As a Red Sox fan I've tried not to question the decisions of the team's front office, namely general manager Theo Epstein, all that often. Sure he's made some bad calls (trading Bronson Arroyo for Willy Mo Pena, signing Daisuke Matsuzaka etc.) but he's also made some great decisions, World Series winning decisions (acquiring Curt Schilling, trading Nomar etc.).
Now however I'm left seriously questioning his decision to claim Johnny Damon off waivers. Remember this is the Johnny Damon who left Boston, and his godliness, behind for $12 million of slightly greener pastures in New York when the Sox were prepared to offer him a more than reasonable contract. More importantly this is the Johnny Damon who has struggled all year for Detroit.
Epstein's rationale — to prevent him from going to the Rays or back to the Yankees.
First, to educate those who may not know, after the July 31st non-waiver trading deadline, in order for players to be traded they must go on waivers for a period of 10 days. During that time any team may lay claim to them and it is then up to that players team to decide whether or not they want to trade them. Once that 10-day period elapses the team is free to trade that player to whomever they like. Often times, teams will claim players to prevent them from going to a rival as is the case with Damon.
But there in lies the danger, the Red Sox want nothing to do with Damon as a player, or at least they shouldn't. His skills are diminished and there is little he could likely contribute but because of the claim they could very well wind up saddled with him and his salary. Granted, Damon has a no-trade clause and he could block any trade himself, but what if he doesn't and he allows something to go through? Then the Sox are stuck with a washed up outfielder.
What really makes this move questionable and less than desirable is the fact that the Sox, though not mathematically eliminated are likely going to be on the outside looking in come playoff time. With so many injuries and a shaky pitching staff why would they want to risk trading younger talent for a guy who won't matter in the end? Better question, instead of trying to block a guy from going to a rival, why didn't the Red Sox try to acquire some talent before the deadline, another bat, more pitching, anything that could have made a difference?
Theo should have just kept his mouth shut and let this one go. It's not worth the risk.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
"Stupid old men and their stupid old rules"
I don't know what it is but this has not been a good week for sports officials. Blown calls, bad calls, poor decisions this week has, unfortunately, had it all.
It started Sunday with the final round of the PGA Championship. On the 18th hole Dustin Johnson shanks his drive into the crowd on the right and finds his way into a seemingly innocuous patch of sand that had been trampled by the weekend crowds. He plays out the hole as one normally would making bogey and seemingly forcing a three-way playoff for the championship.
Oh but wait! As it turns out that seemingly innocuous patch of sand wasn't so innocuous, it was in fact a bunker, one of many so-called "waste bunkers" throughout the course. And, clearly not realizing that, Johnson grounded his club as he was taking his practice swings (essentially he put his club into the sand before swinging) which resulted, after about 15 minutes of review, in a two-stroke penalty taking him out of competition.
The PGA's official response was that postings had been made all throughout the week in the locker room that anything that was a bunker or a hazard prior to the start of the tournament was to remain so during the actual play regardless of any cosmetic changes caused by people and/or vehicles. Basically they attempted to cover their own backsides.
There are those that would argue that the officials should have waived that rule given the situation and the circumstances, end of the final major, final group, didn't really gain any advantage etc. There are others who say Dustin should have just known better or there are others, like my girlfriend, who accurately pointed out that he actually grounded his club twice and should have been penalized four strokes, while mumbling about stupid old men and their stupid old rules.
My problem with this situation boils down to two things, the first is that the PGA should have known this was a potential problem and simply deemed that all hazards outside the ropes, or outside the "field of play," were not to be seen as hazards and played normally. The other issue is the only reason why Dustin got penalized was because he was on television as the final group, had this happened to someone earlier in the day who finished in the middle of the pack nothing would have happened, why, because he wouldn't have been on TV.
That was one issue.
The other happened in last night's Yankee/Tigers game. In the bottom of the first Detroit's pitcher plunked Brett Gardner in retaliation for an excessively hard slide into second the day before. Fine, the players police themselves and that's the end of it. But no not really, the home plate umpire Eric Cooper comes out and issues a warning to both benches meaning that the next pitcher to hit a batter in the game is going to be thrown out, as is that pitcher's manager.
Before I go any further let me just say that there is no need to warn anybody. As I said, the players need to police themselves and that will be the end of it.
