Buffa’s Buffet: 5 things on my mind
Deciphering John Mozeliak’s comments takes practice.
Baseball executives don’t go to school for handling the media and answering questions, but they should. St. Louis Cardinals President of Baseball John Mozeliak is a fine example of how the tools of wheeling and dealing speculative terms and phrases can be as vital as wheeling and dealing players. Mozeliak can spit out a handful of words to the media, and start a forest fire on both radio airwaves and social media.
Case in point: Last week, he spoke to MLB.com’s John Denton, discussing the type of pitchers the team is going to chase down in free agency. A quote then got spliced with a Denton opinion, and the news reaction was that the Cardinals weren’t going to pull in top tier starters, due to them needing 2-3 arms. Historically, St. Louis doesn’t outbid other teams, so locking down Aaron Nola or Blake Snell could be rather difficult for a guy whom everyone knows is pining for innings.
Here’s the cut through knowledge that fans should take away before the action really starts this month: Don’t follow what Mo says, stick to what he does. His actions have always spoken louder than his words, because he won’t even discuss players that are free agents. That leaves speculation and trade possibilities, which he knows how to dance around. Mozeliak’s skating ability with rumors and potential deals is better than the Blues on special teams.
The fact is that last year the Cardinals were going to raise the payroll at the deadline if needed. As it turns out, the team was crap before midseason, so the payroll never went up. In reality, it went down with the offloading of expiring assets. From the beginning, also known as the final weeks of the season, Mozeliak has stated the team is looking to add three starters and raise the payroll.
In other words, the 2023 plan lives on in 2024. Let’s hope the team doesn’t suck too bad out of the gate. No one is expecting them to spring back to 93 wins, but 80-85 shouldn’t be too dreamy with a payroll reportedly nudging up against $200 million. I wouldn’t expect two big time starters coming in, but one shouldn’t be out of the picture. A big trade is also possible. Anything is possible if asses in seats are being determined. That’s the Bill DeWitt Jr. model. 85-90 wins and three million fans.
Before I move into non baseball topics, feel free to subscribe for free or become a paid subscriber, and be able to read this entire article. Writing is a hobby these days, and not a living. However, a few extra shekles never made a pocket feel heavy. The Buffets, which are nearing 100 editions, are the only thing that’s paid. Consider, and keep reading.
There are more important things in life than baseball and blog subscriptions; how to properly load a taco shell.
You know the feeling. We’ve all been there. It’s almost midnight, and you’re hungry. The formal Mexican restaurants are closed, and the stomach vetoed Jack n’ Box and Hardees tacos. There’s only a few cars in the drive through Taco Bell, but the last time left you unsatisfied. It’s not a big ask to buy a few crunchy tacos-ones that seem to get more expensive each time I go-and ask to receive them in one piece after you pull away and start to demolish them.
It’s almost as if the tacos go through World War III between the prep table and your car window, avoiding sauce packet shrapnel and overly energetic hands. There are a handful of decent TBs in town, but it’s not fair to suggest that people drive extra mileage for less than stellar fast food. All of this could be corrected with a different kind of prep.
The main reason that the shells break is due to the fact that the meat is put in first, triggering the breakthrough with its extra hot meat sauce. The lettuce and cheese are applied afterwards, and that’s just a regular crunchy taco. A fix would be to put the lettuce in first, followed by the meat and cheese. The cold lettuce would lessen the chances of breaking, and the quality wouldn’t drop. No, the leaves won’t melt under the meat because the driver will be shoveling it down his or her throat in less than 10 minutes.
Who takes it all the way home before eating? Come on. It’s called fast food for a reason. Taco Bell won’t do this because their focus groups say otherwise or they’re too careless or stupid. The good news is that the Double Decker Taco returns next month. Dec. 5 won’t be a sad day this year. Getting this menu item ensures there will be no breaking because the hard shell is wrapped safely in a soft shell.
And that concludes this edition of fast food cheats! Moving onto an area that creates more useless outrage than most things in the entertainment business, and that is people losing their minds over a film’s box office gross. The latest case of “please let me whine about something that doesn’t concern me” centers around the latest Marvel release, creatively called The Marvels.
According to a gallery of reviews, the latest big budget adventure provides recycled thrills, one liners, and a screenplay that very well could have been written by artificial intelligence. It’s a passable but probably uneventful movie, but how it performs at the box office is dominating the conversation. Here’s my issue: Who the fuck, outside of the studios and parties directly affected by the financials, cares?!
If you’re writing for a living, like the great Scott Mendelson, then this rant doesn’t apply. That’s his job to tell us how movies do, and keep his eye on the trends. Outside of general interest, the budget of a movie has little to do with its quality. Money can be spent well or terribly wrong, and Hollywood has hundreds of examples for both. It’s the endless debate about a film doing well or not so well that makes my eyes roll.
It’s not our concern that the superhero genre has become over-saturated and churned out mid tier flicks like The Marvels; it’s Kevin Feige and Marvel’s problem. It’s James Gunn and Peter Safran’s struggle. Let Disney worry about the return receipts. Fans need to simply figure out if a movie is for them or not. Checking on Monday’s top ten grossers shouldn’t come into play.
Shawshank Redemption wasn’t a box office hit at all, and stands as one of cinema’s most widely beloved films. In the end, the cost of a movie doesn’t connect to its end quality. My advice: let the suits worry. You have a movie to get to and enjoy.
My favorite movie of 2021, Pig, made a little over four million at the box office. Unlike an MCU movie, it didn’t go into 4,000 screens. That stuff matters, just not to us.
Good beer matters. Fresh off the pint, a problem eraser for the mind that works in a matter of sips. Breweries are a massive thing these days; drive a few streets and you’ll hit one. A friendly barrage of beer, food, and recreation. St. Louis is packed with good taprooms such as Urban Chestnut Brewing Company, Four Hands, Schlafly, Modern Brewery, and many others.
Civil Life Brewing Company offers the best of all brewery worlds. A food menu that includes a pub burger that can go toe to toe with O’Connell’s in girth and taste, and an appetizer/salad menu that doesn’t just check the normal boxes. Add to it a spacious two floor inside seating area with plenty of outside spots to boot. A south city delight for anyone who likes to go out and drink lots of beer among friends.
Here’s a listing of popular STL breweries.
Until next time,
DLB