We're off to see the Wizard.....
Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 7:22 am
I'll have more Stuff (thanks for the pm's) later, but some GM's in baseball have me jazzed, its lengthy, so bear with me.
With a Wizard of Oz theme, I thought we could look at three GM's with questionable methods this year.
Omar Minaya needs a heart.
Kevin Towers needs a brain
JP Riccardi needs courage.
If we were to read between the lines of Billy Wagner's statements a few weeks ago, we can surmise that the Mets are probably having racial problems in the clubhouse. Teams can be racially divided and still perform well on the field. The Mets do not. Publicly, Willie Randolph took no steps to correct the problem, privately, whatever measures that were taken did not work.
Baseball-wise, Randolph should have been fired after the Mets collapse last year. It didn't happen. Instead, Met fans tried to forget with the promises of a new year and the signing of the best pitcher in baseball. Those hopes have faded to obscurity.
Leaving Randolph twisting in the wind for weeks, Omar Minaya decides that three a.m, NY time is the right time to fire Randolph. Minaya later admitted that the decision was made while the team was on the east coast, let the players and Randolph fly to the west coast and followed with his own plane so that he could tell Randolph face to face. What a man.
While Minaya wins the Tin Man's no heart category, he would also get credit for having balls the size of a lollipop kid.
Kevin Towers knew the Padres lacked hitting. He knew it last year when the Padres tied the Rockies for first place in the NL west. Knowing this, he signed Tad Iguchi and again counted on Peavy, Young, Maddux, and great relief work to get the job done. Wrong.
Peavy and Young got hurt, the bullpen hasn't been as good, and the offense...oh, that offense. If Towers keeps offensive squads like this together Petco Park could go down in history as the worst park ever for stats and we will never really know if it is the park's fault or Towers. The Padres offense has consisted of Adrian Gonzalez. The rest of the Padres are asleep in the poppy field.
Compounding problems, Towers decided to keep his best hitter in spring training, Chase Headley, at AAA. He cited seasoning in left field as the reason, of course 99% of true fans knew it was to save money. Left field is the place where Dave Kingman, Juan Pierre, and Adam Dunn. Heck, the Mayor of Munchkinland ended his career there.
In May with Padres fans sqawking to bring up Headley, Towers remained hard headed, a wizard in his own mind. Finally the fans sent a plane over Petco with the sign, 'Surrender Kevin' and Towers has now called up Headley.
This probably all comes too late for the Padres now. Towers has lost the respect of a lot of fans as well as losing a lot of fannies in the seats. For this, he gets the Scarecrow's brainless activity award. When Towers is attached in that corn field his arms will be pointing down, the direction of Padre hopes.
Jp Ricchardi has never been a friend of fantasy baseball players. Any injury occurring to a Blue Jay is immediately downplayed as minor. Any reports after the first couple of days of an injury through RotoWorld or any other means are rendered useless. Why Ricchardi does this is anyone's guess. He made headlines last year by not only lying to the media about the severity of a BJ Ryan injury, but even the location of his injury. AJ Burnett complained of soreness in his arm last year, Ricchardi questioned his pain threshold. Somebody throw a house on this guy.
This week on his talk show (how many GM's have talk shows), a caller asked if Adam Dunn would make the Jays a better ballclub. Ricchardi responded that the Jays wouldn't want Adam Dunn, that Dunn isn't a player who cares about baseball and doesen't have desire. Ricchardi then went on to scold the fan that the BlueJays do their homework and know far more than the average fan.
Does this guy have a high enough horse?
As if badmouthing a player that he has never met wasn't clueless enough, he admonishes a fan who took the time to call his show. Gutless. Smug.
If life were fair, we'd find Riccardi on a stool in one corner of a boxing ring.
"In the blue corner, weighing 140 pounds, 10 pounds of that being ego, representing all lying, underhanded,cowardly, and gutless GM's from all over the world, JP...
"Gyp" Ricchardi!!!!
And in the red corner, weighing 260 pounds, representing fantasy players, the media, and people who like a little revenge in their lives, Adam "you Are" Dunn!!!
Even with that nice scenario in mind, Ricchardi would probably come out unscathed by hitting below the belt.
Maybe someone could just throw a pail of water on him.
