Are They Baseball Players, or Cows?

When I finished graduate school, I was determined to go on to law school with hopes of becoming a sports agent.  Jerry Maguire was going to have nothin’ on me – I was going to represent high-profile athletes and I was going to negotiate contracts that were worth millions of dollars, including the contract of my millionaire baseball player husband.  Well, things didn’t quite go that way – I was burned out from so much studying, and at the age of 24 I was in a hurry to be a grown-up, so instead of going to law school I bought a house.

I don’t believe in regrets, so I am perfectly happy with my engineer husband, two great kids, a crazy dog, and a little house in the heart of a great city.  When I stop to think about what my life would have been like as a big-time high-powered sports agent, I conclude that I would have been miserable.  Rich, but miserable.  It is the sports agents (and the team owners and General Managers) who make the business of professional baseball such a turn-off for so many fans like me.  When you ask a baseball fan why they like the game, they might mention the excitement of visiting a ballpark to catch a game between two rival teams; following a young player’s career from the minors through retirement; the thrill of a well-executed double play or a nasty fastball.  No one says “I like baseball because I enjoy watching overpaid athletes being traded around like cattle at an auction” or “I just love when my favorite player is traded to another team and I can no longer watch him day in and day out on local broadcasts.”  And surely no one says “I love baseball because the players give it their all despite being underpaid.”  Baseball is a business, and its rich players are the chess pieces that get wheeled and dealt no matter what the price or the team loyalty (or lack thereof).

One of the toughest things for me as a fan has been trying to explain the business of baseball to my ten-year-old son, who fervently follows the Washington Nationals and feels like he knows the players like if they were close relatives.  When I told him last week that reliever Tyler Clippard was traded to the Oakland A’s for Yunel Escobar, he was heartbroken.  “The Nationals don’t need another shortstop!” he said (Escobar is being moved to second base, which he hasn’t regularly played).  And when the Nationals signed free agent pitcher Max Scherzer for a gazillion dollars earlier this week, he said “That makes six starting pitchers!”  I had to explain to him that both Doug Fister and Jordan Zimmermann would become free agents at the end of the 2015 season, and if they were going to sign with other teams after this season anyway, they might as well get traded so the Nationals could get some players in return.  He was not happy.  Why would they get rid of last year’s best starter – the guy who pitched a no-hitter on the last game of the season (Zimmermann)?  No idea.  Why would they get rid of such an excellent-fielding and consistent pitcher (Fister)?  I wish I knew.  But now my son thinks that the Nationals’ General Manager, Mike Rizzo, is a heartless Grinch who doesn’t care about the fans.  Well, that’s what the business of baseball is all about, son; no one said it was pretty and happy and full of Koom Bah Yah.

I, the practical one, always think about the effects of a trade on a player’s family.  Do they pack up and move to a new city, or do they stay put in their off-season home?  And it’s not just the wife and kids who are impacted – when the Nationals announced the Clippard trade on Facebook, Tyler’s grandmother posted her appreciation to the Washington fans and said “I guess I’ll have to get used to green and gold!”  I Facebook-stalked her (that’s what she gets for not making her profile private!) and her wall is filled with pictures of different family members decked out in red, white, and blue Nationals garb at different games throughout the past few years.  They all looked so happy watching and supporting Tyler – now they have to send their patriotic-colored fan wear to Goodwill and buy all new jerseys and foam fingers.  That’s a pain.  And unless you live in San Francisco, Oakland is not exactly close to anything, so I don’t know how often Grandma Clippard will be able to watch her grandson pitch.

On the bright side, Spring Training is less than a month away.  I know; hard to believe, right?  Plus we still have the Super Bowl to look forward to as well as March Madness (this year I will be filling out my brackets based solely on school mascots).  And my husband and I are going to this year’s annual meeting of our local SABR chapter (Society for American Baseball Research) in Alexandria, Virginia, so that should be interesting.   Hang in there with me, friends; opening day will be here before we know it!

Freedom of the Press? Not in Frederick!

Hello, my friends!  Sorry  it's been so long since my last post - life was pretty busy with work, out-of-town guests, soccer games, and of course lots of playoffs and World Series-watching.  How about those Red Sox?  While I was rooting for the Cardinals (because I don't usually root for American League teams, plus the Cards had Carlos Beltrán and Yadier Molina in their lineup and José Oquendo coaching third base - all Puerto Rican), it's always nice to see a team win the World Series at home, and besides, how can you resist David Ortiz and his contagious smile?

