Dumbass Baseball Media 2008

Murray Chass is an idiot. I always love people pointing out how many great high school players were in that draft that they A's should have taken and like most of them were drafted above their first pick.

Not to mention Bryan Bullington, Christopher Gruler, and Clinton Everts. Hey, those guys worked out fine, right?

Actually genuinely curious, what the difference between Cain and Blanton's bonuses were.

No difference actually.

24. Athletics
Joseph Blanton, rhp (1,400,000)
U. of Kentucky

25. Giants
Matt Cain, rhp (1,375,000)
Houston HS, Germantown, Tenn.

Whole list.

http://www.angelfire.com/vt/prospectwatch/index157.html

Yeah, and look at the pitchers above them:

15.
Mets
Scott Kazmir, lhp (2,150,000)
Cypress Falls HS, Houston

17.
Phillies
Cole Hamels, rhp (2,000,000)
Rancho Bernardo HS, San Diego

18.
White Sox
Royce Ring, lhp(1,600,000)
San Diego State U.

21.
Cubs
Bobby Brownlie, rhp (2,500,000)
Rutgers U.

22.
Indians
Jeremy Guthrie, rhp (4,000,000)
Stanford U.

The outlier there - Ring - having been a college reliever, IIRC.

Bullington is maybe the worst #1 pick ever. Esp. given that only 600,000 separates him and Upton.

Matt Anderson's gotta be up there too - as far as I know Bullington hasn't injured himself in an octopus-throwing contest yet. (Although he did inspire one of the great headlines of all time.)

Anyway the A's got their first two picks pretty right. You can argue about the rest of those guys, I guess (Teahen's sort of worked out and everyone else is a bust sure, but it's not like there is much greatness below there either if you look at that draft. . . Brian McCann, Curtis Granderson, Jon Lester maybe), but Swisher and Blanton are pretty much exactly the kind of low risk, high reward picks I would want my former perennially great team to take with picks 16, 24.

Actually I just looked at the list of #1 Picks and clearly I'm wrong and MATT BUSH and MATT ANDERSON are just as crazy bad picks.

Although I don't know what the consensus was among scouts/statheads on those two dudes (Bullington was a KNOWN overdraft which is a different kind of mistake then just picking a guy who was a bust.)

Yeah, I hate to say it, but Matt Bush was probably the worst #1 pick of all time. Never advanced past High A ball, and with career minor league 570 OPS. Not even the Padres thought he was the best pick or second best pick, and the Padres completely revamped their scouting department as a result.

isn't he becoming a pitcher?

He tried it for like two weeks and then had season ending shoulder surgery.

didn't they pretty much take Bush only 'cuz he was local and easier / cheaper to sign than pretty much anybody that should've gone #1 in his place?

and I wonder, if Hermida had lasted 'til the 23rd pick, where Francouer would've wound up.

didn't they pretty much take Bush only 'cuz he was local and easier / cheaper to sign than pretty much anybody that should've gone #1 in his place?

That is exactly what they did, and they basically admitted it WHEN THEY DRAFTED HIM, which is usually a pretty bad sign.

and didn't he get arrested after a bar brawl, like, the day after the draft?

sigh

ugh...jeterriffic!

http://www.nypost.com/php/pfriendly/print.php?url=http://www.nypost.com/seven/02162008/sports/yankees/study_claims_jeter_is_worst_fielding_sho_97934.htm

ok that piece is awesome! "HE'S OUT THERE FOR THE TEAM"

WELL, FUCK ME!

i mean, i really struggled as to whether this belonged in the hating on the yankees thread...

no - if there was an "ironically lovin on the yankees" thread that article should be on that.

RIP Dahlem

http://www.latimes.com/sports/baseball/mlb/dodgers/la-sp-plaschke5mar05,1,968454.column?ctrack=3&cset=true

i'm not gonna click on that because I can see "plaschke" in the url.

i can't stand his writing and his paragraph formatting. the dude is such a moron. anyway, the article basically is trying to explain why juan pierre is so awesome and should be atop the dodgers lineup ("he scored 96 runs last season!!")

I don't want to click on that link, but I still want to know what's the dumbest sentence in the article.

