Baseball Primer Newsblog— The Best News Links from the Baseball Newsstand
Sunday, September 25, 2011
“I’m not a guy that fights with people,” Soriano told ESPNChicago.com. “The way they treat me this year, I don’t like it. The way they have me hit in the No. 7, 5 and 6 spots, I have trouble concentrating on the job hitting in those different spots. But (Mike) Quade is the manager and does his best to try to make the team better.
...
Asked why he didn’t go to Quade earlier in the season to voice his displeasure about his spot in the lineup, Soriano said: “I don’t think I should go to his office because I’m not like that. That’s not me. He puts me in the seventh spot, and he thinks we can win like that then I’m OK with that.”
|
Reader Comments and Retorts
Go to end of page
Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.
1. Dan Hirsch Posted: September 25, 2011 at 10:54 AM (#3935540)Why complain to the manager when I have the media so handy.
What? I don't understand why. And, even if it were true and I was in Soriano's place, I wouldn't want to admit it.
Carl Crawford on moving from sixth to second in the line-up:
Baseball players have the most easily bruised vaginas this side of a soccer game.
I feel like this borders on being an insult to me as a baseball fan. The Cubs have treated you badly by not letting you hit where you want to in the order, in a season where you have sucked hardcore at the plate? And framing the whole situation like you are not a whiner and are a team player? The sense of entitlement is incredible. The cliché qualifiers and backhanded shots at the manager put the perfect finishing touches on this immature and hypocritical blabbering of excuses.
or to throw the ball past guys who are trying to hit it with said bat.
the idea that hitting fifth is a "role"--that pitching the 8th inning is a "role"--these notions are stupid.
your role, Meat, is to help the club win ballgames.
I would love, love to see some low-payroll team hire a manager who felt he could get an edge by ignoring this big stupid contemporary myth.
To his credit, though, he has quietly put up an OK season in the power number department. He's just not worth anything close to what he's paid.
It exists, it's just hard to quantify and account for how much influence it has.
That might be the biggest indictment of Quade as a manager yet. Way to let the inmates run the asylum there, Mike.
FTFY
Whoa. As a teacher I thrived on teaching the toughest, smartest, most vocal students anyone could wish for, and I found those kinds of students at the grad level, mostly. The difference between freshman comp and a seminar on Derrida where three of the six students are writing publishable papers is a helluva lot greater than the difference between hitting sixth and seventh.
Do softball players? I don't think many male soccer players wear a baseball-style cup.
The rule in my son's little league was that all catchers had to wear a cup. We honestly had no idea what to do about that particular edict when the tiny little girl on our team expressed interest in donning the tools of ignorance.
Well, in TNA Wrestling, womens' matches are often ended by low blows, which incapacitate the recipient. So I guess she should wear one.
If I had my choice, I would MUCH rather teach grad students then teach survey classes. Teach freshmen can be soul killing because the vast majority don't give a damn about the subject or material. I teach two surveys a semester and am burned out. I long to teach at a R1 institute.
Kiki Cuyler ended up on the Cubs because he objected so loudly to being asked to bat second by the Pirates. He didn't see himself as a bat control and bunt guy. (which is how a #2 hitter was looked at back then)
Not that he'd have ever known it, but he actually was very successful as a #2 hitter. Including .341/.426/.519 (and only 2 sac bunts) in the 157 PAs he had batting 2nd in 1927.
Baseball players have the most easily bruised vaginas this side of a soccer game.
No, I'm pretty sure it's Primer posters. You know, players likely do play differently (and thus prepare differently) when hitting 2nd in a lineup and 6th. And while people here may say that's stupid, if his manager and coaching staff expect a different style from a #2 hitter than a #6 hitter, it sure makes sense for the player to act on that. If a team expects more power out of a #6 hitter or more base-stealing from a #2, then that *should* impact how the player spends practice time, scouting opponents, etc.
I didn't get the idea that Soriano was saying that, though. He was just whining. Crawford's quote actually does make sense, assuming the team feels the same way about lineup roles.
Not only that, but Crawford was saying it in a response to being moved to the No. 2 hole, and it very easily could have been his attempt to convince himself that such a move will lead to better results than what he's enjoyed up 'til now.
Don't at least some managers still look at the #2 hitter this way?
Back in the 20s though I'd say the #2 hitter had the most clearly defined role. You had to be a good hit and run guy to bat second -- even if the hit and run itself had become less than automatic as the offensive levels rose.
Bryan LaHair.
They make a female analogue for precisely this situation. I'm not going to google it at work, but I remember reading about it in a past thread.
Well, Darwin Barney has over 400 PA in the second spot this year, and he's as much of a "bat control" guy as the Cubs have. Since he's otherwise a pretty terrible hitter, I can only assume that Quade subscribes to this, whether he's said so explicitly or not.
That may be true. But trust me-trying to explain to freshmen that Watergate is not ancient history and relevant can be wearisome.
It's bound to be an uphill slog considering the golden age of American waterparks was over by the early 90s. Ancient history indeed.
You must be Registered and Logged In to post comments.
<< Back to main