A GM, J.P. Ricciardi of Toronto, publicly bashing Adam Dunn of the Reds on a call-in show. Not something you see every day. If there is an opposite of tampering, this was it.
Here's Ricciardi on Dunn:
"We've done our homework on guys like Adam Dunn and there's a reason we don't want Adam Dunn."
"Do you know the guy (Dunn) doesn't like baseball that much? Do you know he doesn't have a passion to play the game that much?"
Should Ricciardi have been that candid with a Blue Jays fan? Of course not. It did nothing for the Toronto Blue Jays. And agents of future free agents probably didn't admire his candor.
But this was a rare glimpse into how big league general managers view players. And even though Ricciardi apologized afterward, it raises some interesting questions.
Since, as Dunn pointed out, Ricciardi doesn't know him, where did the damning evaluation come from? Here's a hint. Dunn has only played for one organization in his career. The Cincinnati Reds.
Who defended Dunn, a free agent after this season, afterwards? Not Reds GM Walt Jocketty.
"I'd rather not comment. You look at his
run production. But it's not my position to give a scouting report on
him. I like him as a player. He's someone we're going to have to decide
on. He's still young, so that's not a factor."
Nothing about how hard Dunn plays, or doesn't. Not a word about his passion for the game, or lack thereof. Dusty Baker did manage to describe Dunn as a "gentle giant".
How does Ricciardi know Dunn "doesn't even like baseball that much"? Ricciardi's information comes from somewhere. And while Dunn has every right to be mad at the Blue Jays GM, he should be more concerned with who in Cincinnati believes the Reds slugger isn't that into the game.
Who are these "players like Adam Dunn"? Are we talking about power hitters with an all or nothing approach to hitting? Players with low batting averages and good on base percentages? Physically large players? Players with questionable attitudes?
Who knows? But it is safe to say there are a lot of teams who will be interested in a player like Adam Dunn when he becomes a free agent. Just not the Blue Jays or Reds, apparently.
Here's the balance sheet on Dunn:
Four straight seasons at 40 home runs and at least 90 RBI, should make five this season.
One hundred fourteen walks per 162 games and 181 strikeouts.
A lifetime on base percentage of .381.
A range factor in left field substantially above the league average.
Twenty-seven years old, and no noticeable decline in stats.
Relatively healthy throughout his career.
What's not to like?
It comes down to this. Dunn easily fits a stereotype. The big swinger who goes for broke.
If you believe home runs are the big guns in an offense's arsenal, and walks are as good as hits, you have a place on your team for Dunn. If you think a strikeout is a momentum stopping offense killer and that baseball is about putting the ball in play, you hate Dunn.
Think that anyone over 6'1" is a lumbering Neanderthal who isn't hustling and doesn't care about the game, or that quiet equals disinterested and you have a reason not to spend on Dunn. Or, maybe, to hope nobody else does and you can bring him back to the Reds at a discount.
You can make a case for or against Adam Dunn. J.P. Ricciardi has made his decision, and I'm guessing the Reds have. But before they publicly bash Dunn or give him luke warm support, they ought to consider that someone will sign him in 2009. It might even be a team that comes to Cincinnati or Toronto in a key series.
Where to begin. You read that Frank Thomas "The Big Hurt", is in a commercial banned on Canadian Television. Interesting, but no big reaction.
You read on. The commercial involves a pillow fight with two young boys. Increasing concern, visions of Michael Jackson at Neverland. Say it ain't so Frank.
Then you go to the CBC website, not without hesitation. The hockey news there is OK, but the news division is run by people who think Marx was soft on capitalism. But the truth is out there, so on you go.
The article describes how the Television Bureau of Canada (there are now warrants out for me in Quebec for not also printing the title in French) has decried that the commercial (which promotes the Blue Jays) is just a little too violent. This can't be good, considering the CBC broadcasts hockey, an elegant sport of grace, agility, and large men clubbing each other with sticks.
In it, Thomas breaks up a fight between two young boys (hopefully his own, although the commercial doesn't say and it could be the TBC assumed Thomas was breaking into other people's homes to stop pillow fights).
During the commercial the fight stops when Thomas enters the room. One of the kids is on a bed and swings a pillow at Thomas. It's kind of like in the movies where somebody hits the biggest guy in the bar with a chair and it doesn't have any effect.
Time stands still. The kid looks at Thomas. Thomas looks at the kid, then picks up a pillow and knocks the kid from the bed as feathers fly in the air. The commercial ends with the kid standing up from behind the bed and the tag line "Frank Thomas, Designated Hitter, Toronto Blue Jays" comes on screen.
In America this would be considered funny. Heck, we laughed at Payton Manning knocking down kids with hard passes on "Saturday Night Live", even knowing that we don't have socialized medicine to set thier broken bones. Face it, we're just not quite as evolved as Canadians. We should all go to our rooms, put "American Woman" by the Guess Who in our CD players and hang our heads in shame.
The Television Bureau, which almost never bans anything, also banned another Blue Jay ad that showed A.J. Burnett running from his house in a bathrobe and hurling a garbage bag onto a moving truck driving away at speed. They believed it should be tagged with the words "dramatization" so people would not (you can't make this up) attempt to imitate the stunt. The audible sigh of relief you hear is from thousands of garbage men from Newfoundland to Saskatoon who saw the commercial and were living in abject fear of being struck by flying bags of neatly sacked Canadien refuse.
The Bureau is probably wrong in banning the Thomas ad, but on point in stopping the Burnett commercial. Clearly the tape is edited. One, Burnett doesn't have the control to reliably hit stationary objects, let alone a moving garbage truck. And second, had Burnett picked up anything as large as a bag of trash he would no doubt be on the disabled list until August. The tape is obviously misleading and should be kept out of sight of impressionable Canadian viewers.
I like Canada, and Canadiens. We Americans look at Canada as the cool kids on the continent. What Canadiens think of us is anyone's guess, but the Television Bureau going after baseball is a good indication that American culture (even sports) is not warmly welcome in the Great White North.
Then again, maybe the boys down at the Bureau don't hate Americans. Maybe a long winter of watching the Maple Leafs has left them cold and embittered. Someone should take them to a Jays game buy them a Molson, a hot dog, and a large foam finger. And then attempt to club them with the foam finger.