He's like the Alfred Lord Streisand of baseball writers.

or whatever that guy is named, i killfiled him a long time ago sorry

If you want to know what could possibly be the worst sentence of the article, it could be this: "Statisticians can't calculate him."

If you want to know what could possibly be the worst sentence (or paragraph) of the article, you could also look here: "This (last year) was also the first time Pierre had been criticized for his arm."

If you want to know what could possibly be the worst sentence (or paragraph) of the article, you could look here as well: "Without a productive No. 2 hitter, Pierre was a sports car stuck on a pot-holed road."

Apologies for the overlong paragraphs.

just look at this shit!~~~

I'm coming into this season with a chip on my shoulder . . . just like every season," says Pierre.

Fans don't appreciate him. Statisticians can't calculate him. Bloggers downright brutalize him.

I like him.

Now that the Dodgers have added Rafael Furcal's health and Andruw Jones' pop, I think Juan Pierre's presence at the top of the lineup will be as oversized as his cap.

Now that the Dodgers have moved him to left field, I think Juan Pierre will fit as easily there as his bat fits on a bunt.

Now that Joe Torre is installing an aggressive running game, I think Pierre's ability on the basepaths will be as evident as the dirt streaks on his jersey.

Now that it can be a complement instead of a cornerstone, I think the idea of Juan Pierre will work.

Hate him or not.

"My game is not pretty, it's just not pretty," Pierre says. "You have to be an old-school guy to appreciate it."

That's one more reason this will be a good year for Juan Pierre.

Torre is one of those old-school guys who appreciates him.

"He does things the right way," Torre says.

Contrary to the winter hopes of many Dodgers fans, Torre's lineups have indicated that Pierre will be the starting left fielder ahead of Andre Ethier.

It makes sense.

i've never wanted to punch a sportswriter more than i want to punch this retard

Who the hell? That reads like a Jackie Harvey column.

There's a boxer in the house.

i've never wanted to punch a sportswriter more than i want to punch this retard

http://forums.pcpitstop.com/style_emoticons/New_emoticons/boxing.gif

It's baseball media of a sort - does anyone have an opinion on MLB.TV Premium?

Funniest article I've read in a while.

Via Fire Joe Morgan

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20080309/COL03/803090373/

Numbers are fun to look at but dangerous to dwell on. Baker understands this. If Dunn walks 30 fewer times this year, he'll drive in 15 more runs. His on-base percentage will dip. Oh, no.

If Votto takes fewer first-pitch strikes, his run production will improve.

And so on. Here's a stat: Wins as manager: Dusty Baker, 1,162; Bill James, 0.

what a crybaby!

Paul Daughtery RIP ;_; -- Our Yancey gave him (deserved!) props a few years ago for being, y'know, good. But somewhere between then & now (possibly around the time he big-upped the Redas trade for crappy Nats relievers because, goddammit, they needed Gary Majewkisksi on that motherfucking mound), he's turned into a more literte Plashcke.

Isn't there an '08 Yankee-hating thread?

on YES homepage:

Poll Question: Who will have a better season in 2008?

Phil Hughes 74%
Johan Santana 26%

Here's a stat: Wins as manager: Dusty Baker, 1,162; Bill James, 0.

Here's a stat: Rings: Bill James 2, Dusty Baker 1. LOL

Take a bow, Kevin Hench:

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/7909858

Rocco Baldelli is a five-tool player: and those tools are scalpel, knee brace, cane, sling and Ace bandage.

Baldelli has appeared in 127 of a possible 486 games the last three seasons. And — surprise! — he will begin this season on the disabled list. His latest DL-inducing "injury" is exhaustion. Who does he think he is, Mariah Carey? And what is he exhausted from, the off-season?

Baldelli's career mirrors the sad history of the Rays. Just one downer after another. He may be only 26, but after four seasons he has proven two things definitely: he can't stay healthy and he doesn't know the strike zone. He has a career .324 OBP and strikes out four times as much as he walks. In 1,656 career at bats he has drawn only 83 walks. He's exhausted, and he's exhausted the patience of Rays fans, tired of watching him strike out on balls in the dirt.