[ June 21, 2008, 08:45 AM: Message edited by: DOUGHBOYS ]
With a Wizard of Oz theme, I thought we could look at three GM's with questionable methods this year.
Omar Minaya needs a heart.
Kevin Towers needs a brain
JP Riccardi needs courage.
If we were to read between the lines of Billy Wagner's statements a few weeks ago, we can surmise that the Mets are probably having racial problems in the clubhouse. Teams can be racially divided and still perform well on the field. The Mets do not. Publicly, Willie Randolph took no steps to correct the problem, privately, whatever measures that were taken did not work.
Baseball-wise, Randolph should have been fired after the Mets collapse last year. It didn't happen. Instead, Met fans tried to forget with the promises of a new year and the signing of the best pitcher in baseball. Those hopes have faded to obscurity.
Leaving Randolph twisting in the wind for weeks, Omar Minaya decides that three a.m, NY time is the right time to fire Randolph. Minaya later admitted that the decision was made while the team was on the east coast, let the players and Randolph fly to the west coast and followed with his own plane so that he could tell Randolph face to face. What a man.
While Minaya wins the Tin Man's no heart category, he would also get credit for having balls the size of a lollipop kid.
Kevin Towers knew the Padres lacked hitting. He knew it last year when the Padres tied the Rockies for first place in the NL west. Knowing this, he signed Tad Iguchi and again counted on Peavy, Young, Maddux, and great relief work to get the job done. Wrong.
Peavy and Young got hurt, the bullpen hasn't been as good, and the offense...oh, that offense. If Towers keeps offensive squads like this together Petco Park could go down in history as the worst park ever for stats and we will never really know if it is the park's fault or Towers. The Padres offense has consisted of Adrian Gonzalez. The rest of the Padres are asleep in the poppy field.
Compounding problems, Towers decided to keep his best hitter in spring training, Chase Headley, at AAA. He cited seasoning in left field as the reason, of course 99% of true fans knew it was to save money. Left field is the place where Dave Kingman, Juan Pierre, and Adam Dunn. Heck, the Mayor of Munchkinland ended his career there.
In May with Padres fans sqawking to bring up Headley, Towers remained hard headed, a wizard in his own mind. Finally the fans sent a plane over Petco with the sign, 'Surrender Kevin' and Towers has now called up Headley.
This probably all comes too late for the Padres now. Towers has lost the respect of a lot of fans as well as losing a lot of fannies in the seats. For this, he gets the Scarecrow's brainless activity award. When Towers is attached in that corn field his arms will be pointing down, the direction of Padre hopes.
Jp Ricchardi has never been a friend of fantasy baseball players. Any injury occurring to a Blue Jay is immediately downplayed as minor. Any reports after the first couple of days of an injury through RotoWorld or any other means are rendered useless. Why Ricchardi does this is anyone's guess. He made headlines last year by not only lying to the media about the severity of a BJ Ryan injury, but even the location of his injury. AJ Burnett complained of soreness in his arm last year, Ricchardi questioned his pain threshold. Somebody throw a house on this guy.
This week on his talk show (how many GM's have talk shows), a caller asked if Adam Dunn would make the Jays a better ballclub. Ricchardi responded that the Jays wouldn't want Adam Dunn, that Dunn isn't a player who cares about baseball and doesen't have desire. Ricchardi then went on to scold the fan that the BlueJays do their homework and know far more than the average fan.
Does this guy have a high enough horse?
As if badmouthing a player that he has never met wasn't clueless enough, he admonishes a fan who took the time to call his show. Gutless. Smug.
If life were fair, we'd find Riccardi on a stool in one corner of a boxing ring.
"In the blue corner, weighing 140 pounds, 10 pounds of that being ego, representing all lying, underhanded,cowardly, and gutless GM's from all over the world, JP...
"Gyp" Ricchardi!!!!
And in the red corner, weighing 260 pounds, representing fantasy players, the media, and people who like a little revenge in their lives, Adam "you Are" Dunn!!!
Even with that nice scenario in mind, Ricchardi would probably come out unscathed by hitting below the belt.
Maybe someone could just throw a pail of water on him.
[ June 21, 2008, 08:45 AM: Message edited by: DOUGHBOYS ]