Guys, if you have something to say to each other, I have a wonderful breakthrough in communications for you to ponder:
You might want to consider saying it to each other. I realize it's a long walk, drive, and/or bus ride between Durham, NC, and St. Petersburg, FL, but there are these wonderful inventions known as the telephone and the computer.
Many people, from all walks of life, are accustomed to these forms of communication, and don't need to use reporters as intermediaries.
Manager Joe Maddon and VP Andrew Friedman, I'm looking at you.
"It's pretty clear how they feel," Friedman said. "I think it shows a lot of disrespect toward the game and the achievement of becoming a major-league player. The whole article is something we take great exception to."
"I don't know what qualifies people, at any age, to disrespect anybody in the manner that that article indicated to me," Maddon said. "It speaks to disrespect, and it speaks to the sense of entitlement that the athletes seem to have today and I totally disagree with."
Right message, totally wrong forum.
How's that bridge-burning going?
OBLIGATORY DISCLAIMER: Upton in a league that's not even a keeper league; neither Dukes nor Young anywhere.
Posted by Matt Bruce at July 29, 2006 10:47 AMUm, and what's to say they haven't? Or aren't?
They were asked to react to an article that ran Friday, presumably, on Friday. Rather than play the 'no comment' card, which comes off weak regardless of anything else, they spoke their minds in the media.
I would be shocked if the same wasn't being said behind closed doors, if not louder and more vulgar. And even if it's been said in the past, do you think it would change the minds of three dinks with the track record of these guys?
Posted by: Cooch at July 29, 2006 12:36 PMYou (Cooch) of all people know that there's a happy, engaging but unresponsive medium between "no comment" and being too blunt for your own good.
Think of a good Jimy Williams yarn or a strikingly tedious non-answer from Ken Macha or Terry Francona.
I don't doubt that shit is hitting the fan behind the scenes; I just don't see what calling them out in public accomplishes.
If Tampa Bay knew its organizational butt from a hole in the wall then their in-house discpline would (you'd think) keep to a minimum the stuff that even these three bad apples seem to be pulling.
Instead, it's devolved to a vicious cycle of a pissing contest where both sides... well, you get the idea. Think of Gibbons-Hillenbrand, only if Hillenbrand were more than a replacement-level player.
Posted by: me at July 29, 2006 04:29 PM