The year is ending Matt Adams Jersey , the temperature dropping, and the baseball writers keep making stuff you can click on.", Irreverence, & Other HumorGame RecapsMore links than you can sneeze atNew,12commentsThe year is ending, the temperature dropping, and the baseball writers keep making stuff you can click on.ByJames FillmoreDec 30, 2018,8:50am ESTShareTweetShareShareMore links than you can sneeze atThe text description of this photo reads “Artist Sits In Bath Of Sausages, Chips And Beans.” Of course it does.Happy New Year’s Eve Eve! For those of you planning to skip the festivities (and, really, there’s not much point if you aren’t between the ages of 21-25), here’s some baseball-ish articles for your perusal. Between this and Froggy’s usual Monday collection, you should be good to go...pdx_twins_fan found an interesting ESPN tidbit on new Twin Jonathan Schoop, who speaks four languages. This is not unusual for people on the Caribbean island of Curacao; it’s a former Dutch colony, English is widely used, most TV is from nearby Spanish-speaking Venezuela, and the island tongue classifies as its own separate thing. Kevin Baxter describes how, since 2000, Curacao has produced an inordinate number of big-leaguers. The whole island is about the size of Ramsey County Kevin Long Jersey , and has far fewer people. Get with it, Saint Paul.After Minnesota signed Schoop, and before they signed Nelson Muntz Cruz, veteran CBS Sports scribe Jonah Keri suggested the Twins could surprise people this year. Predictions aren’t my fave, so what I liked better was this interview with Keri by Chris D. Davies of SB Nation’s Cleveland site. Keri, a Canadian, wrote a book about why Montreal lost the Expos; he talks about that here, and his attempts to avoid Haut Tayks when describing the whole sordid affair. You won’t agree with him about everything, yet you do have to respect his professionalism.Last winter’s dry free-agent market has a lot of writers currently concerned about the same big teams always competing for rings, while smaller-salaried clubs sell off veterans for prospects. Jon Tayler is dismayed by Arizona dumping slugger Paul Goldschmidt; Grant Brisbee feels similarly about Seattle’s teardown. Jacob Shafer believes even more teams should be tanking. Michael Baumann argues that this trend presents an opportunity for team executives willing to take risks rather than go the safe route everyone else is following; makes sense to me, as even sports executives who play it careful get fired eventually.In darker executive-firing news, Seattle has a rather ugly court case involving their former “director of high performance” Lorena Martin, who was placed on leave in October and fired in November after stating on social media that the team displayed hugely hostile sexist/racist behavior. The Mariners say she was a terrible employee and claim unnamed staffers “who were in a position to know” can refute all of Martin’s allegations. The courts will settle this, but I speak from experience that if your former employer wants to find people who’ll slam you, they can.Former Marlins president David Samson drunkenly told Miami clubgoers how happy he was embracing their hatred of the stadium deal (there is cussing):In a rather strange story, MLB donated a few thousand bucks to some blatantly bigoted Mississippi Senate candidate (the bigot won, narrowly). When word of the paltry donation came out, MLB hastily asked for its $5K back. Beyond The Box Score’s Daniel R. Epstein explained why this snafu probably had nothing to do with MLB being fond of bigot Senators, and everything to do with maintaining friends on all sides in Washington. More recently, some politicians are threatening to undo MLB’s recent international signing deal with Cuba; as Craig Calcaterra writes http://www.nationalsfanproshop.com/authentic-matt-adams-jersey , “anybody have any popcorn?”Meanwhile, Jose Canseco says he wants to run for President.Last March, we looked at the Saint Paul Saints and their legislative lobbying over a proposed minimum-wage increase, saying this might bankrupt the team. That increase is now law in St. Paul, to be phased in over several years. It does grant the Saints an exemption, but only for players on the roster (most of whom make less than dirt). The other staff will be paid minimum wage. Quite rightly so, if you consider this typically demanding job description.A rather dodgily-named website called “Booze Traveler” had 12 Surprising