So we're officially in the off-season, a time when General Managers start wheeling and dealing, free agents are signed, and salary arbitration is a hot topic.  New managers are hired too, as is the case with the Washington Nationals, who are formally announcing Matt Williams as their new manager.  As the Nationals blogger for my local newspaper, I wrote a little ditty about Williams and what I thought of him as a former player.  The post was published in the newspaper's website, but one of my sentences was edited.  Now, I know the newspaper has the right to edit any submission made to their website, but if you've seen the number of typographic and grammatical errors in our local fishwrap, you know the editing is not top-notch.  Besides, they have that legal disclaimer indicating that the views expressed by their bloggers are not necessarily those of the newspaper.  Doesn't that give me the right to say whatever I want (within reason)?  Here's what I wrote, with the removed sentence highlighted:

"Hey Nationals fans!  I hope you all had a safe Halloween – did you all see my son dressed as Jayson Werth?  Anyway, now that the World Series is over, the Washington Nationals can make it official:  Matt Williams has been hired as their new manager.

Williams, 47, becomes the fifth full-time manager in Nationals history. The team made the announcement on Thursday morning, and Williams will meet with the media Friday afternoon during a 2 p.m. press conference that will be televised live on MASN HD.

A five-time All-Star, four-time Silver Slugger award winner and four-time Gold Glove award recipient at third base, Williams played 17 seasons in the big leagues with the Diamondbacks (1998-03), Indians (1997) and Giants (1987-96).  I remember him most with the Giants, on the same lineup as Kevin Mitchell and Will Clark;  I guess that means I’m getting old!

Williams has spent the last four years on the Diamondbacks' coaching staff, serving one year as first base coach and the last three years as third base coach. This will be Williams' first big league managerial job, so going from legendary manager Davey Johnson, who was around for about 90 years or so, to a rookie manager will take some getting used to.

Williams was chosen over a handful of other candidates, including Randy Knorr, who is expected to return as Nationals bench coach and has been with the organization since 2005, third base coach Trent Jewett, Padres special assistant Brad Ausmus and Blue Jays bench coach DeMarlo Hale. My personal candidate, Sandy Alomar, Junior, was not even considered.  But I’ve always suspected that Nationals’ General Manager, Mike Rizzo, doesn’t seem to like Hispanics, so that came as no surprise.  Randy Knorr, however, had the endorsement of several Nationals players including Ryan Zimmerman, Ian Desmond, and Tyler Clippard, so I hope they can all adjust to the new guy coming in as opposed to working under a guy who has been there since the team moved here from Montreal.

And wasn’t Matt Williams included in that Mitchell report that listed players who had used performance-enhancing drugs?  I guess that shouldn’t affect your abilities as manager (look at Mark McGuire, who has excelled as the hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals despite “mis-remembering” if he took PEDs or not).  So I’m going to be open-minded about Matt Williams – there’s no need to dislike the guy before the season has even started.  I just hope Mike Rizzo does SOMETHING during the winter meetings in December, they don’t re-sign free agents Dan Haren and Chad Tracy, and Bryce Harper, Stephen Strasburg, and Adam LaRoche recover nicely from their recent surgeries (Harper had the bursa in his knee repaired and Strasburg and LaRoche had bone chips removed from their elbows)."

 What's wrong with thinking that someone doesn't like Hispanics?  It was my opinion; that's why I said "I suspected."  I didn't go right out and say "Rizzo is a racist" (which I wouldn't say, because I don't know that for a fact); I just gave my opinion based on the fact that the Nationals' coaching staff is comprised of older white guys (since Bo Porter left in 2012) and their roster has always had less Hispanic players than other teams.  Just my opinion; no need to remove it from my blog post!  Besides, I've read blog posts from other Nationals fans and beat writers who have complained that the Nationals lack minority players and coaches, so I'm definitely not the only one out there with that kind of opinion.  

Thanks to all of you for allowing me to express myself in my own blog.  I appreciate everyone's comments and opinions and am glad that Blogger doesn't seem to care what I publish.  I would probably explode if I wasn't allowed to share my feelings with all of you!  Embrace the off-season, have a wonderful holiday season with your loved ones, and remember that Spring Training will be here before you know it!

Not Just on the Fence, but WAAAY on the Fence!

I'm the type of person who can't always make up her mind about certain things.  At times, when my husband asks me where I want to go out to eat, I give him the dreaded "I don't care."  When he asks me where I want to go for a leisurely run, I'll say "I don't know; wherever."  That's not to say that I'm always indecisive - when I crave a certain food, that may dictate the restaurant I would like to visit.  Or if I can't decide between which two pairs of shoes to buy, I can usually make up my mind pretty easily (buy both pairs; duh!).  But this situation with Nationals' pitcher Stephen Strasburg has me in a real quandary.

For those of you unfamiliar with "Stras" and his current situation, here's a little bit of background:  The Washington Nationals drafted Stephen in the first round of the 2009 Major League Baseball draft out of San Diego State University.  Stras had two years of collegiate pitching experience and was part of the 2008 US Olympic team that lost to Cuba in the Beijing Olympics.  He was the most closely-watched pitcher in draft history, and when the Nationals signed him ($15 million for 4 years), great things were expected of Strasburg.

