Archive for the ‘Scorn’ Category

Who Will Accept the Marlins Union-Mandated Charity?

Posted by Drew Fairservice under Miami Marlins, Scorn on Jan 21, 2013

Free money and you get to do THIS all year!

As one might expect, the Miami Marlins’ ongoing efforts to bring their 2013 payroll as close to “zero” as possible is not going over well in the greater baseball community. The Marlins fans will voice their collective displeasure via deafening silence at Marlins Park this year.

The Major League Baseball Players Association — the membership of which might exceed the total number of Marlins season ticket holders — is equally disconcerted by the Marlins decision to eschew paying anybody much of anything. It isn’t as though the Marlins just closed up shop after trading away Josh Johnson, Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle this fall. They signed a few free agents, inking Juan Pierre to a one-year, $1.6 mil deal and Placido Polanco to another one-year deal, this one worth $2.75 million. That’s not nothing!

But the union is not happy, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. While the union is unlikely to follow-up with a grievance, their displeasure is well known. This isn’t the first time the Marlins and the MLBPA have gone down this road.

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Great Moments in Misplaced Priorities

Posted by Drew Fairservice under David Price, Scorn on Jan 16, 2013

As readers of Getting Blanked well know, the World Baseball Classic is looked upon fondly in these parts. We want it to be a big deal and we want the best players to play. We don’t want to see anybody hurt during a meaningless exhibition but consider some of the pitch counts and limits overkill.

That said, it is difficult to begrudge players who don’t play. The even remains in its infancy – in time and with the proper support, we hope the best band brightest baseball stars will see the WBC as an opportunity to represent their country and play on a big stage, too.

Jon Morosi of Fox Sports goes one better. Morosi took to twitter this afternoon to decry many American stars who won’t be suiting up for Team USA this spring.

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John Rocker: Nope

Posted by Drew Fairservice under HardBall Talkin', Scorn on Jan 15, 2013

Not going to happen.

Rather than reading about a sad man’s attempt to get attention for the very thing which makes him sad, read this instead. John Rocker is the kind of man who thinks he was blackballed out of baseball. In truth, he was simply awful at baseball. Terrible. Unemployably bad. That’s it. Sorry, John.

2 Comments

Oh, Milton Bradley, No

Posted by Drew Fairservice under News And Notes, Scorn on Jan 11, 2013

So Milton Bradley has a reputation as a bad dude. He was widely acknowledged as bad dude when he played and, now that he retired (against his will), it seems he’s a bad dude after his playing days are done.

Your friends at TMZ have the latest on Milton Bradley and an alleged string of assaults on his wife. The long-time big league outfield faces as much as 13 years behind bars after “five different incidents” resulting in a litany of charges.

The charges break down like this: 4 counts of spousal battery, 4 counts of criminal threats, 2 counts of assault with a deadly weapon, 2 counts of vandalism and 1 count of dissuading a witness from making a report.

This is bad. Very bad. Count me among those who believed Milton Bradley was misunderstood during his playing days. Blackballed in the baseball world for being a misanthrope is one thing; this is a whole ‘nother level of scumbaggery.

If he is found guilty, there is no misunderstanding and sportswriter apologizing. I hope Milton Bradley gets a fair trial and I hope is wife is safe, not necessarily in that order.

6 Comments

It’s All in the Game

Posted by Drew Fairservice under Scorn on Jan 10, 2013

Courtesy of Yankee Analysts

It’s about the purity of the game, we’re told. It’s about correcting the mistake of the past, they insist. It’s about integrity and looking out for those with the guts to not break the rules. These are the pat lines we’re often fed by pious writers, driven by their intense love of the game and desire to right wrongs.

Except, of course, most of it is garbage. Every Hall of Fame piece is an opportunity to promote one’s brand, one’s twitter account, and better represent the company they keep. Jon Heyman is a veteran reporter who catches a lot of crap from every corner of the internet. Sometimes, he winks at us but most of the time it is just breaking trades and half-baked opinions.

Jon Heyman left Sports Illustrated last year to join CBS Sports. Along with his direct line to Scott Boras, Heyman brought his two hundred thousand twitter followers and his notorious trollish persona along with his hard-earned reputation as a good reporter and well-connected baseball personality.

One thing that fell off the moving truck when Heyman made the switch to CBS Sports? His previously held opinions on Barry Bonds.

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The Writers of GolfersWest.com are Here to Help

Posted by Drew Fairservice under Scorn on Jan 07, 2013

No matter how ugly this Hall of Fame nonsense gets this year, remember how much worse it could be. The writers, as a collective, show glimpses of progress year after year. All the hectoring and teachable moments provided by noble anal retentives the world over helped usher in a much better time for baseball awards and recognition.

For current baseball writers, that is. The current batch of battle-hardened ball scribes and leather-assed beat writers have little choice but to re-examine how and why they vote and what their readers value on the field. They interact with readers fans on a daily basis.

Sadly, not all Hall of Fame voters are actively covering baseball every day. Or even every other day. The BBWAA sends out a lot of ballots, many of which nestle deep into the mailbox of quasi-retired writers who haven’t been to a press box since the advent of the Internet.

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This Hall of Fame Cycle Came as Bad as Advertised

Posted by Drew Fairservice under Hall of Fame, Scorn on Jan 02, 2013

We all saw it coming. We all knew that this time, the Hall of Fame debates would reach new lows. The arguments more polarized, the agendas more transparent, the reasoning more specious. The collective baseball mind prepared itself for the worst and was not disappointed.

The Hall of Fame debate which closed 2012 was ugly, tiring, and everything that’s wrong with the entire process for enshrinement in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Take a bow, BBWAA, you really outdid yourself this time.

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