2-21-2022 EDITED TO INCLUDE BOB COSTAS COMMENTS
1. Congrats to Beiber, Straw, Ramirez, Gimenez, Kwan and the Guardians for being nominated for Gold Glove awards. Never really understood those awards as I think some of the choices are comical (didn't a first baseman win it a number of years ago when he was overwhelmingly used as the DH?). But, be that as it may, it is good to know that what we see every day is recognized around the league.
2. Age brings perspective and you learn to not sweat the little things. Still, there are things that rankle me. Here's on that I saw on the Guardians Prospective Twitter site recently. There was a picture of 10th round draft pick this year, Jacob Zibin.:
The caption to the post that appears to be from Jacob Zibin was "Off season".
It's hard to put into words what offends me about this. Just an 18 year old kid showing off a prize catch from a fishing trip, right?
I admit to being nitpicky on this but we just paid this kid the largest bonus ($1.2 million) ever given to ANY player drafted in the 10th round of the draft. This also cost us a penalty amount as we exceeded our bonus pool and what we get from him is that he's enjoying his off-season.
The post wasn't the issue for me, it was the impression it could leave. If he had just said:
"Enjoying a little R&R after instructs. Now back to work! Go #Guardians"
Jacob, I suggest you post some videos of you working out and do it soon. It will go a long way to give the impression that you are taking this professional baseball thing seriously.
Kind of reminds me of Myles Straw last winter trying to monetize his name on some fansite. Just didn't sit right with me.
Again, just me. But impressions become a person's reality real fast.
3. Talking AFL, this is one of the most intriguing seasons for Guardians' prospects I have seen. Questions that come out of this include:
a) Why is Angel Martinez there? Auditioning him as trade bait?
b) Will they really make an effort to turn Mason Hickman into a full-time reliever?
c) What is the future for David Fry in this organization? Is it at all possible they will roster him this winter?
d) Have the Guardians moved Cade Smith up on their minor league reliever depth chart?
e) What is the future for Lenny Torres>
f) Do the Guardians think they may have a Kwan-clone in Koxx?
4. Thinking about who the sleepers will be entering next year's minor league season. If they survive the Rule 5 the guys who come to mind for me are Gabriel Rodriguez and Alexfri Planez. More on that later when I recap the minor league seasons.
5. About Bob Costas - Look, this guy is an icon in sports broadcasting...especially in his own mind. Networks still think that he is viable as an announcer as they keep hiring him. Can't argue with that. What I have witnessed in the past two weeks, though, is not excusable. Media (at least one guy) in New York ripped him for his constant harping on the Yankees and Yankees history during the ALDS. I have to admit I turned down the sound of the broadcast and listened to Hammy, et al. However, the bits that I did pick up from Costas and crew from replays and listening to small bits of his broadcast convinced me that have favored the Yankees in almost everything he said, including when he would say needless negative things about Cleveland and its players (e.g., Zach Plesac comments in the 9th inning of a game where he was just in to mop up in a loss).
The best way to describe what I heard from him in these broadcasts was, if I didn't know better, I would have thought I was listening to Yankees broadcasters.
Then he has the balls to go on Cleveland sports talk radio to try to justify what he did. And he proceeded to just dig himself a bigger hole and climb into it and lay down and start to pull the dirt in around him. Some of his comments about Hammy were, in my view, condescending and attempted to put himself on a higher pedestal than Hammy. Yeah, Bob, we don't expect you to be a Cleveland homer. Why, there is no money in that. What we do expect is for you to be neutral and supportive of all teams you broadcast about. When the media in NY essentially says you were acting like a Yankees homer and the fans and media in Cleveland know you were acting that way, there is not much left to say.
You see, Bob, I have heard a professional announcer or two in my lifetime. Jack Buck comes to mind. You would never see him do such a homer job. It just wasn't in him when he was broadcasting on national TV. He was, like you, a professional. The difference is that he did it without ego and without an eye on his next paycheck.
You weren't asked to do the play-by-play of the LCS broadcasts. To me, that says everything. Enjoy your retirement. It will be well-deserved and I hope that it starts immediately.
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