Friday's Frosty Mug
by Kyle Lobner on Aug 7, 2009 8:54 AM CDT
in Milwaukee Brewers News
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PrintThe Brewers will open a three game series in Houston tonight, and Prince Fielder is expected to be in the lineup. In a surprising turn of events yesterday, Fielder was fined but not suspended for approaching the Dodger clubhouse on Tuesday.
I'm not the only one upset by how Anthony Witrado handled this week's mess. Miller Park Drunk also wrote an open letter to the JS calling for Witrado's firing. Another reader forwarded me an exchange he had with JS Sports Editor Garry Howard. Howard's reply, in part, included this line (emphasis added):
I will share your concerns with Anthony, but I have no plans on replacing him on this beat; he has proven that he has the goods and most of our readers, contrary to your opinion, Sir, commend him on his coverage.Obviously, Howard isn't hearing enough input from readers displeased with Witrado's work. His email address is GHOWARD@journalsentinel.com. Instead of discussing Witrado's work in the comments today, let's all take a moment and let him hear our concerns directly.
Y'know what's even worse? Witrado is somehow managing to keep his job while Hal McCoy, Hall of Fame beat writer for the Dayton Daily News, is losing his. Tom H. joins me in being saddened by that news.
Meanwhile, Prince Fielder continues to have one of the best offensive seasons in baseball. Entering play yesterday, Fielder had been on base at least one time in a game 94 times this season, the second highest total in all of baseball.
Carlos Villanueva will make his third start tonight after a very successful second outing. The Brewers seem to be taking it slow while stretching Villy out, so it's probably safe to assume they're looking at about six innings and 85-90 pitches as the target tonight. Meanwhile, Villanueva says his struggles this season have been mainly mental.
Another day, another note on the ineptitude of Jason Kendall: Miller Park Drunk says he's the punching bag every team needs.
In the minors:
- Mark Rogers is the Prospect of the Week over at Between the Green Pillars.
- Juan Sanchez, a minor league Rule 5 pick from the Twins organization, has been promoted to Brevard County. Sanchez played six positions during his half season with the Rattlers.
- The Brewers raided the independent leagues again yesterday, signing pitcher Tom Wilhelmsen from the Tucson Toros of the Golden Baseball League. Wilhelmsen was the Brewers' seventh round pick in 2002, and is expected to report to Helena.
Around baseball:
D-Backs: Placed Justin Upton on the DL with an oblique strain.
Mets: Acquired infielder Anderson Hernandez from the Nationals for a minor league infielder.
Nationals: Acquired Daryle Ward and Norris Hopper from the White Sox.
Rays: Signed reliever Winston Abreu to a minor league deal.
Red Sox: Placed Rocco Baldelli on the DL with a hamstring strain.
Yankees: Acquired Chad Gaudin from the Padres for a PTBNL.
Bart Given's explanations of baseball roster rules are quickly becoming a must-read. Today, he answers a reader question regarding the payment of appearance-based incentives for a player traded mid-season.
How would you build a bullpen? The Book Blog noticed a study in the Wall Street Journal which discovered nearly no correlation between the cost of a bullpen and its effectiveness. Tangotiger uses that as justification for finding cheap bullpen alternatives.
Also in the Journal, Vince Gennaro attempts to use ratings already in place in the financial world to assess the value of #1 overall pick Stephen Strasburg. (h/t Baseball Musings)
The Brewers will have to make their own history today: I wasn't able to find a single notable event or Brewer birthday on August 7.
Drink up.
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well i took your advice
decided to write to ghoward. i will also post what i wrote here, tried to sound professional and all, though i should have spellchecked i suppose if i was gonna trash witardo for the same.
I came across a response you sent a reader in regards to the recent coverage of the Prince Fielder/Guillermo Mota incident in Los Angeles. According to the quote you find that most readers in fact commend Mr. Witrado for his Brewres coverage. Allow me to disagree. Aside from the spelling, gramatical and factual errors that accompany many of his pieces, his perspective on the events surrounding the hit by pitch and the subsequent fracas in the tunnels/club house were clearly detrimental to the Brewers and, more specifically, Mr. Fielder. I understand his personal loyalties may coincedentally lie with the opposing team in this incident, however his actions in the national spotlight definitely reflected quite poorly on the team his is paid to cover. This coverage also came from a guy who admitted to not seeing the incident take place. A team like Milwaukee does not get its fair share of coverage on stations like ESPN, so it was very dissappointing to see them trashed by our own beat reporter. Additionally, taking the offense to the city/team/fans out of the equation, how can Mr. Witrado be expected to gain any ‘inside’ information from the team now? Clearly they will have seen/heard his interviews given on the subject and they most likely won’t be taken lightly. I can understand the reluctance to fire a writer, even one with such an apparant lack of writing skills and proffesionalism. I do hope though that he would be instructed (once again) to do his job properly, although he should be removed from his position of Brewer’s beat writer.
