The Cubs begin their second half tonight in Washington and for the love of God, I hope it's better than the first half if only to stop shit like this from being written. Courtesy of Paul Sullivan:
Defensive lapses: Soriano's defense in left has gotten so bad the Cubs actually upgraded when Sean Marshall was inserted for one batter Sunday night. Bradley still has problems finding fly balls in the sun. Andres Blanco improves the infield defense, but he can't hit enough to play regularly. Cubs pitchers deserve much better than what they have seen behind them.
Listen Paul, normally I like you. You're one of a few writers in this town that doesn't make me want to blow my brains out. That being said, your first sentence reads like it was written by Barry Rozner. That is probably the most insulting thing I could say to someone. I believe on the journalistic scale of suck, it goes dope, hack, Barry Rozner. Congrats, you've reached rock bottom.
Secondly, I'm assuming you're trying to say that Milton Bradley has been disappointing to date, to which I would agree. He hasn't been hitting like he's capable of, I understand, and he's not a gold glover by any means. However, I don't hold it against the man that HE CAN'T SEE WHEN STARING INTO THE FUCKING SUN! Are you kidding me? That's your knock on Bradley? Is that what you look for in a right fielder? I can just hear you now. "Oh, what a shame that Roberto Clemente was taken from us so soon. He was one of the greatest of all-time. That motherfucker could stare into the sun for hours!"
I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking that the Cubs first half was disappointing, but coverage like this makes it almost unbearable. Here's hoping the second half of the season is better, both on the field and in the press box.
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8 comments:
I don't mind blasting the defense of those guys (because it has been awful out there) but I love that Theriot always gets a free pass on this.
The guy is dropping balls THROWN into his mit on a regular basis. He doesn't even have to do any of the work, the guy is TRYING to put it in his mit for him.
And on top of that he still hasn't learned how to put down a tag at 2nd despite being a middle infielder his entire life. Blanco needs to give him a tutorial on how to put down a tag rather than trying to tag a cloud as you catch it and then bring it back down to the bag.
It was a defensive upgrade at short when my 12 year old nephew stepped out on to the field during the Wrigley tour he was on.
Theriot also lost a pop up in the sun over the weekend, no mention of that either...
For the record though, Theriot doesn't bother me. I don't like that nobody in the media ever calls attention to his shortcomings, but I do like him.
I agree that Soriano and Bradley have been bad defensively but I don't like the lazy approach he took in his writing. To make the cheap joke about Marshall being an upgrade over Sori defensively is something you should read here, not in the Tribune.
As much as I haven't enjoyed Bradley's time on the Cubs, I don't think he is treated fairly either. Sully's line about still having problems finding balls in the sun is about as stupid as it gets...
Agreed on Theriot, he seems awful and should probably be mentioned in an article that specifically points out defensive deficiencies.
On Milton though, I don't think it's out of line for Sullivan to point out that the guy has had trouble with balls in the sun in RF. I have no data to back this up, but Milton Bradley seems to have had more problems with balls in the sun than anyone else I can remember. I think it's a legitimate thing to write that his struggles with tracking the ball during day games is problematic.
I agree it's problematic when you play a majority of your games during the day. Bradley has lost two balls in the sun. Just off the top of my head, he is the team leader, beating Soriano, Fukudome, and Ryan Theriot by one.
What I don't like about Sullivan is that he admitted he treats players differently based on how nice they are to him. Here is what he said earlier in the year:
“That’s the whole thing of our jobs. We’re human and people that treat us nicer probably get better coverage. The people, you know, that are rude to us.. I don’t want to say Milton was rude but he certainly wasn’t very nice to me. You know they’re not always going to get the best coverage. So….You try and be an objective person but uh, you know, we are human, ...so.”
He actually said this on TV in the booth with Len Kasper. I can only assume then that Bradley and Soriano are dicks to Sully and Theriot and Sully are BFF's. I expect more out of my media, even if they are just covering something as trivial as sports...
If it's true that he's only had trouble with two flies in the sun, then maybe it has been blown out of proportion. I'm fairly certain that I don't see as much Cubs baseball and I especially don't read as much about Cubs baseball as you do so I'll have to defer on the facts (it's not an easy thing to look up).
That's a pretty shitty thing for Sullivan to say, and it's even worse if it comes through in his writing.
But I happen to have a different theory on how/why guys get treated in the media and it's $$$$$$. The guys most criticized on this team are: Soriano, Bradley, Zambrano, Fukudome, & Lee (until he started hitting again).
I think Sullivan & other writers like to go after guys who are underperforming relative to their pay, for better or for worse.
If he's going after Bradley's D it should be for his half dives where the ball always hits him in the wrist.
The problem here is that EVERYONE puts more emphasis on offense than defense...EVERYONE. Sori & Bradley have been underperforming on offense, so the defense gets put under a microscope. The Riot is right around average for what we expect out of him, so it's a free pass on his defense. To take this a step further, look at the stupid Gold Glove award. That surely doesn't go to the best DEFENSIVE player at the position....what a joke!
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