Running 2011 Baseball Thread, Vol. I: Dedicated to spnited

I'm trying to remember the last time a baseball player's father became a subject of such media scrutiny.

Putz must have done three or four radio shows in the last two days, along with multiple interviews.

 

When he should be closing games.

 

I can't recall anything in baseball similar to Rasmus, but I know David Carr's dad was a pain in the ass throughout his time with the Texans. Houston even enacted a "no parents at the field during practice" policy as a result.

The Little League dad stuff with Rasmus is very entertaining, since I'm personally starting to see so much of it myself in our youth leagues. (We have one 8-year-old who has been labeled "The $30,000 Kid" because that's supposedly what his dad has put into his baseball education so far.)

Just as Oliver Stone intended "Wall Street" to be an indictment of corporate greed and it instead became an inspiration to the current generation of robber barons, the Marv/Todd Marinovich saga has been embraced by so many parents not as a horror story but as a how-to manual.

 

Gregg Jefferies used to do workouts designed by his father instead of by the team, which caused some consternation.

Some of the stuff, like swinging a bat in a swimming pool, made sense, though.

 

Cory Snyder comes to mind as well ... except when the team told him to get lost, dad did.

 

We had a local story recently on a stud pitcher, first-round draft pick, signed for $3.9 million. Begins season at high Class-A and can't throw strikes. More walks than innings, WHIP at about 3-1/2. Team drops him to low Class-A and it's the same thing. Recently, they gave him a "break" for a couple of weeks. He goes home and works out with his personal coach who he had in high school. The personal coach, a Mike Marshall devotee, criticizes the team's training methods. "He needs to throw every day. How can he do that with the bus trips that don't get home until 3 a.m." WTF, you want him to skip the road trips?
The team took the high road. The minor league VP said something like, we know about his personal coach and we're OK with it. I'm sure he had his fingers crossed behind his back when he said it.

 

Apparently he and his three brothers shared a bunkbed in a trailer home. His dad took them to practices in a car with a broken side door he had to hold shut with his left hand while shifting with his right and steering with his knee. This is starting to make a little more sense.

 

I don't think so either. It may be the Andy Van Slyke deal all over again, but if it gets rid of a distraction and an underachieving player, sometimes that's what you've gotta do.

 

Pence has been pulled from the Astros' game in the fifth inning.

Helloooooooo, Philly.

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AmqwrX6a_clmXuavJwEXdbM5nYcB?slug=ti-brown_pence_traded_phillies_hardball072911

Done deal for prospects Jonathan Singleton and Jarred Cosart and two players to be named.

 

I'm glad they got this done without unloading Domonic Brown. That would have come back to bite them.

Between this and the Eagles' signings, it's been quite a day for the city that booed Santa.

 

Billy Butler went yard twice tonight. I think he's doubled his season HR total in the last week. It's too bad he didnt' get the chance to beat the dogshit out of that little bitch Carlos Carrasco, who was all piss and vinegar after everybody from his teammates to the on-field security at Progressive Field stood between him and his comeuppance.