My letter included this very important point…
So before you give me some blow off line telling me how you have no plans to replace him and that your readers like Anthony and commend him on his coverage, let me ask you a question. How many readers does the Journal have today? How are those circulation numbers doing for you? The JS is the only game in town and yet the circulation numbers have plummeted faster than George W Bush’s approval numbers.
Given how many layoff there have been in the ranks of the JS because of the poor circulation numbers, it is something important to remind them of.
Also – for the love of the baseball gods… please spell check your letters….
by Saberilliterate on Aug 7, 2009 10:08 AM CDT up reply actions
meh
all newspapers have declining circulation…. Hardly a reason to hold A.W. accountable. In fact, it means they probably can’t afford a better writer.
Even if they had a Pulitzer Prize winner that won a newberry, grammy (for songwriting), an oscar (for scriptwriting), a caldicott, the cy young, the MVP, and the nobels in literature and peace the JS would still have declining circulation.
I sent my email forth.
Boy was it a whopper of an email:
Dear Garry Howard,
I want to write this on the behalf of not just Brewers fans, but for aspiring young journalists alike. I myself am attending the University of Wisconsin Parkside, where I’ll be co-writing the Sports section for Ranger News. I think it’s an insult, not to Brewer fans, but those of us within the confines of common sense that the Journal Sentinel hasn’t taken a lick of action with regards to Mr. Witrado over his blatant lie on ESPN, or on your nationally syndicated sports column.
Anthony Witrado stated he wasn’t there in the fray, during Prince Fielder’s bum rush of the Dodgers’ clubhouse, yet he is put on ESPN, then claims being there, and throws Prince Fielder and this team under the bus. I can truthfully understand the beauty of having a writer who finds the negatives within a team, but when the only analytical and ideological information this man puts forward is condescending, a lie, and as bleak with intelligence as you can put forth, while maintaining a status as a Major League Baseball team’s beat writer, it’s profoundly insulting to me.
I’ve heard one of your responses with regards to this issue. You stated no plans on his removal, and being in the midst of a season I can understand that. Your comment to commend his work, however, is appauling. You seem to not be very well grasped to the situation, but Anthony Witrado isn’t respected nor admired by a great deal of your Sentinel writers. Upon a Google search of his name, you don’t find great articles by him, or biographical notes. What you find is an onslaught of beautifully written articles by the blogging community detailing his arrogance, his poor opinion and baseball ideology, and incessant requests that he be fired for someone of greater baseball intelligence, and even as simple as baseball opinion.
I assume this email will mean nothing to you, but it means something to myself. As a person who’s dream it is to one day cover such a team like the Milwaukee Brewers, or even the Milwaukee Admirals, it’s beyond me that such profound ineptitude is acceptable. From the way he publicly displays himself, such as in this year’s Spring Training videos where he dressed in costume as a 15 year old from the mean streets of Oakland, to the utter amount of grammatical errors I’ve come across that make my idiotic and comedic psuedo-Witrado write ups a laugh for all, it’s just unacceptable. I simply wish you would publicly address the situation, and handle things accordingly. If the bar has been established, and people such as Anthony Witrado can afford to make as many errors as he has, then my shoulders ease up greatly for the future for myself, only to have my heart crushed that the reporting of my generation has degenerated by miles from what it was that inspired me to become a sports writer.
I beg of you to take this message seriously. I understand action can’t simply be had during the midst of a season, but this has simply gone on for far too long, and I’m staring at my last few grains of respect in the Journal Sentinel. Please take my words and factor in that I am not alone when I say these things, but, most of all, please address the gravity of the situation publicly, or behind closed doors. It’s insulting to know the bar is being set lower and lower for acceptability within professional journalism, and I pray, when my time comes to be a professional sports writer, that people take their work as seriously and as professionally as I do.
