The Idiocy Gene

Scott Bore-ass makes his play for an Idiocy Gene . . .

The last paragraph of Andruw Jones’ section, straight from Bore-ass’ mouth:

“Every one of my major clients -- whether it's a pitcher or a position player -- has gone through times like this,'' Boras said. "A-Rod went through it last year. Andruw Jones has done too much for too long and he's too complete a player. You have to look at this over a broad spectrum rather than six or eight weeks."

Talk about some major spin! Andruw Jones has been absolutely horrendous this year. There is no way to put a good face on this salary drive season of his so far. So what does Bore-ass do? He says, ‘I know Andruw has sucked like a Hoover this year. But forget about that because he has done too much for too long over the broad spectrum of his career for any of you maroon’s not to pay him like A-Rod.’ Now I know it’s his job, but good gracious! Does Bore-ass really believe this fertilizer he spreading? I’m in awe that he could even say all that with a straight face.

Andruw Jones has done ‘too much for too long’ and is ‘too complete a player’? Exactly how is he a ‘complete player’, Mr. Bore-ass? He doesn’t hit for average (lifetime .260 hitter - hitting all of .201 this year, ahead of only Elijah Dukes and Dioner Navarro); He doesn’t have much speed at all; He strikes out with Adam Dunn regularity; He has little patience in the batters box; By all accounts I’ve seen, his once stellar defense is now no more than a figment of someone’s imagination; He’s slugging an anemic .395 (behind Ruthian-like hitters Randy Winn, Miguel Olivo and Shannon Stewart). Even at his best over the broad spectrum of his career, he was never a complete player . . . EVER. He hit for power, played excellent defense, and early in his career had decent speed. That’s it. Good, but not complete.

‘Everyone of my major clients . . .’ Major clients? Evidently, all clients are not created equal in the eyes of Bore-ass. Exactly when does one become a major client? Can one pay for the privilege? Does years of service factor into the equation? Does one automatically graduate to Major Client status when promoted to the major leagues? Do you get a cool little insignia of some sort to wear on your lapel? . . . Personally, I think I’d have an issue with my agent if he implied he had minor clients . . .

‘A-Rod went through it last year’. He did? A-Rod hit .201 in the first half of 2006? No, he hit .282. A-Rod posted a .690 OPS in the first half of 2006? No, he accumulated an .895 OPS. A-Rod slugged a Pierre-like .395 in the first half of 2006? No, he slugged .505. So how did A-Rod go through this last year? He finished the first half of 2006 with almost a .900 OPS, 19 HR, 65 RBI, and 61 runs. Jones will finish the first half this year with almost a .700 OPS, around 14 HR, 48 RBI, and 37 runs. No similarity there. A-Rod finished 2006 with a .915 OPS, 35 HR, 121 RBI, and 113 runs (poor guy – how could he even show his face in public after a season like that… ). Jones would have to hit somewhere in the neighborhood of .400 with a 1.100 OPS in the second half to even get close to the season A-Rod had last year. Anyone care to bet he’ll do it? I’ll wager my beautiful retirement double-wide in 10-A-C that he doesn’t . . .

You know what’s worst about this situation? Some blockhead GM is going to swallow what Bore-ass is spewing and waaay overpay Andruw Jones for Jacque Jones type production. Any predictions which blockhead GM it will be that becomes infected with the Bore-ass strain of the Idiocy Gene?

Matthew:

A great article thrashing Morgan...

http://www.sfweekly.com/2005-07-06/news/say-it-ain-t-so-joe/

"Why would I wanna read the book? All I'm saying is, I see a game every day. I watch baseball every day. I have a better understanding about why things happen than the computer, because the computer only tells you what you put in it. I could make that computer say what I wanted it to say, if I put the right things in there. ... The computer is only as good as what you put in it. How do you think we got Enron? "

Man, Morgan is a quote machine. The article is pretty weak,I find that sabermatics is boring and unproven to most of us, but it's hard not to have a smile on your face reading Joe's "enlightened" quotes.

I didn't know whether to put this here or the All Star game thread, but what a farce the BSPN presentation of the home run hitting contest has become. Kenny Mayne in a kayak in McCovey Cove? Come on! Gimme a break! It's not enough that we have to listen to umpteen repetitions of bAAAAAAACK, bAAAAAAACK, bAAAAAACK. All I can say is aaaaaaaaaaaaack, aaaaaaaaaaaaaack, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaack. I'm turning it off right now, before it even starts.

