Can someone explain this to me? A-ha is a thing in some MLB stadium?

I never heard about it until a couple months ago when people started bemoaning the possibility that the Nats wouldn't bring him back, but apparently "Take On Me" is Morse's at-bat music.

I never heard about it until a couple months ago when people started bemoaning the possibility that the Nats wouldn't bring him back, but apparently "Take On Me" is Morse's at-bat music.

It's not just that, it's that the entire stadium would join in with singing the chorus, until everyone jumped into their best falsetto for the "I'll be gooooone...in a day or twoooooooooooooo..." part. It actually sounded quite remarkable (imagine 30,000 haunting yet surprisingly tuneful banshees, all wailing at once) and was a delightfully eccentric variation on the typical uber-macho stuff that plays for batters during their walk-ups.


The rule at Nats Park was that "Take On Me" was only played when Morse came to bat in the 6th inning or later.

Hmmmm... thanks guys. I feel like I should have known that.

That sounds pretty cool.

I haven't been this upset about the end of a sports fan tradition that I had never heard of when it existed since Doris From Rego Park died.

Jaso may suck defensively at catcher, but we M's fans are comparing him to Rob Johnson, Miguel Olivo, Montero, Chris Gimenez, etc,

We think he's a gold glover.

Of course, arguing a trade fir Mike Morse is a winner because of defense... It's a stretch. (but Morse can play short!)

Are they completely giving up on Smoak?

Not to mention Jason Bay.

I know, Ms fans wish I hadn't mentioned Jason Bay but it's just too much fun.

So how did Morse go from being a minor league shortstop to a butcher at 1B? That doesn't compute.

That said, Morse is a really big guy. How was he ever a shortstop in the first place?

I just came here to say that the music video for "Take On Me", even after 28 years, is still the best music video ever made.

I'd rather have Jaso for three years than Morse for one, but Cole seems like a steep price for the part-time upgrade from Kottaras.

Ya I'm with you. When I heard they traded Cole, I was cautiously excited that they were getting someone really good. Jaso is a bit of a letdown. I assume Jaso will start 2/3 of the time, but still....I was OK with Norris and Kottaras. They've now traded Gio for a catching platoon, a 2 WAR starter and Brad Peacock who may or may not ever do anything in the majors and if he does it probably won't be much. Taken as one deal it's trading a 4 WAR starter for complementary parts. I'm underwhelmed.

Are they completely giving up on Smoak?

Why wouldn't they at this point? Although, hilariously, his hideous .227/.304/.382 line as a Mariner translates to a 96 OPS+. It's like 1968 at that stadium.

I haven't been this upset about the end of a sports fan tradition that I had never heard of when it existed since Doris From Rego Park died.

Joe Benigno's finest on-air moment.

How many ####### DHs does a team need? Are they going to play Ibanez, Morales and Montero in the field?

Morse has to be the hugest man ever to play short regularly. He is a beast.

Another novelty is a 3-team trade that leaves all 3 teams' fans unhappy.

Mariners fans: Jaso was the first Mariners player to hit better than expected since Raul Ibanez. And we traded him for someone who's only under contract for one year? WTF

Oakland fans: I thought Cole was the centerpiece of our previous big trade where we sent away the staff ace. Now we traded him for an upgrade of half of our catching platoon, which we had just upgraded in July. WTF

Nationals fans: We don't get to sing the classic hits of the 80s anymore! :-(

[63] Who said HGH doesn't work!

___

It's a good enough return for Morse. But I still hate the idea of trading him, as I've whined about on other threads. With all the left-handed bats (and their positional versatility) there's a chance to get 400 solid ABs for him. Now, the team's top RH pinch-hitter is Tyler Moore (slugged in the minors, but I'm not sold) or slap-hitting Steve Lombardozzi.

It's not just that, it's that the entire stadium would join in with singing the chorus, until everyone jumped into their best falsetto for the "I'll be gooooone...in a day or twoooooooooooooo..." part. It actually sounded quite remarkable (imagine 30,000 haunting yet surprisingly tuneful banshees, all wailing at once) and was a delightfully eccentric variation on the typical uber-macho stuff that plays for batters during their walk-ups.


