I think that the other teams agree with you, otherwise Cordero would have been in higher demand by them. No one seemed to want him, in a baseball world where the Reds seem to promote the idea that they are constrained by money, while they suggest that they have a bevy of young talent.
George Grande and Chris Welsh discussed the HBP/K on Andre Ethier during the game yesterday (Sunday) and I still don't think they get it. They kept referring to whether the pitch hit the dirt and whether the ump or Corky knew that it hit Ethier.
Well first of all, it doesn't matter if it hit the dirt first or not. If it hits the batter it's a dead ball. Everyone involved had to know it hit Ethier from the way it bounced. If it did not hit the batter it would have gone back to the screen. Insttead it bounced at a crazy angle towards the Dodger dugout.
For the life of me I don't see how the umps missed this easy call and why the Reds didn't argue it.
Could that be due to unrealistic expectations that defines a "lights out closer" as one who comes in and consistently gets 1-2-3 clean innings, which seldom happens, even with "lights out closers?" Just watching highlights today, and there is Joe Nathan, one who most consider a "lights out closer" with a bases loaded no out jam that he worked his way out of just yesterday.
Now, I am admittedly cherry picking, but it is an example of the same thing we see from time to time with our closer. We see him from day to day, and just see other closers occasionally or see their stats and assume that they are regularly pitching clean innings. I would hypothesize that 1-2-3 dominating 9th innings happen less often than we think they do. Or we see a Ryan Franklin having a freakish year and make that the standard.
Board Moderators may, at their discretion and judgment, delete and/or edit any messages that violate any of the following guidelines: 1. Explicit references to alleged illegal or unlawful acts. 2. Graphic sexual descriptions. 3. Racial or ethnic slurs. 4. Use of edgy language (including masked profanity). 5. Direct personal attacks, flames, fights, trolling, baiting, name-calling, general nuisance, excessive player criticism or anything along those lines. 6. Posting spam. 7. Each person may have only one user account. It is fine to be critical here - that's what this board is for. But let's not beat a subject or a player to death, please. |