Things got worse later in the game though. After hitting two home runs Miguel Cabrera is up against the Yankees' Chad Gaudin. Gaudin, after a few pitches, plunks Cabrera on the back, fairly obviously on purpose. Cooper does nothing, Tigers manager Jim Leyland argues the entire rest of the inning, and rightfully so, and gets thrown out for his troubles. Next inning Enrique Gonzalez for the Tigers throws behind Derek Jeter, also clearly on purpose, and again Cooper does nothing.
Ok, you shouldn't have warned the benches in the first place but once you did you had to uphold your own ruling. By not doing so you've not only made a mockery out of the rulebook your supposed to enforce, but you've also made a mockery of yourself and shown that you have no credibility and are an embarrassment.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, there needs to be accountability for officials who screw up. They need to be fined, suspended, put on probation, anything to make them actually do their jobs the right way and not be lazy.
It started Sunday with the final round of the PGA Championship. On the 18th hole Dustin Johnson shanks his drive into the crowd on the right and finds his way into a seemingly innocuous patch of sand that had been trampled by the weekend crowds. He plays out the hole as one normally would making bogey and seemingly forcing a three-way playoff for the championship.
Oh but wait! As it turns out that seemingly innocuous patch of sand wasn't so innocuous, it was in fact a bunker, one of many so-called "waste bunkers" throughout the course. And, clearly not realizing that, Johnson grounded his club as he was taking his practice swings (essentially he put his club into the sand before swinging) which resulted, after about 15 minutes of review, in a two-stroke penalty taking him out of competition.
The PGA's official response was that postings had been made all throughout the week in the locker room that anything that was a bunker or a hazard prior to the start of the tournament was to remain so during the actual play regardless of any cosmetic changes caused by people and/or vehicles. Basically they attempted to cover their own backsides.
There are those that would argue that the officials should have waived that rule given the situation and the circumstances, end of the final major, final group, didn't really gain any advantage etc. There are others who say Dustin should have just known better or there are others, like my girlfriend, who accurately pointed out that he actually grounded his club twice and should have been penalized four strokes, while mumbling about stupid old men and their stupid old rules.
My problem with this situation boils down to two things, the first is that the PGA should have known this was a potential problem and simply deemed that all hazards outside the ropes, or outside the "field of play," were not to be seen as hazards and played normally. The other issue is the only reason why Dustin got penalized was because he was on television as the final group, had this happened to someone earlier in the day who finished in the middle of the pack nothing would have happened, why, because he wouldn't have been on TV.
That was one issue.
The other happened in last night's Yankee/Tigers game. In the bottom of the first Detroit's pitcher plunked Brett Gardner in retaliation for an excessively hard slide into second the day before. Fine, the players police themselves and that's the end of it. But no not really, the home plate umpire Eric Cooper comes out and issues a warning to both benches meaning that the next pitcher to hit a batter in the game is going to be thrown out, as is that pitcher's manager.
Before I go any further let me just say that there is no need to warn anybody. As I said, the players need to police themselves and that will be the end of it.
Things got worse later in the game though. After hitting two home runs Miguel Cabrera is up against the Yankees' Chad Gaudin. Gaudin, after a few pitches, plunks Cabrera on the back, fairly obviously on purpose. Cooper does nothing, Tigers manager Jim Leyland argues the entire rest of the inning, and rightfully so, and gets thrown out for his troubles. Next inning Enrique Gonzalez for the Tigers throws behind Derek Jeter, also clearly on purpose, and again Cooper does nothing.
Ok, you shouldn't have warned the benches in the first place but once you did you had to uphold your own ruling. By not doing so you've not only made a mockery out of the rulebook your supposed to enforce, but you've also made a mockery of yourself and shown that you have no credibility and are an embarrassment.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, there needs to be accountability for officials who screw up. They need to be fined, suspended, put on probation, anything to make them actually do their jobs the right way and not be lazy.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Texas Two-Step
Who ever said chivalry is dead? A women identified only as Sarah apparently.
Sarah, along with boyfriend, known as Bo, found herself at Minute Maid Park for a Houston Astros game this past Monday on what seemed like a pleasant evening for a wonderful date at the ballpark.
Yet somehow she just knew that the night would take a turn for the worse. According to an interview on Astros.com, Sarah said that after arriving at their seats she turned to Bo and said, "Baby I just know we're going to get hit," referring of course to an errant foul ball, to which Bo naturally replied, "No I'll catch it."
