After a thrilling 2010, the Padres fell back to earth in 2011. It was painful. But the pain was assuaged by my ability to vent, when needed, right here on this blog. And you listened. All eleven of you. And I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. Writing about the woes has allowed me to keep some semblance of sanity.
I'm happy for the opportunity to have gotten to know so many of you this year. I look forward to an exciting 2012 as we comfort each other through the difficulty of a rebuilding year.
Happy New Year.
~AJM
Saturday, December 31, 2011
The "You Don't Know Jack!" Year In Review: Top Fives, Top Tens, Top Elevens
The posts that get the most traffic usually aren't the best written. They tend to be hot button topics or stories with a more national appeal. It's lame. I look at the Google Analytics which provides the statistical breakdown of what people are viewing and I'm often left with a one word question: "Why?"
The following is a list of eleven posts which I felt were crafted. They were creative pieces. Some imaginary. Some exaggerated. Some that required research. But at their core, all were painstakingly crafted. Which is what writers do.
I enjoyed writing each of these and I sincerely hope that you enjoyed reading them. If you missed one give it a go. Thanks.
A Terrible Trevor Hoffman Fan [January 13th, 2011]
Trevor Hoffman's retirement put me in a state of reflection. I thought about his time as a Padre. Ultimately I realized that I needed Trevor to retire before I could fully appreciate him.
FDR and the Pacific Coast League's San Diego Padres [January 28th 2011]
I wrote this for RJ's Fro and it was inspired by the research of Bill Swank, the PCL Padre guru. I think I built slightly on Swank's work by giving a little more context to the time period in which the Padres arrived in San Diego.
The PCL Padres: The Birth of an Interleague Rivalry [February 11th, 2011]
This was my favorite piece of the year, also posted at RJ's Fro. The definitive guide to understanding the epic rivalry between the San Diego Padres and the Seattle Mariners.
Why The Mat Latos Hullabaloo Is A Good Thing [February 16th, 2011]
The Mat Latos #balls saga. I loved the passion Latos showed in his time as a Padre. We'd do well to have more players who care.
The PCL Padres: What's in a Name? [February 18th. 2011]
Another post in the PCL series over at RJ's Fro. The Padres were almost the . . .
The Gwynn Opener: A Requirement For Fans [April 7th, 2011]
I made it a point to not only get to the home opener but, directed by the sage words of Tony Gwynn, to make it to game number two as well. It was painful. And worth it.
F&^% you Vill Wenable [July 8th, 2011]
This is probably the post AJM is most associated with. I drank a few beers. Hit "caps lock". And absolutely melted down after Will Venable struck out with the bases loaded in Chavez Ravine.
Orlando Hudson and I Know How To Laugh At Work [July 27th, 2011]
It's not fun to dislike players who play for the home nine. Unfortunately Orlando Hudson made it easy. Good to see he's on the roster in '12.
Padres, Green Tea, and Misunderstandings [October 5th, 2011]
Battling a lengthy virus, a Padre fan is led to Starbucks in search of green tea.
Games For The Weary: Padre-Punch [December 9th, 2011]
If you stare into a crowd at Disneyland long enough, strange ideas are without bounds.
Avenger-In-Chief on Joe Randa [December 23rd 2011]
Researching a Joe Randa baseball card for Friars on Cardboard . . . exponentially more fun than watching grown men fawn over Brian Wilson and his idiotic beard during Padres/Giants series at PETCO Park. And that's saying something.
The following is a list of eleven posts which I felt were crafted. They were creative pieces. Some imaginary. Some exaggerated. Some that required research. But at their core, all were painstakingly crafted. Which is what writers do.
I enjoyed writing each of these and I sincerely hope that you enjoyed reading them. If you missed one give it a go. Thanks.
A Terrible Trevor Hoffman Fan [January 13th, 2011]
Trevor Hoffman's retirement put me in a state of reflection. I thought about his time as a Padre. Ultimately I realized that I needed Trevor to retire before I could fully appreciate him.
FDR and the Pacific Coast League's San Diego Padres [January 28th 2011]
I wrote this for RJ's Fro and it was inspired by the research of Bill Swank, the PCL Padre guru. I think I built slightly on Swank's work by giving a little more context to the time period in which the Padres arrived in San Diego.
The PCL Padres: The Birth of an Interleague Rivalry [February 11th, 2011]
This was my favorite piece of the year, also posted at RJ's Fro. The definitive guide to understanding the epic rivalry between the San Diego Padres and the Seattle Mariners.
Why The Mat Latos Hullabaloo Is A Good Thing [February 16th, 2011]
The Mat Latos #balls saga. I loved the passion Latos showed in his time as a Padre. We'd do well to have more players who care.
The PCL Padres: What's in a Name? [February 18th. 2011]
Another post in the PCL series over at RJ's Fro. The Padres were almost the . . .
The Gwynn Opener: A Requirement For Fans [April 7th, 2011]
I made it a point to not only get to the home opener but, directed by the sage words of Tony Gwynn, to make it to game number two as well. It was painful. And worth it.
F&^% you Vill Wenable [July 8th, 2011]
This is probably the post AJM is most associated with. I drank a few beers. Hit "caps lock". And absolutely melted down after Will Venable struck out with the bases loaded in Chavez Ravine.
Orlando Hudson and I Know How To Laugh At Work [July 27th, 2011]
It's not fun to dislike players who play for the home nine. Unfortunately Orlando Hudson made it easy. Good to see he's on the roster in '12.
Padres, Green Tea, and Misunderstandings [October 5th, 2011]
Battling a lengthy virus, a Padre fan is led to Starbucks in search of green tea.
Games For The Weary: Padre-Punch [December 9th, 2011]
If you stare into a crowd at Disneyland long enough, strange ideas are without bounds.
Avenger-In-Chief on Joe Randa [December 23rd 2011]
Researching a Joe Randa baseball card for Friars on Cardboard . . . exponentially more fun than watching grown men fawn over Brian Wilson and his idiotic beard during Padres/Giants series at PETCO Park. And that's saying something.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Media Commentary: A Major Award --The 2011 Homage to Suck
As of this writing Lee "Hacksaw" Hamilton of XX1090 holds a modest lead over the Union Tribune's Don Norcross for the worst piece of writing in 2011. Nick Canepa is in dead last* with 12% of the vote.
*Remember, coming in last place is a good thing in this competition. Although it still doesn't say much.
Who did I vote for? If you guessed Nick Canepa then you know AJM like the back of your hand.
This competition was difficult. While over 180 people viewed the post only 50 saw themselves fit to cast a vote. I respect that. If you're not a regular reader I was asking quite a bit of you to go review the work of these writers.* I appreciate you abstaining from the vote if you felt you didn't have the time to read their columns. Your exercise of caution is an admirable trait, a trait we we would do well to donate to our three nominees.
*Hacksaw is not a writer. He wrote something. There is a distinction.
But did I unduly influence you with how I worded the contestants' entries in the poll? Canepa's was the most innocuous. Norcross less so. But if someone wanted to vote without reading then a vote for Hacksaw would have been reasonable based on my unflattering remark about his attempt at writing.* Hacksaw's piece was also fresh on our minds. He was FJM'd the other day and, well he's Hacksaw.
*Lee Hacksaw Hamilton Throws-Up on Paper. And then Pushes Submit.
I went back and reread Nick Canepa's piece. I don't think people are giving Nick the proper credit for writing a truly poor column. It was bad.* So I voted for Nick. Primarily because he's been a newspaper man at the UT since the 60s. Maybe that's the problem. Never the less, I hold him to a higher standard than Hacksaw. Hacksaw isn't a writer. He's a talking head. And a muckraker. But he's no writer. In my eyes this honor belonged to Canepa, the pro.
*When I say "bad" I'm thinking Steven Segal post Hard To Kill. I bought Segal's pony-tail up until this point. I willed myself to believe that a guy with a pony-tail could be that bad-ass. It didn't hurt that he looked 6'5". And that he always did that move where he broke a guy's arm at the elbow. After Hard to Kill I stopped believing. In summation: Nick Canepa's effort was as bad as Steven Segal's pony tail, post-Hard To Kill, but most definitely not pre-Hard To Kill.
The funny thing. I knew Hacksaw would take the title. For one simple reason: he's a polarizing figure. We already knew this but here's further proof. In a span of 24 hours the FJM piece I wrote about Hacksaw became, by a sizable margin, the most read column for the month of December. Why? Because people love to ridicule* the Saw. Ridicule that is often deserved. And this is a problem.
* Do you ever listen to Jim Rome? He constantly mocks Hacksaw's voice and his shtick. Hacksaw has built A Sports Empire on bad PR from Jim Rome. Hacksaw is known across the country for being the punchline to a joke. RANCHO CUCAMONGA! Can you HEAR ME?
People don't necessarily have the time to research. They go to the radio because it's easy. It is a reflex, one that can be done concurrently with the action of commuting to and from work. People depend on the accuracy of information received from a guy who has been given a massive platform and megaphone. This isn't politics, no extra research need be necessary. It's sports and sports should be easy. But you and I know better. We've learned to take nothing at face value, not even our sporting news.
Why would XX1090 knowingly deceive us by putting this guy on the air?
I'm not positive if this analogy works but I would say that XX1090 views its listnership similarly to the way a casino looks at a bet on a football game. Both want to get action on each side. If 1,000,000 betters choose the Chargers this weekend and 1,000,000 take the Raiders the house wins because of the 10% "rake" on each bet. Similarly, a radio station with blindly faithful listeners to Hacksaw coupled with irate listeners who desire to make the phone call* reminding him that he's a big idiot is good for business. Both groups are listening and that equals profit.
*Or text! Text him your thoughts.
So XX1090 doesn't care about us. For a solid dose of reason we get Darren Smith in the afternoon but not after 4 hours of frontal lobe pollution from Lee "Hacksaw" Hamilton. And on top of it, they let him bang his ideas out on a keyboard. Yes, in addition to San Diego.com giving him a forum, XX1090 also posted Hacksaw's malarkey on their website.
This week we've seen Craig Elsten of 619 Sports filling in for a vacationing Darren Smith and in this time we've been privy to a polished and reasoned approach to every topic on the table. As I listen I imagine how perfect a fit Craig would be in Hacksaw's spot, leading into Darren Smith at 2 pm. And then I'm reminded of our betting analogy and I come back to a grim reality. A reality where intelligence is not a commodity willfully doled out to radio audiences.
We are stuck with Lee Hacksaw Hamilton. And I would say that we need NOT be stuck quietly. That we can use our voices to silence Hacksaw's. But in the end, that is all XX1090 really wants. Complaints mean we are listening. And the bills are being paid.
This however, does not mean we cannot call attention to the failings of our media members. You will have to set your own standards for what you are willing to accept from the media but here are mine:
When I witness egregious incoherence, profound lack of logic, or an utter absence of research in a published writing by a professional -- that professional will be called on it.*
* Throws mic down.
Editor's Note [8:05 AM]
I would be remiss if I did not point to Dan Hayes, Corey Brock, Craig Elsten and Tom Krasovic for giving us some semblance of sanity with their writing.
*Remember, coming in last place is a good thing in this competition. Although it still doesn't say much.
Who did I vote for? If you guessed Nick Canepa then you know AJM like the back of your hand.
This competition was difficult. While over 180 people viewed the post only 50 saw themselves fit to cast a vote. I respect that. If you're not a regular reader I was asking quite a bit of you to go review the work of these writers.* I appreciate you abstaining from the vote if you felt you didn't have the time to read their columns. Your exercise of caution is an admirable trait, a trait we we would do well to donate to our three nominees.
*Hacksaw is not a writer. He wrote something. There is a distinction.
But did I unduly influence you with how I worded the contestants' entries in the poll? Canepa's was the most innocuous. Norcross less so. But if someone wanted to vote without reading then a vote for Hacksaw would have been reasonable based on my unflattering remark about his attempt at writing.* Hacksaw's piece was also fresh on our minds. He was FJM'd the other day and, well he's Hacksaw.
*Lee Hacksaw Hamilton Throws-Up on Paper. And then Pushes Submit.
I went back and reread Nick Canepa's piece. I don't think people are giving Nick the proper credit for writing a truly poor column. It was bad.* So I voted for Nick. Primarily because he's been a newspaper man at the UT since the 60s. Maybe that's the problem. Never the less, I hold him to a higher standard than Hacksaw. Hacksaw isn't a writer. He's a talking head. And a muckraker. But he's no writer. In my eyes this honor belonged to Canepa, the pro.
*When I say "bad" I'm thinking Steven Segal post Hard To Kill. I bought Segal's pony-tail up until this point. I willed myself to believe that a guy with a pony-tail could be that bad-ass. It didn't hurt that he looked 6'5". And that he always did that move where he broke a guy's arm at the elbow. After Hard to Kill I stopped believing. In summation: Nick Canepa's effort was as bad as Steven Segal's pony tail, post-Hard To Kill, but most definitely not pre-Hard To Kill.
The funny thing. I knew Hacksaw would take the title. For one simple reason: he's a polarizing figure. We already knew this but here's further proof. In a span of 24 hours the FJM piece I wrote about Hacksaw became, by a sizable margin, the most read column for the month of December. Why? Because people love to ridicule* the Saw. Ridicule that is often deserved. And this is a problem.
* Do you ever listen to Jim Rome? He constantly mocks Hacksaw's voice and his shtick. Hacksaw has built A Sports Empire on bad PR from Jim Rome. Hacksaw is known across the country for being the punchline to a joke. RANCHO CUCAMONGA! Can you HEAR ME?
People don't necessarily have the time to research. They go to the radio because it's easy. It is a reflex, one that can be done concurrently with the action of commuting to and from work. People depend on the accuracy of information received from a guy who has been given a massive platform and megaphone. This isn't politics, no extra research need be necessary. It's sports and sports should be easy. But you and I know better. We've learned to take nothing at face value, not even our sporting news.
Why would XX1090 knowingly deceive us by putting this guy on the air?
I'm not positive if this analogy works but I would say that XX1090 views its listnership similarly to the way a casino looks at a bet on a football game. Both want to get action on each side. If 1,000,000 betters choose the Chargers this weekend and 1,000,000 take the Raiders the house wins because of the 10% "rake" on each bet. Similarly, a radio station with blindly faithful listeners to Hacksaw coupled with irate listeners who desire to make the phone call* reminding him that he's a big idiot is good for business. Both groups are listening and that equals profit.
