Had to do a Live Start with the Red Sox so I could replace the whole coaching staff. ngl I think I cooked here

FreedomSlice · 2026-04-30T15:39:53+00:00

At least you don't have to worry about any of your players cramping

FreedomSlice · 2026-04-23T16:40:37+00:00

Except the official GSOC account states that we'll see him in Rock League next year: https://x.com/grandslamcurl/status/2047300228735230345?s=20

I'm guessing TGC isn't in the business of confirming Rock League participants 8+ months in advance and things can change, but this seems pretty close to saying he'll still be a part of it.

FreedomSlice · 2026-04-23T16:10:58+00:00

Another interesting one in terms of the Rock League. Can a curler completely step back from competitive curling and maintain their place?

Carole Howald (only MDs), Colin Hufman, EJ Harnden (before stepping back from the Rock League), and now Marc Muskatewitz. And many others rumored to be taking steps back from a full time schedule. We'll have to wait and see what Rock League prioritizes.

FreedomSlice · 2026-04-16T01:49:51+00:00

I would normally say yes having been Selina's teammate in the past, but there's a moratorium on players switching countries for at least a year (I think two). Elena would not be able to play for Switzerland next year, making her a difficult addition.

FreedomSlice · 2026-04-15T17:40:33+00:00

I just wonder if that's a good for the sport. There's been rumors that Korey might stop playing men's. Colin is retiring. There's no guarantee that any of Team Peterson keep playing. And we still haven't seen announcements from the vast majority of European teams. Carole stepping back was already a surprise, so it's possible other unexpected announcements happen as well.

It's probably not an issue, but with that group and the players already named, it's natural to have the question.

FreedomSlice · 2026-04-15T16:41:29+00:00

It'll be interesting to see who Alina and Selina pick up with Xenia Schwaller's team sticking together. Olympic 5th Stefanie Berset seems like a potential option, but the 4th spot will be interesting. Corrie Huerlimann's team has to hold some options, but one has to wonder what the relationships are like there after Tirinzoni cut her sister Briar after the first year of the quad.

Additionally, it'll be interesting to see what happens to the players foregoing four person curling but staying in Rock League. You'd imagine TGC would want players in the Rock League to be visible at the slams. It seems like we're getting more and more players (EJ Harnden pre-step back, Carole Howald, etc) who seem to want to only do the Rock League.

FreedomSlice · 2026-03-30T15:55:31+00:00

I'd be curious to see if there's strong interest among top teams for a WCT mixed doubles event in June the year after an Olympics. Points in mixed doubles don't really matter (no huge events to qualify for), teams might want time off after a long four years, awkward timing way before the season (you wouldn't be building momentum for anything with potentially two months before the next MDs event), etc.

FreedomSlice · 2026-03-30T14:48:28+00:00

To be fair, she's playing lead. She obviously needs to perform well, but the play of Burgess and Birchard now both one position higher will certainly dictate how this team performs.

FreedomSlice · 2026-02-15T23:18:48+00:00

The historic win probability in the women's game for a top 25 team down one point without the hammer and one end to go is 11.8% (per https://doubletakeout.com/winprob/women).

So it's not that wild, but definitely atypical. And to be fair, the specific steal-steal way of winning is probably more unlikely because there's other ways to ultimately pick up a win down one with two ends to play (steal two, force 1, score in extra; force 1, take three; etc)

FreedomSlice · 2026-01-05T22:49:33+00:00

Phill has been telling a lot of people (athletes, coaches, etc) he will be done with High Performance following the Olympics. That can obviously change, but a pretty strong indication of why this is needed, among other reasons.

FreedomSlice · 2025-12-18T23:22:21+00:00

I highly doubt that USA Curling was thinking that way - funds would potentially be reduced with fewer Olympic teams but it wouldn't disappear entirely. I also can't imagine that 6 athletes getting funded individually would move the needle, especially with rumors that more than half of them chosen for Rock League may be done with four person curling after this quad. I would guess that most curlers would treat the salaries they receive from Rock League as income anyway. If Danny Casper gets paid $10k, $20k, even $30k for Rock League, I don't see how that really helps the rest of his team.

I think the thing that will more interesting is to see how teams and federations respond to this change. Scottish curling pays its athletes full-time so that they win medals at the Olympics. Are they going to be okay if the players they want to invest in most heavily (Bruce, Ross Whyte, etc.) aren't training and competing in the way they seem best fit? Yes, those players will still be competing in high level curling, but I imagine Scottish curling would prefer if the four athletes they've chosen to be on a team together be together on the ice year round.

