“I've been accused of vulgarity. I say that's bullshit.”
“Profanity is the effort of a feeble brain to express itself forcibly.”
―
Spencer W. Kimball
Let's dispense with the irrelevant about Cincinnati manager Bryan Price's juvenile rant earlier this week: he cursed a lot. A lot, a lot. Seventy-seven times in five minutes, which is about as often as a lot of intelligent people use the word "like."
The first curse alerted his listeners that he was peeved. The second indicated he was annoyed. The third, irritated. The tenth, that he had lost control. And the thirtieth was incontrovertible proof that he was acting like a jerk. And he still had 44 to really drive home the point. He might say that he fucking drove it home.
Swear words are just words, symbols designed to communicate, as noted in this brilliant March 2014 essay by a sagacious and boyishly handsome philosopher. There is nothing particularly noteworthy about cursing, in and of itself. Employing the same adjective or adverb 77 times in 300 seconds on the other hand is not profane so much as it's inarticulate. It reduces the value of the rant's content.
Fortunately for Bryan Price, that's not possible. Because what's really objectionable about the tirade was its utter stupidity. Here is the crux of it in one sentence:
"Your job is not to sniff out every fucking thing about the Reds and
fucking put it out there for every other fucking guy to hear. It’s not
your job."
The problem with this statement is that it was made to a Cincinnati Reds beat reporter, whose job is to sniff out everything about the Reds and put it out there for every other guy to hear. That's his job.
Bryan Price was upset because a reporter had reported that Devin Mesoroco wasn't on a team flight due to injury and would not be available for the next game. The reporter was doing his job. Price may be confusing that reporter with the team's first base coach, or PR guy or assistant trainer.
What makes this so perplexing is that Price is no MLB novice. A pitching coach with a long record of success across three organizations, Price is known around the league as articulate and thoughtful. He should have a firm grasp of the relationship between the Reds' manager and the Reds' beat reporters. He should have accepted it and learned how to make it work. That's part of the job of manager.
I hope this is merely a blip on the radar screen, indicative of a bad day and nothing more. Price's subsequent non-apology does not augur well, but perhaps he wrote that while still stewing in the moment, even hours later.
Showing posts with label Bryan Price. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bryan Price. Show all posts
22 April 2015
08 March 2015
Reds in Black and White
What's up with the Cincinnati Reds?
During the interregnum between seasons, Billy Beane quixotically swapped future for present and present for future simultaneously, arousing furrowed brows among the cognoscenti. When the smoke cleared, though, it became more apparent what he was doing -- moving around the puzzle pieces for the best fit -- present and future.
In the Queen City, it's a bit murkier. Walt Jocketty's moves leave the Reds neither fish nor fowl, neither erecting nor bulldozing, neither contender nor rebuilder. A 76-86 contingent last season, the Rouge spent the off-season adding all of Burke Badenhop -- a middle reliever worth four WAR over his seven-year career. That will hardly serve as bulwark against the off-loading of starters Mat Latos and Alfredo Simon.
When those deals landed during the Winter meetings, it appeared Jocketty had either begun emptying the cupboards for a retrenching or cleared payroll space to acquire some badly-absent lumber. But then the flurry ended without a single flake more. What to make of a team teetering on mediocrity that jettisons 40% of its rotation -- about the only thing that worked last season -- and leaves it at that?
The answer is that four-fifths of the staff turns free agent after 2015 without any prospect of the cash-strapped club signing all of them. Jocketty is locked in on Johnny Cueto, whose 55-24, 2.48 and 17 WAR in his last 102 starts (over four seasons) argue that he's the runner-up for best pitcher in the NL. And Jocketty's keeping Mike Leake, a reliable #3, along with already-signed Homer Bailey and young flame-thrower Tony Cingrani. So he flipped injury-bitten Mat Latos and Simon, a flash-in-the-pan candidate, for a quartet of promising minor leaguers.
Fair enough, but what of the campaign ahead? The Redlegs are counting on a renaissance from their phalanx of injured stars -- Joey Votto, Brandon Phillips and Jay Bruce, plus sophomore-year improvement from Billy Hamilton and his .292 OBP. The trio of Votto, Phillips and Bruce contributed a combined win against replacement last year, less than what any one of them could be expected to deliver in 2015. In addition, either Ryan Ludwick will improve over his 112 games of wretchedness or a random replacement -- say, an armadillo -- will staff left field and add a win to Cincinnati's record.
Manager Bryan Price must also count on cornerman Todd Frazier and backstop Devin Mesoraco maintaining most of the 7.5 WAR they added in 2014 over their previous best. It wouldn't hurt either if glove-first shortstop Zack Cozart could stop getting worse with the stick. His .568 OPS last year was the exclamation point on a year-long sentence of Reds' hitting woes.
Stranger things than all the above have happened, but the betting line puts the team in the NL Central's fat middle, dueling Milwaukee and Pittsburgh for last place. Maybe then they re-sign Cueto and Leake and re-climb the hill in the future.
During the interregnum between seasons, Billy Beane quixotically swapped future for present and present for future simultaneously, arousing furrowed brows among the cognoscenti. When the smoke cleared, though, it became more apparent what he was doing -- moving around the puzzle pieces for the best fit -- present and future.
In the Queen City, it's a bit murkier. Walt Jocketty's moves leave the Reds neither fish nor fowl, neither erecting nor bulldozing, neither contender nor rebuilder. A 76-86 contingent last season, the Rouge spent the off-season adding all of Burke Badenhop -- a middle reliever worth four WAR over his seven-year career. That will hardly serve as bulwark against the off-loading of starters Mat Latos and Alfredo Simon.
When those deals landed during the Winter meetings, it appeared Jocketty had either begun emptying the cupboards for a retrenching or cleared payroll space to acquire some badly-absent lumber. But then the flurry ended without a single flake more. What to make of a team teetering on mediocrity that jettisons 40% of its rotation -- about the only thing that worked last season -- and leaves it at that?
The answer is that four-fifths of the staff turns free agent after 2015 without any prospect of the cash-strapped club signing all of them. Jocketty is locked in on Johnny Cueto, whose 55-24, 2.48 and 17 WAR in his last 102 starts (over four seasons) argue that he's the runner-up for best pitcher in the NL. And Jocketty's keeping Mike Leake, a reliable #3, along with already-signed Homer Bailey and young flame-thrower Tony Cingrani. So he flipped injury-bitten Mat Latos and Simon, a flash-in-the-pan candidate, for a quartet of promising minor leaguers.
Fair enough, but what of the campaign ahead? The Redlegs are counting on a renaissance from their phalanx of injured stars -- Joey Votto, Brandon Phillips and Jay Bruce, plus sophomore-year improvement from Billy Hamilton and his .292 OBP. The trio of Votto, Phillips and Bruce contributed a combined win against replacement last year, less than what any one of them could be expected to deliver in 2015. In addition, either Ryan Ludwick will improve over his 112 games of wretchedness or a random replacement -- say, an armadillo -- will staff left field and add a win to Cincinnati's record.
Manager Bryan Price must also count on cornerman Todd Frazier and backstop Devin Mesoraco maintaining most of the 7.5 WAR they added in 2014 over their previous best. It wouldn't hurt either if glove-first shortstop Zack Cozart could stop getting worse with the stick. His .568 OPS last year was the exclamation point on a year-long sentence of Reds' hitting woes.
Stranger things than all the above have happened, but the betting line puts the team in the NL Central's fat middle, dueling Milwaukee and Pittsburgh for last place. Maybe then they re-sign Cueto and Leake and re-climb the hill in the future.
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