Matthew:

TBoneShelby:

Matthew:

A great article thrashing Morgan...

http://www.sfweekly.com/2005-07-06/news/say-it-ain-t-so-joe/

"Why would I wanna read the book? All I'm saying is, I see a game every day. I watch baseball every day. I have a better understanding about why things happen than the computer, because the computer only tells you what you put in it. I could make that computer say what I wanted it to say, if I put the right things in there. ... The computer is only as good as what you put in it. How do you think we got Enron? "

Man, Morgan is a quote machine. The article is pretty weak,I find that sabermatics is boring and unproven to most of us, but it's hard not to have a smile on your face reading Joe's "enlightened" quotes.

The strong point of the article I found to be not so much the reliability of sabermetrics, but rather that Morgan is in such a position that breeds influence to (casual) baseball fans, that to just bash and criticize things out of ignorance is just absurd, to say the least. As well as to just dismiss everything because he has this concoction that he knows everything there is to know because he once played it: that's both arrogance and ignorance and I think the author did point that out well. I mean, if Morgan wants to bash something, fine... but do it based on some evidence... for crying out loud, he still thinks BIlly Beane wrote "Moneyball"! And what's even worse is that, regardless of one thinks of sabermetrics, Morgan should at least understand it before he criticizes it, and that's the problem: he doesn't know crap about it. Come on, Enron? That speaks for itself.

But the problem is that, for as much crap as we all give Morgan - and rightly so - you know what's even more frustrating? If he actually wised up and opened that mind of his and showed a willingness to learn a bit more, he could actually be a great analyst. It's not like he doesn't know SOME baseball... hate him or not, he's still one of - if not - the greatest second baseman of all-time and, as a player, he was really smart with great instincts. But he's so wrapped up in himself, cliches and archival traditions that his enlightenment as an analyst likely will never happen.

As for sabermetrics itself, I actually like them. I don't think they're the end all of analyzing a player's ability, but some of those statistics are pretty darn good and accurate. Sure, they're not all perfect, but they're meant to just solve part of the puzzle. I tend to find myself looking there more for deeper analysis than the usual basic stuff, although I still pay a great deal of attention to SLG, OBP, OPS, although I find myself putting less and less of an emphasis on batting average and RBI totals. But that's just me.

I hear ya matthew, what I meant (and I should have expanded) was that I didn't like the tone of the article. It's one of those snide taking little pot shot type of pieces that have become all too common. I agree with you that Morgan could and should be a very good commentator, he's just ridiculously stubborn and set in his ways. It's not even his denial of sabermatic value to the game that irks me, it's his all out refuesal to think or accept anyone else's input. He just sits atop his mountaintop offering nothing in the ways of information spouting about how much he knows, but never shares and then dismisses any other input. Plus he hates the Dodgers, and for that I'll never forgive him.

See you guys just had the wrong perspective for watching the Derby. If you’d simply watched it for the pure comedic value, you’d have enjoyed it as much as me! I laughed as loud as if Steve Martin had been on my TV screen! I wrote this up as I was watching the replay later . . .

Ohhoho . . . This could be an absolute field day for me!! Joe Morgan at the Home Run Contest! Let’s begin the Idiocy, shall we . . .

Did you know that players today are ‘reinventing’ the home run swing . . . Evidently, until this latest wave of home run hitters like Justin Morneau, Ryan Howard, Alex Rios, etc., home run hitters had to pull the ball to hit one out. Buuuuut, nowadays, ‘these guys are so strong, they can hit it out to any part of the park’ . . . Can you imagine how many more home runs Babe Ruth or Hank Arron or Willie Mays would have hit if they could have just hit some opposite field homers . . . But alas, they were from a weaker era and weren’t strong enough, right Joe? What an Idiot Broadcaster . . . (I may be saying that a lot)

Poor Matt Holliday . . . According to Steve Phillips in the studio (guess there wasn't enough Idiocy in San Francisco), he has ‘no loft on his swing and all his home runs are line drives’. Guess Stevie-boy missed that 450+ foot bomb Holliday hit at Dodger Stadium last year that cleared the Dodger bullpen and hit the palm tree! I have never seen a ball hit harder or further than that in Chavez Ravine! And I kid you not, as Phillips was finishing this brilliantly researched analysis, Holliday uncorked an absolute bomb down the line 450+ feet and out of the stadium. Then on the very next pitch he hit one 462 feet and almost hit the Coke bottle in the left field bleachers! And then just for good measure he hit 451 feet, 434 feet, 475 feet, 440 feet and a 469 foot blast that cleared the left field bleachers and into the players parking lot, in the second round. Good job Steve . . . Good job.

Jimmy Rollins is on the A’s??? In reference to the other announcers comment that Rollins should have been on the All-Star team, Joe commented, ‘especially since he’s right over the bay in Oakland’ . . . Uhh??? Had to look up the fact that Rollins is from Oakland. Guess everyone just should have known that one, ehh Joe?

