Don't Believe Anything You Hear from a GM
An ordinary day here in Cincinnati. I wake up, ease into my morning, glance through the local rag. In it, I find out that Walt Jocketty's got a few soundbites for us:
"I'd be surprised if something happens," he said. "It's been pretty quiet. I've called some teams just to talk. But everyone's saying it's quiet."
I wonder what happened when Walt called Kenny Williams "just to talk". Maybe they talked about the Reds emulating the recent smash-success promotion the White Sox held on July 19. (I was there. It was great.). Maybe Walt called him just to talk about how their bitchy wives just didn't understand why the trade deadline was so important. I can just hear Kenny: "I don't know how many times I have to explain the waiver system to her, she just doesn't get it! She just keeps asking 'Why can't you just let that guy go play somewhere else?'"
Maybe they called to talk about trading the most high-profile player the Reds have ever had.
"To trade a player away from our team, we'd have to get someone who would help us in the future," Jocketty said.
Well, I'm not sure a shortstop with a minor-league OPS of .779 and a left-handed pitcher with a minor-league record of 31-49 and a WHIP of 1.46 are going to help the Reds a whole lot in the future, barring some Rookie of the Year accidents for these gentlemen.
Let's keep in mind that I'm not really opposed to this trade; I just thought that the general public should be aware that 97% of what comes out of a general manager's mouth is space-filling bullshit.
8 comments:
Danbob,
Let's not kid ourselves. Ken Griffey, Jr. caught wind of Mullet Night and pushed for the trade. You can't find that level of appreciation for the 80s, hair bands or trailer park culture just anywhere.
One day, I would like to be a GM and just say ridiculous things all the time. I think that it would be very liberating.
Now, on to the important business of selling the sponsorship rights to the men's rooms at Wrigley Field: "Have to go all the time? This bathroom is proudly presented to you by Flomax! Ask your doctor if Flomax is right for you."
I agree Ah, I would like to just make shit up and lie all day, even if it is only for a month. I am going to start doing that as soon as I find a job and move out of the attic.
This is slightly off topic, but did anyone notice on ESPN's bottom line last night they had the Manny Ramirez quote to ESPN Deportes that said, "The Red Sox don't deserve a player like me. During my years here, I've seen how they [the Red Sox] have mistreated other great players when they didn't want them to try to turn the fans against them. Their goal is to paint me as the bad guy."
In fact the Manny quote said this, "The Red Sox don't deserve a player like me. During my years here, I've seen how they [the Red Sox] have mistreated other great players when they didn't want them to try to turn the fans against them. THE RED SOX DID THE SAME THING WITH GUYS LIKE NOMAR GARCIAPARRA AND PEDRO MARTINEZ, AND NOW THEY DO THE SAME WITH ME. Their goal is to paint me as the bad guy."
I thought it was interesting ESPN left out the part about Pedro and Nomar but included the last sentence. Including Nomar and Pedro would make the quote have more effect when put on the bottom line, but maybe they did it for time constraints. Or maybe ESPN is afraid to lose the Red Sox viewing fan base and don't want fans to remember that they did put those two out to pasture. That is my ESPN-BoSox conspiracy of the day.
Also, the Red Sox would be smart to hold out for Mike Stanton in exchange for Manny. He plays minor league ball where I live and he is going to be good. Actually I hate the Red Sox, so I hope they don't hold out for Stanton in a Manny trade.
Not that I disagree with the overall sentiment, but (a) Richar plays 2B and (b) Masset is right-handed.
Also, I love how certain writers (Jay Mariotti, the FireJoeMorgan writers sometimes) don't grasp the concept that GMs and managers often give BS quotes because (a) they can't publicly criticize their team and/or themselves and (b) they don't want to tip their hat.
Last week I bought tickets to this Sundays Reds @ Nationals game just so I could see Griffey Jr play. What a jip. =(
Um, most high-profile player the the Reds have EVER had?
Pete Rose? Johnny Bench? Frank Robinson?
Granted, Griffey was high profile in the 1990s with the Mariners, but in their day, all of those guys were far more high-profile Reds than Griffey ever was (since he joined Cincy.) Also much better all-around players than Jr.
@ Elliot:
Nope.
Griffey is (was) a better all-around player than all three of them, and due to the fact that he was the only Reds superstar for most of his time here, I stand by what I said.
He's a big step above all of them as a hitter, and only Bench holds a candle to him defensively. Plus, Cincinnati has been flat obsessed with Griff for the last nine years.
Elliot, you also left out the (I think) fact that Jr. grew up in Cincy. If I'm wrong about this, I apologize, but I think that adds to the hype surrounding him there.
Larry:
The post said high profile. Not most talented. Don't forget, Pete Rose was a Cincinnati boy too. What's the name of the street that ran by the (old) ballpark?
Do you think Manny was hinting about anything by mentioning two hispanic players along with himself? Just asking...
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