"Exhaustion, LOL":

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/health/chi-16-rogers-britemar16,1,4828178.column

He told reporters he was diagnosed with an "extremely rare" combination of metabolic and mitochrondrial abnormalities, which prevent the muscle in his legs from working and recovering properly.

"I think the best way to describe it is literal muscle fatigue and cramping way before my body should be feeling these things," Baldelli said. "I would go out there and I was pretty much incapable of doing basic baseball activities, running and hitting and throwing."

Hench's column was published AFTER the details regarding the exhaustion came out, no?

Joe Morgan making way too much out of choosing who's the third vs fourth Mets starting pitcher

Joe Morgan talked about people that say center field is the easiest OF position to play, and SAYING THEY ARE RONG :D

That Paul Daughtery column -- wow.

I started to e-mail him to ask about the logic in asserting that 30 non-walk plate appearances from Adam Dunn would result in 15 RBIs (that assertion being only the tip of the faulty logic iceberg in that one sentence, obv.) when no one IN THE HISTORY OF BASEBALL has averaged .5 RBIs per plate appearance, but then I stopped myself.

Phillips was barfing some nonsense abt Detroit offense being the best ever on BBTN...

Haha, xpost on Mets thread.

Tim Kawakami the trade and its fallout, some choice cuts:

Boston, which has outscored its opponents by 82 runs this season, adroitly replaced Ramirez with former Pirates secret Jason Bay, who isn't quite on that level as a hitter but does actually run out double-play grounders.

I'm eliminating Tampa Bay [from contention], despite its lead over Boston and the Yankees in the A.L. East, because it's just not time for the Rays yet.

― Leee, Friday, August 1, 2008 4:59 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark

I can post that Olney if you want to read it.

Is the rest of it as dumb as that tag-line?

Cuz if it is then YES I want to read it.

The fans at Shea Stadium chanted "Off Our Field" over and over after the Mets completed a collapse that is historic because it was their second consecutive; in back-to-back seasons, the Mets have hemorrhaged enormous ground in the standings in the final 17 games, seven games in 2007 and 6½ games this year. The fans were actually yelling at the Marlins, who relished their roles as spoiler and didn't exactly rush off the field as they shook hands, but the frustrated fans might as well have been yelling at the Mets.

It's hard to see, however, how the Mets are going to really change much. They've already agreed to a new four-year extension for general manager Omar Minaya, and had hoped for a happy day to make that announcement. Now, they might wait until Friday to hold a conference call. The front office likes the work of interim manager Jerry Manuel and going into Sunday's game, the plan was to bring back Manuel, win or lose.

So what do they do? Jose Reyes is a great young shortstop who is signed to a multi-year deal, so he's coming back. Carlos Delgado is coming off an MVP-caliber finish with a one-year option, so he's coming back. Carlos Beltran still has three years remaining on his multi-year deal, and the Mets would probably have a difficult time arranging a trade that works for them.

They have Johan Santana and Mike Pelfrey to anchor the starting rotation, and they will need to add one or two other guys. Clearly, they have to restructure their bullpen, but we knew that before Sunday's game, anyway.

So there might be one tangible thing the Mets need to fix: They need to get David Wright … well, right. They need to help him work through his apparent anxiety in high-pressure situations. Big-picture: The Mets didn't make the playoffs because of their bullpen failures, as Jack Curry writes, but over the weekend, they mustered a total of five runs, and Wright had a whole lot to do with that. He cares so deeply that he puts enormous pressure on himself, and this trait seems to wreck him in big spots. He seems to leap at the ball when he's trying to hit with the game on the line. They need to address this.

I don't know how they do it. Maybe they get Wright to start talking to a sports psychologist, someone who might get the kind of help that has aided John Smoltz and Matt Garza and others. Wright is a cornerstone player who will be an MVP candidate in most years of his career, so the notion of trading him is silly. But they have to help him find a way to relax -- and if the team's best player relaxes, this will, in turn, take pressure off the rest of the team.

It's hard to believe the Mets collapsed again, writes Mike Lupica. Minaya did not bring any relief to the Mets, writes John Harper. For Shea, this was one final flop, writes Steve Politi.

One final call to the bullpen did in the Mets again, writes Ian O'Connor. It was a bitter acceptance at Shea, writes George Vecsey. The Mets need to bid on K-Rod, writes Ken Davidoff.

The closing of Shea Stadium was immersed in gloom, writes Joshua Robinson.

The Marlins acknowledged: They had fun.

You could have just quoted this:

"So there might be one tangible thing the Mets need to fix: They need to get David Wright … well, right. They need to help him work through his apparent anxiety in high-pressure situations. Big-picture: The Mets didn't make the playoffs because of their bullpen failures, as Jack Curry writes, but over the weekend, they mustered a total of five runs, and Wright had a whole lot to do with that. He cares so deeply that he puts enormous pressure on himself, and this trait seems to wreck him in big spots. He seems to leap at the ball when he's trying to hit with the game on the line. They need to address this."

So the solution is get David Wright stoned before big games, I guess. Or maybe just make a big deal out it the way everyone does about A-Rod. It's made that guy hit when it counts. . . oh.

Andy, I emailed TK if he felt it was the Rays' time now. No response yet.

http://www.slate.com/id/2201247/

specif. dodgers

Oh, yes, perennial stathead pincushion Manny Ramirez.

Might want to point out that the Dodgers aren't, you know, PAYING Manny anything.

CHB, never one to look a gift hatchet job in the mouth:

You really have to hope the Red Sox and Dodgers advance to the World Series. That way, you get to tell Manny what you think of him when he finally steps into the batter's box at Fenway.

We know what he thinks of you. He thinks all you Sox fans are losers who need to get a life. You just care too darn much. It doesn't matter how much love you showered on his head. You bothered him with all that caring.

Speaking to his new best friend, T.J. Simers of the Times, Manny said, "I was unhappy for eight years in Boston but still put up great numbers."

Wow. Unhappy for eight whole years. While the Sox were winning the World Series and fans were worshiping at Manny's feet, he was unhappy. He must have been unhappy when you stood and applauded while he ran onto the field carrying that American flag on the day he became a US citizen. He must have been miserable riding in the duck boat, seeing the hand-held signs of fans who lined the parade route.

Speaking to his new best friend, T.J. Simers of the Times

JEALOUS AGAIN

Ken Davidoff (usually not bad) in Newsday; dumbass emph mine:

Finally, the Rays are acting their age.

They seem overwhelmed by the grandeur of this World Series stage. Unable to overcome bad play and bad luck. Powerless, most of all, at the plate....

Longoria, the probable American League Rookie of the Year, is playing as though the "Eva! Eva!" taunts are getting to him....

http://www.newsday.com/sports/columnists/ny-sbken275899897oct27,0,7299929.column

This is just more proof that Moneyball doesn't work in the World Series.

"As the Tampa Bay Rays approach this 2008/2009 off-season, the one thing are going to have to address is veteran presence. The Rays were clearly out of their collective depth on the big stage in October and much of that can be attributed to experience. You look at the Philadelphia Phillies and they had the proven veterans like Jamie Moyer and Matt Stairs, and you can bet they would have responded even more impressively with a healthy Tom Gordon at their disposal. This World Series clearly came down to make-up and handling those pressure situations. While the acquisition of Mike Difelice did not quite pan out the way the Tampa Bay Rays expected, it was a nice piece to add depth to that young roster and the organization should strongly consider making at least three pick-ups of that caliber -- the kind of seasoned leadership that can carry a young team like the Tampa Bay Rays beyond a league championship, which was nice to achieve, but they would obviously prefer to not spend this off-season wondering what went wrong. I would start by looking at that tested but still very young starting rotation and realize just how young it is. They should acquire a proven winner like Kenny Rogers and talk to the Seattle Mariners about a deal involving Carlos Silva, who is destined to have bounce-back year in 2009, as well as Miguel Batista, who could add some much needed versatility by eating up early and late innings as he can both start and relieve. Look for the Rays to unload some of that youth in return, which would be a good fit for teams who are in the rebuilding stage for 2009."

What ESPN analyst am I?

too easy, "Vechrin Presence" Phillips

wait, is that a joke?

Yes and no.

