Paul Daugherty says Brandon Phillips is very available

[Brutus]

This is just one of many tweets tonight of quotes from Reds players talking about last season. I didn't listen to the talk show, but find the quotes to be pretty informative.

Lance McAlister ‏@LanceMcAlister

Leake said there were some guys doing things their own way and without much fire. #Reds

I don't really find them to inform anything. People are trying so hard to read into everything that has been said and not said the last week or two, but it's really a pointless exercise.

In a group of 25-40 guys over the course of a long season, especially after a disappointing end, you will always be able to find fault or blame with how a few acted or didn't act. Every person will find someone or something to blame for what went wrong. It just doesn't tell us whether or not those things were actually issues.

There's no company that's immune from having a few guys doing their own thing. These soundbytes are all anecdotal.

[Brutus]

Players talk to beat writers all the time. Talking to players is actually an important part of a beat writer's job.

A run of the mill fan can have all of the hunches in the world. Beat writers have actual access and unique insight.

Players don't air dirty laundry to beat writers. That's one of the most oft-repeated refrain from players you hear is that "clubhouse matters are private."

"Actual access" doesn't necessitate "unique insight." Most personal clubhouse matters happen before or after the beat writers are given access. They aren't given access to sensitive team meetings and personal matters are kept out of their eyesight. Once in a while you do get a writer that strikes up a good relationship with a player that precipitates juicy 'off the record' conversations, but they are off the record for a reason and most beatwriters worth their pay aren't going around to bars or grocery stores repeating said gossip.

[jojo]

Players don't air dirty laundry to beat writers. That's one of the most oft-repeated refrain from players you hear is that "clubhouse matters are private."

"Actual access" doesn't necessitate "unique insight." Most personal clubhouse matters happen before or after the beat writers are given access. They aren't given access to sensitive team meetings and personal matters are kept out of their eyesight.

It's a tortured argument to suggest a beat writer cant understand clubhouse dynamics despite the exhorbitant amount of time spent with the team.

I get you won't concede the obvious but it's puzzling why you won't.

[PepperJack]

That's funny, from what I make out of Walt's comments, Phillips is on the first train out of town.

(Sure that's a stretch, but those remarks don't bode well for BP to stay a Red)

Walt could have put it to rest and didn't. Either Phillips is long gone, or and I don't think this is it, they are trying to send a message loud and clear.

[757690]

Just had a conversation with a prominent Reds beat writer this afternoon at a local grocery store. He feels that Phillips will get traded and said something that I had not heard before, that Phillips is not well liked in the clubhouse and does not interact with his teammates. Hard to figure, being that he is so good with fans.

I wasn't buying the speculation that there were clubhouse problems before, but I kind of am now.

Not too many Reds have enough swag to hang with Brandon, Maybe Corky, but that's about it.

[jojo]

Not too many Reds have enough swag to hang with Brandon, Maybe Corky, but that's about it.

Corky has over 4 years of service time. Think about that the next time you catch yourself thinking something isn't possible.

[Brutus]

It's a tortured argument to suggest a beat writer cant understand clubhouse dynamics despite the exhorbitant amount of time spent with the team.

I get you won't concede the obvious but it's puzzling why you won't.

Here's something you haven't considered... some might have a little more knowledge of the profession to speak candidly about how it really operates.

It's possible they do it for a living and have many other friends that do too. Just want to throw that out there before one lectures about what is and isn't obvious.

[jojo]

Here's something you haven't considered... some might have a little more knowledge of the profession to speak candidly about how it really operates.

It's possible they do it for a living and have many other friends that do too. Just want to throw that out there before one lectures about what is and isn't obvious.

You mean like a beat writer?

Explain how your hunch would trump a beat writer's opinion formed by access and interpersonal communications.

And before you lecture others about assuming who can and can not speak candidly about a generic locker room pause and live the lesson. And the notion that players don't express their opinions to others because of a code of silence is false. Players, as you are fond of pointing out, are human.

[klw]

Well while rare, sometimes we hear things from the clubhouse....
http://www.boston.com/sports/basebal...ason_collapse/

Drinking beer in the Sox clubhouse is permissible. So is ordering take-out chicken and biscuits. Playing video games on one of the clubhouse’s flat-screen televisions is OK, too. But for the Sox pitching trio to do all three during games, rather than show solidarity with their teammates in the dugout, violated an unwritten rule that players support each other, especially in times of crisis.

Sources said Beckett, Lester, and Lackey, who were joined at times by Buchholz, began the practice late in 2010. The pitchers not only continued the routine this year, sources said, but they joined a number of teammates in cutting back on their exercise regimens despite appeals from the team’s strength and conditioning coach Dave Page.

“It’ s hard for a guy making $80,000 to tell a $15 million pitcher he needs to get off his butt and do some work,’’ one source said.

[RollyInRaleigh]

You mean like a beat writer?

Explain how your hunch would trump a beat writer's opinion formed by access and interpersonal communications.

And before you lecture others about assuming who can and can not speak candidly about a generic locker room pause and live the lesson. And the notion that players don't express their opinions to others because of a code of silence is false. Players, as you are fond of pointing out, are human.

