Previously when covering a Lowell Cohn column on this site, he was angry over Colin Kaepernick's contractual demands. I wouldn't say Lowell is a Kaepernick-hater, but he's not a fan of the guy at all. Lowell seems pretty old-school, so he's taking a few shots at Billy Beane through the years as well. Lowell is not happy with the Billy Butler signing. On his personal blog, Lowell provides the same article, but uses the sarcastic title "A's Win World Series Early" as if Billy Beane had come out and stated that, yes, the A's will now win the World Series. The title is less sarcastic in his article on the "Press Democrat" site. Either way, Lowell is unimpressed with the Billy Butler signing. Obviously Billy Beane would have been better off simply not trying to improve the A's team. I'm sure that would have made Lowell much happier.
The Oakland A’s are a great offseason team. One of the best.
Considering the A's are a team that generally stays out of the free agent market and don't make a splash in the offseason with big trades or throwing money around, I have no idea what this is supposed to mean. If anything, the A's are a great regular season team. That I can see.
No club wins a pennant or a world championship in the offseason like the A’s.
If Lowell is referring to teams that do great things in the offseason and then underperform during the regular season, he's factually incorrect. That's not what the A's do. If Lowell is referring to the A's making a splash with big trades and big signings in the offseason that don't pay off, he's still factually incorrect. That's not what the A's do either. Something about Billy Beane makes baseball writers crazy.
The A’s, under the stewardship of Billy Beane, just pulled off another
major offseason coup. They signed former Royals DH Billy Butler to a
three-year contract.
Considering Butler is 28 years old and was signed for three years at $30 million and his career line is .295/.359/.449, and last year was the worst year of his career, I would say it isn't a bad signing. Lowell will use terms like "coup" to try and overstate the case in order to disprove something no one else believes. It's his only chance to be sarcastic and misstate the opinion of Butler's signing as a part of his anti-Billy Beane agenda.
People are falling all over themselves praising Beane because he did it
again, won the American League title before November came to a close.
This is so special.
Really, Lowell? People are "falling all over themselves praising Beane"? Look at the fawning on this SB Nation site. Then if you do a search for "Billy Butler signed by A's" and the praise for Beane is vast that it is almost non-existent. Then if you do a search for "Billy Butler A's win American League title" and you find...umm...well, no one saying the A's have won the American League title. In fact, most of those articles point out that Butler is just one piece of the puzzle if the A's want to compete again in the American League.
The A’s also are a great pre-September baseball club. Take last season.
They were 28 games over .500 in early August. Their phenomenal record
was virtually unheard of and they were outscoring opponents by an
obscene margin and many experts were calling them a great team and
everyone was praising their platoon system of batting. Believe me, the
A’s don’t get enough credit for what they do before September year in
and year out.
Writes Lowell Cohn with only the slightest hint of condescension. He won't be giving the A's credit for much longer, that's for sure. Billy Beane has the reputation for using methods to build the A's that Lowell finds scary and new (even though they are old by now, of course) and Beane's method of building the A's team can't exist without every failure of the A's during Beane's tenure also being pointed out.
I would like to add something else. This signing of Butler — more on his
stats in a moment — is Beane’s best offseason signing since he nabbed
closer Jim Johnson before last season.
There we go. There's a mention of an A's player who didn't work out. Of course, it wouldn't be Lowell Cohn writing this if he wasn't somewhat factually incorrect. Johnson wasn't signed by the A's, they traded for him. The A's gave him $10 million in arbitration for one season and then later released him during the season. It's not exactly a historically terrible blunder that will drag the franchise down for years to come.
But Lowell's point is that just last season Billy Beane paid a player $10 million and that player ended up being a disappointment. So Billy Beane isn't perfect. YOU GOT HIM NOW, LOWELL! Now go for the kill by pointing out that Beane has (gasp) probably signed other players who didn't make the All-Star team. Just be sure to ignore all the free agent signings and trades that Beane has made which worked out.
Johnson had 50 saves for Baltimore the year before Beane got him. And
Johnson lasted almost to August before the A’s released him.
Fire Billy Beane! He made a mistake!
Maybe it’s unfair to compare the Butler and Johnson signings because,
obviously, Johnson came to the A’s with more recent success than Butler.
If I’m being unfair to Butler, forgive me.
You are not forgiven and you are being unfair. It's unfair to compare Butler to Johnson because one was a 30 year old relief pitcher and the other is a 28 year old DH/1B. It's unfair to compare Butler to Johnson because Billy Butler has had success every year in the majors except for 2014. It's clearly an outlier year on his resume.
Here’s the big point. A’s fans should no longer mourn the loss of Yoenis
Cespedes because now they have Butler, a man who slugged, slammed,
smashed nine home runs last season in 151 games.
I'm not sure if a person can smell sarcasm, but I am definitely getting a strong whiff of sarcasm from Lowell Cohn right now. Butler hit 21, 15, 19, 29, and 15 home runs the five full years before 2014 though. Of course, why would Lowell pay attention to Butler's entire career when he can choose one year of that career to represent his talent in an unfair way?
It’s an astonishing accomplishment. I mean, sure, Beane ruined the A’s
chances last season when he traded Cespedes for Jon Lester and Jonny
Gomes,
Sure, this is an opinion and not a fact.
but now he’s back on track with Butler who, in addition to his nine big
dingers last season had 15 the year before. It’s hard to find sluggers
like that.
Comparing Butler and Cespedes by one statistic isn't exactly a fair comparison (which is obviously Lowell's intent). I'll dive deeper since Lowell is too lazy to do this.
Butler has a career line of .295/.359/.449. Cespedes has a career line of .263/.316/.464. You know what? Let's talk easy numbers that Lowell understands. Strikeouts are bad, right? Butler has struck out once every 6.2 at-bats in his career. Cespedes has struck out once every 4.4 at-bats in his career. Walks are good, right? Butler has walked once every 10.1 at-bats in his career. Cespedes has walked once every 14.0 at-bats in his career.
Billy Butler averages 38 doubles over his career in a 162 game season and Cespedes averages 32 doubles over his career in a 162 game season. Cespedes has more raw power and Butler is more of a gap hitter who gets on-base. There should be no real comparison between the two, especially since they don't even play the same position. Yet, in an effort to rub Beane's nose in the dirt, Lowell insists on a comparison. Butler isn't a slugger.
One other thing, Butler is making $6.667 million next year and turns 29 in April. Cespedes is making $10.5 million next year and turns 30 in October when he will be a free agent.
In a conference call, Beane explained why he made this epic Butler deal.
“He’s a right-handed, middle-of-the-lineup guy, which is really hard to
come by these days. His age (28), certainly his body of work over the
last few years. He stayed very healthy his whole career. Bats are rare,
not the easiest thing to come by these days.”
"Epic"? This isn't an epic deal. If Lowell wants to see an epic deal maybe he can pay attention to what Yoenis Cespedes will get on the open market next summer or look at the $36 million over four years that Beane gave to Cespedes when he had zero track record of success in the majors.
Beane acknowledged Butler’s nine big flies last season was a bit
underwhelming. Beane admitted he didn’t know why Butler’s power numbers
fell off. He referenced Butler’s 2012 season when he hit 29 home runs
with 107 RBIs.
In fairness, 2012 wasn’t that long ago.
But why be fair when there is an agenda to be pushed? Lowell doesn't really like Billy Beane and wants to discredit any successes he has while also pointing out all of Beane's failures, as if the A's haven't been one of the most successful regular season MLB teams over the last decade with one of the lowest payrolls in the majors.
Beane kept talking about Butler’s “body of work” — like Butler was a
novelist or composer — to deflect attention from recent history.
Sort of like how you aren't mentioning Cespedes home run and walk rate have decreased every year he's been in the majors and he's essentially becoming a powerful hitter who can't get on-base? How some of his comparables are Craig Monroe, Bubba Trammell and Larry Sheets? You don't mention how some of Butler's comparables are Harold Baines, Will Clark, John Olerud, Alvin Davis, and Nick Markakis?
Beane admitted Butler’s two so-so years in a row drove down his value so
the impoverished A’s could afford him. Now, we understand the logic of
this move. It was good Butler had only 66 RBIs last season and pretty
much sucked. That made him available to Oakland.
RBI's are the product of having people on-base that can be driven in. Butler isn't a big RBI guy and isn't a big home run guy. Don't criticize him for what he isn't going to be, while ignoring what he can be.
To put middle-of-the-lineup Butler’s stats in context, compare him to
Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford, that known power hitter.
I get continuously frustrated with these baseball sportswriters who have no fucking clue how to use numbers and notice outliers in a set of data. How terrible were the math teachers at public schools in the 1960's and 1970's? Prior to last year, Crawford had never hit more than 9 home runs in a season. Lowell is taking the best power year of his Crawford's career and the worst power year of Butler's career and trying to make them the same type of hitter. It doesn't work that way.
True, Crawford mostly batted eighth, just before the pitcher, which means he’s the worst hitter among the regulars.
Crawford actually batted seventh mostly. He had 212 plate appearances as the 8th hitter and 255 plate appearances as the 7th hitter. But again, what are facts when Lowell has a point he wants to prove? I bet he misses the days when everybody believed what he wrote and refused to do research to find out if Lowell was too lazy to do research in backing up his claims. Those were the good ol' days.