The rule at Nats Park was that "Take On Me" was only played when Morse came to bat in the 6th inning or later.

His walk-up music selections in the earlier innings were also popular, at least to the younger fan base (e.g., Ivan Gough ("My Mind"), Calvin Harris ("You Used to Hold Me"), and Guru Josh Project ("Infinity")).

The timing of this deal and the Soriano deal seem to demonstrate that Rizzo is working with a strict salary cap for 2013.

Morse is due $6.75M this season. Soriano's contract was structured so that the Nats only owe him $7M this season, with the other half of the money deferred until after 2017. So with the Soriano signing and the Morse trade, projected 2013 contract outlays by the Nationals remain static.

I am not sure that this was a good use of resources. It is Soriano + minor leaguers to be weighed against Morse. I'd probably rather have depth at 1B/LF than in the bullpen, but relievers are hard to project.

It's not just that, it's that the entire stadium would join in with singing the chorus, until everyone jumped into their best falsetto for the "I'll be gooooone...in a day or twoooooooooooooo..." part. It actually sounded quite remarkable (imagine 30,000 haunting yet surprisingly tuneful banshees, all wailing at once) and was a delightfully eccentric variation on the typical uber-macho stuff that plays for batters during their walk-ups.

It was great, and I really enjoyed watching it grow from a few people doing it (there were one or two games where it was just me and my friends and people looking at us like we were insane) to massive, massive crowds.

Someone else needs to pick a ridiculous 80's song to come up to.

I am suggesting Bryce Harper and "everybody wants to rule the world".

The timing of this deal and the Soriano deal seem to demonstrate that Rizzo is working with a strict salary cap for 2013...
So with the Soriano signing and the Morse trade, projected 2013 contract outlays by the Nationals remain static.

I don't know where you're getting your numbers from, but this isn't even close to being true.

Even with a bunch of Soriano's money being deferred, the team payroll this year is going to be somewhere in the neighborhood of $110-$115 million, a lot higher than the approximately $81 million of last season. That's going to end up as one of the biggest year-to-year increases in MLB this season.

Once they signed Span, it was always a foregone conclusion that one or the other of Morse and LaRoche wouldn't be on the roster this season. Morse's quite reasonable salary didn't have anything at all to do with it.

Isn't this basically a "win soon" trade for Oakland? While they can expect some regression from 2012 at a few spots, they also had lots of room to improve at 2b, SS, C, and pre-August 3b. Between Nakajima, Jaso, Donaldson maintaining a hint of his late season production, and the return of Sizemore/bounce-back from Weeks, they might have upgraded at all of those spots.

Howz about "Forever Young" by Alphaville? My freshman room mate played that song 5 times a day. He was probably Bryce's age ( and half his weight).

Someone else needs to pick a ridiculous 80's song to come up to.

I am suggesting Bryce Harper and "everybody wants to rule the world".

Andy LaRoche is available. He used "You're the best. Around! Nothing's ever gonna keep ya down!" with the Pirates.

As for the current roster I would suggest a Denard-DeBarge combo.

So how did Morse go from being a minor league shortstop to a butcher at 1B?

Steroids. Seriously, he's got two positive tests (second probably being for stuff that hadn't cleared his system from the first positive)

According to Cot's the Nationals' payroll last year was 92.5 million. Now 1.8 million of that went to Anthony Rendon but besides that it looks legit. Right now Cot's has them at 90 million. Well, they have them at 94.8 million but they are using Soriano's AAV instead of what they are actually paying him. Factor in arbitration players and so forth and the payroll is projected at somewhere around 110 million dollars for this year. An increase to be sure but mostly because their players have aged one year more than anything else.

I'm still bullish on Derek Norris, so I'm surprised Oakland is relegating him (presumably) to the short side of a platoon. Norris has hit RHP better than LHP over the last couple of years, which makes it stranger. Jaso's a good ballplayer, though.

As for the Mariners, did they move to a slow-pitch softball league when the Astros joined the AL West? I have no idea what they're doing with their "all your DHs are belong to us" strategy.

Someone else needs to pick a ridiculous 80's song to come up to.

Dan Johnson used to use "Safety Dance" when he was on the Rays.

