Tuesday, February 03, 2004
SPIRO TO EAT HUMBLE PIE, IVAN TO EAT CAVIAR
Well, Mr. Justin Spiro trusted the source a little too much. Hopefully he can learn from this. As for his reply, there really isn't one yet, because he is attending to "personal matters."
Yes, Ivan Rodriguez went to Detroit. Let's take a step back here and assess the situation -- did we really honestly think Ivan was going to be a Mariner? Did we? I'd say I can encompass most of the opinions out there on that possibility by saying "maybe, but proably not." Not is right in this case. Again. Let's not kid ourselves. Bill Bavasi may have had a decent relationship with Scott Boras, but he's only one guy pulling the strings out of the sure-to-be-tired-of-Boras group of Lincoln/Armstrong/Jongewaard/Gillick. Four against one? By the same token, these four guys may have been holding back from Bavasi getting taken to the cleaners, but I doubt it, because Bavasi's been taken to the woodshed with almost every move he's made this offseason.
The Tigers' last winning season (1993) was Sparky Anderson's third-to-last year in a Tiger uniform. What followed was ten years of futility. Buddy Bell was also a decent baseball man that was a casualty of the Tigers' woes. Larry Parrish was another manager to bite it in Detroit. Last of the managers from the revolving door was Bob Melvin's best buddy and "mentor" Phil Garner, who was partly (if not wholly) responsible for Alan Trammell walking from the Tiger organization (two-thirds of the way down this page) in 1999, and surely managed to tick off countless amounts of people within the Tiger hierarchy. Great job, Phil. You had one single good frigging year (1992 Brewers; Bosio was 16-6, Cal Eldred was a rising star at 11-2).
Remember Scott Boras' other client? The other Rodriguez? You might remember him from this commercial that's airing right now -- the one where it's an Opening Day promo, and he's in the same room with Derek Jeter and Josh Beckett (his face isn't that memorable yet, MLB...I had to think about the dialogue for a few minutes before I realized it was him) playing indoor wiffleball, but Alex is so out of place in the commercial because Jeter and Beckett are re-playing a matchup from the World Series. Alex is just there to shag the wiffleballs, I guess.
Anyway, Boras has managed to land big deals for his two Rodriguezes to go to Texas (2001), and Detroit (2004). Alex has seen his Ranger teams go 213-270 (.438). How will these Tigers hash out? Well, this will be Alex's fourth year in a Ranger uniform, and until now they looked like total crap instead of just crap. Now their infield has Hank Blalock and Mark Teixeira along with Michael Young and Alex. It's a pretty good infield. Of course, they haven't gotten any worthwhile pitching yet, so they'll be average at best until that happens. With the Tigers...is it going to take three years for Blalock- and Teixeira-type prospects to ascend to the Tigers' ML roster? Do they even have any prospects worthy to be mentioned in the same breath with Blalock and Teixeira? Ivan will be 35 years old at the end of this contract. If you have had that kind of career, and then decide to spend years 32 through 35 of your life with a horrible Detroit team, and then say it's about security (worse yet, saying that the Tigers "just had a bad season")...he's full of crap, or at least diverting from the honest truth. Would someone just say for once that it's about the money? Don't lie to us.
Notice that both Alex and Ivan have doled out pretty much the same stupid lines about their teams being on the up-and-up and getting things turned around. As for Ivan's "bad year" quote, the Tigers didn't just have a bad year. The last three Tiger teams have lost at least 96 games, and the last two topped the century mark in the ol' L column.
Let's not kid ourselves -- Ivan Rodriguez was never going to be a Mariner. Justin Spiro put a little too much faith in a source, and managed to really fan some flames in the process. If he's back on the David Locke show again, I'd pay to hear Locke hand Spiro his lunch; if you need any indication that this wouldn't happen, listen to when Locke interviewed Spiro a little over a week ago (zip to mp3; ~23 minutes).
I'm all for this Tiger spending if it means the Red Wings will be crap soon, because quite frankly, I hate the Red Wings.
[Edit ~3:13a: I forgot to mention that both Alex and Ivan Rodriguez cited "respect" from their respective owners as reasons they signed. I take that to mean money = respect. One thing about the late SportsCenter...holy crap, Jayson Stark shaved his 'stache! He's still a geek though. I miss Baseball Tonight, and when Karl Ravech is doing a spot start on SportsCenter or worse yet, doing a golf event like last month, it's a horrible tease for BBTN. My ear is tuned to hear Ravech's voice and think baseball.]