*Or text! Text him your thoughts.
So XX1090 doesn't care about us. For a solid dose of reason we get Darren Smith in the afternoon but not after 4 hours of frontal lobe pollution from Lee "Hacksaw" Hamilton. And on top of it, they let him bang his ideas out on a keyboard. Yes, in addition to San Diego.com giving him a forum, XX1090 also posted Hacksaw's malarkey on their website.
This week we've seen Craig Elsten of 619 Sports filling in for a vacationing Darren Smith and in this time we've been privy to a polished and reasoned approach to every topic on the table. As I listen I imagine how perfect a fit Craig would be in Hacksaw's spot, leading into Darren Smith at 2 pm. And then I'm reminded of our betting analogy and I come back to a grim reality. A reality where intelligence is not a commodity willfully doled out to radio audiences.
We are stuck with Lee Hacksaw Hamilton. And I would say that we need NOT be stuck quietly. That we can use our voices to silence Hacksaw's. But in the end, that is all XX1090 really wants. Complaints mean we are listening. And the bills are being paid.
This however, does not mean we cannot call attention to the failings of our media members. You will have to set your own standards for what you are willing to accept from the media but here are mine:
When I witness egregious incoherence, profound lack of logic, or an utter absence of research in a published writing by a professional -- that professional will be called on it.*
* Throws mic down.
Editor's Note [8:05 AM]
I would be remiss if I did not point to Dan Hayes, Corey Brock, Craig Elsten and Tom Krasovic for giving us some semblance of sanity with their writing.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
The "You Don't Know Jack!" Year In Review: Crappy Writing Needs An Award Too
During the past three months I've written three scathing critiques of articles by locally based journalists. All writers will write an homage to suck here and there but when the piece has egregious factual errors that lead to deception amongst readers then comment must be put on the record. That is what I would like to think that I have done with the articles by Nick Canepa, Don Norcross, and Lee "Hacksaw" Hamilton.
Were these articles the absolute worst written by professional journalists in San Diego during 2011? Likely not. But make no mistake, they were poorly constructed, riddled with errors, and completely "mailed-in" by their respective authors. And so I shall nominate them for worst of the year.
You can click the author's name above to go directly to the article or below you will find the links for the criticisms, which may be the easiest way to refresh your memory:
Nick Canepa Gets the FJMing He Deserves
FJM'd: Don Norcross and his subject, Padres GM Josh Byrnes
FJM'd: Hacksaw refuses to do the math that could be done on his fingers
Or perhaps your memory is pristine and you need not go through such time consuming acts; then now is the time to get yourself to the polls. Decision 2011!
Were these articles the absolute worst written by professional journalists in San Diego during 2011? Likely not. But make no mistake, they were poorly constructed, riddled with errors, and completely "mailed-in" by their respective authors. And so I shall nominate them for worst of the year.
You can click the author's name above to go directly to the article or below you will find the links for the criticisms, which may be the easiest way to refresh your memory:
Nick Canepa Gets the FJMing He Deserves
FJM'd: Don Norcross and his subject, Padres GM Josh Byrnes
FJM'd: Hacksaw refuses to do the math that could be done on his fingers
Or perhaps your memory is pristine and you need not go through such time consuming acts; then now is the time to get yourself to the polls. Decision 2011!
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
The "You Don't Know Jack!" Year in Review: Ramones and Baseball Brawls
Without any hesitation I can say that this was the definitive post written on AJM about the Ramones and baseball in 2011.
I wrote it nearly a year ago (1/12/11). It was short and sweet and I recall telling the Mrs. that the writing of the post would be worth it under one condition. Before I tell you the condition I'll ask that you click the link first: More Baseball Music: The Ramones take a turn
Comeback in two minutes.
I felt the writing of this post would be worth it if ONE person thought it was a legitimate story. Few read it and with zero comments I figured I had failed with my little hoax.
A few months down the road Rick from RJ's Fro began questioning me about the post. I don't recall his exact words but the gist of the conversation was that he BELIEVED the Ramones/ Roseboro/ Maricahal story was true! What really made it funny was that Rick has spent time in a band. A punk rock band. And he's a big baseball fan.
Success realized!
This has been The You Don't Know Jack! Year In Review: Part I
I wrote it nearly a year ago (1/12/11). It was short and sweet and I recall telling the Mrs. that the writing of the post would be worth it under one condition. Before I tell you the condition I'll ask that you click the link first: More Baseball Music: The Ramones take a turn
Comeback in two minutes.
I felt the writing of this post would be worth it if ONE person thought it was a legitimate story. Few read it and with zero comments I figured I had failed with my little hoax.
A few months down the road Rick from RJ's Fro began questioning me about the post. I don't recall his exact words but the gist of the conversation was that he BELIEVED the Ramones/ Roseboro/ Maricahal story was true! What really made it funny was that Rick has spent time in a band. A punk rock band. And he's a big baseball fan.
Success realized!
This has been The You Don't Know Jack! Year In Review: Part I
Monday, December 26, 2011
FJM'd: Hacksaw refuses to do the math that could be done on his fingers
Against my better judgement, I am going to give Lee "Hacksaw" Hamilton the Fire Joe Morgan treatment. I'm trying to convince myself that it's NOT a waste of time. But like you, I know that it is.
Hacksaw is terrible. And since he has been given a platform he needs to get called on it.
And all this started when the incoming owner, Jeff Moorad, moved Jake Peavy two summers ago to the White Sox for... guess again, more kids.
Jake Peavy was actually moved for a bag of balls, an Italian beef sandwich, an ex-QB from the University of Michigan, three warm bodies, and a ridiculous agreement by the Chicago White Sox to assume a gazillion dollar contract for an undersized power pitcher with a history of injuries.
Isn't this one of the things for which we should be thanking Jeff Moorad?
When will there be some type of reward for long suffering fans, who have now seen six losing seasons in the last nine campaigns?
Math. Let's do math. Six losing seasons in the last nine campaigns? When I read this it just didn't compute so you know what I did? Like all good Mathematicians, I used my fingers! Go with it!
RIGHT HAND
Thumb: 2011: Losing season
Pointer: 2010: Winning season
Middle: 2009: Losing season
Ring: 2008: Losing season
Pinkie: 2007: Winning season
LEFT HAND
Thumb: 2006: Winning season
Pointer: 2005: Winning season
Middle: 2004: Winning season
Ring: 2003: Losing season
That was fun. (don't believe my fingers? go here)
OK. Firstly: when you're talking about "the number of winning seasons" in the last "x number of seasons" you go back to the last winning season in the string of years, which would be 2004. PETCO Park also opened in 2004, so really, Saw should have been speaking about 8 campaigns rather than 9.
What about Saw's math?
Have the Padres only had 3 winning seasons in the last 9? Let's go back to our fingers.
Ahhhh, nope.
According to my fingers the Padres have had 5 winning seasons in their last 9 campaigns. Or 5 out of 8 in PETCO Park, which isn't too bad considering how angry the fan-base has been.
Miller Park debuted in Milwaukee, which led to a spending spree and playoff appearances.
Miller Park opened in 2001. The Brewers rewarded their fans with 4 consecutive losing seasons, 1 .500 season, another losing season, and a .512 season, before they won the Wild Card in 2008. In three of those losing seasons they finished dead last in the NL Central. And with 6 teams vying for a championship in the NL Central, this is where last place truly means something!
What about the Brewers' payroll during those initial years after the opening of Miller Park?
Here it goes: (2000: 23rd*) (2001: 23rd) (2002: 21st) (2003: 28th) (2004: 30th) (2005: 27th) (2006: 24th) (2007: 19th) (2008: 15th) (2009: 17th) (2010: 18th) (2011: 17th)
The ballpark didn't really lead to increased payroll for Milwaukee. Maybe if Saw took the time to research he could have used Milwaukee as a timeline model for how a new park can eventually lead a small market team to a payroll in the top 50% of the league. Or Almost the top 50% of the league.
Leaving too were 14-game winner Aaron Harang, and back of the rotation starter Wade LeBlanc.
Lamenting the loss of Wade LeBlanc? I'll stop now.
From all of the past trades, San Diego wound up with 9 young players and three additional draft picks, but you won't see any of them at Petco Park from your box seats this summer.
Nine young players, huh? None of them in PETCO this summer? I don't even know who Saw is talking about here. The paragraph begins by talking about off-season moves and then he jumps to past trades. Is he including the warm bodies from the Peavy trade? There were 3 prospects from the Latos trade, 2 from Adams, 3 from Gonzalez. That doesn't add up to 9. Crap. This is vexing.
We know Alonso or Rizzo will be in San Diego. Rumor has it that we'll likely see Erlin, Wieland and Boxberger by summer. Maybe Casey Kelly, but more likely 2013. What was Hacksaw saying?
Alarming is the reality Moorad does not have the money to really own this.
Finally. A salient point. It took a while but Hacksaw made one (and I don't think he actually meant to do it).
Please don't allow the above 14 words to con you into reading the article. Just go to IKEA and do some shopping.
*I put the year 2000 payroll in for the Brewers just to show that there was no change (relative to the rest of MLB) in payroll as they moved into Miller Park.
Hacksaw is terrible. And since he has been given a platform he needs to get called on it.
And all this started when the incoming owner, Jeff Moorad, moved Jake Peavy two summers ago to the White Sox for... guess again, more kids.
Jake Peavy was actually moved for a bag of balls, an Italian beef sandwich, an ex-QB from the University of Michigan, three warm bodies, and a ridiculous agreement by the Chicago White Sox to assume a gazillion dollar contract for an undersized power pitcher with a history of injuries.
Isn't this one of the things for which we should be thanking Jeff Moorad?
When will there be some type of reward for long suffering fans, who have now seen six losing seasons in the last nine campaigns?
Math. Let's do math. Six losing seasons in the last nine campaigns? When I read this it just didn't compute so you know what I did? Like all good Mathematicians, I used my fingers! Go with it!
RIGHT HAND
Thumb: 2011: Losing season
Pointer: 2010: Winning season
Middle: 2009: Losing season
Ring: 2008: Losing season
Pinkie: 2007: Winning season
LEFT HAND
Thumb: 2006: Winning season
Pointer: 2005: Winning season
Middle: 2004: Winning season
Ring: 2003: Losing season
That was fun. (don't believe my fingers? go here)
OK. Firstly: when you're talking about "the number of winning seasons" in the last "x number of seasons" you go back to the last winning season in the string of years, which would be 2004. PETCO Park also opened in 2004, so really, Saw should have been speaking about 8 campaigns rather than 9.
What about Saw's math?
Have the Padres only had 3 winning seasons in the last 9? Let's go back to our fingers.
Ahhhh, nope.
According to my fingers the Padres have had 5 winning seasons in their last 9 campaigns. Or 5 out of 8 in PETCO Park, which isn't too bad considering how angry the fan-base has been.
Miller Park debuted in Milwaukee, which led to a spending spree and playoff appearances.
Miller Park opened in 2001. The Brewers rewarded their fans with 4 consecutive losing seasons, 1 .500 season, another losing season, and a .512 season, before they won the Wild Card in 2008. In three of those losing seasons they finished dead last in the NL Central. And with 6 teams vying for a championship in the NL Central, this is where last place truly means something!
What about the Brewers' payroll during those initial years after the opening of Miller Park?
Here it goes: (2000: 23rd*) (2001: 23rd) (2002: 21st) (2003: 28th) (2004: 30th) (2005: 27th) (2006: 24th) (2007: 19th) (2008: 15th) (2009: 17th) (2010: 18th) (2011: 17th)
The ballpark didn't really lead to increased payroll for Milwaukee. Maybe if Saw took the time to research he could have used Milwaukee as a timeline model for how a new park can eventually lead a small market team to a payroll in the top 50% of the league. Or Almost the top 50% of the league.
Leaving too were 14-game winner Aaron Harang, and back of the rotation starter Wade LeBlanc.
Lamenting the loss of Wade LeBlanc? I'll stop now.
From all of the past trades, San Diego wound up with 9 young players and three additional draft picks, but you won't see any of them at Petco Park from your box seats this summer.
Nine young players, huh? None of them in PETCO this summer? I don't even know who Saw is talking about here. The paragraph begins by talking about off-season moves and then he jumps to past trades. Is he including the warm bodies from the Peavy trade? There were 3 prospects from the Latos trade, 2 from Adams, 3 from Gonzalez. That doesn't add up to 9. Crap. This is vexing.
We know Alonso or Rizzo will be in San Diego. Rumor has it that we'll likely see Erlin, Wieland and Boxberger by summer. Maybe Casey Kelly, but more likely 2013. What was Hacksaw saying?
Alarming is the reality Moorad does not have the money to really own this.
Finally. A salient point. It took a while but Hacksaw made one (and I don't think he actually meant to do it).
Please don't allow the above 14 words to con you into reading the article. Just go to IKEA and do some shopping.
*I put the year 2000 payroll in for the Brewers just to show that there was no change (relative to the rest of MLB) in payroll as they moved into Miller Park.
Friday, December 23, 2011
Padres Fan Buying Dodgers Gifts Spawns Ideas of GREATNESS
The Tri-tip Christmas shindig last week required the purchase of a gift on my part. The kind soul I drew for the gift exchange is a Dodger fan. I felt that this would make shopping far easier for me than to have drawn a woman on the other side of the family whom I only see once a year.
As I touched the Dodger hat at the sports collectible store I felt like I might burst into flames. This is not hyperbole. I had the uneasiest of feelings. Needle points of bright light permeated my field of vision and I did the only thing I could do in that situation. I grabbed a Padre hat too. It was brown . . .
I left the store with a gift for my father-in-law's Dodger loving brother and a Christmas gift for myself. And I felt more at ease despite the obvious accusations of seasonal selfishness that would eventually follow.
Then I journeyed to one of the last remaining bookstores on this planet we call earth; Barnes and Noble. And I looked for a book on the Dodgers. It was difficult, as once again, heat in my extremities and white light wreaked havoc with my vision. And then once again the pain of a thousand deaths subsided as I chose a book about Branch Rickey, Jackie Robinson, and the Dodgers. If forced to buy Dodger crap then the least I could do was buy the noble kind of Dodger crap, if there is such a thing.
No matter how much we ALL hate the Dodgers, make no mistake about it, they were the trailblazers in setting things right. Were their motivations in signing Jackie Robinson completely altruistic? Likely not. But the fact remains, that while Jackie Robinson was the first African-American in Major League Baseball, it took an organization to be the first to decide to integrate. The Dodgers deserve that honor.