Norris has hit RHP better than LHP over the last couple of years

Given the SSS, you should probably just assume the standard splits for Norris.

Suggestion for a great goofy '80s music walk-up song: "Bizarre Love Triangle."

Bonus points if the player uses the "Shep Pettibone Extended Dance Remix" version with all those cheesy orchestra hits and break-beats.

Two words, folks: Kon Kan.

While [Oakland] can expect some regression from 2012 at a few spots, they also had lots of room to improve at 2b, SS, C, and pre-August 3b.

I must say, Chokeland Bill is displaying an impressive gift for understatement here.

#44 I recall that Dickie Noles to the Tigers in 1987 was reported as a "future considerations" deal at the time. I see it's now reported as a loan. (which is probably the truth. I recall it because it gave rise to a joke about trades of "future considerations" for "a player to be named later")

The 80's were such a terrible, terrible decade. Really the only good bands to start then were the Beastie Boys and Guns N' Roses. Just a wasteland of bad decisions.

The 80's were such a terrible, terrible decade. Really the only good bands to start then were the Beastie Boys and Guns N' Roses. Just a wasteland of bad decisions.

The '80s were great. A whole lot better than the last decade, that's for sure.

June 1983: Orioles trade Floyd Rayford to the Cardinals for PTBNL, who two months later turns out to be Tito Landrum.
March 1984: Orioles trade Tito Landrum to Cardinals for minor leaguer. Cardinals sell Floyd Rayford to Orioles.

In between, Landrum hit an ALCS-winning homer for the O's.

I just came here to say that the music video for "Take On Me", even after 28 years, is still the best music video ever made

Albeit one that is ridiculous and easily parodied.

I nominate "Total Eclipse of the Heart" as inappropriate '80s walk-up music.

The '80s were great. A whole lot better than the last decade, that's for sure.

Snapper I assume you don't have Bieber fever?

The 80's were such a terrible, terrible decade. Really the only good bands to start then were the Beastie Boys and Guns N' Roses. Just a wasteland of bad decisions.

Not a fan of Nirvana, Public Enemy, Afrika Bambaataa, Bad Brains, Big Daddy Kane, Biz Markie, Bjork, Black Uhuru, Boogie Down Productions, De La Soul, Dwight Yoakam, Eric B and Rakim, Flaming Lips, Fugazi, Garth Brooks, Grandmaster Flash, Judds, Kurtis Blow, Lucinda Williams, Meat Puppets, Metallica, Minor Threat, Misfits, Minutemen, Motorhead, NWA, Oingo Boingo, Pastels, Randy Travis, Reba McIntyre, REM, Run-DMC, Salt-N-Pepa, Slayer, Smiths, Soft Boys, Sonic Youth, Steve Earle, Vaselines, Violent Femmes, Wham, Whitney Houston, or X it take it?

Why not an entire lineup of 80s at-bat music? Let's see what my iPod comes up with...

Span - Howard Jones, "Like To Get To Know You Well"
Harper - Jermaine Stewart, "Jody"
Zimmerman - Depeche Mode, "Personal Jesus"
LaRoche - Tom Tom Club, "Wordy Rappinghood"
Werth - Shalamar, "Just One Of The Guys" (theme song to the classic film)
Desmond - Haircut 100, "Love Plus One"
Espinosa - The System, "Don't Disturb This Groove"
Suzuki - Debbie Harry, "French Kissin' in the U.S.A."
Strasburg - Chaka Khan, "This Is My Night"

I can't think of a recent decade that doesn't feature twenty artists and a hundred songs I adore. All this generational oneupsmanship is dumb.

I can't think of a recent decade that doesn't feature twenty artists and a hundred songs I adore. All this generational oneupsmanship is dumb.

Yep.
I'm getting ready to head for a weekend-long softball tournament & was leaning toward Barbara Lewis' "Puppy Love" as my walk-up music.
NOW maybe I should reconsider. Expose, "Seasons Change"?

Harper should come out to Hüsker Dü's "New Day Rising." Nats season-ticket holders would lose the top of their hearing range by Memorial Day.