But a comparison with Butler seems warranted. Last season, Crawford hit
10 home runs, one more than Butler. Crawford’s slugging percentage was
.389. Butler’s was .379.
Crawford's career slugging percentage is 0.359 and Butler's is 0.449. I know, I know, I am daring to use statistics from years prior to the 2014 while outrageously acting like neither Brandon Crawford and Billy Butler were rookies last year. How dare I act like two players who have played multiple years in the majors aren't rookies in order to allow Lowell to push his agenda!
Maybe Butler can help the A’s improve from September on. They are not so
good at “from September on.” In 2012 and 2013, they got run out of the
playoffs in the Division Series.
Lowell thinks that Billy Beane should figure out how to build a team that wins in October. Since Lowell is so smart, maybe he can figure out how to build a team that will win every year in October and then share it with the rest of the MLB teams. I'm sure they would love to know how to do this.
Last season, despite having a terrific record for a long time, they
finished 10 games behind the Angels and got dismissed — yes, dismissed —
in the wild-card game by Kansas City.
They weren't exactly "dismissed" by the Royals. The Royals threw a late comeback on the A's to win the stupid one-game Wild Card playoff. In fact, if Lowell wants to talk about what Billy Butler has done most recently, perhaps he would mention Butler was 2-for-4 with two RBI in the American League Wild Card game. To do that would be giving Butler and Beane credit, so no matter if Butler helped the Royals win the one-game playoff against the A's, Lowell won't mention this. He sure as hell will mention the Royals beat the A's in that game, but won't reveal how. Narratives and agendas. That's all that matters.
It is distressing when a team wins the World Series in the offseason but can’t win the wild-card game on Sept. 30.
The A's have never won the offseason. I don't know where Lowell gets this from.
Some of the blame goes to Beane. He loused up the team by trading
Cespedes. Hardly anyone knew it at the time. I sure didn’t. Beane should
have known. It’s his job to know.
Yes, it's Billy Beane's job to predict the future and know that a risky trade he made would not pay off. I don't know if he loused up the team by trading Cespedes. He wanted a proven ace to carry the A's through the World Series. As seen by Madison Bumgarner's performance in the postseason, Beane clearly had the right idea about finding an ace. Again, Lowell won't mention Beane's idea to find an ace who would put the team on his back worked out for the Giants.
And there’s something else. Beane is more intrusive than other GMs. What
does intrusive mean in this case? I believe Beane involves himself in
the day-by-day managing of the club. He doesn’t phone manager Bob Melvin
once the game starts and tell him what to do. Nothing like that. But he
gets involved with the lineup. And I imagine he’s the one who insists
on strict platooning — which sometimes takes a hot batter out of the
order.
I don't know if this is true or not, but neither does Lowell. He has no idea if Beane is more intrusive than other GMs. He's just making a guess that (shockingly!) goes to prove the point he wants to prove. Look at the language Lowell uses here to make it seem like he knows something about Beane that he doesn't in fact know. He's guessing.
Beane is more intrusive than other GMs.
That is a statement of fact. Beane IS more intrusive than other GMs.
I believe Beane involves himself in the day-by-day managing of the club.
This statement shows that Lowell is guessing and passing it off as fact. "I believe Beane involves himself..." He's guessing, he doesn't know like he indicated in the previous sentence.
But he gets involved with the lineup.
Another statement of fact. Beane gets involved with the lineup, which other GMs tend to do as well. Lowell appears to know this is a fact and not an opinion. But wait...
And I imagine he’s the one who insists on strict platooning —
"And I imagine..." Lowell gives himself away that he's making statements of fact and then admitting that he doesn't know those statements are true. It's what he "believes" or "imagines," which is so clearly far from the facts that he presents them to be that no credible sportswriter could pretend he is doing anything here other than guessing.
But don't worry, here comes the kicker. All of the speculation, it leads to Billy Beane pulling hot hitters from the lineup and directly affecting whether the A's win games. Not only is Beane a terrible GM who can't win in the postseason, he is personally responsible for the lineup decisions that causes the A's to lose games. Lowell is taking his guesses and coming to the conclusion he desperately wants to reach.
which sometimes takes a hot batter out of the order.
You hear that? Billy Beane sometimes takes a hot batter out of the order because Lowell "imagines" that Beane is the one who insists on strict platooning and "believes" that Beane involves himself with the day-to-day managing of the club. Can you believe what Billy Beane does? Based on the potentially imaginary tale that Lowell has just spun, he is removing batters from the order, which causes the A's to lose games. WHEN WILL THIS MADNESS BE STOPPED?
And of course, Beane only gets intrusive and insists on strict platooning in the postseason, because otherwise Lowell would have to admit IF Beane is intrusive on Bob Melvin's decisions then they tend to work out a lot. But Lowell wants it both ways. He wants to blame Beane for being intrusive, blame him for the team's failures, while also shutting Beane out for getting any credit for the A's success in the regular season. What agenda? Lowell ain't seen no agenda.
This meddling is noticeable. I notice it. You notice it. The players
notice it. There’s the rub. Beane runs the risk players will lose
respect for Melvin, a perfectly respectable man and a fine manager.
Beane should think about this.
But he won't think about this because HE'S A MONSTER! Beane insists on taking the A's to the postseason and running the team his way. What GM other than Beane would have such a huge ego?
But he doesn’t have to think about it right now. The baseball season is
months away and life is wonderful and the A’s just won the World Series.
Nobody said that. You are setting the expectation so you can later knock Billy Beane down when/if that expectation isn't met.
Lowell's agenda in regard to Billy Beane is so transparent it's almost laughable. He sets a high expectation that no one else has set for the A's, just so he can brag when Beane doesn't meet this expectation. Then Lowell creates a narrative based on his own assumptions in order to make Beane look like a controlling overlord. What a joke.
Showing posts with label lowell cohn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lowell cohn. Show all posts
Friday, December 26, 2014
Friday, June 27, 2014
0 comments Lowell Cohn Forces Derek Jeter Into the Role of the Anti-PED Icon We All Needed
The Derek Jeter Over-Appreciation Tour is still going on. Don't worry. The face of baseball and the face of a clean, anti-PED player is still present and making the world a safe place to love traditional, old-school baseball where the players took amphetamines that in no way enhanced their performance rather than take PED's that did enhance the players' performance. Derek Jeter has become so over-praised that it's almost hard read anything about him at this point. To merely point out what a great player he was isn't enough. There has to be more. The writer has to go over the top and make Jeter into more than he may have wanted to be. He's not a Hall of Fame shortstop, he's the antidote to PED use, despite the fact he played on Yankees teams chock full of PED users. Even if his teammates didn't, Jeter played the game the right way. He's the PED icon that will save "the kids" from using PED's even though he couldn't save a fairly large number of his teammates from using PED's. Lowell runs the typical gamut of Jeter praise and tries to overwhelm the reader with new, additional Jeter praise. After all, Jeter can't just be appreciated, he has to be a deity.
The A’s are presenting a Derek Jeter tribute today, as they should. This is the last time Jeter will play in Oakland unless the A’s and Yankees meet in the playoffs. He turns 40 in a few weeks and he is retiring after this season and he’s on a farewell tour — just like Mariano Rivera last season.
Except Rivera retired while still playing at a high level while Jeter is one of the worst performing regulars in the majors. Nevermind the idea Jeter may have stayed one year too long. No sportswriter has the balls to question The Jeter or indicate he stayed too long. It's blasphemy and would not be tolerated.
Why is he important?
If you have to ask, then you don't know. If you don't know, then you hate America, babies, drug-free school zones, children who try to make a better life for themselves by getting an education, puppies, kittens, warm spring days, cancer survivors, a cozy blanket on a cold night, old people holding hands while in wheelchairs, and more importantly than anything else, you hate The Jeter. Ask why he's important? No need. If you have to ask, then you aren't worthy of knowing the answer.
For starters, he’s the face of baseball. Whatever it means to be the face of a sport, he’s it for baseball. It’s how he carries himself. With dignity.
Actually, the face of baseball would be 40 years old since it seems the sport is skewing older and older. That's not a good thing. I would think baseball writers would be eager to make a guy like Mike Trout the face of baseball, but the sport clings to it's past so tightly sometimes I think it becomes more threatened by the future when the real threat is the desperate clinging to the past it so reveres.
With class, although “class” is an outmoded concept in our times.
Yeah, it's been that way since baseball let all those foreigners into the game. Fucking foreigners all being not classy and celebrating their outstanding plays on the field. Babe Ruth didn't celebrate his achievements. He just went out and performed well on the field, did his personal sexy business with the shady ladies in private, and then had a few beers. That's class.
And when a man is the Yankees’ leader, he figures big in the national pastime.
Next year the face of baseball will be Masahiro Tanaka, which will piss Lowell Cohn off in some way I am sure.
You know the deal. He labored quietly at his craft, honored baseball while the bloated phonies made the headlines. The bloated phonies include Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Jeter’s infield partner Alex Rodriguez.
Jeter quietly labored and wanted nothing to do with bloated phonies like Roger Clemens, Gary Sheffield, Alex Rodriguez, Andy Pettitte and Jason Giambi who helped shape and build Jeter's legacy as a winning winner who only won when he needed to win. While these bloated phonies were cheating to enhance their own personal achievements, Jeter was using these bloated phonies to win games and World Series as a team. It wasn't about Jeter, it was about how Jeter could use these bloated teammates to win World Series as a group. It wasn't about just one person, but it was winning World Series on the back of his bloated teammates, which in turn helped Jeter's legacy.
