The Changeup: Baseball Junk for March 3rd, 2018
Camp Jobless
The MLBPA played a game this week that featured some free agents still looking for work. It was streamed and I watched for about half an inning but I just felt like listening to some Otis Redding.
Ken Rosenthal was a guest on The Business of Sports hosted on Andrew Brandt and the free agent situation.
Rosenthal points out something that I’ve come to understand: the MLBPA really needs a labour lawyer. I don’t know that one needs to be the head of the MLBPA because Tony Clark is really well respected by the players. But I would argue that Clark needs one advising him. A junkyard dog of a labour lawyer, with a lot of experience with union work. Because these owners and the MLB look like they aren't messing around.
I actually have no idea who Tony Clark has in his inner circle, but this person is required.
And this has nothing to do with anything at all, but I need to share Neil Walker's "Hey Baby" player photo from last year.
Baseball Toronto Presents
Presents can be both a transitive verb and a noun. Either works in this case.
Mr. Keegan Matheson has launched his own site. Here is where I extol it's virtues.
My dad explained the concept to me years ago. When he said, "You can't be too obvious about it because the umpire gets annoyed and doesn't give you the call."
I was hooked.
The Jays have a maestro in Russell Martin. In 2013, Ben Lindbergh asked Martin about his framing and it's one of my favourite interviews Martin has ever done.
It partially inspired my piece comparing Martin to Kanye West.
Matheson talked to Danny Jansen about his receiving abilities for Baseball Toronto.
Now I'm imagining Martin and Jansen talking about this.
Matheson also talked to Bo Bichette about his swing.
That quote alone is worth it.
Hanging a Little Bit
Well, that's unfortunate. Let's analyze the Twitter reactions:
It means Donaldson's shoulder is a bloody mess of tendons and gristle and ligaments and bone. There's a lot of oozing and the smell isn't good. They might have to amputate.
But if you were to freak out and jump to a ridiculous conclusion, what would that sound like?
For more interesting Donaldson news, John Lott wrote about Donaldson coaching some of the younger players.
La Vida Baseball: Black History Month and Dominican Baseball
La Vida Baseball also featured an interview with Junot Díaz, Pulitzer Prize winning author, on the influence of baseball on Dominican life.
So when these players from Latin America come up to the big leagues and they play with a bit of silliness, this is probably why.
La Vida Baseball also talked to Orlando Cepeda. He talked about being a teenager in the minors in the 50s as a black Puerto Rican in the age of Jim Crow.
I think it's important to remember these stories as they are important parts of baseball history, and history in general.
And, for fun, here's Orlando Cepeda playing the congos with Tito Rodríguez on his show on Puerto Rican TV.
And, for kicks, here is a very dapper Roberto Clemente making jokes with his kids Roberto Jr. (on the right) and Luis Roberto on the left. My Spanish is rough, but I think there is some joke about all the Robertos.
I'm going to Florida on Monday, so anticipate some stuff from spring training.
This Also Happened
This sounds as useful as that third "g" in "Gregg."
This has been marketed as "sports analysis for men", like 99.9% of sports analysis is not for men.
I haven't watched the first episode, so I can't comment on it's style or substance but I did take a look at the comment section. I found it, guys- the take that illustrates the worst in both sports culture and man culture.
J. Smith- I salute you. You are a genuine piece of shit.