Bill Plaschke

Snark is not intellect.
Sarcasm is not an argument.
People should remember that.

 

Sentimental pablum makes for an awful column.
People should also remember that.

 

Plaschke writes a good feature, but he had some sort of massive agenda against MacCourt and DePodesta, calling the latter "Google Boy" and "computer nerd," and slamming him because he went to Harvard and used a laptop. Even when Steve Finley, Adrian Beltre and Jose Lima tanked in 2005, Plaschke ripped DePodesta for not re-signing them, even it it would've been a financial quagmire. If the Dodgers won the World Series in 2004, Plaschke probably would've faulted him for not keeping Paul Lo Duca around, because without him, a championship is meaningless.

When Coletti got the job, Plaschke praised him because he wore snake-skin boots. Snake-skin boots > laptop.

 

Perhaps, but show me any intelligence in what Plaschke wrote.

He was just trying to push a bunch of touchy-feely buttons about an old scout. As if the scout had discovered Andre Ethier playing barefoot on a deserted island. People can scoff at minor-league numbers all they want, but he was a prominent draft pick and prospect who had been the A's minor-league player of the year. So it didn't take Hugh Alexander to discover him.

 

I am not going to tell you again, it's 5-7-5. You have to practice.

 

I have a lot of regard for Plaschke, but he's really overdoing the hatred for DePodesta, especially now that he's gone. What's the point?

He comes down on the Ringolsby side of the scouting/stathead issue and likely overestimates the old man's contribution in this acquisition. But there is an element of this where scouting comes into play, in believing that a player will be able to handle the pressure of a higher level and being able to sell the organization on that belief.

 

Sorry, but the fact he excluded that this kid was named the Minor League Player of the Year, reaks of ignoring facts because it gets in the way of a good story. This is the kind of story that goes a long way with the casual fan but drives the die-hards nuts - and is why most of my friends that are serious sports fans can't stand Plaschke.

 

this web site is brutal. any yutz with a blog can tear apart anyone else's crap. big deal.

 

Just as Plaschke is guilty of implying that Etheir was some sort of dark horse discovery, you're guilty of suggesting his ML success was guaranteed.

Prior to this season, the guy only had 15 at bats above Class AA.

 

Where did he suggest here that the success was guaranteed?

But damn, that's a big fact Plaschke ignored in the interest of making Ethier look like an amazing discovery that was only possible because the dedication of an old-school scout.

 

Can't you read? Greatness was pre-destined because he was Oakland's Minor League Player of the Year.

 

And HIS FATHER'S THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY!!