Daniel Lavender
Laven006@uwp.edu
So, yeah. Wonder how this will go.
PensBurgh penalty - Lavender - 2 Minutes for Excessive Stanley Cup Raising.
nice email
but what does apauling mean?
Cards Announcers On Gamel's First Career HR, ""That’s all they need is another home run hitter".
You would be so much cooler if you had waited for another Laven* to enroll at uwp
Obscure baseball records and more at my blog, Recondite Baseball.
the return of Tom Wilhelmsen
Really surprised to hear of the Wilhelmsen signing. Here’s hoping he pulled his life together.
Not sure how many people remember him…but he had an outstanding debut in ‘03 (2.76 ERA; 1.19 WHIP, 63/27 K/BB in 88 innings of Low A ball at 19 years old) and was a top 15 prospect over in BFN’s Power 50 back in the days when JJ, Prince and Rickie took up the top three slots. Unfortunately, he went the Jeffress route.
Here’s BA’s chat (with Tom H) when they posted their organization top 10 prospect list in ‘04:
Q: EWR from Texas asks:
What’s the latest on Tom Wilhelmsen? I believe last year’s prospect handbook said he had potentially the best arm in the system and then was suspended for disciplinary reasons. Has he pitched since? Is he on the radar at all?
A: Tom Haudricourt: Wihlemsen was punted because of substance abuse and there have been no indications that he will return. Sadly, it appears a promising career was tossed aside.
With a name like Wilhelmsen
he sounds like he’s from the 70’s.. the 1870’s
Cards Announcers On Gamel's First Career HR, ""That’s all they need is another home run hitter".
I'm usually not motivated to write "letters to the editor"
but I probably will in this instance. However, in the unlikely event AW were to leave J-S, it would actually sadden me… after all, wouldn’t that end Lavender’s AW/LOLspeak posts?
When I went to the J-S sports section to make sure I had my facts right for the letter, I noticed this picture showing in the “fan photo gallery” link on the left. I thought it was hilarious, as it perfectly captures the city’s love of Ace Suppan.
I can't believe I'm doing this...
But I’m going to defend Witrado on this one.
Look, I can stand Witrado’s writing and demeanor about as little as the next guy, but this is not a fireable offense. Yes, Witrado breathlessly blew up a relative non-altercation that he didn’t see, but that’s not something people get fired for, nor should they.
Witrado is under no obligation whatsoever to build up Fielder or the Brewers organization. In fact, I’d be concerned if he thought he did have that responsibility. Witrado’s job is to call ‘em as he sees ’em. In this case, he thought Fielder’s action was immature—an entirely reasonable opinion. Had Haudricourt written a Tweet or an item in a notes column to the same effect, we might disagree, but we wouldn’t be calling for his firing as a result.
Sportswriters give opinions on the teams they cover all the time—that’s become part of their jobs. And those opinions are not fans’ opinions; they don’t have to be positive. When our team sucks or the front office is inept or a coach is dancing around a potentially damaging issue, we expect our reporters to call BS. In order to do that, they also need the leeway to give opinions we don’t agree with, to piss us off.
If Prince or the rest of the team is upset over Witrado’s words (as they probably should be), then it’s up to them to decide whether they want to freeze him out. But it’s not the J-S’ role to be offended on the team’s (or the fans’) behalf.
Should the J-S keep Witrado from ever covering Brewers-Dodgers series after this fiasco? Yup. Should they fire him/lay him off for generally being a crappy writer and unprofessional reporter? Probably. But should they fire him over this specific situation? I don’t think so.
by Cheeseandcorn on Aug 7, 2009 10:33 AM CDT reply actions 1 recs
agree....kind of
1. Not worthy of firing, in and of itself.
2. It is not his job to make the Brewers look good.
However,
3. He went out of his way to make Fielder look bad.
4. He is a terrible writer and probably shouldn’t have a job anyway.
by badgermaniac on Aug 7, 2009 10:47 AM CDT up reply actions
I obviously agree with you on #4
Our disagreement on #3 may end up just coming down to semantics. I don’t really think Witrado “went out of his way” to trash Fielder; he just had an opinion and expressed it. Now, if Witrado’s editors knew he and Fielder had some ongoing feud and this was Witrado’s passive-aggressive way of publicly venting against him, then they’d be justified in penalizing him for unprofessional behavior.