There are a ton more bloated phonies, but those are the notable ones. Jeter was not one of them — is not one of them. I have no idea if he illegally took performance-enhancing drugs. But I doubt it.
Jeter was above all of this PED use. He wanted nothing to do with it and the very idea he is the least little bit complicit in his teammates' use of PED's is ridiculous. Sure, the entire sport was probably complicit in some way or another, but Jeter didn't have time to rat on teammates while laboring quietly at his craft.
Bonds so bloated he barely could field his position. Bonds so bloated you wondered if there was a human being in there.
Jeter hits singles. He hits doubles to the gaps.
And no player who used PED's would ever hit a double or a single. Home runs are the only natural result of a player using PED's. In no way could PED's take a player from a strictly singles hitter to a player who had doubles power in the gaps, specifically to the opposite field. Lowell Cohn being the scientist he is, knows this is true. PED's cause home runs and nothing else. So a guy with little power who used PED's wouldn't turn into a doubles hitter. Not at all. He would turn into a 50-home run machine.
He does the little things, although calling what he does “little” does a disservice to him and the game. He plays baseball the right way.
He wears his glove on the correct hand and uses a wooden bat to hit. The right way. No other way.
Watching him in the batter’s box or at shortstop brings you back to the beginnings of his sport, to what baseball was and should be.
You mean back to the beginnings of the sport when Jeter would not have been able to play in the majors because he is half-black, half-white? Yes, seeing Jeter in the batter's box does take me back to when Jeter would have possibly had to play in the Negro Leagues. What a great memory.
Jeter is the healthy antidote to the fictions and the cheating of the bloated phonies which degraded baseball.
Lowell Cohn wants Jeter to be the healthy antidote to the bloated phonies. There are other players who are the antidote to the cheating phonies, but when discussing Derek Jeter, hyperbole and exaggeration must be used in order to overstate the case. The hyperbolification (not a word, I know) of Jeter's career has done more to ruin Jeter's legacy than it has done to help his legacy, at least in my mind. The lengths writers will go to make Jeter seem like the anti-PED poster child, the guy who played the game the right way, and the very best example of perfection in all things baseball overshadows Jeter's accomplishments that made him great. He becomes more of a fairy tale than a talented baseball player. The same writers who are dousing Jeter in hyperbole are telling the reader to not ignore what a great player Jeter was, all while skipping over Jeter's statistics and accomplishments in favor of hyperbole.
Not particularly impressive. But he is — or was — a great athlete. And he’s a genius at his sport. Oh, “genius” has been overused around here, although Jeter is one. Maybe “winner” is a better word. The ultimate winner.
Actually, the ultimate winner would be a player like Yogi Berra. He won 10 World Series titles. I hate to belabor this point, but stating that Jeter is the antidote to bloated phonies and also claiming he is the ultimate winner is perfectly fine. But for the sake of honesty, it has to be mentioned that part of the reason Jeter is the ultimate winner is because he won a few World Series with the help of the same bloated phonies that Lowell Cohn rails so hard against. I realize it's sac-religious to point out Jeter is the ultimate winner partly because of PED users, but unfortunately it is the truth. Of course when Lowell Cohn is drawing a thick line between the face of baseball and the bloated phonies, he will make no mention these two parties overlap in some ways. Sure, it would be honest, but it doesn't fit the intentions of Lowell's narrative.
Like what happened in 2001. Online they call it The Iconic Oakland Flip Play. I was there for the iconic flip and I never saw anything like that before or since.
I always thought Jeter's catch into the crowd against the Red Sox in 2004 was the better defensive play. It was dangerous, a difficult catch, and also showed his ability to make an outstanding defensive play. The Flip Play was great and showed excellent instincts, but I really think Jeremy Giambi is safe if he slides. This is obviously arguable, but while the Flip Play showed Jeter's defensive instincts I thought his dive into the crowd better described him as a player and was actually the better defensive play.
Spencer threw the ball to home plate. It was not an elegant throw. It missed not one cutoff men. It missed two cutoff men.
This is not playing the game the right way. If Jeter were throwing the ball in this situation he would have hit both cutoff men. He would have managed to throw the ball "the right way" to where the ball would go into the glove of both players.
Flew over their heads. We’re talking Tino Martinez and Alfonso Soriano. When Giambi crossed the plate the game would be tied.
Yes, we are talking about Alfonso Soriano, noted defensive specialist at second base. The same Alfonso Soriano who was moved from second base to the outfield as soon as possible by the Texas Rangers.
He caught the throw barehanded in his right hand. Now comes the iconic part. As he sped into foul territory sprinting away from the plate, he somehow flipped the ball backhanded to catcher Jorge Posada who caught that sucker and administered a swipe tag on Giambi who never slid. The Yankees won the game 1-0 and won the next two games and eliminated the A’s.
I'm really not trying to downplay the backhanded throw, but Jeter is a shortstop. Shortstops make backhanded throws to start double plays, it's part of the requirements at the position. I'm not saying Jeter's backhanded throw wasn't great, but he was practiced at it due to having played the shortstop position for his entire career.
Jeter’s play was extraordinary because no one expects the shortstop to be at the first-base line in case the outfielder misses two cutoff men. Jeter was heads up in the extreme and the play was and is a monument to athletic poise.
One can not disagree with this. Still, if Giambi slides I don't think this play will be talked about for years (decades, inevitably) to come. Nothing can take away it was a great play of course.
Jeter had mastered the basics, had gone beyond the basics with the iconic flip. Giambi failed at the very basics. He didn’t even slide. And that means Jeter deserved to succeed more than Giambi. It was a case of the impeccable defeating the slovenly.
This is the type of thing I am talking about. Derek Jeter can't just make a great play on the field, his play has to mean something more than just a great defensive maneuver. The Flip Play has to teach a great moral lesson to our nation as a whole. Rather than let the play stand as a great defensive play by a Hall of Fame shortstop, it has to be much more than that. This is an example of where a sportswriter feels the insatiable need to hyperbolize Jeter's career and why Jeter's accomplishments get lost in the need to one-up other sportswriters to glorify him.
That flip has become the landmark play of Jeter’s great career.
His great play was a fielding play — it rivals Willie Mays’ catch in center field off Vic Wertz in the 1954 World Series. Jeter’s play was all about smarts and desire and feel. He had a feel for the play, for the victory, for baseball.
Again, Jeter had a feel for victory partially because some of his teammates had a feel for using PED's. I'm sorry, it's difficult to hear Jeter described as the anti-PED poster boy and as a winner. He didn't use PED's, but some of his success is tied to the PED use of his teammates. This goes for other MLB players as well, but no other MLB players have sportswriters drawing such a thick, dark line between themselves and other PED users, while being referred to as "the ultimate winner." For any player who played during the Steroid Era, the line between the clean players and PED users isn't as thick and obvious as sportswriters want it to be.
Today, when the A’s present their video tribute to Jeter they will not show the iconic flip. Too many bad associations for A’s fans.
The A’s are presenting a Derek Jeter tribute today, as they should. This is the last time Jeter will play in Oakland unless the A’s and Yankees meet in the playoffs. He turns 40 in a few weeks and he is retiring after this season and he’s on a farewell tour — just like Mariano Rivera last season.
Except Rivera retired while still playing at a high level while Jeter is one of the worst performing regulars in the majors. Nevermind the idea Jeter may have stayed one year too long. No sportswriter has the balls to question The Jeter or indicate he stayed too long. It's blasphemy and would not be tolerated.
Why is he important?
If you have to ask, then you don't know. If you don't know, then you hate America, babies, drug-free school zones, children who try to make a better life for themselves by getting an education, puppies, kittens, warm spring days, cancer survivors, a cozy blanket on a cold night, old people holding hands while in wheelchairs, and more importantly than anything else, you hate The Jeter. Ask why he's important? No need. If you have to ask, then you aren't worthy of knowing the answer.
For starters, he’s the face of baseball. Whatever it means to be the face of a sport, he’s it for baseball. It’s how he carries himself. With dignity.
Actually, the face of baseball would be 40 years old since it seems the sport is skewing older and older. That's not a good thing. I would think baseball writers would be eager to make a guy like Mike Trout the face of baseball, but the sport clings to it's past so tightly sometimes I think it becomes more threatened by the future when the real threat is the desperate clinging to the past it so reveres.
With class, although “class” is an outmoded concept in our times.
Yeah, it's been that way since baseball let all those foreigners into the game. Fucking foreigners all being not classy and celebrating their outstanding plays on the field. Babe Ruth didn't celebrate his achievements. He just went out and performed well on the field, did his personal sexy business with the shady ladies in private, and then had a few beers. That's class.
And when a man is the Yankees’ leader, he figures big in the national pastime.
Next year the face of baseball will be Masahiro Tanaka, which will piss Lowell Cohn off in some way I am sure.
You know the deal. He labored quietly at his craft, honored baseball while the bloated phonies made the headlines. The bloated phonies include Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Jeter’s infield partner Alex Rodriguez.