And special recognition has to go to Chris Berman and his absolutely mind-numbingly idiotic plays on words . . . His new favorite phrase must be, ‘He sent that ball on Holliday!’ . . . I think I actually heard him say it during one of Vlad’s or Rios’ home runs . . .

And according to Berman, there were balls hit ‘over the Golden Gate’, ‘over the Oakland Bay Bridge’, ‘over some-unknown-to-me-building-that-must-be-in-San-Francisco’, ‘to Oakland’, ‘all the way to The Presidio’, ‘almost to the blimp’ overhead, ‘Burlingame bound’. I was so impressed with Chris’ geographical knowledge . . .

Not to be outdone, Kruk had to chime in from the studio as well . . . He commented that Vlad ‘might hurt himself’ with his swing, intoning that he should be careful while participating in the contest. And he was serious, guys. It wasn’t one of his playfully stupid ‘jokes’. He actually said it with a straight face and meant it! Uhh, Krukie . . . doesn’t Vlad swing like that everyday??? Maybe you should pass that little nugget of advice on to Mike Scioscia. He’s bound to be interested in that, don’t you think? What’s that . . . Mike Scioscia thinks you’re an idiot too? Gee, color me surprised . . .

According to Joe, Vlad was ‘definitely tired’ in the second round, right before he uncorked a 475 footer and then his furthest, a 503 footer that reached the base of the Glove behind the left field bleachers. Another succinct analysis by the estimable Mr. Morgan.

Dusty Baker commented that ‘his son wanted to go out there’ to shag balls in the outfield, but he told him, ‘No son, you’re still too small’ . . . Heh! That may have been an appropriate comment a couple years ago, eh Dusty . . .

I’m tellin’ y’all, the Home Run Derby was a blast to watch! You just had to watch it from the proper (warped?) perspective.

HE'S BACK !!!!

The SOD has again opened his pie-hole, and you know what that means .......

More good (i.e. stoopid) quotes !

He taped a segment for HBO's "Real Sports" show that will air in a few days. The transcript has been released and summarized in this piece at BoSPiN: The SOD Speaks

The key gist:

* Joe Torre is a racist who treats black's differently and badly.

* Joe Torre doesn't treat Derek Jeter badly as Jeter isn't really black, as he has a non-black parent.

* Etc.

Which comes down to The SOD being treated differently than most players and that has to do with him being a real black man, as opposed to him being treated differently than most players because he is an asshat, while most players aren't asshats.

zwilnik:

"I'm cut from a different cloth."

hmm.... I didn't know that asshattery was sold by the yard.

I guess that you could say that The SOD is "The whole 9 yards" !!!

SportsCenter's Top 10 list tonight had Victor Martinez at #4. Martinez caught a popup of a bunt that was all of 5 feet away from home plate. He basically turned around and fell down to make the catch. Apparently though, according to the SC anchors, 'That's why he was an All Star.' . . . . . Uhh, yeeeeeaaah. That's the reason.

And this last jewel from the latest washed up, weak hitting second baseman to be employed at BoSPiN (is there some kind of quota there I don't know about?).

As you are probably all aware, since they mention it about once every 7 1/2 seconds, the latest talk is A-Rod to the Red Sox next year. In the opinion of Fernando Vina, if A-Rod were to go to Boston and Fenway, he'd hit '80-90 home runs a year.' Not he might approach that number one year . . . Not said with a smile, chuckle, or tongue in cheek . . . He said straight out and straight faced that A-Rod 'could hit 80-90 each year' if he moved to Boston!

Sheesh, Manny . . . Have you ever been underachieving!

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Oh, btw . . . Steve Perfume, or whatever his name is, mentioned at the end of Baseball Tonight that Comedy Centr . . . Uhh, I mean ESPN thinks it a good idea to put Steve Phillips and John Kruk on a set alone and run the cameras! Tomorrow during the mid-day BBTN, Dumber and Dumberest will be 'hosting' there own show . . . a-l-o-n-e!

I won't be around for it, but bet your bippie I'll be taping that comedic milestone!!!

hunteralan:

SportsCenter's Top 10 list tonight had Victor Martinez at #4. Martinez caught a popup of a bunt that was all of 5 feet away from home plate. He basically turned around and fell down to make the catch. Apparently though, according to the SC anchors, 'That's why he was an All Star.' . . . . . Uhh, yeeeeeaaah. That's the reason.

That's one of the sad aspects about BoSPiN beating a horse to death and so focusing on play back east, but back east is what they focus on and games out west get played after the folks back east have gone nighty-night. To wit:

* They focus on a defensive play by Vic because he plays within a time zone of Naw Yawk-Bahstahn, and plays for a team that plays a fair amount against the Yanks and BoSox.