SO LET'S CELEBRATE THE DODGERS THIS YEAR!!!
I've got a GREAT idea. The Padres need a NEW BOBBLEHEAD SERIES . Not a series that celebrates players who won't be with the club next year or young stars who AREN'T young stars. Something sustainable. A bobblehead series for each player with a retired number!!!
You know! Tony Gwynn, Randy Jones, Dave Winfield, Steve Garvey, Trevor Hoffman, and . . . JACKIE ROBINSON!!
Ya see, Jackie Robinson doesn't just belong to the Dodgers. He belongs to ALL of MLB! Every single team received an interest in Jackie Robinson when they decided to retire #42 across the board. SO LET'S GET IN ON THIS, PADRES!
The mock-ups have already been completed! Why should this be the only Jackie Robinson bobblehead we see!!??
* This post was inspired by my gift purchase and the Dodgers decision to give away a Mike Scioscia bobblehead when the Angels visit Chavez Ravine this year.
As I touched the Dodger hat at the sports collectible store I felt like I might burst into flames. This is not hyperbole. I had the uneasiest of feelings. Needle points of bright light permeated my field of vision and I did the only thing I could do in that situation. I grabbed a Padre hat too. It was brown . . .
I left the store with a gift for my father-in-law's Dodger loving brother and a Christmas gift for myself. And I felt more at ease despite the obvious accusations of seasonal selfishness that would eventually follow.
Then I journeyed to one of the last remaining bookstores on this planet we call earth; Barnes and Noble. And I looked for a book on the Dodgers. It was difficult, as once again, heat in my extremities and white light wreaked havoc with my vision. And then once again the pain of a thousand deaths subsided as I chose a book about Branch Rickey, Jackie Robinson, and the Dodgers. If forced to buy Dodger crap then the least I could do was buy the noble kind of Dodger crap, if there is such a thing.
No matter how much we ALL hate the Dodgers, make no mistake about it, they were the trailblazers in setting things right. Were their motivations in signing Jackie Robinson completely altruistic? Likely not. But the fact remains, that while Jackie Robinson was the first African-American in Major League Baseball, it took an organization to be the first to decide to integrate. The Dodgers deserve that honor.
SO LET'S CELEBRATE THE DODGERS THIS YEAR!!!
I've got a GREAT idea. The Padres need a NEW BOBBLEHEAD SERIES . Not a series that celebrates players who won't be with the club next year or young stars who AREN'T young stars. Something sustainable. A bobblehead series for each player with a retired number!!!
You know! Tony Gwynn, Randy Jones, Dave Winfield, Steve Garvey, Trevor Hoffman, and . . . JACKIE ROBINSON!!
Ya see, Jackie Robinson doesn't just belong to the Dodgers. He belongs to ALL of MLB! Every single team received an interest in Jackie Robinson when they decided to retire #42 across the board. SO LET'S GET IN ON THIS, PADRES!
The mock-ups have already been completed! Why should this be the only Jackie Robinson bobblehead we see!!??
Let's CELEBRATE JACKIE ROBINSON and THE NUMBER 42! Here's how it goes!
The Padres open the season against the DODGERS of LOS ANGELES on THURSDAY April 5th!!! The series goes from Thursday through Sunday. But we all know that the majority of Padre fans will be there on Thursday for the opener and the Dodgers will just take over the park for the other three games. So the GIVEAWAY has gotta be ON THURSDAY!!!
Celebrating the retired San Diego Padres Jersey numbers, TOM GARFINKEL PRESENTS:
That is glorious! The second greatest Padre of them all! Screw you Dodgers! JACKIE ROBINSON IS OURS!!!!!!
OPENING DAY 2012!!!
* This post was inspired by my gift purchase and the Dodgers decision to give away a Mike Scioscia bobblehead when the Angels visit Chavez Ravine this year.
* I would like to thank @scottcolson for providing Jackie Robinson awesomeness in brown and gold. Scott is a big believer in Weezer, the San Diego Padres, and belief. Follow him on Twitter!
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Me Not Here: Joe Randa Inquiry Yields Alot Of Words
Had The Thin Gwynn posted it today I would have had posted something on 5 consecutive days. But since I have actually written something on 5 consecutive days, I say screw it! I'm counting it as today!
When TTG posts my Randa piece this is where you'll find the link. Right [here] in fact. Or HERE!!!
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Tear Down This Wall Mr. Byrnes-achev
The Berlin Wall had become a physical manifestation of the division between a communist east and a democratic and capitalist west. Moreover it served as a mental divide between these two worlds.
The barriers of the mind can mean so much more than the physical, the tangible.
The Berlin Wall. Josh Byrnes. The San Diego Padres. Take a journey with me won't you . . .
New Padres General Manager Josh Byrnes has been an active participant during the Hot Stove and while it has ruffled the feathers of some fans there's no doubt he has made the winter interesting.
But there is one thing Byrnes could do that would no doubt capture the imagination of all Padres fans. It is President Ronald Reagan's Berlin Wall speech that I use as inspiration.
I paraphrase:
We welcome change and openness; for we believe that locker room cohesion and wins go together, that the advance of our 25 man roster can only strengthen the cause of the 2012 season. There is one sign that Josh Byrnes can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of this organization as a whole and the team that takes the field in 2012. General Manager Byrnes, if you seek unity, if you seek wins for the San Diego Padres and the people of southern California, if you seek the whole as being more than the sum of its parts, come here to this locker room. Mr. Byrnes, open this locker room. Mr. Byrnes, Mr. Byrnes, tear down this wall!Tear down this Orlando Hudson Wall in the San Diego Padres locker room, Mr. Byrnes.
We are big believers that you can do it. Make this hot stove season an unrivaled success and tear it down.
*This date is a fabrication. It was not December 21st, 1987 but June 12th of that year. But it's the off-season and points must be made.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Mat Latos and Tri-Tip: Part 2
Whether it's a porterhouse, a t-bone, a fillet, or tri-tip everyone has their preference of meat. It's all good, really. But each person has their preference. What we choose could be a matter of affordability or it might be a matter of insider information. What is the eating establishment known for, their specialty? This often determines the choice in meat.
There's no shortage of varied opinion and preference on the Mat Latos deal and experts in the field quickly weighed in on the blockbuster move . . .
The following excerpts were worth noting for their lack of consensus:
"The San Diego Padres swap quality for quantity in a building move that helps them but doesn't entirely add up for me." ~Keith LawWhat did Keith Law mean? What didn't add up for him? If you're an ESPN insider you can pay to find out but that snippet gives pause to those who may want to declare the trade a success without a game having been played. Jim Bowden on the other hand leaves nothing to the imagination while Kevin Goldstein gives the more measured response.
"The most lopsided trade I've witnessed in recent memory as the Padres swindle the Reds in the 5-player trade that lands Mat Latos in Cinci" ~Jim Bowden (former General Manager)
"That's a lot of talent for a very good pitcher. No clear winner at this time." ~Kevin Goldstein
These are but a few of the opinions out there, opinions that are shaped by what people value in a player. Some prefer the rare commodity, a potential number one starter, while others appreciate the quantity and perceived quality of young talent. Josh Byrnes and Walt Jockety each have their preference.
On Saturday night I had no choice in meat, just tri-tip, a scenario with which I was perfectly fine. Tri-tip is that little triangular part on the bottom portion of Bottom Sirloin, denoted in pink on our trusty steer. It's a choice cut of meat, loved along the central coast of California but often an afterthought elsewhere. The tri-tip is a hidden gem, as is its preparation in the Santa Maria style of barbecuing. It remains a secret to most; Kansas City, Texas, and North Carolina often the first places associated with barbecue.
Why was a potential #1 starter in Mat Latos shopped? Why did Josh Byrnes do it when so many thought the young hurler would be a cornerstone of the rotation moving forward? The clear reason is that Jockety overwhelmed Byrnes with an amazing offer. Let's phrase it another way and see how you like the trade: Mat Latos was traded for a 28 year old former all star pitcher and three 1st round draft picks*. It sounds . . . beautiful when described in such a way.
Mat Latos is like the tri-tip served at at a Santa Maria backyard barbeque. He was traded for three cows, about to go to slaughter, that will provide enough tri-tip to feed the paying customers at PETCO Park and the homeless denizens of the East Village. Eat-up, San Diego.
What about the latent reasons for this trade? Mat Latos was chosen in 2006 as a draft and follow after he had tumbled to the 11th round. Mat Latos fell to the 11th round of the draft because of issues concerning his mental make-up and maturity issues. Hey, what 17 year old doesn't have some growing-up to do? But when you're doling out millions of dollars it makes sense to use caution. Whatever the case may be, Latos signed, and as his pitching acumen developed the questions of maturity continued to follow him.
Cows don't have make-up issues.
As Mat Latos began to experience success in 2010 the consensus seemed to be that he had matured a great deal, with a notable exception. So why trade him, Mr. Byrnes? Was there something beneath the surface, unknown to so many?
On Saturday, Dan Hayes of the North County Times wrote the following:
Still, one source said the Padres had "a ton" of concern about Latos' mental makeup. Latos said in a conference call that he was shocked by the trade, saying the Padres' front office didn't give him the impression that he would be traded.
Byrnes said the Padres made the trade because of the package of players the Reds offered in return for Latos.
This convoluted analogy has left you and I confused. Where do I stand, you ask? While I would have liked to have seen a contract extension in Latos' future I understand why they made the move. I love that they got two players who are ready for the 25 man roster and two that aren't far off. I'm also kind of excited to see what becomes of Anthony Rizzo.
And I love Tri-tip that is served hot. Santa Maria!
*I apologize for the lack of citation. I'm pretty sure I read a tweet from an analyst who framed the trade this way but I've read so much I have no idea where it came from.
Monday, December 19, 2011
Tom Garfinkel Wants Peter Gammons' Head On A Stick
After Peter Gammons' article on MLB this morning and the subsequent Twitter chatter across San Diego a dialogue began to run through my mind. A dialogue between Hall of Fame baseball writer Peter Gammons and Padres' COO and President, Tom Garfinkel. An imaginary dialogue.
Or was it . . .
Tom Garfinkel: Hey Pete. Good Morning.
Peter Gammons: Good morning Tom. Hey, let me turn down my 8-track. Just listening to some Buddy Guy.
TG: Yup. Take your time.
PG: Alright . . . hey, thank you for the access yesterday morning. Those tidbits on Mat Latos were gold.
TG: Yeah. That's what I was calling about.
PG: Oh yea. What is it?
TG: As I was eating breakfast this morning I read through your column at MLB.
PG: How did it come off?
TG: Well. I'm not gonna lie. I do have a gripe.
PG: Look Tom. The information about Latos and his Tattoo before game 162 in 2010 was provided by your media relations department. Was this information inaccurate?
TG: No, no, no . . .
PG: Just stop! I understand that Twitter is full of useless little twits that parse everyone's words but what do you want me to do? You wanted Latos to look like he was a shaky employee. I framed it in such a way. You wanted Latos to look like his priorities were elsewhere. I did it. I'm a Hall of Fame writer, Tom. What more do you want from me. The Padres look like geniuses right now. WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!?!
TG: No. Peter. I think there's a misunderstanding.
PG: What!?
TG: We're the Padres, Peter. Not the Friars. We're the San Diego Padres. The title of your article says, "Depth Accelerating Friars' Return To Contention". We'd just prefer that you call us the Padres.
PG: What?
TG: It's just that we'd like you to refer to our name correctly.
PG: The Padres. Not the Friars?
TG: The Padres.
PG: You don't like the Friars?
TG: I wouldn't say I dislike it. We're the Padres. We should refer to ourselves as the Padres. Friars is part of our history. But in formal settings, in the broadcast booth, in releases, we should be the Padres.
PG: OK. I can do that.
TG: Thanks, Peter. I loved the article. Have you had breakfast yet?
PG: ( . . . silence . . )
Or was it . . .
Tom Garfinkel: Hey Pete. Good Morning.
Peter Gammons: Good morning Tom. Hey, let me turn down my 8-track. Just listening to some Buddy Guy.
TG: Yup. Take your time.
PG: Alright . . . hey, thank you for the access yesterday morning. Those tidbits on Mat Latos were gold.
TG: Yeah. That's what I was calling about.
PG: Oh yea. What is it?
TG: As I was eating breakfast this morning I read through your column at MLB.
PG: How did it come off?
TG: Well. I'm not gonna lie. I do have a gripe.
PG: Look Tom. The information about Latos and his Tattoo before game 162 in 2010 was provided by your media relations department. Was this information inaccurate?
TG: No, no, no . . .
PG: Just stop! I understand that Twitter is full of useless little twits that parse everyone's words but what do you want me to do? You wanted Latos to look like he was a shaky employee. I framed it in such a way. You wanted Latos to look like his priorities were elsewhere. I did it. I'm a Hall of Fame writer, Tom. What more do you want from me. The Padres look like geniuses right now. WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!?!
TG: No. Peter. I think there's a misunderstanding.
PG: What!?
TG: We're the Padres, Peter. Not the Friars. We're the San Diego Padres. The title of your article says, "Depth Accelerating Friars' Return To Contention". We'd just prefer that you call us the Padres.
PG: What?
TG: It's just that we'd like you to refer to our name correctly.
PG: The Padres. Not the Friars?
TG: The Padres.
PG: You don't like the Friars?
TG: I wouldn't say I dislike it. We're the Padres. We should refer to ourselves as the Padres. Friars is part of our history. But in formal settings, in the broadcast booth, in releases, we should be the Padres.
PG: OK. I can do that.
TG: Thanks, Peter. I loved the article. Have you had breakfast yet?
PG: ( . . . silence . . )
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Mat Latos Became a Red and The Tri-Tip Was Cold
The other day I finally ponied-up for a Baseball Prospectus subscription. I'd been meaning to do it for sometime and now that it's the only place to read Ducksnorts it has become even more imperative.
It was Kevin Goldstein's publication of his top eleven Padres Prospects however, that forced my hand. Goldstein's overall evaluation was that the Padres have accrued tremendous depth at their minor league levels. Awesome! Is there anything better than spending money and having an expert tell you what you want to hear? I felt like I was in . . . Las Vegas.*
I did leave the reading of this article with concerns, though.
While the system has depth it lacks superstars on the horizon. Sorry. I'm greedy.
