Is there any kind of system in place that they could leverage to force other people to give them money, you think?
Yes, it’s that time again: time for the semi-annual complaints about collusion! Frankly, bullshit there was collusion this offseason. This offseason? When the Yankees spent half a billion dollars on exactly two players? When all kinds of yahoos got a whole lot more money than they were worth? My favourite part is at the end, where Scott Boras pretty much accuses MLB of faking the entire recession just so they wouldn’t have to give him any more money than they already had. Classy, Scott.
July 14th, 2009
Posted by
Darien |
Baseball |
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The Nationals fired Manny Acta today, which was irrational. I know it’s a tradition in baseball that if your team’s losing, you fire the manager, but come on. This team never had a chance to win in the first place, mainly because of this. Their pitching is extremely bad. I mean, the Washington Nationals have allowed 489 runs so far this year. Holy cow that’s bad. Only the incredibly bad Cleveland Indians have allowed more runs than that.
Here’s the thing. Warshington‘s ownership needs to wrap its head around the fact that no way is this team anywhere close to contention. They need to build, and they need to build hardcore. Manny Acta is a very good manager — one who understands the value of statisical analysis to his job, yet! — and firing him does not make the Nationals a better team. They’re still a terrible team, but now they’re a terrible team without a good manager. That’s not really a win for anybody. What they should be doing is building around what they have, which was Acta, Adam Dunn, and… I guess maybe Nick Johnson. You just drafted Stephen Strasburg, and he throws six thousand miles an hour. Maybe don’t put yourselves in a position where you might hire some asshole who will make him throw 160 pitches a game.
Well, that’s as maybe. The real point of this post, of course, is to point out all the idiotic things the team representatives have said on the subject. Let’s start with interim general manager Mike Rizzo, who was completely incoherent:
"I’m not satisfied with the way we play the game at times. We don’t execute nearly as often as I expect them too. But the effort as far as the hustle and preparation is there — the consistency of the effort and the hustle needs work. The way we fundamentally play the game needs a lot of work."
Anybody have any idea what Mike’s trying to say? My favourite part is the third sentence, where he says one thing before the dash and then completely contradicts it after the dash.
Anything you’d like to add, Ryan Zimmerman? Of course there is:
"The only problem with our team is that there’s not that sense of urgency to win."
And the pitching, Ryan. The pitching is a problem. 5.21 team ERA. Problem. 1.570 team WHIP. Problem. 83 team ERA+. Problem.
And get this. Here’s Mike Rizzo again, talking about Jim Riggleman (!), who will be replacing Manny Acta:
Rizzo also called Riggleman "a tough disciplinarian" who is "going to show the young players that this is a difficult game to play."
Hey Rizz, they already know that. Particularly your pitchers know that. It’s part of the reason they’re so bad.
July 14th, 2009
Posted by
Darien |
Baseball |
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