Jeter quietly labored and wanted nothing to do with bloated phonies like Roger Clemens, Gary Sheffield, Alex Rodriguez, Andy Pettitte and Jason Giambi who helped shape and build Jeter's legacy as a winning winner who only won when he needed to win. While these bloated phonies were cheating to enhance their own personal achievements, Jeter was using these bloated phonies to win games and World Series as a team. It wasn't about Jeter, it was about how Jeter could use these bloated teammates to win World Series as a group. It wasn't about just one person, but it was winning World Series on the back of his bloated teammates, which in turn helped Jeter's legacy.
There are a ton more bloated phonies, but those are the notable ones. Jeter was not one of them — is not one of them. I have no idea if he illegally took performance-enhancing drugs. But I doubt it.
Jeter was above all of this PED use. He wanted nothing to do with it and the very idea he is the least little bit complicit in his teammates' use of PED's is ridiculous. Sure, the entire sport was probably complicit in some way or another, but Jeter didn't have time to rat on teammates while laboring quietly at his craft.
Bonds so bloated he barely could field his position. Bonds so bloated you wondered if there was a human being in there.
Jeter hits singles. He hits doubles to the gaps.
And no player who used PED's would ever hit a double or a single. Home runs are the only natural result of a player using PED's. In no way could PED's take a player from a strictly singles hitter to a player who had doubles power in the gaps, specifically to the opposite field. Lowell Cohn being the scientist he is, knows this is true. PED's cause home runs and nothing else. So a guy with little power who used PED's wouldn't turn into a doubles hitter. Not at all. He would turn into a 50-home run machine.
He does the little things, although calling what he does “little” does a disservice to him and the game. He plays baseball the right way.
He wears his glove on the correct hand and uses a wooden bat to hit. The right way. No other way.
Watching him in the batter’s box or at shortstop brings you back to the beginnings of his sport, to what baseball was and should be.
You mean back to the beginnings of the sport when Jeter would not have been able to play in the majors because he is half-black, half-white? Yes, seeing Jeter in the batter's box does take me back to when Jeter would have possibly had to play in the Negro Leagues. What a great memory.
Jeter is the healthy antidote to the fictions and the cheating of the bloated phonies which degraded baseball.
Lowell Cohn wants Jeter to be the healthy antidote to the bloated phonies. There are other players who are the antidote to the cheating phonies, but when discussing Derek Jeter, hyperbole and exaggeration must be used in order to overstate the case. The hyperbolification (not a word, I know) of Jeter's career has done more to ruin Jeter's legacy than it has done to help his legacy, at least in my mind. The lengths writers will go to make Jeter seem like the anti-PED poster child, the guy who played the game the right way, and the very best example of perfection in all things baseball overshadows Jeter's accomplishments that made him great. He becomes more of a fairy tale than a talented baseball player. The same writers who are dousing Jeter in hyperbole are telling the reader to not ignore what a great player Jeter was, all while skipping over Jeter's statistics and accomplishments in favor of hyperbole.
Not particularly impressive. But he is — or was — a great athlete. And he’s a genius at his sport. Oh, “genius” has been overused around here, although Jeter is one. Maybe “winner” is a better word. The ultimate winner.
Actually, the ultimate winner would be a player like Yogi Berra. He won 10 World Series titles. I hate to belabor this point, but stating that Jeter is the antidote to bloated phonies and also claiming he is the ultimate winner is perfectly fine. But for the sake of honesty, it has to be mentioned that part of the reason Jeter is the ultimate winner is because he won a few World Series with the help of the same bloated phonies that Lowell Cohn rails so hard against. I realize it's sac-religious to point out Jeter is the ultimate winner partly because of PED users, but unfortunately it is the truth. Of course when Lowell Cohn is drawing a thick line between the face of baseball and the bloated phonies, he will make no mention these two parties overlap in some ways. Sure, it would be honest, but it doesn't fit the intentions of Lowell's narrative.
Like what happened in 2001. Online they call it The Iconic Oakland Flip Play. I was there for the iconic flip and I never saw anything like that before or since.
I always thought Jeter's catch into the crowd against the Red Sox in 2004 was the better defensive play. It was dangerous, a difficult catch, and also showed his ability to make an outstanding defensive play. The Flip Play was great and showed excellent instincts, but I really think Jeremy Giambi is safe if he slides. This is obviously arguable, but while the Flip Play showed Jeter's defensive instincts I thought his dive into the crowd better described him as a player and was actually the better defensive play.
Spencer threw the ball to home plate. It was not an elegant throw. It missed not one cutoff men. It missed two cutoff men.
This is not playing the game the right way. If Jeter were throwing the ball in this situation he would have hit both cutoff men. He would have managed to throw the ball "the right way" to where the ball would go into the glove of both players.
Flew over their heads. We’re talking Tino Martinez and Alfonso Soriano. When Giambi crossed the plate the game would be tied.
Yes, we are talking about Alfonso Soriano, noted defensive specialist at second base. The same Alfonso Soriano who was moved from second base to the outfield as soon as possible by the Texas Rangers.
He caught the throw barehanded in his right hand. Now comes the iconic part. As he sped into foul territory sprinting away from the plate, he somehow flipped the ball backhanded to catcher Jorge Posada who caught that sucker and administered a swipe tag on Giambi who never slid. The Yankees won the game 1-0 and won the next two games and eliminated the A’s.
I'm really not trying to downplay the backhanded throw, but Jeter is a shortstop. Shortstops make backhanded throws to start double plays, it's part of the requirements at the position. I'm not saying Jeter's backhanded throw wasn't great, but he was practiced at it due to having played the shortstop position for his entire career.
Jeter’s play was extraordinary because no one expects the shortstop to be at the first-base line in case the outfielder misses two cutoff men. Jeter was heads up in the extreme and the play was and is a monument to athletic poise.
One can not disagree with this. Still, if Giambi slides I don't think this play will be talked about for years (decades, inevitably) to come. Nothing can take away it was a great play of course.
Jeter had mastered the basics, had gone beyond the basics with the iconic flip. Giambi failed at the very basics. He didn’t even slide. And that means Jeter deserved to succeed more than Giambi. It was a case of the impeccable defeating the slovenly.
This is the type of thing I am talking about. Derek Jeter can't just make a great play on the field, his play has to mean something more than just a great defensive maneuver. The Flip Play has to teach a great moral lesson to our nation as a whole. Rather than let the play stand as a great defensive play by a Hall of Fame shortstop, it has to be much more than that. This is an example of where a sportswriter feels the insatiable need to hyperbolize Jeter's career and why Jeter's accomplishments get lost in the need to one-up other sportswriters to glorify him.
That flip has become the landmark play of Jeter’s great career.
His great play was a fielding play — it rivals Willie Mays’ catch in center field off Vic Wertz in the 1954 World Series. Jeter’s play was all about smarts and desire and feel. He had a feel for the play, for the victory, for baseball.
Again, Jeter had a feel for victory partially because some of his teammates had a feel for using PED's. I'm sorry, it's difficult to hear Jeter described as the anti-PED poster boy and as a winner. He didn't use PED's, but some of his success is tied to the PED use of his teammates. This goes for other MLB players as well, but no other MLB players have sportswriters drawing such a thick, dark line between themselves and other PED users, while being referred to as "the ultimate winner." For any player who played during the Steroid Era, the line between the clean players and PED users isn't as thick and obvious as sportswriters want it to be.
Today, when the A’s present their video tribute to Jeter they will not show the iconic flip. Too many bad associations for A’s fans.
And you can feel sad, if you must. Sports memories linger.
Like a smelly farts, bad columns linger too. Hopefully these types of columns will go the way of Jeremy Giambi once Jeter is done with his Over-Appreciation Tour and is officially retired.
Like a smelly farts, bad columns linger too. Hopefully these types of columns will go the way of Jeremy Giambi once Jeter is done with his Over-Appreciation Tour and is officially retired.
Whatever you do, remember Jeter as he deserves to be remembered. The common man who took the bloat out of baseball.
How did Derek Jeter take the bloat out of baseball if players used PED's the entire time Jeter was an active player? This is another good example of hyperbole used in reference to Jeter. He didn't take the bloat out of baseball, he was a baseball player who didn't take PED's. Jeter didn't take the bloat out of baseball because players continuously used PED's while he was an active player. Jeter didn't even manage to take the bloat out of his own Yankees team and part of his five World Series titles were contributed to by PED users. Stop making Jeter more than he truly is by using hyperbole and creating him into something he never has been.
How did Derek Jeter take the bloat out of baseball if players used PED's the entire time Jeter was an active player? This is another good example of hyperbole used in reference to Jeter. He didn't take the bloat out of baseball, he was a baseball player who didn't take PED's. Jeter didn't take the bloat out of baseball because players continuously used PED's while he was an active player. Jeter didn't even manage to take the bloat out of his own Yankees team and part of his five World Series titles were contributed to by PED users. Stop making Jeter more than he truly is by using hyperbole and creating him into something he never has been.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
0 comments Ten Things Things I Think I Think Peter King Has Not Thought Of: Terence Moore Likes Expanded Replay Now Edition
Usually there is a common thread that runs through these Things I Think I Think Peter King Has Not Thought of, but there really isn't one this time. I would say these are all "bad ideas" but that's not entirely true. These are all articles I think that deserve some mention but don't merit an entire post written about them. These are the links I have been staring at for a few months/weeks/days/hours/minutes and want to comment on in some way. As written in many religious texts, let's start with Mitch Albom, as that's how it is always supposed to be.
