Yeah, he said something about that, I was told. I played for a little while but never made it too far. I was in Flordia and Seattle's organizations as a fringe player, a guy to fill out a roster. The experience was cool but humbling. I was all speed and glove and hadn't grown enough to hit gap to gap. I was released.
Anthony Witrado responding to a question in today's chat
He must have been really fringe. He doesn't show up on Baseball-Reference or The Baseball Cube. He may have been undrafted and never made it out of their Arizona/Florida complexes.
over 2 years ago
TheJay
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Wow
For some reason, I’m slightly less annoyed with the quality of his writing. Weird.
CounsellWSMVP10!
I'm more annoyed by the possibility he may have lied about playing professionally.
"The reports are that he is getting better. The definition of better is nebulous."
by Kyle Lobner on Aug 25, 2009 11:16 PM CDT up reply actions
unless
he sucks with his quotation marks he was paraphrasing/quoting someone else that was a fringe player in Florida/Seattle.
P.S. Flordia?
by PagsBrewCrew on Aug 25, 2009 11:45 PM CDT up reply actions
I hate to say it, but could he possibly be dumb enough to lie about that?
by Ted Simmons Speed Camp on Aug 25, 2009 11:46 PM CDT up reply actions
I reckon
his comment about being a “fringe player” refers to the little-known fact that he was employed as a part-time hairdresser to add some much needed glamour to the moribund Florida and Seattle organisations…
I’ll get my coat…
"I hope your name is Rick"
Maybe he misspelled his name when he signed his contract and he's listed under:
Antony Wirtado.
by Ted Simmons Speed Camp on Aug 26, 2009 12:13 AM CDT reply actions
I tried looking up some misspellings
Didn’t find anything. If he did play, he had to be a) undrafted and b) only in their training complexes where they don’t keep stats. That’s probably most likely.
Obscure baseball records and more at my blog, Recondite Baseball.
But how likely is it that such a player figures into two different organizations?
Obviously news about that tier of players is necessarily sparse, but are those guys ever actually picked up by another club without having played in any games somewhere both before and after their release by the first club?
Also...
The Mariners have always had their spring training complex in Arizona, while the Marlins of course have theirs in FL.
Stop making it so darn hard to give him the benefit of the doubt
If their complexes were in the same area, I could see him being picked up as a needed warm body to face rehabbing guys for a few days but the cross-country trip between orgs makes that unlikely.
Obscure baseball records and more at my blog, Recondite Baseball.
Maybe the Little League that operated in his area when he was a kid...
… had teams named the Mariners and the Marlins?
by Ted Simmons Speed Camp on Aug 26, 2009 1:39 PM CDT up reply actions 1 recs
I know a few people like that.. went to regional tryouts – made it to the second hour of tryouts and then were sent packing…
by Saberilliterate on Aug 26, 2009 9:34 AM CDT up reply actions
is it wrong for me to be so excited about this…
You can’t be a fan and cover a team honestly, IMO. So yes, I enjoy not being a fan because I’m not calling for the team to fire or release guys or make unrealistic trades that would damage my credability as far as knowing what’s going on with this team…
Bring Back The Old Logo!
by jacob on Aug 26, 2009 10:00 AM CDT reply actions 1 recs
also, very proud of bcb. there appear to have only been two unintentional misspellings, and as luck would have it, they are both from cubs fans…
http://www.brewcrewball.com/search?btn=Go&order=date&q=credability&type=Comment
what a great way to start the day!!
Bring Back The Old Logo!
And yet, and still ...
He doesn’t understand how people could perceive a conflict of interest when he’s sent to cover a series involving the team that he is a fan of.
Another curious line:
The people will hate no matter who you are. John Canzano, Bill Plaschke and all other columnists/writers in the country are loved and hated and I’m sure they’ve gotten worse at times than I’ve gotten, so I’m trying to roll with it and not let it affect what I do.
I don’t know that I’d toss out Plaschke — the guy who once wrote, regarding Brett Favre: “On Brett Favre Pass, a legacy catches hell. It is a dead end street, but a sports bar there is a thoroughfare of debate” — as proof that “the people” will “hate” a guy, no matter how well he writes.
Wow.