Features of Your Favorite Baseball Stadiums. You’ll know most of them. What you won’t know about are the bras hidden inside San Francisco’s outfield decor.A good article I missed in October: “Preserving Negro League History Has Never Been Easier, Or Harder” from The Smithsonian. While more and more statistical data is available all the time, much original reporting on the games and players has been lost, as for years the subject was ignored by many historians. A director at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City estimates only 200 surviving players are left today.And, finally, one from the wrong sport. NFL kicker Adam Vinatieri always had a powerful leg but no accuracy; he learned accuracy from a coach who uses a wheelchair and has never kicked a football in his life. This man really wanted to work for a football team, so he watched endless hours of videotape on kicking form. Now he’s considered the league’s top expert. One of those tales that’s either inspiring or which reminds you how you’ve never really accomplished anything...Anyhoo, that’s a bunch of browser windows I can close now! Stay safe Monday night — remember, you may be sober, but not every other driver on the road will be. And happy 2019! Mother Nature quickly interrupted Michael Kopech’s first start at home for the Chicago White Sox.On Friday, Kopech will get another opportunity to showcase his big arm in front of Chicago fans who have waited all season to see him promoted from the minors. The 22-year-old right-hander is 1-0 with a 1.13 ERA in his first two outings, walking none and striking out eight in eight innings.His first start in Chicago, on Aug. 21, was limited to two innings before a rain delay ended his evening Ryan Zimmerman Jersey , as the White Sox elected not to put him back on the mound after the 52-minute interruption. He did not allow a run in that debut, while allowing three hits and striking out four.Article continues below ...Kopech’s next assignment is against the Boston Red Sox — the team that drafted him and helped to develop him before shipping him to Chicago as part of a deal that yielded ace left-hander Chris Sale.What can Kopech do to avoid feeling too hyped up for his first time facing Boston?“Take a deep breath and make pitches,” White Sox manager Rick Renteria said to the Chicago Tribune. “Hopefully he continues to develop, continues to command the zone. It’s electric stuff.“Hopefully he’ll just continue to trust himself, which he is doing, and just enjoy being here. Know that he’s capable of doing what he’s doing because of this tremendous gift he has.”Kopech declined to speak about his emotions heading into the start, instead telling reporters that he would speak about the experience after his outing Friday night.Chicago (53-81) is feeling better about its fortunes despite a disappointing loss in Thursday night’s series opener. The Red Sox rallied for five runs in the ninth to claim a 9-4 victory.Boston (93-42) has a strong starting rotation and a potent lineup, as evidenced by home runs from Mookie Betts (No. 29 of the season) and J.D. Martinez (No. 39) in the comeback win over Chicago.The Red Sox will turn to right-hander Nathan Eovaldi (5-6, 4.15 ERA) in the second game of a four-game series. The 28-year-old will be making his seventh start since joining the Red Sox. He is 2-2 with a 3.94 ERA in his first six outings with Boston after going 3-4 with a 4.26 ERA in 10 starts for the Tampa Bay Rays.In two career games (one start) against the White Sox, Eovaldi is 1-0 with a 3.52 ERA. He has walked five and fanned six in 7 2/3 innings.Earlier this week, Eovaldi worked with Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez to fine-tune his delivery.“If Pedro comes around and he has something to say, I’m going to listen,” Eovaldi said to MassLive.com. “He said he noticed something with my landing foot. I guess I land on my heel when I land. He was saying if I try to land more with my toe, he thinks I’ll have a little bit better control of my offspeed pitches. And really with everything. It will make the fastball better, too.”The insights from Martinez served as a revelation for Eovaldi, who previously had focused on his arm.“It definitely feels a little different just because I haven’t really been focusing on my landing foot,” he said. “I’ve been focusing on other things thinking that was the issue. We’ll have to see (Friday) how everything works out. But it definitely feels a lot better.”