Or maybe a broadcaster who is with the team every day. Nah, he doesn't embrace the "right" principles of playing the game.

[Brutus]

You mean like a beat writer?

Explain how your hunch would trump a beat writer's opinion formed by access and interpersonal communications.

And before you lecture others about assuming who can and can not speak candidly about a generic locker room pause and live the lesson. And the notion that players don't express their opinions to others because of a code of silence is false. Players, as you are fond of pointing out, are human.

By that logic, no one on this message board has a right to question coaches or general managers. After all, how could anyone's opinion trump those who are in the clubhouse/front office everyday?

I gather you don't really know enough about a beat writer's access to a clubhouse 3 hours before first pitch. It's not the all-access, information-gathering opportunity you're making it out to be. Teams keep private matters out of sight. It's basically just a chance to gather a few interviews and most of what happens is watching players play video games before BP or a quiet group sitting around a television. You could glean who the closest friends are and who hangs out with one another after 81-162 days of seeing this behavior, but you'd not really know who dislikes another unless they told you; and that's the whole point... most players do not reveal those things. Once in a while they do, but one player's opinion should not construe that of the entire team's.

[REDREAD]

I just find it hard to believe that "most" of the players dislike Phillips or he keeps to himself.

There was an interview on WLW with Phillips this year, towards the end of the season.
He said Homer got a new saddle (I can't remember the story on that).
The saddle was in the locker room, and Phillips decided to ride it while naked.
Seems like most people laughed at it (from the way Phillips told it) and Homer was a good sport about it.. It just seems hard to believe that someone that 'keeps to himself' would do something like that.

Now I can believe that Phillips' clowing around could get old at times and maybe over the top, but that's kind of different than a guy that has no friends..

[Larkin Fan]

I just find it hard to believe that "most" of the players dislike Phillips or he keeps to himself.

There was an interview on WLW with Phillips this year, towards the end of the season.
He said Homer got a new saddle (I can't remember the story on that).
The saddle was in the locker room, and Phillips decided to ride it while naked.
Seems like most people laughed at it (from the way Phillips told it) and Homer was a good sport about it.. It just seems hard to believe that someone that 'keeps to himself' would do something like that.

Now I can believe that Phillips' clowing around could get old at times and maybe over the top, but that's kind of different than a guy that has no friends..

Look, like most of us, I don't have a clue what goes on in the Reds clubhouse. However, we do know that Brandon Phillips is his own best promoter, so would you really expect him to spin things in any other way than positively toward himself? I wouldn't.

Also, I remember seeing the bit that Reds Live did about the saddle. Broxton bought the saddle for Bailey as a gift. Bailey was pretty proud of it and genuinely touched that Broxton had gotten it for him, so I can't imagine him being really happy about that display if true.

[jojo]

By that logic, no one on this message board has a right to question coaches or general managers. After all, how could anyone's opinion trump those who are in the clubhouse/front office everyday?

That doesn't logically follow an argument that a beat writer would have a better informed understanding of clubhouse dynamics than a run of the mill fan's hunch.

Question away but if a beat writer intimates there are clubhouse issues, a message board poster's hunch that he's wrong probably isn't as compelling because the beat writer has actual access and insight.

I gather you don't really know enough about a beat writer's access to a clubhouse

You gather incorrectly.

It's.................team's.

Rather than refute generalities about your perception of what a day in the life of a beat writer might be like, lets acknowledge indisputable specifics. A beat writer spends a great deal of time with players and coaches starting in spring training through the final pitch of the season. A beat writer has a great deal of access-especially compared to the run of the mill fan- and it would be weird if he didn't forge realtionships with players, coaches, equipment managers, groundskeepers etc. In fact, an individual couldn't be a beat writer for very long if he didn't have Jr giving him wedgies and datdude interupting his conversation with Dusty to personally give him a piece of his mind. In other words, these are humans that interact like, well, humans. Any beat writer who actually did his job couldn't possibly not develop an understanding of the interpersonal relationships between players and coaches on a given team. It defies logic and common sense to argue otherwise. It's strange to see someone who often criticizes statistical positions he disagrees with as treating these humans like robots to suddenly treat them like they aren't humans.

Could a beat writer formulate an incorrect impression of the interpersonal relationships within a clubhouse? Well of course. But a beat writer is operating on more than a hunch.

[klw]

Brandon Phillips was rolling along, posting this line when he was hit on the hand in Pittsburgh - .296/.347/.481/.829. From the time he came back until the end of the season he put up these numbers - .241/.288/.349/.637.

Coincidence? Maybe. But I think that hand injury was more significant than was thought.

Everyone expected Brandon to 'grow old' sometime during his contract. Did he 'grow old' over the course of six days? Doubtful.

I expect Phillips to bounce back strongly in 2014. I'd like him to see him wearing the
Wishbone C on Opening Day.

Brandon Phillips ‏@DatDudeBP 2h
https://twitter.com/DatDudeBP

Good Day #Cincinnati... Looking forward to my long afternoon w/ hand specialist Dr. Mohad Foad! Gotta get back healthy for 2014! #ALLREADY