I have never been invited to give motivational talks on time management. I don’t think people look at me in awe and say “Wow! What a time manager!!” But I do have a little secret: I have a time-management hierarchy.
It works like this: if I have to do one thing, I’ll do it. Unless there’s something else I’d rather do.
There is almost always something else I’d rather do. For example, if I need to make a phone call to a stranger, I’d rather grade a paper. If I need to grade a paper, I’d rather pay my bills. If I need to pay my bills, I’d rather do the dishes. And so on.
This explains why I write so many EFL updates. Usually it’s the peak predator on my workload food chain. It’s barely even work. I am so lucky to be married to a writing professor who respects writing! (It also explains why I don’t have more published work. When it comes to getting myself published, I’d rather go to the dentist. I once went 10 years without going to the dentist. It was a miscalculation — I really didn’t prefer having teeth fall out after all.)
How do I ever do anything other than write EFL updates? Well, for one thing, I can only write one a day. Beyond that, it’s sort of like sailing up wind. I tack. If I need to get grading done, I put something even worse on my schedule — maybe a phone call to a stranger. I get a lot of grading done to avoid having to phone a stranger. It works great as long as the “phone call to a stranger” wind is blowing.
I have occasionally had people urge me to run for office — like, say, the state legislature. This will never happen! Having to go meet and talk with strangers?!? Can’t I just call them on the phone?
Anyway: I’m supposed to pay bills this morning. So here’s an update.
…
MLB ran an article this morning on who the best players are right now at various ages. So, for example, for age 42 (the highest they went) the best is Fernando Rodney. Because he’s still playing.
The competition is tougher at almost every other age. Except 19, where Elvis Luciano wins for the same exact reason: no one else is 19 today and playing in the MLB.
And also except for 28. Because Mike Trout turns 28 today. Because all those other 28-year-olds — Nolan Arenado, or among EFLers, Max Muncy — aren’t even playing in the same league.
So how does the EFL do in hogging up all the best players at each age? Let’s see:
19 — None
20 — Juan Soto, Pears
21 — Ronald Acuna, Cascades
22 — Rafael Devers, Wolverines
23 — Chris Paddack, Wolverines
24 — Cody Bellinger, Outs
25 — Alex Bergman, Kangaroos
26 — Mookie Betts, Rosebuds
27 — Christian Yelich. Ouch.
28 — Mike Trout, Tornados.
29 — Jose Altuve, Alleghenys
30 — Chris Sale, Rosebuds
31 — Clayton Kershaw. None.
32 — Michael Brantley. None.
33 — Charlie Blackmon. None.
34 — Justin Turner. Cascades.
35 — Max Scherzer. None.
36 — Justin Verlander. None.
37 — Shin-soo Choo. None.
38 — Curtis Granderson. None.
39 — Nelson Cruz. None.
42 — Fernando Rodney. None.
There are 22 names on this list. We own 11 of them. That’s 50%, by teams that would constitute 36.7% of the major leagues. Yay us!
Note how we dominate in the younger years, but nearly devoid of those over 30? This is because we have gotten so good at economizing while getting quality.
.
How do our franchises stack up against each other? No one dominates:
EFL teams with 2 of the age-specific greats: Portland, Old Detroit, Bellingham
EFL teams with 1 of the age-specific greats: Flint Hill, Pittsburgh, Peshastin, Canberra, Brookland,
EFL teams with 0 of the age-specific greats: Haviland, Kaline, Cottage, DC