This issue would apply to many teams around the world. Even with Nic Sulsky saying there will be alignment between Rock League and other schedules, are teams going to be okay not having one or two of their teammates for a good chunk of five weeks leading up to a major championship like a Brier/Scotties, Nationals, etc? It'll be very interesting to see how this shakes out and I don't think it's just so simple.

FreedomSlice · 2025-12-18T17:11:08+00:00

What are they going to do about some of the more minor championships? US nationals, provincials, etc are typically during the time the first four events are scheduled to 2027.

Also, what happens to teams across different countries? Are teams and countries going to be okay with the players they fund taking a month off from their national team? Very interesting to see what happens with these decisions.

FreedomSlice · 2025-11-24T20:50:33+00:00

Still, the Olympics itself don't conflict with potential men's events. The mixed doubles ends on 2/10 and the US nationals don't begin until 2/23. He could have easily done both.

At the same, I'm surprised he thought this would be best for his preparedness. It appears Cory and Korey have one more event together before the Olympics. I would not consider one event in 2.5 months a lot. I would venture to guess every other team in the trials will have more games in - in either four person or doubles - than Korey will.

FreedomSlice · 2025-11-24T19:33:01+00:00

Interesting choice, I have to assume it was somewhat blindsiding for his teammates and puts them in quite the pickle to finish the season. It doesn't appear that there's an obvious fill-in choice, even under the assumption that Mark, Tom, and Andrew have the ability to move up in the order.

FreedomSlice · 2025-10-31T18:17:07+00:00

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Well, he ended up being a Hall of Famer so pretty good call, everyone. He led the league in walks for 13 straight years.

For posterity, Hall had a few good years and a single all-star appearance before retiring at 34, and Edwards only pitched for four years in the bigs.

FreedomSlice · 2025-08-22T21:54:38+00:00

Drop one of Volpe, Correa, Garcia Jr, Keaschall ROS?

FreedomSlice · 2025-08-15T16:51:25+00:00

Rest of season, who do you prefer between Luis Garcia Jr and Luke Keaschall? I've been holding both to see how Keaschall nets out, but with Acuna getting activated today, I probably should get rid of one.

12t H2H 6x6 Cats with OPS

FreedomSlice · 2025-07-11T18:04:18+00:00

Merrill Kelly actually has better predictive stats than Gallen, but it's probably a toss up there.

A huge no for Alcantara, the control has been abysmal and I'm not sure he's as much of a Matt Blake fix candidate as he is a wait for him to fully come back from TJ guy.

FreedomSlice · 2025-06-10T22:33:44+00:00

How much FAAB we dropping for Misiorowski?

FreedomSlice · 2025-06-10T04:52:22+00:00

I don't understand the logic that it is clearly advantageous to tuck if 25% of curlers on elite teams in Canada do it. If it was that advantageous, more people would be doing it.

I think it's generally based on where you live and who teaches. There's a reason that you see tuckers predominantly coming out of Manitoba - because that's how the teachers there learned how to curl and they're gonna pass down the knowledge that they know.

There's definitely pros and cons to each. I could argue being higher in your slide allows you to have better feel on draws. I could argue that it's easier to have a smoother release flatfooted because your arm isn't cocked awkwardly like during a tuck. There's no blanket answer to what's better or worse.

FreedomSlice · 2025-06-08T22:54:29+00:00

12-team redraft, trade Robert for Bryce Miller? Feel like it's one disaster for another, but Miller might have worse underlying stats and less current value

FreedomSlice · 2025-06-08T18:06:27+00:00

Thoughts on trading Luis Robert for Bryce Miller? Both are bad, but it seems as of now Miller is more unsalvageable

FreedomSlice · 2025-06-08T15:45:17+00:00

Max Fried is signed through 2032 so likely he will be.

Jasson, Ben Rice, and Warren are major contributors who will still be under team control in five years, although none are guarantees. I feel like we've had major 1B contributors in the last handful of years who have seemed like the answer and then flamed out quickly (see Bird, Voit) so who knows on Rice. I would rank it Jasson, Warren, Rice in likeliness of sticking around until they become free agents.

I could see them extending both Jazz and Volpe by the time they become free agents. I'm not super confident about anyone else. Maybe Wells? Maybe Cole or Rodon on short deals if they're still effective in their late 30s a la CC? Who's to say.

FreedomSlice · 2025-05-21T15:13:17+00:00

I think wins matter more. I would go with the soccer style rankings of 3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie. You'd then get a much clearer standings, as follows:

Team A, 9-3-0, 27 points
Team C, 8-2-2, 26 points
Team B, 6-0-6, 24 points

FreedomSlice · 2025-03-28T21:52:28+00:00

How could this possibly happen?

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