1. Mitch Albom isn't writing a book called "The Five People You'll Meet in Heaven Who Used the N-Word," but he did write about the NFL looking to prohibit use of the N-word on the field. I think Mitch just likes writing "the N-word."
To me, the N-word is a hateful slur based on a person’s skin color. Yet because my skin is also a certain color, I am told I cannot I criticize its usage.
It’s not my word.
Every word is Mitch's word! Look for more clarification in his new book, "The Five Words You Will First Hear in Heaven," which will be available as soon as he writes this column for the "Detroit Free-Press" where he lies about being at a basketball game last week with John Wooden and Carmelo Anthony.
But sooner or later, everyone, black and white, will stop saying it in public. This is inevitable.
I severely doubt this. I had someone walk in my office and use the word twice just a few days ago. It wasn't a white person and was a college educated African-American female. She's not a stupid person and didn't use the word in an angry manner, but a joking manner. Just saying, it's a word that people probably won't stop using. Maybe someone will read what I just wrote in 100 years, laugh, and then drive off in their hovercraft. Who knows?
Instead, I’m referring to a very vocal minority — at least I believe it’s a minority — of athletes, entertainers, commentators and advocates who are mostly African American, and who claim the NFL’s possible initiative is a move that, as one such critic for huffingtonpost.com wrote, “emboldens whites who assert their privilege over use of the N-word.”
Huh? Look. I don’t shake the rafters of this idea and find sociological ghosts of white supremacy.
Exactly. Mitch writes schmaltzy books about heaven and every once in a while writes a column containing a few easily detected lies. In what spare time he has, he berates those who work in the field of customer service and wonders why he's so perfect and the world around him is so flawed. He's got no time to think about white supremacy because this barista at Starbucks just dared to repeat his order back to him. It's ass-kicking time.
So critics who say the NFL has no right are wrong. The field is a stage; NFL owners are the directors. If you feel compelled to scream the N-word, you can do it, without a paycheck, in the parking lot.
A trickier debate is why black players want to cling to the word in the first place.
Yeah, stupid black people always clinging to racial slurs. Good point, Mitch.
Admittedly, I am not black,
ADMITTEDLY, Mitch is not black! He wants the truth to be out there now. Mitch Albom is not black nor is he Asian. He's white. He wants there to be no further misunderstandings about his race, so he finally admits he is indeed not black. All further confusion has now been avoided.
But that doesn’t make me — or other whites, Latinos, Asians, Native Americans, etc. — stupid or insensitive. We recognize history.
Admittedly, Mitch does recognize history.
Jews were systematically executed, gassed and buried in mass graves — all less than 70 years ago — and they don’t defiantly cling to the K-word. Nor do Chinese Americans boast the C-word, Italians the W-word, Germans the K-word, etc.
Mitch admits he's not capable of understanding how it feels to be called the N-word, so he would never put himself in the shoes of those who do understand this, but he feels free to question why those people wearing these shoes continue to use the word. He knows he can't understand, but he definitely can judge.
The N-word fight is unique. And while nobody should dictate private conversations, if the NFL is going to suspend a white player for using the N-word at an off-season concert or suspend an African-American referee for allegedly saying it to an African-American player, then why the shock at a yellow flag? It’s 15 yards, not a lifetime ban.
As I said at the time the NFL was considering this, it is nice to try and get rid of the N-word, but is very, very difficult to actually put this plan into action. It would have been nearly impossible for the NFL to properly enforce.
Eventually, I believe, people will get tired of defending this hateful slur. In years to come, it may even seem silly. But this is how things change, in fits and starts, coughs and sputters, some easy, some hard.
That's what she said.
It is not my word. In time, it won’t be anyone else’s.
The day can’t come quickly enough.
When that day comes, Mitch can write the book, "The Four People Who Used the N-Word and Didn't End up Heaven You Will Talk To When You Reach Heaven."
2. Hey, guess what? Terence Moore doesn't want anyone overreacting to the expanded use of instant replay.
Terence may be losing his mind because HE is the one who was overreacting to the use of expanded instant replay here, here, here, and here. But it's his readers who need to stop overreacting about the use of expanded replay, right?
I'm having less of a problem with these new guidelines regarding home-plate collisions.
Did I just type what I just typed? Yep, and upon further review, I don't even need smelling salts. I'm changing my mind (well, sort of) on the implementation of the replay thing and the home-plate thing for the Major Leagues this season, because I'm looking at what's happening to other sports these days by comparison when it comes to changing stuff.
Of course Terence's reasoning for not hating expanded replay has to suck. He doesn't like the idea because it's a good idea, but because other sports are messing up the way they use instant replay. Okay then.
About the replay thing: all baseball officials seek to do is make sure they are using the best technology possible to determine the accuracy of nearly everything that happens on the diamond.
This is literally the exact argument I was making in the four columns I linked above where Terence Moore argued strongly against expanding replay. I'm glad Terence has finally come to his senses and realized, "Hey, it may not work perfectly all the time, but if MLB has the technology to get the calls right they should do it."
Then Terence begins discussing how other sports mess up replay, which apparently means MLB's expanded replay is a good idea.
So the replay thing and the home-plate thing?
I'll survive.
Oh sure, NOW Terence will survive after spending the better part of a year arguing about why expanded replay is such a terrible, no-good idea. It's almost like he should give ideas a chance to be implemented before stomping his foot down angrily that this idea will ruin the sport of baseball.
3. I don't know if this is a joke or not, but Woody Paige thought John Elway should have drafted all Stanford players in this year's NFL Draft.
See, it would show "school spirit" and why the hell school spirit is important in drafting players to an NFL team is beyond me.
Will John Elway and the Broncos draft guard David Yankey in the first round, defensive end Trent Murphy second, inside linebacker Shayne Skov third, free safety Ed Reynolds fourth, running back Tyler Gaffney fifth, fullback Ryan Hewitt sixth and center Khalil Wilkes seventh?
1. Mitch Albom isn't writing a book called "The Five People You'll Meet in Heaven Who Used the N-Word," but he did write about the NFL looking to prohibit use of the N-word on the field. I think Mitch just likes writing "the N-word."
To me, the N-word is a hateful slur based on a person’s skin color. Yet because my skin is also a certain color, I am told I cannot I criticize its usage.
It’s not my word.
Every word is Mitch's word! Look for more clarification in his new book, "The Five Words You Will First Hear in Heaven," which will be available as soon as he writes this column for the "Detroit Free-Press" where he lies about being at a basketball game last week with John Wooden and Carmelo Anthony.
But sooner or later, everyone, black and white, will stop saying it in public. This is inevitable.
I severely doubt this. I had someone walk in my office and use the word twice just a few days ago. It wasn't a white person and was a college educated African-American female. She's not a stupid person and didn't use the word in an angry manner, but a joking manner. Just saying, it's a word that people probably won't stop using. Maybe someone will read what I just wrote in 100 years, laugh, and then drive off in their hovercraft. Who knows?
Instead, I’m referring to a very vocal minority — at least I believe it’s a minority — of athletes, entertainers, commentators and advocates who are mostly African American, and who claim the NFL’s possible initiative is a move that, as one such critic for huffingtonpost.com wrote, “emboldens whites who assert their privilege over use of the N-word.”
Huh? Look. I don’t shake the rafters of this idea and find sociological ghosts of white supremacy.
Exactly. Mitch writes schmaltzy books about heaven and every once in a while writes a column containing a few easily detected lies. In what spare time he has, he berates those who work in the field of customer service and wonders why he's so perfect and the world around him is so flawed. He's got no time to think about white supremacy because this barista at Starbucks just dared to repeat his order back to him. It's ass-kicking time.
So critics who say the NFL has no right are wrong. The field is a stage; NFL owners are the directors. If you feel compelled to scream the N-word, you can do it, without a paycheck, in the parking lot.
A trickier debate is why black players want to cling to the word in the first place.
Yeah, stupid black people always clinging to racial slurs. Good point, Mitch.
Admittedly, I am not black,
ADMITTEDLY, Mitch is not black! He wants the truth to be out there now. Mitch Albom is not black nor is he Asian. He's white. He wants there to be no further misunderstandings about his race, so he finally admits he is indeed not black. All further confusion has now been avoided.
But that doesn’t make me — or other whites, Latinos, Asians, Native Americans, etc. — stupid or insensitive. We recognize history.
Admittedly, Mitch does recognize history.
Jews were systematically executed, gassed and buried in mass graves — all less than 70 years ago — and they don’t defiantly cling to the K-word. Nor do Chinese Americans boast the C-word, Italians the W-word, Germans the K-word, etc.
Mitch admits he's not capable of understanding how it feels to be called the N-word, so he would never put himself in the shoes of those who do understand this, but he feels free to question why those people wearing these shoes continue to use the word. He knows he can't understand, but he definitely can judge.
The N-word fight is unique. And while nobody should dictate private conversations, if the NFL is going to suspend a white player for using the N-word at an off-season concert or suspend an African-American referee for allegedly saying it to an African-American player, then why the shock at a yellow flag? It’s 15 yards, not a lifetime ban.
As I said at the time the NFL was considering this, it is nice to try and get rid of the N-word, but is very, very difficult to actually put this plan into action. It would have been nearly impossible for the NFL to properly enforce.