So the kid gets to make his Major League debut in June of 2010 and is an instant sensation.  He struck out 14 batters in his debut on June 9 and 32 batters in his first 3 Major League starts.  The guy was practically unhittable!  Well, in August of that year, Stephen ends up tearing a ligament in his throwing elbow, which required Tommy John surgery (a procedure where they take a ligament from somewhere else in your body or from a cadaver and attach it to your elbow).  This surgery requires a lot of rehab - usually a year or so. 

So in August of 2011, Strasburg made his comeback by starting a rehab assignment with the single-A Hagerstown Suns (a game that my husband and I attended).  Stras made 5 other minor-league starts and moved up to the majors in September, where he pitched 24 innings in 5 starts.  Strasburg was doing OK; his elbow had healed nicely and big things were expected from him for the 2012 season.

So how has Strasburg done this year?  Pretty well, thanks.  The rightie is 15-5 so far, with a 2.85 ERA and 183 strikeouts in 145.1 innings pitched (leading the National League in Ks).  Stras was named to this year's All-Star team, and he has even had one home run as a batter.  Now here's the big dilemma:  Because of his recovery from Tommy John surgery, Nationals' General Manager, Mike Rizzo, has said since the beginning of the season that he is going to pull Strasburg after reaching a limit of 160 or so innings.  This is what they did to Nationals' pitcher Jordan Zimmermann last year after having had the same surgery in 2009.  Zimmermann was pulled last August and no one seemed to notice.  However, because the Nationals are in first place in the NL East and are more than likely going to the playoffs, this is, by far, the most heated debate going on in the DC area today (despite being an election year).

So is Mike Rizzo right in pulling Strasburg before the season is done?  (The way it looks now, Strasburg probably only has 2 or 3 more starts left).  This is where many ardent Nationals fans have their definite opinions.  I, however, ardent a fan as I am, am very indecisive as to what the right thing to do is.  Those who agree with Rizzo think that Strasburg is an investment that needs to be managed carefully (like that stock you may have bought in Facebook - don't you feel stupid now?).  If he pitches too much too soon after surgery, he could injure his shoulder or suffer from fatigue next year (Jordan Zimmermann, in this his first full season since his surgery, is starting to exhibit signs of exhaustion, and they will definitely need him during the playoffs).  The Nationals have plenty of pitching depth in the minor leagues, and with other excellent starters like Gio Gonzalez (who is having a Cy Young-type of season), they should be fine in the playoffs. 

On the other side of the debate are those (like my husband and my friend Bernie) who think it's preposterous to sit the guy out during the playoffs, an event that DC fans have been waiting for since the team moved here from Montreal in 2005.  If Strasburg is shut down and the Nationals don't make it too far in the playoffs, the 2013 season will be a long one, and it will be full of high expectations.  The Nationals will be under the type of pressure under which they've never been, and if they don't make it to the playoffs in 2013, a lot of the bandwagon and casual fans will lose interest.  It's a "now or never" attitude that many Nats fans have - pitch him now or we'll never ever be in the playoffs again! 

Some people have even opined that because the world is going to end on December 12 according to the Mayan calendar, he should be allowed to pitch because he's not going to be back next season anyway.  I had to laugh at that one!  Others have said that Strasburg should be shut down now and then brought back in October.  That may work for a veteran pitcher, but remember, this guy is only 24 years old and is still learning how to pitch in the Majors.  You don't just sit there for a month and then be expected to perform at your best right away.

So what do I think?  As a former Athletic Trainer, I understand Mike Rizzo's argument.  He has been crystal clear about Strasburg's pitch count since Spring Training, and he has not backed down from his decision.  He also gets credit for being up-front with the media and with fans, which is something that GMs are not normally known for doing.  But then again, I am a very competitive person (ask my husband, who knows how cranky I get when I lose in "Seinfeld Scene-It"), and I of all people really really want the Nationals to go on to the World Series.  Does one guy make a difference in a 25- or 40-man roster?  I'd like to think not.  Plus the Nationals have a very strong bullpen, so even if the starters can't get it done, the bullpen can save the day.  It's not like I'm neither here nor there about it - that would mean I didn't care.  I'm just weighing the pros and cons and just can't come up with a definite opinion.  I bet Stephen Strasburg will be shut down, and us fans are just going to have to accept it.  Here's to the last six weeks of the regular season, and to the Nationals hanging in there (with or without Strasburg) and making it to the playoffs.  The best of the season is yet to come!

OUCH! That Stove is HOT!

Happy New Year, my friends!  With baseball season only a couple of months away (pitchers and catchers actually report to spring training in six weeks!!!), I am back to blogging on my other blog - the serious one that doesn't allow me to be as opinionated.  So please check out my first post of the year, but read it quickly before my editor takes the humor out of it:

http://www.prosportsblogging.com/2012/01/09/ouch-that-stove-is-hot/

(And for you non-baseball fans who don't know the term "Hot Stove," it refers to the off-season when team owners and General Managers sign free agents and trade players.  I think it was given that name because back in the day, people used to gather around a hot stove in the wintertime waiting for radio reports on the most recent trades and acquisitions).

Thanks as always for all your support!