The projections for starting pitchers also caught my eye. Reports of Erlin, Weiland, and Kelly all sounded good, with big league arrival times coming sooner than later but they all project as #3 starters.
Sorry. I'm greedy. And I want more.
The only thing that assuaged my concerns was the notion that the Padres already had an ace in the fold in the form of Mat Latos. With Latos as the #1 perhaps the inclusion of three # 3 starters could still do the trick. Happy again was I.
Almost immediately I began to hear rumblings of a Latos trade.
This didn't make sense to my simple mind. With no stud in the system, why do it? The only thing I could think was that the FO thought Latos was a bad gamble moving forward. Kind of understandable I suppose. There have always been the maturity questions. Issues of the head, coupled with the propensity for pitchers' arms to fall off their bodies, could be reason enough to move the talent. I also thought it was more an issue of the Padres listening rather than actively shopping him. Whatever. I am simple.
Yesterday I went to eat tri-tip, an annual tradition. Before I could even get to the dinner table to find that the tri-tip was cold and undercooked, I got out of the car and checked my phone. Mat Latos was no longer a Padre. I was genuinely surprised. By both the undercooked tri-tip and the departure of Latos. Tri-tip needs to have the edges charred just right. The edges weren't charred just right, though. And Latos was gone. I couldn't make sense of it all.
Fans generally react poorly to such news, especially Padre fans who have seen players in recent history leave for unknown quantities. There were those who expected me to absolutely tEAR ThE INTerrrNETS aPArt!
I opted for a more measured response. For the most part, I decided to wait. And I decided to read...
(Part II)
*Read between the lines.
It was Kevin Goldstein's publication of his top eleven Padres Prospects however, that forced my hand. Goldstein's overall evaluation was that the Padres have accrued tremendous depth at their minor league levels. Awesome! Is there anything better than spending money and having an expert tell you what you want to hear? I felt like I was in . . . Las Vegas.*
I did leave the reading of this article with concerns, though.
While the system has depth it lacks superstars on the horizon. Sorry. I'm greedy.
The projections for starting pitchers also caught my eye. Reports of Erlin, Weiland, and Kelly all sounded good, with big league arrival times coming sooner than later but they all project as #3 starters.
Sorry. I'm greedy. And I want more.
The only thing that assuaged my concerns was the notion that the Padres already had an ace in the fold in the form of Mat Latos. With Latos as the #1 perhaps the inclusion of three # 3 starters could still do the trick. Happy again was I.
Almost immediately I began to hear rumblings of a Latos trade.
This didn't make sense to my simple mind. With no stud in the system, why do it? The only thing I could think was that the FO thought Latos was a bad gamble moving forward. Kind of understandable I suppose. There have always been the maturity questions. Issues of the head, coupled with the propensity for pitchers' arms to fall off their bodies, could be reason enough to move the talent. I also thought it was more an issue of the Padres listening rather than actively shopping him. Whatever. I am simple.
Yesterday I went to eat tri-tip, an annual tradition. Before I could even get to the dinner table to find that the tri-tip was cold and undercooked, I got out of the car and checked my phone. Mat Latos was no longer a Padre. I was genuinely surprised. By both the undercooked tri-tip and the departure of Latos. Tri-tip needs to have the edges charred just right. The edges weren't charred just right, though. And Latos was gone. I couldn't make sense of it all.
Fans generally react poorly to such news, especially Padre fans who have seen players in recent history leave for unknown quantities. There were those who expected me to absolutely tEAR ThE INTerrrNETS aPArt!
I opted for a more measured response. For the most part, I decided to wait. And I decided to read...
(Part II)
*Read between the lines.
Friday, December 9, 2011
Games For The Weary: Padre-Punch
Each time a Volkswagen Beetle was spotted on the open-highways the objective was to shout the color of the Beetle and then the word "bug".
If I saw a red Volkswagen Beetle before my brother did I would shout "red bug"! This afforded me the opportunity to turn towards my brother, and with blood-lust, slug him in the arm.
Ah, Slug-Bug.
This last weekend I journeyed to Disneyland . . .
The family and I spent two days at Disneyland, a place renowned for hosting visitors from around the world. But it is the American visitors who I always pay the most attention. Based on their sporting attire, these folks share insights into their origins. It's magical. Just like Disneyland.
But through Day 1 at Disneyland I had yet to see a Padres fan. Sure there were a few damaged souls adorned in lightning bolts but nary an outwardly Padre fan was present to commiserate with. It was just me.
I needed a Padre fan. I needed one like a San Diegan needs Breakfast. And so I concocted a plan that would allow me to celebrate the occasion when a Padre fan would cross my path during Day 2. This plan came together in the form of a game. A game called Padre-Punch*
I decided that the next (and first) Padre fan I crossed paths with at Disneyland would receive a greeting.
I would garner their attention by shouting "Padre" and smiling like the Cheshire Cat of Disney's Alice in Wonderland ride.
Right as the fan recognized that I was a partisan I would lower the boom on their right shoulder while yelling "Punch"! It would be just like the days of yore. The days of Slug-Bug!
Of course the reaction by my fellow Padre fan would be to recoil. In this instance they would either be constructing an escape route for the purposes of filing assault charges . . . or worse . . . they would regather themselves. Intent on revenge.
Only one thing could prevent either scenario from coming to fruition.
After completing the phrase Padre Punch it would be incumbent upon me to extend my arms and envelop this friend in a warm embrace. Yes. I say friend. Because that is what Padres fans are . . . friends. Friends through the bonds of hapless baseball endured through the decades.
In our embrace I would whisper in to their ear:
"It's good to see you. I know it's difficult that fan favorite Heath Bell has moved on but it was a wise financial decision considering his age and declining peripherals. But it will be OK. The payroll will start with a "5". You and I. We'll be OK. Now go punch a friend."This last part of Padre Punch would always be subject to modification. For example, when the Padres finally sign their next television contract, the whisper in the ear might sound something like this:
"It's good to see you. I know it's difficult that the new Padres television contract is not nearly as much as what the Yankees or Red Sox earn on their respective networks. It is however a substantial improvement over the years spent at Channel 4. But it will be OK. We just have to weather the Dick Enberg Era. You and I. We'll be OK. Now go punch a friend."Spawned by a trip to Disneyland, this Padre Punch was my new game. It was more than just a game. It was a celebration. A celebration of the rare instance when someone outwardly proclaims to follow the same baseball team as me. A friend.
With epic gusts of wind, Day 2 at Disneyland arrived. I dressed and prepared for my first round of Padre Punch . . .
*"Friar Crier" was an early favorite for corporate naming rights but after internal debate it was vetoed by a committee of one.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Omar Minaya And My Inner Cynic
The Padres added Omar Minaya to the front office yesterday in a capacity similar to the one held by Josh Byrnes in 2011 while Jed Hoyer was San Diego's General Manager. The UT's Bill Center writes:
But my inner cynic reads that last part by Center and I immediately attribute the Minaya signing to all of the silly Josh Byrnes details Don Norcross saw fit to provide us with last week.
On the flip side, my rational mind notes that, at least Minaya was in demand.
Welcome aboard, Mr. Minaya.
“Omar’s job will be similar to what I did last year,” said Byrnes. “I’ll be traveling a lot,” added Minaya, who was the general manager of Montreal from 2002-2004 and the Mets from 2004-2010.
A native of the Dominican Republic, Minaya was the first Hispanic general manager in the major leagues. He picked the Padres over a half dozen other offers.I asked a Mets fan what he thought of Omar Minaya and he opined that the former New York GM is a solid evaluator of talent if not a strong general manager. So that sounds like a good thing.
But my inner cynic reads that last part by Center and I immediately attribute the Minaya signing to all of the silly Josh Byrnes details Don Norcross saw fit to provide us with last week.
On the flip side, my rational mind notes that, at least Minaya was in demand.
Welcome aboard, Mr. Minaya.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
FJM'd: Don Norcross and his subject, Padres GM Josh Byrnes
Sometimes the subject of an interview has many stupid things to say. If every stupid thing the subject says is included in the final column or the writer fails to frame it ever so precisely, unintended and overwhelming folly ensues. For both writer and subject.
I give you new Padres GM Josh Byrnes as reported so terribly by the Union Tribune's Don Norcross....
The plane carrying the victorious, bleary-eyed Boston Red Sox from St. Louis landed in Beantown at about sunrise. The Curse of the Bambino had been exorcised, the 2004 Red Sox sweeping the Cardinals in baseball’s 100th World Series, 86 years of heartache laid to rest.
Just when people were beginning to believe that Jalalabad, Afghanistan was San Diego's Sister city Don Norcross steps in to set things straight with the Boston, Massachusetts reference. I think the point would have been stronger had he mentioned Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr, Adrian Gonzalez, Theo Epstein, and Jed Hoyer.
Boston was yawning, still wiping sleep from its eyes as buses transporting the Red Sox to Fenway Park swept through downtown. But when the a.m. types realized the buses’ occupants, they celebrated.
New York is the town that never sleeps. Boston is the city that yawns. Tell me more...
Fans unfurled morning newspapers, shaking them at their heroes. Construction workers standing atop scaffolding jumped up and down.
With dwindling circulation, Don Norcross plants the seeds that will turn the UT back into a cash cow. I can't stand feeling inferior to Boston. I can read. I can unfurl a newspaper! Give me more UT. Don Norcross is a genius!
Wait . . . what is this article about?
Byrnes smiles and says, “It’d be pretty nice to bring that first World Series championship to San Diego.”
Oh, hey! Josh Byrnes! New Padres GM! I thought this was the UT's travel section.
In Hoyer’s place as general manager arrives Byrnes, at 41 only four years older than Hoyer, but, his perpetual smile aside, seemingly more hardened. Termination will do that. Only 18 months ago, Byrnes was pink-slipped as Arizona’s GM with five years remaining on his contract.
An excellent job creating empathy for the new guy in town. If I signed an 8 year contract and got to sit around doing nothing while collecting the remaining 5 years I would be hardened too. Harder than a motherf*&ker!
“He was hurt, no doubt,” says Byrnes’ wife, Charity, a Mt. Carmel High graduate. “To be in this business, it’s not just a job. It sort of overcomes you and your family. He gave his heart and soul. It was very painful. To be honest, it’s not gone.
Oh lord. You included a quote from his wife, Don? She sounds like my mom after I got snubbed for All-Stars when I was 12 . . . which incidentally, was a travesty.
Moms and wives only discredit arguments, Don. They're too emotional. Charity from Mt. Carmel has discredited her husband and our GM before he's even started his first season. Way to emasculate the guy, Charity... AND Don!
“He’s moved on, but at the same time, it’s not like he roots for Arizona. Even if we were in the AL Central, he wouldn’t root for them, let alone being in the same division.”
Great. Now you're letting his wife pick a fight with Arizona? Wait. Perhaps I can get behind that sort of childlike pettiness.
So who is Josh Byrnes, the Padres’ ninth general manager as the club approaches its 44th season?
Oh, finally...
He was raised in Washington, D.C., by a single mother whom he unabashedly admits is the most influential person in his life. Sue Byrnes worked in government relations for a New York public relations firm, making the rounds in Congress.
So he's a momma's boy?
She stood on the National Mall for Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech. She worked for Bobby Kennedy and met JFK when he was president.
What does this have to do with the Padres new GM? And you're doing his poor single mother no favors by putting her name in the same circles as Jack and Bobby Kennedy.
“With my mouth wide open,” she says. “I couldn’t say anything.”
Couldn't say anything about what? About witnessing MLK's historic speech or meeting JFK?
If you're leaving me to guess then I'm going to go with the time Josh ate his poo after it squirted out of his diaper as he ate butternut squash in his high-chair during his 18th month of life.
She volunteers for President Obama.
Now it all makes sense. This is a political piece. Mother Byrnes' socialist leanings have prepared Josh to run a franchise that requires dependence on revenue sharing from the well-to-do. This article is versatile. It could have been on the front page of the Union Tribune. Below the fold, of course.
Josh Byrnes attended private school with Jesse Jackson’s son, Yusef, and basketball star Grant Hill. Byrnes’ best friend since the age of 5 is African American.
I attended school with a star football player who robbed a doughnut store. It was not a private school. Josh Byrnes is better than my type. He's upper-crust. And now, like a proper leftist with DC beginnings, he's slumming it with a bottom feeder organization like the Padres.
Regarding his youth athletics, he says, “Often times, I was the minority on the field.”
The good readers of San Diego are questioning the inclusion of this quote by Norcross as irrelevant but I think they're missing the point. Josh Byrnes' has experience as a minority and it will be no different as an executive of a Major League Baseball franchise. Just look at the picture that accompanies this UT article. Things are never easy for guys who look like Josh Byrnes.
Speaking of youth athletics . . . I too was a minority on the field. I was one of the only ones who had the courage to attempt switch-hitting as a youngster. I looked like an athletic female. Like Jessica Biel.
On the subject of diversity, he adds, “People are different. We don’t all need to look alike and think alike.”
AJM Quick Poll:
More ridiculous?
1.) Josh Byrnes' trite commentary.
2.) Don Norcross' inclusion of trite commentary.
“He was a Division I talent playing at a Division III school,” says Thad Levine, a Haverford teammate who worked with Byrnes at Colorado and is now the Texas Rangers’ assistant general manager.
Underachiever! He'll fit nicely within the San Diego sports scene.
Byrnes’ senior year, a scout checking out an Eastern University infielder asked Haverford’s coach if he had a prospect. The coach said to keep an eye on Byrnes. Byrnes hit a grand slam off the prospect, who also pitched.
So the prospect was being scouted as an infielder? But like most good athletes at small universities he also pitched? But he was being scouted as an infielder, not a pitcher? And Josh Byrnes hit a home run off the prospect . . . who was an infielder, not a pitcher?
And the fact that the scout overlooked him brought surprise to Josh Byrnes?
Recalls Byrnes, “I said, ‘OK, I’ve done about all I can do.’ The phone never rang.”
See previous commentary.
Life’s fork in the road came at a Haverford alumni baseball game. Haverford’s coach said Byrnes should spend some time with Ron Shapiro, a Haverford alum and baseball agent whose clientele included Cal Ripken Jr., Kirby Puckett and Eddie Murray.
You gotta know people in life, and Josh Byrnes seems to have been blessed by the contacts only one could make by attending a prestigious school like Harvard. I mean Haverford.
