I tend to dwell in that netherworld of sportswriting, often an outsider (think Baseball Prospectus, Bill Simmons et al) but sometimes an insider (beat writers, most mainstream columnists). That means I’m usually able to avoid those potential clubhouse confrontations, where I’ve ripped a player, coach, GM or owner I cover, only to have them threaten me to my face a day later.

Because I do wear an insider hat on occasion, though, those incidents do come up, albeit rarely. Even more rarely with a player/coach/GM/owner I like, though that’s happened too.

For instance, former Mariners GM Bill Bavasi is as stand-up a guy as you’ll find in any sport, ready and willing to accept criticism, defend his actions and face the music when times are rough. I’ve seen him give generously of his time to talk to various groups of fans, answering questions with the kind of candor that can make you feel like Michael Lewis in the A’s draft room. Since the M’s have been lousy and/or inefficient over the past few years, though, there’s been no choice but to criticize many of his moves.

With that said, Joe, you seem to develop closer ties to your sources than most writers I know, even insiders. If caveats are needed to get across cogent points while making sure not to take unnecessary glee in your sources’ failures, so be it. The results are usually great reads.

Banny (2007): 12-9, 165 Inn., 3.87 ERA, 121 ERA+, ROY 3
Greinke (2004): 8-11, 145 Inn., 3.97 ERA, 120 ERA+, ROY 4

Banny (2008): 9-16, 182.2 Inn., 5.76 ERA, 78 ERA+, 113 K’s
Greinke (2005): 5-17, 183 Inn., 5.80 ERA, 76 ERA+, 114 K’s

SCARY…

I know that Banny doesn’t have the same upside, but they’re both cerebral guys and it gives me hope that he might figure it out like Zack did this year, even if he doesn’t become an ace.

His career was cut short when it was discovered that he killed his wife and two children then committed suicide afterwards.

Now come on, that would be hysterical if it weren’t so sad. “Cut short” about a guy who nearly removed his head with a razor. Multiple puns in that one. And “it was discovered” is about perfect. That raises passive tense to a whole new level.

I was once a big baseball fan. Ask me a question about the 1969 baseball season, and I can tell you. My friends and I played about 5000 games of Strat-o-matic baseball with those gray and tattered cards, and Jim Rooker remains the best pinch hitter ever! I read and memorized a billion baseball card facts, carefully read both the Newark News and the Star-Ledger, subscribed to the Sporting News (and got a letter published when I was 13!) and saved a billion box scores.

But I grew up, and found out that baseball had changed. Like everything else it touches, piles of money had tainted the way the game was played, and I found myself more and more discouraged by the sports pages that had somehow morphed into the gossip pages, the police blotters, and the business pages.

But your writing has restored my interest in sports. Well, sort of. I still won’t pay to watch the Royals. (Last time I did, I watched the Royals get hammered by the Twins, and Paul Phillips, a backup catcher who should have been hustling to keep his job, didn’t run out a squib that if he had run, just a little, he would have beaten out. Man, was I disgusted.) And I read very little baseball elsewhere. But Tony and Brian and Jose are people I “care” about in some way, and that is all due to your work here Joe. Thanks.

3.96 ERA at home in 109 IP,
8.43 ERA away in 73.2 IP

It’d make for a great column in the Star. *hint hint*