Obviously Mr. Witrado never took a rhetoric class in college. Essentially he’s arguing:
1. Some people dislike me.
2. Some people dislike others who are talented and respected.
3. Therefore I am talented and respected.
That kind of thinking opens up all kinds of possibilities. Such as:
1. Some people dislike Anthony Witrado.
2. Some people dislike serial killers.
3. Therefore, Anthony Witrado is a serial killer.
Quick. Someone call the FBI.
by Ted Simmons Speed Camp on Aug 26, 2009 1:37 PM CDT up reply actions
WHOA
Hold on there chief. Plashke is neither talented, nor respected.
"That's not a weird stat. Rickie is a run-scorer," Yost said. "It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter," Yost told reporters. "See, you guys have no concept. He's a run-scorer. So there's nothing weird about it. That's what he does."
and proof on plashke's ineptitude. Not the guy you want to aspire to be Witrado.
Thank god for the Fire Joe Morgan archives
"That's not a weird stat. Rickie is a run-scorer," Yost said. "It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter," Yost told reporters. "See, you guys have no concept. He's a run-scorer. So there's nothing weird about it. That's what he does."
The one that Junior wrote about Plaschke's column on Juan Pierre
is particularly outstanding.
I wish I was as smart as them guys.
I think the overarching point
Is that every sportswriter is loved by some people and hated by some (more?) people. Plaschke just happened to be one of the guys Witrado came up with – his other example is no prize himself. I would be hard-pressed to come up with a nationally recognized and widely liked sportswriter…at least one that’s been on the national scene for more than a year or two.
But hey, I figured TSSC was stating Witrado, not himself, sees those guys as talented and respected.
Obscure baseball records and more at my blog, Recondite Baseball.
"But hey, I figured TSSC was stating Witrado, no himself, sees those guys as talented and respected."
I did indeed. Thought that was sort of obvious since I was making fun of the logic that followed, but apparently not.
by Ted Simmons Speed Camp on Aug 26, 2009 3:37 PM CDT up reply actions
my bad on the detecting sarcasm fail.
I just never miss a chance to link to the genius that was FJM
"That's not a weird stat. Rickie is a run-scorer," Yost said. "It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter," Yost told reporters. "See, you guys have no concept. He's a run-scorer. So there's nothing weird about it. That's what he does."
I don't think there's a lot of hatred directed at Ken Rosenthal.
Cards Announcers On Gamel's First Career HR, ""That’s all they need is another home run hitter".
Jayson Stark and Keith Law, too.
"The reports are that he is getting better. The definition of better is nebulous."
Anyone who hates Joe Posnanski
needs to seek medical attention immediately.
by Cheeseandcorn on Aug 27, 2009 6:40 PM CDT up reply actions
mostly because of the arm you severed?
and Buster Olney
"That's not a weird stat. Rickie is a run-scorer," Yost said. "It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter," Yost told reporters. "See, you guys have no concept. He's a run-scorer. So there's nothing weird about it. That's what he does."
Any Idea...
how old he is? Is it possible he was part of the strike season when spring training was filled with pickups in 1995?
by Infield Fly Rule on Aug 26, 2009 12:10 PM CDT reply actions
Doesn't really pin down his age, but
You can find his name in Fresno City College’s newspaper as a contributor in 2000 and reporter in fall 2001 and Fresno State’s newspaper in 2003 and 2004. If you trust the few stories that show up on google news archive, he was playing HS baseball in 1999.
Obscure baseball records and more at my blog, Recondite Baseball.
So we're probably talking about him being camp fodder around 2000?
It’s hard to believe he’d get even that opportunity any later than that if he wasn’t playing college ball.
I don’t like the guy as a writer and his chat transcripts and interviews make me think I wouldn’t like him personally either, but I hope he wasn’t dumb enough to lie.
Not that the J/S will give a damn either way.
by Ted Simmons Speed Camp on Aug 27, 2009 5:56 PM CDT up reply actions
I still think he might have played in extended spring training where they don't keep stats for the public
Given how baseball is so reliant on who you know starting on, maybe he knew someone in the Seattle or Florida organization, played for a while and was “recommended” to the other team when the first released him. Obviously if my extended spring training theory is true he would have had to go from Arizona to Florida but if your dream is to play baseball that’s not a huge price to pay even for an extremely long shot or, heck, just to say you did it.
That’s more likely than him making it all up, I think.
Obscure baseball records and more at my blog, Recondite Baseball.
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