And so began Byrnes’ baseball escalator ride. From Indians intern in 1994 to director of scouting by 1999. From Rockies assistant GM in ’99 to Red Sox assistant GM in 2002. From Diamondbacks’ GM in 2005 to fired in 2010, now to Padres GM.
The Byrnes ascension through the ranks seems like a dream come true. Not something that would harden one to reality. Don Norcross disagrees. Because agreement would have required a rewrite. And he was at deadline.
Former co-workers rattle off common success traits when describing Byrnes: intellectual, disciplined, driven. There’s another quality that may set him apart — a willingness to think outside the box.
There's only one way to think when running a team like the Padres . . . and that's outside the box. What are we in store for? Left handed first basemen? Left handed catchers? Pitchers hitting 8th?!!
So the Rockies devised an “intern quiz” that would reveal if applicants were longtime baseball fans. Who was the player who famously put his arm around Jackie Robinson? (Pee Wee Reese.) Who hit the ball to center field when Willie Mays made his famous over-the-shoulder catch at the Polo Grounds? (Vic Wertz.)
An "intern quiz"? That's outside of the box? If an intern quiz is devised in such a way that I might get the job . . . there might be a problem.
I like the Jackie Robinson/Pee Wee Reese diversity question though. It supports Josh Byrnes's assertion that his best friend, as a youth, was African-American.
At Cleveland, Byrnes supported the drafting of a player some deemed too big (CC Sabathia). At Boston, he endorsed selecting a player considered too small (Dustin Pedroia).
Josh Byrnes' belief in diversity is not limited to issues of race.
Look forward to drafts that include lumbering corner outfielders that defy the spaciousness of PETCO Park and pygmies out of Papua New Guinea to play the middle infield. Goodbye, Orlando Hudson!.
And at Arizona in 2009, he hired A.J. Hinch as manager even though Hinch had never coached or managed professionally.
Continuing with the theme of "looking forward" can I suggest a Managerial Triumvirate comprised of Mark Loretta, Trevor Hoffman and Chris Denorfia who will teach outfield dives?
“I was shocked,” admits Hinch.
I once hired an electrician to fix leaky plumbing in the kitchen. The leak was stemmed to a moderate drip which was an unforeseen surprise. The piping however, was now decorated like a Christmas Tree, which was freaking awesome!
I was shocked. Pleasantly.
Alas, if you dare to be great, sometimes you fall flat. The Diamondbacks posted an 89-123 record under Hinch. On July 1, 2010, Hinch and Byrnes were fired.
Managers are only worth a few wins a year. This record speaks more to the team Byrnes assembled. And also how crappy AJ Hinch was a manager. I'm starting to write like Don Norcross. Forgive me.
Hinch is now a Padres assistant general manager.
Mediocrity must be rewarded. Very "outside the box".
Regarding the Hinch-as-manager experiment, Byrnes says, “We just never won enough. Anytime you have a controversial hire, you’re on a short leash. When we didn’t produce winning baseball, the natives got pretty restless.”
Natives in Arizona? Laughable!
Asked how the Padres can win with a modest payroll, Byrnes says, “I’m a big believer in belief. I think belief is a powerful thing.”
San Diego needs more believers in belief. If you believe hard enough it's good for at least one comma and three zeroes added to the bottom line. Believe it.
Like Hoyer, Byrnes believes there are no quick fixes and that the Padres must build in the same manner as the Tampa Bay Rays, via the draft.
If there was any doubt in Josh Byrnes and his belief in belief, Don Norcross erased it with this excerpt.
A Padres championship team, he says, must be built around pitching and defense. The team needs more dominant starting pitching. Position players, he says, must be built around speed, defense, quality at-bats “and a tenacious relentlessness about how they play.”
Tenacious relentlessness. It's like persistent single-mindedness. But with a teaspoon of stubborness.
He’s a Cameron Maybin believer and wants to sign the center fielder to a contract extension, although talks have not intensified.
If you believe, thy Cameron Maybin will extend.
If the man is worried, he conceals it well. Kevin Towers’ GM signature was his brashness, his most memorable line directed to the Dodgers — “There’s a new sheriff in town.”
I think the internet has covered this misstep ad nauseum. In Don Norcross' defense... Kevin Malone was pretty forgettable.
Byrnes’ handle, for now, is his smile. Not a goofy, happy-go-lucky grin. Just a content, life-is-good smile.
Goofy, happy-go-lucky grin? Why does Heath Bell need to get a kick in the balls on the way out the door?
Sue Byrnes says her son has been that way since he slept in a crib. “He would wake up with a big smile on his face,” Sue says. “I called him Mr. Sunshine.”
Awwwww. Moms are the best.
****
Don Norcross and Nick Canepa are making this off-season fun.
I give you new Padres GM Josh Byrnes as reported so terribly by the Union Tribune's Don Norcross....
The plane carrying the victorious, bleary-eyed Boston Red Sox from St. Louis landed in Beantown at about sunrise. The Curse of the Bambino had been exorcised, the 2004 Red Sox sweeping the Cardinals in baseball’s 100th World Series, 86 years of heartache laid to rest.
Just when people were beginning to believe that Jalalabad, Afghanistan was San Diego's Sister city Don Norcross steps in to set things straight with the Boston, Massachusetts reference. I think the point would have been stronger had he mentioned Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr, Adrian Gonzalez, Theo Epstein, and Jed Hoyer.
Boston was yawning, still wiping sleep from its eyes as buses transporting the Red Sox to Fenway Park swept through downtown. But when the a.m. types realized the buses’ occupants, they celebrated.
New York is the town that never sleeps. Boston is the city that yawns. Tell me more...
Fans unfurled morning newspapers, shaking them at their heroes. Construction workers standing atop scaffolding jumped up and down.
With dwindling circulation, Don Norcross plants the seeds that will turn the UT back into a cash cow. I can't stand feeling inferior to Boston. I can read. I can unfurl a newspaper! Give me more UT. Don Norcross is a genius!
Wait . . . what is this article about?
Byrnes smiles and says, “It’d be pretty nice to bring that first World Series championship to San Diego.”
Oh, hey! Josh Byrnes! New Padres GM! I thought this was the UT's travel section.
In Hoyer’s place as general manager arrives Byrnes, at 41 only four years older than Hoyer, but, his perpetual smile aside, seemingly more hardened. Termination will do that. Only 18 months ago, Byrnes was pink-slipped as Arizona’s GM with five years remaining on his contract.
An excellent job creating empathy for the new guy in town. If I signed an 8 year contract and got to sit around doing nothing while collecting the remaining 5 years I would be hardened too. Harder than a motherf*&ker!
“He was hurt, no doubt,” says Byrnes’ wife, Charity, a Mt. Carmel High graduate. “To be in this business, it’s not just a job. It sort of overcomes you and your family. He gave his heart and soul. It was very painful. To be honest, it’s not gone.
Oh lord. You included a quote from his wife, Don? She sounds like my mom after I got snubbed for All-Stars when I was 12 . . . which incidentally, was a travesty.
Moms and wives only discredit arguments, Don. They're too emotional. Charity from Mt. Carmel has discredited her husband and our GM before he's even started his first season. Way to emasculate the guy, Charity... AND Don!
“He’s moved on, but at the same time, it’s not like he roots for Arizona. Even if we were in the AL Central, he wouldn’t root for them, let alone being in the same division.”
Great. Now you're letting his wife pick a fight with Arizona? Wait. Perhaps I can get behind that sort of childlike pettiness.
So who is Josh Byrnes, the Padres’ ninth general manager as the club approaches its 44th season?
Oh, finally...
He was raised in Washington, D.C., by a single mother whom he unabashedly admits is the most influential person in his life. Sue Byrnes worked in government relations for a New York public relations firm, making the rounds in Congress.
So he's a momma's boy?
She stood on the National Mall for Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech. She worked for Bobby Kennedy and met JFK when he was president.
What does this have to do with the Padres new GM? And you're doing his poor single mother no favors by putting her name in the same circles as Jack and Bobby Kennedy.
“With my mouth wide open,” she says. “I couldn’t say anything.”
Couldn't say anything about what? About witnessing MLK's historic speech or meeting JFK?
If you're leaving me to guess then I'm going to go with the time Josh ate his poo after it squirted out of his diaper as he ate butternut squash in his high-chair during his 18th month of life.
She volunteers for President Obama.
Now it all makes sense. This is a political piece. Mother Byrnes' socialist leanings have prepared Josh to run a franchise that requires dependence on revenue sharing from the well-to-do. This article is versatile. It could have been on the front page of the Union Tribune. Below the fold, of course.
Josh Byrnes attended private school with Jesse Jackson’s son, Yusef, and basketball star Grant Hill. Byrnes’ best friend since the age of 5 is African American.
I attended school with a star football player who robbed a doughnut store. It was not a private school. Josh Byrnes is better than my type. He's upper-crust. And now, like a proper leftist with DC beginnings, he's slumming it with a bottom feeder organization like the Padres.
Regarding his youth athletics, he says, “Often times, I was the minority on the field.”
The good readers of San Diego are questioning the inclusion of this quote by Norcross as irrelevant but I think they're missing the point. Josh Byrnes' has experience as a minority and it will be no different as an executive of a Major League Baseball franchise. Just look at the picture that accompanies this UT article. Things are never easy for guys who look like Josh Byrnes.
Speaking of youth athletics . . . I too was a minority on the field. I was one of the only ones who had the courage to attempt switch-hitting as a youngster. I looked like an athletic female. Like Jessica Biel.
On the subject of diversity, he adds, “People are different. We don’t all need to look alike and think alike.”
AJM Quick Poll:
More ridiculous?
1.) Josh Byrnes' trite commentary.
2.) Don Norcross' inclusion of trite commentary.
“He was a Division I talent playing at a Division III school,” says Thad Levine, a Haverford teammate who worked with Byrnes at Colorado and is now the Texas Rangers’ assistant general manager.
Underachiever! He'll fit nicely within the San Diego sports scene.
Byrnes’ senior year, a scout checking out an Eastern University infielder asked Haverford’s coach if he had a prospect. The coach said to keep an eye on Byrnes. Byrnes hit a grand slam off the prospect, who also pitched.
So the prospect was being scouted as an infielder? But like most good athletes at small universities he also pitched? But he was being scouted as an infielder, not a pitcher? And Josh Byrnes hit a home run off the prospect . . . who was an infielder, not a pitcher?
And the fact that the scout overlooked him brought surprise to Josh Byrnes?
Recalls Byrnes, “I said, ‘OK, I’ve done about all I can do.’ The phone never rang.”
See previous commentary.
Life’s fork in the road came at a Haverford alumni baseball game. Haverford’s coach said Byrnes should spend some time with Ron Shapiro, a Haverford alum and baseball agent whose clientele included Cal Ripken Jr., Kirby Puckett and Eddie Murray.
You gotta know people in life, and Josh Byrnes seems to have been blessed by the contacts only one could make by attending a prestigious school like Harvard. I mean Haverford.
And so began Byrnes’ baseball escalator ride. From Indians intern in 1994 to director of scouting by 1999. From Rockies assistant GM in ’99 to Red Sox assistant GM in 2002. From Diamondbacks’ GM in 2005 to fired in 2010, now to Padres GM.
The Byrnes ascension through the ranks seems like a dream come true. Not something that would harden one to reality. Don Norcross disagrees. Because agreement would have required a rewrite. And he was at deadline.
Former co-workers rattle off common success traits when describing Byrnes: intellectual, disciplined, driven. There’s another quality that may set him apart — a willingness to think outside the box.
There's only one way to think when running a team like the Padres . . . and that's outside the box. What are we in store for? Left handed first basemen? Left handed catchers? Pitchers hitting 8th?!!
So the Rockies devised an “intern quiz” that would reveal if applicants were longtime baseball fans. Who was the player who famously put his arm around Jackie Robinson? (Pee Wee Reese.) Who hit the ball to center field when Willie Mays made his famous over-the-shoulder catch at the Polo Grounds? (Vic Wertz.)
An "intern quiz"? That's outside of the box? If an intern quiz is devised in such a way that I might get the job . . . there might be a problem.
I like the Jackie Robinson/Pee Wee Reese diversity question though. It supports Josh Byrnes's assertion that his best friend, as a youth, was African-American.
At Cleveland, Byrnes supported the drafting of a player some deemed too big (CC Sabathia). At Boston, he endorsed selecting a player considered too small (Dustin Pedroia).
Josh Byrnes' belief in diversity is not limited to issues of race.
Look forward to drafts that include lumbering corner outfielders that defy the spaciousness of PETCO Park and pygmies out of Papua New Guinea to play the middle infield. Goodbye, Orlando Hudson!.
And at Arizona in 2009, he hired A.J. Hinch as manager even though Hinch had never coached or managed professionally.
Continuing with the theme of "looking forward" can I suggest a Managerial Triumvirate comprised of Mark Loretta, Trevor Hoffman and Chris Denorfia who will teach outfield dives?
“I was shocked,” admits Hinch.
I once hired an electrician to fix leaky plumbing in the kitchen. The leak was stemmed to a moderate drip which was an unforeseen surprise. The piping however, was now decorated like a Christmas Tree, which was freaking awesome!
I was shocked. Pleasantly.
Alas, if you dare to be great, sometimes you fall flat. The Diamondbacks posted an 89-123 record under Hinch. On July 1, 2010, Hinch and Byrnes were fired.
Managers are only worth a few wins a year. This record speaks more to the team Byrnes assembled. And also how crappy AJ Hinch was a manager. I'm starting to write like Don Norcross. Forgive me.
Hinch is now a Padres assistant general manager.
Mediocrity must be rewarded. Very "outside the box".
Regarding the Hinch-as-manager experiment, Byrnes says, “We just never won enough. Anytime you have a controversial hire, you’re on a short leash. When we didn’t produce winning baseball, the natives got pretty restless.”
Natives in Arizona? Laughable!
Asked how the Padres can win with a modest payroll, Byrnes says, “I’m a big believer in belief. I think belief is a powerful thing.”
San Diego needs more believers in belief. If you believe hard enough it's good for at least one comma and three zeroes added to the bottom line. Believe it.
Like Hoyer, Byrnes believes there are no quick fixes and that the Padres must build in the same manner as the Tampa Bay Rays, via the draft.
If there was any doubt in Josh Byrnes and his belief in belief, Don Norcross erased it with this excerpt.
