7 new international signings

[Number5]

15 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

I remember the announcers constantly saying that Rick Dempsey hit more line drives right at fielders than anyone ever.  Today we'd just look at his batting average on line drives and we'd know for sure.  I have my doubts.

I don't remember that.  I remember him pulling a lot of foul line drives.  Not that my memory is always accurate.

[DrungoHazewood]

1 minute ago, Number5 said:

I don't remember that.  I remember him pulling a lot of foul line drives.  Not that my memory is always accurate.

No one's is.  I'm pretty sure I remember the line drive at people thing, but it might not have been all the time.

[waroriole]

43 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

But having said all that, it wouldn't hurt US soccer if all the best athletes stopped playing football and other sports and moved to soccer.  Although Le Bron would be an unusual soccer player at 6' 9".  Peter Crouch looks like a giraffe on a soccer pitch and he's 6' 7".

I don’t know a lot about soccer, but wouldn’t a guy built like Lebron excel in soccer? Or would he likely lack the required finesse 

[waroriole]

1 minute ago, RZNJ said:

I am not a soccer fan but I would imagine, if nothing else, many basketball players would be great candidates to be goalkeepers.  

Because of height and reach? Height is why I thought someone like Lebron would be unstoppable on corner kicks. How could you move him out of his location and stop him from heading in goals?

[SteveA]

1 hour ago, DrungoHazewood said:

I remember the announcers constantly saying that Rick Dempsey hit more line drives right at fielders than anyone ever.  Today we'd just look at his batting average on line drives and we'd know for sure.  I have my doubts.

He did hit a ton of batting practice HRs.  Go out to the left field gold seat bleachers at Memorial Stadium for batting practice and you'd see Dempsey hit as many as anyone on the team.  I caught two in one BP session from home once standing in the front row near the foul pole.

[bobmc]

4 hours ago, RZNJ said:

I am not a soccer fan but I would imagine, if nothing else, many basketball players would be great candidates to be goalkeepers.  

Art Heyman, who went on to Duke and NY Knicks fame played goalie for my high school (Oceanside, NY) back in the day.  He was decent for sure!

[LookitsPuck]

Don’t mind the Orioles stringent physical at all. Actually hope they keep it up. Just me.

[Frobby]

9 hours ago, DrungoHazewood said:

No one's is.  I'm pretty sure I remember the line drive at people thing, but it might not have been all the time.

I heard this and think it’s just classic BS.   However, Dempsey’s career .256 BABIP is sort of on the low side, for whatever that’s worth.   

[DrungoHazewood]

19 hours ago, waroriole said:

I don’t know a lot about soccer, but wouldn’t a guy built like Lebron excel in soccer? Or would he likely lack the required finesse 

It's hard to tell.  It's kind of like asking if Lebron would be a great shortstop.  Maybe.  Or maybe the athleticism doesn't translate, he's just too tall, and he couldn't hit.  Lebron is excellent at a game where he's constantly using his hands and jumping, he would need to learn all the fine footwork skills to be a soccer player.

[DrungoHazewood]

19 hours ago, waroriole said:

Because of height and reach? Height is why I thought someone like Lebron would be unstoppable on corner kicks. How could you move him out of his location and stop him from heading in goals?

He would probably be very good on corners.  Peter Crouch certainly was/is. But that's a relatively small part of the game. 

Soccer has one-way subs, and just three a game, only at certain stoppages.  As @RZNJ mentioned, you can't have many specialists.

[DrungoHazewood]

 

19 hours ago, RZNJ said:

I am not a soccer fan but I would imagine, if nothing else, many basketball players would be great candidates to be goalkeepers.  

 

19 hours ago, waroriole said:

Because of height and reach? Height is why I thought someone like Lebron would be unstoppable on corner kicks. How could you move him out of his location and stop him from heading in goals?

I think there's some truth here.  Larger players are favored as goalies, small players are often asked to go play somewhere else.  It's like first base, or even pitcher.  A smaller person can do it, Nick Rimando is one.  But typically smaller, quicker players have other places their skills can be better used.

[Enjoy Terror]

I would think, and perhaps ignorantly, that a guy like LeBron wouldn't be fleet footed enough to be a great goalkeeper. Seems like a different set of skills than a basketball player. But he is a terrific athlete so maybe I don't give him enough credit.

[atomic]

On 1/26/2020 at 10:47 AM, DrungoHazewood said:

There's a lot more to it than that.  Iceland made the last World Cup and did quite well in the prior European Championships.  They have as many people, and presumably similar numbers of elite athletes, as Southern Maryland (Charles, Calvert, and St. Mary's Counties).  US Soccer could be quite competitive with the talent pool they currently have, but the development system and culture and management of US soccer is somewhat lacking.  Iceland has 3000 people with their A license, which is what's required to be a professional-level soccer coach, in a population of about 300k.  I don't know, but the US might not have many more than 3000 people with an A license and we have 300 million people.

Kind of like the Dominican and baseball.  San Pedro de Macoris is famous for producing players and it has about as many people as Harrisburg.  I doubt it's because they have an unusual number of exceptionally elite athletes. 

But having said all that, it wouldn't hurt US soccer if all the best athletes stopped playing football and other sports and moved to soccer.  Although Le Bron would be an unusual soccer player at 6' 9".  Peter Crouch looks like a giraffe on a soccer pitch and he's 6' 7".

Have you ever been to Iceland? Vikings settled Iceland.Big, strong athletic population.  
 

 

[atomic]

On 1/25/2020 at 1:18 PM, emmett16 said:US soccer is terrible because the best athletes play basketball and football.  If Lebron James  was a center back and (name a fast running back) was attacking forward we would never loose the World Cup.  
 

Any player in USA who plays soccer and is good goes to Europe at a young age.  Thing is, those kids arent the elite American athletes.  

Nonsense.  There are a ton of US athletes playing soccer. Netherlands, Belgium and Portugal are small population countries that do well in soccer.
 

Lebron James would probably be terrible at soccer. To be the best is the world at something requires genetics that lend you to be great at that sport. And then require a ton of determination and practice against top opponents.  His height is a great advantage to him in basketball.  Not many guys his size.  That great advantage is going to be gone in other sports.  
 

Few athletes can excel at multiple sports.  BonJackson comes to mind. Danny Ainge was a terrible baseball player but a great basket ball player. Deion Sanders was an Ok baseball player.  

[sportsfan8703]

Lebron could step in and start on the US national team at center back in a matter of months. 

You guys are hung up on the “orioles physical”.  It’s probably more like we waited on visa/passport issues. You gotta have a passport to fly. I’m sure most of these kids never had one before. That takes time. Even here in the US.