Eventually, I believe, people will get tired of defending this hateful slur. In years to come, it may even seem silly. But this is how things change, in fits and starts, coughs and sputters, some easy, some hard.
That's what she said.
It is not my word. In time, it won’t be anyone else’s.
The day can’t come quickly enough.
When that day comes, Mitch can write the book, "The Four People Who Used the N-Word and Didn't End up Heaven You Will Talk To When You Reach Heaven."
2. Hey, guess what? Terence Moore doesn't want anyone overreacting to the expanded use of instant replay.
Terence may be losing his mind because HE is the one who was overreacting to the use of expanded instant replay here, here, here, and here. But it's his readers who need to stop overreacting about the use of expanded replay, right?
I'm having less of a problem with these new guidelines regarding home-plate collisions.
Did I just type what I just typed? Yep, and upon further review, I don't even need smelling salts. I'm changing my mind (well, sort of) on the implementation of the replay thing and the home-plate thing for the Major Leagues this season, because I'm looking at what's happening to other sports these days by comparison when it comes to changing stuff.
Of course Terence's reasoning for not hating expanded replay has to suck. He doesn't like the idea because it's a good idea, but because other sports are messing up the way they use instant replay. Okay then.
About the replay thing: all baseball officials seek to do is make sure they are using the best technology possible to determine the accuracy of nearly everything that happens on the diamond.
This is literally the exact argument I was making in the four columns I linked above where Terence Moore argued strongly against expanding replay. I'm glad Terence has finally come to his senses and realized, "Hey, it may not work perfectly all the time, but if MLB has the technology to get the calls right they should do it."
Then Terence begins discussing how other sports mess up replay, which apparently means MLB's expanded replay is a good idea.
So the replay thing and the home-plate thing?
I'll survive.
Oh sure, NOW Terence will survive after spending the better part of a year arguing about why expanded replay is such a terrible, no-good idea. It's almost like he should give ideas a chance to be implemented before stomping his foot down angrily that this idea will ruin the sport of baseball.
3. I don't know if this is a joke or not, but Woody Paige thought John Elway should have drafted all Stanford players in this year's NFL Draft.
See, it would show "school spirit" and why the hell school spirit is important in drafting players to an NFL team is beyond me.
Will John Elway and the Broncos draft guard David Yankey in the first round, defensive end Trent Murphy second, inside linebacker Shayne Skov third, free safety Ed Reynolds fourth, running back Tyler Gaffney fifth, fullback Ryan Hewitt sixth and center Khalil Wilkes seventh?
Saturday, March 22, 2014
0 comments Lowell Cohn Is Very Upset at Colin Kaepernick's Contractual Demands; Possibly in His Senility Thinks Jay Cutler Has Won a Super Bowl
Lowell Cohn has his very own blog that he probably doesn't call a blog called "Cohn Zohn" (Get it?) and the description of this blog that he probably doesn't call a blog says Cohn "never runs out of things to say." Just because you have an opinion and say things doesn't mean what you have to say has value. So Cohn seems personally offended that Colin Kaepernick wants a lot of money and a new contract and shakes his fist at the clouds out of anger at these new-fangled quarterbacks and their contractual demands prior to winning a Super Bowl.
Colin Kaepernick is not an attractive personality. Usually he doesn’t say jack. And that’s not attractive.
Fortunately, his job is not to be an attractive personality but to play quarterback in the NFL and do his best to help his team win games. So far, he's been pretty good at that.
When he says jack — and more — he’s even less attractive.
Well, this definitely should be taken into account when contract negotiations begin. An attractive personality is mainly what quarterbacks should be judged upon.
He wants Jay Cutler money. He wants Tony Romo money. He wants more than those guys get.
Well first off, these are negotiations so obviously Kaepernick is going to start off wanting a lot of money and then 49ers would counter with a lot less money and then both parties will eventually meet in the middle if there is a deal to be done. In fairness, Kaepernick is younger than Cutler and Romo and (whether it's due to him or not) he has made more NFC Championship Games than both of those quarterbacks combined. So in terms of team success and how it reflects on the job Kaepernick did as a quarterback, his market value is probably close to what Cutler and Romo received.
FYI, Cutler signed for $18.1 a year, $38 million guaranteed. Romo signed for $18 million a year, $40 million guaranteed.
Kaepernick is younger than these two quarterbacks too. Just imagine what quarterbacks like Andrew Luck and Cam Newton are going to be demanding as well. Don't forget Russell Wilson. He's a nice guy, but he's also a Super Bowl-winning quarterback playing on a third round pick's salary.
He actually said, according to the Globe, he’ll play out the final year of his contract, base salary just south of one mil, and negotiate after next season instead of settling for what he considers a contract unworthy of his eminence.
And that's his right to do if he chooses to. If Kaepernick doesn't accept a salary he perceives to be too low, he will negotiate later when the 49ers might be more generous...or just become a free agent. It's his right to do, so don't begrudge him this simply because that's not how Joe Montana would have done it.
He went on with Murph and Mac and, in a sensitive, reasonable voice, said he’s not looking to break the bank in his next contract. What a guy. He’d accept a reasonable contract, not a whopper, so the 49ers can have enough money to sign key players like Donte Whitner and keep the team together. Kaepernick wanted everyone to see him as the ultimate team player.
Sounds like he changed his mind. Is that why Lowell Cohn is so angry? That Kaepernick originally said he would take a team-friendly contract and now has decided against this (probably on advice of his agent who knows the NFL is a league where players are one hit away from a career-ending injury)? Does this make Cohn's delicate senses so angry he can't fathom why Kaepernick would want to maximize his value? Tough. Get over it.
Now this. It’s like he’s saying, “To hell with the team. I want mine.”
There are words to describe his position starting with “hypocrite” and ending with “phony.” You can fill in words in between.
Great, I will.
Hypocrite isn't what Colin Kaepernick is. He spent some time during Super Bowl week saying he would accept a reasonable contract and now has changed his mind. He is completely within his right to do this and this means his agent helped him come to his senses and it doesn't make him a phony.
Kaepernick has started 23 regular-season games. That’s not even two seasons’ worth of games. In his 23 starts he has done some things well. He also has created two iconic images in the minds of 49ers fans. Those images would be flopping at the end of the Super Bowl against the Ravens on useless, repetitive, unimaginative passes to Michael Crabtree.
Well, Kaepernick isn't the person who called the plays in that situation. I'm not sure if there was an open receiver for him to throw to and I'm also not sure if he threw a more imaginative pass to Michael Crabtree that it would have resulted in a touchdown.
And then flopping yet again in last season’s NFC championship game, throwing the same useless, repetitive, unimaginative pass to Crabtree.
I'm not a 49ers fan, but I remember Kaepernick taking the 49ers to back-to-back NFC Championship Game appearances and coming one short touchdown pass away from winning the Super Bowl. Perhaps my memories are flawed.
For those passes, for freezing under pressure,
Of course, making the NFC Championship Game two years in a row and almost winning the Super Bowl involves having to deal with no pressure. Kaepernick freezes under pressure, so there's obviously no pressure in playing in the Super Bowl and NFC Championship Game.
for not seeing the entire field, for all that and more, Kaepernick does not rate top money. Let the Bears and Cowboys make desperate, silly moves. Let them throw away money
Or pay market value for the quarterback on the roster, where the alternative is to take a chance on finding an equally talented quarterback in free agency, through a trade or in the draft.
Our wisdom tells us the Niners should pay for what a player actually did in real life, in the hurly-burly of action on the field with the stakes high and everything depending on his wits and his arm. The Niners should not pay for what a twice-failed quarterback might do,
I think if Lowell Cohn considers Colin Kaepernick to be "twice-failed" then he needs to reset his expectations for the quarterback position. If failing to win the Super Bowl is being a failure then Dan Marino would like a word with Cohn. It's simple trolling to call Kaepernick a failure of any type.
could possibly do some day in a vague future that may never happen.
Literally every contract in sports is signed based on what a player might do some day in a vague future that may never happen. That's the nature and risk of a contract.
And make no mistake, Kaepernick has failed twice.
And make no mistake, Andrew Luck, Tony Romo, Jay Cutler, Tom Brady, and Peyton Manning could all be described as multiple failures if Colin Kaepernick is considered a failure. Make no further mistake, Lowell Cohn is very wrong. Perhaps it's his age. I don't know why "The Press Democrat" continues giving Cohn employment based on some vague future that may never happen.
Jim Harbaugh dumped Alex Smith — there’s no polite way to put it — after Smith got injured, an unusual move, and made his guy, Kaepermick, the quarterback expressly to win a Super Bowl.
Every head coach puts his quarterback in the game for the express purpose of winning the Super Bowl. That's the intent.
Smith already proved he could lose in the NFC championship game. Harbaugh wanted someone to do better. He wanted someone to win the championship game and win the Super Bowl. Well, Kaepernick won and lost the championship game. He also lost the Super Bowl in horrible ways.
I like how Lowell Cohn is holding Colin Kaepernick personally responsible for losing the Super Bowl and the NFC Championship Game, but refuses to give him credit for making the NFC Championship Game two years in a row. This is something no other quarterback who has played in the NFC over the past two seasons can claim, but I guess that doesn't matter because Kaepernick is a phony and a failure. Let's see how Lowell Cohn reacts when Kaepernick takes his talents away from San Francisco and gets the chance to fail somewhere else.