A Padres championship team, he says, must be built around pitching and defense. The team needs more dominant starting pitching. Position players, he says, must be built around speed, defense, quality at-bats “and a tenacious relentlessness about how they play.”
Tenacious relentlessness. It's like persistent single-mindedness. But with a teaspoon of stubborness.
He’s a Cameron Maybin believer and wants to sign the center fielder to a contract extension, although talks have not intensified.
If you believe, thy Cameron Maybin will extend.
If the man is worried, he conceals it well. Kevin Towers’ GM signature was his brashness, his most memorable line directed to the Dodgers — “There’s a new sheriff in town.”
I think the internet has covered this misstep ad nauseum. In Don Norcross' defense... Kevin Malone was pretty forgettable.
Byrnes’ handle, for now, is his smile. Not a goofy, happy-go-lucky grin. Just a content, life-is-good smile.
Goofy, happy-go-lucky grin? Why does Heath Bell need to get a kick in the balls on the way out the door?
Sue Byrnes says her son has been that way since he slept in a crib. “He would wake up with a big smile on his face,” Sue says. “I called him Mr. Sunshine.”
Awwwww. Moms are the best.
****
Don Norcross and Nick Canepa are making this off-season fun.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Guest Post: @Homersapien619 is mad at Orlando Hudson types . . . and he ain't gonna take it anymore!
A blog is a place to vent. As such, I have an open door policy to those who have become friends. When you factor into the equation that this post simultaneously denigrates both Orlando Hudson and Shaun Phillips I have little choice but to acquiesce.
This column comes from a man known on the Internet as @Homersapien619 and 'tis his first foray into the blogging business. Welcome him, please.
Congratulations, Homer! You're officially an a-hole.
This is my first ever blog submission. I’m normally one of the guys in the background, doing a lot of technical stuff, making the writers look good. Hopefully, this is going to live up to the Avenging Jack Murphy standards of excellence. That means there will be at least one Joe Randa reference, guaranteed. But, I haven’t been drinking Ballast Point Sculpin IPA, so it’s doubtful there will be any misspelled capitalization errors (see: vIlL WeNaBlE).
That having been said, I’ve noticed a disturbing trend among San Diego “professional” athletes this year in terms of interacting with their fans via social media sites like Twitter.
If you don’t know, I have been coordinating social media locally for a Fortune 500 company, so I think I have a little insight into how not to interact with customers (aka fans) via Twitter. And lately, certain San Diego athletes have been doing it wrong.
I have dubbed it the “Mow My Lawn” rule, after the following interaction between Padres fan, Scott Colson and the account of Padres 2nd baseman Orlando Hudson.
I say account because it was obvious that someone else was tweeting for Orlando. But that’s another story altogether.
Anyone who knows me knows I’m not a Chargers fan. In fact, I’m really not a football fan. I follow the sport, but nowhere near as closely as others.
But Monday I just happened to come across a couple of tweets from two Chargers players that fall under the “Mow My Lawn” rule. The following tweets are prime examples of why I don’t like the Chargers organization as a whole, and the current players in particular.
First up, I give you TE Randy McMichael (@randymac81):
I didn’t include his tweet shortly after this one where he calls a fan an @$$hole after said fan made a joke involving some of the people he was following (Editor's note: Wow . . . you're not as big of an asshole as I thought, Homer!)
Hey, Randy. It’s never a good idea to denigrate grocery baggers. Next thing you know, your bread & eggs are underneath the milk.
Secondly, I give you everyone's Twitter favorite, LB Shaun Phillips (@ShaunPhillips95):
What can I say about this sequence? I’ve heard it all before from Shaun. He’s notorious for berating critics with his tweets. Even when he deserves it.
My point is this: Yes, we know that you’re getting paid to do a job that most of us can’t do. But you should remember that as fans, we pay our hard earned money to buy tickets. Or jerseys. Or t-shirts. Or MLB Extra Innings. Or NFL Sunday Ticket. Most of us don’t have a lot of disposable income to buy these things. So you should man-up and take the criticisms with a grain of salt.
Does this mean you should respond with “I’m sorry you feel that way, but I disagree with your point,” or “I understand and I’ll do better next time”? No. I’m sure I’d call you a pussy if you took that stance. But take some responsibility for the way your TEAM is playing.
That’s right, I said TEAM.
The fact is that the Chargers have lost 5 in a row as I write this. I have no idea how Randy McMichael or Shaun Phillips are playing right now. They could suck more than the suckiest bunch of sucks whoever sucked. Or they could be invoking the image of Joe Randa, roundhouse kicking their way into the record books. But their TEAM is playing like the suckiest bunch of sucks whoever sucked.
There’s that word again. TEAM.
*Editor's Note: Excellent Joe Randa product placement.
Monday, November 14, 2011
I'm Lost: A Question For Those On The Beat, Media Types, And Padres Fans
We have been told that the only reason Jed Hoyer was even allowed to discuss employment with Theo Epstein and the Chicago Cubs is because Jeff Moorad felt that he had a suitable replacement within the organization (Josh Byrnes). Without the presence of Byrnes the request is denied, a non-starter as they say.
But what about Assistant GM, Jason McLeod? There was nobody in house to replace him as the Padres looked outside of the organization to hire Chad McDonald. Why was this allowed to happen?
Without the presence of Jason McLeod the Padres farm system doesn't look nearly as good as it does right now, so it seems like a legitimate question. I've searched but found nothing.
It's almost as though Jason McLeod is still fulfilling a term of indentured servitude (2 years served of 7) and Jeff Moorad was forced to let him go to Chicago on account of him being Jed's property.
Anyone know the answer? Has the question been asked but I'm a bit too deaf, a little too blind?
But what about Assistant GM, Jason McLeod? There was nobody in house to replace him as the Padres looked outside of the organization to hire Chad McDonald. Why was this allowed to happen?
Without the presence of Jason McLeod the Padres farm system doesn't look nearly as good as it does right now, so it seems like a legitimate question. I've searched but found nothing.
It's almost as though Jason McLeod is still fulfilling a term of indentured servitude (2 years served of 7) and Jeff Moorad was forced to let him go to Chicago on account of him being Jed's property.
Anyone know the answer? Has the question been asked but I'm a bit too deaf, a little too blind?
Saturday, November 12, 2011
LeBronification, Jed Hoyer . . . and oatmeal
I've been eating oatmeal everyday for the last month. It provides a solid start to my day. And that is important in so many ways.
But it was a few days ago that I ate my oatmeal and knew that something was amiss. Could oatmeal possibly go bad? It didn't taste bad, just not right. So I picked up the box and sure enough, there was an expiration date, which had long since passed.
The following post is like that box of oatmeal. The content (Jed Hoyer commentary) will not be too bad but it is most assuredly old. But it will be good for me to write it just as the oatmeal is good for me to eat.
Eat at your own discretion...
Jed Hoyer has left the Padres for a 2011-2012 reunion with Theo Epstein and been replaced with Josh Byrnes. Joing Hoyer in Chicago is Jason McLeod, the architect of a surging Padres farm system. Presumably McLeod's skill set is to be replaced by AJ Hinch. OK.
LeBronification?
When I was a youngster I loved Michael Jordan. I saw him play in person and always if on TV. I admired his greatness. He was great because of what he could do with a basketball but he was even greater because he could win; the greatest achievement one can have in sport. I admired Michael Jordan for staying in Chicago and persevering. He played on some teams that looked like they may never be able to punch through and call themselves champions. The Celtics and Pistons always in their way. But the Bulls persevered and were rewarded for doing so.
We don't see players wait it out so much these days, like Jordan did. Do players jump ship for greener pastures? Sure they do. But the pastures aren't just more green with money. I believe that some jump ship for easier pastures. Rather than battle for championships, players attempt to jump to a team that they feel is closer to achieving the goal. Under these conditions the toil is far less.
This scenario is best personified by LeBron James. LeBron was so close to winning a championship in Cleveland and erasing Cavalier sins of the past but instead he left... for a dream team scenario. Lebron stood up and essentially said, "I'm not good enough to carry the Cavaliers to a Championship. I'm going to Miami." Perhaps the candor was admirable through the eyes of some.
Somewhere in the middle of that fictitious quote lies the truth. But to me it merely created a name for a phenomenon that I really don't care for all too much. Jumping ship for easier pastures shall forever be called LeBronification.
Jed Hoyer and LeBronification
On the surface it seems as though Jed Hoyer felt he needed Theo Epstein and the Cubs. He didn't like the reality, that as a GM in San Diego, it would always be an up hill battle. So he took an opportunity to get the band back together . . . because that's what you do when you don't think you can do it on your own. Ask Blink 182 how that works.
Is this fair analysis? Not at all. It's not even intelligent analysis, really. But let's ignore Blink 182 for a minute and continue with Jed Hoyer....
I can't help but jump to the the conclusion I always jump to when I see guys try to plant themselves in situations that are "easier" in terms of available resources. So it is with that conclusion that I ultimately arrive at with Jed Hoyer. He wasn't confident in his abilities to achieve in San Diego.
The truth is . . . we'll never know the truth. I'm actually inclined to believe that Hoyer would have stayed had Jeff Moorad showed him some good faith. Jeff Moorad's decision not to give a contract extension and to allow him to negotiate with the Cubs was a tacit endorsement for Josh Byrnes who was already in house. And so Jed moved on.
People are rarely forthcoming about such details though, and I am left to interpret situations as I see them unfold. Part of me says that Jed Hoyer is guilty of LeBronification while the other part . . . the greater one, says . . . thank you for your two years in San Diego and putting the Padres on the right track.
But it was a few days ago that I ate my oatmeal and knew that something was amiss. Could oatmeal possibly go bad? It didn't taste bad, just not right. So I picked up the box and sure enough, there was an expiration date, which had long since passed.
The following post is like that box of oatmeal. The content (Jed Hoyer commentary) will not be too bad but it is most assuredly old. But it will be good for me to write it just as the oatmeal is good for me to eat.
Eat at your own discretion...
Jed Hoyer has left the Padres for a 2011-2012 reunion with Theo Epstein and been replaced with Josh Byrnes. Joing Hoyer in Chicago is Jason McLeod, the architect of a surging Padres farm system. Presumably McLeod's skill set is to be replaced by AJ Hinch. OK.
LeBronification?
When I was a youngster I loved Michael Jordan. I saw him play in person and always if on TV. I admired his greatness. He was great because of what he could do with a basketball but he was even greater because he could win; the greatest achievement one can have in sport. I admired Michael Jordan for staying in Chicago and persevering. He played on some teams that looked like they may never be able to punch through and call themselves champions. The Celtics and Pistons always in their way. But the Bulls persevered and were rewarded for doing so.
We don't see players wait it out so much these days, like Jordan did. Do players jump ship for greener pastures? Sure they do. But the pastures aren't just more green with money. I believe that some jump ship for easier pastures. Rather than battle for championships, players attempt to jump to a team that they feel is closer to achieving the goal. Under these conditions the toil is far less.
This scenario is best personified by LeBron James. LeBron was so close to winning a championship in Cleveland and erasing Cavalier sins of the past but instead he left... for a dream team scenario. Lebron stood up and essentially said, "I'm not good enough to carry the Cavaliers to a Championship. I'm going to Miami." Perhaps the candor was admirable through the eyes of some.
Somewhere in the middle of that fictitious quote lies the truth. But to me it merely created a name for a phenomenon that I really don't care for all too much. Jumping ship for easier pastures shall forever be called LeBronification.
Jed Hoyer and LeBronification
On the surface it seems as though Jed Hoyer felt he needed Theo Epstein and the Cubs. He didn't like the reality, that as a GM in San Diego, it would always be an up hill battle. So he took an opportunity to get the band back together . . . because that's what you do when you don't think you can do it on your own. Ask Blink 182 how that works.
Is this fair analysis? Not at all. It's not even intelligent analysis, really. But let's ignore Blink 182 for a minute and continue with Jed Hoyer....
I can't help but jump to the the conclusion I always jump to when I see guys try to plant themselves in situations that are "easier" in terms of available resources. So it is with that conclusion that I ultimately arrive at with Jed Hoyer. He wasn't confident in his abilities to achieve in San Diego.
The truth is . . . we'll never know the truth. I'm actually inclined to believe that Hoyer would have stayed had Jeff Moorad showed him some good faith. Jeff Moorad's decision not to give a contract extension and to allow him to negotiate with the Cubs was a tacit endorsement for Josh Byrnes who was already in house. And so Jed moved on.
People are rarely forthcoming about such details though, and I am left to interpret situations as I see them unfold. Part of me says that Jed Hoyer is guilty of LeBronification while the other part . . . the greater one, says . . . thank you for your two years in San Diego and putting the Padres on the right track.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Giving Nick Canepa The FJMing He Deserves
Fire Joe Morgan, the great website that moved onto a better, media-free world in late 2008, was the preeminent place for sports media criticism. Thus, to receive an FJMing, signifies a public demand for blood (or plasma if you would prefer) because a member of the media either mailed it in or failed at their most important task; making sense.
Which brings me to Saturday's column by Nick Canepa of the San Diego Union Tribune. I don't always agree with Nick Canepa. I'm speaking in code: what I mean to say is, I rarely ever agree with the man. But his article yesterday was on another level of "me-no-makey-sense". Let's explore.
Sez Me …
And here we go. Is there anything more tired than "Sez Me"? It's like always talking about Sculpin IPA or misspelling Will Venable's name.
In was in early October, 2009, that Padres boss Jeff Moorad fired General Manager Kevin Towers, and I wrote he’d just made the first major blunder of his captaincy.
Totally stupid blunder. Kevin Towers had only been here for 15 years. So dumb. It was like divorcing your wife after being married for 30 years and forfeiting nearly everything you own. Wait... someone did do that... we refer to him in these parts as, "The Guy Who Hired Kevin Towers In 1995". We're creative with our names around here.
For what money I have, Towers is the best GM in baseball, as he once again proved when he turned around woeful Arizona in a Phoenix minute (slower than New York’s, but fast enough).
Best GM in baseball based on having little money? I don't know what kind of money Nick Canepa has in his bank account but based on this being a Padres article I'm guessing it's nothing. I'm confused. Are there not better GMs than the guy who acquired Randy Meyers in 1998? And are we really assigning all of the credit in Arizona to Kevin Towers? People also wanted to give Towers the credit when Jed Hoyer was doing his part here in 2010. That Kevin Towers is clearly a God.
Moorad’s second blunder, obviously, was hiring Jed Hoyer as Towers’ replacement.