Here goes:

Not a fan of Nirvana - 90's, Public Enemy - yes, Afrika Bambaataa - ok, Bad Brains - never heard of, Big Daddy Kane - nho, Biz Markie - yes, Bjork - 90's or 70's really, Black Uhuru - nho, Boogie Down Productions - nho, De La Soul - yes, Dwight Yoakam - no, Eric B and Rakim - yes, Flaming Lips - ok, Fugazi - yes, Garth Brooks - no, Grandmaster Flash - ok, Judds - nho, Kurtis Blow - ok, Lucinda Williams - no, Meat Puppets - ok, Metallica - i guess, Minor Threat - nho, Misfits - ok, Minutemen - nho, Motorhead - 70's, NWA - should definitely have included them, Oingo Boingo - no, Pastels - nho, Randy Travis - no, Reba McIntyre - no, REM - i guess, Run-DMC - ok, Salt-N-Pepa - no, Slayer - ok, Smiths - eh, Soft Boys - nho, Sonic Youth - ok, Steve Earle - nho, Vaselines - nho, Violent Femmes - no, Wham - no, Whitney Houston - no, or X - nho take it?

I will admit to leaving country music out of any consideration, I do realize it is successful and popular and all, but I dislike the style. And I grew up in a small New England town so rap, outside of NWA and Public Enemy, really didn't exist. Most of that 'yes' or 'ok' list I like now is from listening to them in the last 10 years.

I hate REM for no particular reason.

I'm getting ready to head for a weekend-long softball tournament & was leaning toward Barbara Lewis' "Puppy Love" as my walk-up music.
NOW maybe I should reconsider. Expose, "Seasons Change"?

Pet Shop Boys, "Domino Dancing"

U2 counts as an 80's band; I don't care if they released an EP in Ireland in 1979.

I can't think of a recent decade that doesn't feature twenty artists and a hundred songs I adore. All this generational oneupsmanship is dumb.

In my day, music was for sh1t!

Some great '80s bands:

New Order
U2
Sonic Youth
Talk Talk
R.E.M.
Husker Du
Minutemen
Echo & The Bunnymen (technically formed in '78, but first album was 1980)
XTC (hard to classify -- had great records in the late '70s, but bloomed in the '80s)
My Bloody Valentine
Tears For Fears
The Smiths

Talk Talk, by the way, seems to me to be single most underrated band of the decade, full stop. The Colour Of Spring, Spirit Of Eden and Laughing Stock are quite simply some of the most compelling, transfixingly futuristic music ever made. Those three albums STILL sound 'modern' and relevant. Which is amazing, given how much most everything else from that era is amazingly dated in terms of production. The Colour Of Spring in particular is an unheralded masterpiece (hipsters warmly embrace Spirit Of Eden and Laughing Stock for their formative influence on post-rock like Tortoise and bands like Radiohead). There isn't a single note on that album I would discard, and "I Don't Believe In You" and "Time It's Time" simply flatten me.

New Order
U2
Sonic Youth
Talk Talk
R.E.M.
Husker Du
Minutemen
Echo & The Bunnymen (technically formed in '78, but first album was 1980)
XTC (hard to classify -- had great records in the late '70s, but bloomed in the '80s)
My Bloody Valentine
Tears For Fears
The Smiths

Other great bands formed in the 80s: Fugazi, Nirvana (Bleach was released in 1989), Replacements, Black Flag.

edit to add: Didn't read closely enough. These were already mentioned.

Talk Talk, by the way, seems to me to be single most underrated band of the decade, full stop. The Colour Of Spring, Spirit Of Eden and Laughing Stock are quite simply some of the most compelling, transfixingly futuristic music ever made. Those three albums STILL sound 'modern' and relevant. Which is amazing, given how much most everything else from that era is amazingly dated in terms of production. The Colour Of Spring in particular is an unheralded masterpiece (hipsters warmly embrace Spirit Of Eden and Laughing Stock for their formative influence on post-rock like Tortoise and bands like Radiohead). There isn't a single note on that album I would discard, and "I Don't Believe In You" and "Time It's Time" simply flatten me.

I heartily endorse every word of this post. Bark Psychosis, also a remarkable band, formed in the 80's and owes a lot to Talk Talk.