* They focus on a defensive play by Vic as he is a great hitter, especially for a catcher, and being such an accomplished hitter seems to make many players much better defenders than otherwise for some reason in the minds of some pundits.

* They focus on a defensive play by Vic as there aren't that many above average defensive plays to focus on as half the games have yet to be played out west when BBTN airs at 9:00 PM EST.

Meanwhile, I have been catching a few games on EI around the Dodgers games over the past few night.

A kid named Salazar made a tremendous catch in RF for the Snakes against the Pods Friday night, where he leaped up at the wall, using his off hand to further propel himself from the top of the wall and caught a HR ball off of the bat of Brian Giles at least 3 feet above the 8 foot wall. However, that play was made after midnight back east.

Last night a kid 3B for the Tigers dove into the stands to snag a pop-up down off of 3B against the M's. BoSPin would love to show a defensive high-light for the Tigers, as they play their home games within 1 time zone of Naw Yak-Bahstahn and play a fair amount against the Yanks and BoSox , but alas this play occured in Seattle around midnight EST.

You have got to love this note from Jon Heyman of SI

• I understand that there are Web sites dedicated to eradicating Joe Morgan from the airwaves. If that's true, I'd just like to know where to sign up.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/jon_heyman/07/24/tuesday.scoop/1.html

Had to bump this back up in light of the Peavy/Cy Young thread. I didn't want to pollute that thread with BoSPiN's Idiocy, but how's this for some more Boston Spin from Bristol...

Last night, after Beckett's complete game shutout in Game 1, the lead story on Sports Center was all about the 'most dominant right handed starter now'. And courtesy of John Kruk, Beckett was definitively named as such. he started his misguided, completely biased statement with, 'with all due respect to Jake Peavy, Brandon Webb, and some others'...

Now maybe it's just me, but how can one make a definitive, absolute statement, starting out by giving due respect to another player, let alone several others. If Beckett is so definitively the best, why does Kruk have to qualify it as he did? If someone is to be the best, isn't it clearly obvious that they are better than everyone else?

So who is most dominant?

W-L.....ERA.....WHIP.....BAA.....K/BB
20-7....3.27.....1.14......245....194/40...Pitcher A
19-6....2.54.....1.06......208....240/68...Pitcher B
18-10...3.01.....1.18......237....194/72...Pitcher C
14-8....3.11.....1.18......237....197/47...Pitcher D
16-6....3.73.....1.14......242....218/52...Pitcher E
19-9....3.01.....1.23......254....179/52...Pitcher F
18-6....3.66.....1.23......233....183/67...Pitcher G

is there a definitively best pitcher there? I'd say so. Pitcher B has a significantly lower ERA, a significantly lower WHIP, a significantly lower Batting Average Against, and significantly more strike outs . . . Looks pretty definitively dominant, yes?

I would have no problem giving Pitcher B the title of most dominant right handed starter with absolutely no qualifiers at all. It's really not even close. Sorry BoSPin and Bristol's Village Idiot Kruk, Jake Peavy is that pitcher.

And take a look at some of those number again.

W-L.....ERA.....WHIP.....BAA.....K/BB
20-7....3.27.....1.14......245....194/40
14-8....3.11.....1.18......237....197/47
16-6....3.73.....1.14......242....218/52

How much closer could you get? Minus the wins, which we all know is a poor indicator of how good a pitcher is, there's really very little difference between the three of these, right? So again I ask, how can someone be so clearly dominant when there are many others who can match them so closely? If BoSPiN is going to crown Beckett the most dominant right handed starter going, they're going to have to make a few more crowns for the likes of John Smoltz and Aaron Harang, because as it shows above, they are clearly also the most dominant right handed starters in baseball right now.

Dang, I got a little worried when I saw the Idiocy Gene thread was bumped and Kyle was the last poster. Was afraid I was included. That woulda meant wahr.

Glad to see HA is back at it with more solid work making Jon Kruk look like the biggest idiot this side of Joe Morgan.

Here's an interesting thing we can do to pass the time while we are waiting for the hot stove to heat up. Name your top 5 idiots in the sports media. Each first place vote gets that person 5 points, second 4 points and so on. In a few days or so we'll declare a winner as THE biggest idiot in the sports media.

My votes:
1. Simers
2. Kruk
3. Morgan
4. Phillips
5. Plaschke

1. Morgan
2. Morgan
3. Morgan
4. Morgan
5. Morgan

Dishonorable Mention: Kruk, Ravwretch, Phillips, Simer, Plashke.

All due disrespect to everyone else on the face of the earth, but this ain't even close. No matter how idiotic all the other Idiot's are, they can't even collectively add up to the idiocy Mr. Joe Morgan spews forth.

1)Simers
2)Plaschke
3)Morgan
4)Phillips
5)Buck