But I doubt that was the case. He had an opinion, he was given a platform, and he expressed it. That’s between Prince and Witrado, not necessarily the J-S and Witrado.
by Cheeseandcorn on Aug 7, 2009 11:11 AM CDT up reply actions
OTOH...Would Witrado have gone off the rails like that if...
it had been any team other than the Dodgers and any player other than Manny Ramirez? It’s hard to answer that with anything other than “no, he probably wouldn’t” (barring the possibility that there [i]is[/i] some type of feud between him and Fielder). And that’s a part I have a problem with…I don’t need him to barrack for the Brewers as some have insinuated, but I definitely also don’t want a beat writer who goes all editorial (and makes up shit in the process) because the team he’s assigned to cover had an altercation with li’l Tony’s first baseball love.
I didn't mean to imply...
…that he has a personal grudge against Fielder.
Rather, I think he may have been enthralled with the idea that this was more than what it was. Call him a drama queen if you will.
When ESPN came calling, the opportunity was too much to pass up so he had to make it more dramatic than what it was.
by badgermaniac on Aug 7, 2009 12:19 PM CDT up reply actions
I agree 100 percent.
His fault in this case may just come down to being an overexcited kid reporter who did some poor reporting because of the stars in his eyes. That’s something the J-S will probably be willing to largely forgive.
Of course, I hope this is being added to the running internal tally of crappy incidents that eventually leads to his long-overdue firing (or at least demotion back to preps), but I can continue to dream…
by Cheeseandcorn on Aug 7, 2009 12:34 PM CDT up reply actions
I couldn't believe you defended him either
and I agree with you that this incident is not a fireable offense. He is entitled to his opinion. However, going out of his way to gobble up some national spot light to make a name for himself is what he should be chastised for, and removed from the Brewers beat altogether.
"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."
National Spotlight
JS is probably pretty pleased about that.
Cards Announcers On Gamel's First Career HR, ""That’s all they need is another home run hitter".
i didn't call for his firing
i think cheeseandcorn makes some valid points and i agree with many of them. i don’t think this is worthy of a firing, and we want impartial writers (not a bunch of michael kays, who even yankee fans call a “homer”).
however, everyone has their own reason for reading a paper (or the online edition). if this means that you, as an individual, don’t want to read it, fine. personally, i’ve decreased how much i read J-S, and will probably stop at this point. if you dislike AW but continue to read and link to articles (driving traffic), then who cares? i’m not a journalist, so there’s probably some level of prestige and quality and all that, but if he helps sell papers, and they like him, so what?
as for birthdays, i don’t think there’s a mug tomorrow… and it’s Doug Melvin’s birthday. so there you go!
by Capt Science on Aug 7, 2009 11:06 AM CDT up reply actions
Witrado is under no obligation whatsoever to build up Fielder or the Brewers organization.
I agree – but his job as the beat writer certainly doesn’t include tearing down the organization. And by going on SC and lying about what happened tears it down a bit. These actions will also make his job 100x harder. I am sure the players will be eager to speak to him… behind closed doors with lots of sound proofing…
this is not a fireable offense
Not by itself – but it should be the straw that broke the camels back
Your fourth paragraph – yeah maybe if he didn’t bleed dodger blue. We are all fans and we call BS all the time.
by Saberilliterate on Aug 7, 2009 11:12 AM CDT up reply actions
You’re right—this will probably make his job a lot harder. It happens all the time: Reporters inevitably piss off their sources from time to time, and their sources, in turn, make things difficult for them. But at least in public, editors always stand up for their reporters in these situations. Almost every time, except when the source is upset over a fireable offense on the reporter’s part. It’s part of editors’ jobs.
Witrado’s editor should reprimand him privately for sloppy, inaccurate reporting on SC (maybe he already has), but for something like this, an editor’s not going to get rid of a reporter or publicly call him out because it makes the reporter’s job harder. He’ll probably tell him, “Hey, you made your bed; go sleep in it. Find a way to get the quotes anyway.” And then Witrado (or actually, probably Haudricourt) will.
by Cheeseandcorn on Aug 7, 2009 11:25 AM CDT up reply actions
I wrote an email to Howard last night.
I don’t have a problem with the criticism of Fielder by Witrado in the interviews he gave. Quite frankly, Fielder probably deserved to be criticized. What I had a problem with and what I pointed out to Howard was the fact that in multiple interviews, Witrado didn’t source his description of events he had previously acknowledged that he did not witness. In effect, he reported rumor as fact and he characterized and embellished his descriptions for dramatic effect with a callous disregard for his responsibility to report the truth AND source the material he didn’t witness himself.
I’m not in the journalism business, but it would seem to me that allowing (or even encouraging) people to believe you saw things you didn’t and failing to source your material are pretty serious matters. Is that a fireable offense? I have no idea. But it certainly should result in some kind of negative fallout within the paper itself.
BTW, I also pointed out that the J/S was already 3rd on my list of places to go for Brewers coverage and that Witrado’s behavior in this incident (combined with his performance in general) was bumping them further and further down that list. My email, of course, won’t have any impact. But I told the truth, which is a damn sight more than Witrado did.
by Ted Simmons Speed Camp on Aug 7, 2009 11:23 AM CDT up reply actions 2 recs
yes.
Cards Announcers On Gamel's First Career HR, ""That’s all they need is another home run hitter".
Hmmm...
That’s kind of a sticky one, I think. He certainly did report things inaccurately and generally overblow the incident in his SportsCenter and radio interviews. That, to me, is the most troubling part about the whole episode and the one he’s most likely to face some heat internally over.
But I still don’t think it’s fireable, because the attribution rules are a little bit muddier when print journalists venture into on-air interviews, especially in shorter ones, like the SC segment. In TV interviews like that, print journalists are almost always pressured to speculate beyond what they know for sure. Good reporters won’t give in, but it’s still difficult in such a short period of time and high-pressure environment to say, “Hold on, let me use 30 seconds of this two-minute interview to cover my bases and tell you exactly which person gave me which detail about this incident.” Again, that’s something a good journalist should do, but an inexperienced one like Witrado won’t. (And the TV folks don’t want him to anyway.)
I’m not excusing Witrado’s conduct during those interviews—like I said, I think that’s the most damnable offense he committed during this whole thing—but I guess I’m trying to explain why I think the J-S (and most papers) would probably treat this whole thing as a learning experience for a young reporter in how to handle high-stakes, on-air interviews, rather than a reason to fire him.
by Cheeseandcorn on Aug 7, 2009 12:27 PM CDT up reply actions
Gaudin
Considering he was basically had for free, I would rather have Gaudin instead of a couple guys in our current rotation.
the isolated act may not be grounds for termination...
but what about the ramifications from the Brewers. As mentioned above, this could very well affect his ability to be the “great” beat write that he is. Is Prince going to want to talk to him? Is Macha? You saw how testy he got with that AP reporter. While they will never come out and say it, baseball players pay attention to this kind of thing. Maybe its not in his job decription to be a homer, but it sure could hurt down the line to be the opposite.
by LosinCatmansLove on Aug 7, 2009 11:04 AM CDT reply actions
New thought on Witrado
I remember when the ratings came in to Paul Giamatti’s character in the movie Private Parts. I remember clearly that people who hated Howard Stern listened longer, and with more frequency than people who loved Howard Stern just to hear what he would say next.
The reason I bring this up is because I think I see a similar situation with Witrado. I don’t rely on the JS for much especially since I am a fan out of town. I can get updates through Tom’s Twitter Page and through McCalvy. However, I can say that I’ve checked the JS multiple times just to get caught up on the latest abominations of Witrado. The unintentional comedy that is his writings are quite entertaining, and makes me think he’ll be a columnist in the Woody Paige/Bill Plashke/Mike Hunt vein some day.
It’s basically the same premise of that Free Radio show about the morning radio show Moron in the Morning. Instead, we have Moron in the Byline
"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."
Can't let this go un-noticed
We are 54 – 54 with 54 games left to play
Cards Announcers On Gamel's First Career HR, ""That’s all they need is another home run hitter".
Haha, that's terrible
"If lovin’ Braun is wrong, I want to be a repeat offender!"
