by
Reply

feeddemon-product.gifFeedDemon is a highly-popular RSS aggregator that I have used for several years. Nick Bradbury developed FeedDemon, and he passes along the interesting story of how development of this elegant product came about:

I used to rely on email, but it’s almost useless to me now.
Funny thing is, if it weren’t for spam, I might not have created FeedDemon. As I’ve mentioned before, after spam and anti-spam filters made it impossible for me to communicate with customers by email, I dumped email and started using my blog and its RSS feed to communicate instead.
And that led to the creation of FeedDemon, which I’m having a blast working on. So I actually benefited from spam. Go figure.

The Roy O trade that didn’t occur

Posted on by
Reply

Roy%20Oswalt%20030707.jpgAs the Stros were languishing below .500 at the halfway point of the 2006 season, rumors were circulating that the Stros were entertaining a trade of their ace starter, Roy Oswalt, among others. The Stros ended up standing pat and then signed Oswalt to a lucrative long-term contract as Stros fans heaved a sign of relief that the best pitcher in the club’s history was remaining in Houston.
Well, according to this recent Mark Hale/NY Post story, once the Stros made it known last summer that they might be willing to move Roy O if the price was right, half a dozen teams became involved in non-stop negotiations and a trade of Roy O and other prominent Stros came much closer to reality than most folks previously thought:

Before last season’s trade deadline a little more than seven months ago, the Mets were trying to procure Oswalt, the Houston ace. They were talking with the Orioles about a follow-up trade to what would have been Baltimore’s acquisition of Oswalt from the Astros. Neither swap ever occurred.
It was a memorable sequence, though, that’s still worth considering now, especially with the Mets facing the Astros today [in spring training] and with starting pitching still their most significant issue. Through conversations with six different MLB team executives with knowledge of the multiple-team trade discussions, here’s a detailed look back at the days and hours leading up to the Oswalt trade disintegration.
Oswalt, one of the finest pitchers in the sport, was set to be a free agent after 2007, and when Houston began to be unsure about whether he would re-sign, the club became willing to hear proposals. To move Oswalt, however, the Astros wanted an established elite hitter.
From a prior inquiry, Omar Minaya already knew that he couldn’t get Oswalt by himself because the Mets didn’t have a hitter to deal. The Astros, though, did like Baltimore shortstop Miguel Tejada, but although the Orioles and Astros spoke, Baltimore required not only Oswalt but third baseman Morgan Ensberg and a prospect. When the two-team talks collapsed, Baltimore VP of baseball operations Jim Duquette determined that the two teams most interested in Oswalt were the Mets and Texas.
Minaya and Texas GM Jon Daniels both got calls from Duquette, and the situation began expanding. When the Mets heard that they could potentially land Oswalt, they were prepared to do anything in their power to do so, and they also internally discussed whether they could get a 72-hour window to sign him. Either way, however, the Mets believed that the fantastic right-hander could be re-signed.
They wouldn’t necessarily have proposed the best package for him, though.
One of the most interesting revelations about the events is that in one of the Texas-Baltimore proposals the principals were Texas third baseman Hank Blalock and pitching prospects John Danks and Thomas Diamond going to Baltimore for Oswalt and Ensberg. There was also another discussion that involved Houston reliever Brad Lidge heading to the Rangers.
As for the Mets’ package, there’s a discrepancy regarding who was involved from the Mets and whether Baltimore requested Mike Pelfrey. Names that were discussed, though, included Lastings Milledge, Aaron Heilman and Brian Bannister, but Minaya never made a final offer to Baltimore.
The trade deadline was at 4 p.m. on Monday, July 31, and at his home in New Jersey on Saturday night, Minaya believed that a trade had a shot, as he and the Orioles were discussing various players. The next morning, the GM flew down to Miami (where the Mets were going to be headed after their weekend series in Atlanta), and the involved teams began nearing a deal that day. The Mets were encouraged that a deal could go down, but later on Sunday, the Astros called Baltimore and told the O’s that Oswalt wasn’t getting dealt. Duquette then called Minaya with the verdict.
As for why it didn’t happen, another discrepancy exists – whether Houston owner Drayton McLane ultimately determined that Oswalt, his favorite Astro, couldn’t be dealt, or whether the swap collapsed because Baltimore was never going to be allowed to make the deal. Eventually, Oswalt re-signed with Houston.

