Some links pertaining to a few Eastern division teams for your Sunday reading:
- MLB has suspended Braves' pitching coach Roger McDowell for two weeks without pay and fined him following his controversial interactions with a fan on April 23, tweets David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
- The Rays' 10 picks in the first 60 of this year's draft are the most since Montreal had 11 of 84 in 1990, writes Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times. Tampa is currently in the midst of a massive scouting effort to prepare for their unprecedented amount of draft picks. Hopefully their picks turn out better than the Expos' — Rondell White was the most notable player of the bunch.
- In a separate article, Topkin examines the slow starts of several former Rays including Carl Crawford, Carlos Pena, Rafael Soriano, and Joaquin Benoit.
Martin M.
what did Roger McDowell do?
Lastings
He was curious about the price of a fan’s teeth
bravos2010
He wanted to give a fan an autographed bat
phoenix2042
The best part of that Topkin article is the interview with Casey Kotchman:
Got a (half-)minute? Casey Kotchman
Must-see TV show? I don’t have one.
Singer or band you’d want to be on stage with? I don’t have one of them, either.
Last movie you saw? Can’t remember.
Ideal vacation spot? I’m thinking Bora Bora.
Dream date? I don’t even know.
Real Mr. Personality here!
pageian
The best part for me was that Tompkins actually thought someone would care what tv shows Casey Kotchman likes. I don’t even care what good players do in their free time, much less Kotchman.
Ian_Smell
I guess you could say Kotchman is a real Bora Bora. #rimshotneeded
HerbertAnchovy
Wow, McDowell must be a riot once he has a few drinks in him if he’s that angry regularly. Intelligent fellow.
Anthony
He’s obviously not that angry regularly, as he’s been in the game what…….30-35 years without incident?
HerbertAnchovy
Well, I should have made it clearer, I meant not under the influence of anything.
I also find it hard to believe that his sudden idiotic outburst was the first time he’s displayed this kind of behaviour, maybe just the first time he was caught. The homophobic slurs were bad enough, but to threaten someone in front of their child? Classy.
Once is one time too many regardless.
Anthony
First time he was caught? It’s possible I guess, but fans LOVE to whine man. If it was a regular thing, it would’ve more than likely been on record long before this particular incident. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt in that regard.
I have no idea of the context either, he could’ve been saying all this with a smile for all I know. However, the comment about the kids……..I just can’t see him saying that, and if he did…..I can’t see him saying that in a serious tone.
In any case, I’m glad it happened. Seeing Gloria Allred stroke a bat for over a minute was the highlight of my week.
Jeff McCoy
Note to self:
It’s okay to be a bigot as long as I do it with a smile.
Anthony
So ummm…..having trouble reading, are you?
Jeff McCoy
Nope.
“I have no idea of the context either, he could’ve been saying all this with a smile for all I know.”
This implies that had he made those comments with a smile, it would be different than without one.
Anthony
My point was that I have no idea of the context. So yes, you’re having trouble reading. Here, I’ll quote you…..
“Note to self:
It’s okay to be a bigot as long as I do it with a smile.”
Now, show me where I implied that being a bigot is good as long as you smile. Go on….
If you want to go on about bigotry, there’s a nice sarcastic post near the bottom for you to misinterpret.
You’ll get em next time, right champ?
Jeff McCoy
“I have no idea of the context either, he could’ve been saying all this with a smile for all I know. However, the comment about the kids……..I just can’t see him saying that, and if he did…..I can’t see him saying that in a serious tone.”
Twice you allow for the possibility that he said what he did without a serious tone (both the homosexual slur and the comment to the family). Since you took the time to suggest an alternative to what people assume, you are implying that if the situation happened as you suggest then it would somehow make the situation different than had he made his comments in a serious tone. Since the common interpretation to his actions is that they were unacceptable, suggesting a change of tone would indicate you believe there is an outcome that would make what he said acceptable.
If you didn’t mean to imply that and agree that whether or not he said what he did in a joking tone makes no difference, then your post was entirely meaningless.
Anthony
So my entire post was meaningless because you focused on the middle paragraph and couldn’t understand what I said? By that logic, yes……my entire post was meaningless to you.
Yes, there is definitely a possibility that he said all of this in a non-serious tone. There’s a chance he screamed it as loud as he could’ve. There’s a chance he’s lynched homosexuals. There’s a chance he’s a homosexual. You focused on that one thing and tried to give a clever response, in which I called you out on. So I can only assume you know the exact context of it all?
“Since the common interpretation to his actions is that they were unacceptable, suggesting a change of tone would indicate you believe there is an outcome that would make what he said acceptable.”
So you’re basically telling me that I don’t believe everything I read? If so, you’re entirely correct. Is it likely he meant for these comments to be completely insults? Absolutely.
bonestock94
The MLB can call it a two week suspension, I’ll call it a surprise vacation awarded for comedic brilliance.
JohnS
And I call you a troll.
bonestock94
I’m not sure how to go on with my life now that JohnS from the internet has voiced his displeasure with my comment.
matthew767676
most of the ex-rays are doing terribly. again, savvy moves by rays management and tons of draft picks received to keep building.
i wish the rays could have kept balfour though. we needed a solid set up guy. it seems like we are one guy short in the pen. hopefully howell coming back will help a lot
so far, were not missing the guys we lost though