The Niners gave the team to Kaepernick to win the Super Bowl. Not to lose the Super Bowl. They expected him to deliver. He did not.
He's been in the NFL for three years now and a starter for a little over one-and-a-half years, let's give him a little more time to deliver. Under Cohn's idea that if a quarterback doesn't win the Super Bowl then he is a failure then Peyton Manning must be a HUGE failure and quite a few Hall of Fame quarterbacks could have been called failures at some point in their career. This is completely unreasonable and just overall cranky to expect Kaepernick to win the Super Bowl or else he is a failure. Did the San Francisco area cable company take re-runs of "Matlock" or "I Dream of Jeannie" off the air and that's why Lowell is so pissy?
They didn’t put him in to learn. They put him in to win.
Actually, he was put in to learn and win. Which by the way, Kaepernick has been pretty damn successful at both of those things.
I'm sure Lowell knows this, though maybe in his rage and unbridled anger he has forgotten it, but this article is supposed to be about Kaepernick's contractual demands. Quarterbacks are not judged solely on wins and losses and the fact one guy views Kaepernick as a failure because he hasn't won a Super Bowl in his first two seasons as a starter doesn't mean other NFL organizations wouldn't mind "failing" in the NFC Championship and the Super Bowl. Therein lies Kaepernick's market value and therein lies why Kaepernick makes the contract demands he does.
Kaepernick is the quarterback of the NFL’s most talented roster. Neither Kaepernick nor Harbaugh has won the Super Bowl with those players. Other quarterbacks would have won. Other head coaches would have won. Not these guys.
This is pure conjecture. There's no evidence other quarterbacks would have won a Super Bowl nor proof another head coach would have won a Super Bowl with the 49ers roster. It seems to me like Lowell Cohn is overestimating the 49ers talent on the roster. He obviously doesn't remember how good the 49ers were before Jim Harbaugh came rolling into town.
If the 49ers give Kaepernick the money the Globe says he wants, that will sink the whole franchise. For a quarterback who’s still learning?
Actually yes, especially if the quarterback is still learning. If Kaepernick is still learning and he has led the 49ers to the Super Bowl and NFC Championship Game during his first two seasons as a starter then he has the ability to win a Super Bowl and therefore be the non-failure that Lowell so desperately craves his quarterback being.
Here’s what the 49ers should do. They should remind Kaepernick and his agent that Kaepernick has a contract. A valid, binding contract. Written on paper. A document he signed in sound mind.
I'm sure Kaepernick knows this. He has stated after all that he is willing to play out the final year of his contract. See, this is where Lowell Cohn is making up a reality that doesn't exist. This isn't about Kaepernick wanting the 49ers to rip up his current contract and get a new contract immediately. Kaepernick is perfectly willing to play out his current contract, so the whole "Tell him his current contract means something and it's binding" attitude is not relevant. Kaepernick is aware of this and is perfectly willing to honor his contract. He's just telling the 49ers if they want to re-sign him where the negotiations will start.
I recognize it's easier and lazier for Cohn to paint Kaepernick as ungrateful and a potential holdout, but that's not the reality at this point. Kaepernick will play out his contract, but he just wants a much bigger contract next time. For some reason, this offends Cohn and causes him to call Kaepernick a failure.
See how he plays next season. See if he improves in the red zone. See if he sees the entire field. See if he wins the Super Bowl.
Stuff like that.
And if Kaepernick doesn't win a Super Bowl, then what? What if he improves but doesn't win the Super Bowl? Should the 49ers not sign Kaepernick after that or should they demand he lower his contract demands while putting the franchise tag on him? After all, no matter how much he improves he is a failure until he wins the Super Bowl.
If he wins the Super Bowl, sure, give him Cutler money.
Jay Cutler hasn't appeared in a Super Bowl, much less won a Super Bowl. Cutler doesn't have the team-based achievements, especially compared to Kaepernick, that Cohn so desperately craves in his quarterback. Why does Jay Cutler deserve Cutler money I have to wonder?
If not, well things will get real interesting. But, please, make his contract performance-based, not extortion based.
It's not extortion. It's the beginning of contract negotiations based on Kaepernick's perceived market value. The market dictates his value, not some Bay-area writer who has no concept of how a quarterback's market value is dictated other than to crankily complain Kaepernick should be judged on whether he won a Super Bowl or not.
And if the next contract is supposed to be performance-based then would part of that performance be based on team success, like making NFC Championship Games/Super Bowls? It's fine to make Kaepernick's contract performance-based, but this doesn't mean Kaepernick has to sign this contract. I think Lowell Cohn believes the NFL doesn't have this little thing called "free agency" where a player can play out his contract and then choose the next team he wants to play for and isn't stuck playing for one certain team.
Because there is a certain amount of extortion involved in his negotiations and Harbaugh’s negotiations. It’s like they own the franchise. It’s like they are holding it up, like without them the Niners will revert to being complete failures.
I always love it when a sportswriter gets indignant at how much money a player and his agent are asking for while calling it "extortion." I wonder if Lowell Cohn has ever asked for a raise from any of his employers in order for him to not take a job at a rival paper? If so, that's extortion, because Cohn is holding his value over his employer's head. I'm sure Cohn sees his own personal experiences as just doing what's right for him, while Kaepernick should look out for himself and the 49ers franchise.
I hope York asserts himself, lets Kaepernick and Harbaugh know he runs the team and these are the 49ers, for God’s sake, and they are bigger than two guys, no matter who those guys are.
Better find a new quarterback and coach then. Good luck with that.
Advice to Jed York: If Kaepernick persists in his unrealistic, impertinent, rude demands, give him jack.
That's great advice, except it totally ignores what Kaepernick is requesting in a contract could end up being his market value. If the 49ers fail to meet Kaepernick's demands after next season then they could franchise tag him or risk having to find another quarterback who can "fail" by making back-to-back NFC Championship Games and a Super Bowl in his first two seasons as a starter.
I love how Lowell's advice is to give Kaepernick "jack" as if Kaepernick will then retire and regret the day he wanted $18 million (or is it $20 million?) per year. I don't think it would be hurting Kaepernick if he becomes a free agent and the 49ers decide they want to go in a different direction at the quarterback position.
Lowell Cohn, this was terrible. You have been bookmarked.
Colin Kaepernick is not an attractive personality. Usually he doesn’t say jack. And that’s not attractive.
Fortunately, his job is not to be an attractive personality but to play quarterback in the NFL and do his best to help his team win games. So far, he's been pretty good at that.
When he says jack — and more — he’s even less attractive.
Well, this definitely should be taken into account when contract negotiations begin. An attractive personality is mainly what quarterbacks should be judged upon.
He wants Jay Cutler money. He wants Tony Romo money. He wants more than those guys get.
Well first off, these are negotiations so obviously Kaepernick is going to start off wanting a lot of money and then 49ers would counter with a lot less money and then both parties will eventually meet in the middle if there is a deal to be done. In fairness, Kaepernick is younger than Cutler and Romo and (whether it's due to him or not) he has made more NFC Championship Games than both of those quarterbacks combined. So in terms of team success and how it reflects on the job Kaepernick did as a quarterback, his market value is probably close to what Cutler and Romo received.
FYI, Cutler signed for $18.1 a year, $38 million guaranteed. Romo signed for $18 million a year, $40 million guaranteed.
Kaepernick is younger than these two quarterbacks too. Just imagine what quarterbacks like Andrew Luck and Cam Newton are going to be demanding as well. Don't forget Russell Wilson. He's a nice guy, but he's also a Super Bowl-winning quarterback playing on a third round pick's salary.
He actually said, according to the Globe, he’ll play out the final year of his contract, base salary just south of one mil, and negotiate after next season instead of settling for what he considers a contract unworthy of his eminence.
And that's his right to do if he chooses to. If Kaepernick doesn't accept a salary he perceives to be too low, he will negotiate later when the 49ers might be more generous...or just become a free agent. It's his right to do, so don't begrudge him this simply because that's not how Joe Montana would have done it.
He went on with Murph and Mac and, in a sensitive, reasonable voice, said he’s not looking to break the bank in his next contract. What a guy. He’d accept a reasonable contract, not a whopper, so the 49ers can have enough money to sign key players like Donte Whitner and keep the team together. Kaepernick wanted everyone to see him as the ultimate team player.
Sounds like he changed his mind. Is that why Lowell Cohn is so angry? That Kaepernick originally said he would take a team-friendly contract and now has decided against this (probably on advice of his agent who knows the NFL is a league where players are one hit away from a career-ending injury)? Does this make Cohn's delicate senses so angry he can't fathom why Kaepernick would want to maximize his value? Tough. Get over it.
Now this. It’s like he’s saying, “To hell with the team. I want mine.”
There are words to describe his position starting with “hypocrite” and ending with “phony.” You can fill in words in between.
Great, I will.
Hypocrite isn't what Colin Kaepernick is. He spent some time during Super Bowl week saying he would accept a reasonable contract and now has changed his mind. He is completely within his right to do this and this means his agent helped him come to his senses and it doesn't make him a phony.
Kaepernick has started 23 regular-season games. That’s not even two seasons’ worth of games. In his 23 starts he has done some things well. He also has created two iconic images in the minds of 49ers fans. Those images would be flopping at the end of the Super Bowl against the Ravens on useless, repetitive, unimaginative passes to Michael Crabtree.