RIP Nick Adenhart - Stop Drunk Driving
Take it a step further
Don’t just send your messages to Garry Howard, who can just bury them…do what I did and copy the sales and marketing VPs on the e-mails so they are in the loop if, like me, you plan to stop buying JS. bbrenner@journalsentinel.com; hmcgarry@journalsentinel.com; mkaiser@journalsentinel.com
I still buy newspapers for my customers
…but I won’t be buying the JS until this hack is gone. USA Today and the Point Journal will have to do. I also pointed out in my e-mail to them that I will no longer visit jsonline. As far as “free” content, there is no such thing. The radio is technically “free” also, but like jsonline, radio has to make money some way: advertising. If traffic is down on jsonline, advertisers will not pay the JS as much. That was the point I was trying to make…
One word of advice
I would advise those sending messages to NOT touch on the circulation issues newspapers face. The readership of the Journal-Sentinel has nothing to do with Witrado (in most cases), and more to do with the expansion of interactive coverage online, as well as simple distaste for shrinking space (caused by the disappearance of advertising).
I think it undermines the argument. Appeal to Witrado’s shortage of reporting skills, tact and professionalism. Keep it specific — you’re going to lose Howard’s attention if you start talking about industry-wide problems. They did just lay off 90-some people in the newsroom, including a massive loss in sports, so Howard is well aware of the broad issues facing his paper.
by Et tu Brewte on Aug 7, 2009 12:07 PM CDT reply actions 1 recs
While acknowledging that complaining about Witrado here isn't going to accomplish anything ...
I don’t know that sending e-mails to his superiors is going to have any effect, either, for two reasons: (1) he got the Journal some run on SportsCenter (even if he did so by talking about an event that he didn’t actually witness); and (2) he can’t be all that expensive to employ.
Your first point is fair.
Your second one I disagree with.
I’m sure Witrado is cheap, but I’m also sure there are cheap options to replace him, many of which would be better.
Also, while emailing Garry Howard might not have a lot of effect, it’ll at least be more productive than all of us bashing AW here, in a venue Howard doesn’t read.
"The reports are that he is getting better. The definition of better is nebulous."
Good points, KL.
I guess I was trying (and trying unsuccessfully, now that I read my comment again) to tie in that second point with the first — he’s getting them some run in the national media, and they’re not paying through the nose for it.
Unrelated: do you have a link to the bit you did on the Sports Show last night? I couldn’t follow live and would like to check it out.
I don't yet, but I'll mention it in the Mug if I get it.
"The reports are that he is getting better. The definition of better is nebulous."
I still think WitradowatomiBlingoandCasino is the best thing to ever come from Witrado
(Lavender)
Cards Announcers On Gamel's First Career HR, ""That’s all they need is another home run hitter".
I have to go with
the missing necklace that said “Numba 1 Stunna!!!” with the exclamation points iced out.
"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 know it's friday,
but has anyone received a respose yet?
Cards Announcers On Gamel's First Career HR, ""That’s all they need is another home run hitter".
Not yet...
I don’t really expect one either. I hope I’m wrong and receive at least an acknowledgement that they read it. Oh well, I’ve taken a few deep breaths and decided I’m not going to fight anymore. I just won’t buy their paper or visit their publication online.
National Spotlight
I disagree that AW got the JS time on SC (wow an acronym trifecta). They would have talked to any Milwaukee beat writer and it’s just unfortunate that he was our guy.
It was just plain bad journalism to comment as fact on an incident that you did not witness. I said as much on the JSOnline comments area, it was the first time that I ever posted there and was blocked.
No answer from Gary yet, who is a bit of a hack himself.
"This is bull----!" - Prince Fielder
I wonder who claimed Rios
If Olney’s report is true
Cards Announcers On Gamel's First Career HR, ""That’s all they need is another home run hitter".
What are you suggesting?
That it’s not good value to pay $10 mil per year (average) for a right fielder with a sub-.750 OPS?
(Good God, what an awful contract.)
I disagree, actually
He’s more of an .750-.800 ish guy with good defense in right. It’s not a bargain, but it’s about market value.
E: George 4 (5, throw, throw, throw, throw).
I expended way too much effort on this...
…but I found a Brewers birthday for today.
Bryan Opdyke, he of the 2005 Helena Brewers.
Happy 25th, Bryan, wherever you are.
Also, cheese.
I think I found him
He just may be the 14U Coach of the Scottsdale Panthers
"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 found one, too
Jerry McNertney, catcher for the 1970 Brewers.
Obscure baseball records and more at my blog, Recondite Baseball.
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