Series Preview #36: Talking Reds With "Brox"

The Brewers and Reds just met about two weeks ago, but our division-leading friends from Cincinnati have made a couple of changes since then:

• They've started winning more. Their series sweep of the Brewers provided the second, third and fourth of 15 wins in 17 games.
• At the trade deadline they made a "huge" acquisition, bringing 300 lb reliever Jonathan Broxton over from the Royals.
  

I don't like talking about how much the Reds are winning, so today we'll focus on the latter. The trade deadline makes for interesting news coverage, as the moves are sudden and the resulting reports need to be near instantaneous. Combine that with Brox's fake Twitter feed, one of my favorites (the now-suspended @Brox4AllStarz), and you've got a fascinating case study in failure to fact check.

When Broxton was traded to the Reds "Brox's" Twitter feed understandably lit up, thanking his former "Blue Team" fans in Kansas City, apologizing for eating all the BBQ, and wondering when the Reds were coming to pick him up. WCPO reporter Ian Preuth spotted the tweets and (as archived at The Platoon Advantage) cited them as quotes from Broxton in his story on the trade. In the wave of confusion that ensued, Brox's Twitter was scapegoated and suspended.

As such, there's a missing piece in the buildup to this week's series: The assorted thoughts of "Brox" on his new team and this week's series. Thankfully, this morning Brox sent me an email with this message for all of you:

Aww shucks, sorry everybody. Ol’ Broxy didn’t mean to go away, but he’s having a problem with the Twitter people thinking Broxy isn’t who Broxy says he is. As soon as that’s cleared up, Brox can’t wait to get back to talkin’ to all the great people of SinseeTown and all his new fans, who have sure been super nice to Brox ever since Brox got traded from BlueTeam to RedTeam.

Kyle sent a note and asked Brox really really nice if he wouldn’t mind comin’ on the computer machine and talkin’ to you good people of Milky, Whiskin’ about how things have been for ol’ Brox in SinseeTown. And Brox said YES! So here’s how things have been in SinseeTown since he got here:

They have been great!

When Brox got off his train, he walked around SinseeTown looking for the Chilis that everyone told him he had to try, like Brox had never had an Awesome Blossum before. But Brox couldn’t find one anywhere, so Brox went to the ballpark to meet his new teammates! They were all really nice too. Brox hung out with the second baseman, who kept wanting Brox to take BP or something whenever Brox asked his name. But Brox doesn’t need to hit; Brox just needs to throw the ball hard for the people. That’s why RedTeam wanted ol’ Broxy.

So Broxy went and found Arnold Chapman, who people kept saying also threw the ball super hard. And boy does he ever! He’s real quiet. Broxy kept talkin’ to him for ‘bout an hour, and he didn’t say much back. I did tell him he should be on the Twitter machine cuz all the people on there love it when you talk about throwing balls hard, and he kept saying "K" so you’ll prob’ly see him on there real soon. What a nice guy!

The people of SinceeTown have been cheering really loud too. They love it when Brox comes in to throw the balls hard, and all their screamin’ just makes Brox throw even faster. Sometimes it’s hard going to a new city, where nobody knows you. But it’s super fun when you’re goin’ to a really great team and the people can’t wait to see you . If you can throw super hard too, you should go to a new city and try it! See you guys all at Miller Park, and even though your root for the BeerTeam to win, maybe you can give just a little cheer if you see Dusty bringin’ Brox into the game. Ol’ Broxy will throw it extra hard, just for you.

Thanks to "Brox" for taking the time, and be sure to follow him on Twitter (if he ever gets reinstated) for more on his new life with "RedTeam."