Dan Duquette's Series of Unfortunate Events

[MurphDogg]

And you have no problem with accepting the accuracy of that number? Come on. Boxers take punches for years. Do you think there are no consequences? And why are you so sure his coaches didn't mention it to him? He's a grown man after all. It didn't seem to stop him from taking steroids (just once of course) but I'm sure he knew better then.

There are better ways to express frustration with failure than to hit yourself in the head with a blunt object.

Do I believe Brian Roberts hit himself in the head 1,000,000 times? Of course not. But he said it, so I think it must have been something that he did regularly. And if that is the case, then his coaches and managers must have known about it. Whether they told him to stop or not, it certainly never became a public thing until this freak occurrence. Are there other players who have suffered concussions due to similar circumstances?

[Tx Oriole]

On July 24th, 2014 Dan acquired Jimmy Paredes - what now seems like another great DD move. Sometime between July 24 and July 31 - Dan was obviously cursed. There is no other rational explanation for what has happened to every major transaction he's made since. Don't believe in curses? I defy you to use rational thought to explain this crazy run of results the significant DD decisions have yielded since July 31.

1) Trades Ed Rod for Andrew Miller. EdRod has a 4.79 in AA at the time. Immediately goes crazy - 0.96 ERA the rest of the year. Cruises through AAA, dominates in MLB debut.

2) Makes the somewhat unusual move of announcing a player extension during the playoffs the day before the ALCS. Hardy posts .517 OPS in the series and the team gets swept. This season Hardy down to .508 OPS and having back problems.

3) Elects not to aggressively attempt to resign Andrew Miller. Miller signs with our most hated division rival, posts 0.84 ERA, is definitely in the conversation for best reliver in all of baseball.

4) Elects not to aggressively attempt to resign Nelson Cruz. Cruz leads majors in HR, 1.070 OPS, best hitter in the AL so far.

5) Elects not to aggressively attempt to resign lead off hitter and Gold Glove RF Nick Markakis. Markakis posts .397 OBP - almost 60 points higher than last year - Orioles have some defensive issues in RF.

6) Signs Delmon Young. Young career low .658 OPS. Due to his veteranosity frequently clogs up our clean up spot.

7) Trades for Travis Snider. Snider's OPS drops almost 60 points from last year down to .719. The traded - Brault 3-0 3.59, Tarpley 1-0 1.80 in the minors.

8) Signs Wesley Wright. Wight 5.40 ERA in 1.2 IP, out with shoulder injury.

9) Signs Everth Cabrera. Cabrera career low .476 OPS.

10) Tenders Alejandro De Aza a contract. OPS drops 65 points from last year down to .636. O's have to DFA him.

11) Trades Ryan Webb. Webb ultimately surfaces in Cleveland - career low 1.29 ERA.

This is a really unbelievable run of results. Just sustained spectacular bad luck. Obviously the sample on all these is very low - they could all turn around - but forget sample sizes and math - we're clearly dealing with a curse here. Supernatural forces are at play. Get your De Aza for MVP futures bets in now because wherever he lands he's clearly going to go bananas.

I don't believe in curses.

[Il BuonO]

I don't believe in curses.

Lol, this might be the best response in the whole thread.

I don't think he was being literal in his use of curses.

[El Gordo]

Do I believe Brian Roberts hit himself in the head 1,000,000 times? Of course not. But he said it, so I think it must have been something that he did regularly. And if that is the case, then his coaches and managers must have known about it. Whether they told him to stop or not, it certainly never became a public thing until this freak occurrence. Are there other players who have suffered concussions due to similar circumstances?

I recall seeing Brian do this on prior occasions. But there are two reasons why simply striking himself in the helmet by it's self could not have caused his concussion. 1)The helmet is designed to absorb the impact of a 90 mph FB, and 2)you cannot generate any where near that force striking yourself in the head with a bat. If you wanted to do that you would have to get a "friend" to take a full swing at your head. Most players bat speed is less than 90 mph. If the incident triggered the concussion it was because of damage incurred prior to it, like all the times he absorbed impact sliding head first, etc.

[Can_of_corn]

I recall seeing Brian do this on prior occasions. But there are two reasons why simply striking himself in the helmet by it's self could not have caused his concussion. 1)The helmet is designed to absorb the impact of a 90 mph FB, and 2)you cannot generate any where near that force striking yourself in the head with a bat. If you wanted to do that you would have to get a "friend" to take a full swing at your head. Most players bat speed is less than 90 mph. If the incident triggered the concussion it was because of damage incurred prior to it, like all the times he absorbed impact sliding head first, etc.

A MLB legal baseball weights 5 1/4 ounces. A bat weights around 32 ounces.

A baseball's velocity is measured shortly after the pitch is released. By the time it crosses the plate it is going 80 mph. *

The amount of force generated by a 5 1/4 ounce ball traveling 80 MPH is significantly less then a full swing of a 32 ounce bat.

* http://spiff.rit.edu/richmond/baseball/traj/traj.html

[El Gordo]

A MLB legal baseball weights 5 1/4 ounces. A bat weights around 32 ounces.

A baseball's velocity is measured shortly after the pitch is released. By the time it crosses the plate it is going 80 mph. *

The amount of force generated by a 5 1/4 ounce ball traveling 80 MPH is significantly less then a full swing of a 32 ounce bat.

* http://spiff.rit.edu/richmond/baseball/traj/traj.html

Try holding a bat in your hands and take a full swing at your head. I urge you to try this at home. :smile11: