To his eternal credit, Jeremy Guthrie is having a very unusual season. Unusual for Jeremy Guthrie in that he’s pitched very well and Jeremy Guthrie is the human embodiment of serviceable. He has a very low ERA and a sparkling 5-1 won/loss record. Before last night, it was a 5-0 record.
Last night, Jeremy Guthrie posted one of the weirdest pitching lines you’ll ever see. It was the anti-FIP start for the ages. And that was tip of Guthrie’s weirdness iceberg.
As much fun as it is to laugh at the expense of those who call baseball games for television and radio broadcasts, most of us likely would agree that filling up air, even to a minimal extent, is difficult. I have no experience in any form of “real” journalism*, so it may be in bad taste for me to go after people whose nominal job, for better or worse, is to keep the viewer engaged in a sport that is not exactly fast-paced. Anecdotes and bits of data are needed (?) to fill up the airwaves.
* – my rare appearances on podcasts and whatnot, while somewhat fulfilling for my ego, are, well, probably pretty horrible for listeners. Not that I ever turn down an opportunity to enter the charmed circle of internet media mavens!
The Blue Jays’ usual broadcast team of Buck Martinez and Company probably aren’t any worse than most broadcast booths around the league. But who am I kidding? I am still a pretty big jerk. Even if Fire Joe Morgan is so 2005, several comments during last Friday’s game with the Blue Jays in Kansas City to face the Royals really stood out to me.
The game itself was “I watched this on purpose“-tastic (and my fantasy season awkwardly slid down the tubes with Jose Reyes‘ injury), and as I let the frustration of that combine with my incredulity of some of the comments made by the announce team, it crept into the absurd. Here are some of my favorites, with commentary.
Kansas City Royals DH/1B Billy Butler introduced his own barbecue sauce on Thursday. Butler says his “Hit It a Ton” barbecue sauce is “not spicy at all and has a good, bold flavor to it”. The 6-1, 240 lb slugger is sometimes referred to as “Country Breakfast”, and runs his “Hit It a Ton” foundation along with his wife to raise money for food to provide to disenfranchised residents in the Kansas City area.
All of the proceeds from the sale of the barbecue sauce will go to the “Hit It a Ton” foundation’s efforts to provide food to needy families.
It isn’t often you get to hear Hawk Harrelson botch a call like this, but when he does it is GLORIOUS. Poor Kenny, without the required vantage point to see that this Dayan Viciedo moonshot merely deflected off the glove of a precariously perched Alex Gordon, rather than nestle into it.
First the White Sox get a home run by the skin of their teeth, then Jake Peavy leaves a significant portion of his skin on the U.S. Cellular infield.
2012 Record: 72-90, 3rd AL Central
2012 Pythagorean Record: 74-88
Impact Player: LF Alex Gordon
Impact Pitcher: RHP James Shields
Top Prospect: RHP Kyle Zimmer
Significant Acquisitions: RHP James Shields, RHP Ervin Santana, RHP Wade Davis, C George Kottaras, IF Elliot Johnson
Significant Departures: C Brayan Pena, IF Yuniesky Betancourt, C Humberto Quintero
Two years ago, the Kansas City Royals had the best farm system in baseball—some were even saying it was the best in the history of ever. However, as the Royals enter the 2013 season, the refrain is familiar. The team is coming off another unsuccessful season—their 18th losing record in the last 19 years—and now have the longest playoff drought in Major League Baseball.
When I wrote that I was in favor of a “Shields for Myers” type trade on December 6th, I meant it. The Royals have been so bad for so long and, as a bigger believer in James Shields than many, I thought a bold move to improve their team for 2013 wasn’t out of bounds. Some terrific discussion arose in the aftermath, re-shaping the way I evaluated this potential deal.
Many rightly pointed out the Kansas City Royals were more than one James Shields away from contention – another year or two won’t open the window for Kansas City nor will the sun have fully set on the ageing/plump Detroit Tigers. That the question marks at numerous places around the diamond make just adding a frontline starter (who likely isn’t a True Ace) insufficient, that the Royals could achieve many of the same goals on the free agent market while keeping Wil Myers.
Then the deal was announced and, lo and behold, the Royals gave up Wil Myers to get James Shields. They also gave away Jake Odorizzi, Mike Montgomery, and Patrick Leonard with Wade Davis serving as the secondary prize for the Royals. A shocking package in what looks like a shocking move. Are the Royals nuts? Maybe not.
After a week of percolating, it appears that the Tampa Bay Rays and Kansas City Royals are close to a trade involving James Shields and Wil Myers, among others. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times broke the early workings of the trade on Twitter, which was also confirmed by several insiders including Ken Rosenthal.
The Royals made the deal official via their Twitter account, and oh boy… it’s a big one:
#Royals acquire RHPs James Shields, Wade Davis and player to be named or cash from Tampa Bay for Myers, Odorizzi, Montgomery and Leonard.
— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) December 10, 2012