Whew!

Why I like golf

Posted on by
Reply

Mark%20Wilson.jpgMark Wilson is a 32 year-old journeyman PGA Tour player who won last weekend’s Honda Classic. The victory was the first in 111 starts for Wilson, who has been to the pressure-packed PGA Tour qualifying tournament an excruciating eleven times in attempting to obtain or maintain his playing privileges on the PGA Tour. However, this Randall Mell column explains why Wilson’s victory was particularly noteworthy:

Gather the children around.
They should know about Mark Wilson, because he did more than win the Honda Classic in Monday’s playoff at PGA National. In the Machiavellian world of sports, where the ends increasingly justify the means, where it seems as if winning is all that matters, he broke ranks spectacularly.
That was the real story here.
In a time when we routinely worship achievement at the expense of character and integrity, he reminded us why golf’s so admirably different.
He showed a commitment to doing the right thing no matter what the cost.
And a commitment to being relentlessly honest even though it made winning so much harder.
Wilson claimed his first PGA Tour victory despite calling a two-shot penalty on himself Friday, when even in golf, where respect for the rules is so integral to the game, other players might have overlooked this type of violation. It fell in such a gray area that even the rules official Wilson consulted in the second round paused uncertainly.
“If I were sitting here, and had not called it on myself, every time I looked at that trophy, it would be tarnished,” Wilson said after defeating Jose Coceres, Boo Weekley and Camilo Villegas in the four-way playoff.
Wilson, 32, penalized himself two shots in Friday’s second round after his caddie gave advice on club selection to a fellow competitor at the fifth tee.
News of the self-imposed penalty didn’t leak out until the Golf Channel reported it Saturday night, after the third round. Wilson would have shot 64 on Friday, the low round of the tournament, and he would have been one shot behind the leaders instead of three back. But while other players would have been quick to blame a caddie ó it happens all the time ó Wilson kept it to himself. He never raised the issue until pressed by media. [. . .]
At the fifth hole Friday, Wilson hit his tee shot with an 18-degree hybrid. Villegas was up next at the 217-yard par three. Villegas asked his caddie, Matty Bednarski, what club he thought Wilson had hit. Bednarski said he thought it was a two- or three-iron hybrid.
“Oh, it’s an 18-degree [hybrid],” Wilson’s caddie, Chris Jones, told them.
That response violated Rule 8-1 of the Rules of Golf, which prohibits a player or his caddie from giving advice to anyone but each other, or a partner in match play. It’s such a gray area because the rules actually permit competing players or caddies to go up and look in a fellow competitor’s bag to see what club is being used.
“I played out that hole and immediately called an official over to see what he thought,” said Wilson, who grew up in suburban Milwaukee and lives in suburban Chicago. “He wasn’t sure at first if that was necessarily advice, but within 60 seconds, he made the decision.
“It’s an important rule to me. The Rules of Golf are there to be fair to everyone. It’s a tough rule. There’s a lot of camaraderie among caddies and players.”
Jones, 30, who has been Wilson’s caddie since last season, said he was shaken when Wilson pointed out the violation.
“I heard Camilo and his caddie talking, and I just blurted it out,” Jones said. “I was getting too comfortable and too friendly.”
Wilson immediately confronted Jones.
“I felt so low and sick to my stomach,” Jones said.
Two holes later, Wilson could see Jones was suffering, so he put his arm around him to make sure Jones knew he was forgiven.
“After the round, I broke down and couldn’t hold it in,” Jones said. “If we would have lost this tournament, it would have really killed me. I felt so bad about what I had done to him, our team, his wife and family.”

Read the entire article. Wilson won $990,000 for his victory and will have the opportunity to play in The Masters in early April if he can remain among the top 10 money-winners this season until then. More importantly, the win gained him fully exempt status on the PGA Tour through 2009, so he gets a well-deserved reprieve from going back to the PGA Tour qualifying tournament for almost three years. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.