It would have been better to leave the position of GM vacant. Or bring back Joe McIlvaine.
Not that there was anything terribly wrong with Jed. Except that, coming here from snooty Boston, he obviously preferred big bowls of chowder to fish tacos.
Is this a small fish in a big bowl of chowder analogy? Or are we starting to equate snobbery with those who revel in soup?
So after two seasons he’s taken the first plane out of town to join fellow Red Sox brat packer Theo Epstein, who’s been given run of the dilapidated — but wealthy — Cubs.
Finally! A pop-culture reference! I loved Breakfast Club. And it was filmed in Chicago. Nick Canepa is owning us right now. OWNING. US.
Despite looking like a kid about to buy a prom night corsage, Hoyer seemed to know what he was doing.
Wait. He looked like he knew what he was doing yet the hire was a blunder? Canepa is running circles around us. RUNNING. CIRCLES. AROUND. US. (My prom sucked. Canepa is mind-f*cking me right now.)
Like his predecessor, Hoyer was hamstrung by the Padres’ tight wallet. Unlike Towers, he chose not to stick around to see if he could handle the challenge and finish the work.
Towers stuck around for a reason. He wasn't fired sooner. You see, when a market is small, there is little chance of success unless the farm system is loaded. Towers failed to load the farm. Yet he kept his job. It's mysterious.
At least Epstein saw things through in Boston. Hoyer didn’t come close here.
Actually, in Theo Epstein's second year at the helm in Boston a World Series was claimed. And then Epstein quit after year three. Why? Because he wanted a contract extension. Just like Jed Hoyer.
Towers may not have drafted well — something I never will fully comprehend — but he had the great ability to fleece people in trades (the David Freese–for-Jim Edmonds deal was not one of them, but nobody’s perfect), and he got the club into the playoffs and World Series on a handmaiden’s budget.
CANEPA. IS. CORRECT. Towers was terrible in the draft! It's why the Padres haven't had a more sustained run of success.
But I must take umbrage with the crazy talk about getting the Padres to the World Series on a handmaiden's budget. Firstly because, I have no idea about the earning power of a handmaiden. Secondly, because the internet exists. The internet tells me that the Padres had the 9th highest payroll in 1998 and the disparity between 1st and 9th was a paltry $19 million.
And speaking of fleece(ing) I have two things to say: it's a comfortable product and also what Jed Hoyer did to the Florida Marlins. Hello Cameron Maybin. Goodbye fungible relief pitchers. (YES! I finally used the word fungible in a sentence.)
And no GM — maybe no GM ever — was better with pitchers, baseball’s plasma.
Some people write of "blood and guts" and others deal in "intestinal fortitude". Nick Canepa and I both broker in plasma. I sold my plasma in college and it allowed me to party like a rock star on Thursday nights.
Hoyer was in the process of rebuilding the club’s farm system, a good thing, when the glitter of Michigan Avenue beckoned.
I have submitted "...rebuilding the club's farm system, a good thing...." as the understatement of the Mother f*ckING year.
At least he had that going for him, but even Jed readily admitted he screwed up this past off-season, sweeping a 90-win team of clubhouse leadership and miscalculating on veteran free agents who couldn’t cut it anymore.
I'm not a Hoyer apologist. But it's hard to calculate correctly on veteran free agents when the calculator you've been given is void of so many decimal places. You know this, Nick. So why mention it?
Young Hoyer also either bowed to upper management or public (I hope not) pressure to bring slugging minor league first baseman Anthony Rizzo
That Rizzo kid, for lack of a better word, RAPED the Pacific Coast League while an inept Brad Hawpe manned first base in PETCO Park. Why wouldn't he have been promoted?
Enter Josh Byrnes, former GM of the Diamondbacks when Moorad ran that club.
Our transformation is complete. We are now the San Diego Diamondbacks.
Byrnes was canned in Arizona, but he did some good things there. Many of the players Towers won with this year were brought in with Byrnes on the bridge.
I thought Towers gets all the credit because he's the Pitcher Whisperer. And there's also the matter of plasma.
What Towers did there was create a winning pitching staff and bullpen, his forte.
Uhhh.... Nick... I guess I'll give you the bullpen (only because, like you, I don't want to do the research) but the Diamondbacks only had four legitimate starters this year, three of which were acquired by Josh Byrnes (Hudson, Kennedy, Collmenter) and the other by Jerry Dipoto (Saunders). Good point though.
Byrnes, at 41, has a pedigree, having studied under good baseball people along the way. Hopefully, he’ll be more than a San Diego comet. Hopefully, he’ll buy, not rent.
Josh Byrnes has good pedigree. He's like a dog. And I'll be honest-- people who by houses are comfortable. I don't want a guy who's comfortable. Kevin Towers was comfortable. 15 years comfortable.
If Moorad wants to build a winner here, he has to keep GMs around long enough to learn their names. He can’t afford Blunder No. 3. …
Jed's name only has three letters and I've heard Jeff Moorad say it on the Darren Smith Show numerous times. "Josh" on the other hand is a hella tricky name to master.
Losing assistant GM Jason McLeod, who’s headed for Chicago with Hoyer, may be the bigger loss …
Finally Nick Canepa makes crystal clear sense of this mess. I wish the clarity would have occurred before word number 553 of the column (I counted).
Epstein already has put the kibosh on Hoyer’s first planned move, signing Brad Hawpe …
Haha. Brad Hawpe jokes will never get old.
I can't wait to do this again.
Which brings me to Saturday's column by Nick Canepa of the San Diego Union Tribune. I don't always agree with Nick Canepa. I'm speaking in code: what I mean to say is, I rarely ever agree with the man. But his article yesterday was on another level of "me-no-makey-sense". Let's explore.
Sez Me …
And here we go. Is there anything more tired than "Sez Me"? It's like always talking about Sculpin IPA or misspelling Will Venable's name.
In was in early October, 2009, that Padres boss Jeff Moorad fired General Manager Kevin Towers, and I wrote he’d just made the first major blunder of his captaincy.
Totally stupid blunder. Kevin Towers had only been here for 15 years. So dumb. It was like divorcing your wife after being married for 30 years and forfeiting nearly everything you own. Wait... someone did do that... we refer to him in these parts as, "The Guy Who Hired Kevin Towers In 1995". We're creative with our names around here.
For what money I have, Towers is the best GM in baseball, as he once again proved when he turned around woeful Arizona in a Phoenix minute (slower than New York’s, but fast enough).
Best GM in baseball based on having little money? I don't know what kind of money Nick Canepa has in his bank account but based on this being a Padres article I'm guessing it's nothing. I'm confused. Are there not better GMs than the guy who acquired Randy Meyers in 1998? And are we really assigning all of the credit in Arizona to Kevin Towers? People also wanted to give Towers the credit when Jed Hoyer was doing his part here in 2010. That Kevin Towers is clearly a God.
Moorad’s second blunder, obviously, was hiring Jed Hoyer as Towers’ replacement.
It would have been better to leave the position of GM vacant. Or bring back Joe McIlvaine.
Not that there was anything terribly wrong with Jed. Except that, coming here from snooty Boston, he obviously preferred big bowls of chowder to fish tacos.
Is this a small fish in a big bowl of chowder analogy? Or are we starting to equate snobbery with those who revel in soup?
So after two seasons he’s taken the first plane out of town to join fellow Red Sox brat packer Theo Epstein, who’s been given run of the dilapidated — but wealthy — Cubs.
Finally! A pop-culture reference! I loved Breakfast Club. And it was filmed in Chicago. Nick Canepa is owning us right now. OWNING. US.
Despite looking like a kid about to buy a prom night corsage, Hoyer seemed to know what he was doing.
Wait. He looked like he knew what he was doing yet the hire was a blunder? Canepa is running circles around us. RUNNING. CIRCLES. AROUND. US. (My prom sucked. Canepa is mind-f*cking me right now.)
Like his predecessor, Hoyer was hamstrung by the Padres’ tight wallet. Unlike Towers, he chose not to stick around to see if he could handle the challenge and finish the work.
Towers stuck around for a reason. He wasn't fired sooner. You see, when a market is small, there is little chance of success unless the farm system is loaded. Towers failed to load the farm. Yet he kept his job. It's mysterious.
At least Epstein saw things through in Boston. Hoyer didn’t come close here.
Actually, in Theo Epstein's second year at the helm in Boston a World Series was claimed. And then Epstein quit after year three. Why? Because he wanted a contract extension. Just like Jed Hoyer.
Towers may not have drafted well — something I never will fully comprehend — but he had the great ability to fleece people in trades (the David Freese–for-Jim Edmonds deal was not one of them, but nobody’s perfect), and he got the club into the playoffs and World Series on a handmaiden’s budget.
CANEPA. IS. CORRECT. Towers was terrible in the draft! It's why the Padres haven't had a more sustained run of success.
But I must take umbrage with the crazy talk about getting the Padres to the World Series on a handmaiden's budget. Firstly because, I have no idea about the earning power of a handmaiden. Secondly, because the internet exists. The internet tells me that the Padres had the 9th highest payroll in 1998 and the disparity between 1st and 9th was a paltry $19 million.
And speaking of fleece(ing) I have two things to say: it's a comfortable product and also what Jed Hoyer did to the Florida Marlins. Hello Cameron Maybin. Goodbye fungible relief pitchers. (YES! I finally used the word fungible in a sentence.)
And no GM — maybe no GM ever — was better with pitchers, baseball’s plasma.
Some people write of "blood and guts" and others deal in "intestinal fortitude". Nick Canepa and I both broker in plasma. I sold my plasma in college and it allowed me to party like a rock star on Thursday nights.
Hoyer was in the process of rebuilding the club’s farm system, a good thing, when the glitter of Michigan Avenue beckoned.
I have submitted "...rebuilding the club's farm system, a good thing...." as the understatement of the Mother f*ckING year.
At least he had that going for him, but even Jed readily admitted he screwed up this past off-season, sweeping a 90-win team of clubhouse leadership and miscalculating on veteran free agents who couldn’t cut it anymore.
I'm not a Hoyer apologist. But it's hard to calculate correctly on veteran free agents when the calculator you've been given is void of so many decimal places. You know this, Nick. So why mention it?
Young Hoyer also either bowed to upper management or public (I hope not) pressure to bring slugging minor league first baseman Anthony Rizzo
That Rizzo kid, for lack of a better word, RAPED the Pacific Coast League while an inept Brad Hawpe manned first base in PETCO Park. Why wouldn't he have been promoted?
Enter Josh Byrnes, former GM of the Diamondbacks when Moorad ran that club.
Our transformation is complete. We are now the San Diego Diamondbacks.
Byrnes was canned in Arizona, but he did some good things there. Many of the players Towers won with this year were brought in with Byrnes on the bridge.
I thought Towers gets all the credit because he's the Pitcher Whisperer. And there's also the matter of plasma.
What Towers did there was create a winning pitching staff and bullpen, his forte.
Uhhh.... Nick... I guess I'll give you the bullpen (only because, like you, I don't want to do the research) but the Diamondbacks only had four legitimate starters this year, three of which were acquired by Josh Byrnes (Hudson, Kennedy, Collmenter) and the other by Jerry Dipoto (Saunders). Good point though.
Byrnes, at 41, has a pedigree, having studied under good baseball people along the way. Hopefully, he’ll be more than a San Diego comet. Hopefully, he’ll buy, not rent.
Josh Byrnes has good pedigree. He's like a dog. And I'll be honest-- people who by houses are comfortable. I don't want a guy who's comfortable. Kevin Towers was comfortable. 15 years comfortable.
If Moorad wants to build a winner here, he has to keep GMs around long enough to learn their names. He can’t afford Blunder No. 3. …
Jed's name only has three letters and I've heard Jeff Moorad say it on the Darren Smith Show numerous times. "Josh" on the other hand is a hella tricky name to master.
Losing assistant GM Jason McLeod, who’s headed for Chicago with Hoyer, may be the bigger loss …
Finally Nick Canepa makes crystal clear sense of this mess. I wish the clarity would have occurred before word number 553 of the column (I counted).
Epstein already has put the kibosh on Hoyer’s first planned move, signing Brad Hawpe …
Haha. Brad Hawpe jokes will never get old.
I can't wait to do this again.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Padres, Green Tea, and Misunderstandings
The rain pours sideways and it's never gentle. It's what the wind will do on an early October day.
I have been sick for the last week. A brutal four day stretch like none I've ever encountered. It included much time to my own devices lest I pollute those I love with an unrelenting upper respiratory viral infection. There's little that can be done for a virus. Lots of liquids. Lots of rest. Stay the course.
I haven't drank coffee or beer in the last week and I've eaten little. But there is one thing I've taken up-- tea. Any kind available really. I've sworn by it. The last few days have seen me venturing into Starbucks leaving only with a Green Tea, the biggest their baristas would provide. And that's really where this story begins...
As I entered Starbucks at 4:30 pm this afternoon I was prepared to order my second venti Green Tea of the day.
I approached the counter and said, "Venti Green Tea, please."
The recipient of my order was a man. A man named Steve. Steve looked at me incredulously. I didn't understand his incredulity. Is Green Tea on a cold rainy day some sort of monumental stretch? If so it is one in which I am unfamiliar.
Steve simply said, "Hot or cold?"
I replied, "Oh, hot, please."
But my look suggested something quite different. I'm not sure but my face might have read, "It's cold mother fucker. I want it hot." Who can be certain of such things.
Our interface did not end there, though. Steve had more to say. I had replied hot but Steve had questions. Proper questions.
"What kind of hot tea? Because I could make a non fat soy green tea latte light on the foam or a Venti pump extra hot chai tea latte. Sometimes people like those on cold rainy days"
I looked at Steve. And then I looked over his shoulder. I needed to break eye-contact. I needed to break eye-contact and then take a deep meditative breath. And this simple action helped calm me.
Steve didn't need to be berated. And I'm sick . . . I haven't the energy for it. Steve needed something else. He needed to be complimented. So I looked at Barista Steve and I said the following:
"Steve, I admire your passion. It's not misguided and all would do well to have such passion for their day's work."
I had just paraphrased James Earl Jones as Terrence Mann in Field of Dreams. But Steve . . . he hadn't blinked an eye. The word lift, an unintentional and unforeseeable gaffe, left me undeterred. I carried on.
"If all had the passion that you bring to your job, Steve, the world would be a fine place."