Yes, Ivan Rodriguez went to Detroit. Let's take a step back here and assess the situation -- did we really honestly think Ivan was going to be a Mariner? Did we? I'd say I can encompass most of the opinions out there on that possibility by saying "maybe, but proably not." Not is right in this case. Again. Let's not kid ourselves. Bill Bavasi may have had a decent relationship with Scott Boras, but he's only one guy pulling the strings out of the sure-to-be-tired-of-Boras group of Lincoln/Armstrong/Jongewaard/Gillick. Four against one? By the same token, these four guys may have been holding back from Bavasi getting taken to the cleaners, but I doubt it, because Bavasi's been taken to the woodshed with almost every move he's made this offseason.
The Tigers' last winning season (1993) was Sparky Anderson's third-to-last year in a Tiger uniform. What followed was ten years of futility. Buddy Bell was also a decent baseball man that was a casualty of the Tigers' woes. Larry Parrish was another manager to bite it in Detroit. Last of the managers from the revolving door was Bob Melvin's best buddy and "mentor" Phil Garner, who was partly (if not wholly) responsible for Alan Trammell walking from the Tiger organization (two-thirds of the way down this page) in 1999, and surely managed to tick off countless amounts of people within the Tiger hierarchy. Great job, Phil. You had one single good frigging year (1992 Brewers; Bosio was 16-6, Cal Eldred was a rising star at 11-2).
Remember Scott Boras' other client? The other Rodriguez? You might remember him from this commercial that's airing right now -- the one where it's an Opening Day promo, and he's in the same room with Derek Jeter and Josh Beckett (his face isn't that memorable yet, MLB...I had to think about the dialogue for a few minutes before I realized it was him) playing indoor wiffleball, but Alex is so out of place in the commercial because Jeter and Beckett are re-playing a matchup from the World Series. Alex is just there to shag the wiffleballs, I guess.
Anyway, Boras has managed to land big deals for his two Rodriguezes to go to Texas (2001), and Detroit (2004). Alex has seen his Ranger teams go 213-270 (.438). How will these Tigers hash out? Well, this will be Alex's fourth year in a Ranger uniform, and until now they looked like total crap instead of just crap. Now their infield has Hank Blalock and Mark Teixeira along with Michael Young and Alex. It's a pretty good infield. Of course, they haven't gotten any worthwhile pitching yet, so they'll be average at best until that happens. With the Tigers...is it going to take three years for Blalock- and Teixeira-type prospects to ascend to the Tigers' ML roster? Do they even have any prospects worthy to be mentioned in the same breath with Blalock and Teixeira? Ivan will be 35 years old at the end of this contract. If you have had that kind of career, and then decide to spend years 32 through 35 of your life with a horrible Detroit team, and then say it's about security (worse yet, saying that the Tigers "just had a bad season")...he's full of crap, or at least diverting from the honest truth. Would someone just say for once that it's about the money? Don't lie to us.
Notice that both Alex and Ivan have doled out pretty much the same stupid lines about their teams being on the up-and-up and getting things turned around. As for Ivan's "bad year" quote, the Tigers didn't just have a bad year. The last three Tiger teams have lost at least 96 games, and the last two topped the century mark in the ol' L column.
Let's not kid ourselves -- Ivan Rodriguez was never going to be a Mariner. Justin Spiro put a little too much faith in a source, and managed to really fan some flames in the process. If he's back on the David Locke show again, I'd pay to hear Locke hand Spiro his lunch; if you need any indication that this wouldn't happen, listen to when Locke interviewed Spiro a little over a week ago (zip to mp3; ~23 minutes).
I'm all for this Tiger spending if it means the Red Wings will be crap soon, because quite frankly, I hate the Red Wings.
[Edit ~3:13a: I forgot to mention that both Alex and Ivan Rodriguez cited "respect" from their respective owners as reasons they signed. I take that to mean money = respect. One thing about the late SportsCenter...holy crap, Jayson Stark shaved his 'stache! He's still a geek though. I miss Baseball Tonight, and when Karl Ravech is doing a spot start on SportsCenter or worse yet, doing a golf event like last month, it's a horrible tease for BBTN. My ear is tuned to hear Ravech's voice and think baseball.]
/ Click for main page
