Holy Misguided Man-Crush, Dr. Phil!
This past Sunday, Tribune "baseball expert" Phil Rogers continued his man-crush on that fallen angel of a Cleveland Indians GM, Mark Shapiro. When Dr. Phil isn't stumbling over himself to prognosticate a first-place finish for his beloved Wahoos, he's praising every last one of Boy Wonder Shapiro's deft and cunning moves.
The latest effusiveness, headlined Indians strip down and stock up, says Shapiro is doing a good job selling off the parts of his disappointing team. The sidebar goes on to detail resumes of the six players Cleveland hauled in for CC Sabathia and Casey Blake. As Dr. Phil pounds the war drum every bit as loud as that annoying Progressive Field fan who does so during games in Cleveland, he quotes Boy Wonder as saying acquired prospects Carlos Santana and Matt LaPorta "are both potentially core players for us in the future."
Uh, Phil? Mark? The Wahoos just traded two guys who were already core players, Sabathia and Blake, to get these new, younger, potential core players. Now that is brilliant general management.
Of course, the only thing Dr. Phil likes less than criticizing his man-crush is trading prospects. He's consistently skewered White Sox GM Ken Williams for trading away "the future" in order to, gasp, "win now." He recently praised Cubbies GM Jim Hendry for standing pat at the trading deadline and refusing to deal off a player the likes of forgotten blue-chipper Felix Pie for stopgap aid like Seattle Mariner Raul Ibanez, who in the week since the trading deadline is hitting .414 with two homers and 16 RBI.
That's why Rogers buried this little "oops" item regarding the Boy Wonder in the middle of his "Whispers" column on the very same day he was doling out praise for such masterful dismantling of a division winner: Rob Bryson, one of the prospects Cleveland got from Milwaukee for CC Sabathia, has been found to have a damaged labrum.
Last year's Wahoo 9 was within one game of the World Series, clearly the dominant emerging talent in the AL Central. If not for Detroit's zealous overspending for offense this past winter, the Wahoos could have been a universal first-place pick in 2008.
Yet no sooner had Cleveland battered Mark Buehrle on Opening Day than the club started spiraling down the toilet. Injuries played a role, as they always do, but many fault Shapiro for flanking his all-world center fielder Grady Sizemore with a bevy of beer league quality corner outfielders (where have you gone, Jason Michaels? Oh yes, he was released mid-season in another addition-by-subtraction move from Shapiro).
The guess here is that when Spring Training broke, Dr. Phil was content that the likes of Michaels and Casey Blake could hold down the corners for Cleveland, while he tsk-tsked afterthoughts on the South Side-turned-MVP candidates like the broken-shouldered Carlos Quentin and that old gray mare, Jermaine Dye.
Imagine what a mess the last-place Clevelanders would be if not for the amazing resurgence of 15-win hurler Cliff Lee? (Yes, that's the pitcher who Shapiro cleverly demoted to the minors in 2007.)
Dr. Phil's deft baseball analysis tabs the Boy Wonder as "brilliant," yet less than one year ago his team was one win from the World Series, and now his Wahoos are ticketed for the AL Central basement. But damn, that man can trade for prospects!
Rogers tore Williams a new one last season, and that was for finishing in fourth place. Shudder to think what happens if the White Sox ever hit the cellar on Williams' watch, although presumably if the GM continues his controversial strategy of "winning now" by dealing "prospects," that fall will be averted, year after year.
Anyone else detect which GM strategy is worthy of praise here?
--Brett Ballantini
The latest effusiveness, headlined Indians strip down and stock up, says Shapiro is doing a good job selling off the parts of his disappointing team. The sidebar goes on to detail resumes of the six players Cleveland hauled in for CC Sabathia and Casey Blake. As Dr. Phil pounds the war drum every bit as loud as that annoying Progressive Field fan who does so during games in Cleveland, he quotes Boy Wonder as saying acquired prospects Carlos Santana and Matt LaPorta "are both potentially core players for us in the future."
Uh, Phil? Mark? The Wahoos just traded two guys who were already core players, Sabathia and Blake, to get these new, younger, potential core players. Now that is brilliant general management.
Of course, the only thing Dr. Phil likes less than criticizing his man-crush is trading prospects. He's consistently skewered White Sox GM Ken Williams for trading away "the future" in order to, gasp, "win now." He recently praised Cubbies GM Jim Hendry for standing pat at the trading deadline and refusing to deal off a player the likes of forgotten blue-chipper Felix Pie for stopgap aid like Seattle Mariner Raul Ibanez, who in the week since the trading deadline is hitting .414 with two homers and 16 RBI.
That's why Rogers buried this little "oops" item regarding the Boy Wonder in the middle of his "Whispers" column on the very same day he was doling out praise for such masterful dismantling of a division winner: Rob Bryson, one of the prospects Cleveland got from Milwaukee for CC Sabathia, has been found to have a damaged labrum.
Last year's Wahoo 9 was within one game of the World Series, clearly the dominant emerging talent in the AL Central. If not for Detroit's zealous overspending for offense this past winter, the Wahoos could have been a universal first-place pick in 2008.
Yet no sooner had Cleveland battered Mark Buehrle on Opening Day than the club started spiraling down the toilet. Injuries played a role, as they always do, but many fault Shapiro for flanking his all-world center fielder Grady Sizemore with a bevy of beer league quality corner outfielders (where have you gone, Jason Michaels? Oh yes, he was released mid-season in another addition-by-subtraction move from Shapiro).
The guess here is that when Spring Training broke, Dr. Phil was content that the likes of Michaels and Casey Blake could hold down the corners for Cleveland, while he tsk-tsked afterthoughts on the South Side-turned-MVP candidates like the broken-shouldered Carlos Quentin and that old gray mare, Jermaine Dye.
Imagine what a mess the last-place Clevelanders would be if not for the amazing resurgence of 15-win hurler Cliff Lee? (Yes, that's the pitcher who Shapiro cleverly demoted to the minors in 2007.)
Dr. Phil's deft baseball analysis tabs the Boy Wonder as "brilliant," yet less than one year ago his team was one win from the World Series, and now his Wahoos are ticketed for the AL Central basement. But damn, that man can trade for prospects!
Rogers tore Williams a new one last season, and that was for finishing in fourth place. Shudder to think what happens if the White Sox ever hit the cellar on Williams' watch, although presumably if the GM continues his controversial strategy of "winning now" by dealing "prospects," that fall will be averted, year after year.
Anyone else detect which GM strategy is worthy of praise here?
--Brett Ballantini
Labels: Bevy of Beer League-Quality Corner Outfielders, Boy Wonder Mark Shapiro, ken williams, Phil Rogers' Man-Crush
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