Had I now lifted Hemingway? I continued...
"I appreciate your suggestions for my drink today. They were about as convoluted as anything I've ever heard but I appreciate the effort nonetheless. But, ya see Steve, sometimes a tea is just a tea. No bells. No whistles. Just the simplicity of a teabag. Sometimes your customer just wants you . . . to give them a tea bag. The old fashioned way."
It hadn't even dawned on me that I had just given a soliloquy that could very well be censored in some states. How on Earth had Barista Steve received my signal? I couldn't tell. He simply turned, grabbed a cup, two Green tea tea-bags and started pouring hot water.
It was gonna be cold, wet and windy out there. I began to zip-up the high collar on my brown Padres heavy-weight track jacket and Barista Steve returned with my Green Tea. Money changed hands. In light of our conversation only minutes ago . . . it all seemed so dirty.
I looked at Steve. And in an attempt to put us back on some sort of level footing I said the only thing I could at that moment...
"Go Padres?"
I have been sick for the last week. A brutal four day stretch like none I've ever encountered. It included much time to my own devices lest I pollute those I love with an unrelenting upper respiratory viral infection. There's little that can be done for a virus. Lots of liquids. Lots of rest. Stay the course.
I haven't drank coffee or beer in the last week and I've eaten little. But there is one thing I've taken up-- tea. Any kind available really. I've sworn by it. The last few days have seen me venturing into Starbucks leaving only with a Green Tea, the biggest their baristas would provide. And that's really where this story begins...
As I entered Starbucks at 4:30 pm this afternoon I was prepared to order my second venti Green Tea of the day.
I approached the counter and said, "Venti Green Tea, please."
The recipient of my order was a man. A man named Steve. Steve looked at me incredulously. I didn't understand his incredulity. Is Green Tea on a cold rainy day some sort of monumental stretch? If so it is one in which I am unfamiliar.
Steve simply said, "Hot or cold?"
I replied, "Oh, hot, please."
But my look suggested something quite different. I'm not sure but my face might have read, "It's cold mother fucker. I want it hot." Who can be certain of such things.
Our interface did not end there, though. Steve had more to say. I had replied hot but Steve had questions. Proper questions.
"What kind of hot tea? Because I could make a non fat soy green tea latte light on the foam or a Venti pump extra hot chai tea latte. Sometimes people like those on cold rainy days"
I looked at Steve. And then I looked over his shoulder. I needed to break eye-contact. I needed to break eye-contact and then take a deep meditative breath. And this simple action helped calm me.
Steve didn't need to be berated. And I'm sick . . . I haven't the energy for it. Steve needed something else. He needed to be complimented. So I looked at Barista Steve and I said the following:
"Steve, I admire your passion. It's not misguided and all would do well to have such passion for their day's work."
I had just paraphrased James Earl Jones as Terrence Mann in Field of Dreams. But Steve . . . he hadn't blinked an eye. The word lift, an unintentional and unforeseeable gaffe, left me undeterred. I carried on.
"If all had the passion that you bring to your job, Steve, the world would be a fine place."
Had I now lifted Hemingway? I continued...
"I appreciate your suggestions for my drink today. They were about as convoluted as anything I've ever heard but I appreciate the effort nonetheless. But, ya see Steve, sometimes a tea is just a tea. No bells. No whistles. Just the simplicity of a teabag. Sometimes your customer just wants you . . . to give them a tea bag. The old fashioned way."
It hadn't even dawned on me that I had just given a soliloquy that could very well be censored in some states. How on Earth had Barista Steve received my signal? I couldn't tell. He simply turned, grabbed a cup, two Green tea tea-bags and started pouring hot water.
It was gonna be cold, wet and windy out there. I began to zip-up the high collar on my brown Padres heavy-weight track jacket and Barista Steve returned with my Green Tea. Money changed hands. In light of our conversation only minutes ago . . . it all seemed so dirty.
I looked at Steve. And in an attempt to put us back on some sort of level footing I said the only thing I could at that moment...
"Go Padres?"
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Like DiMaggio Before Me... An Epic Streak Ends
And the streak endeth...
What streak is this you ask?
Since opening day in 2010 I had attended at least one game on every home-stand... until the last one. My streak came to an end and the most disheartening part of it all resides in the painful reality that tickets to two games went unused. TWO!
I missed the Saturday September 3rd game against the Rockies and was then forced to bow out of the Wednesday September 7th game against the Giants.
How am I so certain of this streak? Well... I have every Padres Blueprint that's been issued. Except the last one. The irony? I believe that Jesus Guzman is on the cover. I AM JESUS GUZMAN.
So I need the last Blueprint, if you got it. Or will you get it for me? There might be a ticket in it for you. I can trade those unused tickets for a game against the Cubs. Time to send the invites.
I'm back in the saddle tomorrow night for the opener against the D-Backs. It's Oktoberfest.
What streak is this you ask?
Since opening day in 2010 I had attended at least one game on every home-stand... until the last one. My streak came to an end and the most disheartening part of it all resides in the painful reality that tickets to two games went unused. TWO!
I missed the Saturday September 3rd game against the Rockies and was then forced to bow out of the Wednesday September 7th game against the Giants.
How am I so certain of this streak? Well... I have every Padres Blueprint that's been issued. Except the last one. The irony? I believe that Jesus Guzman is on the cover. I AM JESUS GUZMAN.
So I need the last Blueprint, if you got it. Or will you get it for me? There might be a ticket in it for you. I can trade those unused tickets for a game against the Cubs. Time to send the invites.
I'm back in the saddle tomorrow night for the opener against the D-Backs. It's Oktoberfest.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Sight For Sore Eyes After Sweep
I spend a lot of time looking at Baseball-Reference.com for all my nerdy number baseball needs, especially Padres game logs, so as to be accurate when I harangue players like Will Venable and Orlando Hudson. It also serves a valuable purpose when I laud players like Cameron Maybin.
When I look at Baseball Reference I often think of the old carpenter's maxim of, "Measure Twice, Cut Once, my friend."*--- a reminder to look up the numbers before properly laying into a player.
Having said that, it pleased me to see the following graphic this morning:
In case you're missing it let me zoom in...
A nice fresh row of retired numbers featuring Trevor Hoffman. Good stuff.
*I added the 'my friend' to that old proverb and in so doing I believe its been improved upon. Don't you?
When I look at Baseball Reference I often think of the old carpenter's maxim of, "Measure Twice, Cut Once, my friend."*--- a reminder to look up the numbers before properly laying into a player.
Having said that, it pleased me to see the following graphic this morning:
In case you're missing it let me zoom in...
*I added the 'my friend' to that old proverb and in so doing I believe its been improved upon. Don't you?
Saturday, August 27, 2011
This Padres Day In History . . . it can be so confusing
Today is August 27th, 2011. The Padres play the Arizona Diamondbacks this evening at 5:10 pm with Aaron Harang trying to peel off the face of that no good Joe Saunders. Good stuff there.
But what happened on August 27th, 2010?
Well, you woke up and brushed your teeth. You ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You watched the Padres lose. Then you went to bed with a horrible taste in your mouth. You did not brush. Let's review...
The Phillies arrived in San Diego to begin a three game series before a crowd of 34,233. The Padres were looking to rebound from a 11-5 loss to the D-Backs only one day before. The Padres had little need to worry. They had taken 3 of 4 from Arizona and sat in first place in the NL West with a 6 game lead over the 2nd place San Francisco Giants.
Mat Latos (7IP 5H 1R 1ER 2BB 6K) matched Roy Oswalt (8IP 5H 1R 1ER 0BB 6K) for 7 innings until Mike Adams came into the 8th and surrendered a walk to Chase Utley, a single to Ryan Howard, and a walk to Jason Werth. Joe Thatcher entered for Adams and promptly gave up an RBI single to Raul Ibanez.
The Phillies had pulled ahead 2-1 entering the bottom of the 8th.
In the bottom of the inning Will Venable, and Yorvitt Torrealba struck out before Luis Durango came to bat.
You had seen enough. You bet the entire bar shots of Cuervo that the light hitting pixie known as Luis Durango would ground out weakly like always. But the bar had also seen enough. There were no takers on this bet and after three pitches Luis Durango grounded weakly to Jimmy Rollins at shortstop. Bar patrons proceeded to purchase their own shots and the game rolled on to the 9th inning.
Luke Gregerson shut the door in the top of the 9th. Because that's what Luke Gregerson does...or at least that's what he did in 2010.
In the bottom of the 9th, trailing 2-1, the Padres managed to load the bases against Philly closer Brad Lidge with a single by Matt Stairs, an IBB to Adrian Gonzalez, and a HBP to Ryan Ludwick. Jerry Hairston Jr., pinch running for Matt Stairs, stood at third base as Chase Headley stepped to the plate with two out.
What would Chase Headley do in this.... ahhh too late.... Brad Lidge balked home Jerry Hairston with the game tying run. Headley grounded out on the next pitch and the game went to extra innings tied at 2 runs a piece.
Extra Innings
***
Heath Bell pitched a scoreless two innings (10th, 11th)
***
Will Venable and Yorvitt Torrealba pulled a back-to-back-strikeout repeat in the 10th.
***
In the top of the 12th Jimmy Rollins doubled off of Ernesto Frieri to lead off the inning and he quickly scored on a single by Placido Polanco. The Phillies led 3-2.
***
Ryan Ludwick struck out looking to begin the 12th inning and Will Venable added his 3rd K of the night to bring the game to a close.
***
Ernesto Frieri took the loss dropping his record to 0-1.
***
The Padres record dropped to 76-51 after their second consecutive loss but they maintained their 6 game lead over the Giants.
*****
But "This Day In History" can be a confusing designation. Today is August 27th but it is Saturday whereas August 27th fell on a Friday in 2010.
So how did the Padres do on this Saturday in history, 2010?
Well they lost that one too. Joe Blanton and those same Phillies won out 3-1. The Padres had now lost 3 games in a row to fall to 76-52 but still maintained a 6 game lead over the Giants -- on account of them not being able to do anything right either. How did the Giants win the World Series?
Has "This Day In History" been clarified?
Rhetorical question. Of course not. You see the Padres are preparing to play their 133 game of the 2011 season today and we want to know how performed in game 133 of 2010.
In 2010 game 133 played-out on Friday September 3rd. It was a 4-3 loss to the Colorado Rockies, where Dennis Cook got the win and Cory Leubke took the loss.
It was the 8th loss in a row for the San Diego club who now held a slim 3 game lead over the San Francisco Giants. We all know how it played out from there.
I hope this clears up the pitfalls associated with examining the ever popular... This Day In History.
*This drama was re-created by the stellar reporting of mlb.com's Cory Brock and the incomparable Baseball-Reference.com
Well, you woke up and brushed your teeth. You ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You watched the Padres lose. Then you went to bed with a horrible taste in your mouth. You did not brush. Let's review...
The Phillies arrived in San Diego to begin a three game series before a crowd of 34,233. The Padres were looking to rebound from a 11-5 loss to the D-Backs only one day before. The Padres had little need to worry. They had taken 3 of 4 from Arizona and sat in first place in the NL West with a 6 game lead over the 2nd place San Francisco Giants.
Mat Latos (7IP 5H 1R 1ER 2BB 6K) matched Roy Oswalt (8IP 5H 1R 1ER 0BB 6K) for 7 innings until Mike Adams came into the 8th and surrendered a walk to Chase Utley, a single to Ryan Howard, and a walk to Jason Werth. Joe Thatcher entered for Adams and promptly gave up an RBI single to Raul Ibanez.
The Phillies had pulled ahead 2-1 entering the bottom of the 8th.
In the bottom of the inning Will Venable, and Yorvitt Torrealba struck out before Luis Durango came to bat.
You had seen enough. You bet the entire bar shots of Cuervo that the light hitting pixie known as Luis Durango would ground out weakly like always. But the bar had also seen enough. There were no takers on this bet and after three pitches Luis Durango grounded weakly to Jimmy Rollins at shortstop. Bar patrons proceeded to purchase their own shots and the game rolled on to the 9th inning.
Luke Gregerson shut the door in the top of the 9th. Because that's what Luke Gregerson does...or at least that's what he did in 2010.
In the bottom of the 9th, trailing 2-1, the Padres managed to load the bases against Philly closer Brad Lidge with a single by Matt Stairs, an IBB to Adrian Gonzalez, and a HBP to Ryan Ludwick. Jerry Hairston Jr., pinch running for Matt Stairs, stood at third base as Chase Headley stepped to the plate with two out.
What would Chase Headley do in this.... ahhh too late.... Brad Lidge balked home Jerry Hairston with the game tying run. Headley grounded out on the next pitch and the game went to extra innings tied at 2 runs a piece.
***
Heath Bell pitched a scoreless two innings (10th, 11th)
***
Will Venable and Yorvitt Torrealba pulled a back-to-back-strikeout repeat in the 10th.
***
In the top of the 12th Jimmy Rollins doubled off of Ernesto Frieri to lead off the inning and he quickly scored on a single by Placido Polanco. The Phillies led 3-2.
***
Ryan Ludwick struck out looking to begin the 12th inning and Will Venable added his 3rd K of the night to bring the game to a close.
***
Ernesto Frieri took the loss dropping his record to 0-1.
***
The Padres record dropped to 76-51 after their second consecutive loss but they maintained their 6 game lead over the Giants.
*****
But "This Day In History" can be a confusing designation. Today is August 27th but it is Saturday whereas August 27th fell on a Friday in 2010.
So how did the Padres do on this Saturday in history, 2010?
Well they lost that one too. Joe Blanton and those same Phillies won out 3-1. The Padres had now lost 3 games in a row to fall to 76-52 but still maintained a 6 game lead over the Giants -- on account of them not being able to do anything right either. How did the Giants win the World Series?
Has "This Day In History" been clarified?
Rhetorical question. Of course not. You see the Padres are preparing to play their 133 game of the 2011 season today and we want to know how performed in game 133 of 2010.
In 2010 game 133 played-out on Friday September 3rd. It was a 4-3 loss to the Colorado Rockies, where Dennis Cook got the win and Cory Leubke took the loss.
It was the 8th loss in a row for the San Diego club who now held a slim 3 game lead over the San Francisco Giants. We all know how it played out from there.
I hope this clears up the pitfalls associated with examining the ever popular... This Day In History.
*This drama was re-created by the stellar reporting of mlb.com's Cory Brock and the incomparable Baseball-Reference.com
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