Of course he would. As Sarah's un-luck would have it, in the fourth inning Chris Johnson ripped a foul ball right at Sarah and, rather than defend his lady-love, Bo proved he was not much of a beau and danced out of the way allowing the rocketing projectile an unimpeded path right into Sarah's arm. Bo's excuse, blame it on the lights. He claimed that he lost it in the lights! Sorry big guy but only professional outfielders can use that excuse when they make an embarrassing error.
To Sarah's credit, she escaped with only a bruise, a ball, and undoubtedly a sheepishly apologetic boyfriend. So boys, take note, if you take your girlfriend/fiance/wife to a game and a ball happens to rocket at her face, make the sacrifice, take one for the team if you will because a broken hand is much better than a broken heart.
Sarah, along with boyfriend, known as Bo, found herself at Minute Maid Park for a Houston Astros game this past Monday on what seemed like a pleasant evening for a wonderful date at the ballpark.
Yet somehow she just knew that the night would take a turn for the worse. According to an interview on Astros.com, Sarah said that after arriving at their seats she turned to Bo and said, "Baby I just know we're going to get hit," referring of course to an errant foul ball, to which Bo naturally replied, "No I'll catch it."
Of course he would. As Sarah's un-luck would have it, in the fourth inning Chris Johnson ripped a foul ball right at Sarah and, rather than defend his lady-love, Bo proved he was not much of a beau and danced out of the way allowing the rocketing projectile an unimpeded path right into Sarah's arm. Bo's excuse, blame it on the lights. He claimed that he lost it in the lights! Sorry big guy but only professional outfielders can use that excuse when they make an embarrassing error.
To Sarah's credit, she escaped with only a bruise, a ball, and undoubtedly a sheepishly apologetic boyfriend. So boys, take note, if you take your girlfriend/fiance/wife to a game and a ball happens to rocket at her face, make the sacrifice, take one for the team if you will because a broken hand is much better than a broken heart.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Remember when
So admittedly after posting my last blog I was feeling a tad depressed and hoped that something would happen later that night in the sports world that would bring me out of my funk. And while I didn't happen to catch anything in an actual game I did find a certifiable treasure in the basement of my girlfriend's grandmother's house.
We had gone over for dinner and somehow during conversation the topic of golf came up. They all know I'm an avid golfer and I'm teaching my girlfriend to play and as it turns out they all golfed in the past as well. At one point my girlfriend's grandmother mentions that she, and her sister, probably still have their old clubs somewhere in the basement.
She added that they just weren't any clubs, they were old-style, wooden-shaft clubs that, as it turns out, were over 60-years-old. As soon as dinner was over I, barely able to contain my excitement, and my girlfriend trekked down to the cellar to see them. And it would be fair to say I was like a kid in a candy store. I had always wanted to hold an old style club and I was amazed at just how good of a condition they were in. It was a moment that completely brought me out of my earlier sports depression and I decided then and there that we would try to restore them as keepsakes and heirlooms.
Here are some pictures of our find.
An iron. Note the dots in the club head as opposed to today's style of grooves
A full shot of the iron. Amazingly the wood is in great condition and only needs some polish. The heads have a bit of rust on them but nothing major.
This is where the expression "Hitting it on the screws," was born. A metal plate was screwed into the wooden club head and making contact where the screws were placed meant you were hitting the ball with the sweet spot generating the most distance and accuracy.
We had gone over for dinner and somehow during conversation the topic of golf came up. They all know I'm an avid golfer and I'm teaching my girlfriend to play and as it turns out they all golfed in the past as well. At one point my girlfriend's grandmother mentions that she, and her sister, probably still have their old clubs somewhere in the basement.
She added that they just weren't any clubs, they were old-style, wooden-shaft clubs that, as it turns out, were over 60-years-old. As soon as dinner was over I, barely able to contain my excitement, and my girlfriend trekked down to the cellar to see them. And it would be fair to say I was like a kid in a candy store. I had always wanted to hold an old style club and I was amazed at just how good of a condition they were in. It was a moment that completely brought me out of my earlier sports depression and I decided then and there that we would try to restore them as keepsakes and heirlooms.
Here are some pictures of our find.
