MLB 2022: The Long and Winding Thread

You seem to be blaming Harper the Asshole for Philly sucking. But Golden Trout got pretty much the same type of contract and the Angels suck.

 

If that’s the way I’m coming across, let me clarify by saying I don’t know of I’m so ecstatic for Harper’s contract if all my team has improved to is an also ran. At what point as a fan of the team do you start to wonder if it was worth signing one guy to 13/330M when it was clear they needed much more help? And yeah MVP numbers are cool and June 5 grannies are fun, but at some point I’m not content with well they almost made it. That and $2 will get you a cup of coffee.

 

Phillies have the fourth-highest payroll. They’ve got plenty of money to spend after Harper goes to the bank. Heck, Wheeler’s only making about a million bucks less than Harper this season.

Maybe Harper is an asshole. He kinda comes across that way in interviews. But he’s sure now hurting the team, either in play or eating up too much of the payroll.

 

None of these guys would be in the majors if Tyler Glasnow, Luis Patiño, Pete Fairbanks and Nick Anderson weren’t hurt.

 

Fine I’ll summon say where I should have left it from the beginning

1. He’s an incredible talent who is at a level only matched by his smugness which leads me to back him an asshole
2. He’s earned his money (so far) and good on him for cashing in
3. He’s on an also-ran team
4. LOL at him for not making the playoffs (so far)
5. I get glee at such petty things because (see point 1b)
6. That doesn’t change if the Phils should have signed him but I still lol that he hasn’t won what he wants to win

All other comparisons to other players or his value to the team is not relevant to the fact I want to lol at him and rational or not, that’s my opinion.

Thanks for listening to my TED talk.

 

Minor League ball, but worthy of some reference. The Biloxi Suckers called upon Harold Chirino to protect a 6-4 lead at Pensacola today. Harold was victimized by an error by his shortstop to start the ninth. He then walked Jeff Conine's son.
He then hit the next four -- and last four -- batters of the game. Your final score: Blue Wahoos 7, Shuckers 6.
Drive home safely. And be grateful that Harold Chirino is not your guide.

 

That's Shuckers, I think.

 

We’re not sure.

 

To be fair, it sounds like they did suck today.

 

It's not entirely his fault, but he's an immature, stunted adolescent. One look at his Dad will provide all the evidence we need for why he is how he is. He wasn't even sprouting big boy hair yet when he began hearing from his family and his enablers (hello, Tom Verducci's 2009 SI cover) how his shit doesn't stink but how he also has to meet ludicrously high expectations. (Which he has absolutely done, by the way...with even semi-decent health in his 30s, he's rolling into the Hall of Fame as soon as he's eligible, assuming the world is still spinning, of course)

He's been equal parts sheltered and shoved into the world, including and especially once he got to the Nationals, where his mood determined the team's mood yet he was left out there on his own during his MVP season to be strangled for a few seconds by Jonathan Papelbon. Maybe it was because of the fact he was nearly murdered by a lunatic, but everyone really walked around eggshells around him in Washington thereafter. Does he want to talk today? Is he in a good mood? Can we ask Bryce to answer some entirely harmless questions? No? Not today? OK, whatever Bryce wants. This is one of the many parts of this post that's going to get me hammered by some people here, but it's not a coincidence they won it all the year after he left. It is entirely possible to both be an all-time great and someone who can drag an entire room down.

He's also the new A-Rod, where he's so used to being in the spotlight that every movement seems maximized for the cameras and there's nothing natural about anything he does or says. He absolutely should have gone to the team that offered him the most money as a free agent, but there are some guys who are just terrible at spouting bullshit cliches like Philly is the place he wants to raise his family. Maybe it's because the money is so crazy it colors people's opinions, who knows.

And take that home run celebration today. It was...dorky. I mean, good for him and however he wanted to celebrate that fucking moonshot. But it was so awkward. Making a punching motion at the dugout? Pumping his fists between first and second base? He's probably being held to a higher standard for dumb shit like this because he's so well-known, but hey, that's life in the spotlight.

He's also got some Reggie Jackson to him...Reggie used to ask where a reporter was from before determining whether or not to talk to him. If you're a day passer, Bryce is not only not going to give you the time of day, he's going to make fun of you for even deigning to walk into his airspace. Again, I get nobody on the outside (and an increasing number of people on the inside) care how he treats the media, but there's a reason nobody in the media thinks Mike Trout is an asshole.

I understand how dumb each of these individual reasons might sound in a vacuum, but put them together and you get a guy who a lot of people just don't like no matter how great he is (and he is great) and no matter how much he's single-handedly lifting up a dogass team (which he is). OK, flame away folks!

 

Then there's this...Harper sure sounded like he was taking a passive-aggressive shot at Joe Girardi today: Bryce Harper appears to take shot at Joe Girardi after Phillies sweep first series since firing manager

When he just said this Friday: Phillies fire Joe Girardi: Bryce Harper, Nick Castellanos, Rhys Hoskins react

It might all come back to this being nothing except everything Harper says getting parsed b/c he's Harper. But I can see how people would think he's a dick for taking a shot at the former guy just b/c the Phillies just swept the fucking terrible Angels.