I totally believed SP could write that

comments section from neyer blog re: jim rice in the hof

MoeSzys (12/18/2008 at 11:23 AM) Report Violation I think you could be convinced in ten years. If you let in Mo Vaughn, Albert Belle and Matt Williams this year, and over the next ten years guys like Julio Franco, Devon White, Chili Davis, Derek Jeter, Johny Damon, Bobby Abreu and Trot Nixon, the case for Rice becomes clear. Some of those guys will get in and when they do maybe letting Rice in won't look so egregious. You said something last year about how it's not that you're against watering down or for raising the standards, but rather having some.

Mo Vaughn?!?!?!

commenters =/ media. Tuomas is not the media.

Trot Nixon, haha

oh nm i forgot i had started a "comments section" thread

I hope Trot Nixon enters the HOF as a Met

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/hotstove08/columns/story?columnist=smith_stephen&id=3789788

Stephen A. Smith:

He's arguably the greatest right-handed hitter in the game today.

He's motivated, so much so that he might even sign an incentive-laden contract.

So damn it, sign the man.

Now, please!

Bring the George Washington High School star back home. Dare him to fail. And use the Red Sox as your ultimate bargaining chip.

I'm betting he'll produce big time, hit his 700th career home run before he hangs up his pinstripes and bring a World Series title back to New York in the process.

Who knows? He'll probably help A-Rod show up in October, too.

Now that's a merry Christmas wish!

It's funnier if you try reading it in the cadence of "The Night Before Christmas."

for a black man he has some poor rhymes

Truck Day is a magical time in the sport, when all of baseball packs up and heads to its spring homes, to thaw out their bats and gloves at the same time as the weather begins to do the same thing.

Happy Truck Day everyone!

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5066650

youplaytowinthegame.wav

what's dumb is there's a rule they could enforce, but don't

forget Truck Day -- it's One Month Away Day!

photo caption is straight out of the onion:

Group stretches in the early-morning sun will once again be a common sight when pitchers and catchers report in one month. (AP)

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=12804

The BProdoku puzzle ... WHAT THE FREAKING FRACK HELL WERE THEY THINKING

BP might need its own Dumbass Media thread for 2011 because the bad is seriously starting to outweigh the good. Their celebrity complex has been getting out of the control over the past couple of years and its starting to make the site unreadable.

yeah i already gave up on BP last year, though Colin Wyers is one of the very best sabermetric guys imo

"Bow to your sensei," huh?

omfg i hate bp so much

srsly wtf? with all the stuff they put out every week you can't love everything.

I don't read it all, usually playing catchup twice a month, but how the fuck can you HATE BP? in a world where MLBN can't imagine hiring a nonjock analyst?

Do you listen to the podcasts?

Not sure if this is the operative thread, but jesus christ guys stop it

Rosenthal: King Felix to Yanks works for everyone

Greatness of Jeter yet to be fully appreciated

All of a sudden, the talk about the greatness of Derek Jeter has intensified, and this is misguided.

He's actually greater than that.

Jeter is so underrated and great let me add my voice to the cacophony of baseball writers insisting upon the very same point.

Unlike New York Yankees teammate Alex Rodriguez, for instance, Jeter isn't spectacular at fielding, throwing, hitting, slugging or just existing away from the ballpark, but he is good at everything.

while not *spectacular* at just existing, he is good

i'm sure it's hard writing sports columns regularly for 25 years, and i hardly look to mlb.com for hard-hitting analysis, but this is just embarrassingly bad writing.

That article should be in the hall of fame of awful baseball writing. It's so bad it's like it can't possibly be real. I'll wake up tomorrow convinced that I read it in a dream or something.

So this is interesting. More specifically, this is so Jeter: He prefers to shrug off the significance of achieving this record of longevity with the Yankees, and he is sincere about it.

Derek Jeter, "I don't always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis."

Maybe somebody could explain this guy's reasoning? I know what point he's trying to make, but I don't see how it applies to the A's or to baseball as a whole.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=14921

"All of a sudden, the talk about the greatness of Derek Jeter has intensified, and this is misguided."

Great sentence.

Perusing other articles by Terence Moore, and there are a lot of them on MLB.com, convinces me this article's brilliant deducements are not the exception. They are the rule.