An iron. Note the dots in the club head as opposed to today's style of grooves
A full shot of the iron. Amazingly the wood is in great condition and only needs some polish. The heads have a bit of rust on them but nothing major.
This is where the expression "Hitting it on the screws," was born. A metal plate was screwed into the wooden club head and making contact where the screws were placed meant you were hitting the ball with the sweet spot generating the most distance and accuracy.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
The messy just gets messier
For all the good feelings that sports provide there are some days that just make you sit back, cringe, and question why are you even a sports fan.
Today has been one of those days.
Normally one of the first things I do after I get to the office in the morning is check out ESPN.com to check the scores and news from the overnight hours but on this particular morning my plate was full. So I take care of what I need to take care of and finally get to log onto the site and what am I graced with?
A giant image of an emotional Brett Favre walking off the field last season with the headline "The final goodbye...?" Yes apparently Captain Indecisive himself had decided to "retire," for a third time after reportedly texting friends throughout the league saying "this is it."
So here we go again, Brett dragging all the attention onto him with the will he or won't he actually retire after 19 seasons of professional football. Honestly I'm trying really hard not to care (which is hard because apparently ESPN is holding a Brett Favre "special" edition of SportsCenter at 3:30). It makes me sick to see this happen again and to see everyone just eating out of Favre's hand.
I've never cared if he wants to still play, he's still got the skills so that's fine, just don't do this again because it's getting old. I can only hope that if he does in fact come back he gets the same treatment the Saints gave him in the NFC Championship game next year.
Now normally a story like that alone would be enough to make my skin crawl But apparently ESPN is running a two-for-one special today. Once I got over my dry heaves from the Favre nonsense I saw this little nugget amongst the other headlines: "LeBron ad thanks Akron, but Cleveland absent."
It would seem that Mr. James took out a full-page ad in his hometown paper thanking his fans there for all the support but made no mention whatsoever about the city who treated him like a king for nearly a decade. True Cleveland fans, and owners, may have gone a bit overboard in vilifying LeBron. But I can understand the sentiment given the way in which James dragged the city through the mud during the whole free agency process including the disgusting display showcased by ESPN during "The Decision."
And no, James doesn't really owe the city anything but I would have hoped had the courage to be man enough to try and heal the rift he had a big hand in creating.
So yes, this truly is a day that makes me embarrassed to be a sports fan but I'll take a little solace in the fact that something exciting will probably happen during the rest of the day to soothe my fragile ego.
Today has been one of those days.
Normally one of the first things I do after I get to the office in the morning is check out ESPN.com to check the scores and news from the overnight hours but on this particular morning my plate was full. So I take care of what I need to take care of and finally get to log onto the site and what am I graced with?
A giant image of an emotional Brett Favre walking off the field last season with the headline "The final goodbye...?" Yes apparently Captain Indecisive himself had decided to "retire," for a third time after reportedly texting friends throughout the league saying "this is it."
So here we go again, Brett dragging all the attention onto him with the will he or won't he actually retire after 19 seasons of professional football. Honestly I'm trying really hard not to care (which is hard because apparently ESPN is holding a Brett Favre "special" edition of SportsCenter at 3:30). It makes me sick to see this happen again and to see everyone just eating out of Favre's hand.
I've never cared if he wants to still play, he's still got the skills so that's fine, just don't do this again because it's getting old. I can only hope that if he does in fact come back he gets the same treatment the Saints gave him in the NFC Championship game next year.
Now normally a story like that alone would be enough to make my skin crawl But apparently ESPN is running a two-for-one special today. Once I got over my dry heaves from the Favre nonsense I saw this little nugget amongst the other headlines: "LeBron ad thanks Akron, but Cleveland absent."
It would seem that Mr. James took out a full-page ad in his hometown paper thanking his fans there for all the support but made no mention whatsoever about the city who treated him like a king for nearly a decade. True Cleveland fans, and owners, may have gone a bit overboard in vilifying LeBron. But I can understand the sentiment given the way in which James dragged the city through the mud during the whole free agency process including the disgusting display showcased by ESPN during "The Decision."
And no, James doesn't really owe the city anything but I would have hoped had the courage to be man enough to try and heal the rift he had a big hand in creating.
So yes, this truly is a day that makes me embarrassed to be a sports fan but I'll take a little solace in the fact that something exciting will probably happen during the rest of the day to soothe my fragile ego.
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