The B-List Lite: 5/20

The Indians lose to the Royals in the ongoing Luxembourg-Liechtenstein War, and today's game recap features:

• The Good Morning Song
• The Get Out of Bed Song
• Henny Youngman on Rafael Perez
• Futile gestures
• Bullpen statistics that hurt my eye
• Oolong the rabbit
• Lottery odds with the bottom of the lineup.

There are plenty of places to read very bad baseball some more, but only one place to read The B-List.

The B-List Lite: 5/19

Kerry Wood coughs up 5 runs in the 9th to lose 8-4, and today's game recap features:

• Justin Masterson, Not So Bad
• Smallball with Tofu Lou
• Shelley Duncan's existence
• A radical proposal
• Guest commentary from Leonard Pinth-Garnell
• More guest commentary from Leonard Pinth-Garnell
• Guest commentary from Joe Borowski

There are plenty of places to read very bad baseball, but only one place to read The B-List.

The B-List: 5/18

The Indians get throttled by David Price and the Tampa bullpen, and today's game recap features:

• David Huff seen through the lens of the Posnanski Treatise
• Chump Ambriz seen through the lens of the Posnanski Treatise
• Jason Donald's debut
• Kind words for Pronk
• Cheap shots at Russ Branyan
• Patience at the top of the order
• The existence of Jamey Wright

There are plenty of places to read about David Huff performing poorly, but only one place to read The B-List.

Cleveland 2010 and the Posnanski Treatise

By now, I would like to believe that you've already read Joe Posnanski's treatise on how non-competing teams (in this case, the Kansas City Royals) OUGHT to approach the decisions they make during the course of the season.  If you haven't, this means that you are not a fan of Joe Posnanski, and this makes you a Philistine.  QED.

In any event, we start with the premise:

It seems to me that the Royals must take advantage of the one advantage they have — time. How do they do that? Well, the big thing is to know is that while, sure, you want to win, the goal must be bigger than that. You are building a team to win down the road. Everything — and I mean EVERYTHING — must be pointed in that direction. Every break you take, every move you make, every smile you fake, every bond you break should have 2011 and 2012 and 2013 in consideration. And with time, you can do things. If you have some young and reasonably talented players, you can give them give them opportunities to learn and grow at the Major League level. If you have prospects you are not quite sure about — you can FIND OUT what they have inside.

So, there it is, in three parts:

1. A non-competing team's real asset is time, and the freedom to allow players to develop
2. Winning is important, in that it breeds a culture of success, but development is bigger than winning
3. A non-competetive year is about the players who are already here learning and growing, and properly evaluating the players who aren't here by playing them to see what they have

The B-List Lite: 5/17

The Indians drop an extra-inning affair in Tampa, and today's game recap features:

• Fausto Carmona's wasted but excellent start
• Asdrubal Cabrera's unfortunate injury
• A lot of incredulity at Hank Blalock accomplishing anything whatsoever
• An ill-conceived comparison of Warren Harding and Ulysses Grant
• Tampa Bay bullpen coveting
• Son of Walk-Off Bunt!
• Second-guessing for fun and ... fun

There is now another place to watch the Indians lose on a walkoff bunt, but only one place to read The B-List.

The B-List Lite: 5/14-5/16

The Indians take 2 of 3 from Bal'mer, thanks to an EIGHT-run ninth, and today's game recaps feature:

• Jake Westbrook's Fountain of Better
• The 8-run ninth
• The happiest person during the outburst
• An inconceivable walk
• Strong throwing arms
• Port smash!
• The Indians are reading my column

There are lots of places to watch Ty Wigginton slug .680, but only one place to read The B-List.