Well, Kaepernick isn't the person who called the plays in that situation. I'm not sure if there was an open receiver for him to throw to and I'm also not sure if he threw a more imaginative pass to Michael Crabtree that it would have resulted in a touchdown.
And then flopping yet again in last season’s NFC championship game, throwing the same useless, repetitive, unimaginative pass to Crabtree.
I'm not a 49ers fan, but I remember Kaepernick taking the 49ers to back-to-back NFC Championship Game appearances and coming one short touchdown pass away from winning the Super Bowl. Perhaps my memories are flawed.
For those passes, for freezing under pressure,
Of course, making the NFC Championship Game two years in a row and almost winning the Super Bowl involves having to deal with no pressure. Kaepernick freezes under pressure, so there's obviously no pressure in playing in the Super Bowl and NFC Championship Game.
for not seeing the entire field, for all that and more, Kaepernick does not rate top money. Let the Bears and Cowboys make desperate, silly moves. Let them throw away money
Or pay market value for the quarterback on the roster, where the alternative is to take a chance on finding an equally talented quarterback in free agency, through a trade or in the draft.
Our wisdom tells us the Niners should pay for what a player actually did in real life, in the hurly-burly of action on the field with the stakes high and everything depending on his wits and his arm. The Niners should not pay for what a twice-failed quarterback might do,
I think if Lowell Cohn considers Colin Kaepernick to be "twice-failed" then he needs to reset his expectations for the quarterback position. If failing to win the Super Bowl is being a failure then Dan Marino would like a word with Cohn. It's simple trolling to call Kaepernick a failure of any type.
could possibly do some day in a vague future that may never happen.
Literally every contract in sports is signed based on what a player might do some day in a vague future that may never happen. That's the nature and risk of a contract.
And make no mistake, Kaepernick has failed twice.
And make no mistake, Andrew Luck, Tony Romo, Jay Cutler, Tom Brady, and Peyton Manning could all be described as multiple failures if Colin Kaepernick is considered a failure. Make no further mistake, Lowell Cohn is very wrong. Perhaps it's his age. I don't know why "The Press Democrat" continues giving Cohn employment based on some vague future that may never happen.
Jim Harbaugh dumped Alex Smith — there’s no polite way to put it — after Smith got injured, an unusual move, and made his guy, Kaepermick, the quarterback expressly to win a Super Bowl.
Every head coach puts his quarterback in the game for the express purpose of winning the Super Bowl. That's the intent.
Smith already proved he could lose in the NFC championship game. Harbaugh wanted someone to do better. He wanted someone to win the championship game and win the Super Bowl. Well, Kaepernick won and lost the championship game. He also lost the Super Bowl in horrible ways.
I like how Lowell Cohn is holding Colin Kaepernick personally responsible for losing the Super Bowl and the NFC Championship Game, but refuses to give him credit for making the NFC Championship Game two years in a row. This is something no other quarterback who has played in the NFC over the past two seasons can claim, but I guess that doesn't matter because Kaepernick is a phony and a failure. Let's see how Lowell Cohn reacts when Kaepernick takes his talents away from San Francisco and gets the chance to fail somewhere else.
The Niners gave the team to Kaepernick to win the Super Bowl. Not to lose the Super Bowl. They expected him to deliver. He did not.
He's been in the NFL for three years now and a starter for a little over one-and-a-half years, let's give him a little more time to deliver. Under Cohn's idea that if a quarterback doesn't win the Super Bowl then he is a failure then Peyton Manning must be a HUGE failure and quite a few Hall of Fame quarterbacks could have been called failures at some point in their career. This is completely unreasonable and just overall cranky to expect Kaepernick to win the Super Bowl or else he is a failure. Did the San Francisco area cable company take re-runs of "Matlock" or "I Dream of Jeannie" off the air and that's why Lowell is so pissy?
They didn’t put him in to learn. They put him in to win.
Actually, he was put in to learn and win. Which by the way, Kaepernick has been pretty damn successful at both of those things.
I'm sure Lowell knows this, though maybe in his rage and unbridled anger he has forgotten it, but this article is supposed to be about Kaepernick's contractual demands. Quarterbacks are not judged solely on wins and losses and the fact one guy views Kaepernick as a failure because he hasn't won a Super Bowl in his first two seasons as a starter doesn't mean other NFL organizations wouldn't mind "failing" in the NFC Championship and the Super Bowl. Therein lies Kaepernick's market value and therein lies why Kaepernick makes the contract demands he does.
Kaepernick is the quarterback of the NFL’s most talented roster. Neither Kaepernick nor Harbaugh has won the Super Bowl with those players. Other quarterbacks would have won. Other head coaches would have won. Not these guys.
This is pure conjecture. There's no evidence other quarterbacks would have won a Super Bowl nor proof another head coach would have won a Super Bowl with the 49ers roster. It seems to me like Lowell Cohn is overestimating the 49ers talent on the roster. He obviously doesn't remember how good the 49ers were before Jim Harbaugh came rolling into town.
If the 49ers give Kaepernick the money the Globe says he wants, that will sink the whole franchise. For a quarterback who’s still learning?
Actually yes, especially if the quarterback is still learning. If Kaepernick is still learning and he has led the 49ers to the Super Bowl and NFC Championship Game during his first two seasons as a starter then he has the ability to win a Super Bowl and therefore be the non-failure that Lowell so desperately craves his quarterback being.
Here’s what the 49ers should do. They should remind Kaepernick and his agent that Kaepernick has a contract. A valid, binding contract. Written on paper. A document he signed in sound mind.
I'm sure Kaepernick knows this. He has stated after all that he is willing to play out the final year of his contract. See, this is where Lowell Cohn is making up a reality that doesn't exist. This isn't about Kaepernick wanting the 49ers to rip up his current contract and get a new contract immediately. Kaepernick is perfectly willing to play out his current contract, so the whole "Tell him his current contract means something and it's binding" attitude is not relevant. Kaepernick is aware of this and is perfectly willing to honor his contract. He's just telling the 49ers if they want to re-sign him where the negotiations will start.
I recognize it's easier and lazier for Cohn to paint Kaepernick as ungrateful and a potential holdout, but that's not the reality at this point. Kaepernick will play out his contract, but he just wants a much bigger contract next time. For some reason, this offends Cohn and causes him to call Kaepernick a failure.
See how he plays next season. See if he improves in the red zone. See if he sees the entire field. See if he wins the Super Bowl.
Stuff like that.
And if Kaepernick doesn't win a Super Bowl, then what? What if he improves but doesn't win the Super Bowl? Should the 49ers not sign Kaepernick after that or should they demand he lower his contract demands while putting the franchise tag on him? After all, no matter how much he improves he is a failure until he wins the Super Bowl.
If he wins the Super Bowl, sure, give him Cutler money.
Jay Cutler hasn't appeared in a Super Bowl, much less won a Super Bowl. Cutler doesn't have the team-based achievements, especially compared to Kaepernick, that Cohn so desperately craves in his quarterback. Why does Jay Cutler deserve Cutler money I have to wonder?
If not, well things will get real interesting. But, please, make his contract performance-based, not extortion based.
It's not extortion. It's the beginning of contract negotiations based on Kaepernick's perceived market value. The market dictates his value, not some Bay-area writer who has no concept of how a quarterback's market value is dictated other than to crankily complain Kaepernick should be judged on whether he won a Super Bowl or not.
And if the next contract is supposed to be performance-based then would part of that performance be based on team success, like making NFC Championship Games/Super Bowls? It's fine to make Kaepernick's contract performance-based, but this doesn't mean Kaepernick has to sign this contract. I think Lowell Cohn believes the NFL doesn't have this little thing called "free agency" where a player can play out his contract and then choose the next team he wants to play for and isn't stuck playing for one certain team.
Because there is a certain amount of extortion involved in his negotiations and Harbaugh’s negotiations. It’s like they own the franchise. It’s like they are holding it up, like without them the Niners will revert to being complete failures.
I always love it when a sportswriter gets indignant at how much money a player and his agent are asking for while calling it "extortion." I wonder if Lowell Cohn has ever asked for a raise from any of his employers in order for him to not take a job at a rival paper? If so, that's extortion, because Cohn is holding his value over his employer's head. I'm sure Cohn sees his own personal experiences as just doing what's right for him, while Kaepernick should look out for himself and the 49ers franchise.
I hope York asserts himself, lets Kaepernick and Harbaugh know he runs the team and these are the 49ers, for God’s sake, and they are bigger than two guys, no matter who those guys are.
Better find a new quarterback and coach then. Good luck with that.
Advice to Jed York: If Kaepernick persists in his unrealistic, impertinent, rude demands, give him jack.
That's great advice, except it totally ignores what Kaepernick is requesting in a contract could end up being his market value. If the 49ers fail to meet Kaepernick's demands after next season then they could franchise tag him or risk having to find another quarterback who can "fail" by making back-to-back NFC Championship Games and a Super Bowl in his first two seasons as a starter.
I love how Lowell's advice is to give Kaepernick "jack" as if Kaepernick will then retire and regret the day he wanted $18 million (or is it $20 million?) per year. I don't think it would be hurting Kaepernick if he becomes a free agent and the 49ers decide they want to go in a different direction at the quarterback position.
Lowell Cohn, this was terrible. You have been bookmarked.
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