For Nats’ prez Stan Kasten, $$$ = deserving

Nats’ president Stan Kasten is interviewed by a local Palm Beach reporter.  The conversation turns to a name for the new Nats stadium being built.

Q. Is there a name for the park? Stan Kasten Stadium?

A. Not yet. It’ll be someone deserving, who has demonstrated that they are deserving by paying a lot of money!

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Apparently Kasten wasn’t around for Enron Field.

Hmmm …. "Halliburton Stadium" …. "AETNA Park" … "Bristol-Myers Field" …. the possibilities are endless …

From Art Thiel’s Seattle P-I.com article of March 18

"Our surveys show fans don’t identify with players now as when they were on a first-name basis. Certainly, they haven’t developed love for Jose Guillen and Jose Vidro. There’s only a little bit of love for Jose Lopez. It’s starting to happen for Richie Sexson and Andre Beltre."
– Chuck Armstrong, President of the Seattle Mariners

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Ummm … Chuck …. ?  Speaking of first names, Mr. Beltre’s first name is Adrian, not Andre.

(boy am I hoping it was a transcription/editing error in the article, rather than a goof from the team president!)

Thanks to Alex Carnevale of Baseball Prospectus for the original quote citation.

"Baseball under Bud Selig’s leadership has done in one calendar year what for most people would be a great career."– Fox Sports president Ed Goren, on Bud Selig.

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When reading this, let’s just remember that Mr. Selig and Mr. Goren are business partners, with a multi-billion dollar investment between them.  What would you EXPECT Mr. Goren to say?

From the same Fox broadcast in which Papelbon challenged his teammates in Scrabble …

TIM MCCARVER:"In Scrabble, W’s are worth more than S’s, but for Papelbon, S’s
are worth more than W’s."
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Tim McCarver …. just shut up.

“Don’t make me bring the Scrabble board to the locker room. I will bring it.”
–Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon, to a teammate during Saturday’s Fox game

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I LOVE this guy!

Gotta find a way to play him in Scrabble some day!

"We’re not going to sit here and watch another 10 games like the 10 games we’ve already had. We have to right the ship. They have to right the ship. And if they don’t, then we can release guys, we can trade guys. We’ll do what it takes to get better." –Nationals’ GM Jim Bowden, on the team’s early struggles (Washington Post)

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(with apologies to Gordon Lightfoot)

The legend lives on from the Expos on down
Of the mistake they call GM Bowden
His fate, it is said, leaves his team all but dead
When the skies of October turn gloomy.

What a lineup eyesore! – Ryan Church was no more
Then the GM Jim Bowden got squirrelly
His good skipper too had a big bone to chew
When the gales of Alfonso came early

The team was the pride of the Montreal side
Stolen back to some hole in old D.C
As the old ballparks go it was bigger than most
With no charm and the fences a-way back.

Convincing some teams to trade for his wild dreams
When they got Ryan Drese … so appealing!
And prior that year when they signed Guzman’s rear
Could it be the North Wind they’d been feeling.

The arm in dear Guzman made a tattletale sound
And his labrum tore after his flailing
And every man knew, as Frank Robinson, too,
T’was the witch of the Expos come stealing.

Ayala came in and his season had to wait
When the pains of Spring Training came slashing
When MRIs came it was 06 down the drain
In the face of a T.J. recovery

When the opener came Jose Vidro came on deck
Saying fellows my knee is still hurting
At second again, could he regain his "zen"
He said fellas with .200 I’ll be flirting.

Old Guillen fired in he had wrist pain again
And his big bat and glove was enshrouded
And later that week when his power seemed bleak
Came the wreck of the GM Jim Bowden.

Does anyone know where the glove of Chad goes
When Cordero turns 3 outs to hours
The bleachers all say they’d have paid O’s Chris Ray
If they’d fifteen more million to squander.

(and so on ….)

"No, 2.000, baby. I got two hits."
–Devil Rays shortstop Julio Lugo, on his batting average after going 2-for-2 on Opening Day (MLB.com)

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That would make him 10 times the hitter Mario Mendoza was …

"I’ve burned a few shoes in my day. There are so many, I forget whose I’ve burned. Alcohol and a lighter, bro. That’s all it takes. They call me ‘The Arsonist.’ "
–Mariners closer Eddie Guardado, on his pranks

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Nothing inspires me more than to hear that the nickname of the man entrusted to protect the lead in my team’s ballgames is "The Arsonist".

(Besides … I thought Mitch Williams had that copyrighted)

"I think Alfonso thought it through and understood all the circumstances that were involved, as did the agent, Diego Bentz. At the end of the day, Alfonso wanted to do what was best for the team."

- Jim Bowden, as quoted on MLB.COM

No Jim …. Sori didn’t do what was "best for the team" …. if he HAD, he would have never kvetched about the position change in the FIRST place.

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It’s not his preference to play left field, but he has decided to make a personal sacrifice to help this franchise put the best team on the field, and that’s what he is doing."
No Jim …  Sori realized he didn’t have a leg to stand on legally, and didn’t want to go without a paycheck!

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"Obviously, if we knew what his position was, we would not have traded for him."

You don’t do your homework, you get a failing grade. Let’s not forget the signing of Cristian Guzman to a 4-year deal without seemingly doing a complete physical, and now having Guzman say that his arm had been bothering him since his days with the Twins?

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We took a risk, and that’s part of life. We didn’t think it would play out this way. It’s unfortunate that it did. But do we think we have a better lineup after the trade than before? Yes."
–Bowden

Hmmm …. you take an above-average offense/horrible defense 2B and turn him into an average-offense/below average defense LF, AND you give up Brad Wilkerson and two decent prospects, and your lineup is BETTER????

Jim Bowden …. clueless!

"He might end up being one of the greatest players to wear the pinstripes."
–ESPN announcer John Kruk, on the Yankees’ Robinson Cano (ESPN)

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… and he’s more likely to end up as a slightly-better version of Horace Clarke …